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 the first chapter of Dale Carnegie’s iconic book, How to Win Friends and Influence People.
In Chapter 3, Part 1, we’ll explore Carnegie’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 deep dive into Chapter 3, Part 1 of How to Win Friends and Influence People
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:
Carnegie, D. (1981). How to win friends and influence people (Rev. ed.). Simon & Schuster.

Overstreet, H. A. (1925). Influencing human behavior. Norton & Company.

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 the

first Monday of the new year.

This is the first full week

of the new year and for me

it always feels like the first full week

back to reality as we get back into the

normal swing of things

and the calendar starts

picking back up too.

So maybe an extra cup of coffee this

morning. And in the event you didn't get

it done this last weekend,

today is national take

down your Christmas tree day.

So you can say you were just waiting for

today to take down the tree

if you hadn't done it yet.

Well, I hope you had a great weekend and

let's get you into this week by jumping

into today's episode with

today's quotes. As usual,

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, the first quote on a Monday at

the beginning of a new year,

this first quote seems appropriate to set

a tone for the week or

even the year. Here it is.

"They can be a great

people, Kal-El. They wish to be.

They only lack the light to show the way.

For this reason above all

their capacity for good.

I have sent them you, my only son."

Now that sounds like it might be from the

Bible, but that's

actually from Superman in 1979.

That was Jor-El, Superman's dad, talking

to Superman and it's a good reminder that

we all have the capacity to be good.

And here's today's teaser

quote from the book review.

It is, "He who can do this has the whole

world with him. He who

cannot walks a lonely path."

And as usual, we'll go ahead and unpack

that here in just a minute during the

book review segment.

But first, let's go ahead and jump into

our usual dose of fun and historic facts

from this day in history.

Today's news facts are for January 6th.

In 1903, German theoretical physicist,

you may have heard of

him, Albert Einstein,

he married Serbian physicist and

mathematician, Melva Meric.

Man, I bet those were some interesting

dinner conversations.

In 1912, the state of New

Mexico became an official state.

In 1975, "Will of Fortune" debuted.

And it's still on the air today and now

from what I understand,

Ryan Seacrest hosts the show.

Meaning, Seacrest now

hosts every show on television.

In 1987, astronomers at University of

California witnessed the first sight of

the birth of a galaxy.

It was the first supernova for which the

original star could be identified.

And you may remember in 1994, skater

Nancy Kerrigan, she was

attacked by Tanya Harding in Detroit.

It was the day before the U.S. Figure

Skating Championship.

In 2001, Congress certified George W.

Bush as the winner of the 2000 election,

following a whole bunch of legal battles.

That's back when we thought we knew what

crazy elections were like.

Speaking of politics, there was another

event that happened on January 6th in

2021 at the U.S. Capitol.

But it's just too soon.

Too soon.

Alright, moving on to birthdays, happy

birthday if today is your birthday.

You share a birthday with…

Actor Eddie Redmayne.

He starred in such movies as The Theory

of Everything and Fantastic Beasts.

He's 43 today.

Actor Rowan Atkinson, better

known as Mr. Bean, he's 70.

Then going way back, King Richard II was

born on this date in 1367.

In Joan of Arc, she was

born on this date in 1412.

Okay, now to the music of

the 80s and the 90s and 2000s.

And since I can't play these songs on the

podcast or on the YouTube

show due to copyright issues,

I figured out I can play

snippets of them on Instagram.

So, check out the Morning Serial Podcast

Instagram page to hear snippets of the

songs that I highlight on this show.

It's the best music era of all time.

Alright, the number one song on this date

in 1988 was Faith by George Michael.

The song Faith was the title track from

George Michael's debut solo album

following his fame with

the two-man group, Wham.

George Michael said the song didn't

represent religion, but more of a belief

in the end of a relationship, and it was

showing them the door.

I think he was referring

to his old Wham bandmates.

Although, I'm not sure a duo that

produced the song Careless Whisper

deserved such harsh words.

That's one of my

favorite songs of all time.

And the number one movie on this date in

1979, as I highlighted

earlier, was Superman.

This is a classic movie that we all

remember Christopher

Reeves as the original Superman.

But the role was offered to

Paul Newman and Robert Redford,

and there were even talks with Sylvester

Stallone about the role before landing on

the mostly unknown actor, Christopher

Reeves, that we are all so familiar with.

I know I had at least one or two birthday

parties with him on my

paper plates and napkins.

Okay, let's move on to some personal

growth in the book review

segment of the 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.

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 all of us to use and build healthy

foundational concepts to live by.

Okay, we've finished up on chapter two on

Friday, and that was the big secret of

dealing with people.

And in chapter two, Carnegie has us

contemplating our most basic human needs

and desires, and

specifically the desire to be important.

We learned the importance of making

others feel important through open

appreciation and praise.

But we ended chapter two specifically

with the direction from Carnegie to make

sure we are honest and sincere in this

praise, taking real interest in people

and not just cheap flattery.

Chapter two ended with Carnegie's

principle number two, and that was give

honest and sincere appreciation, which

followed principle number one, don't

criticize, condemn or complain.

And today we're beginning chapter three,

which is entitled He Who Can Do This Has

the Whole World With Him. He

Who Cannot Walks a Lonely Way.

Carnegie begins this chapter with a

metaphor about going fishing.

And even though Carnegie says he prefers

a certain drink during these summer

fishing trips, mine would be bourbon.

But when baiting the fishing hook, he

didn't think about what he wanted. He

thought about what would the fish want,

and the fish would want worms.

Carnegie makes the point that we should

think the same way when

we are fishing for people.

And quotes Britain's prime minister

during World War One, referring to how he

stayed in office during such

a turbulent time as, quote,

"having learned that it was necessary to

bait the hook to suit

the fish," end quote.

Carnegie harkens back to chapter one here

and pointing out that people generally

care only about their perspective.

He points out that it is common for us

all to be interested in what we want

because it's what we want.

But Carnegie says no one else is

interested in what we want because they

are interested in what they want.

Carnegie further says, quote, "So the

only way on earth to influence other

people is to talk about what they want

and show them how to get it," end quote.

Carnegie points out here that it's not

helpful to just tell people what we want.

For example, telling our children not to

smoke. What we want

from them is not to smoke.

But instead of sharing what we want all

the time, share the why we want it or

show them the benefit in making the

decision you'd like them to make.

For example, smoking cigarettes won't

help you win the 100-yard dash, and it

will most likely give you lung cancer.

People do things in the

end because they want to.

Carnegie is beginning the process of

showing us how to make people want to do

what it is we are suggesting.

He says, "Every act we make in life since

the time we were born was

done because we wanted something.

Even making a donation to the Red Cross

was done because we wanted to lend a

helping hand. You wanted

to give an unselfish act."

Here, Carnegie quotes from Harry

Overstreet's book

Influencing Human Behavior, quote,

"Action springs out of what we

fundamentally desire.

And the best piece of advice which can be

given to would-be persuaders, whether in

the business, in the home, in

the school, or in politics, is,

first, arousing the other person an eager

want. He who can do this

has the whole world with him.

He who cannot walks a lonely path."

And to this point, our author Dale

Carnegie says that Andrew Carnegie

learned, despite only attending school

for four years, that, quote,

"The only way to influence people is to

talk in terms of what the

other person wants," end quote.

To illustrate this point, Carnegie tells

a story about two kids that were off to

college and busy with their own lives

and had not taken the time

to write back to their mother.

And this was before cell phones are

texting, but you'll get the point.

Their mother was frantic to hear back

from them, but could not

get a return letter from them.

So an uncle made a wager that he could

get them to respond back to him without

even asking for them to write back.

The uncle proceeded to send them a letter

saying, "Hi," and hoping all was well.

But he ended those letters saying that he

had included a

five-dollar bill to each of them.

Only, he did not

include the five-dollar bills.

Well, you've no doubt surmised that the

kids wrote back, thanking

the uncle for his kind letter.

And Carnegie says here, quote, "You can

finish the sentence

for yourself," end quote.

I'll leave you today with this quote from

Carnegie. Quote, "Tomorrow, you may want

to persuade somebody to do something.

Before you speak, pause and ask yourself,

how can I make this person

want to do it?" end quote.

Tomorrow, we'll continue reading through

chapter three and learn more tips from

Carnegie about how to

positively persuade people,

and we'll hear what Henry Ford said his

secret to success was.

Okay, go out, have a

great start to your week.

We are all back to the grind this week,

and if you're facing a big project, a

personal goal, or just

another day packed full,

know that you've got this.

Just keep putting one foot in front of

the other and moving

forward in a positive direction.

Life is what happens when you're busy

making other plans. So make those moments

in between matter. Have a fantastic day.

And don't forget to follow and subscribe

to the Morning Serial Podcast and The

Life Happens Live Balance channel.

You can find more episodes and videos by

visiting our YouTube channel

at Shawningless or our website at at

Shawningless.com, where you can also

follow our other podcasts

that are coming in January.

That's when our first Mr. and Mrs.

English podcast and The

Life Happens podcast will air.

So join us on those

other podcasts as well.

Thanks again for listening and have a

fantastic day. We'll see you tomorrow.