Sometimes someone says something so eloquent and so moving that there is very little left for me to add.

Today is one of those days.
James Valvano, nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball coach.

While head coach at North Carolina State University, he won the 1983 NCAA Basketball Tournament against high odds. He is remembered for running up and down the court after winning the 1983 NCAA championship, seemingly in disbelief and looking for someone to hug!

Just ten years later, Jimmy V was in the midst of a year-long battle with cancer when he gave a speech at the creation of the V Foundation for Cancer Research.

“Time is very precious to me. I don’t know how much I have left and I have some things that I would like to say. Hopefully, at the end, I will have said something that will be important to other people too.

People say to me how do you get through life or each day… To me, there are three things we all should do every day.

- Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day.

- Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought.

- Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears – through happiness or joy.

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…”

Jim Valvano died less than two months after his famous speech.

Thank you Jimmy. This morning I laughed with my wife. I spent time thinking, during a call with a client who is literally changing the world. And I cried.

I cried when I watched your video.

The motto of the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research is “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.”

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