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 Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People 
In Part 1, Chapter 2, we’ll explore Covey’s timeless advice on building authentic connections, the art of influence, and creating positive interactions in every area of life.
In This Episode:
  • Daily inspirational quotes to spark your motivation
  • Fun historical facts from this day in history
  • A dive into Part 1, Chapter 2 of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
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:
Covey, S. R. (1989). The 7 habits of highly effective people: Powerful lessons in personal change. Free Press. 
 
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 morning cereal

Okay, good morning and

welcome to Wednesday.

Hopefully you have some

free time on this hump day

because today is

National Movie Theater Day.

Now I know my kids

are gonna wanna go watch

that new Minecraft movie.

Have you seen it yet?

I heard it's really good.

So I did not see that one coming.

Well, after that, maybe a picnic

with some English

muffins or something, right?

Why am I saying that?

You guessed it.

Today is also National Picnic Day

and National English Muffin Day.

Well, I saved the best

for last year though.

Don't forget to appreciate your admin

as well at work today.

It's Administrative Professionals Day.

Just a coincidence that it's also

National Lovers Day too?

I don't know.

I'm not gonna say.

Let's move on to one

of my favorite comedians

who is providing our quote

today about being educated.

John Oliver said,

quote, "The truth hurts,

"but ignorance is a never ending pain."

Well, today's news facts and

birthdays are for April 23rd.

We're gonna start back in 1984.

That's when the AIDS virus was identified

for the first time as the HTLV-3,

which is the Acquired

Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

Then on this day in

1985, the Coca-Cola Company,

they introduced New Coke.

Now, if you lived

through this like I did,

then you know why New

Coke isn't still around.

It wasn't good.

And apparently due to public outrage,

the previous version

of Coke was brought back

as Coca-Cola Classic less

than three months later.

What were they thinking?

Well, in 2005, the

very first YouTube video

was uploaded on this date by one of the

YouTube co-founders.

And it was a video of his

visit to the San Diego Zoo.

And one year later,

after he uploaded that,

the site had some 100

million videos on it.

Lastly, on this day in 2009,

gamma ray burst GRB090423,

it was observed for 10 seconds.

It is the most distant object of any kind

and is also the oldest

known object in the universe.

Now, I have no idea

what any of that means,

but I do think it's very, very cool.

Well, happy birthday to you.

Today is your birthday.

You share a birthday with actor

and I guess wrestler John Cena.

He's 48 years old today.

Comedian John Oliver.

He's 48, a great age I might add.

Well, the number one song

on this date back in 1987

was "I Knew You Were Awaiting For Me"

by Aretha Franklin and George Michael.

And this song was

originally supposed to be a solo song

for Tina Turner, but then Clive Davis,

he pitched that it should be

a duet with Aretha and George.

And the rest is history.

The song was number one for two weeks.

It won a Grammy for best R&B duet.

And the song also hit number two

on the adult contemporary charts.

Behind starships,

nothing's gonna stop us now.

Yeah, that feels right.

That's a better 80s song.

All right.

Well, some

self-improvement also feels right.

We are currently reading

through Stephen R. Covey's

"The Seven Habits of

Highly Effective People."

And yesterday we began

Covey's second chapter,

"The Seven Habits," an overview,

where Covey discussed how important

and influential habits are in our lives.

They essentially make up

what makes us effective

or ineffective.

And Covey acknowledges it

will take tremendous effort

to change deeply

embedded habitual tendencies,

like procrastination, impatience,

criticalness, and selfishness,

but taking the steps to do so

will reap real change and freedom.

So today we begin our first sub-chapter,

which is entitled "Habits Defined."

And Covey jumps right into it,

giving us our definition of habits.

And he defines habits as, quote,

"The intersection of knowledge, skill,

and desire," end quote.

Covey says that we have

to have all three of those,

knowledge, skill, and desire,

to make something a habit in our lives.

And here's why, knowledge is what to do,

and the why, right?

Then skill is how to do it.

And then lastly, desire is

having the want to do it.

We have to have all three.

You have to have the why,

you have to have the how,

and you have to have the want.

All three require effort to make a habit.

So Covey uses the example of someone

who doesn't know how to

listen and always does the talking.

Sound like anybody you know?

Well, Covey says this

person may not even know

that they need to learn to listen.

And even if that someone knows

that they need to listen better,

they may not have the skill to know how

to effectively listen to others.

And even knowing that one

needs to listen to others more

doesn't mean that they

want to listen more, right?

They must have a desire or, quote,

"It won't be a habit in their life.

Creating a habit requires

work in all three dimensions."

End quote.

So we're gonna need to prepare ourselves

because real change

is not an easy process

and it can be painful.

Quote, "It's change

that has to be motivated

by a higher purpose, by the

willingness to subordinate

what you think you want

now for what you want later."

End quote.

And Covey says that this idea, right?

This ability to

sacrifice what we want right now

for what we will eventually want,

he says that that

sacrifice can produce happiness.

And happiness is good, people.

So I'm gonna leave you with

that gold nugget here today,

but come back tomorrow

because we're gonna

start the next sub-chapter,

which is the maturity continuum.

Now that sounds like some

"MI6" or "James Bond" action movie,

so it's gonna be really good, I promise.

Well, 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

visiting our YouTube channel and the

website at Shawningless

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.