LIFE IS F*ING HARD.  LIKE super intense stressful hard. IT CAN BREAK YOU.  Suicide.  Drugs.  Alcohol.  Abuse.  Watch the news… My goodness Life IS HARD.

IT CAN FORCE YOU INTO IMPOSSIBLE SITUATIONS.

THERE WILL BE TOUGH DAYS.

THERE ARE PEOPLE THAT ARE GOING TO HATE YOU.  HATE YOU.

YOU WILL FAIL.

AND TRY.

AND FAIL.

AND TRY.

AND FAIL.

So there is one thing you MUST NEVER DO.  That is this:

Do NOT EVER, ever BEAT YOURSELF UP.

DON’T BE HARD ON YOURSELF.

Don’t question your worth.

Don’t be disappointed in yourself.

Don’t be frustrated with your goals.

Your body.

Your effort.

Your situation.

Your friends.

Your lot in life.

Anything.

You must always be your biggest fan.  Not arrogant of course, never.. but inwardly… you must believe in YOU!

Constantly repeat this:

“GOD MADE ME LIKE THIS FOR A REASON.  I am grateful.  I will be the best version of myself.  And when I am not even that… I will do better going forward.”

If you beat yourself up, you will then beat up those around you without you even realizing it.

You are LITERALLY punching yourself in the face… and the world is joining you.  How would you ever overcome your inner demons?  THAT IS GONNA HURT IF YOU DO THIS… ESPECIALLY IF YOU DO IT EVERY STINKING DAY!

Being critical of yourself is a scary, stressful place. If you start questioning yourself…  you won’t win EVER the battle in your head.  So don’t start.

It’s so easy to “be right” when you let yourself get mad at yourself.  So, easy to confirm the inner demons.  So don’t ever do it.  Ever.

Ok.. .maybe I can’t even convince you of this.  So step #2… “the backup plan”…

at least laugh about it….

think about it… you won’t ever be actually the best version of yourself, like this is a winless battle… in less than 100 years…

Remember no matter how hard you try… you are going to end up in a box.  Dead.

ALL OF US WILL BE DEAD.  MOST OF US I HOPE WILL ALL BE IN HEAVEN.  ALL OF THIS WILL BE OVER!  ALL OF IT!  SO LAUGH.   ENJOY ALL OF IT.  EVEN THE SUCKY PARTS.

ANNOUNCE TO YOURSELF…

“I’M ONE SCREWED UP MESS.”  AND SIMPLY LAUGH!

LASTLY…

we are ALL SCREWED UP.  So give yourself a friggin break.

And enjoy the circus my friends!

1. Realize God made you for a reason.  He’s never made a loser. N E V E R.
2. Don’t believe the inner demons.  Give yourself a pep talk, not a beat down.
3. Expect to fail.  Hell, learn to enjoy the failures.
4. We are all in it together.  Realize we ALL struggle.
5. If all else fails, Laugh.  Just laugh.  It will all be over for us someday.

Peace and Grace,

Joel

TGIM!

Often we live life in a fog don’t we?  Not quite sure the path we are on, but so busy we don’t have time to see it all clearly.

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, and Other Addresses

You see team, WE MUST BE THE MOVEMENT.

We’ve heard often:  Join the movement.   Attach yourself to this cause or that belief.

We wait for someone to step up.  And jump on that wagon.  We like it on facebook.  Or we say I’ll pray for you.  Or yeah, I will follow up on that service request.  Or drop $20 on the online charity ad campaign.   I did  part… did I?  At work we say, yeah I love core values, and wear blue every day.  BUT ARE WE THE MOVEMENT!?

This week we will be challenging the Culture Club on Friday.   To BE THE MOVEMENT.    Be the change they want to see.

We don’t want you to simply be part of Drexel’s mission, we want you to BE THE MISSION.   See the difference? You aren’t part of something bigger… you ARE the something bigger.

Don’t have a connection strong enough with your store leader?  Let them know that.  Talk to them, say Hey, you intimidate the crap out of me.   Talk to me like a human dude.

So busy you don’t know where to turn?  Hey, stand up and say, hey someone help me get organized.   A little humility, stand up and say “I don’t know how to get unbusy, but I’m ready to start!”

Maybe you need more training.  Are you waiting for it?  Or are you the mission and grabbing someone and saying IS THERE A BETTER WAY, SHOW ME!?

Are you an enabler?  Always fixing the same mistakes?  Feels good right!  Good to complain but really you enjoy the problems, that way you feel important?  Or are YOU THE MOVEMENT of hey, never again… let’s fix this now with this person so we can finally move on.

I can’t tell you what MOVEMENT to lead.  Each person on our team is different.

Emily Bestul on Friday was super jacked to stay late to finish up sales tax.  I’m dead serious.  Thank GOD for the Emily’s of the world.  Sales tax?  No thanks!  I also know Emily well enough that I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t want my job either… See that IS BEING THE MOVEMENT!

WHAT MOVEMENT DO YOU WANT TO LEAD, TO START, TO LIVE YOUR FULL LIFE?

— Joel

Bonus info I read on a blog from jonandjosh.com…

“Like most people, I used to associate busy with important, successful, or influential. It’s politicians, CEOs, or Entrepreneurs that are busy, but that’s really not the case. 

My fresh perspective on busy came when I heard this mysterious C.S. Lewis quote:

“Only lazy people are busy.”

What in the world does that mean? That’s what I was thinking the first time I heard it too. It means, that people who don’t get focused and control of their day will constantly be tossed by the demands of others, moving frantically from task to triviality. They drift like a tired ship at sea, battered by the waves of the urgent.”

Team,

Let’s say your life is like taking a sailboat across the ocean.

In calm waters, almost any boat, almost any captain, will go far.

When storms hit… you have a decision to make.

DRIFT OR LEAD.

In your life, you are a leader, there are people on your boat, your family, your co-workers, and the teams you lead.

They look to you.  Often when storms hit, the leader shrugs and says “let’s see how this plays out”, and will, because of fear, lack of communication, lack of inspiration, will allow the boat to simply drift with the storm.  They don’t know what to do, so they do nothing.  Inactivity breeds more fear.  Spinning and hitting one wave or another.  Up and down, not going forward, maybe going sideways, but maybe even going backwards.  Not really sure.  Just drifting, up and down, up and down.  Yet the storm rages.    Maybe we will be ok, maybe we will hit a rock.

Hopefully, the winds calm on their own, and we go back going forward.

But sometimes, when we simply drift the boat throws us overboard and we drown or we have a slow leak and slowly you take everyone down with you.  Or in most cases, nothing much happens, we just drift.  Not going forward or back.

But the rare leaders, the best captains, LEAD AND GUIDE with enthusiasm and courage continually during storms.  They might almost seem crazy.  They don’t drift, they YELL FORWARD!  They trust their boat, their team, and themselves.  And with great guidance and help they steer their boat.  It’s the best chance of success in a storm.

Anytime you get ready to confront anything in life, you and your team around you will be filled with “what ifs.”  I believe that is the devil’s work.  It is not reality.   It will drive you crazy though if you allow it.  And those “what ifs” … will make you look at the storm and simply say, let’s pull up anchors, bring in the sails, and just see what happens.  Let’s drift for awhile and freeze in fear.

Or… or the amazing happens.

Team, the below DIRECTLY FROM A NORTHSAILS.COM.

on how to “Sail Through Storms”.  Wow, how life can mirror what we need to do here at Drexel…

“Misery and Danger”

“Although everyone will remember it differently years later, a long, wet, cold sail through a storm can be miserable. As skipper, you need to make the best of it: watch over your crew, offer relief or help to those who need it, and speak a few words of encouragement to all. “This is miserable, but it will end.”

Take the time to marvel at the forces of nature, and at your ability to carry on in the midst of the storm. Few people get to experience the full fury of a storm. It may not be pleasant, but it is memorable.

While misery and discomfort can eventually lead to fatigue, diminished performance, and even danger, do not mistake one for the other. Distinguish in your own mind the difference between misery and danger. Don’t attempt a dangerous harbor entrance to escape misery; that would compromise the safety of the boat and crew, just to avoid a little discomfort.”

DON’T ATTEMPT TO DRIFT.  OR HIDE TO ESCAPE MISERY TO AVOID A LITTLE DISCOMFORT.  LEAD BOLDLY MY FRIENDS!

I BELIEVE IN BEING STRONG WHEN EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE GOING WRONG. – Audrey Hepburn