It ‘twas the night before….

Do you remember being a kid waiting for Christmas?

In anticipation of what was sitting underneath the Christmas tree, wondering about that special gift, or gifts, that you’ve been waiting for.

As a kid, my memories of Christmas were not as special as perhaps it was for many others.

For one, it was uncommon, or unlikely, that us four siblings were receiving the valued present that we hoped for. Secondly, there was not much faith nor Christmas songs in the house. And third, I’ve never seen this guy called Santa come down the chimney. 

So, Christmas for me, as a kid, was not exactly the most exciting time. 

However, as a parent, we have been able to provide our own children Christmas gifts. I have been grateful to be able to give them “a Traditional Christmas morning.” Of course, for me, there is more to it today because there is faith and there is a strong family. It’s been more meaningful, even when we pretended that Santa ate the cookies by the chimney.

The Limits of Experiencing Temporary Joy to Consistent Gratitude of Growth

I was listening to Tony Robbins who said the funny part about receiving gifts, or achieving something extraordinary, is that we have this tendency to only feel a sense of joy for a brief period in time. Sometimes that joy lasts longer, but rarely is that longer than a couple months, and really unlikely to last more than a year.

The anticipation of getting the gift, the process of earning it, is typically where the joy comes from. Then we get something, and we ask, is that all there is? 

We can be such an ungrateful species. We get something and we no longer have joy, when that event takes place, or that we reached the mountain. 

The key is turning from short-term joy to consistent gratitude. Appreciating the continuous process of growing. 

So here we are, as this blog goes out, we are the night before our event, and I am so excited and so grateful for the next few days to expand our horizons and set extraordinary goals for 2026.

The 40 Strategy Growth Workshop™ has finally arrived!

Tomorrow is the opening reception for the first 40 Strategy Growth Workshop™.

We are officially sold out!

As a matter of fact, we’ve actually exceeded the numbers that we expected to have.  But it hasn’t been easy to get to this event.

But I will say I am extraordinarily grateful for all of the efforts that our team has put in to make this happen. First, I would like to say thank you to Tonya Smith and Erin Gibney, for a tremendous amount of time and effort to get us here. Kyle Pfeiffer on our team has done a great job, thank you. Cindy Watts for being here and helping with our registration team. We have also had great partners, Christian Smutherman, Growthloop, James Larivee, Alleyoop, and Drew Miller, Edge Effect.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I’m also very grateful for all the speakers who are taking the time out of their busy lives to provide value to our attendees. Tommy Breedlove, Trey Taylor, Bob Bedritis, George Sandman, Mark Podolsky, Trent Gillespie, Jason Sherwood, Adi Klevit, Scott Ballard, and Terry Judge.

What incredible amount of expertise that they are bringing to the business owners who are going to be there!

I’m grateful for the sponsors who have sponsored meals and their presence to help out with this event, Bank of America, Madison Insurance, and Bluebird.

And perhaps, most importantly, I am excited for the attendees. I’m excited for the attendees to experience what has been in place for six months. We have spent so much time, energy, effort, emails, ads, workshop meetings, outbound calls, emails, emails, and more emails.

This has been a full cooperative effort to make all this happen. And just like how I have had the gratitude of being able to be with my wife as we filled the stockings, with all the presents for the kids the next morning, I feel that same sense of joy right now. 

For all of you who are waiting to see how this is going to go, I look forward to sharing with you. This is only a live event and we don’t ever plan to reproduce. This is a must see, in person. Yes, we will, of course, share small stories, but the experience is to BE there.

But this is what it is intended to be. It’s a present. Be present, be focused, and do not leave until you have a clear plan for 2026.

Time for a good night’s sleep before we get to open the presents. We will see how much I sleep tonight. 

See you in sunny Phoenix! 

PS - Another special day last weekend, our son Tyler proposed to his girlfriend Sarah, at the University of Maryland where they met.