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.