Three Things to Do Every Day

I became a Jimmy Valvano fan in 1983 when North Carolina State beat heavily favored Houston on a last second dunk shot to win the college basketball national championship. I still have the mental picture of Coach Valvano running on the basketball court looking for somebody to hug. It was one of the greatest moments in sports.

I became a bigger fan some 10 years later when I saw him give one of the most powerful speeches I had ever heard in my life. Jimmy V was the recipient of the Arthur Ashe Award at the ESPY’s in 1993 as he was also dying of cancer. That night he announced the establishment of the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research.

Jimmy Valvano died less than two months after giving that speech.

I got home late tonight and was working on some stuff for work and watching ESPN out of the corner of my eye. I starting watching with both eyes when I realized that powerful speech I first heard over 13 years ago was being replayed on television

What he said in that speech has been my philosophy in life. It is certainly what I attempt to do every time I stand in front of an audience to give a speech. But more importantly it is what I try to do every single day of my life. Sometimes it doesn’t work out that way but when it does, I know I’ve had a great day.

Valvano said this, and I quote, "To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."

I love to laugh and I look for things to make me laugh and love to hang out with people who laugh a lot. I believe it is even okay to laugh in the face of adversity. I have noticed that people don’t laugh enough. Some people just take themselves way too seriously. I cut up more than most people. I understand that. But it’s important to me. It’s who I am. Anybody that has hung around me for any period of time knows that laughter is a major part of who I am.

My responsibility at work is enormous and I have to think strategically for opportunities and I have to think through problems and the possible solutions to the problems we may face. I get paid to think. And there are huge financial ramifications if I don’t think correctly. But I also like to think about the important things of life. I believe the Bible is the greatest book ever written and it is full of principles for common sense living. I’ve spent many hours studying it and even memorizing it. The best thinking I do is when I am attempting to apply those principles to the normal situations of life. I hope you noticed that in my book and in these articles I am writing.

I really don’t like to cry but the older I get the more I do it. You won’t find me crying out loud but it doesn’t take much for my eyes to fill up with tears. I was talking to a close friend just today and my eyes filled up with tears because of something very kind she said. My eyes fill up when I look at my daughter in law carrying my first grandchild. My eyes filled up with tears yesterday at the thought of an amazing act of kindness by my oldest son eight years ago. Sometimes I cry when I watch others go through their storms. They say men are not supposed to cry. This one does and I’m not ashamed of it.

It is easy to get these three things out of balance. If we laugh all the time and never think or get emotional we would be a nut case. If we think all the time and never laugh or cry, we would be considered a nerd. If we cry all the time and never laugh or think, we would be admitted to a certain kind of hospital.

It’s the balance that is important.

When I first started traveling around entertaining people, all I did was the funny stuff. Later I added a little to my talk and I think caused people to think and maybe even stretched them to think about things they were not comfortable thinking about. And when I began to let myself be transparent enough to move people emotionally, my speaking career and opportunities to do it really took off.

Here is some absolutely free advice. If you want to really take off in life, make sure you laugh every day of your life and make sure you take the time to think everyday of your life. And do not be afraid to cry.

And don't give up. Don't ever ever give up.

I agree with Jimmy Valvano. If you laugh, think and cry seven days a week you’re going to have something special.

And giving up will not even be in your vocabulary.