Good morning and
welcome to Morning Cereal.
Okay, good morning
and welcome to Tuesday.
Well, I hope your cereal this morning is
perfectly soggy or delightfully crunchy.
We don't judge.
Well, actually, I do judge.
If it's too soggy, that's nasty.
Well, before you head into this Tuesday,
today we are celebrating
those overlooked siblings.
Today is middle child day.
Here's the stereotype, all right?
Middle children are often perceived as
being overlooked or neglected.
Who who, right?
Leading to feelings of
resentment or invisibility.
But in reality, many middle children
thrive in their position,
developing unique strengths
and personality traits like
flexibility and adaptability.
And I can tell you, as the oldest
sibling, I still think
they are just probably being
dramatic.
Well, here's a quote from the baby of his
family, Casey Affleck.
And he said, quote, "One learns more at
the corner store than in a lecture hall."
And that line is like gold to anyone who
remembers all the street
smarts education that we got
walking around the mall, right?
It's a great reminder that life's small
moments can often
teach more than textbooks.
All right, well, today's news facts and
birthdays are for August 12.
And we're going to start back in 1908.
That's when on this
date, Ford Motor Company.
Well, it built its first model T car,
which Henry Ford
himself, he first tested driving
it on a hunting trip to
Wisconsin and to northern Michigan.
And then in 1981, the IBM personal
computer was released.
Remember this one right here?
Well, it taught us all that
we needed to upgrade our RAM.
I guess we had to
figure out what RAM was.
And we needed to floppy our disks.
And definitely we feared
that blue screen of death.
Well, in 1990 on this date, Sue, the
largest and most complete
Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton
was discovered in South Dakota.
Well, happy birthday to you.
Today is your birthday.
You share a birthday with great and funny
actor Casey Athlick.
He's 50 today.
Tennis great Pete Sampras.
He's 53.
And now the number one song on this date
back in 1990 was "Gonna Make You Sweat."
Everybody dance now by CNC Music Factory.
Now, if you don't
remember this, the song repeated.
Everybody dance now
about a thousand times.
So you may have cataloged that
way to the back of your mind.
But it was the unofficial anthem of
aerobic tapes and neon
headbands, if you remember
those.
And I have to say, it's not hard to let
the music take control
and let the rhythm move
you.
All right.
Well, let's move into habit for the
sub-chapter processes, right?
We're still in the seven habits of highly
effective people by Steven R. Covey.
And here Covey is inviting us to
recognize that achieving endpoint
results, effectiveness
depends on the strength and
health of our processes, right?
The daily habits, our routines, and the
systems which we live by.
So Covey says, "The key is not to
prioritize what's on your
schedule, but to schedule your
priorities."
Right?
We hear that over and over again.
We soak up the idea that designing
processes like morning
routines, weekly planning sessions,
or even a good cereal to milk ratio, it
isn't just about being busy,
it's about being effective.
Processes, Covey
argues, are living systems.
Covey emphasizes that when you measure
and feed your process,
the outcomes take care
of themselves.
"A good system properly
executed returns effective results."
It's not about one epic push, it's about
consistent, incremental steps.
And for all of us, that means embracing
checklists, to-do apps, or
even sticky notes because our
analog hearts appreciate
this tangible progress.
All right.
Covey also cautions
against process erosion, okay?
Habits they can decay
if they're neglected.
And as he puts it, "You cannot expect to
live a highly effective
life if your processes
are unexamined or undernourished."
So reflect.
Are your mornings running on autopilot
fueled by leftover habits?
If your processes don't align with your
goals, your career, your
personal, or your family,
they won't serve you.
Okay, here's your takeaway.
Habit for processes, they teach us that
the difference between
living intentionally and
being swept along lies and systems, okay?
By designing and
nurturing your daily rhythms.
Whether that means meal prepping
nostalgic snacks or
scheduling break time to load that
vintage mix tape, okay?
You engineer a day that
works for you, not against you.
All right.
Now you're armed with trivia, a quote,
and Covey's process wisdom.
It's basically breakfast for your mind.
Well, thanks for tuning in this morning.
Come back tomorrow and every weekday for
that matter for some
smart, slightly nostalgic
fuel.
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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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
wellbeing, business and finance.
And we welcome special guests too.
So join us.
It will be a good time.
I promise.
Thanks again for listening.
Have a fantastic day and
we'll see you tomorrow.