Since today is the last regular Daily Attitude Email before the weekend, I thought I would write a little bit about Mother’s Day.

Before Maggie was born, Mother’s Day was a day to be appreciative of my mother.

A day to appreciate all the sacrifices, love and everything else that my mother has put into me over the years.

And while that has never gone away, it has taken on a new light after Maggie was born.

Watching my wife go through the transformation from regular person into "mom" has brought on an all new appreciation for my wife and for my mother.

The hardest part in thinking about and writing about this is that I am not a mother and I can only vaguely begin to put my finger on what exactly it was that happened to my wife almost 6 years ago when Maggie was born.

For instance, there are certain times with the kids when dad just doesn’t quite cut it. For one reason or another they are upset and just "need their mommy." There is a special bond there that I can’t quite define or understand, but it is there.

Maybe I can’t define it, but I sure do appreciate it.

I appreciate the fact that inside each and every one of us is a special spot that just "needs our mommy". Not in a sappy, whiny, needy way, but in a wholesome, soulful, loving way. In a way that is deeper and more meaningful than any short term boo-boo or ouchie that we may encounter.

We all need to be cared for in the way that a mother cares for her children.

Today’s email goes out to those women that provide that care. Especially to Meaghan and my mom.

Make it a great day.

Jake

One of the great parts of "How to Stop Worrying" by Dale Carnegie is that it includes a bunch of real world stories from people and how they have dealt with worry.

I have attached one of these sections of the book.

There are two important lessons included in this short story.

First, the idea of writing down your worries and puttin them away for later. His realization that most of his worries never came pass is such a fundamental truth that can help any of us worry warts.

The second lesson was learned from watching his wife do dishes. He realized she doesn’t mind washing the dishes because you only wash one day at a time. You can’t wash tomorrow’s dishes today.

Is there something worrying you that you need to write down and put away for a little while?

Are you trying to wash tomorrow’s dishes today?

Let’s make it a great day filled with joy and absent of worry.

Jake

PS – Another blatant sales pitch for this book. Filled with powerful stories and practical tips on an area of life that most of us struggle with.

Last Friday, Meaghan and I had the chance to be the Mavidea representatives at the annual MCCA “Seeds of Change” charity dinner.

Three things stuck out for me that I thought I would share. As usual, these most likely won’t be revelations to you, but they were good reminders to me.

First, I was reminded that there are people out there that need our help. We can argue all day long about the government’s role in helping, the politics involved or how best to help, but it doesn’t change the fact that there are people out there that need help. No matter why or how they ended up where they are, they are our fellow human beings and they need our help.

Second, I was reminded that there are people helping. People like the ones that work at MCCA are making a difference. They are, in fact, making a difference, every day.

Third, I was reminded that at Mavidea we are on the list of people that are helping. By providing Smiles on Faces and excellent customer service to organizations like MCCA we are part of them helping their customers. We are doing our part in the kindness and spirit that flow through a place like MCCA.

We heard some heart wrenching stories last Friday, but I left uplifted.

Proud to be part of a community that has places that are reaching out to help.

Proud to be part of a company that cares about our clients and our community.

We do make a difference. What a powerful realization.

I dare you to say that out loud to yourself without getting a few chills up your spine.

What an awesome opportunity.

Let’s make the most of it today.

Jake

I have been reading "Man’s Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl. In it he chronicles his story of living in the Nazi concentration camps during WWII.

One passage really struck me, so I typed it up for everyone below.

Reading this, I realized how lucky and blessed I am to have found my beloved.

Make it a great day.

Jake

A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into so by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth – that love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is in love and through love. I understood how a man who has nothing left may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way – an honorable way – in such a position can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment.

Brain isn’t working at 100% this morning after a night of Nyquil induced sleep, so I thought I would find a video to share.

http://youtu.be/EVKj2LmmFjI

Real short and to the point.

Jake

It is easier to keep going than it is to get going.

I am sure someone smarter than me has said this before (and most likely in more poignant terms), but this simple concept popped into my head the other day and I thought I would share it will all of you.

I thought of it in relation to the Daily Attitude Emails.

If you had asked me a year and a half ago to send a couple hundred positive emails over the next 18 months, I probably wouldn’t have begun at all.

But at this point, it is easier to keep going that it would be to get going on this.

Think about the positive habits in your life that you want to expand on.

Exercising once a week? Good start….keep going and add another day or two.

Eating healthy once or twice a week? Good start….keep that up and add one or two more healthy meals in there.

Whatever it is for you, if you have found something positive that you have started on, keep going. It is much easier to keep it up than to start all over.

Jake

I love my job.

Although there are NUMEROUS reasons why I love working at Mavidea, I thought that I would put together a “Top 10” list for today’s Daily Attitude Email. I feel very blessed to be part of this awesome team and here is why:

1. We do the right thing…EVERY DAY. Nothing less, just the right thing. This is evident most often when we perform service for the client. We navigate ourselves with the idea that we are going to do what is right by the client…not based on what is best for Mavidea’s bottom line.

2. We have a diverse team. As we have grown, we have increasingly become more diverse and this will continue as we grow even more. I believe that we have an atmosphere that embraces different perspectives and backgrounds. We are all a team with a unified focus on our clients and each other.

3. We execute. You have heard me say that we are out-executing other firms in our industry and that is the truth. Execution takes focus, hard work, consistency and effective communication. I see all of those attributes daily and as a result, we are moving at a pace most IT firms never experience.

4. We are focused on our culture. Mavidea must be a place that creates an enjoyable lifestyle for each Mavidean. Each one of us is accountable for helping the company enrich our culture and we all embrace that.

5. We love to have fun. We work hard, but we play hard too. This is definitely part of why we have a great culture, but even so, it is worth pointing out. We all know it is OK to be goofy or belt out a song/dance or shoot someone with a Nerf dart when the time is right.

6. We are Go Givers. I have witnessed firsthand numerous scenarios where our Go Giverosity (yes, it’s a word…now) has inspired other organizations to also be Go Givers. In an important way, it is changing our community and touching the lives of so many others outside of Mavidea.

7. We care what people think about us. Almost 5 years ago, we started a company dedicated to serving others. As a result, we care about how that service impacts people. We do our best to generate feedback from our clients as well as our team so that we can continue to improve what we do.

8. We have humility. As a young company, we have had to get out of our own way. We could easily be too proud to make changes or too stubborn to identify and acknowledge our weaknesses. However, we take the opposite approach and genuinely WANT to know how we can improve things within our company. Mistakes are part of the learning process and allow us to get better. We would have never grown this quickly if we had a different approach.

9. We have sooooooooooo much potential. If you think the first 5 years were crazy, HANG ON…it’s going to be a wild ride during the next 5 years. We have built something really special and we will continue to grow and evolve. I firmly believe we can accomplish ANYTHING we set our minds on. Look out, world, here comes Madvideo!

10. Jake’s Daily Attitude Emails. Wow. Can you believe Jake cares about us enough to spend 15-30 minutes early each morning to put this email together? He does this in an attempt to help each of us have a better day and I am grateful. Thank you for doing what you can each day to make a difference. It inspires me to be a better person and work harder myself to make a difference too.

Man, I love you guys.

Everybody Wang Chung tonight…

Erik Barnlund

CEO

Mavidea Technology Group

Security. Stability. Serenity.

www.mavidea.com

erik

Office: 309-829-2000 x104

Toll Free: 888-898-8960

“Don’t crash into that nice lady in the monster truck with the neck tattoos, Brandon!”

This phrase seems to be a daily occurrence around my home. Well, at least a variation of it. I’m someone who likes to play games and find myself constantly making up new ones with my fiancée, the aforementioned Brandon. One of these is “the nice lady” or “the nice man” game.

Here’s how we play:

Everywhere we go, everyone we meet, no matter how gruff or gnarled, we call nice. This could be the lady at Kroger who just rammed her shopping cart in my knees or a guy who cut me off in a yellow, wood-paneled PT Cruiser. Certainly our tone changes (read: laced with irony) depending on whom we mention, but we still try to call everyone nice. In the beginning it resulted in raucous laughter from me, but now the game has taken on a new form: I’m starting to mean what I say.

The thing is, the more people you meet, the more lives you’re involved with, the more you realize how complicated life can be. You never know what someone is secretly going through or what their unspoken struggle is. You don’t know their childhood, their current family situation, or perhaps more simply, the particular way their body is feeling today. Giving people the benefit of the doubt, the clean slate of just being the “nice lady” or “nice man,” is just one way to admit, “yeah, we’re all human.”

Sometimes I find myself hesitating to write in emails, “I hope all this meets you well,” because I can’t see what’s happening on the receiving end of my message. But I do hope that for everyone – even the most difficult of people – things are well.

Let’s keep it up, keep hoping, keep being fast and friendly. Let’s play “the nice game” and wipe the slate clean (even with ourselves). There’s no telling how things might improve.

-BA