“I once had the opportunity to discuss this with the brilliant George Mason University professor of economics, Walter Williams. His definition of money remained with me and became part of my business seminars. “Take out a dollar bill and look at it,” he said. “Now pat yourself on your back because you are looking at a certificate of performance. If you did not rob or steal from anyone to obtain that dollar, if you neither defrauded anyone nor persuaded your government to seize it from a fellow citizen and give it to you, then you could only have obtained that dollar in one other way—you must have pleased someone else.” How true are those words. Whether you pleased a client, a customer, or your boss, that money is testament to your having pleased another human being. Having money is not shameful; it is a certificate of good performance granted to you by your grateful fellow citizens.”

Excerpt From: Rabbi Daniel Lapin. “Thou Shall Prosper.”

This is probably the most positive view of money and income that I have come across.

What if we all looked at the dollars we earned as little certificates of performance?

What if we looked at the world through the lens of looking to serve others?

Each day we have the opportunity to look for the positive.

Make it a great day.

Jake

http://youtu.be/M67E9mpwBpM

Everything’s coming up Millhouse.

Meaghan and I have frequently used this line around the house over the years.

I especially love it when we use it in reference to some little, seemingly inconsequential thing that has gone well.

Just found $5 in your coat from last winter….Everything’s coming up Millhouse!

Just got the front row parking spot…..Everything’s coming up Millhouse!

Pulled up right when they are lowering the price at the gas station….Everything’s coming up Millhouse!

For some reason, this line brightens my day each and every time I hear it.

Make it a point today to look for something that has gone right. Then turn to the person closest to you and say….”Everything’s coming up Millhouse!”

Make it a great day.

Jake

What you reap, you also sow.

We have all heard some version of this. Whether we read it in the Bible or a newer version of it in books like “The Go-Giver”, this little truth has been around for a long time.

One of the important things to realize about this is that it is like gravity. It is there whether you are paying attention or not. It is there whether you are purposeful about leveraging it or are just dealing with the consequences of it.

Each and every day, we are sowing seeds that will grow.

We are sowing seeds in each interaction we have with others.

We are sowing seeds through our daily habits.

We are sowing seeds through our thoughts and attitudes.

The question becomes, what are you sowing?

An inexperienced gardener doesn’t know the difference between a carrot seed and a tomato seed. An inexperienced gardener doesn’t know whether the seeds he just planted need lots of sun or room to grow.

This is where most of us get stuck. Without some wisdom and knowledge, we aren’t sure what seeds we are sowing or what to do with them once they are planted.

Fortunately, there is help.

First, we can look at the fruit we currently have. This is a great way to learn what kinds of seeds you are sowing. Take stock in your life. Look around and see what kind of fruits are growing. Then decide if you want more or less of a certain fruit.

Second, we can read books. All kinds of people have written books about their experiences sowing seeds and the fruits they experienced. Reading a book can help you determine whether those seeds you are sowing are carrots or tomatoes and what is the best way to get the most fruit you can from them.

Lastly, we can ask a mentor or coach. Asking someone else to help us identify the seeds we are planting and the fruit we are growing can illustrate how we could do things differently. They can also share their experiences and show us the results they have gotten from sowing similar seeds.

Make it a great day of sowing.

Jake

Thanks to the guest daily attitude emailers while I was out.

We are in the middle of quite a winter storm here in Central IL.

It reminded me of Jim Rohn’s thoughts on the seasons and the emails I sent out about them.

Here is the one about winter:

http://youtu.be/WkibVhZkBZs

Jim says “Learn how to handle the winters, they always come right after fall”

Jim goes on to say that there are all kind of winters.

The winter when you can’t figure it out.

The winter when it all goes smash.

Economic winters, social winters.

The winter when your heart is smashed into a thousand pieces.

No matter what kind of winter you may or may not be experiencing at any given point, it is important to remember that we all face winters in our life.

Jim says “When it was winter, I used to wish it was summer.” But then he realized that winter served it’s own purpose.

Winter is a time to do three things.

Get stronger. Get wiser. Get better.

This part about handling the winters of life is probably my favorite of the four seasons and his explanation of them. I think it made the most sense to me because I used to (at least I am trying to make it used to) complain about the winters in IL and think that wasn’t any good that came of the winter time.

Jim’s explanation of winter gave me a different perspective. We need to use winter as a time to get stronger, wiser, and better. It is a time to hone our skills so that we can take advantage of the next season…..spring.

Make it a great day.

Jake

It’s a new day, a new beginning for your new life. With discipline you will be amazed at how much progress you’ll be able to make. What have you got to lose except the guilt and the fear of the past? – Jim Rohn

Just one quote today as there was no management meeting.

I saw this quote and thought it was particularly appropriate for the beginning of the year.

Two important things to note from this quote:

Each day is a new day, full of opportunities for growth, change and accomplishment. Your job is to seize that opportunity and get after it.

Second, what have you got to lose?

This part gets me every time I have heard the recording of Jim saying this.

If you really think about what you want to change in your life for the better, what have you got to lose?

My guess is that this answer for most of us is “not much” compared to all the good that is possible to come from positive, healthy changes.

As you look at your goals and goal setting for next year, remember these two things: aim high because the opportunities are out there, and let go of the disappointment, guilt and fear of the past and move forward into becoming the best version of you.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – Still need a volunteer for the Friday Morning Toe Tapper and Phrase That Pays next week. Thanks to those who volunteered for Monday and Thursday.

http://youtu.be/9jK-NcRmVcw

The Final Countdown.

The end of December marks the end of the month, the end of the quarter and the end of the year all wrapped into one.

Have you spent time reviewing your 2013 goal list?

Anything on there that needs a little last minute push?

Don’t give up just yet. Go find that one last thing to check off your 2013 to do list.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Another Christmas has come and gone. I hope everyone had a great time and found at least a few moments of peace and calm over the holiday.

As Christmas moves into the rear view mirror, I begin looking forward to New Years and the process of beginning another year.

A new year full of possibility and hope.

As a way to help with that process, start with the things you wanted for Christmas but didn’t get.

Think about those relationships that could have been better.

Think of the good you would like to have seen done.

Think of world peace.

And if it helps get you started on setting goals, think of that new car or that new sweater.

Whatever it is that will get you started on the goal setting and achieving track, use it.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS. I will be out next week and am looking for volunteers to send the daily attitude emails next Monday, Thursday, and Friday.

Last Daily Attitude Email before being off for Christmas for a few days.

Being extra sappy, that means you get a sappy Christmas song and a sappy Christmas story.

Merry Christmas.

Jake

Sappy Christmas song:

http://youtu.be/XPm3CWvDmvc

Sappy Christmas story:

My grandma taught me everything about Christmas. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," jeered my sister. "Even dummies know that!"

My grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her world-famous cinnamon buns.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me.

"No Santa Claus!" she snorted. "Ridiculous! Don’t believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let’s go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn’t even finished my second cinnamon bun.

"Where" turned out to be Kerby’s General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days.

"Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I’ll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby’s.

I was only eight years old. I’d often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobbie Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock’s grade-two class. Bobbie Decker didn’t have a coat. I knew that because he never went out for recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough; but all we kids knew that Bobbie Decker didn’t have a cough, and he didn’t have a coat.

I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobbie Decker a coat. I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that. I didn’t see a price tag, but ten dollars ought to buy anything. I put the coat and my ten-dollar bill on the counter and pushed them toward the lady behind it.

She looked at the coat, the money, and me. "Is this a Christmas present for someone?" she asked kindly. "Yes," I replied shyly. "It’s … for Bobbie. He’s in my class, and he doesn’t have a coat." The nice lady smiled at me. I didn’t get any change, but she put the coat in a bag and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons, and write, "To Bobbie, From Santa Claus" on it … Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy.

Then she drove me over to Bobbie Decker’s house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa’s helpers. Grandma parked down the street from Bobbie’s house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk.

Suddenly, Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going."

I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his doorbell twice and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobbie. He looked down, looked around, picked up his present, took it inside and closed the door.

Forty years haven’t dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my grandma, in Bobbie Decker’s bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: Ridiculous!

Santa was alive and well … AND WE WERE ON HIS TEAM!

JW – There is no telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream. – Author Unknown

MS – Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. – CS Lewis

EB – It’s Christmas time in Hollis Queens. – Run DMC

JD – But I am sure that I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round… as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely. – Charles Dickens

Here is the link to EB’s Run DMC request. I am sure there is at least one inappropriate lyric in there, so be forewarned.

http://youtu.be/OR07r0ZMFb8

I really liked the end of the Charles Dickens quote from “A Christmas Carol” – “when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely.”

Not to be too corny here, but don’t forget to open your heart a little and let the Christmas spirit in.

Let yourself get wrapped up in the good stuff that comes with Christmas: kindness, forgiveness, charity, time with family, love and generosity.

Merry Christmas.

Jake