Good morning.
And welcome to morning cereal
Good news, overnight the earth finished
another full rotation over the last 24
hours, so good news,
you're waking up to a Tuesday.
Now, once you're up and going today,
you're going to want to grab a lawn
chair, call into work, and sit by your
mailbox for a couple hours.
Why? Because today is National Think of
Mailman Day. Thanks for bringing me all
my bills and all that junk mail.
Luckily, in some parts of the US, we're
experiencing warmer than usual weather,
so that'll prove to be
a nicer time outside.
But if it's cold where you are, take
comfort in the fact that today is also
National Homemade Soup Day and Sweater
Day, which are great for a good
old-fashioned winter day.
Okay, let's 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 these quotes will speak
to you and jumpstart your
day in a positive direction.
Alright, our first quote is from
Australian singer and
songwriter Natalie M. Bruglia.
You remember her from her song "Torn" way
back in 1997? Well, she said, "Enjoy
every moment. You never
know when things might change."
Now, I sense a slightly pessimistic tone
in that, but I agree. We have to take the
time to make a real effort to stay in the
moment or become present in those
everyday moments in life and enjoy them.
Okay, today's teaser quote from the book
review is, "Such is the power, the
stupendous power of
sincere, heartfelt appreciation."
Now, as usual, we'll unpack that here in
just a few minutes during the book review
segment, but first, let's jump into our
usual dose of fun and historic facts from
this day in history.
We're going to start back in 1789 when
George Washington was elected to serve as
the first U.S. president by a unanimous
vote in the first electoral college.
Then in 1859, one of the oldest known
copies of the Bible, the Sinai Bible, a
handwritten copy of the Greek Bible, was
discovered in Egypt.
Then in 1897, and close to my heart,
Alfred Krayl, he patented
the first ice cream scoop.
Then skipping up to 1913, that's the year
Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama.
That same year in 1913, the Grand Central
Terminal opened up in New York City.
Then in 1932, the United States hosted
its first Winter Olympic Games, and they
held it at Lake Placid in New York.
And on this day in 1945, during the final
stages of World War II, the Yalta
Conference opened with Franklin D.
Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph
Stalin, meeting to plan the final defeat
and occupation of Nazi Germany.
Then skipping all the way up to 2003,
that's the year when Yugoslavia
officially changed its
name to Serbia and Montenegro.
And then finally on this day in 2004,
some kid at Harvard, he launched the
Facebook. I think I'll
stick with my MySpace page.
And happy birthday to you if today is
your birthday. You share a birthday with
quite a few people. American boxer Oscar
De La Hoya, he's 52.
Lawrence Taylor of the NFL, he's 66. Dan
Quayle, you remember that name. He was
the VP in the United States under George
H.W. Bush. He's going to be 78 today.
Allison Chains frontman, Alice Cooper,
he's 77. Then country singer Clint Black,
he's 62. And as we mentioned earlier,
Natalie Ambruglia, she turns 50 today.
And the number one song on this date in
1989 was "When I'm With You" by Sheriff.
This is one of those quintessential 80s
songs. And interestingly, it holds the
Guinness World Records for the longest
held vocal note in the US hit single.
It's the last word of the song and the
lead singer held the note for 19.3
seconds. So if you're like my family, or
if you prefer next time you're alone in
the car, crank this song up and see if
you can match and hold the note.
It's pretty impressive. And if you're
scrolling in your mind to find the iconic
MTV music video for this song, well, it's
one of the few number one hits during the
MTV era that didn't have a music video.
And the number one movie on this date in
1993 was Disney's animated film,
"Aladdin." "Aladdin" had high hopes
following the original animated "Little
Mermaid" and "Beauty on the Beast," with
"Beauty and the Beast" being the first
animated movie ever to
gross over $100 million.
Well, partly in thanks to Robin Williams'
role as the Genie, "Aladdin" grossed $217
million at the US box office and $504
million worldwide. And it was the most
successful Disney movie
until the release of "Lion King."
The movie went on to win many awards and
the song "A Whole New World" is the only
Disney song to win a Grammy for the song
of the year and the only song to hit
number one on the Billboard top 100. Not
even the song "Let It Go" from "Frozen"
hit that mark. "Let It Go" peaked out at
number five on the charts.
Okay, well, let's move on to some
personal growth here 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." As you know, 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.
Yesterday, we began reading chapter six
of part two, which is entitled "How to
Make People Like You Instantly." And
Carnegie began this chapter by telling a
couple of stories about looking for
something to discuss about the other
person that made them feel important.
And Carnegie reminded us that, quote,
"The desire to be important is the
deepest urge in human nature." End quote.
We ended yesterday's reading with
Carnegie talking about how this
philosophy has passed down through the
ages by nearly every major philosophical
leader. And he ended up with summing up
quoting Jesus saying, "Do unto others as
you would have others do unto you."
Now, it's hard to follow up a timeless
philosophy that we've all used to teach
our children that most definitely still
applies to us as
adults, or at least it should.
But Carnegie follows this up by saying,
quote, "You want the approval of those
with whom you come in contact. You want
recognition of your true worth. You want
a feeling that you are important in your
little world. You don't want to listen to
cheap and sincere flattery, but you do
crave sincere appreciation." End quote.
And again, Carnegie reminds us of what
Charles Schwab said of how we should act
towards others. But it also applies to
how we want our friends and associates to
treat us by being, quote, "hardy in their
approval and lavish in
their praise." End quote.
So the Golden Rule is still a real thing
that Carnegie asks us to put into
practice by treating others
the way we want to be treated.
And if you are asking the question of,
"How should I do this?" or "When should I
do this?" or "Where should I do this?"
Carnegie's answer, quote, "All the time,
everywhere." End quote.
Here, Carnegie gives a short story about
not needing to wait until you are in some
high position of authority or an
important committee of some sort, but you
can use the magic and philosophy of
appreciating others in everyday life.
Also, Carnegie suggests that by using
little phrases such as, "I am sorry to
trouble you," "Would you be so kind as
to," or "Would you please," or "Would you
mind and thank you?" Carnegie says,
quote, "Little courtesies like these oil
the cogs of the
monotonous grind of everyday life."
And he continues, "And incidentally, they
are the hallmark of good breeding." End
quote. True. And I hope
my kids are listening.
Okay. Time for a Carnegie story to
illustrate all this philosophy. Carnegie
calls upon the story of Hall Kane. He was
a very successful novelist
in the early 20th century.
He was the son of a blacksmith and,
again, not much schooling for him. And I
might add that there are a lot of
examples of people reaching big success
without much schooling.
And spoiler alert, that is not one of
Carnegie's principles ever in the book.
Okay, back to the story.
Kane grew up modestly, without much
education, but he had a passion for poems
and writing. And his favorite poet was a
man named Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Well, young Kane, he sent an essay that
he wrote to Rossetti singing his praises.
And Carnegie imagined it, Rossetti was,
quote, "delighted, and any young man who
has such an exalted opinion of my ability
speaking for Rossetti must
be brilliant." End quote.
As such, Rossetti invited Kane to be his
secretary. And this was a turning point
in Kane's life, because in his new
position, he was constantly around many
of the top literary artists of his time.
Kane was able to learn from them and was
inspired by their encouragement, which
eventually led to the
launch pad of his own career.
When Kane passed away, Carnegie says he
was the richest literary man of his time,
and people came from far and wide to tour
his home, the Grieba Castle,
that was on the Isle of Man.
And Carnegie's point? Well, Carnegie
says, quote, "Who knows, he, speaking of
Kane, might have died poor and unknown
had he not written an essay expressing
his admiration for a
famous man." End quote.
And Carnegie continues, quote, "Such is
the power, the stupendous power, of
sincere, heartfelt
appreciation." End quote.
Appreciation is so powerful because the
poet Rossetti considered himself
important, which isn't odd, and he's not
an outlier there. We all consider
ourselves important. And sincere
appreciation is food for the
hungry. We just gobble it up.
Tomorrow, we continue in Chapter 6, and
Carnegie tells stories of tears and free
cars and free puppies. It sounds like an
Oprah Winfrey show, but you're going to
want to join us for
Carnegie's free advice and stories.
Okay, I hope your week is off to a great
start. And if you're facing a big
project, a personal goal, or just another
day on the grind, know that you've got
this. Have the courage to just keep
taking steps in the right direction.
Thanks for joining us today, and we'll
see you again
tomorrow. 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 seaningless
and at seaningless.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.