Happy Sunday Everyone:
Please bear with me on this as it takes some explanation, but I think you’ll find it to be very cool.
I finished last week’s Sunday Thoughts with this:
“Human connection is a beautiful thing, how could you argue that? What’s more important? Reverse engineering some of the great relationships you have in your life creates gratitude and appreciation for the journey of those relationships. The milestones that caused the leapfrog of love, respect, and connectedness. Worth considering. Pick one-person, reverse engineer how you got from point A to Z, and I guarantee you’ll end up with a smile on your face!”
I also mentioned our divisional book club and the impact our current book “The Miracle Morning” written by Hal Elrod has had on our team members participating. I think a good number of you have heard of the book, it has sold over 2 million copies. Most of the 15 team members would suggest it’s the single book where they’ve chosen to execute on its teaching and have found themselves elevating their mornings, days, and lives.
John Israel is a person who receives my Sunday Thoughts. Many of you may know him as “Mr. Thank You”. John’s business is based around what I would call structured gratitude. He tested himself a few years back by writing 5 thank you cards a day for 1 year, he never missed. These were not “thank you for dinner”, these were intentional/purposeful handwritten cards. Bottomline, is it turned into a movement, a speaking series, and a company. Intentional, authentic, structured gratitude is something every single one of us should consider. I’ve had John speak to our previous company, our current division, and my business partners. Based on the impact of those calls I was also happy to suggest other people I care about speak with him. Our relationship has developed over the years with a certain level of trust and respect for one another. Our asks of one another aren’t often, but when they’re there, we handle them. Hard to explain really but if i need his advice and vice versa, we drop what we’re doing to give it.
I received a video via text from John on Tuesday of last week. I hit play and Hal Elrod, author of “The Miracle Morning” is personally thanking me for choosing his book for our book club (We now know that John knows Hal). I’m not sure if John forwarded last week’s Sunday Thoughts or talked to him about it but the video blew me away. 2 plus mill copies sold, highly successful keynote speaker, and he’s sending me a personalized video thanking me for having 15 people read his book? Doesn’t stop there, he then suggests if I want him to hop on the book club, he’s happy to do it. John makes an intro via txt to share each other’s contact information, and I now have Hal joining our book club this Friday. Maybe because I’m so close to it, I think it’s cooler than you do, but I was a fan Hal’s book before last week, now I’m a fan of Hal himself. The book club is obviously stoked!
Bringing it all together, John and Hal are examples of having a “givers gain” mindset. John did this without even reaching out to me…he just sent me a txt with a video. He didn’t call me ahead of time and ask if he wanted me to try to hook him up with Hal, it was just a simple gesture with no expectations aside from knowing that it would bring joy to me. Hal didn’t need to send me a video and he sure as heck didn’t need to offer to join our book club but here he is doing it. When you stack intentional acts over time, relationships compound. And every once in a while, they pay you back in ways you never saw coming.
Hope you have a great Sunday!