Good morning. One of the things that's really making me smile as I look back through my journals over 30 years — in 1997, journal number six — is one of the things I would use my journal for: to make an inventory, just a list of things that bring me joy. The prompt in my journal was, "let's start with a list of all the things you can think of that bring you joy." Looking at this list, it's amazing to see the reminders of some of the things, and things that still, 30 years later, bring me joy every day.

Number one on my list was a great day of golf with some good friends. I think it's important for you to acknowledge the things that bring you joy so you can fill your days with some of these things. It's similar in tone, I guess, to what a gratitude journal would be — a gratitude practice. I think of this as a joy practice: recognizing the things that actually bring you joy and striving to plug them into your everydays.

Number two on my list: there was a great show I'd watch every morning when I first moved to Florida — a therapist-themed animated show where comedians would be on the psychiatry couch. Very fun to watch. I loved a day at home with nothing to do but lay around and read and study — to this day that still brings me joy. Going to a movie at Celebration — there was a great movie theater there — and to this day, still going to movies brings me joy. These are things you can plug into a two-hour block; I place them in my calendar like we're going to do them.

One of the things I love is being in resort-like surroundings — luxury hotels — and I've created my environments like that. Where I live, we call it the Four Seasons Valhalla. Dan Sullivan had a great saying once, that he and Babs don't want to do any less at home than they would if they were living at the Four Seasons. I've really adopted that — we even have a logo for the Four Seasons Valhalla, robes for the guest room, a little logo on the coffee cups — everything to surround yourself with the environments you really love.

Something that brings me joy is dreaming up big schemes. I love a good marketing scheme — nothing more than solving or cracking the code on a marketing puzzle. Some people like Sudoku; I like to solve marketing problems, it brings that much joy and recreation. It was funny because some of these were very specific — I remember the feelings. My good friend Stacey Hurley used to have apple crisp and Trivial Pursuit parties — she'd make this legendary apple crisp, invite people over, we'd have these Trivial Pursuit nights at her beautiful home. Great time. Every time I think about it, I still get that feeling of joy.

So even if the things aren't fitting into your life this week, you get joy from the remembrance of them and what they mean — it keeps you focused on the things that bring you joy. Then there are the rituals, the things you really love. At this time it was Sunday night at the movies with Tim and Darlene — friends we'd watch a movie with every Sunday night, either at their place or ours. I still do that today — Josh and Diane come to my office and we'll watch movies. So the things that bring me joy are still the fun things.

Having money brings me joy. I don't know — they say money can't buy happiness, but it brings me joy, I like that. An afternoon at the Delta Meadowvale by the fire in Toronto — there was a Delta hotel with a nice lobby and a beautiful wood-burning fireplace. I'd go there in the winter and look through magazines or read, have hot chocolate, sit by the fire, and they'd come and stoke it with real logs. Now it's a gas fireplace, which isn't quite the same vibe — but the remembrance of those things is an amazing joy-bringer, even on reflection.

So the big lesson here is to take some time and space in your journal to acknowledge and recognize the things that bring you joy, so you can fit more of them into your life or ritualize them so you know they're coming up. I love a good Sunday night routine — knowing that Sunday night we're going to have a movie night. And then the second joy you get is 30 years later, looking in your journal and recognizing that you really understood what brought you joy then — and those things still bring you joy now, and you get joy from the remembrance of them too.

So I'm a big fan of this. I think having a joy page in your journal would be a good thing you could do today.

I got a funny email the other day from Rick. It says, "Dean, question. Are you saying you can teach me to make fat stacks by hanging out at a pub drinking coffee like you?" And I laughed to myself, because I was thinking — you know, yes, I can do that. That's what I do. The funny thing I really realized is that every idea I've had, every dollar I've made over the last 30 years, has gone through my brain, through my pen, onto a piece of paper in my journal before it went out into the real world.

And if I can turn people on to that activity as a driver for what to do, what to think about, what to ask yourself to draw out what the next most valuable action is for you, and how to find the most profitable things you can install in your business — I'm all for it. So this Friday at 1 p.m., I'm going to do, for the first time, a 50 Minute Profit Finder workshop. And you're going to join me live on Zoom. We're going to go through a 50-minute exercise. Bring your pen, bring a notebook or piece of paper, and I'm going to guide you through a thinking process that will help you identify where the lowest-hanging fruit is in your business — and maybe some fruit you didn't even know was there, but I'm going to show you where to look for it. So it's free. It's for you. It's Friday at 1 p.m. This Friday. Just go to 50minuteprofitfinder.com and I'll get you all the details. And hopefully you can join us then, Friday at 1 p.m.