Good morning.
And welcome to morning cereal
Okay, good morning and welcome to tax
day, tax day Tuesday.
And just a friendly reminder here, your
tax returns are due
today, so you're welcome if
that fact actually slipped your mind.
And in the event your dirty clothes piles
slipped your mind as well, well, today is
also National Laundry Day.
And down here in Texas
right now, it is pollen season.
So I apologize, you can hear it in my
voice, you can see it in my eyes.
So pollen's literally covered everything
outside on the patio in
a nice yellow dusting.
And I'm guessing that's exactly what the
inside of my lungs look like as well.
Well, hey, I'm going to mention these
national days as well,
because I think it's just going
to speak to someone out
there somewhere, right?
Today is also National Rubber Eraser Day.
And it's also national
take a wild guest day.
So I hope that spoke to one or two of you
out there somewhere
who really needed to hear
that.
Today's quote is from Emma Watson.
She said, "What gets scary is when your
self worth is tied up in
what strangers think of
you."
Well, let's jump into today's news facts
and birthdays, the refer April 15th.
And as we mentioned yesterday, officially
on this day in 1912,
the Titanic, after hitting
an iceberg late last night on its way to
New York City, it sunk
earlier this morning on
this date back in 1912.
Then in 1990, sketch comedy,
TV series and living color.
You guys remember this one, right?
It premiered on Fox and there were so
many great comedians on
that show, but the show
really originally gifted us with the
hilarious Jim Carrey.
Do you remember the fireman that he used
to do where he tucked his lips in?
So funny.
And do you remember also that on this
date back in 2019, the
historic Notre Dame of Paris,
it caught fire during a restoration and
the blaze, which you
could see on TV all day long,
it was incredible because it caught fire.
You remember the
cathedral fell in a little bit.
Well, it destroyed most of the
cathedral's roof and
the 19th century's fire.
You remember when that fell?
That was incredible.
Well, the restoration of the fire damage
took about five years,
but it was completed just
last year in December.
Well, happy birthday to you.
Today's your birthday.
You share a birthday with
quite a few people here.
Actress Maisie Williams, she's 28.
Actress Emma Watson, she's 35.
Actor Seth Rogen, he's 43.
And singer Chris Stapleton, he's 47.
Who knew he was so
young under that beard?
And finally, actress Emma
Thompson, she's 66 today.
And the number one song on this date back
in 1989 was "She
Drives Me Crazy" by the Fine
Young Cannibals.
Now, this was the band's first number one
hit, which was followed
up in just a few months
later with their second
number one hit, "Good Thing."
And interestingly, the band was from
England, but they never
had a number one song in the
UK.
Well, let's jump into our book review.
And as you all know, we're reading
through Stephen R. Covey's
"The Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People."
And in this first chapter entitled
"Inside Out," Covey is
discussing the differences
between character traits
and personality ethics.
And he's unpacking how our behaviors are
based on our
perspectives and our experiences,
which are our paradigms.
And yesterday Covey introduced the idea
that despite our
individual paradigms, within each
of us exists an awareness of certain
innate foundational
principles that cannot be broken
and are self-evident to one degree or
another in each individual.
Now Covey briefly touches on these
foundational principles here in this
chapter and the first
of which being fairness, "out of which
our whole concept of equity
and justice is developed."
And even if people define this
differently, Covey's
position is that there is nearly
a universal awareness of
fairness, even in little children.
The next principle is integrity and
honesty, which "creates the
foundation of trust, which
is essential to cooperation and long-term
personal and interpersonal growth."
Another foundational
principle is human dignity.
And Covey quotes the U.S. Declaration of
Independence here, right?
"We hold all these truths to be
self-evident, that all men
are created equal and endowed
by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights that among
these are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness."
Covey mentions service, "the idea of
making a contribution," and
then quality or excellence
as foundational principles.
Then Covey points to potential as a
foundational principle,
which is "the idea that we are
embryonic and can grow and develop and
release more and more
potential, develop more and
more talents."
And very similar to potential is the
principle of growth, which is "the
process of releasing
potential and developing talents, with
the accompanying need for
principles such as patience,
nurturance, and encouragement."
Covey does not want the reader to miss
out on understanding
the materiality of these
principles.
They are not simply just good practices.
Practices are situationally specific.
Principles are also not
just simply values either.
Values can be shared by thieves.
No, principles are "deep, fundamental
truths that have
universal application, that when
internalized into habits, provide truth
and knowledge of things as they are."
Covey closes this sub-chapter with this
definition of principle, saying
"Principles are guidelines
for human conduct that are proven to have
enduring, permanent value.
They're fundamental and self-evident."
And what Covey means by being
self-evident is that first,
we are all innately conscious
of their existence.
And secondly, Covey says it would be
absurd to consider living
a life, living the opposite
of these principles, and then expecting
to have a foundation
for lasting happiness and
success.
So the opposite of these fundamental
principles would be things like
unfairness, deceit, baseness,
uselessness, mediocrity.
How could you live like that and still
have a solid foundation
for lasting happiness and
success?
So remember the maps in our heads are
paradigms that have been
built through our experiences
and the lenses through which we see and
behave and interact with this world?
Well Covey says, "The more closely our
maps or our paradigms are
aligned with these principles
or these natural laws, the more accurate
and functional they will be."
Thus, the more effective each of us will
be and much more so
than simply trying harder
or having a good attitude.
Alright, there is so much to get in there
that I didn't even get
to the next sub-chapter
like I thought I might.
But I'm spending the time to make sure we
understand Covey's
foundational concepts as
we get into this book.
But tomorrow we'll unpack Covey's next
sub-chapter, which is
Principles of Growth and Change.
That sounds like an enigma
song for some reason to me.
Well, don't forget to file your taxes
today and 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
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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.