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 2 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.

All right, good morning

and welcome to Friday.

You did it, you made it, good on you.

And if you are on spring break,

well, this might just happen

to be the one Friday a year

that is just not as sweet.

But the good news is you

still have all day today

and a full weekend.

Even better, it's March Madness.

And even better than that,

today is Absolutely Incredible Kid Day,

which is a day created to encourage kids

and remind them that

they're capable of amazing things,

which includes my kiddos as well.

So happy day to you guys.

It's also a good reminder to our kids

that we adults were once

those incredible kids too,

before the bills and the

meetings and yes, before kids.

Before we move forward though,

the answer to yesterday's

trivia question, the USA,

the United States has won the most

Olympic gold medals.

And now it's time for

the essential vitamins

in your morning cereal.

It's today's quote,

and it's from the late

and the legendary Mr. Fred Rogers,

AKA Mr. Rogers, who once said, quote,

often when you think

you're at the end of something,

you're at the beginning of

something else, end quote.

Now your morning decode,

Mr. Rogers again,

offering hope and perspective.

Endings are necessary for new

opportunities to arise.

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 continue

with the two-step process,

changing your identity.

Now earlier we talked about the idea

that lasting change happens

when habits become tied to your identity.

Now in this section,

Clear explains exactly

how that identity change happens.

He says the process has two simple steps.

The first step is

deciding the type of person

you wanna be, not what

you want to accomplish,

but who you want to become.

So for example, again here,

instead of saying I

want to run a marathon,

you might say I want to become a runner.

Instead of saying I want to write a book,

you might say I want to become a writer.

Now, Clear writes this, quote,

the most effective way

to change your habits

is to focus not on

what you want to achieve,

but on who you wish to become, end quote.

So once you decide the identity,

the second step then is

proving it to yourself

with small wins.

So every time you perform the habit,

you reinforce that identity.

Every time you write a page,

you cast a vote for being a writer.

Every time you work out,

you cast a vote for

being a healthy person.

Every time you read a chapter,

you cast a vote for being a learner.

Clear explains that

identities grow stronger

through repetition and through evidence.

He writes this, quote,

each habit not only gets results,

but also teaches you

something far more important

to trust yourself, end quote.

And that trust, it's a powerful thing.

Over time, these repeated actions,

they build confidence that

you are the type of person

who follows through.

And what's interesting again,

is that this works both ways.

Just as good habits

reinforce positive identities,

those negative habits,

they reinforce

identities that we might not want.

That's why Clear, he

encourages starting small,

because each action matters.

The key insight is that you

don't need dramatic change.

You just need enough small wins to

reinforce the identity

that you're building.

And eventually the habits become natural

because they align with

who you believe you are.

All right, here it is

everyone, your Friday takeaway.

Decide the person you want to become,

then prove it to yourself

with daily small actions.

All right, friends,

encourage an incredible kid today.

And remember that small habits that you

are practicing today

are quietly building the person

that you're gonna become tomorrow.

All right, now it is time for the prize

from the bottom of the cereal box.

It's the morning cereal

trivia question of the day.

Here it is, what 1960s animated TV series

showed its characters smoking cigarettes.

To be clear, that's

cartoon smoking cigarettes

from the 1960s.

Which one was it?

All right, well, thanks for

listening to Morning Cereal.

We will see you back here on Monday

for the answer to the trivia question.

And of course, more sugar for your soul.

Until then, enjoy the March

Madness, Rock Chalk Jayhawk,

and 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

seaningless and at seaningless.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.