Morning Friend,

I want to confess something to you.

Lately, I've been so busy that I fell of the wagon.

I've been working hard on planning an event for our company, we had a tenant move out & leave one of our rentals in need of much TLC, had a water problem at another unit, sprinkler winterization, the water heater at my house malfunctioned, and on and on and on...

So what right? Life happens to everyone and my story is not unique.

I fell off the wagon in the sense that I let one of my standards slide.

One of the best things I've ever done for myself, over the years, is to wake up dark & early (Forget bright, that's too late), open a book & read for 30 minutes.

Over the past month or so, I lied to myself and said.. "You don't have time to do this.. you need to get straight away into getting stuff done."

I missed this crucial part of my magical morning.

The time where I get to be fed, nourished, inspired and taught.

I suspect that this could be THE cause for the increase in my recent levels of stress.

Yesterday, I looked at my library and asked myself...

What kind of man would I be, if I read every single book on the 'vanity background' of my videos? :-)

I was happy with the vision, and set myself a goal to start at the top, and work my way through them all.

This morning I grabbed the first book. A book I've read before, maybe a couple times, pulled it out and began to read.

And guess what Friend, not only do I feel inspired, fed and invigorated, I read one sentence, that I'm SURE I've read before, and missed.

This time Friend, this time... I got it, and it blew my mind.

Here it is...

"The greatest resource is a relationship because it opens the doors to every resource I need."

Man, I don't know if that hits you, like it hit me Friend.

Think about it... Most people would say that Money, or skill, or (you fill in the blank) would be the greatest resource one could have to live a great life...

But a relationship?

I mean I have been a believer in relationships for a while now...

I've found myself saying over the years that 'relationships are important.."

But to say that they're the MOST important?

Now that, is a new way to see them, for me.

If you really think about it...

Everything we want in life, is on the other side of a relationship.

Need some capital for a project?  Someone has the money.

Need a new skill for something you want to do?  Someone has the knowledge.

Want to have a sense of contribution and meaning in life? Someone else's love and gratitude is on the other side of that equation.

This book then went on to say that mastery of relationships  'will give you unlimited resources for growing and contributing.'

Last week I hired a guy to go and fix the pump at one of my rentals.

This guy is very busy and for most people, pretty hard to get in touch with.

My wife made the comment 'Brian likes you.'

I said 'how do you know that?'

She said 'He always calls you back and whenever my brothers call him, they don't get the same response.'

I remember when Brian was installing the 2 new wells for the little development project we did here in southeast Idaho.

We stood on the land when he came out to look at the job, and talked for over an hour. I learned about his wife & kids... I learned about his business... He even told me the Nick name that some of his best friends call him... I find myself calling him that name when I leave him messages and we have some laughs together.

This is a relationship, and my stress level would be an extra notch up, had he not returned my call and got on the job fast, when my tenant called me last week with brown water coming from the faucets.

Yesterday when Brian texted me and told me about some more warranty work he had to do for me he said...