https://youtu.be/vYQkONw8PYs

Sending this one out in honor of “The Last Dance” that a few of us are watching.

Watching the show has reminded me again of the special place that sports can play in our society and lives.

It’s more than just the money, advertising or shoe sales.

Sports at its best pits worthy competitors against each other. Each one doing their best. Each one doing something they couldn’t have done without the sharpening effect of competition. The competitors finding something inside themselves that is transcendent.

That’s probably a little too philosophical for a rap song with “Bulls!” cut in a whole bunch of times.

Even so – think today about what doing your best really means.

What it means for your family.

What it means for your coworkers.

What it means for you.

The Bulls team and the show about them has reminded me that doing our best matters. Doing and being the best version of ourselves is worth it. Hiding and shirking are to be avoided. Striving and trying are to be pursued.

Make it a great day.

Jake

My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me. – Winston Churchill

This is definitely true for me as well (not sure that I’ve had many other “brilliant achievements” though).

When our time is up and our life is over, the meaningful relationships of our lives are what will stand out.

We are built for relationship.

Not the FaceBox friend relationships either. Deep, meaningful relationships that enrich our lives in ways we couldn’t imagine.

Our higher and best self reveals itself in our ability to foster these relationships through love and service to others.

Each day is an opportunity to lean into this wonderful opportunity – to put others ahead of ourselves in order to strengthen and nurture the important relationships of our lives.

What’s your plan to invest in your relationships today?

Make it a great day.

Jake

This daily attitude email from a few years ago seemed appropriate this year.

Let’s bounce back to a positive attitude.

If you have a bad minute, that’s ok. If you have a bad day, it’s because of your attitude. – Jeffrey Gitomer

I was listening to a Jeffrey Gitomer video on attitude yesterday and this little quote stood out.

For some reason we tend to hold on to negative feelings and attitudes for too long.

Many Mavideans have heard me say some version “It’s ok to be angry about this for tonight, but tomorrow we need to shake it off and move forward.”

Maybe my suggestion lasts longer that Mr. Gitomer’s, but the idea is the same.

Feel the emotion. Let yourself be upset when something is upsetting. Let yourself be frustrated when things are frustrating.

But hold on to it too long and you become an upset person. A frustrated person.

Our attitude is the place we bounce back to after something good or bad happens.

Hold on to a bad thing too long, maybe you bounce back a little lower.

Let go of that negative experience real quick and the bouncing back becomes much easier.

As you might have expected, I suspect the opposite is true for the positive side.

Something good happens, hold on to it.

Keep moving forward, but don’t let it go. Add the next one right on top of it. Keep them in your mind, piling them up so that the bad stuff seems small in comparison.

Imagine a giant pile of positives next to a single negative that you pick up and put in the trash.

Seems small and easy to do now. But that also makes it easy not to do.

The choice is yours and it is important. Don’t let yourself be lazy with it.

Make it a great day.

Jake

You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. – CS Lewis

Not sure about you, but there have been a few times where 2020 hasn’t felt like the best year…..

But it’s also not over.

We can still write the ending.

CS Lewis lived and wrote during and after World War I and II. He lived and experienced tremendous hardship on a global and terrifying scale.

In this, he still saw the power to change the ending. To redeem mankind from the horrible atrocities and come together in order to build a better tomorrow.

This opportunity exists for us, right now.

Whether it be Mavidea and Maxlider and the difficulties we are facing or humankind as we face a global pandemic that reminds us all just how little control we really have.

We can choose to start where we are and change the ending. We can choose to work together – through love in service to one another – to write an unbelievable story together.

Make it a great day.

Jake

The natural state of motherhood is unselfishness. When you become a mother, you are no longer the center of your own universe. You relinquish that position to your children. – Jessica Lange

What a great quote about motherhood.

I’ve never been a mother, but it seems to me that there is a magical moment (it happened with our three the moment they were born) where a mother stops being a regular person and starts being a mom.

A moment when a woman makes a decision to always put their little ones needs before their own, or at the very least realizes that that’s how it should be.

In this way, motherhood serves as an example of what human beings are capable of.

By placing the needs of their children first, mothers are capable of amazing things.

Getting very little sleep.

Always eating last.

Eyes in the back of their head.

Holding down two jobs.

Monumental acts of strength while protecting their children.

Mothers serve as proof of how great each of us can be when we live and love selflessly.

Make it a great day.

Jake ​

https://youtu.be/PQazF6jUt8M

I liked the simple message in this one.

Every day is sunshine if I count my blessings.

It’s hard to argue with that.

Count your blessings today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

But the story of the golden calf also reminds us that without rules we quickly become slaves to our passions—and there’s nothing freeing about that. – Jordan Peterson

Jordan is talking about the story from the Bible when Moses comes down with the Ten Commandments.

It’s part of human nature to push back and bristle when rules and limitations are pushed on us.

We tend to fight back when told we have to or can’t do a particular thing.

We also tend to be happiest with clear boundaries and rules.

We know instinctively that if left to our devices things will get out of hand quickly.

I wonder if the mature person is someone who figures out which rules really matter.

Which ones you can really, truly build a life around.

And they avoid the surface level trappings of the rules and limitations of “fitting in” or “being cool” or whatever expectations are placed on us that aren’t good for us.

Knowing the difference is key.

Spending time learning from other wise people is a good way to get there.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Below is an email I sent out a few years back.

It’s an expansion of some of the thoughts from yesterday and seemed particularly relevant given our current challenges….

We in this country, in this generation, are — by destiny rather than choice — the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility — that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint — and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of “peace on earth, good will toward men.” That must always be our goal — and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: “except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” – John Fitzgerald Kennedy

While in Dallas this time I wanted to make sure it made it to see the Texas Book Depository and the scene of that fateful event.

Near the museum they had the excerpt above. It was intended to be part of a speech the President was to give later that same day.

His words seem just as powerful today as I am sure they would have during that time.

We are tasked with a great responsibility.

To protect and build upon the progress of previous generations. To take the sacrifices made by others and turn them into a better and brighter future.

Words like these are a great reminder.

That we have something to work toward. That what we do matters and adds to an already great legacy.

Be inspired as you go about your day today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

In the grand scheme of things, we’ve all been placed very highly.

We stand on the shoulders of all those who have gone before us.

Upon all of this, we must walk humbly if we are to build higher still.

If we wish to add to all that has been given us it helps to start by thinking of others first. To begin with gratitude and be of genuine service and help whenever and wherever we can.

No job is too small. No good deed beneath us. No kind word unspoken.

Make it a great day.

Jake

One of my favorite mental images is one I heard about on a podcast from Rick Warren.

On the podcast, Rick describes God sitting on the end of the bed in the morning, looking at each and every one of us and saying “I can’t wait to see their face, to see what they are going to do today…”.

This image provides a lot of peace and positive energy for myself, to be sure.

But for me, this image is most helpful when thinking of others.

No matter who the person is and how good or bad I may deem them to be, God is sitting at the end of their bed each morning, looking for the best in them with love.

It’s easy to get frustrated with others. To get upset with those that don’t agree with you. To be disappointed with those that don’t meet your expectations.

I find it helps to think of these people as that quiet, sleeping bundle of potential seeking their own way in this world to be loved and to love.

When we can think of others in this light, we open ourselves up to look for the good in them.

We open ourselves up to love and be loved in a better way.

Make it a great day.

Jake