Do you feel overwhelmed due to the disruption in your life? Jimmy Williams and guest co-host, Lori Few, share their ideas, observations, strategies, and thoughts on creating a “normal” life around the disruption we are experiencing due to the pandemic. In this special episode, your
questions are answered in a frank, honest, and candid manner by our hosts.
Episode Keys:
- Strategies to not only bring order to the disrupted areas of life but to continue to grow and reach your goals during the pandemic.
- Methods to develop and maintain a positive attitude and mindset toward the forced changes in your life.
- Why it is critical that you look for the positives in all aspects of life including times that are challenging.
- The one statement that will change your life exponentially and provide you an opportunity for growth in your mindset.
Podcast Transcript
Good morning! Hey, this is Live a Life by Design with Jimmy Williams. I got to tell you folks I am pumped about today’s episode. Have a special co-host with the most, I’ll introduce in just a few moments. But before we do that, I wanted to let you know something. This has been a unique time for all of us in the world. As we set down to do this episode, I put my mind into the framework of, let’s imagine we’re at our favorite place. One of mine is Paris, France. I just enjoyed that trip so much. As we took riverboat cruises down the river Seine. We also dined inside the Eiffel Tower overlooking the cityscape at night with the different colors across the miles and miles as you looked. We had a seven course meal that you could just, oh, you know, I had to loosen my belt. I’ll just be very honest with you good folks.
Hey! Welcome for joining us again today, and I am excited as I said about today’s episode. We believe that all of us have the control of our own mindset as the power to take back our day, our week, our family, our job. Whatever’s necessary that’s been disrupted by Covid-19. And as a matter of fact, I saw something the other day that really brought to mind how important this is. It was a church billboard that had listed something to the effect of, ‘you don’t have to worry about each year that you live, just worry about the day that you’ve been given’. Now that’s kind of the focus we need to take during a time of disruption like this. But overall, all I want you to do today is when you’re listening to this is we want you to get a positively powerful pure message of today is all we have. Let’s enjoy it and make the most of it.
And by cutting down this pandemic into one day at a time, you’ll gain control. You’ll feel more confident and you’ll feel more positive and you’ll go out and make the day a better day. But you heard me mention a while ago, that I have a special co-host with the most. I call her the Mouth of the South, no I do not call her that. Mrs. Lori Few is with me today.
LF: Good morning everybody. Thank you for having me. And I’ll take Mouth of the South, I really will.
JW: She is the Queen of Coffee by the way folks, too, there’s nothing going in that mouth before 7 am but coffee, I can assure you. No food, she doesn’t do anything, right?
LF: Amen. Priorities.
JW: So, hey, Lori, today’s episode’s gonna be kind of fun. Yea, I hadn’t seen you in a while, I know you’ve been busy. What is this thing, is Covid-19 bothering you or anything?
LF: Well, you know, there’s that. I mean it kind of is the focus of everything. It’s the word that you never want to hear but somehow constantly hear. I would take another word, like Laffy Taffy, I don’t know, a couple words.
JW: Absolutely, Double Bubble, which is my favorite gum.
LF: Yes, yes, anything except that word.
JW: Well, I want to take you back just a couple of three episodes, back to episode 72 for just a moment. We shared some strategies in that episode that helped you change a negative to a positive. The title of the show was actually ‘Change your * to an !’. And so what I was talking about there, was giving you some strategies so people wouldn’t feel their year was wasted. Cause, I gotta tell you Lori, we do not have years to waste. We don’t have days to waste in our lives. So we believe that you must control your own destiny and you don’t allow anyone, anything, or any virus to derail you from your goals and dreams. So today we will tackle a unique episode topic. We call it our ‘Ask Me Anything’ episode. In simple terms this means I will ask Lori very personal and intrusive questions which she’s duty bound to answer.
LF: Is that reciprocal?
JW: No, no, no, the primary host never has this problem. No, that’s not the purpose of this episode. But, we will share some of our more personal thoughts, observations, strategies, hacks, tactics. Whatever we must use so that we know your questions are answered and today I want to get started with one big question for Lori. Boy, right of the gate, Lori, just boom. Are you ready?
LF: No.
JW: So, how has your world at home changed in the past few months due to Covid-19, and what will you continue doing after the pandemic has passed and why?
LF: Oh, goodness. Well, I think the main thing that I’ve learned is I’m a very type A personality, and so I have found out about myself. I may or may not have a control issue.
JW: May or may not.
LF: May or may not, I’m limiting that to maybe. It’s really changed a lot, I mean, it’s changed our family dynamic financially. It’s changed our family dynamic health-wise. And it’s changed how we function every day, because every day is potentially different and I’m very much a planner and like to have things mapped out and you know, have a goal in mind for the day, the week, the month, and the year. And so that all has been so fluid and we’ve had to adopt the word flexible in our household to really kind of set the tone, because it’s very overwhelming if you think about it in terms of everything is changing from, I mean, the minute you get up to the midday to the evening. You just have to really be flexible, but the one thing that I’ve picked up, actually Jimmy, I took a page out of your book. I started journaling.
JW: Oh.
LF: So, you know, a couple of episodes ago, we talked, well, more than a couple of episodes. See, you lose time during all this Covid too.
JW: Yes you do.
LF: You lose sense of time. So it was probably many episodes ago, that we talked about the one big thing that we were gonna do this year to get out of our comfort zone, and so I was really looking for some way to kind of burn some stress and figure out how I felt about things without verbalizing those things I took a page out of your book, and I’ve started journaling and it’s been really eye opening for me because it’s a time for me to be open and honest and I think that other people are looking for an outlet, just like that during this time. We all have opinions and we all have things that we feel strongly about one way or the other. But maybe not necessarily comfortable sharing publicly or even with our close friends. And so being able to write those things down, it has been very therapeutic for me. And that’s one thing that I have picked up during this time that I definitely will continue to work on.
JW: So not to just add, if you will, fuel to the fire of Covid-19. Now we’re also into one of the biggest elections, and I’m not here to talk about politics, I’m just saying that’s another added stress to a lot of people in our country. And I will tell you, if you could read some of my journal pages I get so frustrated with this whole process that we allow too much of that outside interference to affect our internal feelings and beliefs. And what I mean by that is, is, you know, they’re gonna have an election in our country, whether you want it or not. It’s in the constitution. When to do it, how to do it. And at the end of the day, you’re one vote, and I am encouraging everybody that’s a valid voter in our country. Go vote. I’m not telling you who to vote for, but go vote. Be a part of that process. But what this has changed for us, as you know now. We’ve now politicized things such as the post office, or whatever, and I’m just like, you know, come on folks. We’re better than this.
LF: Well, and we’re all better together and I think that’s something that we have to continually stress to everybody is that we have one world. One country, one nation and we’re all here walking on this planet together and at some point we just have to throw our hands up and say, you know, we can’t control what we can’t control. But we are better together and united in a positive front.
JW: Absolutely now, one thing too, and our listeners are very, very astute people, one of the things you did besides journaling and we did talk about that and I’m glad you picked up that habit. But you also had another unique habit that I hadn’t heard before that episode and you had mentioned to me that you’re doing some, I’m gonna phrase it the way you did. Maybe some adult coloring books.
LF: Yes.
JW: And I’m not sure exactly if we want to get too far beyond that.
LF: That one got me in trouble. I’m sorry, listeners. I’m still sorry about that whole conversation, I never knew it was gonna take a turn, but I am still doing that.
JW: So, is that something you have to keep hidden from your children, I mean, what…
LF: No, no! Yea…it’s very G rate, I promise.
JW: Oh, good. Ok.
LF: Except when you look in my Amazon cart and it says, you know, adult coloring book, that’s such a misleading statement.
JW: Oh, my gosh, we have more fun that should be legally allowed.
LF: Well, so, Jimmy, I’ve got a question for you.
JW: Ok.
LF: What has been one of the most impactful findings you’ve experienced due to the pandemic?
JW: Man, what a great question. I’m gonna give you a couple. Actually, first and foremost is our team at Compass Capital Management is so resilient, resourceful, imaginative. I really knew they were good people. We hire good people. But they really shot this thing through the park man. They came out and said, hey, no big deal, here’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna still take care of our clients, we’re gonna still hold our meetings. We’re gonna still need to do. And they have done that with technology. With creativity. With utilizing some of our changes to our conference rooms and things that we do there so that we can set social distance. Matter of fact, our marketing manager, she went out and she said, hey I’m ordering some masks with our company name on it. And we gave out hundreds of masks. And it just really made me feel good that the team saw the bigger need of the public and were resourceful at a time when others may have been just kind of retreating, and going, hey, you know this is all gonna affect me negatively and we really found a way to keep moving forward and that really was one thing that impacted me positively. The second thing, though, that I experienced that was impactful was the use of the technology we have today to greater degrees. For example, I probably don’t use some of the software we have 20% of what it can do. And we found with Zoom and some of our other technology that it really is a communication tool. Not just that, but it’s also what I consider like, I’m a Star Trek fan as you know, this is my transporter beam man. I can be anywhere on the planet. If I can just get you to Zoom, I can talk with you if you’re in Tanzania or if you’re in Tennessee. And so we have clients all over the country and I have friends all over the globe. And I have used it to just stay in contact with friends. You know, too many people go, I’m so tired of Zoom meetings, and I’m going, hey thank goodness we had it.
LF: Yes.
JW: But also thank goodness we had it because I’ve got to touch the lives of friends of mine and they touched my life of course. Going, hey guys, how are you doing in Australia? You know, we have listeners, one of our 27 countries of which we’re now heard, the top 4 countries, the fourth one is Australia. For whatever reason, so I plan to do a recording while I’m in Sydney someday, after Covid.
LF: I was gonna say.
JW: I’m gonna go over there. I’m hoping they’ll let me in the opera house. I’d like to go there if they’d let me. I’m going to try and work on that. And you know, if I try something, I’ll do it.
LF: I was about to say look for that to be coming 2021, ladies and gentlemen.
JW: Yes, so for my friends in Australia, our hearts go out to you for all this mess too. But for everyone that listens, I do want you to know though, I do believe the positivity items are out there. Lori, we just have to look a little harder.
LF: Oh, I absolutely agree with you. And I think Zoom has really been an eye opening tool and thank goodness we’re able to use that because it’s connecting families that, you know, they may not, they may live in the same town but due to this situation they can’t get together. And so we’re able to still see and hear our family, our friends, and our co-workers and it’s really a great way to stay connected.
JW: You know, and one of the things I love about the advances that Zoom Corporation has come out with are these things called meeting rooms. So we can actually put different people in different rooms. They can have private, if you will, conversations while others are meeting on other topics. And we have used that on some of the boards I serve. And that was another thing, so I don’t know about you. You’ve been very philanthropic in your life as well. And I did not want to see those great causes that I have my heart poured into suffer during this time. And heaven forbid they have suffered from revenue, right? People are just trying to hang on and we just use these technology items to reach out to those that are benefactors, and that, for example, we love the Oklahoma City and Tulsa Philharmonics. We went ahead and made donations that if we’re gonna buy our tickets because they still gotta pay musicians.
LF: Right.
JW: And so Dena and I were talking, and I go, hey look, we’ve already spent the money just let them keep it for the tickets and we’ll go next year. And our whole point to that is, is those things that are important to us will find a way to get it done. And that’s what’s been most impactful for me, is just stay the course. Right?
LF: Well, and you know, my eleven year old has a saying from Jurassic Park, that life finds a way.
JW: I love that.
LF: You know, that’s his, that’s been his statement during all of this. Is that, don’t worry mom, life finds a way.
JW: It does, and you know from the minds of children, too, so think about this. As adults we get so boxed in to how things have to be in the norm. That’s what I love about kids your son’s age. They are so creative. They go….
LF: They are.
JW: There is no box man, or if there’s a box it’s like fifty miles wide in each direction. That’s what I love about these kids.
LF: It’s so true and during this time we have, you know, having an eleven year old. And we laugh because kids aren’t meant to be quarantined.
JW: Right.
LF: Just period. But just really focusing on them and their creativity has helped the adults, you know, in my life because when we’re stressed out and we’re, you know, thinking about how we’re gonna do the next thing. They’re over there creating things that are gonna far surpass our imaginations. And it’s just in the comfort of their own home. It’s amazing to watch their minds, the way they work.
JW: So, I’m gonna say something. You know I always pour my heart out here. I’ll never lie to anyone on this podcast. I may embellish a little, but I will not lie.
LF: A little?
JW: If my mother and dad had done to me what’s been done to these poor kids in this community about this quarantine business they would have had to put me in a straight jacket or as my dad would say, tie you up and hang you in the barn.
LF: Yea.
JW: My goodness, we were never indoor kids. And a lot of these kids today are not, but their mom and dads are saying, hey, look, you know, can’t go to the theater. We can’t go to the skate park cause it’s not open. We can’t go see a bunch of friends, but you know, at the end of the day the kids found a way. I noticed there are some online games, they played each other. Even in the same community. But they can play with each other. I don’t know how all that works to be honest with you, but they do. And one of my great nephews said, hadn’t slowed me down a bit. I got the highest score in whatever game they’re playing, you know. So kids find a way.
LF: They do, they really do.
JW: It’s incredible.
LF: They’re far more innovative. And I don’t know what level as adults we lose that sense. But I certainly hope that adults can watch some of the kids in their lives and really take a page out of their book, because its…
JW: You bet.
LF: invigorating to me.
JW: I’d like to see us adapt. You know, just sit and watch children. You know sometimes we take them for granted. You know, they’re our kids and we know they’re good kids most of the time, they’re ornery part of the time. That’s being a kid. But sometimes if you’ll just watch how they problem solve and adapt that to your level of what your need is. To me that’s some pretty powerful messaging.
LF: It is.
JW: So, well, Lori got another question here from the audience for you.
LF: Ok.
JW: What are you seeing in the world that has been positively impacting that brings a sense of community to your church, office, etc?
LF: What immediately comes to my mind is, of course, and we live in a community where whenever there is a need there is always a response. So we’re very fortunate in that regard. But the thing that I’ve seen the most is just a willingness of people to say we’re not sure what they need it, but if you’re willing to come and discuss it or share it with us, we will help find a way for it to be met. And whether that’s through multiple organizations doing food drives and clothing drives. And you know, we talk about kids and how flexible and creative and innovative they are, but that’s where I’ve seen the greatest support is an outpouring of, you know, school supplies. Local organizations that are just willing to just throw open the doors and say pandemic or no pandemic, we know that there’s still a need and we will do whatever we have to to try and meet that need. What people can’t give in financial donations are now being seen in sweat equity. And I’ve always been raised that you get out of it what you put into it. And so that’s been the beautiful thing for me to see is that, you know, not shoulder to shoulder, like we are accustomed to. Working together hand in hand. But at a distance, you know, recently I saw a group of individuals that up and decided that the grass was too high at one of the area walking tracks. And so they didn’t have anybody tell them what to do. Or ask them to do it. One individual started and another friend drove by and saw him and decided to go home and get his mower and before you know it. The park was beautiful again. And so that’s what I have been able to see is just people doing things without having to be asked. And I love that.
JW: You know, so that’s a part of what we espouse here at Live a Life by Design. Is don’t be in the community. Be a part of the community.
LF: Absolutely.
JW: That’s a big difference.
LF: Huge difference. And I think it gives people a, you know, we talk about buy in. And how we want people to be part of something, but I absolutely think that during this time people have instead of being negative and buying into what they can’t do, they’ve really decided that they are going to try and control what they can do and make that positive for themselves and for other people. Because more than anything we have figured out, by being positive it makes the situation better for what we cannot control.
JW: You know, reminds me of the little boy. There was a story that was told, that he came home from a tough day at school. He was about the second or third grade and he came in and he said dad, I think I have flunked my arithmetic test. And his dad says son, now that’s no way to be. You need to be positive. And he said, ok dad, I am positive I have flunked my arithmetic test.
LF: See, that would be me. I am so not the math person. Please don’t ask me to do math. I am not your girl. I can do a lot of things, but I know my limitations.
JW: I understand. I understand. We all have them. We have them. Except for Mrs. Williams. She’s superwoman. I don’t know how she does it.
LF: She’s perfect. She’s the perfect woman.
JW: But you know at the end of the day my point I’m making there is you’re right. The positive mindset helps you find those little nuggets of positivity that are happening that you might can go out and expand with a little contribution from yourself.
LF: Yes.
JW: And then just watch how that just grows, if you will, from others seeing you out there. I love that. Love that.
LF: So here’s another question for you, Jimmy. And this is a tough one and I need you to be 110% honest. Don’t sugar coat, ok?
JW: Ok.
LF: How do you keep your positive mindset during this time of devastation for so many people?
JW: That, that is a tough one. And I’m gonna give you a very heartfelt, but positive and honest response. It takes a lot of work. I’ll tell you what. I do not watch TV much anymore unless I program something on our recorder that says I want this, it’s got some value to it and then I can speed through the commercials even. I’m probably one of the worst people that says, hey, I want to watch TV. I really don’t watch TV, I do go in and observe recordings and I have to watch it that way. Now, you know, the other thing I do too is I fill my mind with positive, powerful messages by reading good books. I don’t read, you know, I don’t read 50 Shades of Grey, I’m not trying to demean that book, but I mean it’s not set up for reality. I’ve not read it, but I’m assuming that’s the case. And so, at the end of the day I read things from powerful people. I read memoirs, I read things such as George Washington. Matter of fact I read it again during the start of this pandemic. George Washington’s biography and I feed off that stuff. And the reason why we have to do that, Lori, it’s so important. It’s because your brain is like a bank account. If you don’t make those deposits consistently of all that powerfully positive stuff, you’re pouring it out trying to keep others in your family, your community, your team at work. You’re just trying to keep everybody as positive as possible. And at some point, if you don’t feed yourself, guess what, you’re kind of like the airplane situation, right? It says put your seatbelt on first and help your child. And I always thought that was backwards. And now I think, no, they’re absolutely right. Take care of yourself first so you can help others and help more people. And so the way I keep my mindset is I just don’t allow Negative Nancys to sit and try to, you know, fill my mind with stuff that I don’t wish to have in there. I’m being very frank with you, I do my bible study every morning. I start my day off with all that nutritional fact stuff that I need that’s positive before I ever step out in the world and go, ok Covid, bring it on. What do you got?
LF: Bring it on.
JW: Bring it on. Now I will tell you, by the end of the day I lie down probably 10:30 or so at night. And I will tell you, after that shower, I’m tired, I’m beat down. I have to feed my mind again. So I read at night to go to bed. And I’ll usually read something that’s very positive, or I’ll read something that’s informational. And it is not all about, none of it’s about money. I read about people cause that’s what inspires me. There’s a memoir of a lady coming out, I’m sure pretty soon, the Lori Few Book of Life. I’m wanting to get that. But whenever she gets that written and published I want to be a part of that. But my point, Lori, is this. You have to control what goes into your mind. We are a sentient being, we have to be able to take care of ourselves, and we are just one person. But I have the utmost respect for my kids, my wife, my family, my friends like you. I have to pour out some of that to help those people in times of need. That’s just Jimmy, not everybody feels that way, maybe, but that’s just Jimmy. And that’s what makes my life so special, I think. Does that answer your question?
LF: Well, yeah, that is absolutely, I feel like that’s a very open and honest answer. But don’t count on me to write a book, Jimmy. I’m gonna leave that up to you.
JW: Well, you just keep coloring those adult coloring books, and we’ll be ok with that.
LF: Well…
JW: Maybe a graphic novel, eh?
LF: Uh, no.
JW: Well, hey here’s one for you, Lori. This is a pretty tough one. I don’t know, boy you’re gonna have to answer this one pretty diligently. How do you maintain your full time professional career, which you have, role as a mother and wife, your charitable benefactor role, and other roles you conduct in life during “normal” times differently during the pandemic?
LF: Oh, gosh, that’s a tough one.
JW: How many balls are in the air, right?
LF: Well, I mean and it goes back to that whole thing about me being a control person. I’m a very type A. And scheduling and I think that’s the hardest thing, I’m a very detailed person, I love a good schedule. I love a good Google Calendar and lots of cups of coffee to go along with that Google Calendar, because that’s how I cope. But during this time we’ve had, it goes back to Zoom. We do a lot of things through that, we do a lot of things through Facetime. I’m still working with my parents, they’re the worst. It’s like mom, pull it down. No, ok, I can only see like half of you, you know? So we worked through that, we’re getting there. We’re getting pretty good. We’re getting some tips. but it’s really hard. I, of course, work in the educational field. And we have suffered greatly, you know, not being able to see students on a day to day basis. And I listen to principals and teachers and administrators and their hearts are just broken because they absolutely love seeing their kids, and we had the opportunity to use Google Meet and Zoom in the spring during the pandemic during the shut down and it’s just not the same. It’s great, it’s a wonderful tool to be able to connect, but it’s not the same as being in person. And that’s been really hard to, you know, adjust to, and of course, I have a kid at home as well and balancing his education plus trying to work, plus trying to keep charitable things on the back burner, you know, trying to make sure that all those things happen. But it is a one step. One foot in front of the other type of scenario and you just have to be willing to say, oh, ok, well that Zoom meeting at 10, well now it’s bumped to 12. And that piece of homework, yeah, we’re gonna wait and do that maybe later. And if it’s math, I’m yelling for dad. But it’s really been eye opening too, in a sense that you start to figure out what really puts you on fire. You know, that you have that really burning desire to do. And during the pandemic we realized that maybe some of the things that we thought were very important priorities on our list really weren’t. We really didn’t miss them as much as we thought we did. And we’re starting to find that there are other things now that are moving towards the top of the list that we think are more important. And so I really think it’s just a personal preference of what you’re willing to be ok with during this “normal” time. And I think some of that could change. But what you’re really passionate about, regardless of a pandemic or a virus or a personal set back or a situation. If you’re really truly passionate about it, you’ll still find a way to do it and to make it happen and I think that’s been the blessing in all of that, is, ok, I really do still have control of some of this. Especially for a type A control person.
JW: I want to add just one item to that too. I think one of the critical things for Lori and me and anyone that has a real mission or purpose in life is that why you do something or why you don’t do something is still very, very strong. Maybe it’s more enhanced during the pandemic, for example. My why, you know, I just felt such a duty to our clients to say, hey, we’re gonna lead there in this thing. That’s what we do. We will not stop. And I go back to President Eisenhower. Had a great book out on how to plan for war. You know, he was a general in the military and he said, you know, planning is critical. Planning is a must. Planning must be done. And it’s all great until the first bullet flies. And so you’re thinking, like, well, ok, well everyday I get up and plan my day and plan my day. And I will tell you, admittedly during Covid, not so much before, I have now started writing my plans down in erasable ink. I bought some erasable pens because, you know, I’m thinking, hey, I’ve got the day set up the way I wish, then all of a sudden one of our clients had a need that I didn’t even know was on our agenda today, and you just have to be flexible with that. And so your why is what I want people to take out of that as well. Investigate why that’s important. And like you said, those things that were important before, maybe just moved down the chart a little bit during Covid, right?
LF: And that’s ok.
JW: Sure.
LF: Acceptance is another word. You just have to kind of accept that this, you know, and I hate cliches, but it is what it is.
JW: It is what it is. A certain president, and I got in trouble for saying that so I won’t say that much.
LF: Oh gosh, don’t say that. Ok, next question. This is a good one.
JW: Oh no. Ok.
LF: You never seem to have a bad day. Are you a robot? A cyborg or some type of other cybernetic being?
JW: Well, I didn’t want this to come out, but I guess it will. Yes, I run on AAA batteries. And two behind each ear, no. Hey, you know, I will tell people, they ask me this. I get accused of being a minister all the time. They go, are you a Baptist preacher or something? You’re always smiling. You’re always happy. And I say, no, but let me say this. I only have 24 hours. I’ve got one day that I’ve been given today. This is all I’ve got given. There’s nobody giving us anymore tomorrow until we wake up and see if we get that. And I will say to them, I have had no bad days in my life. I’ve just had some better than others.
LF: True statement. That’s a true statement.
JW: So, I’m just like everyone else. I’ve got to be honest with you, about, during Covid, probably I’m normally about 1% off my game, and probably have 1% of bad times. During Covid I’ve probably been up to about 4 or 5% just because I didn’t like my kids suffering though some things they had to. Gabrielle had to move home from college early. Come home, spring break, we thought we were just gonna have spring break and you know, the institution said, hey take a couple of weeks and come back. Oh, boy, that didn’t happen. And so, you know, vacations, we had, Dena and I had planned a very lovely trip to go to Canada and then guess what, they shut the borders down. You can’t get to Canada, we cancelled that. Our trip to Europe got cancelled. So, I mean, I’ll be honest with you, and after our speaking engagements this year I was scheduled to speak all across the country and after we got about the, I don’t know, the 15th one of those called in and said hey, you know, why don’t we wait til 2021. I’ll be honest with you I got just a little bit down on myself for about 30 minutes, and then I started, you know…
LF: 30 minutes, that’s all? I do, I have people ask me all the time. They’re like, you work with Jimmy on some things, is that for real? Is he for real like that all the time? Or is that a put on. And I’m like, no, that’s just Jimmy. Jimmy’s a whole brand in himself.
JW: Oh man, I don’t know if I’d say it that a-way. I will say this is, my mother does. My mother said a little Jimmy goes a long way.
LF: Well, depending on who you ask. I’m sure people would say the same about me.
JW: I gotta be honest with you, Lori, it’s so funny though. When I work with groups, especially of my not for profit groups where I just love to go in and give my time and passion, my thoughts, and my emotions to it. And money as well. But to me it’s more about injecting myself in that process to make life better for that group, whoever that is. And, you know, they’re just like, man, I tell you, you’re fired up about this, now I said, if you’re not then you don’t need to be here, right?
LF: It’s so, yea, I totally agree with you.
JW: So, I’m not saying we all have to be fanatical, and I don’t see myself as fanatical. I just see myself as pretty even keel, but my even keel is, I’m gonna have a good day. One way or the other, I start it out right with my morning routines, I keep my mind focused on positive things. I turn that old news off. I listen to a lot of jazz guitar music and stuff and who couldn’t have a great day with that, right?
LF: Yea, that’s very motivating. But going back to that spring break statement, I think we’re at 100 and last I heard 160 days of spring break. Longest spring break ever.
JW: Guinness Book of World Records.
LF: Yea. See, there ya go! Something to think about.
JW: Well, now Lori, since you’ve put me on the spot, here let me throw one at you. If you could change one thing about your current life situation, except for husbands, what would it be and why?
LF: Oh man, you knew that was my answer. Oh. You knew that.
JW: You better not.
LF: Well, God love him. I think if I could change one thing, and I know this is gonna sound bad. I think I would not have taken up running.
JW: Really?
LF: During this pandemic, I decided I needed to do something healthy. I saw other people being outside and being active and getting things done. And I thought, well, if they can do it, I can do it, right? And oh no. I like it, I’m glad I’m sticking with it. Maybe post Covid I won’t, but if you see me running, I used to say things like, if you see me running I’m being chased or something is on fire. Cause I was never that person. I was never the athletic type. I was the girl in 8th grade when the basketball coach said, when we were signing up for 9th grade classes, the basketball coach, said, yea, you don’t need to sign up for basketball. You need to go join the band or something. And so I did. So I’m not an athlete at all. But, if you, if you’ve seen the meme, which is very popular. If you’re not familiar with memes I’d highly recommend them during this time, they’re quite funny. I use them for humor. But I found a meme that says, I may look like a turtle running through peanut butter, but I’m running.
JW: That’s right.
LW: If I could change that, I don’t know, I’ve had a lot of sore knees. I’m not as young as I used to be. I will tell you that the proper footwear makes a difference. I did not know the difference between a running shoe and a fashion shoe. And I always thought I was a shoe connoisseur. I was kinda prided myself on that. I was very humbled to find out that I did not know the difference, so if I could change one thing, that might sound superficial, but I’m being completely honest here. I’d maybe not, maybe I shouldn’t have taken up running.
JW: My one running story, I’ve got to tell you. So, I don’t, I do run, I call it a runner. If you’re moving more than a walk you’re a runner.
LF: OK!
JW: That’s my theory.
LF: I’m glad to know that classification.
JW: I’m more on the consistency not the short term fast paced stuff. But anyway, my first run. So I had gone to Fleet Feet, which is a very good store for getting proper shoes, maybe insoles that you need. The right sweat whisking type clothing to put on, man I was pumped. I was gonna go to my first race, my first 5k. I had trained hard for 8 weeks and it was in Tulsa, and I’ll never forget this in my life. I was just lining up, man I was pumped, I mean I was ready to go. I had the old bib tied on to the shirt. And I was stretched and I was ready to go. I was at the starting line, the very front, right on the line, thinking I’m just gonna set my pace, my vision is that next light pole. That next light pole, that next light pole, you see where I’m going?
LF: Uh huh.
JW: Well this lady with a clipboard that had to weigh, and I’m not trying to be rude, 450 pounds if she weighed a pound. She walks up to me and she says, you need to go to the back.
LF: OH!
JW: And I didn’t, be honest with you, Jimmy was on focus man, I was on winning my race for my age group and I said, I beg your pardon. She goes, you need to go to the back with those people. And she said you’re in what’s called the Clydesdale division. And I said, no no no, I said I’m in this age group, I don’t know what that means. First race. I’ll be honest with you, so naive, and she looked at me again and she said, look behind you. And I looked behind me and there was a gentleman there had to be about 24 at the most maybe. Body fat percentage of maybe about 6. Lean, no shirt, took his bib…
LF: Oh, serious.
JW: probably with safety pins and put it through his skin. This is a tough, tough guy. No he had it on his shorts. But anyway, tough young man, and had a headband on that he made himself. Wrapped it with a do-rag. Kind of thing, and I said ok, so? She goes, in about 10 steps he’s gonna run right over your back, so you need to go to the back of the line. And I was so disenfranchised. I went back there, I still ran it in 31 minutes.
LF: Hey, that’s good.
JW: For 3 miles, yea, and so what I was sitting there thinking, I prepared all this to do well, and this lady came up and just burst my bubble at the very first.
LF: She did.
JW: And I wanted to go up to her after the race and go, ok what was your time?
LF: Oh, yea.
JW: You know, but I didn’t do that because you don’t return evil for evil in my book, but at the end of the day I learned something very wisely there. I learned what you were saying. If we’re gonna take up a sport or do anything like that. We have to have a why. Why are we doing this, and yours was I need to get out and do something because of this Covid, and I need to get out of the house.
LF: Yes.
JW: And my why was to say, ok, a guy that normally maybe carried a football 10 yards or hit a baseball and ran 90 feet at the time, or on the basketball court never really was a long distance runner and I know 3.1 miles is not long distance, but to me it was.
LF: Yea.
JW: But I will tell ya, I have enjoyed running and to this day, now I will tell ya, my best record, 29 minutes, I have deviated about 2 minutes. So I’m just a Steady Eddie, that’s all I do.
LF: Focused, blinders on.
JW: That’s it. Another horror story though, I will tell ya that I didn’t mean to do. And folks at Live a Life by Design we here care about everybody unless we’re at a competitive event.
LF: Full disclosure.
JW: So we’re running in a run, here in our local city, and it was called the spaghetti run, and they had a one mile fun run or they had a 5k. So I signed up for the 5k. Now I’m on my outbound run. And then on my way back, there’s a bridge and it’s about oh, 200 yards or so before the finish line. There’s a little girl that had to be about 8 or 9 years old, just crying her head off, running toward that finish line. And I’m coming up on her, and I can hear her just wailing. You know, momma said I needed to do this, blah blah blah. Anyway, and I get up beside her being cheerful Jimmy and I said, hey, come on, we’ll run together. Well, what I didn’t know was one thing. I didn’t know they were videotaping the finishes. So if you look without context, it looks like hey, this old man’s getting beat by a 7 or 8 year old little girl. So as we get within eyeshot of that and I see it, and I just take off, and this little girl was screaming and you could hear her go, you said you would run with me. So…
LF: Sorry kid.
JW: Yea, that didn’t go too well.
LF: Oh no.
JW: There were others there, but I’m an athlete.
LF: But that competitive spirit is to be, is to be applauded. For sure.
JW: Hope she’s not some kind of serial killer today or something because I ruined her. But anyway.
LF: It’s all your fault.
JW: It is, it is. Oh my gosh.
LF: Well, ok, back to the task, continuing with these pressing Ask Me Anything questions.
JW: They’re tough.
LF: Yea, they’re tough. You have shared a tremendous amount of information about how you structure your days for effectiveness in achieving your goals. During this time of disruption, do you feel any overwhelm, lack of direction, etc. Please elaborate.
JW: You know, yea, to be very honest with you I am a structured person. I have my planner there every morning I get in there and work on it. But I will tell you during some of this monotonous time that I call, if you’re just stuck in your house when this first started. About the first week I was really out of sync and didn’t have my game plan down. I wasn’t set up with the technology as I should have been. Cause I really just didn’t think it was going to be that big of an impact to us. And of course, I was way wrong. And so, yea, I’d say about the first week, I’ll give it a week to 10 days. I was really just out of sync, more just on the phone going hey, what can we do to make this work, how are we gonna get this working? And got the team together. We had plans for catastrophe, but this was a little different and so we basically got together by phone, and then got the Zoom thing going and just started using all of our technology we have. We use Slack, we use Asana for our work projects we have. I mean we have all these packages of things that work just fine. I just allowed myself to kind of “go in the gap” for a little while. Hey, this is a different environment. I need to do something differently. I changed my morning routine up, to be very honest with you. I was getting up that first week at 4 in the morning instead of 5 or 5:30 for no reason. I just couldn’t sleep. And finally I said, hey, you know, I’ve got to take charge of this. As you said earlier, I’ve got to control what I can control. And one thing I can control is my mindset. And I said, you know what, this is it. Jimmy wins, Covid loses and this is how it’s gonna work. And I made sure I got back to my planner, I got, made sure I was on my goals. I did adjust a couple of my goals, cause one of my goals was to take my wife to Europe for a month. That’s not gonna happen. So we moved that to next year. And we did some different goals, but we still had to move forward, and my whole thought process to this is how do I maybe get rid of this disruption is don’t allow it to have space in your head.
LF: And more importantly, ladies and gentleman, you heard it first here on Live a Life by Design Jimmy Williams admitted he was wrong.
JW: Boy, more times than you know. And we’ll do an entire episode on that with Mrs. Williams as our guest.
LF: Oh yes, I do think that is the thing. I think she should come in and have a list.
JW: Oh boy, that might be a series. It may not just be one. It might be a series.
LF: Oh, absolutely. Live a Life by Design part 2.
JW: Yea, absolutely. So, that’s how I do it. I do want everyone to know we all feel overwhelmed at some point. Man we just can’t help it. But at the end of the day, take a deep breath, get back in the fight, you’ve got to keep moving forward for what’s right. And that’s it.
LF: And that is, you are absolutely right. That is the most important thing to focus on. Regardless of what time period or where you are in your life.
JW: You’re gonna laugh, so one of my dear friends works with you, he’s our superintendent of the entire school system and all I’ve ever said to him all summer is we have to have school going in person. And he’s going, yea, I know, I know, but how, but how. And he’s got a great school board. They’re very open minded, I know them very well, most of them and I will tell you and I’ve always said to each of them when I see them on the street, we have got to get school open. And they keep going, you know, you’re children aren’t even in the school why are you so concerned. I said let me tell you a couple of reasons, and I’ll be brief on this, but my reason one was kids need structure.
LF: Yes. Structure is good.
JW: Reason number two is that teachers are more effective if they’re within proximity of the students so they can see body language or mindset, their eyes, are they getting it. Hard to do when you’re doing virtual school. So those are the two things I want effectiveness or efficacy of the education process. If you will, like taking a drug. It doesn’t do you any good to sit at home looking at a screen if a kid is not engaged. Whereas in the classroom you have more of that to do. But anyway, I digress a little bit, but my point is he was always saying, yea I agree, I agree, but how. And at the end of the day we just have to find the way. And make terms. Right? We keep pivoting. Finding ways to do things. Make a change here, adjust this here, but at the end of the day we started school. That’s the key.
LF: Yes. And one of my favorite sayings lately has been, you know when life hands you something in this current situation, just yell, plot twist! And move on.
JW: That’s it.
LF: Because you just have to, you know, go with it. The story takes a turn and we just keep on riding.
JW: I’ve got dear friends down the gulf now, and by the time you hear this folks the problems already hit the gulf area. Two tremendous storms coming in. I’ve got friends in Texas and Alabama and Louisiana. And they’re all sitting there going, put on the batten down the hatches again. And I’m sitting there, just going, man, 2020, what more can you serve us?
LF: Right?
JW: About the time we think we’ve got it, you know, adapted, here comes a curveball, right?
LF: Yes.
JW: The key there, stay positive, day at a time, try to keep moving forward, right? So Lori, speaking of moving forward, here’s your question. How do you maintain your frenetic pace in life?
LF: Hmm. Coffee.
JW: I knew that was coming.
LF: That’s simple, anyone who has ever heard me on this podcast knows that is my life line. If I’m ever told that I cannot have anymore I don’t know what I will do. I will crumble.
JW: That’s funny.
LF: I will crumble. But, yea, coffee. Because it’s the legal drug I can have. And I love it and it makes me happy and it’s like a warm hug to my brain before I start my day and you know, but one of things, interestingly enough, one of the other things that I’ve discovered throughout all of this is that random text messages from people really make your day better. The positivity that I receive during the day, and sometimes it’s a phone call. Sometimes it’s a, you know, email. But like, if a little message just pops up that says, hope you’re having a great day. Or, thinking of you, or sorry that it’s not going the way you wanted it to go, but you know, I’m still here for you. Or I’m still thinking of you or I love you, or you know, just randomness. Joke even, sometimes. And I don’t want people to forget that no matter how hectic the pace of your life is, little moments like that. Note cards, emails, phone calls, text messages. They matter. Someone might not respond immediately or they may not get back to you. But know that they get it and that they appreciate it, and that it matters. And so, you know, feeding your soul. Kind of going back to what you were talking about earlier. It’s so important no matter how hectic or non hectic, you know, things can be. Even in your downtime. Those things are still nice. And on the human level we still need to do that for each other. And like I said, I’m not going to be sad if someone drops a coffee on my porch as a contactless delivery.
JW: Or a gift card, either way.
LF: Either way. Either way.
JW: Liquid or tangible either way.
LF: Yes, all are appreciated.
JW: Oh my word.
LF: Well, moving off of coffee. Another serious question. Ask me anything. Have you felt helpless in any situation during the pandemic and what did you do to move forward?
JW: Wow, hey, that’s another serious question. And I have not felt helpless, but during that first week to ten days I didn’t, I wouldn’t say helpless. I would say that a couple of my ideas didn’t work out as I planned in terms of trying to combat this thing. But that’s the beauty of having a great team and people you can get feedback from. And I’m not talking about just those teams that I have at the office. I’m talking about colleagues and friends all over the country and all over the world. Talk to them and say hey, what are you seeing happen in your city that’s working for you. And I’m in a couple of mastermind groups and I will tell you, they got on the phones and said hey, we’re gonna have an emergency call and everybody got together and goes, here’s what’s working for us but here’s what’s working. And I’d say, well, here’s what we’re doing and we’d just share all that information. So, how we move forward is, we have an accountability partner. So, in my world, there is no status quo. You know, people go, hey, I just want to exist. And I’ll be frank with you, that’s not life. To me life is not just breathing air and exhaling. That’s not life. Life is out there making an impact in the lives of others. Whether you know you are or not. Whether that’s the positive word you’ve done, the random act of kindness you performed. Whether that’s just sending the little card. I’m a big card sender. I send a lot of cards. Especially during Covid because I was up at 4 am. I’d be sending cards, you know, ten of them at time. And people are calling me, going, hey I got this wonderful note you sent me. I appreciate that, and I said, anytime. I just wanted you to know you’re important to me. That’s life. You know, too many people look at that dash on the tombstone and they go, huh, wonder what that encompasses. And if you’re just living by breathing and exhaling, that’s a pretty short dash. Well, I want mine to be as long as we can have it. And I want it to be so impactful that people come to my funeral and go, if only he could send me another note card.
LF: Yea.
JW: You know what I’m saying? I don’t want to get too deep here. But I’m just saying that’s what this is that keeps me moving forward that I don’t feel helpless. I always have a goal. Now, my goals have changed, as I said, but I have a goal. Now my ultimate goal, which is my long term goals, they haven’t changed. The projects or steps to get there have. And so that’s my whole code to saying I won’t never just be setting there spinning my wheels cause that’s just not good for Jimmy. Mentally, that just is not good for me.
LF: Not good for Jimmy.
JW: No.
LF: And what’s not good for Jimmy is not good for anyone else.
JW: Well.
LF: We know this.
JW: You may experience that if you’re around me close by. Cause you’ll hear me say this a thousand times to our team. I’ll go, there’s got to be a way. They’ll say, but man no one’s ever paid…There’s gotta be a way. You know, that’s how I look at it. And I’m a big Star Trek fan, as you know, And I will tell you, I love watching that series, cause Gene Roddenberry, the creative consultant and founder of that series, of all those series of shows, had such a mindset of thinking 30, 40, 50 years beyond where he lived. I mean think about it, he died in the 90s. He’s done things that we hadn’t even yet realized and we’re in 2020. And I’m going, man, how did he come up with all that? And so that hence came my theory of there’s always a way. So my team never has the ability or they don’t have the latitude to say, well, you can’t do that. Cause they’ll hear me say there’s gotta be a way.
LF: Don’t bring me a problem without bringing me two solutions.
JW: Absolutely. Absolutely.
LF: True story.
JW: Hey, that’s a tough one. So let me give you one that I think won’t be so tough for you. Cause you’re a hero finder. You’re a hero identifier. So can you identify any heroes you’ve noticed during this pandemic? And why are they a hero to you?
LF: Oh, goodness. There’s a lot. You know, I kind of touched about that earlier when we were talking about people picking up and doing things without having to be asked. I will tell you that, again, going back to what I do in my day job. I had the really wonderful opportunity to witness our child nutrition department. They immediately during the first, just discussion about a shutdown, immediately they were concerned about, wait, these kids still have to eat. We’re not worried about the education part of it, we’re worried about how these babies are gonna have food. And so literally they sprang into action and got a schedule and got, you know, things lined up to where they would be able to have meals and provide these to kids that otherwise wouldn’t have them. And they go so creative and they included, you know, high school student volunteers and coaches and our bus drivers. And all these people that were coming together for a cause that they knew was important to be able to provide and they did it in such a fun way. I mean they would talk to the kids and you know, dress up a couple of days and just to try and give the kids something else to think about. You know, and a lot of parents made the comment that, you know, this is our daily outing, you know we walk up here to the bus stop and we get our lunches and it’s just nice to see other people and we’re so appreciative and they worked from the very beginning of the shutdown and they’ve never stopped. They’ve worked all summer long to help provide meals and now we’re getting ready to, you know, go back to school and we’re working on providing meals to kids that are going to be virtual students. Because we know that just because they’re not in the building brick and mortar, they still need those meals. And they’re important. And, you know, those women and men are so selfless. They’re sweet and they are just, they smile all the time and it doesn’t matter what curveball you throw them about, well, how are we gonna pay for this, or how are we gonna facilitate this. Or how are we gonna structure it? It doesn’t matter, they have an answer and they work diligently and they work hard and I’m really proud to know most of them. And so I would definitely call them heroes. There’s so many right now, you know.
JW: Agree.
LF: Anybody that’s working outside of themselves. Doing something for somebody else. All of our healthcare workers and medical professionals. My hats go off to them because it’s an uncharted time and an uncharted territory and you know, you want to get into this debate about well, who’s really essential and who’s not. Everybody is.
JW: Right.
LF: It’s a community. Everybody in that community is essential. Because everybody is providing something. Whether you’re volunteering, whether you’re working, whether you’re providing a service, whether, you know, praying for other people. Just being there to listen, it’s everybody is a hero in their own way. And people can feel one way or the other as to the importance level of how they want to value that. But I think we all benefit from coming together and working together and celebrating each other, and so I love, I can’t say I love Covid for that, cause that’s a bad way to put it. But I love what it’s done to bring us together.
JW: Right.
LF: To help our fellow man.
JW: Well, so that goes to the issue of if you look for it again, folks, you can find those people that are really going that extra mile, that have really committed to making this thing as positive as possible and not to put too negative of a spin on this, but there are some kids in our school district, a lot of them that if we didn’t have food from the school for at least breakfast and lunch, they’d have no food. I mean these are from tough situation families that are difficult and having enough time without the Covid. Add this to it, there’s a lot of stress on the familial bonds that they have. And this is one way that our school can be, not just a help to the child, but a leader in the community to show people, hey, we’re not just here to give you an education of the mind, we’re here to feed the body, and I know the food service director you have. She is a dynamo.
LF: Oh she is the energizer bunny. When you said earlier that you run AA batteries, I thought oh, that’s exactly. I know someone like that.
JW: She may use 9 Volt. Big ones. Big ones.
LF: Yea. Ok, so piggy backing off of heroes. You mentioned opportunities to be gained during this time of disruption. What did you mean by that?
JW: Oh, man, what I mean by that is this, look for those opportunities. So what we’ve done during this time is look for families that have a need beyond really you trying to make a buck. You trying to make any strides. Don’t do it for purposes of being recognized. Just do it because it’s good for mankind. We have helped a lot of families that just needed a handout. Dad had lost his job. And I shouldn’t say a handout, a hand up, excuse me. He’d lost his job, they were struggling with some things, and we just wanted to take food to them. You know, we couldn’t go in with them because of Covid, but we could take food to them. And we could take, you know, funds to help them get through the rough times. Just go out and help people. And if it’s not just that. A lot of our people that we need to help out there have support in some ways, but maybe they just need to see someone. Go to your nursing home. Look through the window. Some of these people haven’t had visitors in months. Not because of Covid, just because. And so, go to the window and maybe say hi to them. Have your kids to draw pictures for them, to tell them how nice the day is. Put it on the window outside. I promise you there’s not a nursing home around that would mind you to do that. And you know, we have just looked for ways to try and serve mankind during a time that they’re hurting for no other purpose but to put a smile on someone’s face for that day. But now, folks, here’s the deal. You can’t do it once and say it’s a done deal. This is like a diet. You take a little everyday, and finally you get to where you want to be. Well, in theory, that’s what they tell me. So anyway…
LF: Different kind of diet.
JW: A little chocolate cake won’t hurt. No. But you know, at the end of the day, Lori, my point I’m making to this is look for opportunities to serve. I had a speech I had to make. So my speaking has gone from personal in person stuff where I was on a stage in front of hundreds and thousands of people, now I’m in front of people, I don’t know how many, on Zoom, for example. And I spoke for just an hour here, a couple three weeks ago. A mastermind group had asked me to speak and I told them my entire topic was stop selling and start serving.
LF: I love that.
JW: Quit worrying about trying to make money during this deal. That money will come, I think, at some point. But be passionate in helping fellow man. Start serving those around you, find the need and feed. That was my whole deal. And to me that’s how I find opportunities.
LF: Well, and I think that it’s when you talk about feed the need. That need could be financial, spiritual, emotional, mental. I think that’s a great way to look at it.
JW: Oh, I agree, I agree. And so you talked about feed our children. So here’s a question that came in. How are you helping your child? I’m talking about your son, deal with the ever changing landscape between in person, virtual school, as well as disrupted hobbies and other things. I know he’s in the scouting. I don’t know how they went this year with their pine derby. When I was in cub scouts that was a big deal.
LF: Oh, it’s a big deal.
JW: Yea, and for that, if that got disrupted that would have been horrible. So how did you help him through all of that?
LW: Well, you know, good thing that the derby was in February. We barely got the derby in, we got that done. And thank goodness. Cause, whew, I didn’t want to have to hear about that one. You know, I’ll be honest. He’s an only child, and so, we tend to, well, you know, we are a captive audience, dad and I. And so we get a lot of attention, we give him a lot of attention. The hardest thing for him is just the unknown. And, you know, there were many nights in the very beginning when all this started about I’m never gonna see my friends again. And what if someone I love dies. What if someone I love gets sick, and you know, we too had to turn off the television. Because at this age they are more of a sponge than anything. They tune into things that, in the background you think, oh that’s just background noise and they are really picking up on it. And so we really had to limit the amount of information that he was getting. We really took to things like Zoom and Google Meet and encouraged him to reach out to his friends. And we did a lot of activities outdoors. Let me just tell you, this momma does not camp. But I’ve had to learn. I’ve had to get very creative.
JW: Lori the Lumberjack.
LF: Oh, no. No, no, no. Take me to the spa. Take me to the hotel. I don’t want to go to the great outdoors. The great outdoors does not love me. But my son loves it, so I’ve had to learn to love it. But just a lot of conversations. A lot of talking. Of course the repetitive, when are we going back to school? When am I gonna see my friends? We have just had to be ‘patience grasshopper’ and I think that’s very hard for any child. But he’s really gotten into computer programing, coding. He loves coding. And it’s been really great because he’s had teachers that have been able to turn him on to some of those things. You know, recommendations. And, you know, I’m not gonna lie. You send a lot of emails and messages about what does this mean, help me, what can I do to further his education right now because I don’t know what to do. I’m not cut out for this, I’m not meant to be a homeschool teacher.
JW: Yea, what do I do, my kids turning my refrigerator off and turning the stove on and I don’t know where he’s at even in the house.
LF: We have, you know, saying that, we have, he’s learned how to cook a grilled cheese. He’s learned how to make macaroni and cheese. You know, we’re going on a theme here.
JW: Sure, sure.
LF: Very cheesy. Very cheese related. And so we’ve really tried to focus on life skills too. How to fold laundry, how to walk the dog. How to mow the yard, boy that was a fun one. It was touch and go for a while there. Come on, kids nowadays, they have self propelled mowers so it’s not as difficult as to, as when we were growing up where you had to physically push and the mower may or may not gotten out of control under my watch, with the self propelled, but I will not…yea it was bad.
JW: Well, he couldn’t do as bad as I. When I was first learning to mow the lawn and dad had gotten us this riding mower, and I thought that was cool and I could touch the pedals, I was always kind of tall for my age anyway. I was probably seven or eight years old and dad was out there, maybe even a little older than that. And he was teaching me how to do this and mow the yard. Man, I was just doing great and I thought I’d just show mom I could really mow. And I just went up near the house and I just mowed these big weeds down and I found out those were her flags, they’re called flowers. But they came back.
LF: That’s good. At least they came back. Yeah, our yard has some interesting lines in it. Also known as I think ruts, I think they’re called.
JW: Decorative mowing.
LF: Yes, but we have learned a lot of life skills and I, you know, but it does go back to that thing of being an innovative child at this point. But I think it also goes back to being an innovative parent and we have to give ourselves credit for the parenting job that we’ve done. I’ve had multiple conversations with my mom about, you know, well, how would you handle this? Or what do you suggest I do? And she constantly reminds me, hello, remember we’ve never parented during a pandemic.
JW: New game.
LF: Parents were creating history out there. I mean we’re doing it, we’re doing it one day at a time. And some days you’re crying and some days you’re celebrating victories and some days you’re really angry and you’re mad at the world, but at the end of the day you hug your kids a little bit closer and you say it’s gonna be ok. We’re gonna get through this and we’re gonna do it together because I can’t answer some of your questions because we’re living though a time where no one has the answers.
JW: And can you imagine the next five to ten years. Some of us are writing books, I’ve got one I’m finishing up, and can you imagine the chapter on this. It’s gonna be quite a lot of adjectives, I will say.
LF: Extremely creative.
JW: Lot’s of adjectives.
LF: Ok, one more thing for you.
JW: Oh, boy.
LF: I’m running out of my questions here. We’ve got one more. If you could provide one statement of advice to our listeners that would give them an exponential boost towards improving the remainder of what we have of this crazy 2020, what would it be?
JW: Oh man, this is gonna be an easy one. I’m glad you asked that. My one statement of advice is this. Stay within yourself. Do not panic. Do not look out there and try to control things that you have no means nor capability to do, but focus on yourself. So all I want to do is focus on Jimmy. What’s it take for his good health, not just mentally, but physically, financially, and so forth. Focus on those things. Control, as we said earlier, what we can control. And at the end of the day, feed your mind. Feed your mind with the good, pure, powerful stuff. Do not sit down and be a boob tube guy and watch TV all day. It does nothing positive. And I’m not knocking it, you know my daughter is on TV as a news reporter and a journalist. And I’m like, you know, I just tell her the only news I watch is yours. I really don’t watch a lot of news because I don’t see the real need to feed my mind with that stuff when I could be reading great books. And I have read a ton this year and if you want to read a great book, go to our livealifeby.design website. We’ve got Jimmy’s top reads. I’m telling you there’s nothing on there that’s gonna be about money and it’s all gonna be about life and it makes life so much better. That’s my one statement.
LF: I like it. I like it. Everybody can pick up a good book. One method of sharing the positivity of the podcast around the world is to leave a review and rating of the show on iTunes. Thank you, JM for your five star rating and review. “Jimmy gives great advice on a variety of topics that truly change your attitude toward life.”
JW: Wow, now, you know, JM is a wonderful person for those comments. And you can be wonderful too. Reach out like Lori said, give us a rating and review today, we only want to change the world. Nothing less.
LF: Nothing less.
JW: Yea. This has been a wonderful episode for me, Lori. I appreciate you being on here, and I may have found out something unique about myself today that I didn’t realize before. And that is I don’t always have control of what I think I do.
LF: Well, it’s a good thing to admit.
JW: So If you want to change your world for the better, empower yourself to block out the negativity of the world and see a bigger, better, bolder and brighter future, you must take control of your mindset. Don’t allow the bitterness of politics, past failures or lack of vision to take away your year. 2020 can be reclaimed to be one of the best years of your life if we just have the right mindset and you go out and create the life you want.
LF: One of the simplest methods of creating and maintaining a positive outlook is to join us every Monday for powerful episodes of this podcast. It sounds a little self-serving but you will not find the content we bring you on the cable TV, radio or any other medium. Your challenge for the week is to take a few minutes each day to ground yourself and those things in life that are most important to you – faith, family, friends. Then perform one random act of kindness each day that will brighten someone else’s outlook. And lastly, write down three to five reasons you are grateful each night before you retire for the day. Gratitude will keep up your attitude!
JW: Man that is great advice, Lori! Do us a favor, Lori gave you the invitation. Join us every Monday for another positively powerful episode of Live a Life by Design. Until then, Lori, live a life by design.