Doing your best doesn’t mean always crushing it.

“Your Best” can change from day to day…

Some days you’re healthy and some days you’re sick. Sometimes you’re a beginner, other times you have experience.

Regardless, always do the best you can. Try your hardest at life.

– You’ll never regret trying hard.
– Your personal development grows faster.
– You will lead a life of pride.
– You will help more people along the way.

Happy Thursday! Cheers to a wicked day ahead!
– Joel

Roasting various nuts… Bake at 350 for 20 mins makes everything delicious!

About 4 months ago, I met a guy while surfing.

It was a calm day, we were both just sitting there on our boards – so I smiled, said hello, and struck up a random conversation.

Well, just last week he sent me an email… he wanted to learn about the FIRE movement, and get some feedback on a financial app he’s building…

He asked for a phone call, and offered to pay me $150 for a 30 minutes of my time. Whoa! 😳

I’m not trying to brag… It seems strange money opportunities like this fall in my lap pretty often. Why?

Talking with a friend about this, she said it’s because “You are just so lucky!.. And I am not.”

While yes, I do agree that I’m lucky, I also believe that everybody creates their own luck…

– The way to meet more strangers and get work opportunities —> is to smile at everyone, everywhere you go. Start up cold conversations, and ask dumb questions.🙋‍♂️

– The way to find free stuff in the streets and money on the ground —> is to look for them everywhere you go. 👀

– If you want more people to help you get ahead in life —> simply bust your balls trying to help others get ahead and succeed. 😇

The more proactive you are, the more “luck” lands in your lap.

Happy Friday! Have a good one!

Sunrise in Adelaide, Australia this week!

Good morning everyone this is 5am Joel with your good vibes forecast for the weekend…
👨‍🏫

Today we’re expecting mostly happiness with a chance of awesome. There’s a 90% probability of delicious coffee this morning, bringing some energetic feelings and a wave of optimism.

Around midday we expect some inner peace to roll in, shedding all negative energy and stress from the week. Beverages are likely to flow shortly afterwards, bringing joy, delight and cheerfulness.

Good vibes will continue through Sunday, with a bit of added gratitude and appreciation. Keep an eye out for the Sunday scaries, they’ll sneak up on you, but you’ve got unwavering positivity as your secret weapon so you’ll be just fine.

That’s it for now, thanks for tuning in and have a lovely weekend folks. 😎

When Coops was growing up I took a pic every few weeks like this. Soon he was too big to fit on my lap anymore 🙂

The antidote to fomo is jomo.

JOMO = Joy of missing out.

Be happy, because missing out is actually a good thing sometimes…

• Instead of reading the news on your phone, ask the friends around you what their news is. Get updates via personal conversation.
• Instead of looking at other peoples photos online, get out and make your own memories! See things first hand and record images with your own eyeballs 👀
• Instead of clicking the “like” button on other people’s stuff all day, spend some time liking yourself.
• Rather than being distracted by advertisements for all the stuff you don’t have, consume yourself with all the stuff you already do have! In real life.

Embrace JOMO, because missing out is pretty cool 😎

Happy Sunday!
– Joel

Happy Monday and happy 1st of the month!!!

A few years back my wife and I started celebrating every 1st of the month. This ritual brings cheer, pride, encouragement, gratitude and celebration into our household and lives.

Please join in today… It’s easy to do:

• grab a pen
• write down 3-4 awesome things that happened last month
• buy a cheap bottle of bubbles/sparkle drink
• at dinner tonight, raise a glass and read out the things you wrote on your list
• cheers, toast, and laugh at how rich your life is.
• That’s it!

It’s a new week and new month. Lead with celebration. 🙂

Cheers, Joel. 🥂

A few things from my list:

• Wifey is now eligible for the vaccine (teacher), cheers to good health!
• We booked a long vacation for later this month. Haven’t been on a plane in over a year!
• Last week we bought another real estate investment. This is our 10th RE partnership, hello passive income!!
• We received a $200 bank bonus. Woohoo, free money!!

Happiness is a choice.

So choo choo choose it today.

Get it? Choo choo, like as in a choo choo train!? 😂

Well I thought it was funny.

Have a happy day! Sorry for the lame jokes.
– Joel

Happy Wednesday!

• you’re alive
• you’re breathin’
• you’re healthy
• you’re able
• you’re skilled
• you’re surrounded by people that love you
• You are truly blessed.

Life is good. Have a great day! 👍
– Joel

“The central coast is so boring and there’s nothing to do”… My friend Tazzie begs to differ! Check out these blossoming apricot trees on the Blossom Trail just outside Fresno. Thanks Tazzie for the pic!

8 years ago, I loved home brewing.

I loved it so much that I considered starting my own micro-brewery with a buddy of mine.

We made pretty decent beer, too! In fact, one day a wealthy neighbor came to my house and offered us $10,000 towards starting our own brewery!

But, I was young and scared.

I was worried about failure. Worried that people wouldn’t like my beer. Worried to lose money. Worried about *insert any irrational fear here*.

I turned the money offer down, and never pursued my passion as a profession.

*******

For any of you out there who have a passion (and get offered free money to follow it), but are feeling scared, don’t be an idiot like me! Don’t let the fear stop you from even trying.

You’ll never know how good you are if you don’t even try.

Visiting new brewpubs is bitter sweet for me. It’s a sad reminder of what could have been, but it’s also a big kick in the ass reminding me to always have the courage to follow the things I’m passionate about.

Part of teaching, is learning.
And part of learning, is teaching.

If you’re learning something cool today, try teaching it to others! Not only will it help you learn faster, you’ll share good info with your friends!

If you’re teaching something today, be sure to listen for learning opportunities. Nobody is omniscient – there is always room to learn.

Happy Friday! Have a fun teachy/learny day!
– Joel

If you want others to be happy, practice love and understanding.

If YOU want to be happy, practice love and understanding.

It’s a win/win.

Have a lovely weekend!
– Joel ☕️

Sunrise over Lake Washington, Seattle.

Be who you are

and say what you feel

because those who mind don’t matter

and those who matter don’t mind.

– Dr. Seuss

🐝 🐝 🐝

Flowers for my mother in law’s birthday! And heirloom tomatoes for caprese 🙂

A ship is always safe at shore, but that’s not what it’s built for. – Einstein.

Happy Monday!

This is your morning reminder to venture out of your comfort zone this week.

• You are built to explore.
• Your skin is way tougher than you think it is.
• You’ll surprise yourself with how far you can go, and how much you can achieve.
• You’ll also be surprised how FUN it is!

So, untie your dock lines and get out there! Comfort zones are for wimps.

Have a great week!
🛳 ⚓️ 🏴‍☠️

Cooper finally ventured off of his comfort zone (the couch)… but only made it to the backyard to get some sun.

Just

one

positive thought

each

morning

can change

your

whole day.

Today my positive thought is a memory of my wife and I kayaking in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam 5 years ago.

Not sure why that thought popped into my head this morning, but it makes me smile –> and will keep me happy all day today 😀

What’s your one positive thought today?

Another pic from our trip, this is Ha Long Bay. I must have been doing a push-up challenge or something that week as many of our photos have me down on my hands!

I took a DNA test recently (23andMe) and learned some cool stuff about my ancestry and genetic traits.

But they also gave me this weird report… Apparently my DNA shows I’ve got a 23% chance of fear of public speaking…

It’s strange to think that fear can be genetic.

(It’s also strange that people use Apps these days to tell them what they are and aren’t afraid of!)

Personally, I think most fears are learned by your upbringing and environment. And because fears are learned, they can also be unlearned!

Unlearning fear means exposing yourself to it more, little by little. The more you research and understand your fears, the less confronting they become. Your perspective changes, and you can reprogram your response over time.

YOU can conquer your fears – no matter what your DNA report has to say.

Keep this in mind as you go about your day. Don’t let others decide what you’re afraid of.

Happy Hump Day! I’m off to do some public speaking 🙂
– Joel

GOOD MORNING!!!

Don’t leave me hanin’.

Bump it!

🤜🤛

YES!

OK, now have a kickass day!

Happy Sunday! Time to spring your clocks forward an hour. ⏰

It sucks to lose an hour of sleep. But…

There are a bunch of cool things about daylight savings starting today:

• Winter is coming to an end 🥶
• More sunlight in the afternoons = more late day walks, brighter happy hours, and less indoor blues 🌞
• Less traffic accidents happen during lighter days. 🚗
• During daylight saving there’s also less crime committed at night! 👮‍♀️
• Today (3/14) is Pi Day, so everyone gets to eat pie for breakfast/lunch/dinner 🥧
• With the sun rising later you get to watch it rise in the morning. Which personally I think is the secret to starting a peaceful day.

Have a great rest of the weekend,
– Joel

I forgot to take a screenshot of Friday’s zoom happy hour, so here’s a drawing of what it looked like 🙂

Did you know…

Monday is the only day of the week that is an anagram for a single word.

That word is “dynamo”

Dynamo means: A generator, something that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy.

It’s also slang for: An extremely energetic person.

Not many humans associate Mondays with lively words. But now that YOU know this dynamo fact, you can live today being your most kickass energetic self.

Monday is on your side. 😎

Make it a good one,
– Joel

Almost sunset, over Lake Chelan in Washington

Sometimes I’m a scatterbrain.

My thoughts are all over the place, like this:

When thoughts are scattered it’s unproductive, stressful, and there’s no room for more thoughts!

But someone taught me a trick once to organize all the thoughts…

It’s called compartmentalization. Basically, you divide all your thoughts into similar categories, and put them in little compartments (or rooms)

Picture thoughts like this:

Try this:

1. Write down all your thoughts in a big messy list.
2. Cherry pick the top 5-6 that are the most important and will have the most impact on your work/life.
3. Put those each in their own special “room” in your brain.
4. All the rest go in the “other stuff bag”
5. Only focus on the rooms.
6. Inside each room is a whiteboard, with problems to solve on it. You can stay in the room as long as you need to work on or solve that problem.
7. When you feel you’ve made progress on Room 1, exit that room, close the door, and enter another room.
8. It’s important to only work inside one room at a time.

I know, it’s kind of weird. But this is how I handle multiple big projects at a time.

Rooms. Give it a try.

Happy Tuesday!
– Joel

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

☘️☘️☘️

Here are some fun statistics and happenings during this most spectacular holiday…

• Did you know, about 10% of all US citizens can trace their ancestry back to Ireland!? 😳
• That’s about 33 million Irish people in the USA (There’s only 5 million Irish in Ireland itself!) 🇮🇪
• Regardless of ancestry, about 1 Billion people around the world will be celebrating today. Woohoo! 🥳
• Today, Americans will spend about $7 Billion on booze and costumes 🤮
• And we’ll drink ~13 million pints of Guinness! 🍺
• 40% of people plan to “get lucky” tonight. 💋
• (But only ~12% of them will actually remain sober enough for it 🙁)
• 80% of people will wear something green
• Joe Biden announced he will be wearing his lucky green underwear today to give him extra luck during his meetings! 🩲
• Mr. Biden is also planning to cook a traditional Shepherd’s Pie for dinner tonight at the Whitehouse. Last time he tried this one of the naughty presidential puppies snuck into our the kitchen and ate the whole pie. The dogs will be locked outside tonight.
• 40% of these stats were completely made up but yours truly.
• Because 90% of Irishmen are cheeky buggers and rascals. 🤥

Have a wonderful day!
Cheers, Joel 🍺🍺🍺

Pic from St. Paddy’s Day 2013. Cooper got a lot of kisses that day 😘

First there’s:
– Discomfort
– Roadblocks
– Frustration
– Problems

But then:
– Success! 🏆
– Progress! ✅
– Confidence! 💪
– Celebration! 🎉

If you give up during the first list…

You don’t get to experience the bottom list.

Keep going! You’re doing great.

Joel 💪

*Feature pic by Daria Nepriakhina!