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Innehåll tillhandahållet av Randy Cantrell. Allt poddinnehåll inklusive avsnitt, grafik och podcastbeskrivningar laddas upp och tillhandahålls direkt av Randy Cantrell eller deras podcastplattformspartner. Om du tror att någon använder ditt upphovsrättsskyddade verk utan din tillåtelse kan du följa processen som beskrivs här https://sv.player.fm/legal.
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We Have The Receipts
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1 Love Is Blind S8: Pods & Sober High Thoughts w/ Courtney Revolution & Meg 1:06:00
1:06:00
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Happy Valentine’s Day! You know what that means: We have a brand new season of Love Is Blind to devour. Courtney Revolution (The Circle) joins host Chris Burns to delight in all of the pod romances and love triangles. Plus, Meg joins the podcast to debrief the Madison-Mason-Meg love triangle. Leave us a voice message at www.speakpipe.com/WeHaveTheReceipts Text us at (929) 487-3621 DM Chris @FatCarrieBradshaw on Instagram Follow We Have The Receipts wherever you listen, so you never miss an episode. Listen to more from Netflix Podcasts.…
Old Age And Experience Need A USB Port
Manage episode 380936293 series 2155250
Innehåll tillhandahållet av Randy Cantrell. Allt poddinnehåll inklusive avsnitt, grafik och podcastbeskrivningar laddas upp och tillhandahålls direkt av Randy Cantrell eller deras podcastplattformspartner. Om du tror att någon använder ditt upphovsrättsskyddade verk utan din tillåtelse kan du följa processen som beskrivs här https://sv.player.fm/legal.
So we can take full advantage of what they know. Their insights, experience and wisdom need to be more easily passed on. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me Help Me Reach My $1,000 Goal I plan to start vlogging from Hot Springs Village, Arkansas because the place is spectacular. The scenery will make for a great backdrop. Plus, there are many places I'd like you to see. To help, click the link (or the image below) to donate Sweetwater Gift Certificates (use RandyCantrell@gmail.com). Thank you!
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100 episoder
Manage episode 380936293 series 2155250
Innehåll tillhandahållet av Randy Cantrell. Allt poddinnehåll inklusive avsnitt, grafik och podcastbeskrivningar laddas upp och tillhandahålls direkt av Randy Cantrell eller deras podcastplattformspartner. Om du tror att någon använder ditt upphovsrättsskyddade verk utan din tillåtelse kan du följa processen som beskrivs här https://sv.player.fm/legal.
So we can take full advantage of what they know. Their insights, experience and wisdom need to be more easily passed on. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me Help Me Reach My $1,000 Goal I plan to start vlogging from Hot Springs Village, Arkansas because the place is spectacular. The scenery will make for a great backdrop. Plus, there are many places I'd like you to see. To help, click the link (or the image below) to donate Sweetwater Gift Certificates (use RandyCantrell@gmail.com). Thank you!
…
continue reading
100 episoder
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×It doesn’t mean you’re to blame. It means you accept responsibility for yourself—for your choices, decisions, behavior, reactions, feelings—and all the rest. I’ve yet to discover a downside. Mentioned in today’s show: VIA Survey Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
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1 I Learned Everything I Needed From The Bible 51:45
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All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things by Robert Fulghum was published in 1986. It was quite the rage because it was filled with commonsense life maxims. I read it and appreciated the author’s point that even children can (and should) learn how to behave toward others. We are almost 40 years later, and it seems like a prehistoric work of fiction. When I purchased this book, I had yet to turn 30. I had two small children and a wife I’d been married to for about nine years. Back then, the content was much less remarkable than it is today. I appreciated Mr. Fulghum’s sentiment that kindness and courtesy are behaviors he learned as a small child, but that was then and now. When Fulghum grew up, parents trained children by providing guard rails, forbidding certain misbehavior, and encouraging proper behaviors. That’s much less visible today. When I first read the book, I quickly realized that kindergarten didn’t teach me these things, but my parents and older folks did. Increasingly, I realized they weren’t teaching me some arbitrary rules they had constructed. Their training manual wasn’t a book by some doctor or psychologist. They were using the Bible, the Word of God. The book focuses on fundamentals, such as the ” golden rule,” which originated in God’s mind. John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”. Matthew 7:12 “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” I learned that at home while reading the Bible. I also learned it by attending worship services every Sunday, a day that was (and still is) referred to as “the Lord’s Day.” Of course, every day belongs to the Lord, but the day of worship is unique and set apart for public worship. Hebrews 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day (of worship, Sunday) approaching.” As an old man, I reflect on my training, and I’ve remained true to it because it was always based on the ultimate authority, God, and the Savior of all mankind, Jesus Christ. It wasn’t just a group of old people who littered my life, nor was it just my mom or dad imposing their will. It was a pattern for living, trained into me by these people who loved me and wanted only my best. Over the years, I’ve leaned hard on the precepts and principles of my training and continued it. It didn’t stop when I turned 18 or 21. The truth is, I made more dedicated, conscious efforts after I became an adult. I spent more hours studying and conversing with older mentors who continued my training. The foundation had been set, but the building didn’t begin until I was an adult, out on my own. That’s the litmus test for convictions – when you’re on your own, no longer under the thumb of anybody else, and free to choose for yourself. When that time comes, what will you do? How will you behave? Honesty, truth, kindness, courtesy (and much more) were instilled when I was a child, but as an adult, many no longer make those choices. We justify our poor behavior, choosing to be victims of others or circumstances we don’t think we deserve. I first saw deception at work on a stereo store showroom floor during my teen years. If a shopper was lied to about a piece of gear they considered, they might buy it. If you told the truth, they might not. My training and my conscience wouldn’t let that happen. It became easier when I realized that telling the truth worked better than telling the lies I knew others were telling. It turns out that the truth always works best. Personality and communication play a role, but the truth and doing what’s right aren’t subjective to either one. I’ve learned that some people struggle to communicate clearly, while others overcommunicate. Some need more public adoration and attention, while others don’t want it at all. Everybody has the God-given obligation to behave in ways that please God, and these are the ways taught to all of us in scripture. I was 27 when I first formed my business philosophy. I’ve always been prone to candor. Telling it as accurately and honestly as I can. It’s helped me avoid confusion that otherwise may have occurred. For instance, in every business dealing, I abhor ambiguity. I abhor it in my personal life because I’ve seen much misunderstanding result from people who lack the courage (or whatever it may require) to say what they want, what they require, and what they’ll accept. Even with explicit candor, people can still remember things the way they think they should have been. Years ago, while talking with an old businessman who was retelling a story whose facts I knew, I challenged his recollection. It didn’t happen as he said it did. When I confronted him, he said, “Well, I remember it the way it should have been.” His recollection made him the hero that he never was. Our minds can fool us into such conclusions. But we’re still wrong. Honesty is hard if it’s not your habit. It’s harder still if you’ve not been trained to exercise it. Without fear or compromise. Competence demands work and commitment. I believe it’s also a Bible-based principle. Colossians 3:23-24 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. The Bible contains many stories and illustrations of people dedicated to their work or servitude. I sought to be the best employee, boss, and cohort possible—not because everybody always deserved it but because I was attempting to serve God through Christ. I’ve devoted countless days to achieving greater competence. History will judge whether I succeeded. Giving more, like all the rest of this, is not negotiable. This has been a thorn in the side of others in many business situations because I’ve always begun every business relationship by focusing on how I might benefit the other person. It’s my worldview. They need to benefit before I can think about what I want. It’s God-centered, but it also feels especially good to me. Simultaneously, within this business philosophy, I also formed my own definition of leadership. While studying the Bible more, I also studied leadership and business more. I defined leadership as: a) influencing others to improve, b) doing for others what they can’t do for themselves and c) a focus on others (which turns out is the definition of compassion). I don’t find it difficult to give more, but I’ve had cohorts over the years who did. My behavior wasn’t driven by being altruistic. It was driven by faith, conviction, and doing what’s right. I quickly realized it was a competitive edge, but that wasn’t the point. Have I left profits, revenues, or anything else on the table? In other words, have I failed to maximize all I might have been able to get? Sure. And I’m good with it. It feels good to be because it’s right. Make it right. Fix it. Apologize where necessary. But don’t just say you’re sorry, actually change. The Bible calls it repentance. It’s making up your mind to change. Stop doing whatever you’re doing that’s harmful (to yourself and others), and start doing better. Lip service is easy. That’s why the bad husband can apologize to his wife, but nothing changes. He continues to mistreat her, selfishly patching things up because he’s the most important person in the world. Repentance is hard but worthwhile. It demands self-sacrifice, which is the hardest part. I’ve learned not to enable poor behavior. My own or others. As a young leader, I was offered a position at a specified pay rate. After a small bit of negotiation, I agreed. I was an employee. Over time, I discovered I had made an unfavorable deal compared to my co-workers. I was underpaid. At first, I was angry, but a mentor taught me not to be angry because I had agreed. He reminded me of the Lord’s parable of Matthew 20 . 1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. 2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? 7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. 8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. 11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, 12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? I immediately felt guilty because I realized I was the whiny worker the Lord spoke of. I dove into my work, continuing to do the best work of my life. Some months later, at a time I felt was appropriate, I had a meeting with my boss. I didn’t mention any co-workers but asked for a raise. I explained my reasons, and I was respectful. I reminded him of my competence and dedication and told him he knew I would continue to work as hard for his business, and I was now working for my own pay. He smiled and raised me, making me the highest-paid person among my peers (something I wasn’t chasing). But what if it hadn’t gone as I had hoped? Would I have changed my work ethic? Would I have been angry with him for my having made a deal? We’ll never know, but I know this – I could have made whatever decision I wanted. I was just a kid but closer to adulthood than childhood. It was my call. My responsibility. Nobody else. Which brings me to one last thing I want to mention that I learned from God’s Word as it relates to this episode – I have no right to be a victim. God didn’t create any of us to live as victims. Yes, bad things can and do happen to us because of our sin and the sin of others. But our reaction to that sin is entirely on us. “Turn the other cheek” is the response to somebody hitting us in the face. That’s a decision we can and should make, if we aim to please God. Was the slap deserved? Doesn’t matter. We don’t strike back. 1 Corinthians 6 7 Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? 8 No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! But if I suffer wrong, I want to feel victimized. I want to blame somebody. Or something. I want the world to know I’ve been slighted. Sure. Do it. It’s a choice. Not a scriptural choice, but it’s a choice. I could have lamented the deal I took when a boss offered me less than I realized I could have had. Instead, thanks to an old head, I was trained to be thankful, dig deep, keep doing good work, and figure out what I (not my boss) might do next. That helped me avoid bitterness, resentment, and all that God abhors. It was difficult but doable. Right is right. Always. Wrong is wrong. Always. It’s not situational. It doesn’t depend on the circumstances or how it impacts us. Life has taught me that God, the Supreme Creator, knows better how our lives should be lived. He knows what’s best for us. He knows that being self-absorbed is contrary to our best interests. He knows that being undisciplined hurts us. Thanks to our Savior, God understands how hard all this is, so He has done everything possible to help us. There’s only one thing God won’t do for us—something we must do for ourselves—decide. Visit InThyPaths.com . Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
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1 If Your Habits Don’t Change, You Won’t Have A New Year. You’ll Just Have Another Year. 37:26
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I posted this on social media a few days ago. It’s easy to desire improvement, but it’s hard to change our habits to bring about improvement. Each year begins with the hope that 2025 will be better than 2024. Maybe it will. Maybe not. Our habits are going to determine it. These 2 sentences are true. Life bears witness to their validity. Links mentioned in today’s show: • In Thy Paths, a YouTube playlist of sermons • A TV segment about why most New Year resolutions fail Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
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1 The Ongoing Quest For Greater Wisdom 12:24
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Happy New Year, 2025! In the fall of 1997, I uploaded my first audio under the tagline “Leaning Toward Wisdom.” It was my documentary, the journey of a 40-year-old dad desiring to pass along whatever lessons I might. Twenty-seven years later, I’m still unsure how successful the quest has been to lean more toward wisdom and away from foolishness. But life ain’t over yet, so let the leaning (and learning) continue. Thank you for joining the journey. I hope it benefits you. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
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1 Am I Solving The Right Problem In This Relationship? 46:18
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It started with a voicemail from a client. His message said, “I’ve got a situation – a problem. I could use your advice. Call me back.” The problem? A relationship. A couple of relationships. At some point during my questioning him, for my understanding, he stopped and said, “What I thought was the problem may not be the problem. Guess I’d better make sure I’m solving the right problem, huh?” That’s solid insight – especially when it’s a relationship problem. During the holiday season, relationships are often strained. It might be a good time to examine how we solve our relationship problems. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
“My ambition didn’t allow me to fail,” said Jack Barsky, an ex-KGB spy who was a sleeper agent in the United States. Barsky was quite successful in avoiding detection. Until he was, then no amount of ambition would prevent authorities from moving in. He stayed around his smart spots for years, navigating North American culture to spy for the Soviet Union and his faith in communism. Barsky might argue that over time, he learned how corrupt and wretched communism was – and how he had been brainwashed to think the pursuit of Utopian socialism was the ideal course of action. Armed with high intelligence, Barsky figured out the need for his smart spots to change, so he changed his mind to become politically a modern-day conservative. We usually think of being smart around spots regarding achievement in business or some other pursuit. Barsky reminds us that being smart around spots can – and probably should be mostly focused – on our learning ability. To see things more clearly. To remedy our delusions. Too few of us are geniuses; even genius has a severe downside. Sometimes, we can be too smart to be wise. We may even become stupid in our genius. I’m thinking of serial killers like Ted Bundy, reputed to be high-IQ individuals who arrogantly thought they were smarter than law enforcement. But they were caught by mostly average intelligent people who stayed focused around their spots of expertise and training. With enough time and sufficient clues to follow, law enforcement often (thankfully) figures it out. As we’ve all heard about criminal behavior, criminals must remain lucky daily, while law enforcement often just needs one moment of luck to capture them. Thankfully, most of us aren’t Soviet (or even American) spies. Or criminals. We’re just ordinary Joes and Janes going about our everyday lives. I’ve realized that it may be an act of genius to a) recognize our smart spots, b) stay around those smart spots, and c) understand if/when those smart spots disappear or change. All of it is hard. Thomas Watson’s quote makes it sound far easier than it is. And given IBM’s success, I have little doubt he mostly accomplished it. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, is said to have this quote posted on his refrigerator… “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” Perhaps Mr. Watson’s quote and that quote attributed to philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson are consistent. But Emerson’s quote sounds more difficult, doesn’t it? Seems downright daunting! Truth is, life is daunting. Success is hard. Failure is harder! Choose your hard. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
https://randycantrell.com/inside-the-yellow-studio/ The link above is a comprehensive list of the gear inside The Yellow Studio . Assume every link is an affiliate link. Ironically, I chose to make this an audio, not a video. Yes, that was intentional. I hope you’ll click PLAY. It started in 1997. This podcast. It was a handheld Olympus digital recorder. No SD card. Just built-in memory. It was less than $100 and I’d been using it for a while to dictate work notes and ideas. Audio was easy. And cheap. Well, recording it was easy. Getting it online was a bit more cumbersome. Getting it off the Internet to listen was infinitely more difficult because we knew nothing of MP3, today’s defacto standard audio file format. My digital recorder used some funky format, but it was still possible to hear it from a website with a domain name a foot long, comprised of a bunch of letters and numbers (a free web page that came with my Internet service provider – ISP – Flashnet). Somebody other than my family found it because my first email came from somebody in Sweden. It blew my mind. It was all done with a digital recorder, a dail-up modem, and an Internet connection. Add in a bit of rudimentary HTML skills, so I could build an ugly website, and you had the first iteration of Leaning Toward Wisdom. I dubbed it that because it was what I was trying to do – lean more toward wisdom and away from foolishness. I was 40 years old and that was 27 years ago. Within a few years, I got serious. I registered LeaningTowardWisdom.com and invested a few thousand dollars (okay, probably closer to three thousand) for a rack of equipment and a couple of Heil PR40 mics (an amateur radio operator friend recommended them). That was The Yellow Studio for many years, recording into a Mac computer using software I can’t remember until I found Twisted Wave, a Mac audio recording/editing software recommended by a voiceover actor friend. I bumbled along for a few more years. My audio quality was a point of pride and I was regularly complimented for it thanks mostly to good room acoustics thanks to a ton of books AND to Aphex 230 voice processors (one for each mic, I had two). My broadcast workflow meant that whether I was on Skype (later Zoom) or recording, my audio quality was always the same. I went for years without investing anything more. That rack of gear and those two Heil microphones were stapmles inside The Yellow Studio for years. Audio was easy. And after that initial investment, cheap. The ongoing costs were maintaining domain names and website hosting (I hosted my own audio files for years before learning I should get a media host). Eventually, I found MapleGrove Partners thanks to a buddy, Jim Collison. They would host my site and my media files because they’re podcast-friendly like that. But beyond that, I had no real costs. People entered podcasting trying to figure out how to do it as cheaply as possible and I never understood it. I don’t hunt. Or fish. Or bowl. Or golf. I don’t collect anything (well, I once collected books…but only to read). I had no hobbies except this. That’s still the case. Buddies who were into all of those things (and more) would regularly spend hundreds or thousands of dollars every year. Most of them weren’t wealthy. They were just ordinary guys who enjoyed whatever they were in to. They didn’t think twice about investing in hobbies they loved. I loved podcasting and I had saved for a good while before buying my initial setup. Admittedly, I made a sizeable investment, but it was calculated, planned and well thought out. It stood the test of time, too. I produced untold podcast episodes with that rig. Then Rode, an Australian company, bought Aphex, the makers of my favorite vocal strips, responsible for how my podcast sounded. It didn’t affect me…until it did. Around 2019, Rode introduced a mixer with Aphex technology built in. Wait a minute, what? My thousands of dollars in a rack that sat just to my right could all be replaced by a single little mixer that would sit on my desk. All that cable could be replaced by just a few cables. I could connect my iPhone to it and take/record phone calls. And all for less than $1000. Sign me up. My audience here at Leaning Toward Wisdom helped me buy it. It was my first time ever asking for anything, but boy did the crowd respond. I was grateful. I knew I’d sell my rack of gear and more than offset buying that first Rodecaster Pro, but I needed the Rode mixer before I unplugged and sold everything or The Yellow Studio would be down. I didn’t want to miss a beat and the audience stepped up in a big way. In June 2021 I launched a new podcast – I had long had two, Leaning Toward Wisdom and Grow Great (my work podcast). This one was about a newly found favorite place, Hot Springs Village, Arkansas. I first discovered the Village in the Fall of 2018. We kept visiting and loving it more and more each time. It’s such a unique place I had so many questions that I couldn’t find answers to, I decided to find the answers and do it via a podcast, Hot Springs Village Inside Out. I dubbed it that because of 26,000 acres of awesomeness inside the Village and many miles of coolness outside, too. I recruited a guy who appeared to be right for a co-host, a Native Arkansas guy who lived in the Village and seemed to know quite a bit. He’d be my resident expert and I’d be myself, the naive curious guy who loved the place. So it began. And it grew. And grew some more. In time, it was the first podcast I’d ever done that I even thought about monetizing. We said YES to two sponsors (advertisers). They help us pay the bills and provide my co-host and me with what amounts to really crappy paying part-time jobs, but we could not be happier! They’re great. About 18 months ago I started getting itchy to elevate our show about the Village. It’s such a spectacular place audio just doesn’t do it justice. Our audience is largely folks who have never visited the place, but are interested in coming to visit. Some want to check it out to see if they might want to make it home. Besides, I wanted to capture the beauty and vibe of the place. That was going to require video. I’m an old audiophile who spent almost all my adult life in and around great-sounding stereo systems. So it’s no surprise that audio was my cup of tea. At the same time, I have to confess that when I was in junior high I got a super 8mm camera. Fifty feet of film, that had to be professionally developed, produced about 3 minutes of video. I had a projector, too. I shot as much video as I could afford, which wasn’t very much. My video bug goes way back, but audio was just more practical, more portable and cheaper. Hot Springs Village deserved and demanded video. I began a major research project. I asked millions of questions of dozens of photographers and videographers. I took copious notes. I kept asking questions. This was not going to be cheap! Some guys suggested gear that I knew I’d never able to operate. Others try to shoehorn me into how they’d do things, but none of them were producing the kind of show we were – and the one I most wanted to produce. I was growing increasingly frustrated with all the contradictory advice and I knew I’d also have to wrangle my extroverted, unfocused co-host so I kept pushing the research forward. All the way stowing away some money. I decided to ask my audience if they wanted to help. Why not? I told them why. They responded. I was aiming at $1000, full well knowing I’d invest more than that. When I got kinda close to that number I stopped asking and pulled back. I was going to make this investment, Lord willing, but I had to make sure I was buying gear we’d use. And gear we’d use a lot. During all this I was struggling to get re-engaged with my HSV Inside Out podcast. A variety of obstacles disrupted my flow with the show. Selling a house we’d lived in for over 20 years. Moving into an apartment not far from where we’d lived. Buying a house in Hot Springs Village. Moving whatever wasn’t in our apartment into the new house in Arkansas. Juggling client work, a nice problem to have. Along the way the vibe of the show about Hot Springs Village wasn’t going at all as I had planned so I was wrestling with more moving parts than I was used to. I’m focused. Purposeful. Intentional. Mostly, I’m strategic. Those weren’t things I was able to deploy with this podcast I loved so much. Instead I was taking a backseat and surrendering my original goal and vision — and I was growing more and more intent on getting things back on track. Video was going to help me do that. It was going to be a financial investment, a time investment and a major learning investment to develop skills I didn’t yet have. Video killed the radio star, but it wasn’t a permanent death because streaming killed them both. Streaming – online content available on our phones, tablets and computers – kills it all. And yes, video is a major player. Active YouTube users are expected to grow by 346 million (+44.05%) between 2022 and 2028. Last year YouTube had almost 2.5 billion users monthly. They generated over $31B in revenue in 2023. On average, people spend 48.7 minutes on YouTube each day. The average user spends over 28 hours on the YouTube app. Over 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. (Source: https://www.omnicoreagency.com/youtube-statistics/ ) Even SubStack has embraced live video. Video is supreme. The evidence is overwhelming. But that wasn’t my motivation. Hot Springs Village is a visual place. Words can’t describe it as well as pictures and video. It was an easy, albeit expensive, decision. Expensive in money, time, learning curve and our ability as co-hosts to learn the craft of video storytelling (something I think we still do poorly, but I’m confident we’ll get better). For years I’ve watched one person who stands out for me because a) he’s not an attention hound, b) he’s always telling stories of people, cultures and places (which is congruent with what we hope to do at HSVInsideOut.com ) and c) he’s a one-man band (except his wife does all his video editing). He’s always alone while shooting his stories and he often goes where people would shy away from some big video production. That’s why he uses an old GoPro action camera and two small wireless mics. He’s got a selfie stick and that’s it. No lights. No tripods. No cameraman. And the videos are outstanding. Mostly because he focuses on the subject and fades into the background. He’s focused on telling the best story possible and doing justice to the people, their culture and the place. He’s only in frame as needed. Instead, he keeps his subjects on screen. He takes the audience everywhere he can. The only times we aren’t tagging along is when people forbid him from shooting, which rarely happens because he’s so respectful. His wife’s video editing is extraordinary because his videos are all long-form, often running over an hour. I’ve spent hundreds of hours watching him closely to learn. He’s got years of experience over us so I’m not expecting to match his skill, but I do aspire to emulate him in ways that fit our situation. His name is Peter Santenello . You should subscribe to his channel. Here’s a short of Peter explaining why he uses a smaller, old GoPro action camera. Then there’s some video about his early journey becoming a successful YouTuber. You’ll see why I consider him a mentor, somebody I want to emulate – and take whatever value I can to apply to what I want to do. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iegyC2Y4qvI?feature=share https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4CF9d-zDuSY?feature=share https://youtu.be/GlZHQ_4T074?si=TRandxTPjBZKDSbD The more I studied the more I knew an action camera was the right choice for our show – and The Yellow Studio. I’m not a photographer or videographer. I knew we’d be out and about, in nature and settings like boat docks, rear decks, golf courses, lakes, parks, trails, and other nature settings – action cameras are ideally suited for all that. Additionally, if we did have a guest I knew some big video production would be a constraint. Intimidating. That began the research of action cameras. There are a BUNCH of them. About the time I’d think, “This is the one,” a new model would be released. I quickly learned new models were coming out all the time. So I focused on the features we’d most need, including how easy they were to use and how reliable they were over time. By the time I had enough powder saved up to buy something two models stood out: DJI Osmo Pocket 3 (a slick gimbal-controlled camera with insanely great video quality) and the Insta360 Ace Pro (a more typical GoPro-type design with a swivel screen). I wanted two because I have a co-host and I knew if we had one set up and wanted to record different things we’d always be chasing the gear. Additionally, I knew there’d be situations where a two-camera angle would be helpful, especially whenever we did sit-down interviews with guests, or whenever the two of us did shows without a guest (something we were intent on doing more of). I purchased both along with a Rode Mic Pro wireless mic set consisting of two mics and one transmitter, to connect to your smartphone or camera. The DJI Osmo Pocket 3 has a single wireless mic that can automatically connect to that camera. I gave my co-host the Insta360 Ace Pro and Rode mics to use. I put it all in a hardshell backpack along with a ton of accessories making it easy to schelp around and use. I started “filming” with the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 doing trail walks, drives and other videos that I hadn’t been able to do with just audio. It was a major step up, but we weren’t very good at the craft yet. I knew it would take time and hours of work. Mostly, I knew it would require a commitment on our part. Few things are more powerful than a mind made up. That was, and still is, THE work. Making up our minds that we want to excel at telling better stories that our audience will find valuable. We’re late to the game. In terms of how many audio shows we’ve produced, with Zoom as our only source of video…and in terms of how old we are. My co-host and I are both in our 60’s, but we’re both technically very savvy. Both of us are eager to learn. So I’m confident we’ll figure it out, but right now things are a bit painful because I see the future. I can easily envision where I want our show to be. I have to determine to drag us to where I want us to be! These are exciting times. We were taking baby steps that felt like giant leaps. Audio was easy, even routine. Video is more difficult and we had yet to establish a routine because we didn’t know enough. I had used iMovie for years and knew I needed to step up my video editing game. That began another research project of people touting Final Cut Pro (an Apple product) or DaVinci Resolve (a Windows or Mac product with a free or paid version). Some videographers enjoy both. Many are preferential to one or the other. Almost all are heavily involved in doing fancy things we’ll never do (at least I don’t see us doing it). Things like color grading and shooting at the highest resolution possible. I wanted to shoot in 4K and have things work as seamlessly as possible. I wasn’t interested in behaving like I was some professional photographer/videographer. Never mind that I watched hundreds of hours of big-time YouTube photographer channels (I must subscribe to at least 100 or more of them). I’ve been in the Apple Mac ecosystem since 1984 so it wasn’t a tough decision for me. I chose Final Cut Pro, figuring if I was going to learn one…that’d be the best one for me. Besides, a test flight of DaVinci Resolve proved their dashboard was overwhelming. Maybe it’ll do fancy things Final Cut Pro won’t, but none of that matters to me. Next, I needed a training course to learn Final Cut Pro. That was an easier solution as most people referred me to Ripple Training . No, I’ve not yet jumped into the pool on that, but it’s coming up quickly. I need to learn it and I’ve watched enough to know I made a good choice. About this time Sony released an updated version of a popular vlogging camera used frequently in the studio of thousands of YouTubers, Sony ZVE10II. More YouTubers suggested the first version than any other camera. Photographers recommended cameras costing three times as much. They would! 😀 When the Mark 2 of the Sony ZVE10 was released people lost their minds at the updates. It went up in price significantly, but people thought it was worth the price. More and more people were telling me I’d done good with my action camera choices, but “you’re going to want a studio set up” (a camera set up inside The Yellow Studio that says in place, always ready to go). Keep in mind, I do other shows and they felt we’d could use this for our Hot Springs Village show and I could use it for my other shows, too. But that was going to be another $1000 – more if I got a secondary lens for closeup talking head videos (with a blurry background). With accessories, and this other lens, I was looking at investing another $2000 or so. That was without investing in a good quality video light for The Yellow Studio. Truth: I had been ruminating on this in studio set up long before thinking of action cameras. I had researched single light stand set ups where everything could be mounted on a single rolling stand, kept in place and easily rolled around to change camera angles. That was a rabbit trail I hopped down for the better part of my 18-month research journey. I had found the ideal solution, finally. StrobePro made exactly what I thought I’d get IF I ever got an in-studio camera setup. I saved more money. All the while reminding myself that I hadn’t invested in anything really since the newest Rodecaster Pro II (replacing the original). Okay, I had indulged in a new mic every now and again, but my mic collection wasn’t too crazy (I basically have four, plus two that I use for field recording if I want XLR mics). But this felt out of control. I was investing more money than I had ever invested, including the $3000 or so to build the original Yellow Studio. About a month ago I pulled the trigger on the Sony ZVE10 II and the assorted things I needed to construct an in-studio setup, which included the StrobePro stand. Now, I’m so far beyond what I thought I’d do, and far beyond where I thought I’d be when it comes to being equipped to do good video storytelling. Thousands of dollars. Thousands of hours. And not because it’s all necessary… The necessary part is investment, and not just money. It’s skin in the game. It’s commitment. It’s seriousness. And it’s time invested in the pursuit of something important. An iPhone is plenty good enough to have a YouTube channel. So if you’re listening to me, don’t mistakenly think you need to invest a ton of money to begin anything. Just do it with whatever you have like I did with a handheld digital audio recorder in 1997. Keep in mind I’m not just starting out. I may be starting into video more deeply, but I’ve been at this content creation and storytelling online journey for 27 years now. Is it overkill? Of course, it is! Will I use it? Of course, I will. I’ll make certain. And that may be the point. To make certain. To live without any excuses. To produce shows without any excuse, other than my limitations, most of which stem from a profound lack of talent. An intensely narrow focus. That’s my current objective. And I know how to do it because I’ve lived most of my life exercising those muscles. For a long time, I thought it was commonplace. Life has taught me how distracted most people are. Chasing their tail. Running around like cats chasing laser pointers. Then wondering why they’ve not accomplished more. Wondering why so many pursuits die on the vine, nowhere close to being ripe enough to pick. I’m still learning. A lot. Not just about video, but about — people, storytelling, achieving my vision, adding value – mostly, being remarkable for an audience. No matter how small. It’s why the parable of the starfish depicts one of my main north stars. Thank you for being on the journey with me. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm—but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves. – a line in the T.S. Elliot play, The Cocktail Party It’s another episode of Free Form Friday for October 11, 2024. Enjoy. Links: Hot Springs Village Inside Out, the podcast – HotSpringsVillageInsideOut.com Barry Switzer article at EPSN Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
“It’s a bizarre but wonderful feeling, to arrive dead center of a target you didn’t even know you were aiming for.” ― Lois McMaster Bujold Serendipity. Look for something, find something else, and realize that what you’ve found is more suited to your needs than what you thought you were looking for. — Lawrence Block Travel light and trust in serendipity. — Mike Brown Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now. Stories abound of people pursuing one thing and stumbling onto something else. Something better. It’s likely happened to you, too. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
John Newton said, “I am not the man I ought to be, I am not the man I wish to be. I am not the man I hope to be. But by the grace of God, I am not the man I used to be”. He was a slavery abolitionist who had once been a slave trader. Perhaps that context provoked his statement. I can’t fully relate to the first 3 statements in the quote… I’m not the man I ought to be. I’m not the man I wish to be. I’m not the man I hope to be. Not because I’m perfect, but because I’m dedicated to improvement. My own. Most of the time I am the man I ought to be because a) I know what kind of man I ought to be and b) I work to be that man. More easily, I know the man I wish to be and I’m working to be that man. Ditto for the man I hope to be. For me, the terms “ought,” “wish,” and “hope” are all synonymous, but ought is the most important one. How do YOU determine what “ought” means? What’s it based on? Mine is based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We all need a standard, some measurement against which we can examine ourselves. I heard a city councilman on a YouTube video about a horrible drug scene in a major U.S. city remark on how addicts needed faith. Asked if he meant faith in God, he replied that to beat addiction – something he had done himself (he wasn’t the man he once was) – a person needed to believe in something bigger than themselves. For many, it is God. Since God is THE supreme being without a peer, it makes logical sense that it should be God. But the term “ought” means more than having faith in something. It means having something to serve as a standard for your life. Life is filled with standards. They serve us daily. Time has a standard. Every minute has 60 seconds. Every hour has 60 minutes. Every day has 24 hours. Every week has seven days. Measurements have standards. One gallon contains 128 ounces. We pump a gallon of gas in our cars with some assurance that we’re getting a full gallon and not something else because the government inspects gasoline pumps to ensure they’re accurate. These two examples occupy all of our daily lives. Without them, life would be much more chaotic. Without standards imagine how crazy our houses would look. With no standard of measurement to follow all construction would be ridiculous. Some try to convince us that we can establish our own rules of conduct. You get to decide what’s right for you. What you “ought” to do. And that might be very different from what I “ought” to do. But that defies the whole point of a standard, an authority. How about I decide that a gallon of gasoline isn’t 128 ounces? It’s 150 ounces. Ridiculous! Nobody would accept my personalized “standard.” Rightly so because it’s not a standard. It’s an arbitrary desire. And that’s what is happening today, stretched to the point of being ridiculous. The Bible contains the truth of how humans have always tried to behave when they don’t want to recognize God’s higher authority, which always has mankind’s best interest. “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes,” Judges 21:25. It speaks of ancient Israel who rebelled against Jehovah because they did what they wanted and called it “right.” Calling it “right” or what we “ought” to do doesn’t make it so. Not unless we’re the standard bearer and in matters of right, truth, and morality…we’re not the standard. If we were then societies that once sacrificed children in the fire to false gods would have been approved. Nazi Germany would be free from condemnation because in their eyes, they saw it as “right.” No, there’s got to be some standard recognized as the authority. It’s God Almighty. Despite modern culture’s refusal to acknowledge, much less follow, God’s standard, mankind must accept all the visible, scientific, and written testimony of God’s existence and rule. Man or woman. Boy or girl. I’m taking off on John Newton’s quote only because like him, I’m a man. It would equally apply to a woman, boy or girl. Insert the one that properly fits you. No, I don’t mean the one you identify as being. That’s tantamount to saying you think a gallon is 150 ounces, not 128. Think what you will, but you’ll be wrong. How do I know what man I ought to be? Because I listen to and strive to obey God. God tells me in His Word what kind of man I should be. For example, in Ephesians 5 I can read about how I ought to behave toward my wife. I can measure what God says against what I’m doing. By examining myself in light of what I read, I can tell if I’m hitting the mark. Or not. Standards. Authority. Submission. These are the things of “ought.” They determine wishes and hopes. They also determine what once was and what is, too. You get to choose the standards that will govern your life. For me, it’s important that the standards be true and the consequences or rewards are established. I’ve known people who believed that the ends justify the means. So if gaining money was the desired end, it didn’t matter much the means as long as it was legal. But sometimes even questionably legal strategies might be employed if the reward was high enough. At other times compromise became easy when the dollars were high enough. Self-regulation and self-restraint may not be part of the standards you choose. I’ve found that’s a mistake if we want to live our best life. It’s fraught with increasing selfishness that wrecks relationships, careers, and lives. Such is the life of people who follow their desires no matter what. Self-Discipline Is Required To Be The Man I Ought To Be October begins a “no spend month.” That means all those budgeted line item expenses sans the deposable expenses like clothes, gear, gear accessories, dining out, books, or anything else. I’ve set October aside as one month where I’m going to amplify my self-discipline in the single (but big) area of spending. I may extend it beyond October, highly likely. Such a thing seems innocuous, but it’s an important exercise because it requires temperance (self-control). I need to work on my self-discipline muscles by using them with more intensity and vigor. We both know how it’ll go (I’ve done it before so I’ve got some historical proof). Week one will require some focus. Week two will require less focus. By week three it’ll become easier and by the end of the month, I’ll push forward with the notion of keeping it going. The game changes to see how long I can keep it going. The rewards? More money in our bank account or savings account. Greater focus against frivolous or unnecessary spending. Growth in my efforts toward practical minimalism. Discipline that is likely to filter into other areas of my life. The downsides? Depriving myself. The irony is self-deprivation is THE biggest reward. There is no downside to the exercise. Learning To Adapt Is The Path Toward Personal Growth (Improvement) Learning is a discipline. Learning itself is a learned behavior that requires focus, practice, and figuring it out. Life is largely about figuring it out, and then assessing how we’re doing so we can figure it out again. That’s why life is such a rinse-and-repeat process. Rarely do we figure things out, then set it and forget it. External and internal forces often alter our results. We change. Life’s circumstances change. Forcing us to adapt if we want to continue making progress. Whenever we refuse to adapt we call it “being stuck.” It’s the refusal or inability to adapt. In short, it’s a lack of learning that sticks us. Lack of self-awareness is the major constraint. Not knowing what we should know. Not seeing ourselves accurately. “I know, I know,” is the common refrain of teens worldwide. When in truth, they don’t know. They just don’t want to hear somebody tell them. Do that in adulthood at your peril. Refuse to see what you don’t know while whistling in the dark, “I know, I know” and you’ll escape being your best. We have to be responsible for ourselves. It’s not a blame thing. Who cares who or what is to blame? The real issue is, “Now what?” To learn, grow, and improve we must accept responsibility for our behavior, habits, focus, and outcomes. Avoid those and there won’t be learning, growth, or improvement. We get to decide, but if wisdom (learning, growth, improvement) is the goal – and it is – then we must stop lying to ourselves. Consider a few important factors. Accepting responsibility is primary. Without it, we’re hopeless to get better. We must commit to living based on evidence. Not false evidence, but real evidence. We can think we know based on facts, but when we step back and look at more critically, we may see we’re looking at what we imagine, or what we fear. For example, a friend sends a text, “We need to talk.” What evidence do you have to alert you about the subject or tone of this meeting? None. That’s the truth. But many people will immediately see, as evidence, that this is going to be a confrontational meeting. They’ll prepare, mentally/emotionally, to enter a confrontation even though they have no evidence. They think the worst. Now, the meeting happens and the friend confesses that their marriage is crumbling and they wanted to make sure you learned of this directly from them. Remember, F.E.A.R. stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. Appearing real doesn’t make it real. Don’t be fooled. The more uncomfortable it may be, the more you’d better stop and consider it. Self-deception reigns largely because none of us enjoy facing the most uncomfortable truths about ourselves. That’s where the value is though, facing those uncomfortable truths that show us our weaknesses, flaws, and areas of greatest opportunities. Remember, in those uncomfortable truths is where are biggest opportunities abound. It’s our job to embrace them so we can get better. How much do you want it? Only those who want to learn, grow and improve do. It’s an intentional act taken only by determined people. Even then, it’s hard work. So don’t fool yourself into thinking the lazy, unfocused, procrastinators can accomplish it. They can’t. Your willingness to change (grow) is fully in your power. You must want the ideal outcome more than you want to avoid the discomfort of facing reality – and the discomfort of putting in the work. Who surrounds you? When you’re striving to be who you ought to be, not everybody is worthwhile. It may require you to end some relationships. People who don’t want your best are dangerous. They can appear like friends, but those who encourage poor behavior, and selfish actions (I.E. “You deserve to be happy!”) can wreck your commitment to grow. Be careful to avoid surrounding yourself with cheerleaders who encourage you to lean away from wisdom, self-sacrifice, purity, holiness, righteousness and being your best. Instead, lean into others who are pursuing the same growth goals you are – and who want you to be your best while they’re trying to be their best. Birds of a feather and all that. Be kind to yourself during the process. Successful self-improvement isn’t built on self-flagellation. Berating yourself, even when you mess up, isn’t going to help. Yes, be quick to acknowledge your lapses, errors or failures, but then do something to fix them. The Bible calls it repentance. It’s a change of direction. Turning away. Not going back. So when you fail, acknowledge it (the Bible calls it confession), then change your behavior or actions so you don’t repeat it. These are just a few things we must consider as we journey toward becoming a better version of ourselves. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
I learned early in sports that to be effective - for a player to play the best he can play - is a matter of concentration and being unaware of distractions, positive or negative. -Tom Landry Distractions destroy... Creativity Productivity Efficiency Accomplishment Love Contentment Relationships SUCCESS HIGHER ACHIEVEMENT Distractions embraced equals selfishness. Colossal selfishness. Because it's pride that drives us to distraction. Past beliefs about yourself won’t carry you into the future. Side hustles became a phrase and thing over 70 years ago, but I suppose there's always been moonlighting. That is, going to work, getting off work, then going to another job, even if it's part-time. Today, in 2024 the side hustle isn't what it was - a way to supplement income so you could feed your family. Now, it's an income-producing hobby, often called a passion project, indicating it's something the person claims to love. Presumably more than they love the thing that earns them the biggest chunk of their income. “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” - James Clear Others have replaced "systems" with "training." Probably more true - you don't rise to the level of your goals, but you fall to the level of your habits. That and more on this episode of a "free form Friday" show! Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
"It's amazing how someone can break your heart and you can still love them with all the little pieces." -Ella Harper Mutually desired relationships are likely going to include some heartbreak. I've had my heart broken. I'm certain I've broken a heart, too. Not like you're thinking - I'm hardly a heartbreaker! But I do have the ability, like all of us, to hurt or injure somebody I care about. Sometimes the heartbreak is because of loss. Like when I lost Rocky and Rosie to old age. These two White West Highland Terriers were fixtures in our lives for the better part of 16 years. Rocky passed first. I was heartbroken. Rosie passed and I was wrecked. They didn't do that to me. Losing them did. Husbands can break their wives' hearts. Wives can break their husbands' hearts. Friends can break each others' hearts. Partners and co-workers can, too. Let's discuss this topic just a bit. Mostly, we'll get our toes wet and contemplate how to improve avoiding hurting those we care about most. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
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1 I Spent Last Night In A Holiday Inn Express In Hurst, Texas 21:13
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H is for home. Since last year, for the first time in our lives, we have split our time between two homes, both starting with "H." Hurst, Texas, and Hot Springs Village, Arkansas. But last night we spent a night in another "H" home - Holiday Inn Express in Hurst, Texas. Yes, we had a good reason. When you're having knee surgery and your bedroom is upstairs...you improvise. That meant finding a local hotel for at least one night to avoid the staircase. Enter Holiday Inn Express at 820 Thousand Oaks Drive, Hurst, Texas - mere miles away. It all began when I was told I'd be on crutches at least for the first day following having my knee scoped. I hopped on one of those online find-a-hotel websites. How often do you search for a hotel in the city where you live? Me? Never. I was looking for location, reviews, and pricing. There were several hotels in the area where I was looking. All of them were close to the highway, which would be necessary because I had work the next day and wanted to be able to jump on the highway quickly. My wife chauffering me. I read a few reviews and settled on the Holiday Inn Express in Hurst, Texas. My surgery was in another DFW suburb, Southlake. But I wanted to be back in the Hurst area #TexasHome. Besides, it was mere seconds from the highway I needed for the following morning. The accommodations were ideal: king bed, mini frig, microwave, desk, sofa and coffee table, walk in shower (one of those kind without any door), and breakfast starting at 6:30 am. I booked it for one night, paying a few bucks extra for the right to cancel it and get a full refund - just in case my surgeon had to change my schedule (he didn't). Check in was 4 pm. Ok, no problem maybe I can check in early if necessary. I get all those usual pre-surgery calls you get. You answer a million questions and they confirm a schedule. Then days later they may change the schedule, pushing the surgery up or back. Mine was pushed up slightly. "Check in by 7:15 am," they said. Okay. I'm thinking check-in at the hotel is 4 pm. That's gonna be a problem because I'm likely going to be awake and checked out of the surgical center by 11 am. So I call the hotel directly. Let me introduce you to Susan Watts-Martinez, General Manager of the Holiday Inn Express in Hurst, Texas. She answered the phone patiently listening to my dilemma. She looked up my reservation, noticing I booked it through an online website. She confirmed I had booked a king room. "I'm happy to pay a little extra to check in early," I said. "No problem, I can take care of you, Mr. Cantrell," she assured me. This was a couple of weeks in advance of my surgery so she made notes in their system that I'd need a room ready to go before noon. Yes, I told her I was coming there following surgery in Southlake. "We'll take good care of you," said Susan. "Just call us that morning. I'll be here by 7:30 am. That way we'll make sure your room is ready." I thanked her and thought no more about it. Until we checked in. As I crutched my way into the lobby Susan came outside and said, "Randy?" "Yes, ma'am." "Enjoy your stay and we hope you have a speedy recovery," she said. I thanked her and went inside making my way to the first room on the first floor, just past the front desk and workout room. Convenient and a short amble down the hall. We enter the room and straight away I notice on the coffee table a bundle of homemade chocolate chip cookies and two bottles of water with the above note sitting nearby. Handwritten Note From Holiday Inn Express, Hurst, Texas "Look at this, "I said to my wife. We remarked how nice that was, then I noticed a large white gift bag with a black ribbon tying the handles together. "What's this?" I asked. I opened it and found a new 50" x 70" gray chenille throw. 50" x 70" gray chenille throw I immediately unpacked it and laid down on the bed on top of the covers noting how hard it would be to maneuver under t...…
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1 Top Mistakes That Can Make You a Bad Partner (And How to Avoid Them) 57:23
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Let's define "partner" broadly. It could be a spouse, a business associate, a legal partnership, an informal collaboration, a co-worker, or something else. In short, it's a joint venture of some sort. You get to define it the way that best suits you. My first partnerships were likely being a sibling to my sister who is 6 years older. We may have been too far apart in age to be a real partnership, but aren't all kids with brothers and sisters partners in some sense? I watch my grandkids and it seems not much has changed. As children, we had to learn to get along, work together, protect, and support each other. Okay, maybe there were some fights along the way, too. Once I got into school I'd often be teamed up with other students for projects. Mostly, I remember doing bulletin boards or something creative. The teacher would assign one or more people to me to produce something. It was my first real experience with frustration in a creative endeavor. I've thought about it often - how early on I should have known I needed to be more discriminating in the ideal partner. Or to consider whether or not I even need or want one. Through the years one phrase has captured my biggest challenge: being like-minded. That doesn't mean seeing everything identically. Nor does it mean coming to the same conclusion. I've wrestled with this notion all my life, attempting to distill the meaning of "being like-minded." Maybe there's a better way to figure it out, but my approach was to identify the source of my frustrations. What is driving me crazy and why? It always comes down to, "Is it me, or is it them?" That leads to wrestling with whether or not it's going to require compromise to lower quality. To lower the expectation. To accept good enough. To avoid reaching for something better. By the time I reached junior high, I knew I was cursed. There would never be a way out. So I started looking for some way forward. It didn't often happen so I learned to pursue things by myself if the thing was important to me. Think school projects. I had close friends. I had many more friendly acquaintances. I enjoyed being amongst friends. Humor and sarcasm were constant common denominators. But when it came to getting things accomplished, I was sober-minded. Serious. Maybe to a fault. A few people who didn't know me misinterrupted my introversion and seriousness for conceit. But that was never the issue because I never esteemed myself better than anybody else, albeit I did frequently think, "I wouldn't do that" when watching somebody make a foolish choice. I was compliant listening to teachers and parents. Mostly doing what I was told, behaving and always mindful of the situation. I was a noticer which made it easier to avoid problems, easier to read people, but impossible to avoid noticing. As a result, my inner signal-to-noise ratio has never been great. When you notice everything you learn to discriminate between the two, but it's important to distinguish between what you think you're noticing and true evidence. As a young adult, I began to seriously learn what I termed evidence-based intuition. Gut feel is terrific when you notice everything, but it's not error-free, even if it is mostly accurate. Pile on some questions that force you to consider what you know to be true, and the accuracy gets closer to perfect. I've now practiced that for over 40 years and I'm still working on it. The context matters lest you think I'm just a wild contrarian. I'm not. But I'm driven by accomplishment, not ambition. They can look similar, but the difference is selfishness. Credit. Glory. Honor. I don't much care about any of those. I care about the final product. I care about the conquest. Today, I often use the metaphor of "taking the hill." I'm driven to take the hill in the best method possible. The challenge, struggle and adversity provide the juice. Otherwise, everybody would be taking the hill. But not everybody does. And that excites me.…
It starts with an innocuous request, but you notice it's not a request as much as information --- or a subtle command. The person on the other end of the phone is telling you what they're going to do. The problem is that it involves having you do something for them. Something you never agreed to, and something that is an imposition. Worse yet, it's not a close family member. We're mostly ready, willing, and sometimes able to serve our immediate family members with requests that seem otherwise loaded with gall. ;) Not so this time. This is a friend. I use that term very loosely. The friend is just calling to inform you of what you'll be doing for them because they need it and expect it. No questions are asked. No consent is offered on your part because it's just not necessary. This "friend" has called with 100% expectation that you'll meet their need. There's not the obligatory, "Would you...?" or "Could you...?" They don't even ask how you're doing, or if you're up to your ears in your issues. The tone in their voice tells you that they know you have nothing going on nearly as important as what they've got going on. Or, it's the person who invariably calls you with instant ramblings of something only within seconds (or a few minutes at most) of telling you they need to go because they've: a) got another incoming call, b) got another call they need to make or c) got something pressing they must do. Translation: I called you because it was important for me to tell you this thing (which is NEVER important at all, or even substantial)...but now that I've told you, I have no further need for you. In recent months several close friends lament how often they get such calls. I listen intently to these stories, growing increasingly shocked at the audacity people display toward "friends." Each time I've repeated one story that happened to me over 20 years ago when a "toxic" friend asked me to do something professionally for him. I was home nursing fever and nausea at the time, but I got out of bed, dressed up, and attended a business meeting to help him out. I'll spare you the details except to tell you it was the last time I ever did anything for him. Instead, a few months later I made up my mind to rid myself of as many of the toxic people in my life as possible. He was first on the list. All take, no give - that's the best phrase I know of to describe toxic people who are always imposing on you without any regard for what may be happening in your life. And while I'm happily telling you that you should learn to say, "NO!" to them so you can say "Yes!" to better people - that's not the point of today's show. But it could be. People matter. Good people matter to help us. Bad people matter because they damage us. That makes it urgent for us to figure out when to say no so we can say yes. But I'm thinking more about creative endeavors. Particularly, podcasts and content (whether it's writing, audio or video). I'm thinking of the YES that first requires a NO. Mostly, I'm thinking about my consumption and creation. On one hand, I'm the audience. On another, I'm the creator. So what's the difference? And how does saying NO so we can say YES play into it all? Let's try to figure it out. I'm asking for a favor that I hope is NOT an imposition. Email me your feedback about this podcast to RandyCantrell@gmail.com I want to make Leaning Toward Wisdom more impactful - more meaningful - for YOU. I don't quite know how to best do that, but I have a high degree of willingness. Mostly, I want to say NO to whatever devalues this podcast for you so I can say YES to whatever might make Leaning Toward Wisdom serve you better! Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
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1 How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything 32:39
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Well, it's not true that how you do anything is how you do everything, but still I'm rather fond of the concept because it works. For instance, do you step over things that need to be picked up? I don't mean snotty tissues or other debris that might be a campground for all kinds of filth. Say you're out walking on a trail and you see a discarded soda can. Do you pick it up or leave it? Some would pick it up and others wouldn't. There's also a 3rd group - those who don't see it. Or don't care. People who notice seem to always notice. People who pick up things seem always to pick up things. People who don't pick up something seem never to pick up things. I've found this to be mostly --- true. I pick things up. But not every time. Some nasty-looking tissue is likely going to remain as I walk past it. The place matters, too. If I'm on a busy sidewalk I won't pick up a gum wrapper, much less a snotty tissue. In that context, I'm not likely going to stop to pick up anything other than something valuable or something a person may have dropped. Still, how you do anything tends to be how you do everything. But that's not as powerful a phrase. Social media (mostly) has taught me I have a horrible deficiency. Okay, it's taught me I have many horrible deficiencies with this one included - I don't foster controversy. I'm not polarizing. Absolutes are powerful because they're polarizing and that gets attention. I don't clamor for or yearn for attention. Yes, I want the attention of some to listen to this podcast - and the other podcasts I produce. Yes, I want people to read, or at least scroll through, things I write. Yes, I want people to gain something from the sermons I preach and all the other content I produce - which means first, they have to pay some attention. For me, the context is always the message though. The thought. The question. Provoking thought in hopes our thoughts will drive us to change, grow, and improve. For the past few decades, I've been fixated on improving my ability to figure things out and finding ways to help others do the same. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
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Bariatric surgeries have increased over 500% since 1998. Bariatric surgeries have exploded (that might not be the proper verb) in recent years. Part of the reason is the improved technologies to make it "minimally invasive," but I think it's primarily because people want a fast, easy fix. And now add a new found popularity of drugs like Ozempic ® making weight-loss even easier. Everybody wants fast and easy. Nobody prefers slow and hard. But there are some things where slow and hard provide a value not found in fast and easy. After a round of NFL playoffs games as the 2023/2024 season was winding down I heard a coach say something I've heard before, but something I hadn't heard in awhile. He remarked that great football teams do the hard things really well. For months I've thought about it even though I instantly knew he was right. There's beauty and wisdom in the struggle. Never mind that we don't always enjoy it. It benefits us. There's that old tale of a man watching a caterpillar struggle to escape its cocoon. Figuring he'd make it easier for the butterfly to emerge he got a pair of scissors and snipped parts of the cocoon. Minutes later some creature not even resembling a butterfly escaped the cocoon. Turns out by making it easy he had ruined any chance for the caterpillar to enter a phase of being a butterfly. The struggle required to wriggle out of the cocoon forced life into the wings. No struggle, no wings. No wings, no butterfly life. It's a good reminder of the value of our own struggles. Even if, in the moment, we can't quite see the future benefit. In Thy Paths Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
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More specifically maybe...false assumptions about my (our) retirement... That you must have at least a million dollars to retire. That you really need three million dollars to retire with security. That you should delay collecting Social Security until at least 65, and preferably until 70. That you should travel. That you should do all the things you've always wanted to do, but never got around to. That you'll struggle with a sense of purpose. That you may struggle with boredom if you're not careful. That it will cost you much more than you figured. That it's important to have (and pursue) a bucket list. That you'll have much more leisure time. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
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Happy Father's Day 2024! My dad enjoying the sunshine The what was crystal clear. The how was no where in sight. Casey Neistat is the OG of YouTube, vlogging and social media creation. He's associated with New York, but it wasn't always so. Casey set his sights on NYC knowing he wanted to make it there. Without any idea or plan on how to do it. But he'd grown up hanging on by a thread so he was comfortable. Casey had two qualities that drove him, gratitude and optimism. A little boy with absentee parents. No restraints. No security. Hanging on by a thread. One man's ceiling is another man's floor. The desperation and despair drove him. Created him. Forged him. Watching Casey for years and knowing his story got me thinking about mastering the hang. The hanging by a thread. Handling risk and failure. Hanging on. Even by a thread because even a thread provides suspension above failure. And despair. In the thread we find hope. Enough hope to continue. Patience vs. impatience. A willingness to hang on by that thread for however long it'll take. Casey describes his early life as a life without any plan B. He was working 60 hours a week making $7.25 an hour working in a restaurant kitchen. What was he going to do? Move back to southeastern Connecticut where he'd grown up in despair? Optimism drove him to declare - both to himself and others - "I'll figure it out." Said Casey: "I was running from a pack of wolves. I knew if I slowed down or stopped, I'd be eaten." Thinking of Casey's story and how he described the early part of his journey to find success, I began thinking for the umpteenth time about how life circumstances impact us. It's remarkable how for some it becomes crippling baggage providing a million excuses. For others, like Casey, it's the catalyst that drives them to rise above all the tragedy and despair. That old meme remains true. Hot water makes the egg hard, but it softens the potato. I suppose it's the hot water that shows us what we truly are, but I'm still puzzled about the choices we make - and I do believe we choose what we become, unlike the egg or potato. When working with a group in my coaching practice I often deploy a number of strategies to create closer bonds. Trust, vulnerability, safety - these are all critical when we're trying to develop high-performing teams (or groups). Seeing each other as something other than a position or title serves all of us well. At work we rarely are able to show our full humanity, which is a shame because that's where our deepest connections are made. It's interesting to watch it happen. A group of people enter a room. They know each other. They have some context for one another. But many of them don't really know each other very well. Over an hour, or two, they begin to see other differently. They understand the past pain, suffering and struggle. We can all relate. Our story specifics may differ, but at a macro level - we're mostly similar. It's apparent that we all had many opportunities to decide, will we be an egg or a potato? Will the circumstances of our life - especially the ones we had little control over - harden us or soften us? And will that hardness manifest itself in a resolve to rise above it or will it be a hardness that drives us deeper into excuse-making, and blaming? Will it soften us in ways that cripple us and rob us of the confidence and resolve needed to succeed? Or will it soften us so we can be more compassionate and grow into better humans? Choice. Making up our mind. Will we hang by the thread with optimism? "Hey, look...I'm still hanging on!" versus "Oh, man. I'm just a thread away from falling." Hanging on by a thread is still hanging on. Just like "by the skin of your teeth" is still getting by. Sure, the margin is thin but it's a bit binary - you're either hanging on or not. Whether it's by a thread or a strand of threads. It's congruent with the theme of last week's episod...…
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Kenneth Aronoff is a drummer for John Mellencamp. He's also part of a documentary, The Untold Stories Of Your Favorite Musicians. He talks about the early days with Mellencamp when he was asked to come up with a drum solo of sorts for a new song, Jack & Diane. When I first heard him say it my mind went into a few different directions. One, being good under pressure. Not everybody is. How can we improve that skill? Two, being good on your feet. That is, being able to figure it out in real-time, with the clock ticking. Again, how can we hon that ability? Three, knowing you're at a pivot point that could (no guarantees) change everything. How can we recognize the importance of this moment? Aronoff had enough of all three to handle this moment. “It's kind of funny...the moments on which life hinges. I think growing up you always imagine your life--your success--depends on your family and how much money they have, where you go to college, what sort of job you can pin down, starting salary...But it doesn't, you know. You wouldn't believe this, but life hinges on a couple of seconds you never see coming. And what you decide in those few seconds determines everything from then on... And you have no idea what you'll do until you're there...” ― Marisha Pessl, Special Topics in Calamity Physics (a novel) Pessl is a novelist who has crafted some great lines. Truthful lines. This is one of favorites. Life often hinges on a couple of seconds we never see coming. More accurately, it hinges on what we do in that moment. In those seconds. And while you have no idea until you're there, all the things we've done up that moment prepare us. I will prepare and some day my chance will come. - Abraham Lincoln That line speaks to our ability and our optimism. The belief that we'll put in the necessary work and in time, we'll get an opportunity. I often wonder if we knew in advance of that moment, would it help us or hurt us? Might we live in constant fear and anxiety if we knew? It may be a blessing that when those moments arrive, we had little or no warning. In the last episode I talked about how special forces train so when the battle erupts, they react wisely (and well) automatically. So much so, they describe their reactions under fire as "it just happens." That's the value of preparation. It's the value of focus, intensity and dedication to constant improvement. It's also the quest to learn what we don't yet know. Ignorance isn't bliss. It can be disastrous when we act based on it. Many dramatic stories prove the point. Mostly, tragedies prove it. Hamlet. Romeo & Juliet. Stories where people lacked knowledge, but took actions based on it. Stories where they had 25 to save themselves, or somebody else...but they got it wrong. Tragedy has visited each of us, partly because of actions taken based on our ignorance. We thought something, but without full knowledge, or understanding, we got it wrong. The result was tragic. Maybe not life and death tragic, but some version of tragic none the less. 25 feet to get it right. Or to get it wrong. I began to consider the journey to those 25 feet, wondering how important those feet are. And how we might influence them. Reminiscing of my 25-foot-moments I tried to remember what led me there. What happened and how did I get it wrong? Did I get it wrong? Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
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1 Practicing It So Much That When The Moment Comes, It Just Happens 46:35
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On Chris Williamson's Modern Wisdom YouTube show with Tim Kennedy, a Special Forces master sergeant and author, Kennedy was recounting the extensive training of special forces. In the fog of war there is no time to think when bullets start flying. It's all reaction. He details the many micro movements of firing a weapon during a fire fight, emptying the weapon and reloading - all within seconds. It's not a strategic - "I now need to do this" - kind of thing. It's something you've practiced tens of thousands of times. So much that when the moment comes, it just happens. It just happens. He said you practice it so much, that when the moment comes, it just happens! But first, it's a slow, arduous journey of working hard. Everything is hard, until it's easy. Everything is slow, until it's fast. This is why most things remain hard to many people. They don't put in the work. It's why we remain broke, fat and miserable, too. And why too many of us lack faith, gratitude and compassion. Because it's hard work. It's not couch potato work! Some weeks ago I mentioned to Lisa Norris, my co-host on the Grow Great podcast (a podcast about city government leadership) that every high-performer I've ever known pursues the hard stuff. They're not complacent. They're all strategic in learning more, growing and adding to their arsenal. I remarked, "Everything is hard, until it's easy and high-performer are always chasing the hard stuff." Practice doesn't make perfect, but perfect practice does. That's what we've heard for decades. It's absurd though because it presupposes that our work ought to be perfect in practice (when it doesn't matter as much). However, if the saying speaks to the process of practice being perfect (our willingness to put in the work by doing what we must in order to improve), then it's not absurd at all. When I heard Tim Kennedy's response I went back to notes I'd been making to myself about preparation (practice). I'm a lifelong fan of preparation. This - and all my podcasts - depict my fandom. I use a broadcast workflow because I'd rather prepare in advance of recording instead of just winging it, then fixing it all in editing after-the-fact. Besides, preparation is where I've found my confidence can be greatly enhanced. And I hate not feeling confident. What is confidence? Where does it come from? Where do we have it? Long ago I concluded that my confidence isn't singular. There are a few different types of confidence in my life. First, there's confidence in God. I'll call it a spiritual confidence. It's based on belief, faith and conviction. It's not an internal faith in myself, but rather it's my inner confidence in something and someone else - something much higher and more powerful than myself. My spiritual confidence is based only on the Bible because it's the only standard I have to inform me about God. Any other confidence based on feelings or intuitions or urges would come from me, not the Bible. That makes them susceptible to being mere delusions so I won't base my spiritual confidence on such things. Second, there's confidence in others. This is an external confidence based on my belief and trust in others. It may be based on past history or expected future. I'm confident that our family will help influence my five grandchildren to be successful adults, able to navigate their lives well. Ages 16 to 8, it's yet to be proven, but I have confidence in our family and in these children. Maybe it's an optimism based on the work we're putting in to help train them all. But it's not entirely based on the adults in the family. None of these 5 children have shown an unwillingness to be compliant to learn and improve. My confidence in others is based on past behaviors and on my expectations of their capabilities. It's not an absolute though because I'm not in control of what they do. I'm not confident they'll please me because that's not my expectation.…
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Note: The picture in the featured image is my 100-year-old dad holding my 92-year-old mother's hand as she lay dying. She passed from this life on April 4, 2024. They were married for 73 years, a testimony to the power of companionship. Companion / Companionship a person or animal with whom one spends a lot of time a feeling of fellowship or friendship Do you want to be alone with yourself? And if not, then why do you think anybody else would ever want to be around you? What is it about you that might be off-putting? Or unsafe? Let's begin with a word, EFFORT. It's the thing we can all control. It's the igniter in the combustion chamber of success. Whether it's relationships - companionship, or some other pursuit - if we put in enough effort, we can always ensure our growth. Hard work may not result in an absolute win, but it will result in personal growth. The kind of growth that can impact every aspect of our life. “Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.” ― Helen Keller In recent weeks I've talked a lot about my challenges with having too many spinning plates. This goes directly to EFFORT, which means we need to discuss another word, CAPACITY. There is a limit to our effort because our time is limited. And our ability is limited, too. Time is easy to measure. It's definite. Ability may be impossible to measure. I suspect we're all severely limited by our mind thinking "this is all I've got," when in reality, we can do more. Evidence of such things is the Navy Seal training and many other physical/mental challenges that people regularly conquer. The person who wants to run their first marathon may quit thinking it's too hard. But those who go on to run their first learn they're more able than they thought. Those who quit are convinced it just wasn't something within their reach. Like Henry Ford famously said... “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't --- you're right.” What if we believed - truly believed - we were more able? I have asked hundreds of executives, business owners, and other leaders a simple question: "Would you say that most of your dreams have come true?" 100% of them answer, "Yes." That doesn't mean every dream was achieved. Or that they've got no more dreams left to chase. It just means they achieved most of the things they set out to achieve. After they've weighed in, I'll then say, "Makes you wonder what kind of potential we're leaving on the floor, huh?" What if we dreamed bigger? What if we chased something seemingly impossible for us? Our lives seem to be proving to us that we might be able to achieve most things we pursue. Why shouldn't we reach for more? And why shouldn't we help others reach for more? Time is easier. Daily we say YES and NO. Daily we may say yes to things we'd rather say no to. We may also say no to things we'd really like to say yes to. All these decisions impact our time. They determine our calendar. And our calendar - those things we answer wrongly - determines our resentment and bitterness. Suppose I say yes to an invitation I'd rather say no to. Maybe I'm cowardly in the moment. Maybe I'm too worried about hurt feelings. Not my own, but the person inviting me. Maybe social pressures are in play. But for some reason, I give the wrong answer and now this dreaded event is on my calendar. Who is served by my wrong answer? Not me. Not my inviter. Nobody else in my sphere. Because I'm going to dread it and it'll certainly impact my demeanor and behavior. That doesn't mean I have to behave hatefully. I can certainly make the decision that's ideal in a polite way. I can be gracious and thank the person for inviting me,…
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In 1982 I stood in front of a group of employees of the retail company I was running to tell them, "Who would have thought we'd reach a time when saying "please" and "thank you," "sir" and "ma'am" would be a competitive edge?" That was then. This is now. Superior customer service is rare. That means the opportunities are extraordinary! Seize the day. Abel seized the day. Here's his story, as posted on my Facebook profile. Abel with Schlotzsky’s in Grapevine, Texas Schlotzsky's Grand Prairie, Texas Is Today's Customer Service HORROR Story (Small Hill Drive location) Rhonda placed an order via the app (something she's done with great frequency). Location: Grapevine, Texas. Problem: during checkout, the app encountered a problem with her saved credit card requiring that it be re-entered. Done. Order placed. Problem #2: during that payment problem evidently the order location changed from Grapevine to Grand Prairie. She didn't notice that until we were in the drive-through of the Grapevine location. She explained the problem and they politely said, "No problem. Just call them to get a refund and we'll make the sandwiches here." So we pulled into a parking spot to call Grand Prairie. She explained the problem and as they seemed to be helping her the connection went dead. I suspect they hung up on her (she was on the speakerphone). She dialed back. Explained it again, but this time it was a different person. "No, we've already made the sandwiches. No refund!" (Do this in the voice/tone of the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld and you'll be dangerously close to the sound of this man on the phone). She asked for the manager. "I am the manager." I took the phone to ply my powers of persuasion but without success. The Sandwich Nazi wasn't going to bend an inch. This $22 transaction was more meaningful than a long-time customer. I entered the Grapevine store to see what I could do. A pleasant gentleman behind the counter was taking orders. I was 3rd in line. Immediately I thought, "This store isn't run by the same folks that operate Grand Prairie." Turns out, I was right. As I explained our quandary, the gentleman said, "Oh yeah, you were just in the drive-through." I told him Grand Prairie refused to issue a refund. He was shocked. I asked what I could do. He asked me what we ordered and I told him. He punched it into his computer and said, "I got you." No, no, no - that wasn't the solution I was looking for and I insisted on paying. "No," he insisted, "I got you." I thanked him and told him I was going to share this story. I gave him my business card, took a quick selfie as he handed me the order, gave him a bro hug, and thanked him asking, "What's your name?" I'm pretty sure he said, "Able." If not, I apologize. It was busy and I didn't want to detain him. Schlotzsky's in Grand Prairie - Small Hill Drive - boos and hisses to your ownership and management for pathetic customer services Schlotzsky's in Grapevine - kudos and salutes to your ownership and management for stepping up to do the right thing. A special shout-out to the gentleman in the picture. He understands how to be excellent! NOTE: Abel is his name! Hours later and I'm still very impressed with this man. Visit Abel and his staff at the Schlotzsky’s in Grapevine, Texas and tell them you saw this post. Pursue excellence. Chase consistency in that excellence. Do it in your professional life. Do it in your personal life. There are opportunities everywhere! Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
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Leaning Toward Wisdom
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Sloping seems more gentle than stumbling. And graceful. But when it comes to growing older it can be inaccurate. We don't slope toward a face plant. We stumble. We fall. Face-first into the ground. "Everywhere I look I see opportunities," I said. The conversation was about how we see the world and our place. Me? I have lived life trying to take various hills. Then quickly seeking out a new hill to take. Sometimes the hill is simply making it better. Always making it better - or trying to - is the curse of my mind. As I approach the beginning of my 67th year on the earth I know the end began on day one. Growing up, children only think about the present or the future. Age urges us to focus on the future and we increasingly lose track of the present. Today wasn't great, but tomorrow will be better. Until we realize our past is larger than our prospective future, which prompts us to remember. Old people don't tend to talk about the future, but they rehearse - often with boring repetition - the past. In the future, I'm liable to be guilty of the same behavior even though I hate it. I hope to avoid doing it. The end has begun. The end of many things has begun, sparking the beginning of others. Experience, not age, has taught me how little I know. And how far I have to go to reach my ideal outcome. Mostly, that ideal outcome is me. Not in some self-centered way, but in the sense that all I will ever contribute to the world is myself. Being my best self. Nothing else matters. My impact - whatever it may be - is all any of us have to offer. It's not a minimal thing either. It's massive. More so for some than others because our talents, drives, ambitions, and opportunities aren't equal. There's also luck. Mark Cuban remarked that luck was the difference between him being a millionaire and a billionaire. So it goes. I feel like I've grown. Evidence shows it's somewhat true. Never mind that some likely view me in light of the worst chapters - or sentences - I've written. Everybody can make up their mind about me, or anybody else. And they do. My days are spent focused on other people's lives. Largely on their professional challenges and opportunities. Sometimes the focus is solely on their personal lives because what ails them is deeply personal. Challenges come from all angles. Oportunities, too. The drive to make a difference is always the hill I'm trying to take. The methodology is asking questions. I figure things out by asking questions. Asking questions provides answers. Questioning answers clarifies existing answers. The focus isn't on me, so the questions are aimed at helping others figure it out. After all, it's not mine to figure out. It's a deep version of the old TV show, "This Is Your Life." It's not my life. I have my stuff to figure out. It's only about me so I can better understand, ask better questions, and improve at helping others figure things out. Relationships. Careers. Faith. Financial circumstances. Habits. Beliefs. Choices. Behaviors. Skills. Abilities. Perspectives. Hobbies. Preferences. Everything is subject to change. Everything decays. Decay starts at the beginning and continues until the end. But Eternity changes everything because according to God's Word, Heaven has no decay. Hell doesn't either. Bliss or torture without interruption. That's not how life on earth works. Bliss, happiness, joy, peace - they're all interrupted by decay. Each has enemies that disturb or destroy. Our lives are subject to change because other people have choices that can interrupt our choices and preferences. Some years ago I had different goals and dreams than I had just a handful of years ago. The changes in my goals were driven by the choices others made, which compelled me to change my mind as I tried to figure out my best path forward. It happens. To all of us. Those folks who enjoy blaming God for all the mishaps or misfortune in the...…
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Leaning Toward Wisdom
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February 1974, Baton Rouge. Near the entrance to Louisiana State University. A record store, my favorite hang out. Leisure Landing. I enter the store and a record is playing. It's alt-country. Weird. Because the guy's name is Ian Matthews. Ian isn't a southern United States name. I grab the album cover and begin to read the back. Two players who I already admire are on this record. Jeff "Skunk" Baxter of Steely Dan fame and David Lindley of Jackson Browne fame. I love both of these guys. I'm enjoying this record. Ian is an Englishman playing alternative country, folksy tunes. Some days you eat the bear... Some days the bear eats you. I've never heard this artist before. I've never heard this phrase before either. But I'm street smart and quickly discern it means, "Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose." That's today's show. A new episode from inside The Yellow Studio 4.0. Enjoy! Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me…
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Leaning Toward Wisdom
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1 Up All Night: Breaking Spinning Plates 43:30
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"The only way to learn how many plates you can spin is to break some plates. The question of capacity guarantees failure." - T.S. Elliot He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. - Jim Elliot (no relation to T.S. that I'm aware of) I'm not a plate-spinner. I am able to multi-task, but it's not actually multi-tasking at all. It's really intense focus on a single thing with enough speed to get a number of things accomplished over a short period. That makes it look like multi-tasking. Themes of the week have been: Self-control or self-regulation - manifested in the struggles people have with porn addiction, marital infidelity, alcohol, work, parenting, unruly children, loneliness and more Capacity and resources - what's our limit? Congruency - frustration in hearing people (often bosses) say one thing, but do something completely different Failing to figure out how or where we fit - not understanding why or how we're making a difference / wondering if we are I've got too much going on - too many irons in the fire. I'm working on it and I'll share more. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me Help Me Reach My $1,000 Goal I plan to start vlogging from Hot Springs Village, Arkansas because the place is spectacular. The scenery will make for a great backdrop. Plus, there are many places I'd like you to see. To help, click the link (or the image below) to donate any amount you'd like. Amazon Gift Certificates (use RandyCantrell@gmail.com). Thank you!…
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Leaning Toward Wisdom
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Galatians 6:7-9 "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth unto his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." Show High-Lights Anybody can do easy. It requires resolve and grit to do difficult things. It requires skill, talent and solid determination to learn to do hard things well. We're the constraint. The value is in battling ourselves, not others. Feelings don't equal evidence. Figuring out what's real and what isn't is hard work worth doing well. Don't discount your will power. Don't over-estimate it either. It's a major component of the work, but it's not the only component. Who you surround yourself with matters. The environment we put ourselves in has a major impact in our ability (and agility) to navigate figuring out how to do the hard things well. We're all influenced by our surroundings. Guard your environment. Beliefs become reality. But delusions - which seem real - are still delusions. That's why evidence based living is still the path forward to mastering hard things. Consider what's possible even if you initially think it's not. Learn what you don't yet know. Figure it out. Just make sure you're not restricting yourself with false notions. Don't feel sorry for yourself or feel like others can do it, but you can't. Ponder your ideal outcomes. Imagine what might be available - and possible. Often, there's sufficient evidence for what probable, while we refuse to think it's even possible. It stops us dead in our tracks when we could be many miles further up the road to greater success! Compounding is powerful. Doing a little bit consistently over time likely beats trying to sprint until we're winded. Learning to do hard things well takes time and repeated efforts that become ingrained. Doing hard things well is habitual. Otherwise, it's inconsistent. Anybody can be a minor league player. Only those who perform well every single time can be major leaguers. Laziness and procrastination are easy. That's where the masses live. Don't be fooled into thinking you can behave just like them and achieve something greater than average. Or worse. Berating yourself is worthless. Accurate self-examination is priceless. See yourself for what you truly are and fix what ails you. Lean into your strengths. Shore up weaknesses so they don't derail you. Devote yourself to making yourself better in every way. Accept nothing less. Remember, you'll either make a way, or you'll make an excuse. Learning means making mistakes, but it means making mistakes where you're still doing your best - and making mistakes you know you can recover from. When you get it wrong - and you will - determine that you'll make it right. Only fools repeat their mistakes. Learn from yours and get better. Always be getting better! Working is hard. Retirement is hard. Health is hard. Sickness is hard. Being in a great relationship is hard. Being lonely is hard. Whatever you choose to name, on either end of the spectrum - it's hard. Every day we get to decide which hard we'll pursue. But there's a major difference in the positive things that are hard. They require more effort on the front end. A higher investment upfront. By doing that, we may be able to forego a tougher consequence. Self-discipline is the key. Let's be clear about the definition of discipline. Discipline is the quality of being able to behave and work in a controlled way which involves obeying particular rules or standards. Self-discipline is our ability to control ourselves. Execution matters! If we're going to learn to get good at doing hard things well, we have to find the way to do them well more often than not. Ideally, to do them well all the time, every time.…
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Leaning Toward Wisdom
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About 15 years into my podcasting journey I recorded an episode entitled, A Virtual Tour Of My Podcasting Studio. I published it 9 years ago today, January 25, 2015. In 2019 I published an update, Welcome Inside The Yellow Studio (This Is How I Podcast Now). Since then I've tried to keep a page on my personal website updated - Inside The Yellow Studio. The technology has changed monumentally since I began almost 24 years ago. Things have gotten so much easier - and so much more refined. As much as I enjoyed those early years when all of us were figuring it out, today is better. Today's show is less about the operational part of podcasting though and it's more about the metaphor of The Yellow Studio - creating, publishing and sharing. It's about the broadcasting of stories, ideas, observations and insights. It's about a journey into creativity. Well, it's about a journey deeper into creativity. I won't bore you with the earliest memories of the journey which began in childhood engaged in all sort of acts of imagination. As much as I love to learn, which requires mounds of consuming (reading, listening, observing), I'm more in love with creativity, crafting something from mostly nothing. Starting with a spark. Sometimes small. Sometimes not. A burning ember sometimes. A bolt of lightning at other times. Creativity takes practice. As in, you have to do it. Also, as in you have to do it repeatedly to improve. Bouts of creativity against not being creative at all have prevailed my entire life. As a little boy playing with an impressive Matchbox car collection to laying in the yard looking up through the pines at the clouds wondering what to do next. Enthusiastic hours spent building a fort in the woods or a treehouse in the backyard coupled with lethargic hours spent telling ourselves we had nothing to do. Boredom always best fought off by engaging the gears of our imagination so we could create hours of delight often doing something we'd not done before. Or doing things we'd done a million times before. And ready to do it again one more time because we loved it so. Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me Help Me Reach My $1,000 Goal I plan to start vlogging from Hot Springs Village, Arkansas because the place is spectacular. The scenery will make for a great backdrop. Plus, there are many places I'd like you to see. To help, click the link (or the image below) to donate any amount you'd like. Amazon Gift Certificates (use RandyCantrell@gmail.com). Thank you!…
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Leaning Toward Wisdom
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Shameless An adjective meaning insensible to disgrace Retirement A noun meaning a withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from active working life or the age at which one normally retires The United States adopted an initial retirement age of 65 with the Social Security Act of 1935. By the mid-20th century, almost all countries had adopted a retirement age of between 60-65. About 40% of Americans receive Social Security retirement benefits as their exclusive income. The average benefit is just over $1700 monthly. Financial advice is varied, but advisors widely suggest no more than 70% of your retirement income should come from Social Security. If you were to collect the average amount - $1700 - then you'd have a monthly income of about $2400 if that math worked in your life. That's $28,800 a year, hardly a comfortable living for most people. However, as of this year (2023), the average check to 65-year-olds is about $2500 a month. Apply that 70% suggestion, then your total monthly income could rise to $3600, or $43,200 a year. That's $14,400 more than $28,800. Lots of people are doing the math urging folks to collect Social Security as soon as possible - age 62. For some, that may make sense. For others, it may not. I'm not an accountant or financial advisor. I'm just a guy sitting inside The Yellow Studio making observations about all this now that I'm 66-1/2, full retirement age. Full Retirement Age Full retirement age (FRA) is the age you must reach to receive full retirement benefits from Social Security. Your FRA varies depending on the year you were born. The FRA in the United States is 66 years and two months for those born in 1955, increasing gradually to 67 for those born in 1960 or later. Since my wife and I were born in 1957, 66-1/2 is our FRA. I achieved that in November and Rhonda hit it here in December. Life is more than numbers, but the numbers matter. What about things other than numbers? Routine and habits tend to overpower older lives. Neuroscience informs us that we're all subject to habituation. Habituation Habituation is a decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated presentations. The American Psychological Association says it involves "growing accustomed to a situation or stimulus," thereby diminishing its effectiveness. We commonly call it being stuck. Getting in a rut. What produces satisfaction or happiness? Meaning is number one. Control is number two. We need meaning in our lives. Some way where we measure our worth or value in the world. We also need a degree of control over our own lives. Freedom is choice - the ability to make a choice is largely how we execute control. As we grow older both of these can be challenges. No surprise because both are challenges no matter our age. We've all experienced moments where we hit a high in meaning and control. Like that first big raise we got, it didn't seem to last. Things seem to settle into some sort of a norm sooner than later. The hedonic treadmill is the idea that an individual's level of happiness, after rising or falling in response to positive or negative life events, ultimately tends to move back toward where it was prior to these experiences. It's like that proverbial set point for our weight. Changing that thermostat is hard. Doable, but hard. This is where habituation is a double-edged sword. It helps us progress and move forward even though it may rob us of some joy. And without habituation, we're incapable of moving. Imagine having to make every little decision afresh every day. How exhausting would that be? So we need habits to a point. We just need to be mindful of our need for - the benefits of - change! New things. New experiences. New learning. Growth. Scary can be good. Sure, it can be bad, too. But just because it's scary doesn't mean it's one or the other. It means scary is uncomfortable because it's outside our habits.…
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Leaning Toward Wisdom
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1 Be Careful About The Hit Song You Record ‘Cause You’ll Be Playing It The Rest Of Your Life 36:30
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Sorry. My usual show notes don't exist. And I was too lazy this time of year to write them. But I do have a couple of calls to action. One, join us over in the Facebook group if you care. I'd love to have you in the group. Two, support my efforts to lean hard into video in 2024. My goal is to crowd-fund $1000. I'm about 50% there so it's coming along. But you can help me out if you'd like (see below). Please tell a friend about the podcast! • Join our private Facebook group • Email me Help Me Reach My $1,000 Goal I plan to start vlogging from Hot Springs Village, Arkansas because the place is spectacular. The scenery will make for a great backdrop. Plus, there are many places I'd like you to see. To help, click the link (or the image below) to donate any amount you'd like. Amazon Gift Certificates (use RandyCantrell@gmail.com). Thank you!…
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