Attitude is everything in life! In this episode, Jimmy and Lori share their favorite “get to” activities that make life more fulfilling for them.
Episode Keys:
- Key differences that empower your day and life between the “get to” attitude and the “have to” attitude.
- How your thoughts define your actions (and your altitude in life)!
- Positive thinking and how your outlook in life will unveil greater opportunities that will grow your mindset and your wealth.
- Why you must make choices in life and how those choices contribute to your greatness or keep you in mediocrity.
- Jimmy’s best approach to attitude and why you can gain self-esteem, discipline and personal power by performing this one act each day!
Podcast Transcription
JW:
It’s good to be me. It’s good to be me. If the whole world could be be, oh, Hey, Hey Lori, how are you doing? Didn’t know you were on screen, there.
LF:
It’s good, but you know what day it is.
JW:
Yes.
LF:
It’s Monday morning!
New Speaker:
Or as I call it, the Friday that got left behind.
LF:
Well it’s Monday morning, and we’ve got a show to do so let’s get to it. Welcome everyone to Monday morning moments of motivation. Yes. I’m using a lot of M words. We’re gonna use a lot of triple words this morning and one of the easiest things we’re gonna talk about, it’s gonna be a great topic that Jim and I are really excited about to kind of kick off this week. One of the easiest mental outcomes to exercise and control is something that we talk a lot about on this podcast and it’s-
JW:
Money?
LF:
Attitude!
JW:
Oh, attitude! Attitude. Oh, I’m sorry.
LF:
We do talk a lot about money too, but no, this morning we’re talking about attitude too many of us walk around with an eye toward opportunity to be upset, to work ourselves into a frenzy over things. And I’m so guilty of this, but many of which we cannot control. We talk a lot also about things that we can control and things that we can’t today we are develop and maintain a, get to attitude about life. Good morning again, everybody. And I hope you’re buckled up and ready because this is, as you well know, Live a Life By Design podcast. I am your co-host Lori Few and of course the incomparable powerfully positive pontificator of all things. Good in life. Mr. Jimmy Williams.
JW:
Hear ye hear you. Thank you, Lori. You know, I ruled the airwaves with this distinguished voice of mine. Hey guys, thanks for joining us today. You know, I know it’s the dog days of summer and the reason I know it’s that is because our dog’s not even wanted to go outside now for his restroom breaks.
JW:
Isn’t that what they mean, Lori? The dog days or summer?
LF:
Yes. Yes.
JW:
You know this is one of my favorite topics. Lori, you, you and I talk about this, as you said on many, many episodes, this is 173rd episode. This is a long time that we’ve been doing this, but we just keep getting such great listeners and subscribers like you good people. If you know someone that wants to get a positive, powerful message every Monday to help build their week in the manner, they wish kind of set their cell for success. This would be the podcast to list too. Lori and I are so honored to be in your presence every Monday morning. But, but Lori, this is one of my favorite topics and attitude to me is the difference between making a living and growing a career. You know what I mean?
LF:
Yes. Such a powerful statement.
JW:
Yeah. Roy T. Bennett said it best Lori. He said, attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice, whatever choice you make makes you choose wisely. Ooh, that’s powerful.
LF:
Ooh, that is powerful.
JW:
You know, the danger to having a half to attitude is that it doesn’t utilize our greatest strengths of creativity, clarity, and concentration. It actually is the antithesis of the get to attitude. Now I want you to understand folks. There’s things that we in life go. I have to do this Lori. And I’d like to reframe your thinking there today. We want you to think about, get to do this. You know, I hear people say, I have to work on Friday and Lori they’re usually the shoulder slump. They lean forward our postures bad. They have this look in their eyes. Oh, I have to work Friday. I always smile at them. And I say, do you mean you get to work on Friday with a big smile on my face. They look at me funny. Then they smile. And this is that small distinction in words, that is actually a powerful motivator to help people understand that they are truly blessed beyond their imaginations. If they only think about their own lives, have two attitudes, consistent blaming, missing deadlines, foregoing goals that would have a big impact on life. But a getto attitude gives rise to achievement, happiness, and body, mind, and soul, as well as generating creative juices that will Excel you beyond those that think negatively. I truly believe that the get to attitude is the attitude for you.
LF:
I think it’s the attitude for everybody this morning. And if, and if you get anything outta this podcast, we’re gonna change your way of thinking. It’s so important to have the get to attitude. We oftentimes get in that slump and I, I’m not gonna lie at the end of the summer, the beginning of August in the wor in the line of work that I do. It’s very much the attitude of, oh, it’s over, summer’s over it’s time to go back to work. It’s time to do things. So I know all about that slump, but today, Jimmy and I are gonna give you our top three, get to activities and how these activities empower us to be our best every day for the world around us. So I’m gonna go first. Imagine that Jimmy is so graciously kind. He’s gonna, let me go first.
JW:
A gentleman, if ever there were one on the internet.
LF:
Oh, well my first get to activity is that I get to go to a job that I absolutely love this time of year. We are getting back motivated to get everybody back into the group of going to school. And I love this time of year. It’s my favorite get to activity. We spend a lot of time preparing things behind the scenes, lots of literal, sweat, moving, waxing floors, getting things ready, cleaning classrooms, setting things up, you know, figuratively. We put our minds to work. We do all kinds of professional development and it was great this week to see everybody kind of get back in that groove and that mindset. We work on professional development. We talk about development on this podcast a lot. We talk about personal professional. We talk about growth, but one of the great things that I had the opportunity to get to experience this week was a professional development series brought in to our place of employment where each one of us got to go through a one, well teachers, it was more than one day for support professionals like myself.
LF:
It was condensed into a one day training, but it was given to us in the mindset of positivity, clarity, and all the things that we do as a cohesive group and how that matters to parents, to students, to administrators, to teachers, to board members and to the community. The work that we do is so powerful and so important. I love being able to get to be around all these amazing people. And we work on filling up our cup after, you know, we, we talk about the end of the school year and then we all go on summer and our brain’s all turned to mush, but then we come back in August and we’re ready to fill our cup so that we can pour into our community of students and learners. We’re constantly learning. We’re constantly evolving and we’re teaching kids that they have so many opportunities to make a difference, not just in the school setting, but in their home and their family and their work and all the things that they participate in sports extracurriculars and other activities outside of school.
LF:
And so being able to do that is so powerful for me. And I look forward to it every single day and especially this time of year. So my number one get to is that I get to go to a job where I get to pour into people, but in turn, they pour into me and it’s great to feel that feeling it’s energizing. It’s, it’s refreshing. It’s still hot, but we try to overlook that because we do, we try to do things inside, during, you know, with air conditioning. But I think that that is my top number one get to is that I get the privilege to go to a job that I absolutely love and that I greatly benefit from just not even professionally, but personally, it means so much to me to be able to see those spaces of the people that I work with every single day. It’s what motivates me at what it’s, what keeps me going.
JW:
I love it. I love it. And you know, one thing I want to talk about is you said you bring together a cohesive group. I hope that that it’s adhesive as well. So it sticks together after you’re done. I’m sorry. That’s the only time I get to use that word. Folks you heard to hear first, she’s gonna have an adhesive group to go with the cohesive unit that they’re building. Oh, that is awesome. You know what? I gotta tell you though. My number one get to is something that I know a lot of people feel like they’re required to do, but they really don’t. And I get to be kind to everyone. I meet now, you know, we tell our kids, you’ve got to be nice. You have to do this. You’ve got to be obedient. What as parents would our children be like today? If we say we get to be nice today, see the positivity in that framework. Yeah. Again, it goes back to that point of being the more positive about it. I think the more adhesive, oh boy, I love this. That it might stick to their mindsets. That’s the word? That’s it.
LF:
Get all the other word,
JW:
The word of the day. It’ll be in the show notes. Folks, if you wanna look that up. No, but I think the key thing here to me is being kind, people act like it’s so busy in the world. They got their jobs that they have to go to. They get in the car that they have to drive, cuz they don’t have the money to get a new one or they don’t have something that that’s better. They have to work with the same people that they have to see every day. And I just cannot stand that approach. I want you to think from this point forward, I get to go to a job. How many people are right now looking for a great position with great benefits. The second thing I have to drive a car, you don’t have to drive a car. I get to drive this vehicle today.
JW:
Perhaps even if I wanna buy a bicycle, if I can back to work or if I wanna take public transportation, I get to choose how I wish to get around in life. And I was meeting a man one day and I was visiting my daughter in Redding, California, a beautiful little city in Northern California. There was a man on the sidewalk. As you know, I talked to strangers as you shouldn’t do as a child, I guess, but I felt that I needed to say something to this gentleman. And I was looking at him and all this meantime is I was having some knee trouble. Now I don’t mean a lot of knee pain, just soreness. You know how you get when you overdo a lift or something, you’re working out. Just, it felt like I might have tweaked something, Lori, but it wasn’t bad. You know, just a little inflammation maybe, but it was sore.
JW:
And I thought to myself, you know, we’re doing a lot of walking. There’s a lot of Hills around here and I’m feeling pretty sore. But then I saw this gentleman on the sidewalk and I looked at him and I thought I get to go up and say something nice to this gentleman, cuz he looks like he’s had a pretty rough day. Let me explain the gentleman. He may not have bathed in the last week. He’s not shaved in years of months had a bearded face. He closed, looked rather tattered. He was in a wheelchair missing both of his legs. And I looked at him and I said, I hope you have a great day. And I bought him a coffee. Now I’m not saying that for purposes of Jimmy getting anything out of this. My point I’m making is perhaps that seed of kindness is he’s had a rough life.
JW:
Might have been because of his choices. I don’t know. That’s not on me. That’s on him. Right? But I think Lori, what is on us is we get to shine some bright light on some of the darkness in people’s lives. From time to time. Nobody has to do that. But if you have the attitude of, I get to do that guess who got the better benefit that day? The gentleman got coffee. I got to feel good all day long. My knee surprisingly didn’t hurt as badly as after I talked to him as I did before. How do you explain that?
LF:
Yeah, I was gonna say, isn’t that interesting? It it’s all about, you know, we talk a lot on this podcast about mindset and you know, that’s a powerful story. You never know who you’re gonna come in contact with and your attitude and the way you present yourself can set the tone for a completely different conversation, a completely different set of circumstances or, or scenario that’s. That’s very, very powerful, powerful moment. We need more moments like that.
JW:
You’ll read my book as soon as I get it all done. They’re in there. So,
LF:
Oh, I can’t wait. I can’t wait.
JW:
It’s a very adhesive book too. It’s gonna sticky count, cover on it, sir. But it buys it when you just touch it, you’re gonna have to buy it cause it’ll be stuck to you at that
LF:
Point. Listen, all I can see right now in my head is like the Velcro wall. That’s like you go to the trampoline parks and you run and you jump and you flip and you stick yourself to the wall. That’s all I can see right now. I see Jimmy in a Velcro suit, jumping up against the wall.
JW:
If you see Jimmy in a Velcro suit, it’s gonna have wild lapels and it look like something outta the seventies. You know, some Contra to look is what it’s gonna look like.
LF:
But anyway, that’s a, that’s it. So thank you for sharing that, Jimmy. I, I love that story. I, I think that that is so important. Another one of my get to, if you will, we live in a world where we get to travel. I I’ve never been much of a traveler growing up. My family didn’t really have the means to travel a whole lot. If we got to go in the car, we thought we were high living. So as an adult, I made it a priority that I wanted to be able to travel. One of my things that I wanted to keep in the back of my mind on my bucket list. And I’m not adventurous by any means, I don’t do long car rides. I, I just, I would rather fly if I’m gonna get there. And that’s probably because I’ve crammed as much as I can into what little time I have to travel.
LF:
And I wanna just hurry up and get there. But this summer our family took a road trip recently to Colorado Springs, Colorado 12 hours in the Colorado. One way. Yeah, I’m not, I am not a car traveler. Let’s just be honest. There were lots of stops and lots of scenic Bo scenic detours. But more importantly about that trip. The thing that I learned despite the fact that I don’t like to travel in a car, it gave me the opportunity to spend 12 consolidated hours with my family. We talk about families so much and how important it is and how much we love our families. But what we really, what I realized on that trip is that I don’t spend enough time just being in the same location and talking and having conversations and laughing and telling jokes and saying, are we there yet? That to me was so valuable. The sites were great. The trip itself was wonderful. We did a lot of things while we were there. You know, that’s a whole nother podcast about the trip to pipes peak and the perseverance to get all the way up when you’re terrified of hypes and your son and your husband get altitude sickness. I was very proud of myself. I was the one scared of Heights that they were the ones that got sick. So kudos to me
JW:
At Pikes peak. It’s not the going up. It’s the problem, Lori, it’s only way down afterwards. It goes straight.
LF:
It, they do not play around there. The park Rangers halfway down, make you stop to check your brakes because they say, if your brakes go out, like what do you do? And that is something I don’t even wanna think about. But the thing that I experienced about Colorado in my get to list is that I get to do those things. What a terrific, amazing, I don’t know. There aren’t enough words to describe it. It was so I, I, it made my heart happy. It, it just being there with my family and taking the time to do that and not rushing around and not, you know, we’ve gotta go do this. And our schedule’s so packed and so jammed and so tight that we’re just going from one thing to another. It, it was really just about slowing down and getting to be in the moment, getting to listen and laugh and tell stories. And I mean, there were some questionable gas stations along the way, but when you’re driving that drive from Oklahoma, I’m Colorado, there’s nothing for miles for literal hours. There was nothing. And it, it just reminded me that that’s what I have to, to be able to spend quality time with my family. Then I get to travel. I, I wanna continue to do that.
JW:
So Lori, let’s talk a little bit about the contrasting difference of you that I have on that roadway. So I’ve traveled that a couple times, moving the daughter out, moving one back. I get to drive the U-Haul truck, cuz I opted to do it, to see the countryside. I’ve always flown over it. And so I like to do that. So when Lori says there’s nothing to see, she’s not totally been genuine here because there’s lots of cactus. I saw lot cactus,
LF:
Lots, a
JW:
Rock. I saw a lot of rock. So
LF:
Yes, that Isely true. Two lane highway at nothing for miles and then just cactus you’re you’re absolutely right.
JW:
And I learned a valuable lesson on those road trips never buy the big gulp 64 ounce if you’re gonna be on this road, cuz there are no trees. There’s no habitat to hide behind. There is no restroom facility. Your face will be bright red by the time you make it to the next gas station.
LF:
Yeah, absolutely.
JW:
That’s true. I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna talk about it, Lori. I don’t wanna talk about it.
LF:
OK. Yeah. Well, so keep it grated this morning.
JW:
Yes. Well that’s a great one too. And I will say to you that travel capability in our country is something that a lot of our friends on the other side of the globe only wish that they had as a fundamental right. You know, sometimes they can’t even leave their own country or their own states. The equivalents of their state’s province is whatever they may have. My second one is something that I would like to share. And you’ve heard about it, Lori, on many of the episodes that we’ve, we’ve talked with our subscribers and listeners, I am the person that gets to increase my law knowledge by lifetime learning. I almost cringe when some of these children, I go, Hey, you get to go to school this year and they go, I have to go to school. It’s the law, you know?
LF:
Yeah, we get some of those.
JW:
So yes. So I’m saying though, at the end of the day, we have to make choices in life. That plant seeds that either grow to be big, bold, you know, like Redwood trees of knowledge or they could be a tiny shrub of information. Right? And so we get to in our great country, have opportunities to go to, to universities that are renowned in the world. We have a chance to study abroad our daughter just literally about a month or so ago, got to go to Italy. And I say, got to, she had a sponsor you’re talking with him. But anyway, she has scholarships for all the school stuff, but you know, they don’t give you gelato free over there. You have to punch.
LF:
Oh they don’t.
JW:
Yeah. Yeah. I thought it was. I thought if you were a student, you know, free lunches or something. No. So we get to Lori climb as high as we wish to climb on the ladder of society, the ladder of education, the ladder of wealth, you are responsible for you. So if you don’t wish to continue to water and, and seed and keep that lifetime learning going, then that’s on us, right. Nobody makes us do these things, but you have to get at a certain level of education. But after that you get to continue. That education is my point. So I love that about our country
LF:
Continuing to learn. I, my husband has shares that same sentiment. He too is, is a very much a lifetime learner. And the things that he learns are turned into hobbies lots of beekeeping experiences. That’s a whole, that’s a whole nother thing. I’m not a beekeeper by any means, but I do like to watch them do it. So I would say my final of my top three and I, this, you know, I don’t know this, this may sound kind of crazy to me as I’m thinking it through, but it’s important. And that’s that I get to create my own legacy. I think it’s important that we talk about what we leave in the world and not just when we pass or when we die, but what we leave as we are living it. I think so many times we find ourselves thinking every day that I go to work, I raise my family.
LF:
I bring home a paycheck. I pay my bills. I pay my taxes. I am, you know, I live in a community, but really what it’s about is what are you getting to give to that community? I’m a very big advocate for volunteering on the local level. I love the community that we live in. I love the opportunity to make a difference. I love serving in every capacity, whether it’s raising money or volunteering or just mentoring. I think that that’s the most important thing to me. I had a wonderful mentor and we’ve talked about her multiple times. I carry her with me every single day. That’s her lasting legacy. And I get to have a legacy myself and I want that legacy to be remembered and cherished and applauded and cheered while I’m still here, because I want to take people along with me.
LF:
I want people to walk with me hand in hand and do the work and find the value in something. And maybe it’s an experience that they do one time and they think, oh, well, that’s really not for me, but it might spur them on to find something that they’re passionate about because they’ve had an experience with me or seen me or worked with me or volunteered with me in some capacity and think, wow, I wanna do that too. So getting to have a legacy, getting to participate, getting to make a difference, getting to love the things that you’re passionate about and share that with other people. To me, that’s very, very, very important. So getting to have a legacy I would say is probably number three on my get to
JW:
List that that’s a big one. And I, I too admire that. I do wish to leave many legacies and most of those, I wish to be bills for my children to pay after I’m dead. No, I’m just, no, I’m just teasing. If the girls are listening, I’m just teasing. No, you know, Hey, we just gotta be true here on this podcast. Folks. Some things absolutely true. I keep teaching my kids. I’m gonna bounce the last check. You need to go to the bank and cover that. But on a serious note, my last get to activity or if you will, attitude is about something that to me is big. This broadcast of this podcast goes to 58 countries. Now there may only be one or two people in one of several of these countries. For example, we have some dear friends in Canadian provinces.
JW:
They are very kind to listen and, and have sent us great reviews. There’s lots and lots of people here, obviously in the United States and the Northern north American hemisphere and all this area that, that really, really are kind in their remarks. I wanna say my get to is that I get to share my life, my passions and my creativity with all of you. You know, you don’t take life for granted. There are lives out there that I will never have the greatest opportunity to know personally, but I feel like I may know them through a tweet or that something they’ve sent us on apple iTunes or the, on the website. These are people that have been so kind, if there is a topic that Lori and I have not addressed, and we’ve got many to come in the future, we’re gonna do this as long as we can do this with our voices.
JW:
And at the end of the day, if there’s something you have need that we could help address in the near future, we might have an ask Lori, anything podcast episode. Oh, and I do mean anything. So it’s gonna be deep Lori, but that’s my get to, we get to share with you every Monday morning without fail, how we appreciate all of our listeners, how we appreciate our community and our families. And we get to do this because of technology and the people like you. That spread the word all through those 58 countries. We are continuing to get new subscribers every month. We are thankful for that. We will keep this as free as ever. There’s nobody gonna make money on this thing. We want to share the goodness we have to share for the world so we can hopefully make the world a bigger, better, and bolder place for all of us to exist.
JW:
As we wish in peace, as you can tell by our voices, Lori and I get excited about talking about our get to activities. You can control your attitude each day, each morning, each minute by exercising, your get to muscle. Don’t allow others who wallow the world of mediocrity with their half, two attitudes to dictate your emotional state of mind. You hear it from us all day long. You control you. What’s between your ears controls that body. And a means can be either positive or the means can be negative. If, if, if this episode has got you to thinking about your attitude, go to our website at live a life by.design/resource/book. That’s a mouthful, Lori, and pick up one of the books we recommend. Now we do not. I wanna reiterate, we do not make any money. There’s no fee paid us. If you order this book from website, it’s just made it easy for you.
JW:
So you can click it, go to Amazon, buy the book, but the book’s called “A Better Way to Live” by Og Mandino. A very short read paperback. It can be read in a weekend, but don’t let the smallness of size and the few pages that are within it, fool you about its ability to change your life. This small paperback book has 17 rules to live by. I have implemented most of those. I’m still lacking on a couple Lori, but I will get it done. And it’s an outstanding read. I highly recommend it to all of our listeners.
LF:
So this week’s challenge is to listen to your personal speech. The words that you say to yourself every single day, search your mind for opportunities to convert attitude, to gratitude and gain power by the hour. As you change the world around you,
JW:
Lori, I got goosebumps. This and you wanna see look, oh, sorry. We’re audio. OK. I love that. You know, folks, if it wasn’t for her, this show could not even even begin to start. She just does such a great job with all the hard stuff. You know, the multiple policy, lab words, she does all the hard ones. I learned adhesive. Today’s what I use outta cohesive. So I learned that one. But anyway, Hey, thanks for joining us this week, Lori, how about you give us a sign off that tells everybody how much we appreciate them. As we end this episode,
LF:
We are so grateful for each and every one of you that tune in and listen. And we hope that we make a small impact on your Monday morning that hopefully last the entire week, go out, make it a great week and live a life by design. Goodbye, everybody!
