The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. – Vince Lombardi

After watching the Super Bowl last night, I wanted to go looking for a Vince Lombardi quote.

This one stuck out to me because the word “excellence” has been stuck in my head lately.

What if you made a constant effort to add excellence into your life?

What would an excellent drive in to the office look like?

What would an excellent meeting look like?

What would excellence look like when you got home tonight?

Pursue excellence today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/cno20onK9dY

This week was a great week for the Mavidea sales team. We are off to a good start this year.

As I think about the team (and myself) I think of momentum.

How do we keep it going forward?

I think this applies to all of us as we pursue our goals and dreams.

With a little momentum, moving forward is actually easier than slowing down or quitting.

If we can get to the point where we are putting one foot in front of the other consistently (and metaphorically) we can build momentum that won’t be stopped.

Needing some momentum in your life?

Create small victories. Celebrate them. Find a way to put them close together. Don’t quit.

Make it a great day.

Jake

JW* – This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather.

EB* – Phil: It’s the same thing your whole life: "Clean up your room. Stand up straight. Pick up your feet. Take it like a man. Be nice to your sister. Don’t mix beer and wine, ever." Oh yeah: "Don’t drive on the railroad track."

Gus: Well, Phil, that’s one I happen to agree with. –

MS* – Piano Teacher: Not bad… Mr. Connors, you say this is your first lesson? Phil: Yes, but my father was a piano *mover*, so…

JD – Gus: Phil? Like the groundhog Phil? Phil: Yeah, like the groundhog Phil. Gus: Look out for your shadow there, buddy.

Tuesday was Groundhog Day and no one sent me a quote so we are going with nothing but quotes from the movie Groundhog Day.

The movie is funny, but it’s also a favorite because it goes a little deeper than that.

A guy lives the same day over and over again.

He tries all kinds of different things to figure out things (life).

He tries the hedonistic, do what you want all day long life and ends up empty.

He tries manipulating others to get what he wants and ends up empty.

He gives up and spends the day depressed and without hope.

He finally tries love, service, humility and authenticity. And it works.

Maybe we can take a short cut. We don’t have an unlimited number of days like Phil does in the movie, so let’s not waste any on the stuff that doesn’t work. Let’s skip to the good stuff.

Make it a great day.

Jake

“None of us are getting out of here alive, so please stop treating yourself like an afterthought. Eat the delicious food. Walk in the sunshine. Jump in the ocean. Say the truth that you’re carrying in your heart like a hidden treasure. Be silly. Be kind. Be weird. There is no time for anything else.” – Richard Gere

Mikie sent me this quote in response to yesterday’s email about being more adventurous.

The part that stuck with me was “there is no time for anything else”.

What are we really spending our time on?

If life is short and tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, what should we spend more time on?

As with everything, there is a balance to be struck here. A balance between careless and unnecessary risk taking and creating more opportunities for awesome in your life by taking a few more risks.

My recommendation for those of us is to start now and start small. Take a small risk today. Go on a small adventure today.

Do something different, today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Instead of trying to make your life perfect, give yourself the freedom to make it an adventure, and go ever upward. – Drew Houston

I like this idea.

Quit trying to be perfect.

Give yourself some freedom.

Go on an adventure.

Go ever upward.

Are you struggling with any of those?

Trying to be perfect and allowing the fear of failure to hold you back from enjoying life’s adventures?

Spinning your wheels thinking about how to start and continue perfectly while life passes you by?

Keeping yourself in a box instead of moving forward and breaking out of your comfort zone?

Make it a point to create some little adventures for yourself. Get outside of your normal routine. Be ok with things getting a little messy. Just move ever upward.

Make it a great day.

Jake

You grow up the day you have the first real laugh at yourself. – Ethel Barrymore

Maybe I’m a grown up after all….

Being mature enough to admit our shortcomings and laugh at them is an important step in life.

Instead of trying to cover up for our weakness we can laugh at it and recognize it for what it is.

Our shortcomings can be seen as lessons to learn from in order to grow and become the person we want to become.

So, laugh at yourself today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Nothing will work unless you do. – Maya Angelou

All of our plans for success and happiness required effort.

None of our dreams and goals will happen without consistent and disciplined work.

Remember that the payoff is worth it and get to work.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/V5EGN3O5Rs8

This one even comes with an awesome video…

To stretch the theme a little, this song reminds me that all great accomplishments require a leap of faith.

We must make the leap between what is known and what is unknown.

Between what is possible and what might be possible.

Between our comfort zone and being uncomfortable.

Is there an area of your life where you need to take the leap?

Make it a great day.

Jake

Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. – Wayne Dyer

Great reminder for today.

Today is the day. The day for you to get started, to take that chance.

There are no promises about the future, don’t let another day pass.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Yesterday’s email with the 3 Jake’s talking to each other got some interesting reactions. Justin Wampler posted on the Daily Attitude Email Blog an interesting way that he had tricked himself into being more disciplined. Justin was gracious enough to let me share his thoughts with you.

“I’m a big fan of tricking myself too, but I have to approach it a little differently. Using your example of working out, I’d have to make a deal with myself, once I felt the urge to skip the workout. I’d say, ok self, if you want to skip this workout, go put on your exercise clothes and stand on the treadmill, to prove to me that you did originally intend to workout. Then I’ll consider skipping it. Of course, once you’re standing on the treadmill with your exercise clothes on, it’s much easier to follow through.”

And then he followed up with some more:

“I was thinking about this some more, trying to figure out why this kind of trick works for me, and I think your analogy of the Three Jakes was the missing piece. I’m not sure how to avoid sounding like a crazy person when trying to describe several metaphorical parts of my consciousness, but here goes…

I guess you could think of those separate parts of you as roommates. They spend a lot of time together in a crowded space, so they must always make an effort to reconcile their differences.

Turns out that although Lazy Me tends to get the final say in arguments with Aspirational Me, Lazy Me is not a bad person. As such, he feels guilty whenever he lets Aspirational Me down. So when Aspirational Me tells Lazy Me that he can have a guilt free pass for exercising that day, on the condition that Lazy Me proves he was honest about his intentions to work out by putting on the exercise clothes and standing on the treadmill first, Lazy Me is eager to do so. So he does. Once he’s there he either promises Aspirational Me he will do better tomorrow (and not want to let him down twice in a row) or more often than not, he’ll just decide to go ahead and work out since he’s already standing there.

The human brain is weird, huh?”

Thanks for sharing, Justin.

Make it a great day.

Jake