Read every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity. – Christopher Morley

One of the temptations we all must battle is the temptation to be average.

We see what others are doing and are tempted to model our lives on what we see around us.

We need to be more thoughtful than this.

We need to choose to do our best. We need to push past average in search of the best version of ourselves.

We can choose better than average for our lives.

You are not average. You are capable of greatness.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Yesterday we got invited out to let the kids take a ride in the combine by a farmer from church.

As I get a little older, I learn more and more about life from the farmers around us.

One of the biggest lessons is about control.

Farming is one of those professions where there isn’t even an illusion about control.

Farmers have zero control over the biggest input variable in their business – the weather.

Sure, you hear plenty of them complaining about it, but in the end they all still do the same thing:

Work hard and do the best you can with what you have.

This is such an important life lesson.

We only have control over our own effort level and our attitude. That’s it.

To make it even more personal:

YOU are not in control of anything except your attitude and your effort.

If we seek only to better control our attitudes and our efforts we will have a chance at seeing the results we want (there are no guarantees the weather won’t be bad).

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – God bless all the farmers (and Gary Butler and the Butler family in particular).

https://youtu.be/gte3BoXKwP0

Imagine if you actually had a pocketful of sunshine.

Something that you could access at any time to brighten your mood.

Maybe it isn’t possible to put sunshine in your pocket, but you could probably find something to carry with you to brighten your day.

Some pictures of loved ones.

A piece of jewelry from a loved one.

A bible verse written on a piece of paper.

Make life a little easier on yourself by carrying around a pocketful of sunshine.

Make it a great day.

Jake

JD – What you do today can improve all your tomorrows. – Ralph Marston

JW – Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her – Ephesians 5:25

EB* – Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast. – Marlene Dietrich

MS – Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Col 3:21

Since EB wasn’t in the meeting on Tuesday, I picked the controversial quote to assign to him. Seems like a good idea.

Forget the husband and wife roles described in the quote for a minute and think about the idea.

Have you ever reheat someone else’s sins for breakfast?

Ever held something against someone longer than you should have?

Ever told someone that “everything is forgiven/fine” with a hard heart?

I’m guessing the honest to answer for all of us on these questions is yes (I know I can answer yes to all of them).

This isn’t a guilt trip. My intention isn’t to ground you down by reminding you of your transgressions.

My goal is to remind all of us that we can and will do better, if we work on it. If we can change our attitude, we will do better.

Even though we won’t get to perfection, we can get better and better will lead to happy and better relationships. And relationships make the whole thing worthwhile.

Make it a great day.

Jake

We are all the same amount of busy. 24 hours goes by the same for each and every one of us, every single day.

Many of you have heard me say something similar to this over the years.

Recently I read the following article in Harvard Business Review about this topic.

http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/09/please-stop-complaining-about/

The article talks about the game of one-upmanship that occurs around complaining about being busy. Most of us have been part of one of these conversations at one point or another.

She also gives several tips on how to better manage your time that are very useful.

But I think the most important part is the spirit of the article.

Being the busiest is not some prize to be won. Not being able to meet the commitments you have made is not a prize to be sought after.

Organizing and planning your time to get your priorities accomplished is.

Having peace in knowing that you have managed your time and priorities well is.

The next time you are tempted to tell someone how busy you are, think. Think about what your real priorities are. Think about whether or not you are meeting them. And then talk about them instead.

Wouldn’t the conversation go much better if instead of talking about how busy we are we talked about the things in our lives that are truly meaningful?

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – I found this post when looking through some of the old posts on the blog. It was posted in 2013.

Arnold Palmer passed away on Sunday.

If you don’t know, he was a famous golfer and golf person in general.

Being a golf fan I have heard quite a few Arnold Palmer stories and with his passing they are being told again and again.

But in the interest of trying to help all of our attitudes and our chances of success at life, I noticed something that maybe we can all learn from (since we are unlikely to become professional golfers any time soon).

If you consistently make an effort to make the day of those around you, you will make the world a better place.

Arnold Palmer consistently took time to talk with someone or take a quick picture or sign a quick autograph.

He had a smile or a laugh to share with everyone.

And it made a difference. Everyone from the most famous golfers to the janitor have a story about how Arnold positively impacted them.

Maybe you don’t have quite the reach that Arnold had.

Maybe you don’t have as much money as he had.

But you can make an impact, one person at a time, just like he did.

Smile.

Talk to people.

Try to make their day.

Work to make the world a better place each day simply by interacting positively with those around you.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Last night we were watching the debate and I started looking the FaceBox on my cellular phone and came across this video:

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2016/09/26/203513026/dee-gordon-paid-tribute-to-jose-fernandez-with-a-hr

Dee Gordon was paying tribute to a lost teammate and hit his first home run of the year. Watch the whole video and you will see how overcome with emotions he and his team are.

It’s easy to get lost in the debate over who to blame for all the wrong in the world.

But it’s also not that hard to focus on the good.

To focus on love.

To focus on your team.

To focus on honoring those that couldn’t be here today.

Find something good to focus on today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston Churchill

Another week is upon us.

Whether last week was a rousing success or a dismal failure, we choose what this week will hold.

Take 5 minutes this morning and write down what a successful week would look like.

Then make it happen.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/_hN1SKVx31s

It’s like that….and that’s the way it is.

Just a quick reminder this morning.

Focus on what you can change and not on what you can’t.

Focus on your own attitude and self-improvement.

Make it a great day.

Jake

JD – It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness. – Charles Spurgeon

EB – Often imitated, but never duplicated. – Captain Lou Albano

MS* – Who in their infinite wisdom decreed that Little League uniforms be white? Certainly not a mother. Erma Bombeck

JW* – He who seeks rest finds boredom. He who seeks work finds rest. – Dylan Thomas

JR* – Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.- Ernest Hemingway (FYI, this shows up when you do a search for “fantasy football quotes”)

Meaghan read the book “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” and Charles Spurgeon quote above reminded me of my favorite idea from the book.

Get rid of everything that doesn’t give you joy.

At first, it is easy to dismiss this idea.

Why would I have bought it if it didn’t give me joy?

What about the garbage bags? Not much joy there either.

I’m not going to try to answer the details for how it applies to you.

I will, however, try to encourage you think more along those lines.

How much of your current stuff do you enjoy?

How much of your current schedule do you enjoy?

How many of your current relationships do you enjoy?

There is some hard work underneath all of those questions, to be sure. But they seem like they might be worth investigating.

Make it a great day.

Jake