Happy #MotivationalMonday (02/22/21) #Accountability ​ Taking accountability for our actions is easy when our actions lead to positive consequences. But what about the times when our choices lead to negative circumstances? It is certainly easier to play the “blame game,” and push the reasons for those circumstances onto someone else. However, no matter how many fingers you point onto others, ultimately we cannot deny being accountable for our actions and the choices we make.

Happy #MotivationalMonday (02/15/21) #Appreciate Taking another small break from my last message from Darren Donnelly’s, “Old School Grit.” I posted this photo a few months ago and I decided to share it again because this message has a lot of meaning today and I plan on sharing it every year moving forward. Seven years ago today, I was at the gym and got a phone call that my dad was not feeling well and was going to go in to the hospital. This was not a huge surprise to me, a

Happy #MotivationalMonday (02/08/21) ​ Part five in my motivational series from “Old School Grit” by Darrin Donnelly is Rule #13, Life is a Series of Wins and Lessons. ​ So many of us allow failure to be fatal or final, when in reality it can be lessons of what not to do. As mentioned earlier in this series, your success is determined by your belief. This is stated because so many of us allow failure to stop our belief in the process and in ourselves. ​ Perspective is everyt

Happy #MotivationalMonday (02/01/21) ​ Part four in my motivational series from “Old School Grit” by Darrin Donnelly is Rule #10, Effort Trumps Talent. ​ T x E = S S x E = A The key to achieving (A) is about putting in effort (E). Talent (T) and Skill (S) are part of the equation, but many mistakenly focus only on talent; when failure happens, they give up on putting in effort. ​ Donnely points out, “Talent, intelligence, and skill are not stagnant things. You can improve at

Happy #MotivationalMonday (01/25/21) ​ Part three in my motivational series from “Old School Grit” by Darrin Donnelly is Rule #9, Eliminate Negative Influences. ​ We have all heard that your attitude is everything, but we forget sometimes how much our attitude is controlled by our own self-talk. Donnelly explains it well in his book. “You have to monitor your self-talk the same way you monitor any other behavioral habit. You can’t talk down to yourself; you have to talk your

Happy #MotivationalMonday (01/11/21) Part two in my motivational series from “Old School Grit” by Darrin Donnelly is Rule #4, Finish Strong. Your response to events (good or bad) in life is crucial to the process of growth and success. I remember not making my All-Star baseball team when I was twelve years old and being really dejected and questioning a lot of things regarding my baseball abilities. I was complaining to my father one day and he stopped me and said, “maybe y

Happy #MotivationalMonday (01/04/21) #Belief We have discussed the process of success many times in our Motivational Mondays. The first step in the process toward success is belief; belief in your abilities, in your preparation, in your work ethic, in yourself! You have to BELIEVE that you can and will, and then you eventually do! Again, it’s a process that takes time. Henry Ford was quoted as saying, “If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right! In this New Yea

Happy #MotivationalMonday (12/21/20) #Process Trust the Process! This is something you have probably heard before, but quickly dismissed because we live in a world where results are so heavily stressed. I am not here to tell you results are not important, but if you are not dedicated to the process, it is unlikely you will get the results you desire. Over the last ten or so years I have really searched for “why” people are successful. What I have noticed is the successful

Happy #MotivationalMonday (12/14/20) #AaronStrong This past Friday would have been Aaron’s seventh birthday. I look forward to the day that he and I are reunited; but in the mean time, I am going to try to be better each day in his honor. Please check out a wonderful tribute my wife wrote about Aaron. Three pounds, four and one half ounces; that is how much Aaron weighed. He was so tiny, but so perfect. Although only five people, including David and I, met Aaron face-to-face,

Happy #MotivationalMonday (12/7/20) #StrongMinded We all have a desire to be strong minded and successful at the things we truly care about. We want to make sure we are training our minds to be strong and not soft. Coach Hines, a motivational influencer I follow on social media, defines S.O.F.T. as Selfish Offended easily Fault finders Tough in speech, but not action Don’t fall into being SOFT, but instead focus on being selfless, forgiving, strength finder, and eage