Good morning from New York City. I am super excited about today’s episode. I’m not sure on which episode it was, but I said I want to reset my default mode. In fact I’ve been sharing my process. Today is the fourth episode. It started last Friday with ‘Well Hello Airplane Mode’. Airplane mode is a metaphor for getting quiet with myself, getting clear on what’s important, turning down the noise, becoming the observer. I went on to do Reckonings and Beautiful Questions, and I talked about how questions activate the subconscious and shared a few of the questions and read a little piece from David Whyte, the poet philosopher, talking about following your questions to see what types of questions come up when you really let your mind go. Then on Wednesday I got into mind mapping and how mind mapping calms me, helps me see what I’m thinking, and gives me clarity.

So, as I said before, I am in this process of what I called a reckoning. I’m getting back in the driver’s seat of my life. I am being very deliberate and intentional about how I’m directing my thoughts, thinking about what’s important to me. Anyway, this brings me to today’s episode. I found a short video done by Jesse Itzler. He’s a serial entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Marquis Jets and has a stake in a big football or baseball league and he  is one of the most important coconut waters. He also happens to be the husband of Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx.

So on to his message. It was one of those videos that calls your attention because he was speaking very excitedly and he said, “if you do these three things, your life will be way better”. I remember I was going to skip over it because I’m thinking I’ve got a pretty good life –  I don’t need to listen to that – but the fact that I saved it intrigued me, so I listened to it.

I’d say he offered a three-step process to deliberately creating a life you love. It would be easy to say that I already have a great life, but the truth of the matter is I would say that the intentionality around curating my life in a way that is fun and exciting, and cultivating curiosity and positive expectation comes and goes. Sometimes I go on cruise control. I think that’s really normal, and I personally love to be in the driver’s seat as much as possible. So I’d call it the three step process to deliberately cultivate a fun and interesting life.

I think of this as sort of a fun game that will remind me about what’s important. Here it is. Number one. Misogi. It’s based on a Japanese ritual where you create one year-defining thing. That one big thing that will define your year, something you can look back on and say, yeah, in 2023, I quit my job, started a new business, lost 100 pounds, went around the world, whatever it is. I think that’s cool. Number two is what Jesse called Kevin’s Rule because he got this idea from what he called one of his blue-collar friends who is one of the happiest people he knows. He says that every other month he does something he normally wouldn’t do. So, it’s sort of like creating six mini adventures every year. And I started thinking about it, and I’m like, wow, if I did this from now until I’m 70 years old, for example, I would create over 50 mini adventures, and that excites me. Number three is to add a winning habit every quarter.

This whole thing feels like a game to me, a fun game that I want to play. When I started to really think about it, here’s what came up for me. I want to see if any of you would like to join me. It would be more fun I think it would be cool to come together. I don’t know whether it’s virtually or it doesn’t matter. Once a quarter to share ideas and experiences and stories. Wouldn’t that be cool?

So let me repeat this three-step process. The first is to choose one big thing that will define your year. Number two is to create a mini adventure for yourself every other month. And number three is to add a winning habit every quarter. Jesse said, if you do these things, your life will be way better. I have to say, I couldn’t agree more, and I would add to that, your life will be more fun and adventurous.

So there you have it. If you’d like to join me, I would really love it. Please email me, or send a message or DM me, whatever it is. I think it would be fun to do this experiment together. It doesn’t matter to me if we are 3 or 30 people. I don’t care. This whole thing has me thinking about my Misogi. What is going to be the big thing that will make 2024 a memorable year, something that defines the year? How cool is that thought?

I’ll leave you with that beautiful invitation. I hope to hear from you. That’s all for now. Until next time, from my heart to yours.