Good morning.
And welcome to morning cereal
Okay, good morning and
welcome to Wednesday.
And happy Cinco de Marcho.
I know you've all been looking
forward to this all year long.
And that was not a misstatement.
I did say Cinco de Marcho.
It is actually a made up holiday playing
on the actual Cinco de Mayo holiday.
But Cinco de Marcho is specifically made
up just to be a
drinking day to prepare us for
St. Patrick's Day, which is
coming in just 12 short days.
And of course, I know many people aren't
waiting for that given
Mardi Gras is already underway.
And if you're someone celebrating and
participating in the
libations and you find yourself in
a long line for the restroom, then you
hit the jackpot because
today is also National
Potty Dance Day.
So you got a lot going for you today.
And if we just take a real hard right
turn, it's also the
beginning of Lent, which is
observed today through
April 22nd this year.
All right, let's jump
into today's quotes.
One fun nostalgic quote and then a second
quote to tease our
book review later in the
episode.
Hopefully one of these quotes will speak
to you and jumpstart your
day in a positive direction.
The first quote is from Janet Jackson.
And she said, "In complete
darkness, we are all the same.
It is only our knowledge
and wisdom that separates us.
Don't let your eyes deceive you."
And that's nasty, Ms. Jackson.
I agree.
Our true value is not
determined by how others perceive us.
And today's teaser quote for the book
review is, "A person
usually has two reasons for
doing a thing.
One, that sounds good and a real one."
And as usual, we'll unpack that here in
just a few minutes during
the book review segment.
But first, let's jump into our usual dose
of fun and historic
facts from this day in
history.
And today's news facts and
birthdays are for March 5th.
We're going to start
all the way back in 1770.
This is the day that the
Boston Massacre happened.
And the events on that day eventually
galvanized the
anti-British feelings and it led up to
the American Revolution.
Then in 1853 on this day, the piano
company Steinway and Sons was founded.
And skipping up to 1946 on this date,
British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill, he popularized
the term "Iron Curtain," describing the
separation of the
Soviet Union and its Eastern
and Central European
allies from Western nations.
Then on this day in 1963,
the hula hoop was patented.
Then on this day in 1971, the song
"Stairway to Heaven" was
first played by Led Zeppelin
in Belfast.
Then in 1979, the US space probe Voyager
1, it flew by the
innermost of Jupiter's satellite
moons, and it observed nine active
volcanoes on the smallest of them.
Then in 2002, the reality TV show "The
Osborns" featuring Ozzy Osbourne's
family, it premiered
on MTV.
Well, happy birthday.
Today is your birthday.
You share a birthday
with actress Eva Menendez.
She turns 51 today.
Actor Kevin Connolly,
he turns 51 as well.
And Pin Gillette of "Pin and
Teller," he turns 70 today.
And the number one movie on this date
back in 1990 was "The
Hunt for Red October."
This movie was based on the best-selling
Tom Clancy novel
starring Sean Connery, and you
may remember that Alec
Baldwin was also in the movie.
And Baldwin says it's the role that
effectively launched his
career to the next level.
You might also remember that the Russians
start talking in the
movie speaking Russian.
And interestingly, at one point, they
used the word Armageddon.
And the word Armageddon is the exact same
in both Russian and English.
And from that point forward in the movie,
the Russians then
speak English for the rest
of the movie.
Well, the number one song on this date in
the same year of 1990
was "Escapade" by Janet
Jackson.
This was a great song with such a
feel-good vibe to it.
This was Janet Jackson's third number one
single on the Rhythm
Nation 1814 album that
also featured three other number one
songs, "Miss You Much,"
"Love Will Never Do Without
You," and "Black Cat."
And the album had seven top five singles,
which were actually more top five singles
off of that one album than even her
brother Michael had
on the Thriller album.
That's not too shabby
for the nasty Miss Jackson.
Okay.
Well, let's move on to some personal
growth in the book review
segment of Morning Serial.
This is where we take a few moments to
reflect on lessons learned
from the current book we're
reading.
And currently, we're reading through Dale
Carnegie's "How to Win
Friends and Influence
People."
It's a timeless book that is consistently
on all the must-read
lists and is packed with
rock-solid advice and actions for us all
to use and build
healthy foundational concepts
to live by.
Yesterday, we finished up chapter nine of
part three with that
chapter entitled "What
Carnegie Wants."
And Carnegie's principle number nine is,
"Be sympathetic with
the other person ideas
and desires."
Carnegie believes that the vast majority
of people out there are
just thirsting for some
sympathy and that we
should give it to them.
Carnegie gave us a magic phrase to disarm
any conversation,
which was, "I don't blame
you one iota for feeling as you do.
If I were you, I would
undoubtedly feel just as you do."
So look to sympathize with people if you
want to win them to your way of thinking.
And today, we start chapter 10 of part
three with that chapter
entitled, "An Appeal that
Everybody Likes."
Now, Carnegie grew up in Missouri near
the Jesse James family
farm and he literally knew
the son of the famous outlaw Jesse James.
And Carnegie would hear stories of how
Jesse James viewed
himself as a bit of a Robin Hood
type figure, giving money that he robbed
to other farmers to pay off their farms.
And Carnegie says this is no different
than many other
high-profile criminals throughout
the years, like Al Capone, who also
viewed himself as almost
noble for what they were
doing.
They were idealists.
And Carnegie says, "The fact is that all
people you meet have a
high regard for themselves,"
and like to think of themselves as
unselfish and noble.
Here Carnegie cites an observation from
J. Pierpont Morgan,
who noted that, "A person
usually has two reasons for doing a
thing, one that sounds
good and a real one."
And we generally know inside of ourselves
what the real reason
we are doing something
is.
But more than likely, most of us, "being
idealists at heart," like to
think of motives that sound
good to other people.
So Carnegie says that when we are trying
to appeal to other
people, we should try and
appeal to these secondary reasons.
Appeal to their nobler motives.
Here is a Carnegie example.
A man that was leasing out a part of his
home to another family
had received notice from
the other family that they intended to
break their lease and
vacate immediately, without
proper notice or
proper payment of the lease.
Well, generally the man leasing the rooms
would have laid into them about the legal
ramifications, etc., if
they followed through.
Instead, he decided to appeal
to their more noble motives.
The man said this to the father, that he
believed the father was a man of his word
when he let the rooms
to him and his family.
And he still believed he was a man of his
word, and that is why
he believed that they
would not break their lease.
He said, "I'll give it a few days for you
to think it over, and if I'm wrong about
you, then I'll know my judgment was off,
and I'll take your
decision to leave as final."
But I believe you're a man of your word,
and we'll live up to it, for, quote, "We
are either men or monkeys, and the choice
usually lies within ourselves."
The family did not break their rent after
having talked it out,
noting that it was the
right thing to do.
So the man had appealed to their more
noble side, believing
that they were good people
and that they would stick to their word.
Here's another quick story to illustrate.
A man's picture was used in the
newspaper, and he
didn't like the picture.
So he wrote to the newspaper editor, not
just simply asking him
not to use the picture
because he didn't like it, but he wrote,
quote, "Please do not
publish that picture
of me anymore.
My mother doesn't like it."
End quote.
He appealed to the nobler motive of the
love and respect that we
all have for motherhood.
So Carnegie, again, brings this around to
the real world for a
moment, noting that some
of the more skeptic among us may say that
this is great for some
of these softies, but
may not work in the real
world, in real tough situations.
And to this, Carnegie
says, quote, "You may be right.
Nothing will work in all cases, and
nothing will work with all people.
But if you are satisfied with the results
you are getting now, then why change?
If you are not satisfied,
then why not experiment?"
End quote.
Tomorrow we'll finish up chapter 10, an
appeal that everybody
likes, and learn Carnegie's
principle number 10 of part three, which
is how to win people
to your way of thinking.
So come back for that and a classic
Carnegie story of credit
collections gone wrong.
Great news.
As we mentioned yesterday, the sun did in
fact come up today, just as we suspected.
And if you're facing a big project, a
personal goal, or just
another day on the grind, know
that you've got this.
Have the courage to just keep moving
forward in a positive way.
And remember, life is what happens when
you're busy making other plans.
So make those moments in between matter.
Thanks for joining us today.
We'll see you back here tomorrow, and
have a fantastic day.
Don't forget to follow and subscribe to
the Morning Serial
podcast on the One Life Live
It channel.
You can find more episodes and videos by
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Inglis and at ShawnInglis.com, where you
can also follow our
other podcast, the Mr. and
Mrs. Inglis podcast and
the Life Happens podcast.
And these other podcasts will dive deeper
into everyday issues,
self-improvement and
business and finance.
And we welcome special guests too.
So join us.
It'll be a good time, I promise.
Thanks again for listening.
Have a fantastic day.
And we'll see you tomorrow.