Good morning and
welcome to Morning Serial.
Okay, good morning and welcome to Monday.
Now, I hope your first weekend in the
month of October, I
hope it treated you well.
I don't know, maybe you got some
Halloween decorations out or maybe you
were at the football game or at the
soccer or at the volleyball games.
Whatever it was, I
hope you had a good time.
And now that your coach is done yelling
at your kids or at you,
we should celebrate them.
Today is National Coaches Day, honoring
those mentors who push, inspire and,
well, they sometimes yell us into
becoming better versions of ourselves.
At least that's what
they want us to believe.
Well, our quote is from Hall of Fame
coach whom I met just a couple of years
ago, Bill Self, who said,
quote, "Life is like basketball.
It takes guts to shoot," end quote.
And coaches like life, they're not there
to make things easy.
They're there to make us stronger and
instill confidence in ourselves.
So take the shot.
All right. Well, today's news facts and
birthdays are for October 6th.
And we're going to start back in 1956.
That's when scientist Albert Sabin, he
announced that his oral polio
vaccine was ready for testing.
And it would soon supplant Jonas Salk's
vaccine in many parts of the world.
So just so you know, polio cases in 1955,
which were prior to the vaccine in the
U.S., were almost 29,000 cases.
And following the vaccine, polio cases
plunged until it was
completely eradicated.
Vaccines. Who would have thought?
All right. Well, in 1987 on this date,
that's when George Michael, he released
his single, "Faith."
And it became the
Billboard Song of the Year in 1988.
Then in 1995, we talked about this last
week, O.J. Simpson's civil trial.
Well, it opened today, just a few days
after his criminal acquittal.
And then finally in 2023,
that's American Simone Biles.
She won the all-around gold at the World
Champions in Antwerp, Belgium.
And she became the most decorated gymnast
ever with 34 world and Olympic medals.
Well, happy birthday to you.
Today is your birthday. You share a
birthday with actress
Olivia Thirlby. She's 38.
Actor from the Fantastic Four, Ian
Gruffold. He's 51 today.
And Elizabeth Shue, the actress from
Adventures in Babysitting, Cocktail,
Karate Kid, Back to the Future.
She was in everything in the 80s and the
90s. She's 62 today.
Does that make anybody else
feel old or is it just me?
Well, let's stay in the 80s.
We're going to go to the number one song
on this day in 1987 was,
"Didn't We Almost Have It
All" by Whitney Houston.
Now this soaring ballad, it became
Whitney's fifth
consecutive number one single.
That was a record at the time and it was
showcasing the unmatched vocal power that
made Houston legendary.
Man, I miss new music from Whitney.
Well, just like a coach reminds us, our
biggest opponent is often ourselves.
Now, Robbins unpacks what we're actually
controlling in her
book, The Let Them Theory.
Here, Robbins digs deeper into the
psychology behind control.
She explains that our attempts to manage
others usually mask something internal,
whether it's a fear or an
insecurity or an anxiety.
When someone cancels plans, we're not
just upset about the inconvenience.
We're afraid of
rejection, the rejection of it.
Now, when a child makes a choice that we
don't like, we're not
just worried about them.
We're also a little
anxious about losing influence.
Robbins writes, "The need to control is
rarely about the other person.
It's almost always about
soothing your own discomfort."
Now, once you realize this, you stop
fighting the wrong battle.
The person isn't the problem.
It's your fear. Your fear is the problem.
And she encourages self-reflection.
Ask yourself, what am I
really afraid of here?
Now, this question reveals that the urge
to control is often
about calming ourselves.
Instead of pushing harder on others,
Robbins urges us to comfort ourselves
through healthier means.
Being mindful, mindfulness, breathing,
boundaries, or action steps
that are within our power.
She emphasizes that trying to control
others not only fails,
it damages relationships.
Real connection
requires freedom, not force.
So letting people be who they are allows
authentic bonds to form.
Okay, here is your Monday takeaway.
Control is usually
self-soothing in disguise.
So when you release it, you don't just
free others, you free yourself.
So today, give your coach an extra hard
high five, let go of control, embrace
growth, and move forward.
Hey, thanks for starting
your week with Morning Serial.
We will see you back here tomorrow.
And as always, have a fantastic day.
And we'll see you next week.