Brady Quinn's Got It Right

So Brady Quinn is now one of my favorite NFL players and it has nothing to do with what he did on the field on Sunday.  No, it was after the game ended in the postgame press conference that Quinn impressed yours truly.

In case you haven't heard, Quinn's teammate Javon Belcher shot and killed his girlfriend then himself this past Saturday.  You can read more about it here.  Here's what Quinn had to say concerning the tragedy:

I'm not really sure if it's possible to watch this video and not cheer for this guy.  The realness of his message is inescapable. We can't avoid tragedy all together, but we can make a concerted effort to support the ones that we care about in life and their well-being.  That's the least we can do.

Monday Inspiration: "You Just Have to Do Something"

Happy Monday, good people.

I recently ran across a blog by a designer/entrepreneur named Jonathan Moore.  While I'm a fan of several of the posts, there was one post in particular that was pertinent and seemed to speak to questions that I've been having recently.  Check it out below:

Throughout life we are impacted with moments that are rich with meaning and significance. Regardless of the joy or sorrow that these moments create, it is our job to listen and respond. This summer I was given the gift of one of those profound moments.On a warm August afternoon, my wife and I invited some close friends over for lunch to spend the day swimming in our pool. We were in the water playing with our kids, watching them one-up each other jumping in, and playing all the usual games.
One of the times my daughter climbed out to jump back in, she cried out in pain after stepping on a bee. As soon as I pulled out the stinger left behind in her foot, one by one more bees began to swarm. Thinking that the dead bee was attracting others, I picked it up and went inside to throw it away.
The moment I opened the trash in the kitchen I heard my wife scream outside. It wasn’t an ordinary scream. I look outside right at the moment she was diving into the water. Racing outside I was certain that she was being attacked by the aggressive bees.
I made it to the edge of the water right when she was coming up. My heart sank. In her arms was our little boy, blue and lifeless.
Frantically I took him into my arms as she began to yell for help and call 911. I will never forget what it felt like to hold him in that moment. Laying him on the ground I cried out to God for help. Even though I have never been trained for CPR, instincts on some level kicked in. I started desperately performing a series of chest compressions and breaths. After an eternity of seconds I saw the life and color return to his face. My boy was saved.
The paramedics arrived shortly after, and within minutes we were on our way to the hospital. During the trip one of the paramedics reassured my wife that he was going to be just fine because CPR was performed right away. After all this was his seventh time to be called out for a drowning this summer, and the only one that did not end in tragedy.
The next day in the ICU, we had a great conversation with the pediatrician. I recounted the entire story, chain of events and explained how I had no clue what I was doing with CPR. He compassionately listened, and then replied, “You don’t have to do it right. You just have to do something.” My boy is alive simply because something was done.
When we are presented with moments of crisis, large decisions or new opportunities often we find ourselves crippled by the lack of knowledge. We justify inaction with our insecurities in not knowing the right way to move forward. Or we trap ourselves in an endless search for knowledge to attempt to reassure our actions.
Over the course of my career and journey as an entrepreneur, I have learned that success and fulfillment is found when we push ourselves beyond our comfort zone. There is tremendous value in having knowledge ahead of time—I am now CPR certified—but simply taking action is often what it takes.
You don’t have to do it right. You just have to do something.

I couldn't have said it better myself. 

Cheers,

JIP

Aren't we all?

Source

Keep on Pushing

In case you've been, M.I.A. over the last day or so, here's the new Lebron commercial that debuted last night.  I'm not even a huge Lebron fan, but this is dope.  Proof that hard work pays off.

Monday Inspiration: "Will"

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you "Will" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox:


There is no chance, no destiny, no fate,
Can circumvent or hinder or control
The firm resolve of a determined soul.
Gifts count for nothing; will alone is great;
All things give way before it, soon or late.
What obstacle can stay the mighty force
Of the sea-seeking river in its course,
Or cause the ascending orb of day to wait?

Each well-born soul must win what it deserves.
Let the fool prate of luck. The fortunate
Is he whose earnest purpose never swerves,
Whose slightest action or inaction serves
The one great aim. Why, even Death stands still,
And waits an hour sometimes for such a will.

Well, that's good enough for me to start my day.

Cheers,

JIP

Gifted and Cursed: Confidence

Good people, it's been way too long. Check out the piece below that I wrote for The Infamous L a couple of weeks back. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on this.

Ah, a gift and a curse. You could probably make an argument that most things in life can be looked at as either, so this was tough to narrow down. But today, I’m going to focus on my gifted curse (see what I did there?) of confidence.

From a young age, I was blessed enough to have people in my life that instilled in me a sense of self-confidence that I have carried with me and continue to develop each day. It’s actually a part of my life’s motto: live confidently, control the things that I can control, and have a good time while I’m here. Possessing self-confidence is certainly a gift. Self-confidence, however, isn’t necessarily as easy to identify as you might believe.

I find that cockiness is often mistaken for confidence, and this mistaken identity is the curse. It’s like mistaking Memphis Bleek for Jay-Z. Yeah, you’ve seen them together a lot, but it’s completely disrespectful to confuse the two. Cockiness is basically me putting myself up on a pedestal and convincing you that I should be there. You could make an argument that some level of cockiness is not a bad thing, but it’s not a substitute for confidence. The main reason is that cockiness lacks a solid foundation.

Cockiness is a “what have you done for me lately?” type of feeling. Oh, you got her number? You start feeling yourself a little bit, BOOM, that cockiness level goes up. Oh, you crushed that interview today? Double BOOM…cockiness level goes even higher. Your swag (yes, swag) is on a whole different level right now. But wait…the number she gave you is disconnected? Oh…that cockiness comes down a little bit. And about that interview, maybe you didn’t crush it like you thought you had. Let’s bring that cockiness down a little bit more.

The point I’m trying to make is that cockiness is fleeting. It starts to come out when random events are going in your favor. But life tells us all that you can’t always win. So what keeps you going during your down times? That’s where your confidence kicks in.

Being confident doesn’t mean you’re invincible. We’re humans, we all lose, we all are vulnerable, but it’s not about any of that. Being confident doesn’t exempt you from human emotions, but being confident in yourself allows you to fight through your down times, knowing that something better is out there. Confidence has the sustainability that cockiness lacks because it’s based on a foundation. Whatever that foundation is: your circle of family and friends, your spirituality, or something completely different, it exists, and it’s your source of strength. That’s why it’s a gift; it keeps you going when that’s all you got.

Be careful out here, good people. Don’t let a pretty curse convince you that it’s a gift.

Cheers,

JIP

Inspiration: Good Ol' Jim Beam

Happy Friday, all.  Hopefully everyone's had a solid week and is looking forward to the good times that the weekend brings.  As we mentally withdraw from work, school, or whatever daily task should technically have our attention now, I want to bring your attention to a tv spot from Jim Beam that I saw a while back which deals with the choices that we make or don't make and the impact that they have on our lives.

Check out the ad below, featuring Willem Dafoe:

Great ending line: "All choices lead you somewhere, bold choices take you where you're supposed to be".    There's a fine line between providing a memorable message and just coming off as trying to hard and Jim Beam nailed it.  Plus, combining whiskey with a positive message (or anything else) is my idea of a winning combination.

Have a great weekend, good people.

Cheers,

JIP