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 2, 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 2 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 Friday.

Well, we've made it yet again and

hopefully you have a pretty

nice weekend coming up here.

Maybe a nice trip to the

Home Depot or some soccer games.

Actually, wait a minute, I guess that's

my weekend plans, but I'm

sure yours are just as cool.

Well, perhaps you have plans with your

siblings tonight or this weekend as well.

And that's timely because today is

National Brothers and Sisters Day,

showing appreciation for the unique bonds

that you may have with

those that you grew up with,

whether they're good or they're bad.

That's for you to decide.

Lastly, it's Harry Potter Day.

So happy Harry Potter

Day to everybody out there.

And the reason why we're celebrating this

is because we're

celebrating the allies' defeat

of Lord Voldemort.

I mean, of course you guys all knew that.

It's probably been on

your calendars as well.

But our quote today comes from someone

who could have definitely helped

in the battle with Lord Voldemort.

His quote encourages dedication and

relentless pursuit of excellence.

It's from Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and

he said, quote, "Be the

hardest worker in the room."

End quote.

Well, today's news facts and birthdays

are for May 2nd, and we're

going to start back in 2008.

That's when the very first film in the

Marvel Cinematic Universe was released.

Which one was it?

Iron Man.

It was directed by Jon Favreau, and it

starred Robert Downey Jr., as we all

know, as Tony Stark.

Then in 2011 on this date, believe it or

not, that's when Osama bin Laden,

obviously he's the suspected mastermind

behind the September 11 attacks,

and at the time he was

the FBI's most wanted man.

Well, he was killed on this date by U.S.

Special Forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

And then finally in 2018, new research

shows that plants talk to

each other through their

roots in the soil in a study on corn that

was published in the journal Plus One.

I mean, come on, how am I supposed to not

make a joke about corn having ears?

All right, I'm going to stay strong.

I'm not going to be corny.

Dang it.

Well, happy birthday to you

if today is your birthday.

You share a birthday with soccer player

and Inter Miami owner David Beckham.

He turns 50 today.

And then entertainer

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

He's 53 today.

And the number one song on this date back

in 1992 was "Jump" by Chris Cross.

Now you remember these guys, right?

They became super popular with this

landmark hip hop song at just,

get this, they were

just 13 and 12 years old.

That's incredible.

And none of us could forget their

signature backwards clothing style.

You remember that?

Well, the duo and the song were both

nominated for best new

artist and best rap performance,

respectively.

And "Jump" was their only

number one hit on the Hot 100,

but they had four number one

hits on the rap song chart.

Truly, these kids were the

"Miggity-Miggity Mac Daddies."

Well, the obvious transition here is to

"Jump" into our book review.

So let's do just that.

We are reading Stephen R. Kobe's "The

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People."

And we are in Kobe's second chapter, "The

Seven Habits," an overview.

And this is where Kobe is discussing how

important and influential

habits are in our lives.

And with those habits being defined as

the intersection between

knowledge, skill, and desire.

And as we know by now, these habits grow

on a maturity continuum, right?

And we grow from dependence to

independence to interdependence.

And these habits can be highly effective

when properly implemented in our lives,

and properly balanced through Kobe's

production to production

capability balance, right?

We must balance the golden eggs and the

goose that lays them.

And recall, the goose is the asset that

requires maintenance.

Kobe's primary assets that we need to

maintain are physical,

financial, and human assets.

And if you've been with us over the past

week or so, we

painstakingly walk through all of that.

So that should just be a quick review for

those of you that have been with us.

And today we jump into Kobe's

sub-chapter,

"Organizational PC," or "Organizational

Production Capability." And this

principle that Kobe has been dissecting

for us over the last

few sub-chapters of production to

production capability balance, or

balancing the results,

the golden egg, with the producing

assets, or the goose.

This principle is the foundation to which

all the seven habits

in this book are based.

And furthermore, Kobe says if a

foundational principle like

this is true to its course,

then the principle is, quote, "valid and

applicable in a wide variety of

circumstances," end quote.

And in this sub-chapter, Kobe is

highlighting the importance of keeping

the balance in the P

slash PC balance, and specifically

balancing our physical

assets in the organizations that

we are all a part of. Whether they be

institutional at work, our families, or

even with ourselves,

individually. Kobe says if this balance

is not kept in the use of

physical asset, then, quote,

"they decrease organizational

effectiveness, and they often leave

others with dying geese," end quote.

At work, quote, "the PC principle is to

always treat your employees

exactly as you want them to

treat, wait, your best customers," end

quote. We shouldn't look at our

co-workers as commodities,

to just simply push them to the limit

because they're easily

replaceable. Instead, Kobe says,

quote, "you can buy a person's hand, but

you can't buy his heart. His heart is

where his enthusiasm,

his loyalty is," end quote. In the end,

the balance is so

important to maintain, as, quote,

"effectiveness lies in the balance

between the golden egg, the

production, and the health and

welfare of the goose, the production

capability," end quote. It

balances the short term with the

long term, and the

production-slash-production capability

balance principle is, quote,

"the lighthouse. It's the definition and

paradigm of effectiveness

upon which the seven habits in

this book are based," end quote. Well,

the next sub-chapter of part

one is how to use this book,

and that seems a little straightforward

here, Kobe, right? I

mean, let's not offend the

listenership of morning cereal. This is a

very cerebral assemblage

of people. We know how books

work. Either way, people, let's tune in

on Monday to see just what

Kobe has to say about this.

Hey, thanks for joining us today. Have a

great weekend. May the

fourth be with you on Sunday,

and we'll see you back here on Monday.

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.