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Most professionals spend 80% of their workday communicating — and almost none have a system for getting better at it. Conversations That Count changes that.
Hosted by David Shaft — President's Club Banker at Rocket Mortgage, Dale Carnegie graduate, and Detroit storyteller — CTC delivers real conversations with executives, industry leaders, and everyday professionals who break down the communication skills that actually move careers forward.
New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. Professional multi-camera video production on YouTube. Full audio on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
What you'll learn:
• Workplace communication: better meetings, tougher feedback, and difficult conversations that don't blow up relationships
• Public speaking and presentations: how to open strong, handle Q&A, and keep any room engaged
• Professional networking: small talk that leads somewhere, LinkedIn outreach that gets replies, follow-up that builds real relationships
• Storytelling: how to tell your story in 60 seconds and communicate with impact in any room
• Leadership communication: negotiation, influence, and the Dale Carnegie principles that still work today
CTC is syndicated on the Mission Matters Network and features professionals across automotive, finance, tech, healthcare, and Detroit's growing entrepreneurship scene — because great communication looks different in every industry.
Whether you're a mid-career professional chasing a promotion, a manager who needs to run better meetings, or anyone who wants to communicate with more confidence, credibility, and impact — this show was built for you.
Free resource: Download the free Communication Playbook — 10 frameworks, scripts, and exercises to help you communicate like a pro. Get it at: https://ctcpodcast.media/free-playbook
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube — and never miss an episode.
Stories That Stick. Skills That Scale.
David Shaft: So, everything we do in life has an opportunity cost, right?
Every time, hello everyone, welcome back
to Conversations That Count.
This is once again your host, David Shaft.
And today I wanna talk about what would you do anyway?
So I think we all go through this thing.
I know I do, where we have this challenge
where we need to overcome this thing we need to do,
this problem we need to solve.
And sometimes it's so great we're like,
man, I don't wanna do it.
Like, I'll do anything I can to get out of doing
whatever this thing is.
I just don't wanna deal with it, right?
And I was talking to a mentor of mine
about a few different challenges I was going through
with business, with closing deals,
and I was just kinda like complaining, right?
I was really just like venting my problems.
And she just said, okay, well, like, I get all that,
but how do you go to the gym every day?
And I sat there and I was like, well,
I like, what's the alternative to not going to the gym,
right? It's getting fat, it's getting out of shape,
it's being unhappy with how I look and feel.
And it just came back to like, well, what would I do anyway?
Like, well, what would I, if I wasn't going to the gym,
what would I do with that time instead?
Would I like fill it with TV?
Would I just work a little bit more?
And less efficiently, like, would I sleep more?
What would I do with that time?
And it brought me to the idea I wanna talk about today.
And that is opportunity cost.
So everything we do in life has an opportunity cost, right?
Every time we decide to do something
or not to do something, it means we are either accepting
an alternative or denying an alternative.
So me deciding to go to the gym, right?
Me deciding to go to the gym means that I have to
forgo the other opportunity, right?
And maybe that other opportunity is sitting on the couch.
So that's a little subtraction for those they don't know,
but we're just gonna write couch, right?
Because I decided to go to the gym,
I decided not to sit on the couch.
But if I decided to go to the gym,
it means I don't get the option to sit on the couch.
I had to give this up to get this.
And we have to do that with every single thing in our life.
If we pick a partner, right?
It's like, well, I pick one partner,
it means I have to give up a different partner,
or it means I have to give up being alone, right?
It doesn't mean that giving up that other thing
means that that other thing was better,
or that you even lost something, right?
A lot of the times that opportunity caused just means
that you're paying something to get something else.
That is it.
So keeping that in mind,
once I really painted that picture,
I'm like, well, not going to the gym means
I have to get this sucky thing.
So not working hard means that, well,
I have as much money to do the things I wanna do
in a way to gain more freedom, right?
Maybe I get time back.
Maybe I get a little bit of energy back.
It means that I have to give up different freedoms
of maybe freedoms of travel, maybe freedoms of experience,
maybe freedoms of doing for others.
Either way, I have to give up something to get something.
And so if we flip that around, right,
it's like, and giving up my free time, right?
So when giving up free time,
and just write free time there,
to give up that free time, it means that, well,
what am I replacing that free time with?
And that free time might be, right, money.
And it's like, yeah, I don't have as much time anymore,
but I might have a lot more of this.
Or maybe instead, you know, I decide to get married, right?
Maybe I get married to the love of my life.
So now we have marriage.
That's embarrassing.
That's not how you spell.
There's, I missed an A.
For those of you that don't know,
marriage is spelled mariage, right?
Mariage, but not mirage, mariage.
So if I get married, right,
it means that I might have to give up
a little bit of isolation, right?
Especially in the early days.
And that's my opportunity cost right now, right?
To get married, I have to be a little less isolated
and buy myself, right?
It's not just me anymore, it's me and another person.
But for those of you who are married, right,
you actually don't give this up forever.
There reaches a place where the honeymoon phase is over
and I'm not married, so this is just what I know
from being around married people.
But there reaches a point where the honeymoon phase is over
and you don't want to be around each other 24-7
anymore, you can't, right?
It drives you crazy.
So you end up actually getting a little bit of that alone
time, you end up getting back into your own hobbies.
Maybe you just spend a little bit more time
on the deck by yourself, right?
Whatever that is, you don't give up isolation forever.
So the opportunity cost is only paid in that moment.
Same thing with my free time.
Early on, I had to give up a lot more time
in order to make a little bit of money.
Now, I don't have to give up as much time
to make a lot more money.
In fact, I can make more money in less time
than I could 10 years ago.
10 years ago, it took me a lot of time
to make a fraction of what it takes for me to make money now.
I had to give up that time then.
I don't have to give it up as much now.
It's not as much of a cost.
But in turn, the more free time I give up now,
I get a lot more money for that time.
But either way, I have to give something to get something.
And again, to go to the gym,
I have to give up that time on the couch, right?
I have to give up being out of shape.
So opportunity costs, right?
Everything requires a sacrifice in a way.
So that sacrifice isn't always bad.
Sometimes that sacrifice is really, really good.
Sometimes that sacrifice is ideal.
Sometimes it's something you should have sacrificed
a long time ago.
But it still costs you something.
Nothing is given for free.
But make sure you're willing, you know what you're paying, right?
Make sure you know what you're giving up on the other side.
When I was doing all that complaining, it was like,
well, yeah, I mean, I don't complain about going to the gym
because the alternative is being on the couch
and being out of shape.
That's just a no-brainer.
And she's like, well, why isn't giving up a little bit more time
to make a lot more money in no-brainer?
You've done it all this time,
like why all of a sudden, is this such a big deal?
And she was 100% right, you know?
So make sure you know what you're paying for,
but also make sure you're okay with paying.
Thank you all for joining today.
I wanted to give you something simple
to take into your week, your day, your month.
Again, this is Conversations That Count.
Make sure to join us.
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So I look forward to seeing you all again
in the next video.
Thank you everyone for watching another episode
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