GOT PURPOSE?

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Life is pretty simple. It becomes more complex as we age but for the most part, we just want to be happy. Happiness is a fickle emotion that is impossible to bottle up or buy. Disneyland has apparently cornered the market as the happiest place on earth. Unfortunately, this bastion of happiness has been closed down for 6 months. This makes me wonder where the second happiest place on earth has been all these years and why are they not touting their new number 1 status?

Happiness has been and always will be ruthlessly unpredictable and undeniably disloyal. Happiness is a puzzle and it is made up of several pieces. Here are a few:

– Be difficult to offend

– Discover a place of belonging (Big Piece)

– Find fulfillment regardless of the task

– Dedicate your life to helping others

– Understand your purpose (Biggest Piece)

These are a few of the corner pieces that are crucial for assembling the happiness puzzle. Most people want to skip the first four and discover their life calling listening to a podcast. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. The Declaration of Independence calls it a pursuit of happiness because that’s what it is – a pursuit.

As your Chief Encouragement Officer, I would urge you to survey your puzzle. What pieces are on the board but in the wrong place? What pieces are missing? At the end of the day, happiness and joy are knowing that your activity and production are what you do not who you are. Answering life’s great questions is always a pursuit.

Stay in the game because you will soon find out that you were born for such a time as this.

Have Fun,

Matt Davenport

C.E.O.

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MERCY’S SHORE

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The past 6 months have felt as though the anchors in our lives have been pulled up without notice. We have been collectively drifting while being pounded by waves, rain and wind. Our sails have been torn, our rudder damaged and our maps have been rendered useless by the saltwater. Yet, here you are today. You have not abandoned ship. You have not pulled the plug. You may have thought about waving the white flag, but you didn’t.

Today is a day that we take a deep breath and survey the vast seas around us. Today is a day we count our blessings rather than our curses. Today is the day we celebrate that we are healthy and strong. Today is the day we lift our heads, put on a clean shirt, and look for the shoreline.

The past 6 months have been the equivalent of dealing with a toddler throwing a never-ending temper tantrum. You have tried every trick in the book and the kid won’t stop. What’s left? 2020 is shaking all things we deemed certain. Here is what we can do.

Take control of what you can control and let go of what you can’t. Even that never-ending tantrum that is 2020 will wear itself out and fall asleep. We are on the precipice of reaching mercy’s shore. When we get there, we will look back at our tattered ship knowing we would never have been pushed to this new place without the storm.

Don’t Quit,

Matt Davenport

C.E.O.

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Who Ordered a Medium?

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Recently, it dawned on me that the size medium was created for people that can’t make a decision. What size drink would you like with that? Hmmm… I don’t want a small because that is not going to be enough and I will never finish a large, so I will take a medium. This conversation goes on in our heads at places like Starbucks but I’m becoming increasingly aware that these non-committal decisions surface in much bigger areas of our lives.  

Forget fast food and shirt sizes. I’m talking about not seeing things clear enough to ask for and work for what we really want. Ordering a medium in life is the equivalent of chartering a boat, setting sail with the hopes of just landing somewhere different. Nothing precise, nowhere particular, just somewhere that is different from the longitude and latitude you currently inhabit.

This line of thinking excuses you from understanding that geography is not your issue. You are the issue. You have not yet set clear parameters on where you are, where you want to go and how you are going to get there.  For the last 6 months, I have written about how the journey takes you places you never intended. That still holds true. However, if you set sail to escape rather than to conquer than you have a whole different type of voyage ahead. One that typically involves more geography change and no real progression.

As your Chief Encouragement Officer, I implore you to let the winds of change fill your sails. Run to the bow of the ship and proudly proclaim… I’ll take a large!

Anchors Away,

Matt Davenport

C.E.O.

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A GOOD CRISIS

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Rahm Emanuel used this expression during a time we now call the great recession of 2008. Long before Emanuel said it, Sir Winston Churchill stated, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Churchill uttered these words in the mid-1940s as we were approaching the end of World War ll.

I want to highlight both men because they said these words before the crisis had passed. The quote does an amazing job of creating a juxtaposition on the effects of crisis. In simple terms, never wasting a good crisis means that we are given a choice to allow the events of today to bully us or we choose to engage so that we become a warrior for the promise of tomorrow.

Believe it or not, the crisis that is 2020 will be over before we know it. You still have the opportunity to not let it go to waste. Will you be a victim, or will you allow this year to act as a springboard for the rest of your life? Ironic how 2020 vision is considered perfect. We are all sitting in a chair called September and we are being asked is this better or is this better. Like a good optometrist, the year 2020 has clarified our lives in so many different ways.

Family, friends, health and unity have been moved to the top of the chart and life is coming back into focus. Don’t let a good crisis go to waste. There, I said it, now you can add my name alongside Rahm Emmanuel and Sir Winston Churchill.

Thank you,

Matt Davenport

C.E.O.

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