Jonathan Nation

Early Wins To Bigger Wins

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“Win the morning … Win the day”

I’ve heard this mindset in many ways over many years. 

It’s simple:

How can you do something that is an easy win ASAP each morning?

That makes you a winner. 

What do winners do?

WIN MORE

And if you have won the morning it means you day is also a win. 

You will always have something to look back on & say:

“I did good there; I won” 

Make each day an easy win by stacking some easy wins first thing in the morning. 

Then hit your one big thing for the day. 

Want easy wins? 

Try one or multiple SAVERS from The Miracle Morning:

  • Silence – prayer/meditation/reflection/stillness
  • Admonitions – affirm your good points, abilities, and successes
  • Visualization – who you are doing the work
  • Exercise – get your body moving
  • Read – gather fuel that makes you better
  • Scribe – write out express of gratitude, lessons learned or future you are building. 

All six is best, when I’m at my best I’m typically doing five of them. 

Trouble identifying that one big thing ->

Can you do something good now? 

Earn that little win, then earn one more.

~ Jonathan Nation .com / Early Wins To Bigger Wins

Facing The Unknown

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Her son found him lying face down on the ground.
She thought they were playing around … at first.

She is now living my wife’s and many others’ worst nightmare.

Widowed with young kids.

It’s probably a common fear for women;
It’s an unspoken fear for men, especially fathers of daughters.

Years ago I faced this fear.

Not because my wife was dying; there could have been a medical concern, yet this was more intentional on my part.

So, what did I do?

Random Car Show in IL

Road Trip

My parents and grandmother provided a wonderful gift even though our financial situation was around the median household income & there were five of us kids.

They found ways for us to travel, see areas, experience nature & I’ve been in just about every log cabin there is in a Tennessee State Park … They all basically look the same; yet the natural wonders I’ve experienced have been marvelous.

A lesson I learned in all that was anyone in the USA can travel; experience culture and wonder different from your normal & without spending huge money too.

Lake Erie

When I face one of my greatest fears: that my wife would die, leaving me with three small daughters … I pushed into that fear.

Our first Road trip fit with a work trip my wife had.

She flew to Norfolk, Virginia where she had an apartment.
The next morning my children and I started driving.

It was not the first road trip; not the first time staying in a hotel; not the first time exploring without a set schedule other than “arrive in Norfolk by bedtime two days from now” … yet it was the first without my wife.

Diamond Mining

On that first trip, we dropped my wife off at the airport to fly home. She had spent some time with us and other time working a 24 hour shift, a norm for her career. We went to Charlotte, NC instead of directly home and stayed with a cousin of mine for a few days.

Again, this was the first trip, having people around was important – just knowing I would be alone with them for a day or two made it an easier step.

Norfolk, VA


We have done multiple trips since. Just me and my children.
It’s not that we don’t want Mommy to be with us, we do this in part due to the career and travel my wife does without us, but it’s bigger than that.

At this point, my children are 8, 8, and 6 … they have spent significant time in 17 states (either a lot of time, or overnight), and been to 2 more that just don’t quite qualify.

Houston Space Center

The last big trip added three new states, with diamond mining in Arkansas, exploring Houston, Texas, and wandering around New Orleans where we parked the car and either walked or rode the mass transit that they have there.

Sometimes we stay in hotels, though if we are in a city for 3 or more days we prefer to find a short-term rental (VRBO or AirBnB) so that I can have a seperate room from where the kids will sleep – they still go to bed many hours before I do and that time is important.

My encouragement to you is two fold:


1. Travel as a family – my mother was told she should never worry about her kids being ready for school simply because she traveled with them.

2. Travel with just your kids – there is no better way to help that relationship & prep for a potential scary future, than forcing yourself for a short period of time to have less support, less backup, less normal … at least for a short period of time.

One final piece of encouragement, and this is to me as much as it is to you ….

Take care of yourself.

Physically with what you eat and exercise.

Mentally with the media you consume – read a book, listen to an audiobook, take a class, study a new subject, develop a new skill.

Emotionally – be a friend, express gratitude, journal, pray, meditate, acknowledge your emotions, name them, share them with specific people.

Spiritually – you have a spiritual side. Beliefs that go beyond what you can see, touch, and feel. Even if you consider yourself an Atheist, or Agnostic … this is a part of you that if you ignore you will eventually discover a major missing part of your life, or you are rejecting specific words and your actions are still very belief based.

Relationships – relationships make the world go around. Find the right people. Connect with them. Strengthen the relationships, but more importantly, support the relationships between people who care about you.

  • You do need a Doctor.
  • You do need a Dentist, and other special medical professionals.
  • You do need a coach, at least one.
  • You do need friends, at least 2, ideally who also care about each other too.
  • You do need to contribute to others.
  • You do need to grow, regularly … and travel can help that.
  • You do need to get stronger.

Then take care of your Significant Other by recording all the little things you do.

Make sure they have access to passwords to log into accounts.
Make sure they know what accounts to really access.
Make sure they know where your Will is.

Have Family Photos captured every year or two; more is better.

Do they know the daily, weekly & monthly schedule for your kids?
If it’s not written down, the answer is no.

Keep sailing,

no matter what vehicle you use for your voyage.


Internally Busy

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There are some times that I get more done in a 25 minute work sprint then in weeks prior … like the last 25 minutes.

One thing I am trying to keep in mind is that I often have to go through those weeks of internal work, messing with ideas, before I am really to really sail with the skill of an expert. It is those times that magic really is happening, building up, so that when it finally comes out of me I can sit back and say:

That … That is progress. That is what I could not do before, yet now I have. That is what I could not even see before, yet there it is now.

The hard work of entrepreneurs, leaders, owners is often not in the moments when we are typing, speaking, or meeting but in the hours leading up to that moment.

When art is made.

Internally Busy - Jonathan Nation

Appearance of Working

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Sometimes you need the discipline to keep pushing, speed up, and fight on.
Sometimes you need the discipline to pause, rest, and recharge.

Discipline is looking as where you are today, where you are heading & doing the hard thing that will increase your odds of success.

For many, what seems like inaction is often the hardest discipline to do or understand when others are in that phase.

 

Appearance of Working

Do You want to Build a Snowman?

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Suddenly awakened to that familiar question:

Do you want to build a snowman?

She asks you so much, prompts you, disturbs you with this question that you both love and wish would end.

When you give in, go and do your magic, it is wonderful. You play and have fun, while creating something so few really can.

This is your life, this is your ideal life. You have people in it who love you, who respect you, who want you to bring your brilliance to the world … then something happens.

 

A mistake.

 

You blame yourself & are so scared of making another mistake that you decide to hide yourself.

That sweet small voice, she still calls for you. Asks you … prompts you …

Do you want to build a snowman?

 

What is your Snowman?

We all have it. That thing that we love to do. It’s an intersection of our natural strengths, what we could be the best in the world at, and our passions, the activities, people, topics, or places that energize us when we are producing for, with, or in.

It’s something so natural to you that it might take work, at least to an outside person, yet you would rather do it than most anything else. It’s both work and play to you.

The results are magical.

Do You want to Build a Snowman?

How long since the last time you built a snowman?

It had been years for me.

For many years I hid my brilliance. Like taking a lamp and putting it under a basket so that nobody could see.

 

I was miserable.

Maybe I was building mini snowmen in my backyard … like Calvin often did with Hobbs, yet that’s not the level I should be playing at.

 

Has it been months?
A Year?
5 Years?
10 Years?
Can you even remember a time when you were really working with the who, what, when, where, and or why that causes you to come alive; bringing your unique magic in a flow that people around you would think is so simple until they tried it?

 

Now the question really is … when was the last time you heard:

Do you want to build a snowman?

 

Who is asking you to build a snowman?

That person, that sister, that brother, that friend, that co-worker, that sweet small voice inside of you. Knocking at the door, asking you to open it, and magically play in a way that only you can.

 

That’s someone to hold onto.

That’s someone you need.

 

In all of your life, only you can provide your unique magic, yet it’s not for you alone & you can’t gain the fulfillment, joy, or happiness by building miniature snowmen in your backyard with a stuffed tiger. Not at the level you desire today.
To achieve your greatness you need a combination of your magic and a group who values your magic.

It might not be as you dreamed. Your art, your magic, your work might not fit the desires, problems, and pains to have the lifestyle you desire.

So, how might you let your light shine & also achieve your dreams?
How do you appreciate and accept the promptings from your supporter who keeps encouraging you?

Understand what the voice is wanting. She wants you to be the best you can be.

She wants you to be full of joy.
She wants you to let go and own who you are.

She wants you to do magic and building a snowman is simply the only words she has that represents that for her.
It’s not about balls of snow, with coal, sticks, and a carrot nose … it’s about you performing at a high level in a way that is hard, creative and fun.

There are many ways that your abilities, talents, strengths, connections and passions can be developed and used.
Will you?

What would be your snowman?

Do you want to build a snowman?

Will you do it, today?

You made it this far …

I am always looking to me more leaders, linchpins, and problem solvers. We need more people to take on a business owner mindset, to seek out pains and problems then find ways to provide value to others.

Let's connect.

~Jonathan Nation

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