Hey there,

I am extremely grateful for every single one of you who respond to my newsletters, either by email or on our Facebook page, letting me know what you got out of it, disagree with, whatever. It’s really my favorite thing about writing these, so please don’t be shy. It helps us both I think.

What are you grateful for this morning? Let’s get even more specific – what’s the one thing about you physically that you’re extremely grateful for? So often we take inventory of “what we’re not” physically, so instead, let’s choose something healthier to focus on.

What about you physically are you really grateful for?

Take a moment and really honor that gift and blessing.

It feels good.

I’ve been in Hawaii now for three weeks, and I have a week to go (I’m really grateful for this, too!). Most days I spend at the beach, and most evenings I spend on my dear friends, Bubba and Lydia’s, deck hanging out and talking.

For those of you who have been reading these from the early days, you may remember the newsletter I wrote about Bubba, and if not, it’s attached below.

Either way, Bubba’s cool. He’s a very interesting, beautiful, wise man.

The other night we were talking about something that has stayed with me – luck.

Are you lucky?

Do you consider yourself a lucky person?

I consider myself incredibly lucky. Always have been. Bubba feels he is, too.

As we shared countless stories back and forth about the “lucky breaks and blessings” that have come our way, a theme emerged – in every instance, our “good luck” was a result of us showing up.

What I mean by that is I believe we create our “luck” by doing the work on ourselves, our dreams, our relationships so that when that brass ring of luck comes screaming by, we’re right there ready and deserving of it.

And if this is true, then the converse is true – if we’re not ready, if we haven’t “set the table” then when luck arrives, we won’t be ready for it. Hell, we won’t even know we missed it.

What I’m talking about can be visualized beautifully by picturing a surfer trying to catch a wave. If he/she is ready for it and doing the work to be at the right place at the right time, then they will catch that wave and ride it for as far as it can take them.

And if they’re not ready, then all the paddling in the world won’t matter. They’ll miss that wave. They may catch another but they will NEVER catch that one.

Are you doing the work consistently to be ready for your luck? Are you showing up in your everyday life and setting the table so that when luck comes a calling for you, you’re ready to eat?

“Luck is the residue of design.”

I love this quote and believe in it completely. This was said by the great baseball owner, Branch Ricky. His full quote is this:
“Things worthwhile generally don’t just happen. Luck is a fact, but should not be a factor. Good luck is what is left over after intelligence and effort have combined at their best. Negligence or indifference is usually reviewed from an unlucky seat. The law of cause and effect and causality both work the same with inexorable exactitudes. Luck is the residue of design.”

It works either way.

Are you lucky or unlucky?

I believe in most instances we create our luck – both good and bad. It’s a work ethic combined with our attitude about what we believe we deserve.

Which do you choose – good luck or bad?

I hope your day and week is incredibly blessed and full of extremely good luck.

I (and many others) always appreciate you,
Jim

HERE’S BUBBA’S NEWSLETTER 12/25/15

Happy Sunday to you!

As I write this I’m sitting at the Mauna Kea Resort in Hawaii. It has one of most beautiful beaches in the world and it’s where I’ll be for the next several weeks. To say the least I’m extremely grateful for this blessed opportunity to come back home to the island of Hawaii.

What are you grateful for? I’m really asking you so if you can’t think of something right away take a moment. It’s worth it.

Last week I wrote about a man I admire very much, Anthony Montes. I celebrated his resiliency to hang in there as he’s gone after his dream for 30 years with such integrity.

Today I’d like to introduce you to somebody else I have enormous respect for. His name is Bubba Rutledge.  Bubba was my dearest, closest friend when I lived here. I moved off-island 18 years ago and all these years later we’re closer than ever and my respect for him has only grown.

For 30 years Bubba had the best job at the best office in the world.

He was the beach captain at Kona Village Resort. If any of you reading this have ever been to Kona Village you know how beautiful that place is and what a step back in time it was when you stayed there.

Old Hawaii.

Bubba’s job was to make sure every single guest was spoiled rotten the second they set foot on that beach. From the time they arrived to the moment they left nothing but aloha.

He was verrrrrrry good at his job.

The guests were often rock stars, movie stars, great athletes and some of the most powerful, influential businessmen and women in the world.

And this is what makes Bubba so incredible because he was family to these people. Their kid’s kids kept coming back year after year and one of the main reasons was to see “Uncle Bubba.”

This will give you an idea of the type of influence he had on people and their families.

When Steve Jobs passed Bubba was the personal guest of the Jobs family. When he arrived Steve Jobs children ran to him with big hugs and screaming, “Uncle Bubba, you came!!!”

I’m sure as he sat there with Steve Jobs wife Lorraine on one side and Bill Clinton and Bono on the other, the guests had to be wondering, “Who the hell is that guy sitting over there wearing an aloha shirt?”

That’s Bubba.

The reason I’m sharing him with you is this: I hung out with Bubba and his beautiful wife, Lydia last evening. And as I drove home I was so struck by how pure, grounded, and “in balance” he is as a human being.

Now he’s lived Hawaii for the last 50 years so he’s not around a lot of “out-of-balance” people, energy and situations.

And for those of us who live on the mainland we are surrounded by a tremendous amount of “out-of-balance” people, energy and situations.

And that leads to a question I’d like to ask of you. What aspect of your life is “out of balance ” because of your daily routine. Is it physical, emotional, financial, professional or maybe all of the above?

And the real question is what can you do, TODAY, about it? What one step can you take to begin to get “in-balance?”

Next weeks newsletter is going to be a continuation of this so for now I’d like you to go to our private

Newsletter Facebook page and answer these two questions. Where are you most “out of balanced” in your life and what can you do TODAY to begin to balance that out.

This is going to be fun!

I can’t wait to read what you share.

Until next week, ALOHA,
Jim