Good morning.
And welcome to morning cereal
Okay, good morning
and welcome to Tuesday.
Well, I'm so sad to know just how far off
my Super Bowl
prediction was on yesterday's
show.
Obviously, having not yet watched the
Super Bowl when the show
was recorded, but the Super
Bowl wasn't exciting.
The Budweiser's Clydesdale didn't do
anything that blew my
mind, and Kelsey and Taylor are
still together as far as I know.
So I guess it's appropriate that today is
National Don't Cry over Spilled Milk Day.
So let's just move on to bigger and
brighter things like Happy
National Armed Forces Day.
Thank you to all of you that serve.
And it's also National Make a Friend Day.
So utilize all those personal growth
actions and concepts that
you're learning in the book
review segment to
make a new friend today.
Here's a hint, start with a smile.
Okay, let's just go ahead and jump right
on into today's
episode with 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 George Lucas.
And I love this quote of his because it's
something I often tell
myself when times get
tough.
And I often use it as
a closer on this show.
Here's what George said, quote, you
simply have to put one
foot in front of the other
and keep going.
Put blinders on and plow
right ahead, end quote.
And George adds the blinders part of the
quote to the end of
it, which is right on.
It speaks to having a
focus of just trudging forward.
It's a good addition to the saying.
And today's teaser quote from the book
review is, "Remember,
you can measure the size of
a person by what makes him
or her angry," end quote.
And as usual, we'll unpack that here in
just a minute during
our book review segment.
But first, let's jump into our usual dose
of fun and historic
facts from this day in
history.
Today's news facts and
birthdays are for February 11th.
And on this day back in 1847, American
inventor Thomas Edison was born.
He held a world record of over a thousand
patents at the time and played a critical
role introducing the
modern age of electricity.
In 1963, Julia Child's "The French Chef,"
it debuted and it was
one of the first cooking
shows on American television.
I can just hear her voice.
And in 1979, British politician Margaret
Thatcher, she was
elected as leader of the
Conservative Party, becoming Europe's
first woman prime minister.
In 1990, after serving 27 years in
prison, Nelson Mandela was
released, which subsequently
led to the ending of apartheid and the
beginning of democracy in South Africa.
Lastly, on this day in 2012, 13 years ago
now, superstar singer
Whitney Houston, she
sadly passed away at the age of 48.
We miss Whitney and we want to celebrate
her life and we also
want to celebrate those with
birthdays today.
So happy birthday if
today is your birthday.
You share a birthday with
a fairly good list today.
Singer Khalid, he's 27 years old.
And singer Kelly Rowland of
Destiny's Child, she's 44.
Singer Brandy, she's 46.
Everybody's friend,
Jennifer Aniston, she's 56 today.
Singer Cheryl Crow, she's 66.
And politician and brother of George W.
Bush, Jeb Bush, he's 72 today.
The number one song on this date back in
1985 was "I Want to Know
What Love Is" by Foreigner.
Now if you ever made a love tape back in
the 80s, this song was definitely on it.
And the song is considered one of
Foreigner's timeless classics.
Check out Morning Serial podcast on
Instagram for a clip of the song.
And the number one movie in 1997 was Star
Wars, the special edition.
This was the re-release of the original
Star Wars trilogy,
celebrating their 20th anniversary.
However, the re-release also allowed
George Lucas to add some
of the special effects to
the movie that some special effect
technology did not allow
at the time of the original
releases in the 70s and the 80s.
Interestingly, George Lucas, he spent
about $10 million on
those changes to the original
movies, which was roughly what it cost
him to film the first
movie in its entirety.
The re-release allowed Lucas to keep his
subscription to the Cheese
of the Month Club as it earned
another $472 million
worldwide at the box office.
Let's go ahead and 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.
As you all know, it's a timeless book
that's consistently in
all the must read lists, and
it's packed with rock solid advice and
actions for all of us to use and build
healthy foundational
concepts to live by.
Well, we are in part three of How to Win
Friends and Influence
People, which is entitled, How
to Win People to Your Way of Thinking.
And we're finishing up chapter one today,
which is entitled, You
Can't Win an Argument.
And Carnegie is making the point that
there are no winners in
an argument because much
of the time, you haven't changed the
other person's position.
And you haven't made a
friend out of them either.
People want to feel important.
And during an argument, people fulfill
that need to feel
important from within by wanting
to win the argument.
So we shouldn't argue.
We should find common
ground, find appreciation.
If we give them that sense of importance,
then they have nothing
to argue about because
now their mind is open and not
necessarily defensive.
Abraham Lincoln said, "No man who is
resolved to make the most
of himself can spare time
for personal contention.
Still less can he afford to take the
consequences, including the vidiation,
the loss of his temper,
and the loss of his self-control."
To this point, Carnegie includes an
excerpt from an article in
Bits and Pieces that speaks
to some suggestions on how to keep a
disagreement from becoming an argument.
Here, I'll walk us through those
suggestions, beginning with,
"Welcome the disagreements.
Sometimes disagreements come up, and that
is not necessarily a bad thing."
"When two partners are always agreeing,
one of them is not necessary."
Perhaps a disagreement will be a learning
opportunity for you.
Next, distrust your
first instinctive impression.
This is not suggesting we ignore our
instincts, but pointing
out to us that sometimes in a
disagreement our human nature is to
become defensive, and
it's this defensive posture
that we should be wary of.
Be aware that, "It may be you at your
worst, not your best."
Next is, control your temper.
"Remember, you can measure the size of a
person by what makes him or her angry."
Next is, listen first.
Give the other person the opportunity to
talk without
interrupting or being defensive, as
those create barriers.
Next is, look for areas of agreement.
After hearing the other person's
perspective, look for and speak to the
areas that you agree
on first.
Then, be honest.
Acknowledge areas you are wrong and
apologize for any
mistakes, as this will help disarm
and reduce
defensiveness in the other person.
Anecdotally, I've always found that
personally for me, that
simply admitting you're wrong
when you are wrong can move mountains,
and it creates a high
level of credibility.
Not that I'm admitting to a time that
I've ever actually been wrong.
So following being honest is, promise to
think over your
opponent's ideas, and study
them carefully.
And then actually do that.
There's a chance that
the other person is right.
And if you push ahead with your agenda,
then you might find
yourself in a situation where
the other person can
say, "I told you so."
Then thank your opponents
sincerely for their interest.
If someone is taking the time to have a
disagreement with you, then
the two of you likely at least
care about the same subject.
Perhaps they really are trying to teach
you something that
could prove helpful, and you
might make a new friend out of it.
And then lastly, postpone action to give
both sides time to
think through the problem.
Suggest that you circle up later that day
or the next day to ensure
you both have sufficient
time to gather and
think through all the facts.
Then prepare for this next meeting by
asking yourself some
hard questions like, "Could
they actually be right?" or "Could they
even be partially right?"
Is there any truth or
merit to their position?
How will my actions here reflect on me?
Will it raise how people perceive me or
will it push people away?
And what are the
consequences if I win or lose?
Well, that felt a little bit like rapid
fire going through some
of those great suggestions.
So I'll repeat the primary ideas here to
help our brains retain here on a Tuesday.
First, welcome the disagreement.
Then distrust your first
instinctive impression.
Then control your temper.
Then listen first.
Then look for areas of agreement.
Then be honest.
Then promise to think over your
opponent's ideas and
study them carefully.
Then thank your opponent
sincerely for their interest.
And lastly, postpone action to give both
sides time to think through the problem.
Carnegie ends the first chapter of part
three with a quick
suggestion from a man that's
been married for over 50 years who said,
"My wife and I made a
pact a long time ago, and
we've kept to it no matter how angry
we've grown with each other.
When one of us yells,
the other should listen.
Because when two people yell, there is no
communication, just
noise and bad vibrations."
Okay, Carnegie's principle number one in
a chapter entitled,
"You Can't Win an Argument"
is, "The only way to get the best of an
argument is to avoid it."
Most people don't like to argue anyways,
and it's not great being
around someone that does.
Carnegie suggests to avoid arguing
because it's a lose-lose situation.
See if you can learn from the situation,
and even if it matters.
So again, principle number one is, "The
only way to get the best of
an argument is to avoid it."
Alright, nicely done.
We continue to make
real progress in the book.
And we're also making
real progress in February.
It's hard to believe it's already V11.
But I hope what you're learning so far in
the book is proving
useful for you in your
everyday life.
I know it's been helpful for me.
So be sure to join us again tomorrow as
we begin chapter two
of part three, which is
entitled, "A Sure Way of Making Enemies."
And how to avoid it.
I'm glad Carnegie made
that a two-part title.
Well, if today is looking tough, remember
what George and I both say.
Keep on putting one foot in front of the
other, and keep moving forward in a
focused and positive
way.
We've got your back.
You can do it.
Thanks for joining us today.
Come back 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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and at Shawningless.com, where you can
also follow our other
podcast, the Mr. and Mrs.
Inglis podcast and the
Life Happens podcast.
In these other podcasts, we'll 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.