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 1, 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 1 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 Monday.

I hope you enjoyed the holiday with your

family and friends and you had a great

weekend, but hopefully it wasn't too

great of a weekend because today is

National Surprise Drug Test Day. Just

trying to give you a heads up there.

Today is also Big Word Day and I'm sure

you know this already, but the longest

word in most English dictionaries is a

45-letter word that refers to a lung

disease caused by inhaling silica dust.

Here's the word, pneumonotel

look it up in the dictionary. Alright,

well our quote today is about making a

positive influence in our world and it is

from singer-songwriter Prince and

Prince said, "The truth is you are either

here to enlighten or to discourage."

Here's a hint, pick enlightenment. Well

today's news facts and birthdays are

for April 21st and we're gonna start back

in 1956 when on this day Elvis

Presley's first hit record Heartbreak

Hotel became number one on the charts.

Then jumping up to 1986 on this date in a

much hyped television special

American journalist Geraldo Riviera, he

opened a vault that was found in the

former headquarters of the Chicago

gangster Al Capone. Now remember they had

all the cameras in there, they're gonna

open it up in prime time and there was an

estimated 30 million TV viewers watching

it and when Geraldo opened it

it was discovered the vault was empty.

Also on this date back in 1991 a very

dark turn for the nation but you might

remember you probably don't but you know

the outcome of it. Olympic gold-winning

decathlete Bruce Jenner, now Caitlyn

Jenner, he married Kris Kardashian in Los

Angeles on this day. Sadly this

eventually resulted in endless hours of

useless television and countless lost

brain cells. And then lastly in 2016 on

this date the musician Prince who

created groundbreaking music and hits,

one of the biggest stars of the 80s and

the 90s. Unfortunately he passed away

prematurely at the age of 57 due to an

accidental overdose. Well happy birthday

to you if today is your birthday. You

share a birthday with a fairly short list

today. Scottish actor James McAvoy,

he's 46 and musician Iggy Pop, he's 78

today. Well the number one song on this

date back in 1989 was "Like a Prayer" by

Madonna. Now this is a classic 80s song

and I remember there was so much

controversy around the song's music

video and no it wasn't because Madonna

went brunette, it was due to the blending

of religious imagery with themes of

sexuality and racism in her music video.

In fact Pepsi pulled out of a TV

commercial spot with Madonna to get

distance from the controversy despite

already having paid her five million

dollars. Well to bring this back around

the song according to the Google

actually featured a Prince guitar solo. I

didn't know that I'm gonna have to

check that one out. Well there's nothing

controversial about some self

improvement so let's jump back into that.

We're reading Stephen R. Covey's "The

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People"

and in this first chapter inside out

Covey is discussing the differences

between character traits and personality

ethic and he's unpacking how our

behaviors are based on our perspectives

and our experiences which he calls our

paradigms. We all know that by now and

Covey describes the idea that despite our

individual paradigms within each of

us exists an awareness of certain innate

foundational principles right? You hear

and it's these principles are character

traits that we must tap into to make

real change. Personality ethic on the

other hand those techniques are

superficial, they're band-aids or aspirin

that may only temporarily or

situationally help but they don't get at

the root of our beings. So today we begin

Covey's final sub chapter in chapter one

which is entitled "A New Level of

Thinking" where Covey comes out of the

gate with a quote from Albert Einstein

who said quote "the significant problems

we face cannot be solved at the same

level of thinking we were at when we

created them" end quote. Covey's point

here is that the personality ethic of

quick fixes isn't enough to implement

real change in ourselves because quote

"these are deep fundamental problems that

cannot be solved on the superficial level

on which they were created" end

quote. We need a deeper level of thinking

quote "a paradigm based on the

principles that accurately describe the

territory of effective human being and

interacting" end quote. Covey calls this

the quote "inside out

approach" and that is

what this book is all about. It's

starting with dealing

with ourselves first, our

character, our motives. So here are some

examples from Covey. If you want to have

a happy marriage or friendships, be a

kind person who generates positive

energy and sidesteps negative energy

rather than empowering it end quote. And

if you want to have a more pleasant

cooperative teenager then be more

understanding, be more empathetic,

consistent, loving

parent end quote. And if

you want to have trust, be trustworthy.

Covey says these quote "private victories

precede public victories. Keeping

promises to ourselves precedes keeping

promises to others" end quote. Inside out

is a process that grows end quote leads

to progressively higher forms of

responsible independence and effective

interdependence end quote. So the seven

habits that are covered in this book are

many of the principles that we innately

already have quote "deep within us in our

conscience, in our common sense" end

quote. And to recognize and develop them

and to use them in meeting our deepest

concerns, we need to think differently to

shift our paradigms to a new deeper

inside out level and to do so sincerely

as we seek to integrate them into our

daily lives. Alright, that was a lot said

right there but nice job getting through

chapter one. Now we know Covey wants us

to make these character changes at our

core and we'll learn more about those

tomorrow as we start Covey's chapter two,

the seven habits and an overview. So I

hope your Monday's off to a great start,

have a fantastic week and just keep

moving forward one step at a time. 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

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.