Monday Motivation: Doing The Right Thing Is Hard

Morning. Little, little New Orleans jazz, or maybe it's even Detroit Motown. Good morning, everybody. I'm at my favorite joint, the buttered tin in St. Paul. Happy Monday. What a beautiful start to the week. Hope you all are having a great week thus far. And for those individuals that have today off, hopefully you're enjoying it with. Maybe it's family, maybe it's with your kids. For those that are working, we thank you. My favorite Martin Luther King quote of all time, if you can't fly, then run.

If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl. But no matter what you're doing, keep going. So love, love, love that quote. Good morning, everybody. I love seeing all the names pop. Good morning. Oh, my gosh. Heidi is one of the greatest human beings of. Of all time. Good morning, Luke. Miss you. Heidi is arguably. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Sarah, good morning. Good morning to you too. 2025. Sarah, I love you so much. What an amazing crew of human beings that are in here today. What I want to say today and the message I wanted to share.

Colleen, good morning. Happy Monday, everybody. Colleen just had a remarkable rejuvenation trip to Southwest California. Good for you. Good for you and your family. Hopefully everybody's feeling great today. You know what I wanted to share today is there's this story that I think is relevant for all of us that happened to one of my kids, one of my kids this weekend. And just kind of bear with me for one minute while I get this out. But you know, Em and I always talk about how doing the right thing is usually really hard.

And we talk to our kids about it all the time and it's kind of like the accountability lever in your brain. And, you know, it's that integrity quote, right? It's doing the right thing when no one's watching and all of it, right? But so I'm going to give you an example with one of my kids. So Ada got her new slippers for Christmas. She got these awesome. From grandma, these awesome Ugg slippers, right? She got these really, really nice Ugg slippers. And one of the days Cameron, my son Cameron wore them and he wore them to school and.

And when he wore them to school in exchange of boots and all that stuff, we live in Minnesota, forgot the slippers and we forgot the slippers. They're gone, right? And the reality is only Cameron really knew this, but Ada came home and was wondering, where are my slippers? I can't find them. I haven't worn them to basketball. I haven't brought them anywhere else, where would they be? And we kind of went around and, and around and around for a while. We looked everywhere and my son Cameron kind of grabbed me and went out.

He's like, dad, can we talk? And I said, yeah, of course. He goes, I think I left him at school. This is my 8 year old. He's like, dad, I think I left him at school and I think it's my fault. And I just said, well, we're gonna do the right thing, right? We're gonna do the right thing and we're gonna tell Ada this and we're going to let her know what happened. All the above. So Cameron, we're sitting down for dinner and Cameron says, ada, I want to let you know that I think I lost your, your ugg slippers.

And it's like her prized possession from Christmas. But what, what resulted in that was twofold. Number one, Cameron had to learn that it's not shame, it's not anything like that, it's an accident. And accidents happen. But the feelings that Ada may have had, frustrated, angry, upset or otherwise, are her feelings. But you still have to do the right thing, no matter what. Like you still have to. And so why am I sending that message today is because no matter what, no matter what, right, in life there's going to be moments where you make mistakes.

There are, it's going to happen. We're filled with them every day, I guarantee it. So you're going to have the choice to either do one of two things. You're either going to be able to tell the truth or you're going to choose half truths or you're going to choose to lie, right? And this is it. And like, let's be honest, there's not one person here that hasn't chose total lies. There hasn't been one person here that has chose half truths. And there's of course a ton of people here that of course randomly, sporadically or all the time have also chosen like total truth.

And what I just wanted to commend my 8 year old for was telling the total truth, knowing how hard it was gonna hurt. I mean, he loves his older sister and he knew how much that was gonna hurt her. They're gone, they're lost, they're all of it. And so what I wanted to share today is at work, you're gonna go off to work, you're gonna, your relationships with your family, your friends, your loved ones, your colleagues, all of it. And you're gonna have these moments in time where you can either tell the truth, tell a half truth and feel like s*** about it, or lie and feel worse.

So you're just gonna have to, like, navigate those waters of your life. And what I found is when I've fallen over here, it's when you have those sleepless nights when you don't feel good about yourself. It's when you look back and you go, why? Why did I lie about it? Doesn't make any sense, right? So I just. I encourage you to try to find every way in your heart and your soul to keep leaning as far over here as possible. And also, if there's those moments where maybe you have, like, been over here, it's okay to tell somebody that.

Like, hey, I just want to let you know, like, I wasn't completely honest with you, and I want to stop and share. Like, I. Hey, hey, babe. Like, you know, you asked me earlier, like, do I want to go to xyz? And I said, yeah, let's go. You know, to be honest, like, I don't really want to, or, you know, there's this that's happening at work, and you're wondering why, and you feel like if you tell the truth, it could mean retaliation and stuff like this, right? So I think you just gotta find in yourself that the integrity arm is one of the greatest barometers that you'll have.

And just keep, like, telling that in your brain. I need that rewiring. I'm sure everybody on this call and this. This video live stream needs that rewiring of just taking moments. Because the average. The average human being, it's like, lies, like, seven times an hour or something like that, which is crazy to think about it, but that's, like, true. Google it. I don't know exactly how many times, but I think it's like seven or 11 times an hour. And those could be little lies, right? How are you feeling?

I'm good. But are you right? And so, you know, just take a beat. Take a beat. Assess where you are and then ask yourself the why. Like, why did I tell that half truth? Why did I not tell the truth? Or why did I always tell the truth? Over here, it was because I felt safe, because I felt secure, because I felt heard, because this person won't judge me. Like, what is it? So think about those things. And I just want to say, like, it's hard. It's really, really hard to always live, like, integrity 100%, to live truth 100%.

It's hard. It's insanely difficult. But I think as I'm raising my kids, and I'm raising my kids, like, what do I want them to do? I want them to always know that it's really, really, really hard to make the right decision, and it might hurt other people for their feelings for the minute. It may cause you peer pressure and stress. It may cause those things. And that is true. So from somebody who's learning and growing and trying to find. Yeah. The right ways to do the right things, always. You know, I'm gonna take these words of my own and continue to try to shelf this off to the world and always do the right thing and be honest and be real.

So. And I hope you all can, too. But with that being said, it is Monday. It is absolutely freezing in Minnesota. This morning was, like, negative 16 in the car. Something foolish. But I hope this warms you up, and I hope it warms up your soul to know that, you know, doing. Doing what's right can also mean that there's an action or a feeling on the other end that may not be positive either for yourself or somebody else. And that's all right. So with that love, you guys, have a wonderful week. Do the right thing.

Even though no matter how hard it is, what I. What Emma always says is, you know, easy is probably not right. Easy is probably not right. Leaving all those dishes the night before, it's. It's easy. But, man, it can be hard. So below zero in Erie, Pennsylvania, as well be. Zobitz. So good to see you. Think the worldview speak. Wonder, Colleen, Sarah, Sarah, Heidi, Jules, all y'all, hope you all have a great week that is filled with integrity, honesty, and letting somebody know that if you ever told a half truth.

Peace, you guys. Thanks so much. Have a wonderful, wonderful week.