Morning Cereal

Start your day with inspirational quotes, followed by a fun journey through nostalgic facts from this day in history. Then, we dive into James Clear, Atomic Habits. Atomic Habits shows how tiny, consistent improvements in daily habits—focused on systems rather than goals—compound over time to produce remarkable personal and professional results.
In This Episode:
  • Daily inspirational quote to spark your motivation
  • Fun Morning Cereal trivia question of the day
  • A dive into the Chapter 1 Atomic Habits
Whether you're a leader, communicator, or just someone looking to improve your relationships, this episode is packed with actionable insights.
Tune in now and let’s grow together!
Resources:
Clear, J. (2018). Atomic habits: An easy & proven way to build good habits & break bad ones. Avery.
 
All photo’s utilized in this video are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported by Wikimedia Commons license and are free to copy, distribute and transmit.  No photos have been altered.

What is Morning Cereal?

Good morning, and welcome to Morning Cereal!
Pull up a stool, grab your favorite cereal, and let’s kick-start your day with a spoonful of inspiration, nostalgia and personal growth. Join your host, Shaen Inglis, as he highlights the music, movies, and moments that made the 80s, 90s, and 2000s unforgettable—kind of like digging for toy at the bottom of the cereal box. Each episode, Shaen also reviews a chapter or so from top wellness books, offering practical insights to help you set a positive tone for your day. Start your mornings right—no cartoons required!

Follow and subscribe to the Morning Cereal podcast and visit our Life Happens, Live Balanced channel and our website at shaeninglis.com to check out and follow our other podcasts. You can also follow Shaen @ShaenInglis on Instagram, YouTube, etc. Feel free to share the Morning Cereal with someone who could use a little fun and motivation to start their day right.

Good morning and welcome

to your morning cereal.

Okay, good morning

and welcome to Tuesday.

And what a better day to

be national ag day, right?

Just some random Tuesday

in the middle of March.

But we are celebrating

important things today.

We are celebrating farmers, ranchers,

and agricultural workers who

make sure that the rest of us

actually have something

to put in our cereal bowl

every single morning.

All right, but before we dig into that,

let's go ahead and answer

yesterday's trivia question.

DNA.

DNA is the abbreviation for

deoxyribonucleic acid.

And now the essential

vitamins in your morning cereal,

today's quote, it is from

Billy Corrigan, turning 59 today,

who once said, quote, "The

more you chase perfection,

"the more you miss the beauty

"of what's right in

front of you," end quote.

Now, here's your morning de-code on that.

First off, I love that.

I'm gonna slow down a little bit,

but being obsessed

with an unreachable idea

makes you blind to the real

value of the present moment.

All right, so slow

down, keep your eyes open,

take in those moments.

They're often beautiful.

All right, well, let's go ahead and hear

from the experts now.

It is time to pour in some

Atomic Habits by James Clear.

And today we are

continuing Forget About Goals,

focus on system instead.

And we're gonna cover

problems number three and four.

And problem number three

is something that surprises

many people, goals restrict happiness.

Clear explains that

when happiness is tied

to achieving a specific goal,

we unintentionally postpone joy.

People often tell themselves things like,

I'll be happy when I lose the weight,

or I'll be happy when I get promoted,

or I'll be happy when the business

finally takes off, right?

The problem is that

this kind of a mindset,

it puts happiness

permanently into the future, right?

Clear writes this, quote,

"A systems first mentality

provides the antidote," end quote.

So when you focus on the

process instead of the goal,

satisfaction comes from the

showing up and doing the work,

right, not just from

crossing the finish line.

All right, here's number four.

Problem number four is that

goals create a yo-yo effect,

okay?

Once a goal is achieved,

motivation can tend to disappear.

Think about someone who

trains intensely for a race

and then they stop running

right after the race, right?

Without a system in place,

the behavior, it disappears

once the goal is completed.

So systems prevent this by focusing on

identity and routine,

right, rather than

short-term achievements.

Here, Clear explains

that real change happens

when habits become part of who you are,

not just something you temporarily do.

He writes this, quote,

"When you fall in love with the process,

"rather than the product,

"you don't have to wait

to give yourself permission

"to be happy," end quote.

Now, I think that idea is

exceptionally powerful, right?

When the process becomes rewarding,

progress then becomes sustainable.

So instead of chasing

outcomes, successful people,

they build systems that

make improvement automatic.

And over time, those systems compound

into massive results.

All right, here it is, you made it.

Your Tuesday takeaway is this,

focus on enjoying the process

because consistent systems

create the outcome you want.

All right, serial crew,

keep stacking those small habits today

because tiny improvements,

they add up faster than you might think.

All right, well, it is time for the prize

from the bottom of the cereal box.

It is the morning cereal question,

trivia question of the day.

Here it is, how many career points

did Michael Jordan score in the NBA?

And I'll give you a little

bit of a pass if you're close,

right, that's gonna be really hard

to get the exact number,

but you gotta be close.

All right, hey, thanks for

listening to morning cereal.

We will see you back here tomorrow

for the actual specific

answer to the trivia question

and for more sugar for the soul.

And until then, have a fantastic day.

Don't forget to follow and subscribe

to the morning cereal podcast

on the One Life Live It channel.

You can find more episodes and videos

by visiting our YouTube channel

and the website at

Shawningless and at Shawningless.com,

where you can also

follow our other podcasts,

the Mr. and Mrs. English podcast

and the Life Happens podcast.

And these other podcasts will dive deeper

into everyday issues,

self-improvement and well-being,

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.