Take Eagles wide receiver Alshon Jeffery.

He literally dropped a perfect pass that would likely have completed a victorious comeback in a recent NFL playoff game against the New Orleans Saints.

He was so distraught, the team lifted him up reminding Jeffery that the Eagles would not have won the Super Bowl last year without him.

Still, how do you live with yourself when you let others down?

Let’s consult a West Chester second grader who wrote the prescription in a letter to him.

Take notes.

I love you!  (Don’t start hating on yourself) 

My whole family was rooting for you!  (Someone has your back)

Don’t give up on playing football,” she wrote. “Keep practicing. Don’t get mad easily, I know you can do it. We all know you are a good player.” (Learn from your mistake and don’t give up).

Alshon Jeffery was so impressed with this advice, he made a surprise visit to Abigail’s second grade class because in this case, Abigail had the wisdom to know what we should all do when for whatever reason we drop the ball letting ourselves and others down.

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.

Haters use love to get to people giving compliments one moment and then overreacting the next.

It seems the world is full of haters because we are so connected on digital devices and in real time.

The best way to handle a hater is not to be one.

Not even to get back at them when they do something hurtful.

Dislike the deed not the person. 

Forgive, but don’t forget.

Take control of the one narrative that matters most – the life you want to live.

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.

We’re not born with self-control.

If we’re lucky others show us by example or we develop it on our own.

Reminding yourself when you have resisted reacting instead of responding helps build and reinforce the confidence to keep inappropriate anger in its place.

Focus on what’s being done right.

Anger is appropriate when it expresses a feeling without hurt.

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 not what other people think that holds us back.

It’s how we look at ourselves.

But that person is not you.

What you are today is you.

More important than failing to become that which you are not is to never stop trying.

No one perfect lives on this earth.

Be the fine person you are.

Don’t look to anyone else to tell you that.

Look at yourself favorably and others will do the same.

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.

Chasing happiness is like trying to net a butterfly – better to let it come to you.

Even the worst day can be followed by the next better day. 

The more it hurts, the more it helps to be grateful (especially for little things).

Fear of something bad drags us down, but evidence proves our fears are ill-conceived 99% of the time – and the 1% doesn’t happen the way we feared it. 

You can catch another person’s bad mood or negativity with regular exposure to them – run.

Fulfillment translates into happiness – set a goal each day and accomplish it because the feeling of accomplishment soothes a lot of unhappy thoughts. 

Stress is a killer – of relationships, happiness, health – so practice letting go of trying to control what is out of control and you will finally be in control.

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.

The New York Times tech writer Farhad Manjoo turned to meditation.

Escaping the digital world with app blockers, heightened self-control or even going offline doesn’t work in a world driven by digital connectivity.

There’s meditation that Manjoo says actually helps him to not care as much about the commotion in the digital world and makes him nicer, refreshed and more focused.

There’s heeding to this important warning signal.

If you’re reaching for your phone, the conversation you’re in is not holding your interest.

If you are with a person you care about but you are constantly checking your phone, you don’t care about them as much as you think.

If you’re lost in the black hole of Instagram, Facebook, SnapChat or social media, you need to jump start a new life in real time.

The phone is not going away – it shapes what we see, hear, how we interact, our commerce, everything.

When losing your life to a mobile device, it is time to reexamine the life you are living.

That may be the best gift you’ve ever gotten from a smartphone.

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.

The thing about courage is that everyone has it.

No one can give it to you.

It comes from within and you didn’t get this far without it.

Knowing that helps but how to get a boost of extra courage when it is needed?

Banish failure thoughts.

Replay images in your mind’s eye of times when you rose to the occasion even against all odds.

Courage is your gift to get after you help another person to awaken theirs.

Just saying the word courage or repeating it silently in your subconscious activates your full life’s worth of courageous actions ready for the next challenge.

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.

Overthinking takes a good idea and makes it a weaker one.

Simplicity is better than overthinking.

When you’re not happy taking a good idea and making it succeed then you are overthinking.

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.

Calm is the answer to busy.

Busy doesn’t mean productive – it often spells bouts of increased anxiety topped off by a feeling that important things are still not getting done and another round of anxiety follows.

Calm is a word we don’t hear much these days.

Calm is also a key component to dealing with stress.

Nick Foles, the unlikely Super Bowl MVP last year for the Philadelphia Eagles tries to act as a calming force instilling confidence and security in his players.

Creating an atmosphere where admitting mistakes comes easy.

Doing the right thing is the ultimate decider of how to use valuable time.

To gain the quality of being calm, practice on others by showing them how you can calm down a situation and help instill confidence in them.

It’s true multitasking will make you feel busy and focusing too much on digital devices will make you feel overwhelmed and under pressure.  But simply cutting these things out will not work.

Develop calm in others and you will develop calm in yourself.

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.

Cut interruptions and turn an 8-hour day into a very productive 5-hour day.

This has been confirmed in a 3,000 person 8 country study including the U.S.

But 49% in the U.S. said they need to resort to overtime to do the work that helps them stay employed.

Work creep has moved into our lives.

Four-day work weeks have been shown to reduce stress and make us more efficient because we have to make better decisions on the use of our time.

But, if you’re not in a position to opt for a four-day workweek as the employees of Gray Advertising in New York offers (for 85% of their employees’ salary), then one move makes a big difference.

End constant contact through email as you’re working.

Anything that competes for your time must be managed or else work creep returns, anxiety builds and you become less effective in your work.

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.