Good morning.
And welcome to morning cereal
Okay, good morning and welcome to Friday.
Well, you've made it.
It is the day where the coffee just hits
a little bit different in the morning.
And the meetings, if we're honest,
they feel a little optional, right?
And we all pretend it's not
the first day of the weekend.
Well, in addition to it being a Friday,
there's plenty to celebrate today
because it's National Barbecue Day.
That's a big deal down here in Texas.
But if your dinner plans
don't involve something grilled,
smoky, or just
slathered in barbecue sauce,
maybe it's time to rethink your life.
Well, that may be just a little extreme,
but here's something
else for consideration.
It's also National Mimosa Day, right?
This might explain why
that coworker of yours
keeps sending emails with all
that extra punctuation, right?
Do we really need
three exclamation marks?
And finally, yes, it's Love a Tree Day.
So maybe give a little
nod or a little fist bump
to that oak that
you're parked under, trees.
They're kind of like the sharks and
alligators of the forest,
if you think about it.
Well, let's think about today's quote.
And today it's from Janet
Jackson who said, quote,
"You can't move forward if
you're always looking back,"
end quote.
Now Janet Jackson, she's reminding us
that progress
requires focus on the future.
So channel that energy and step
confidently into this day.
All right, well, today's
news facts and birthdays
are for May 16th.
And we're gonna start back in 1929.
That's when the first
Academy Awards ceremony
was held in Hollywood.
And it marked the beginning of a
longstanding tradition
in the film industry.
Then we're gonna move up to 1975.
That's when Junko Tabai,
sure I mispronounced that name,
but she became the first woman
to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
And in doing so, she
also was breaking barriers
in mountaineering.
Then the undisputed goat,
as you all know, I hold
regularly on this show,
Michael Jordan.
Well, young Michael on
this date back in 1985
was named the NBA Rookie of the Year.
Now I hope you kept
that Fleer rookie card
of Michael Jordan's.
If you did, you're in the money.
I've got a fake one in my office.
Well, an all-time great movie, "Top Gun."
It premiered on this date in 1986.
Now, why "Top Gun" day was three days ago
is a whole other story,
but great for a family movie
night if you don't have plans.
And then lastly, in
1991, Queen Elizabeth II,
she addressed a joint
session of the US Congress,
and she was the first
British monarch to do so.
Okay, here's the top news stories
at the time of recording.
Okay, we're gonna start
with the world and politics.
Republicans are raising concern now
over our president's plane gift, right?
Most Democrats have
already had issues with it,
but now some GOP lawmakers
have flagged potential security issues
as the president winds
up his Middle East trip.
And secondarily to this,
Ukraine and Russia are likely to meet
for the first time in three years to
discuss peace talks.
That's good news.
All right, business
and finance headlines,
Walmart has become the latest retailer
to pass through
tariff costs to consumers,
and they're planning to
raise prices this month.
And then lastly, in business and finance,
the Fed, they've
acknowledged that the lower
for longer interest
rate era is likely over.
And then lastly, the Menendez brothers,
you remember them, right?
Well, they were resentenced.
Eric and Lyle Menendez,
they have been in prison
for the nearly 35 years now
for murdering their parents.
Bad idea, kids, in 1989.
But they have had
their sentences reduced,
which now opens the path for parole
instead of just
spending their lives in prison.
All right, well, those
are the news headlines
as it sits right now
as I'm recording this.
But happy birthday to you
if today is your birthday.
You share a birthday
with model and actress,
and her breakout role
was in "The Transformers,"
Megan Fox, she's 39 today.
Actress known for her role
in "Beverly Hills, 90210,"
Tori Spelling, she's 52 today.
And then Pop Icon, Janet
Jackson, she's 59 today.
And then actor who's best knowing
for his role as James Bond,
but I remember first seeing him
in "Rimmington Steel" in the mid 80s.
Pierce Brosnan, he's 72 today.
And then lastly, actor
recognized for his tough guy roles.
And if you're watching
this on YouTube right here,
you can see him over my
shoulder, you know his face.
That's Danny Trejo, he's 81 today.
Well, the number one
song on this date in 1986
was "West End Girls"
by the Pet Shop Boys.
And interestingly, the song
was actually released twice,
once in 1984, and then again,
after they rerecorded the song in 1985.
And that's when it made its run
up to the number one position in 1986.
Here's another odd fact.
The song was performed
in the closing ceremonies
of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Now, this is weird
because the first two lines
of the song are, quote,
"Sometimes you're better off dead.
There's a gun in your hand,
it's pointed at your head."
So I'm not sure at all that I understand
why this particular song was
used in the closing ceremonies.
I don't know, must be
some of that British humor.
It's hard to understand at times.
Well, on a more positive
note, it's Friday, right?
And now it's time for
our book review segment.
So diving into Stephen R. Covey's
"The Seven Habits of
Highly Effective People,"
we're still in part two, chapter one,
focusing today on the
subsections of the haves and the bees,
and then the other end of the stick.
So in the haves and the bees,
Covey breaks down a mindset trap that
many of us fall into.
And it's the belief that effectiveness
or happiness comes from
external circumstances.
We say things like, "If
only I had more time,"
or "If my boss were more supportive,"
this hav, like, "I need to
have a better supportive boss,"
or more time, this hav
mindset waits for the world
to change before we act.
So it places
responsibility outside of ourselves.
And Covey argues that
we should have a shift
towards the bee mindset, okay?
Instead of focusing
on what we don't have,
we should focus on who
we need to become, right?
Covey says, "Anytime we
think the problem is out there,
that thought is the problem," end quote.
And the key is
recognizing that change starts
from the inside out, right?
We've been talking about this before.
It's not the other way around.
So a B, B-E, a B mindset
sounds like, "I can be different.
I can be a better friend.
I can be more diligent.
I can be more creative.
I can be more positive.
Or I can be happy."
Covey says, "Happiness, like unhappiness,
is a proactive choice," end quote.
So in the other end of the stick, the
next sub-chapter here,
Covey introduces the
concept of responsibility
as response ability, right?
We have the ability to
choose our responses.
So he describes how we
often act as if we're stuck
with only one end of life's,
let's say metaphorical stick here, right?
The part we don't like.
But the truth is with
every decision we make,
we're holding both ends of the stick.
Quote, "When we pick
up one end of the stick,
we pick up the other end," end quote.
Actions, which are one end of the stick
that we pick up, right?
They all have a consequence.
That's the other end of the stick
that we pick up at the same time.
Covey explains, quote,
"While we are free to choose our actions,
we are not free to
choose our consequences
of those actions," end quote.
Now that's powerful and
it's a little bit humbling too.
Now, when we fully accept
this, we stop blaming others.
We start blaming the outside world
and we start owning, right?
Undoubtedly, as perfect
as we all are, I know,
there are times when we
make the wrong choices in life.
We picked up what turned
out to be the wrong stick.
And if we could do it all over again,
we would do it differently, right?
These are mistakes, right?
And often in life, we
regret these mistakes, okay?
So what does Covey
say about these mistakes
when we make them?
He says, quote, "The
proactive approach to a mistake
is to acknowledge it
instantly and correct it
and ultimately learn from it," end quote.
So this turns a mistake into a success
that we can move on from,
we can move forward from.
However, on the other hand, not to
acknowledge a mistake
or to correct it is a whole
different thing altogether.
It starts a person down a dangerous path
that is self-deceiving.
It's self-justifying and it leads to
rationalization, right?
Rationalize to ourselves, to others.
This is a second mistake
that empowers that first mistake
and, quote, "causes far deeper injury to
oneself," end quote.
Here's the takeaway.
You don't need to have
more to make progress.
You just need to be more of the person
that you were built to become.
And that starts with ownership.
Finally, be aware of your mistakes and
how you react to them.
If you react with
acknowledgement and correction,
you take the power away from that mistake
and you empower yourself
to move forward positively.
All right, nice job today.
Hey, that's your Friday morning cereal.
So if you're slow
cooking your barbecue today,
hey, you better get out there
and get that coal cooking right now.
Thanks for starting your day with us.
Enjoy the weekend and we'll see you back
here again on Monday.
Have a fantastic day.
Don't forget to follow and subscribe to
the Morning Serial
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Live It channel.
You can find more episodes and videos by
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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.