Good morning.
And welcome to your morning cereal.
Okay, good morning.
Welcome to the first
Friday of the new year.
You did it.
Maybe you've already gone back to work
or maybe you're heading back next week.
Either way, it's nice
to have a weekend here.
I know our home is still a bit chaotic
because the kids don't go
back to school for another week,
but we are back to soccer
tournaments this weekend
and taking down Christmas decorations.
As a side note, did anyone
else see the end memorial
on the New Year's Eve shows?
Holy cow, we've lost a
lot of people this year.
I know we've lost some
people in our own family
over the last couple of years,
and it's just so hard to see
such special people leave us.
That's why it's so
important to live for today
and tell people you love
them and appreciate them.
Sorry, my sentimental
side coming through there.
It's got the best of me.
All right, well, let's go ahead and jump
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 the
quotes will speak to you
and jumpstart your day
in a positive direction.
All right, the first quote is from the
late Princess Diana.
"Carry out a random act of kindness
with no expectation of
reward, safe in the knowledge
that one day someone
might do the same for you."
Yep, she's talking about
the often underestimated
random act of kindness.
And today's teaser quote
from the book review is,
"I'm talking about a new way of life."
Let me repeat, I am
talking about a new way of life.
As usual, we'll unpack
that here in just a minute
during the book review segment,
but first let's jump
into our usual dose of fun
and historic facts
from this day in history.
All right, today's news
facts are from January 3rd.
In 1924, King Tut's
sarcophagus is uncovered in Egypt.
Come on, I mean, wasn't
King Tut just mystical
when you were younger?
In 1959, Alaska was admitted to the Union
as the 49th US state.
The territory had been
bought from Russia in 1867
for only $7.2 million.
Still a great steal in today's dollars,
it was only $153 million.
In 1973, George Steinbrenner's group
bought the Yankees from CBS.
And in 1977, Apple was incorporated
by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
I hope you bought
some stock at that time.
And if so, can I book
a week on your yacht?
In 2004, after hosting
the show for over 30 years,
Casey Kasin gives up the hosting duties
of American Top 40 to Ryan Seacrest.
In 1987, Aretha Franklin
is the first female artist
to be inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Another female first in 2001,
Hillary Clinton was sworn in as a US
Senator from New York.
She became the first
first lady in US history
to win an elective office.
And finally, in 2004,
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit
landed on Mars to study the chemical and
physical composition
of the planet's surface.
All right, moving on to birthdays.
Happy birthday if today is your birthday.
You share a birthday with J.R.R. Tolkien,
he's the writer of
"The Lord of the Rings."
He was born on this date in 1892.
Mel Gibson is 69, and Eli Manning,
better known as the
brother of Peyton Manning,
he is 43 today.
Wow, he's younger than I thought he was.
Also, I have a friend
that is Eli's doppelganger,
so send me a text when you
hear the shout out, friend.
All right, now to the music
of the 80s, 90s, and 2000s.
The number one song on this date in 1997
was "Something About
the Way You Look Tonight,"
"Candle in the Wind," 1997.
That was by Elton John.
Elton rewrote the lyrics for this song
as a tribute to the
passing of Princess Diana,
and he performed the song at her funeral
that was watched by an
estimated two billion people,
one of which was me.
And on a bit of a lighter note,
the country was in a different place on
the same day in 1986
when the number one
movie was "The Three Amigos."
Do you remember that movie?
It starred three of the
funniest people on the planet,
Chevy Chase, Steve
Martin, and Martin Short.
It was actually Martin
Short's first movie, so funny.
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 it's packed with rock
solid advice and actions
for us all to use and build healthy
foundational concepts
to live by.
Okay, we are finishing
up chapter two today.
And chapter two is the big secret of
dealing with people.
In chapter two,
Carnegie has us contemplating
our most basic human needs and desires,
and specifically the
desire to be important.
We are learning how to
make others feel important
through open appreciation and praise.
Yesterday, Carnegie
continued to dive deeper
into the importance of giving
appreciation and praise,
and not only in the workplace,
but also in our personal relationships,
and our families, our
friends, and our spouses.
So as we pick it up in chapter two,
Carnegie tells a
story of how appreciation
can change a person's life forever.
In this story, young Stevie Morris was
asked by his teacher
to help find a mouse that
was lost in the classroom.
The teacher had appreciated the fact
that Stevie had exceptional hearing,
perhaps nature's way of compensating
for the blindness in his eyes.
It was the first time
someone had shown appreciation
for Stevie's talented ears.
And as the story goes years later,
Stevie said this was the
beginning to a new life for him.
He began to develop his gift of hearing,
and he went on to become an icon of music
under the stage name Stevie Wonder.
It's interesting, as
I'm reading this book,
there are times when in my own mind,
I feel something
Carnegie suggests comes across
as too simple, or maybe
that doesn't quite apply today,
or apply to my situation.
And Carnegie's very next
paragraph addresses this.
Quote, "Some readers
are saying right now,
as they read these lines, oh, phooey,
flattery, bare oil."
I say that all the time.
I've tried that stuff.
It doesn't work, not with
intelligent people, end quote.
He goes on to say, quote, "Of course
flattery seldom works
with discerning people.
It is shallow, selfish, and insincere.
It ought to fail, and it usually does."
End quote.
This is a strong point here.
Carnegie is telling
the readers that simple,
shallow flattery of others, one-off
compliments, et cetera,
is not what he's talking about,
and it's not how to win
friends and influence people.
Carnegie is suggesting
we take real, honest,
interest in showing
appreciation for others.
Carnegie calls flattery counterfeit,
which will just get you into trouble.
But Carnegie goes on to
tell us the difference
between flattery and real appreciation.
He says, and I'm paraphrasing here,
"One is sincere, and
the other is insincere.
One comes from the
heart, while the other is just
empty words coming out of your mouth."
He says, "One is unselfish,
while the other is selfish."
And lastly, he says,
"One is universally admired,
and the other is universally condemned."
Now, I believe these
distinctions cleared up
pretty unmistakably.
We need to sincerely and
unselfishly give praise
and appreciation to
others if we truly hope
to have any influence
of any sort on them.
Dealing with people in this
way may feel uncomfortable
and be a change from how
we interact with others.
And Carnegie knows this.
He says, quote, "I'm
talking about a new way of life.
Let me repeat, I am
talking about a new way of life."
End quote.
Carnegie continues to make the point
that simple flattery is not his point.
He offers several quotes across history.
"King George V said,
teach me neither to
proffer nor receive cheap praise.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said,
use what language you will,
you can never say
anything but what you are."
The point is, flattery is
cheap and everybody knows it.
We all know when we receive a compliment
from someone that falls flat.
Then you have that
lingering feeling in your head
that the other person just said something
just to say something
because the moment called for it.
Maybe even better, we
all know when we've given
one of these cheap
flattery type compliments,
they are a dime a dozen
and it makes us feel cheap.
What Carnegie is
talking about is taking time
to actually think about the other person.
Examine their good points.
Carnegie says, if we
do this, then we quote,
"won't have to resort to
flattery so cheap and false
that it can be spotted almost
before it's out of the mouth."
End quote.
And again, Carnegie is not just talking
about winning friends
and influencing people
in the business sense.
He talks about how we often
neglect to show appreciation
in our daily routines, often at home
when we can praise our
children for good grades
or baking their first cake
or building a complex Lego correctly.
Kids yearn for this kind of parental
interest and approval.
Or similarly, tell
the chef at a restaurant
that the meal was prepared well.
Or that a customer
service agent was helpful
and unusually courteous.
The point is there are daily
moments we can capitalize on
to give sincere appreciation.
And Carnegie says this, quote,
"try leaving a friendly trail
of little sparks of gratitude
on your daily trips.
You will be surprised how
they will set small flames
of friendship that will be rose beacons
on your next visit."
End quote.
I think Carnegie starts to
tie all this back together
with his principle number one,
don't criticize, condemn or complain.
When he says, honest
appreciation will get results
where criticism and ridicule fail.
And as we get to the end of chapter two,
Carnegie makes the point
that these little moments
we have each day that we can
give honest, sincere praise
and appreciation to others.
These are opportunities
that we must not pass by.
When the opportunity
presents itself, we must take it.
Just do it now and not miss it
because we may not have
that opportunity again.
Carnegie ends chapter two saying, quote,
"give honest, sincere appreciation."
Be hardy in your approval
and lavish in your praise
and people will cherish
your words and treasure them
and repeat them over a lifetime.
Repeat them years after
you have forgotten them.
End quote.
All right, you've earned it.
Here it is, Carnegie's
principle number two,
give honest and sincere appreciation.
So now we have it.
We have Carnegie's
first and second principles
on how to win friends
and influence people.
First, don't
criticize, condemn or complain.
And second, give honest
and sincere appreciation.
All right, we'll begin
chapter three on Monday
and I really hope you come back for that.
Chapter three is entitled,
He Who Can Do This Has
The Whole World With Him.
He Who Cannot Walks A Lonely Way.
Well, happy Friday to you again.
You've made it to the
first weekend of the new year.
That's got to count for something.
Go out there, tell
someone you appreciate them
and have a fantastic day and weekend.
And we'll see you back here on Monday.
And don't forget to follow and subscribe
to the Morning Serial
Podcast and The Life
Happens Live Balance channel.
You can find more episodes and videos by
visiting our YouTube channel, At
Shawningless, or our
website at atshawningless.com, where you
can also follow our other podcasts.
That's when our first Mr. and Mrs.
English podcast and The
Life Happens podcast will
end.
So join us on those
other podcasts as well.
Thanks again for listening.
And have a fantastic day.
We'll see you tomorrow.