Good morning and
welcome to Morning Serial.
Okay, good morning.
Welcome back to Morning
Serial and welcome to Monday.
It's a new week to make the most of and
this week the kids are
going back to school and
I don't know, does that make us happy?
Does that make us sad?
Are we undecided?
For me to celebrate going back to school,
I wore one of my Jayhawk shirts.
Rock, rock, Jayhawk.
What better time to hit the
mental reset button, right?
Well, let's make sure we're caffeinated
appropriately and luckily
today is here to help with a
little cultural elevation.
First, it's National Hip Hop Day,
commemorating the genre's
birth in the Bronx on this day
back in 1973.
Now growing up in the 80s and the 90s as
I did, hip hop played a
huge role in my musical
education.
Rock, Dre, Eminem, Snoop,
Q, too many to name, right?
But that had to be the
golden age of hip hop.
And if you're craving something a little
more serene, it's also mountain day.
Shout out to my
hometown mountain, Pike's Peak.
All right, well, let's pick up the pace
here to our quote from
Usain Bolt who said, "I
don't think limits."
Now this is kind of a powerful nudge to
toss out the
self-doubt, ditch those imaginary
barriers, right?
And just keep moving forward, even if
it's more of a tired
shuffle than a record-breaking
sprint.
Well, today's news facts and birthdays
are for August 11th.
And it was on this date, the first
televised baseball game in
color on WCBS in New York
City was aired and the Boston Braves beat
the Brooklyn Dodgers eight to one.
Then in 1984, President Ronald Reagan, he
made a little bit of an off the cuff joke
during a microphone test.
Now I don't remember this, I was a little
young to follow this, but here's what he
said, "My fellow Americans," and he was
just kidding here, "I am
pleased to tell you today
that I've signed legislation that will
outlaw Russia forever.
We begin bombing in five minutes."
Now the remark, though intended as a
joke, it sparked
international concern because it
was on a hot mic.
Those politicians, they
often find themselves in it.
Then back in 2012, which was actually
over the weekend, not
on this day, but Jamaican
sprint superstar Usain Bolt, he won the
200 meters at the
London Olympics running 19.32
seconds to become the first person to win
the 100 and the 200
meter double in back to
back Olympics.
That's incredible.
Well, happy birthday to you.
Today is your birthday.
You share a birthday with some big names.
First one, actor and hammer wielding
Avenger, Chris Hemsworth.
He turns 42 today.
I can't even believe that number's right.
Comedian, podcaster, and occasional
controversy magnet,
Joe Rogan, he's 58 today.
The co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak,
he celebrates his 75th
birthday today, and the
late Hulk Hogan, pro wrestling icon from
the 80s and all the way
through the 90s to today,
I'm sure he would have turned 72 today.
The number one song on this date back in
1985 was "Shout" by Tears for Fears.
Now, I personally love this song.
It's very nostalgic for me.
It takes me back to playing with GI Joe
guys in my bedroom as a kid.
But when we're listening to it today and
it comes on my mix, my
kids always yell, "Skip"
from the backseat when it comes on.
Either way, the song became a signature
track for the band and
one of the defining sounds
of mid 80s pop.
And it peaked at number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks.
And no, I do not skip my car, my music.
All right.
Well, it's time to crack open our
self-improvement cereal
box and pour out some wisdom.
Okay.
We're still in Steve and R. Covey's The
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
And today we're
continuing with habit four.
Think win-win, focusing on the
sub-chapter's systems this time.
All right.
Covey will argue that for win-win to
become more than just a
buzzword, he hates buzzwords.
It has to be supported by systems.
Okay.
What he means by this is organizational
processes, structures, and
incentives must all align
with the win-win paradigm.
It can't just be
something leaders talk about.
It has to be baked into how an
organization actually operates.
Now Covey writes, "You can't talk win-win
and reward win-lose.
You can't value a cooperative spirit and
promote competition."
This insight hits home for anyone who's
worked in a place where the
message on the wall didn't
match the reality on the ground.
Goodness knows I've
worked at places like that.
Now, if systems reward individual heroics
at the expense of
collaboration, you'll breed
silos, backstabbing, and burnout, right?
Covey also points out that our family and
our personal lives
operate with systems too,
even if we don't always recognize them.
Whether it's how we divide up our chores
or how we manage our
finances or resolve disagreements,
those informal systems either support or
they'll sabotage our values.
Okay.
Here's the key takeaway.
You can't expect win-win outcomes from
win-lose frameworks.
If you want genuine cooperation, mutual
respect, and lasting
success, you have to build the
right systems to sustain it.
That means making sure your rewards,
incentives, communication
structures, and culture are
all rowing in the same direction.
So take a look around.
At home, at work, in your community, are
your systems aligned with your values?
Or are you trying to grow
a sunflower in a sandbox?
A win-win mindset starts with your heart,
but it lasts with your
habits and your structures.
And Covey knows how important this is
because he keeps repeating
these chapter after sub-chapter
after sub-chapter, right?
But I think we're starting to get it.
All right.
Well, that's it.
That's this morning's
bowl of morning cereal.
And whether you're shouting, letting it
all out, or climbing
mountains, actual or metaphorical,
make it count.
All right.
Thanks for starting
your week with us today.
Good luck going back to school if that's
where you're headed or
your kids are heading there.
And as always, have a fantastic day.
Don't forget to follow and subscribe to
the Morning Cereal
podcast on the One Life Live
It channel.
You can find more episodes and videos by
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and at Shawningless.com, where you can
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podcasts, the Mr. and Mrs.
English podcast and
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And these other podcasts, we'll dive
deeper into everyday issues,
self-improvement, 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.