Life has good days and bad days

About three years ago, after surfing one day I got home and realized I accidentally left my surfboard leash in the beach parking lot. ๐Ÿ˜ข And every time Iโ€™ve returned to the beach since then I park there and think to myself, โ€œthis is the parking lot where I lost my favorite surfboard leashโ€. Wellโ€ฆ. Read more about Life has good days and bad days[…]

Welcome to Bio-Dome. Welcome to the future!

Happy Friday, and happy Earth Day! ๐ŸŒŽ Here are some cool facts and stories about our earth and things within it… – From Sam M: “My favorite nature fact is about trees. They serve an incredibly important function called โ€œcarbon sequestrationโ€. Trees literally pull carbon out of the air and bury it in their roots. Read more about Welcome to Bio-Dome. Welcome to the future![…]

A rare and beautiful cactus ๐ŸŒต

Got this cool note from my friend, Mr. Accidentally Retired… ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ‘‡ “Every year around April 1st, almost to the day, the cacti around us start blooming. The most amazing of all is the Argentinian Cactus, which blooms the big, beautiful, white flowers. (pic below!) The Argentinian in particular is interesting, because it starts blooming at Read more about A rare and beautiful cactus ๐ŸŒต[…]

You are smarter than you think…

Try reading this… Eevn tgouhh tehse wrods rea wirettn unisg jembuld lerttes, uyo cna sitll porbblay udnresnatd waht m’i syanig… T’is baucsee uoy rea sartmre tahn uoy tnihk oyu rea! Today: Trust your gut feelings, your natural intuition, and listen to your spidey-senses… Your ability to figure things out quickly is better than you think. Read more about You are smarter than you think…[…]

Share your passions ๐Ÿ„โ€โ™‚๏ธ

Yesterday I gave a little kid their first surfing lesson. (Actually, it wasnโ€™t surfing at all โ€” he just sat on a boogie board while I pulled the leash around in shallow water ๐Ÿ˜‚. But we still had a lot of fun!) Anyway, it got me thinking… Sharing your passions in life is more fun Read more about Share your passions ๐Ÿ„โ€โ™‚๏ธ[…]

Perfect is the enemy – 90% is good enough

This came in from Paul in San Diego… ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ‘‡ “I struggle with composing responses to work emails. I want to make sure that when I respond to someone, I have all the information that may pertain to their request, neatly formatted the way I believe they want, along with other ‘helpful info’ too. But what Read more about Perfect is the enemy – 90% is good enough[…]

Build the cause –> live the effect.

Cause = why it happens ๐Ÿ’ง Effect = what happens ๐ŸŒป Without cause, there is no effect. Today, you are living the effect of yesterday’s cause. Past events and actions have led you to where you are now. But also today, you are building the cause for tomorrow’s effect. Your future hasn’t been written yet, Read more about Build the cause –> live the effect.[…]

I’m pickin’ up good vibrations

Did you know?…ย  Water can absorb and store sound effects!? ๐Ÿ”ˆ If you play classical music to water as it freezes, the microscopic crystals it forms are beautiful and smooth. If you play death metal or heavy rock music, water forms ugly and chaotic crystals. Same with positive and negative word affirmations… If you play Read more about I’m pickin’ up good vibrations[…]

Living a truly rich life…

“Some people are so poor, all they have is money” Money is importantโ€ฆ But lifeโ€™s true riches lie elsewhere: Relationships. Experiences. Memories. Love. Time. Peace. Wishing you a happy weekend, filled with the good stuff that money can’t buy. Love, Joel My homemade walnut bread turned out awesome!

Show up and do your best

Today’s note comes from Jesse from The Best Interest blog! ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ‘‡ ***** “My college squash coach is the former world #4 player. A tremendous athlete and a cool dude. I always think about something he said… Getting to the top 10 in the world isn’t about playing amazingly and beating other Top 10 players. It’s Read more about Show up and do your best[…]

Zigging and zagging โ†˜๏ธ โ†—๏ธ

“Failure is a bend in the road, not the end of the road” – Roy T. Bennett Reminder for this week ahead: Life rarely goes in a straight line. Projects at work, relationships, finding balance at home, etc… They’re more like twisty, windy adventures. You gotta zig โ†—๏ธย  and zag โ†˜๏ธย  accordingly. Happy Monday, happy Read more about Zigging and zagging โ†˜๏ธ โ†—๏ธ[…]

Fun happenings in the community…

Here are some celebrations and things some of y’all shared… – Ben H turned 38 this week! He’s celebrating “having good friends and a sunny spring weekend to camp on the Oregon coast”. Woohoo! ๐Ÿฅณ – Kathy from Oklohoma said: “7 years ago today, I signed my acceptance letter and paid my deposit for law Read more about Fun happenings in the community…[…]

And the haters gonna hate…

A “hater” is someone who discredits, devalues or downplays your accomplishments. Unfortunately, everyone experiences haters from time to time. Itโ€™s sad, and it hurts. But you canโ€™t let haters get you down or stop you from doing what you do. When a hater attacks you can: a) Spend your time worrying about it, and guessing Read more about And the haters gonna hate…[…]

Look on the bright side

“Look at that poor little tug boat, slaving away pulling the big lazy ship behind” โ€Huh? I see an awesome little tug boat!… Itโ€™s out there inspiring and leading all the bigger ships!โ€ โ€œItโ€™s sad those boats have to work on such a beautiful dayโ€œ โ€What? They have the best work environment ever, doing what Read more about Look on the bright side[…]

Another awesome day to ______________

“While you were waking up this morning, someone else out there was breathing their last breath.โ€ Sorry for the morbid-ish quote so early in the morning… Actually this message isn’t about death… It’s about LIFE!! And how each day you wake up breathing is a blessing. And how we should take advantage of another opportunity Read more about Another awesome day to ______________[…]

Determination Level 100 ๐ŸŒฑ

Check out this tiny patch of grass… Cement has been poured over it numerous times over the decades, and yet this grass continues to crack through and make it’s way to the surface. What awesome determination! Let this grass be your inspiration today. When the cement of life is poured all over you, keep pressing Read more about Determination Level 100 ๐ŸŒฑ[…]

persistence

365 participation awards ๐Ÿ…

perยทsistยทence noun firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition. “You can depend on Janice to always get the job completed because she has patience and persistence” ***** In yesterday’s email I wrote “persistence is your advantage”. It’s one of my favorite reminders that an average skilled person Read more about 365 participation awards ๐Ÿ…[…]

A great way to start Monday

What are 3 awesome things that happened this past weekend? 1. ___________ 2. ___________ 3. ___________ And what are 3 awesome things that are happening this week? 1. ___________ 2. ___________ 3. ___________ Lastly, what are 3 reasons WHY these awesome things are happening in your life? 1. ___________ 2. ___________ 3. ___________ Counting your Read more about A great way to start Monday[…]

Peptalk Hotline Number

Motivational Hotline —> Call (707) 873-7862

Feeling lethargic? Need a pep talk? Call this motivational hotline… Some students over at West Side Elementary School in Healdsburg, California started a project called PepToc. It’s a bunch of pre-recorded motivational messages to help encourage you, pull you out of a slump, or give little bits of life advice. Try it!! Just call (707) Read more about Motivational Hotline —> Call (707) 873-7862[…]

Quick Refocus Questions ๐Ÿ™‡โ€โ™‚๏ธ

What do you want? How far along are you? What is in the way? Who is in the way? How do you feel? What is your very next *small* step? Can you take that small step today, or start this week? ***** Good morning and happy Wednesday! This question stack above has helped me refocus Read more about Quick Refocus Questions ๐Ÿ™‡โ€โ™‚๏ธ[…]

Stresslaxing | A Few Things That Might Help

I heard a new word floating around recently… Stresslaxing. It means: “when relaxing activities make you even more stressed, because you’re not out working on whatever is making you stressed in the first place” Have you ever felt this? Like sometimes stressful work or problems in life start to invade your personal time and you Read more about Stresslaxing | A Few Things That Might Help[…]

Time-out isnโ€™t even that badโ€ฆ

Working with toddlers the past few weeks, Iโ€™ve come to know the power of the words โ€œtime-outโ€โ€ฆ When they’re misbehaving, we say, โ€œDo you want to go to time-out?โ€ or โ€œDo it now or weโ€™re going to time-out. 3โ€ฆ 2โ€ฆ 1โ€ The funny is, weโ€™ve never actually put kids in time-out. I donโ€™t even know Read more about Time-out isnโ€™t even that badโ€ฆ[…]

Your Monday affirmations… ๐Ÿ’ช

Happy Monday, peeps! What an awesome day to be alive ๐Ÿ™‚ Fill in the blanks for your personal Monday affirmations… ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ‘‡ Today I’m feeling ____(positive feeling)___! My superpower is ___(skill)___, and I’m going to use it today to kick ass doing ____(hard task you’re trying to avoid)___. I won’t stress over ___(thing you can’t control)___ Read more about Your Monday affirmations… ๐Ÿ’ช[…]

Everything you do (and don’t do) matters ๐Ÿฆ‹

In 1963 a scientist named Edward Lorenz proposed a hypothesis. It was that… A butterfly could flap it’s wings and set molecules in motion, which could move other air molecules, which move even more molecules, and the ripple could grow and grow to eventually form a huge hurricane on the other side of the planet. Read more about Everything you do (and don’t do) matters ๐Ÿฆ‹[…]

Wow them twice. โœŒ๐Ÿผ

Most people think itโ€™s best to underpromise โฌ‡๏ธ and overdeliver โฌ†๏ธ And while yes I agree thats a good practice โ€‹(itโ€™s definitely better than promising too much and not delivering), I recommended you try this out once in a whileโ€ฆ Overpromise โฌ†๏ธ AND overdeliver โฌ†๏ธ This way you โ€œWow them twice!โ€ (and you might even Read more about Wow them twice. โœŒ๐Ÿผ[…]

Looking for problems (to solve)

One day, a friend of a friend went on Amazon and searched for “pet supplies”. He sorted all the listings by popularity to find the absolute best selling products. Then he clicked into these top products, and went down to the customer reviews section. But, he wasn’t searching for good reviews, he was only interested Read more about Looking for problems (to solve)[…]

Happy V Day! ๐Ÿ’• I love you.

I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you. – Paulo Coelho Today (and every day) the universe is on your side, conspiring to place amazing people in your life. Let’s all celebrate love today. It’s what makes life worth living ๐Ÿ’• Happy Valentines Day, beautiful people! Love, Joel Pacific City, Read more about Happy V Day! ๐Ÿ’• I love you.[…]

Look for the –> bare necessities ๐Ÿœ๐Ÿ›

“Look for the bare necessities The simple bare necessities Forget about your worries and your strife. I mean the bare necessities That’s why a bear can rest at ease With just the bare necessities of life” – Baloo, Jungle Book Hey y’all, it’s the weekend! And I’m thinking we should give away all our worldly Read more about Look for the –> bare necessities ๐Ÿœ๐Ÿ›[…]

Friday celebrations ๐Ÿฅณ

Happy Friday, dudes! There’s so much to celebrate! Here are some good things going on in my world… We sold another rental property! This was a bumpy sale with many twists and turns, but it’s finally all over. Woohoo! ๐Ÿก We received an unexpected $131 check in the mail from a class action settlement. (Funny Read more about Friday celebrations ๐Ÿฅณ[…]

Your friend: Brevity

brevยทiยทty (noun) concise and exact use of words in writing or speech. “She edits her emails with great brevity” ***** Happy Thursday, peeps! Brevity means getting straight to the point. It’s using 1 word instead of 2. It’s crafting short emails, speaking in clear, direct sentences, and removing any possibility of misunderstanding. Brevity is the Read more about Your friend: Brevity[…]

Using weighted matrix

Weighted Decision Matrix Example – (And How To Make Your Own)

Have you ever heard of or used a weighted decision matrix? Itโ€™s a pretty kick ass tool that helps you evaluate tough and complex choices in life. (or in business) Given that many of yโ€™all readers are making big changes this year — switching jobs, buying homes, moving cities, etc — I thought maybe this Read more about Weighted Decision Matrix Example – (And How To Make Your Own)[…]

Your Mind is a Suggestion Engine ๐Ÿง

“Consider every thought you have as a suggestion, not an order.” — James Clear Right now my mind is suggesting that I feel tired. It’s suggesting that I’m up too early. It’s suggesting that I should go back to bed and maybe this 5am thing isn’t fun anymore. Maybe I should give up… But when Read more about Your Mind is a Suggestion Engine ๐Ÿง[…]

Bring the “weekend you” to work today…

Here’s a little secret to having a good Monday… You see, most people think they have to change who they are at work. Monday feels like when the โ€œweekend youโ€ needs to morph back into the rigid โ€œweekday youโ€. But the secret to having a good Monday —> is to never stop being the weekend Read more about Bring the “weekend you” to work today…[…]

List of active and passive leisure activities

Active Leisure vs. Passive Leisure

Active leisure: Often recreational and social in nature, it involves using physical or mental energy. (Like exercise, hobbies, or doing something with friends) Passive leisure: Activities that involve using little or no physical or mental activity. Like zoning out watching tv, scrolling social media or drinking beer while sunbathing. Everybody spends their downtime differently… And Read more about Active Leisure vs. Passive Leisure[…]

Get out of the water

โ€œYou donโ€™t drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.โ€œ โ€“ Edwin Cole A couple reminders for today… Our problems will only defeat us —> if we continue to dwell on them. ๐Ÿ™‡โ€โ™€๏ธ YOU ARE SMART enough to solve your problems. Your abilities are bigger than you may think! ๐Ÿง  Your teammates, Read more about Get out of the water[…]

stars don't shine they burn

Stars don’t shine. They burn.

This was my favorite line from the movie Encanto… Stars don’t shine. They burn. When I first heard it I was like, “aaah, what the heck does that mean?” Then I started thinking… Most people look at stars and see perfect, beautiful, unreachable diamonds that twinkle in the sky. But in reality, stars are raging Read more about Stars don’t shine. They burn.[…]

Surround yourself with positive people

I have a challenge for you this coming month… Think of someone really positive, upbeat, and happy that you don’t regularly speak with. (Or, find someone new in your extended network that you think is cool and motivating). Reach out to them. A short text, DM, or email saying hello and something uplifting. (Eg. Hey Read more about Surround yourself with positive people[…]

Fun Feedback from you awesome peeps!

I love getting replies from you guys. Here are some cool ones from the past couple weeksโ€ฆ ***** In response to the GivingCard Stories email, Murph replied: “To my sweet Joel๐Ÿ’•โ€ฆ I canโ€™t believe you posted that todayโ€ฆ ๐Ÿ’•Thatโ€™s meโ€ฆ๐Ÿ’• Your favorite kindergarten teacher Murphโ€ฆ ๐Ÿ’•Love you always and forever” Whoa! Small world! Nice to Read more about Fun Feedback from you awesome peeps![…]

Parable of the Ducks — YOU have wings!!

There is a town where only ducks live. Every Sunday the ducks waddle out of their houses and waddle down Main Street to their church. They waddle into the sanctuary and squat in their proper pews. The duck choir waddles in and takes its place, then the duck minister waddles forward and opens the duck Read more about Parable of the Ducks — YOU have wings!![…]

“Happiness is love. Full stop.”

Ever heard of the “Grant Study“? It’s one of the longest running studies ever done on human development… It started in the 1940’s when researchers at Harvard Medical School followed 268 college graduates, and studied them for next 75 years! They met with these people regularly through life and measured a bunch of psychological, anthropological, Read more about “Happiness is love. Full stop.”[…]

Bad news and good news…

Hello and happy Friday!!! Sorry I’ve been MIA the past couple days… got some bad news — I tested positive for covid on Wednesday so I’ve been sleeping in and resting a lot. But the good news is: my symptoms are light, my fridge is full, I work from home, my neighbors/friends/family are all supportive, Read more about Bad news and good news…[…]

Your niceness, stretching 2x as far…

Got this email yesterday from my brother… “I was recently reading this article about how during Covid people have been going ape-shit at front-line workers. Long story short, people are insanely rude in public these days. Sad. But the silver lining is, now it’s even easier to totally make someone’s day. Customer service workers report Read more about Your niceness, stretching 2x as far…[…]

Good morning, sunshines! โ˜€๏ธ

Happy MONDAY… It’s time to: M ake your coffee โœ… O rganize positive thoughts โœ… N arrate your task list โœ… D ominate everything on it! โœ… A nd donโ€™t forget to call ๐Ÿ“ž Y our mother and tell her you love her โœ… Have a great week, yโ€™all! Make it the best possible. – Read more about Good morning, sunshines! โ˜€๏ธ[…]

The boy who put the world back together ๐ŸŒŽ

A little boy was bothering his mother after school one day… “Mommy, mommy, can you read me a story?” But the Mom was tired and didn’t have time… She needed a way to distract the persistent little boy. So the Mom grabbed a magazine sitting on the table and tore off the front cover. There Read more about The boy who put the world back together ๐ŸŒŽ[…]

Let it be known…

Good morning everybody! I have an announcement to make… “It is very possible, that I will achieve greatness in my lifetime” How do I know that I will possibly achieve greatness? Firstly, because this fortune cookie told me so ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ‘‡ And secondly… Because I wake up every day, look in the mirror and tell myself Read more about Let it be known…[…]

You’ll be ready –> when you are ready

There’s a lot of pressure these days to do things NOW, achieve things ASAP, to 10X your goals, retire “early”, refashion yourself overnight, etc. Well today’s message is the opposite. Sometimes you’re ready, whenever you are ready. It’s OK to grow at your own pace. And grow you will. When you are ready. It’s only Read more about You’ll be ready –> when you are ready[…]

Doing your best — varies day to day

Came across this awesome graphic yesterday… courtesy of @lizandmollie It got me thinking about how progress comes and goes in waves. Sometimes progress is fast. Sometimes it’s slow. Sometimes it’s backwards ๐Ÿ™ But, there are always more good days than bad ones, more forward days than backwards days, and more satisfaction than regrets. Progress is Read more about Doing your best — varies day to day[…]