This Much

Happy Friday, Friends! 

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

Before diving into this Happy Friday, I would like to pause for a moment and say thank you to all our veterans. I am eternally grateful for your service. I also want to share a couple of quotes that challenge and inspire me when I think of honoring our veterans on Veterans Day:

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy 

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.” – W. T. Purkiser

On Tuesday I attended a prayer breakfast where the keynote speaker was Jeremiah Castille. Mr. Castille played football at the University of Alabama and in the NFL for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Denver Broncos. He now serves as the Team Chaplain for the University of Alabama football team.

Mr. Castille told a great story of when he was playing football at Alabama for legendary Head Football Coach, Bear Bryant. He said he was exhausted, feeling like he could not go on – he actually said he felt like rigor mortis was setting in – when Coach Bryant came in to talk to the team. He said Coach Bryant held his index finger and thumb about a ¼ apart and asked, “Can you get this much better today?” Mr. Castille said he figured he could do that. He then pointed out that if we got just “this much” better every day, over time we will have made great progress.

Mr. Castille was talking about prayer and challenging those in attendance to pray. “Can you get this much better today?” If we did just “this much” every day, over time, how significantly would our relationship with Jesus be? As he noted, it is pretty hard to develop a relationship with someone if you don’t talk to them.

How about you and me? Yes, prayer would be a great place to start, however couldn’t we apply this to every aspect of our lives? If we got just “this much” better today in loving our spouses and children, in pursuing our goals & dreams, in working out…whatever it is that is important to you, how different would our lives be in a week, month, or year? Significantly so!

So that’s it, that is the challenge of this week’s Happy Friday; what is the thing(s) that we can identify that we want to get better at in our lives. Let’s not do what we have done hundreds of times – at least if you are like me! – where you can’t completely change everything today, so you do nothing. Have you ever thought how illogical that is? Let’s just pick one thing, the thing that is most important to us, and then let’s commit to getting “this much” better today. Tomorrow we will get to make the same choice again. If we choose wisely, we will find ourselves in a completely different place soon. And one more reminder; the time is going to pass anyways. Why don’t we utilize it to become the best versions of ourselves instead of circling back in 6 months, full of regret, stuck in the same place?

Here are a few quotes for you to thoughtfully consider:

“Practice the philosophy of continuous improvement. Get a little bit better every single day.”  - Brian Tracy 

“Success is the product of daily habits—not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.” - James Clear 

“This is a fundamental truth about any sort of practice: If you never push yourself beyond your comfort zone, you will never improve.” - Anders Ericsson

“In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.” - Tony Robbins

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. 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 family, please stay well, and Happy Veterans Day! 😊

Kev