ELEVATE BEYOND
The Blog of Jake Kelfer
 Month #10 is here! Following a record setting month of $1,300+ for PSC Partners for a Cure, it’s time for the final 3 organizations. As many of you know, I’ve been studying the science of happiness for quite some time so this month we will be raising money for Project Happiness.
Before we dive in, let’s look back at our first 8 months:
As always, thank you in advance to everyone who’s participated in the Giving Challenge by sharing my posts, donating money, or just believing in the mission of helping others and spreading the good word.
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 With school starting up and a need for us to be kinder to each other, I decided to take the conversation to the streets and see what the experts had to say. This comes after several discussions with deans and educators repeatedly taking about the continuous rise of mental health issues and the increasing rates of loneliness in today’s society.
Plus, knowing that random acts of kindness increases happiness and well-being, I decided this was a great topic to explore to see if we could learn something that might help. I went around and asked some speakers, kindness experts, and teachers, "What’s one way we can encourage kindness in schools and the workplace?"  LA to Toronto. 48 hours. 30,000+ steps. What a trip!
Three weeks ago, I sent a cold email to one of my new favorite authors (Neil Pasricha) letting him know how much I appreciate his work and how much I enjoyed his book The Happiness Equation. Shortly after we jumped on the phone and got to know each other a bit immediately clicking on many levels. This past weekend, I flew to Toronto to meet him in person and explore the amazing city of Toronto. This was my first trip to Toronto, so naturally I was excited. I had heard of all the great things Toronto brings to the table but it wasn’t until I got there until I realized just how cool the city really is. Now, I knew I only had a day and a half to explore, experience, and enjoy all that I could so I as soon as my red eye arrived at 6am I was off.  I’ve been seeking out a definition of happiness lately but it’s been quite the challenging task. Sometimes, I think I have a good one and then I find a better one. Sure, I can look it up in the dictionary, but I believe that happiness is so much more than just words. It’s a state of mind, a genuine feeling of joy, and much more.
From Gandhi to Gretchen Rubin, the bestselling author of The Happiness Project, to Shawn Achor, the first positive psychologist I began studying, each one of these people define happiness in a unique way. Here’s what 11 experts have to say about their definition of happiness.  8 speakers. 1 question. 8 unique answers. I asked 8 motivational speakers who speak on a wide variety of topics one question: If you could leave your audience with only 1 message/piece of advice, what would it be?
Here is what they said:  Month #9 is here! We’ve eclipsed the $2,000 mark and have no plans to slow down now. This month is a very special month for me in this journey, arguably the most important and personal, so we will be raising money for PSC Partners for a Cure. PSC stands for Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, but I’ll get into that in a bit.
Before we dive in, let’s look back at our first 8 months:
As always, thank you in advance to everyone who’s participated in the Giving Challenge by sharing my posts, donating money, or just believing in the mission of helping others and spreading the good word.  It’s the first day of kindergarten and all the families were bringing their sons and daughters for the very first time. It was a day of pure excitement and joy, for the parents that is.
There was one little girl, in particular, Melissa was her name, who was more excited than the rest of the children. She was glowing with positive energy, smiling from ear to ear. The other children were figuring out if they should cry because their parents were leaving or fully commit to all the fun and nap time they were about to have. Little did they know that this youthful and bubbly girl would start a chain reaction that would change their lives forever.  100 people in 100 days. ME + YOU. 10 minutes. All ages. All races. All religions. All income levels. All PEOPLE. As I experience life more, I’ve learned a lot, but there are two things that continue to pop up over and over again: time and human connection. I believe that time is our greatest resource and how we spend our time and who we spend it with is incredibly important. I believe that human connection is a driving force that can dramatically decrease mental health issues and exponentially increase personal happiness. That’s why I want to do what I’m calling 100 people in 100 days. The plan is to conduct 100 FaceTimes or phone calls in the next 100 days with people from all backgrounds - people I may know to complete strangers. The goal of this is to spread happiness across continents, remind people that they are amazing and that even a stranger like me is willing to support them on their journey. Anyone can participate, all you have to do is say YES. Based on my timeline this will put me right around Thanksgiving which couldn’t be better timing. I’ll spend Thanksgiving celebrating with my family and being grateful for all the incredible stories I've heard and new people I’ve talked to in the last 100 days. I’m thrilled to give this a shot, so if you want to nominate yourself or a friend, schedule a time here.
 Learning doesn’t stop once you graduate or stop going to school… or at least it shouldn’t.
Learning is a lifelong process that evolves as you do throughout your journey. Every new job, relationship, and experience is a chance to learn something new and use that knowledge to increase your quality of life. The best part about learning is that you get to choose how and what you want to learn. You can learn about how to cook a delicious dessert or you can learn how to manage your personal finances better. The possibilities are endless, but the key to continuous growth is to feed your mind with new information and then act upon the knowledge you possess  “You gotta risk it to get the biscuit.” I can’t believe I just quoted Fired Up! to start an article, but here we are. By the way if you haven’t seen Fired Up, you definitely should 🙂
We live in a world where people are afraid to take risks. People are scared of being rejected. People are scared of trying and failing. People are scared of being independent and going against the grain. People are worried that their risks will be looked down upon. The things is… all of these doubts and worries are valid. I’ve had all of them. But… Calculated risks are important for our personal growth and development. It’s part of what makes life so fun and exciting. It challenges us and forces us to create new ways of thinking. |
I'M JAKEI am a motivational speaker on a mission to inspire people to achieve their own definition of success and reach the highest level of personal success and happiness.
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