Good morning.
And welcome to morning cereal
Okay, good morning and welcome to Friday.
And it's not just a great
Friday, it's Good Friday.
For those of us observing the Holy Week
before Easter Sunday.
And given the way to the day,
it seemed a bit silly of me to mention
other special
recognitions on this Friday.
But I would be remiss if I didn't mention
that today is also
National Animal Cracker Day.
I mean, who knew that
the little menagerie
of zoo and circus creatures that
delighted us as kids
would later become one of our fondest
and one of the most
recognizable foods in the world.
Well, it's also National Exercise Day,
National Pinata Day
and World Marbles Day.
So I'm just gonna
leave you guys with that.
You can make your own jokes, do whatever
you want to with it.
I'm just here to provide the information.
Well, on a week that highlights new
chapters and new starts,
I'm turning to mental
health guru, Conan O'Brien
for this morning's quote.
Conan O'Brien said, quote,
if you accept your
misfortune and handle it right,
your perceived failure
can become a catalyst
to profound reinvention, end quote.
Well, thanks for that
little pep talk there
and reminder, Conan, much appreciated.
And today's news facts and
birthdays are for April 18th.
We're gonna start back in 1906
and that's when the historic San
Francisco earthquake
and fire took place.
Sadly, nearly 4,000
people lost their lives
while the fire and earthquake destroyed
nearly 75% of San Francisco.
Then in 1924 on this date, the first
crossword puzzle book,
a whole book of crossword puzzles
was published by Simon and Schuster.
I know my wife got
really excited about that one.
Then in 1985 on this date,
Wham became the first Western pop act
to release an album in China.
You're welcome, China.
I mean, enjoy those catchy melodies,
the upbeat rhythms
with a blend of new wave,
soul and funk.
I mean, of course
that's according to Google,
but don't get me
wrong, I love me some wham.
Well, happy birthday to you.
Today is your birthday.
You share a birthday with
actress Melissa Joan Hart.
She's 49 years old today.
And comedian and
wellbeing guru, Conan O'Brien,
he's 62 today.
And the number one song on
this date back in 2004 was Yeah!
by Usher featuring
Little John and Ludacris.
Now there was another song
that I was gonna put on here
as the number one song on this date,
but that was Bump and Grind by R. Kelly.
And I just didn't think that it was
appropriate for today.
So we turn to Usher's anthem song, Yeah!
Featuring Little John.
And everybody
remembers how Little John says,
Yeah, now I'm not gonna do it,
embarrass myself forever on the internet.
So you know it, you know
what I'm talking about.
But the song eventually won a Grammy
for best rap slash sung collaboration.
And it was ranked as the number two song
in the Hot 100 songs for
the decade of 2000 to 2009.
It's a great song to get you going on
this Friday morning.
But before you go though,
let's jump into our book review, right?
We are reading
through Stephen R. Covey's,
The Seven Habits of
Highly Effective People.
And in this first chapter, Inside Out,
Covey is discussing the differences
between character
traits and personality ethic.
And he's unpacking how our behaviors
are based on our perspectives
and our experiences, our
paradigms as he calls them.
Covey describes the idea that despite
our individual paradigms,
within each of us exists
an awareness of certain innate
foundational principles
like fairness, integrity,
honesty, that cannot be broken.
And they are self evident
to one degree or another
in each one of us.
Well, in Covey's next
sub chapter entitled,
The Way We See the
Problem is the Problem,
Covey describes a few situations
along with how these people
would handle that situation
utilizing the quick
fixes of personality ethic.
So in the first
situation, there's a manager
who doesn't trust that his employees
would be as productive
or focused on their jobs
if he wasn't there to keep them focused.
So the personality ethic,
what Covey would
describe as quick fixes, right?
Quote, "Band-aids and
aspirin," end quote.
The personality ethic would say to take
some dramatic action
to snap them into being good workers,
shake things up a bit,
maybe take some
motivational training program
or just hire new people.
But Covey asks the question,
maybe it's the way this
manager sees his employees.
Deep inside, the way he views them
might be part of the problem.
So let's look at another situation
that may even hit closer to
home for some of us, right?
This situation is
someone that feels pressure
every day of the week and
there's never enough time
and they don't feel like they are quote,
"living the happy,
productive, peaceful life
that they want to live," end quote.
Well, the personality ethic would say,
quote, "There must be
something out there,
some new planner or some seminar
that will help me
handle all these pressures
in a more efficient way," end quote.
Covey says, "Efficiency isn't the answer.
At best, you are now
just able to react quicker."
Instead, Covey asks if
there is something you need,
quote, "to see in a
deeper, more fundamental way,
some paradigm within myself that affects
the way I see my time, my life, and my
own nature," end quote.
Here's Covey's point.
The way we see the
problem is the problem.
We want more time in life to be happy,
but the personality ethic band-aid
only tells us to find a day planner
or read a motivational
quote to fix the problem, right?
And Covey is saying,
"This is not the right way."
For most of the first
chapter, Covey is screaming at us
that personality ethic
fixes are superficial
and only lasts for short periods,
but that for real
change, we must look deeper
and be open to fundamental paradigm
changes within ourselves.
We should be, quote,
"turned off by psych-up psychology
and motivational speakers who have
nothing more to share
than entertaining stories mingled with
platitudes," end quote.
No, instead, to make
real change in ourselves,
for real improvement, we should, quote,
"want to solve the
chronic underlying problems
and focus on the principles
that bring long-term results," end quote.
Well, tomorrow we start
Covey's final sub-chapter
in chapter one, and that sub-chapter
is called "A New Level of Thinking."
And then after that, we
move on to chapter two,
which is an overview
of Covey's seven habits.
So be sure to join us
again on Monday for that.
Have a good Friday.
Enjoy the holiday weekend
with your family and friends,
and thanks for joining us today.
We'll see you back here on Monday,
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
visiting our YouTube channel and the
website at Shawningless
and at Shawningless.com, where you can
also follow our other
podcast, the Mr. and Mrs.
Inglis podcast and the
Life Happens podcast.
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.