Maximize Your Days

 Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day is beginning to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! :)

What a great treat this morning! My oldest son, Payton, has written an incredible message for all of us this morning! I hope you all enjoy!

Please don't hesitate to contact me at any time if there is ever anything I can do for any of you. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious families, and please stay well! :)

Kev

Good Morning and Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this message finds you having a great morning and that you are ready for what will surely be a great day and a great weekend!

My dad is currently on his way to visit me here in Springfield, MO and I am so fired up to be able to spend a weekend with him. I have been given his ultimate blessing to be able to write Happy Friday again, and as I reached out to my dad a few weeks ago expressing my interest in writing another Happy Friday, we decided that today would be the perfect day to take over so that he can get up here quicker. 😊

The purpose of this Happy Friday is two-fold: one, I am going to share a little bit of my heart and my journey these past few months, and two, offer a perspective of what I believe it truly means to maximize our days. Let’s jump right in!!

A few months ago, after finishing up grad school, I was blessed to be given an opportunity to join the Athletics Department here at Missouri State University (GO BEARS) and let me tell you, what an incredible experience it has been thus far! However, I would be lying if it has been anything short of easy, as making a transition is never an easy task, especially when you have such high expectations of yourself. I have always taken great pride in what I do, both to develop myself personally and professionally and the work ethic that I approach every day with, however, I noticed that I was starting to view my days as strenuous, taxing, and unfulfilling.

I decided to pray about it and came to the resolution that the choices I make every single day are either going to take me one step closer to where I wanted to be or are going to hold me back. Each day we have an opportunity when we wake up, it is neither good nor bad, it is simply a new opportunity. The amazing thing is – we ultimately get to determine what we mold each day and each opportunity into. One of my favorite quotes that I have heard comes from Mark Cuban, and he says, “Always wake up with a smile knowing that today you are going to have fun accomplishing what others are too afraid to do.” Wow, what a profound statement from such a successful man.

Whether that be challenging yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually, each and every single day, we have the opportunity to grow and we have the opportunity to simply become the best versions of ourselves.

Where I think I struggled, and where I think others may be in the same boat, is that we tend to view each day with a “have to” mentality. Jon Gordon, a positive thinking coach and author, amongst other things, preaches on the principle of “have to” vs. “get to.” Simply put, just like Mark Cuban stated, we have the choice every day to approach it as either having to or getting to do things. Of becoming our best versions and outperforming others, or not. What I think is beautiful, is that we have the ultimate choice. No one can tell us how to live our days, sure we have commitments we must fulfill, but we GET TO choose how we are going to spend our days. If we want to truly make changes, if we want to truly feel comfortable with who we are and the lives we live, we ultimately have to choose what we spend our time on. There are 24 hours in a day, and each day our actions will be a result of the things we choose to prioritize. How are you going to maximize your day?

I want to close with this quote, and I apologize as I do not have an author… luckily you have Google if you so choose to want to know who it was 😉 “Success does not come from pie-in-the-sky thinking. It is the result of consciously doing something each day that will add value to your overall success.”

Let me challenge all of us to do just that each day.. consciously do something that will add value to the all too important aspects of our lives. Want to improve your physical health? Stop making excuses, just do something physically active! Want to improve your mental state? Do something that makes you happy! Want to experience fulfillment in your day? Serve someone else, for it is better to give than to receive! Want to improve your spiritual health? Spend a couple of minutes in the word, or praying to God, just do something!

Life is too short and too valuable to waste it doing things that we do not want to. Be intentional about maximizing your days and becoming the best version of yourself, the one that you will be proud of at the end of the day. I know it is easier said than done but take it from someone who has been working tirelessly to improve the way I approach my days, just take the first step to becoming who you want to be by taking an intentional step in whatever direction it may be.

I hope you all have a great weekend and that you choose to do things that bring you happiness, you deserve it!

Payton