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In almost 20 years of business I've never had something like this happen before. I was called by a lead that was looking to launch a new business idea as a pivot to their business. We setup a meeting and got some initial information but had a few things I needed to research before recommending the best marketing strategy for them. After putting together the proposal based on the research I did we had a zoom call to go over the information. The CEO let me know that he was interviewing other agencies, but he would get back to me once he made his decision. Typically, prospects never get back to you when you didn't get the business. A week later I received a letter in the mail. It was a hand written thank you letter from the CEO himself. He thanked me for spending the time to research his business and wanted to let me know that he had chosen to remain with his existing digital agency. As a token of appreciation, he gave me a gift card for spending the time to put together the proposal. I was the one trying to sell him something, yet he still took the time to show his appreciation for the work that I did. Wow, I thought to myself. If this is how he treats people that are trying to get his business, I can only imagine how he treats his employees and customers. I think that we can all learn an important less from this on the power of showing appreciation and maintaining strong relationships.

One of the worst challenges that we go through in life is that we dwell on our failures. We allow the losses we’ve had to get in our head inhibiting our ability to take action like a deer caught in the headlights. “What if I fail again,” we think to ourselves. “Maybe I’m not good enough.” Or “Maybe this idea isn’t going to work.” And then we freeze. Our actions seize and the progress that we have made falters. This thought pattern, the voice that is in our heads is one of the biggest dream killers out there. How many people out there have been so close to success, they only need to push a little more and in that crucial moment they gave up? So how do you get yourself out of this mind trap? The secret is to re-frame your failures. Your belief about failure is holding you back. You actually think you failed. You think that since you didn’t win yet, you’ve lost. We need to realize that there is no such thing as failure. You either win or you learn. There is no lose. You didn’t fail, you’ve learnt important lessons which are all critical steps on the journey to success. Thomas Edison is famous for saying that he didn’t fail, he discovered thousands of ways that don’t work. With this mindset you realize that success is a process. And part of that process involves setbacks and challenges. The only real failure is when you give up and stop trying. You throw in the towel and pretend that your dreams weren’t really that important anyway. So stop “failing” and start learning, and before you know it, you will find success. And then looking back, you will realize that it was all worth it.

If you found a body lying on the ground in the street and you ran over to them to see if everything is okay how do you check if they’re alive? You can try to check if they have a pulse, but the easiest way to see if somebody is alive is to put your ear beside their face and try to hear or feel their breath. Are they breathing? Breath is the easiest sign that someone is alive. The human body needs oxygen and we get that from the air that we breathe. AIR is essential for our bodies; it keeps us alive. But if we want to be more than just physically alive there are 3 essential things that we must do every single day. First, we should start our day off with appreciation. What better way to wake up and realize that you’re alive and that the world is full of such beauty and promise. Think of one thing that you appreciate in your life. Studies in positive psychology show that appreciation is one of the key ingredients to happiness. So write down something that you appreciate in your life. After appreciation, the second thing that you should do is set your daily intentions. What do I want to accomplish today? What do I intend to do to make it a great day? Set these intentions by writing them down. This is not a to do list it’s trying to establish your attitude and emotions as well. How do you want to feel and act during certain activities that you have planned for the day. By writing these down you are committing to them and making it real. Finally, the third thing that we should do every single day is reflection. At the end of the day we need to reflect on how our day went. What are we proud of? What could have been improved? Did we accomplish our intentions? These are three habits that I’ve been doing in my life and have created the perfect book ends to start and end my day properly. A friend of mine, Artur Palvanov helped put the whole thing in perspective when he told me of course these things have helped you improve your life. We all know that we need AIR . Appreciation Intention & Reflection AIR – Because just like physical air, you can’t survive without it.