It’s not so important to get rid of the butterflies as it is to get them to fly in formation.

If you’re not nervous, it’s not natural.

If you are, it’s a matter of getting that nervousness under control and working for you.

Butterflies means you care.

Anxiety from letting them get out of control means you are ignoring self-care.

Have the courage to be yourself and you will always keep your butterflies flying in formation.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

An acquaintance is a person who is someone we know, can relate to and who has a place in our lives.

Most of us have more acquaintances than friends.

An associate is a colleague in business or at work.

We usually don’t get to vote on who these associates are but we can often confuse them as friends – sometimes they want you to.

A friend is a person with whom we have a bond of mutual affection.

A friend never has to be reminded to stay in touch — it’s an inner clock that misses you.

Friends talk in terms of each other’s interests – it’s mutual not exclusive.

Friendship cannot be manufactured, it is born of positive synergies between two people – you either have it or don’t.

Friendship isn’t conducted on social media, it is the anthesis of social media measured in moments together not in likes, follows or time spent substituting technology for hearing a voice, seeing a face or being together in person.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

It’s helpful to think of the dreams and aspirations that may be stuck somewhere deep inside of you by thinking about this.

If you had one more year to live, what one thing would you regret if you didn’t do it.

It’s likely you’ll have many, many more years to dream and pursue goals.

But to get to the thing that you may not even be conscious of – that is waiting to be discovered – answer the question above and you will have it.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Remove what is next – concentrate on what is happening now.

Live in the present moment.

You can go to the beach and live in the present or you could go to the beach, feel the sand, smell the surf, hear the waves, take in the horizon and put all senses to work.

Feel the present.

Don’t just live in it.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

If you have been struggling with a problem and want the best shot at solving it or at least making it less of a problem, you will do better following these steps:

1. Ask “what is the problem”. Often, we set out to solve something that is not the real problem.
2. What are the causes of the problem? Make a long list without passing judgment.
3. What are all the possible solutionsyou can think of? No solution is too wild, far out or inappropriate during this brainstorming stage.
4. Choose the best solution from #3 above. Sometimes it will be two possible solutions rolled into one.
5. Devise an action planto put your best solution to work.
6. Set a date to review your progress.

These specific steps help guarantee that you have a disciplined approach to solving the problem that has been gnawing at you.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

It’s all backwards.

It’s not the fear of failing that is holding us back.

The fear of succeeding is what hampers us.

Fear of starting a new relationship and having to make it work. 

Worry about looking for or starting a new job – can I handle it? Will they like me? 

Fear of making friends because they will eventually discover who I really am. 

Fear of something new even what I like is old and comfortable. 

The fear of succeeding paralyzes us, contributes to bad decisions and robs us of all that we could have if we would do just one thing.

Change the way we look at fear of failure and embrace the courage it takes to confront how we feel about success.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Digital life is one big refresh.

Even if we get bad news by constantly checking email or text messages, we assume something different – maybe better – will happen when the next one alerts us.

It’s actually the opposite.

Email delivered whenever it arrives is like the mail carrier coming back to your house all day and all night to drop off one more message that he/she didn’t deliver the last time.

To gain control of email and become more productive and, more importantly, less stressed, treat checking email like making a scheduled phone call.

Don’t even look when you’re notified. 

Schedule a time to check and then and only then, check the mail. 

You decide on how many times and at what part of the day you want to “schedule” an email check based on your work, your energy level and other things you need to do. 

Then, divide emails into two categories – the one’s you can answer quickly and the ones that need further thought.  Then schedule it for a later response. 

Put a hold on immediate email notifications.

Stress and anxiety are big issues in our lives today.  One way to make a dent in stressors is to take control of the great interrupter called email by using these hints to stop the addiction. 

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

Why do we tend to think of leaders as being cheerleaders – loud, strong-willed, imposing figures?

The awesome quality of a real leader is the exact opposite.

Instill calm and build confidence in those around them.

Proud not loud.

Reassuring not rescuing.

Whenever a team works, a real leader is building confidence and keeping everyone focused.

Where a family works, the parents are constantly reassuring children of their ability to deal with life’s ups and downs and not protecting them from it.

A leader is one who succeeds by believing not cheerleading.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

You can’t expect to outsource self-confidence by looking for it elsewhere.

It starts from within.

Most of us spend a lifetime learning how to doubt ourselves and when we look to others for the confidence we don’t have, it doesn’t work.

Believe in you.

Never look to others for that which you don’t have.

Erase a lifetime of doubt by retraining your brain to believe in you. 

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.

A big ego is a substitute for confidence.

Confident people have no need to brag or enhance their perceived abilities.

Working with these people can be a challenge.

It can make a job you love miserable.

Never feed a big ego even to gain acceptance at work – it encourages more of the same behavior you don’t like. 

Avoid fighting a big ego – it will only make them push harder to prevail.

The only way around a troubling big ego is to ignore it – let the words go through your ears without reacting one way or the other.

There is no cure for an egotistical person.

But there is a remedy for those who have to suffer fools like this.

Don’t let them push your buttons.

Subscribe to these Day Starters for free here.

Share them with friends and family by forwarding this email or posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media with my permission.

Read some sample chapters of my book Out of Bad Comes Good, The Advantages of Disadvantages here.

Don’t want to get these emails anymore?  Unsubscribe below.