Morning Mindset with Paul G. Markel: Recent Episodes
Paul G. Markel
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom from Paul Markel: Professional Educator and Trainer, Amazon Best-Selling Author, United States Marine, Television and Radio Host.
Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset to help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being.
Endurance is the mental and physical stamina that is measured by your ability to withstand pain, fatigue, stress, and hardship. For example, enduring pain during a conditioning march in order to improve stamina is crucial in the development of leadership.
Develop your endurance by engaging in physical training that will strengthen your body. Finish every task to the best of your ability by forcing yourself to continue when you are physically tired and your mind is sluggish.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/morning-mindset-with-paul-g-markel/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Loyalty means that you are devoted to your country, the Corps, and to your seniors, peers, and subordinates. The motto of our Corps is Semper Fidelis!, (Always Faithful). You owe unwavering loyalty up and down the chain of command, to seniors, subordinates, and peers.
To improve your loyalty you should show your loyalty by never discussing the problems of the Marine Corps or your unit with outsiders. Never talk about seniors unfavorably in front of your subordinates. Once a decision is made and the order is given to execute it, carry out that order willingly as if it were your own.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/morning-mindset-with-paul-g-markel/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Knowledge is the understanding of a science or art. Knowledge means that you have acquired information and that you understand people. Your knowledge should be broad, and in addition to knowing your job, you should know your unit's policies and keep up with current events.
Increase your knowledge by remaining alert. Listen, observe, and find out about things you don't understand. Study field manuals and other military literature.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/morning-mindset-with-paul-g-markel/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Courage is what allows you to remain calm while recognizing fear. Moral courage means having the inner strength to stand up for what is right and to accept blame when something is your fault. Physical courage means that you can continue to function effectively when there is physical danger present.
You can begin to control fear by practicing self-discipline and calmness. If you fear doing certain things required in your daily life, force yourself to do them until you can control your reaction.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/morning-mindset-with-paul-g-markel/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Unselfishness means that you avoid making yourself comfortable at the expense of others. Be considerate of others. Give credit to those who deserve it. Avoid using your position or rank for personal gain, safety, or pleasure at the expense of others. Be considerate of others.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/morning-mindset-with-paul-g-markel/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Bearing is the way you conduct and carry yourself. Your manner should reflect alertness, competence, confidence, and control. To develop bearing, you should hold yourself to the highest standards of personal conduct. Never be content with meeting only the minimum requirements.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/morning-mindset-with-paul-g-markel/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Enthusiasm is defined as a sincere interest and exuberance in the performance of your duties. If you are enthusiastic, you are optimistic, cheerful, and willing to accept the challenges.
Understanding and belief in your mission will add to your enthusiasm for your job. Try to understand why even uninteresting jobs must be done.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/morning-mindset-with-paul-g-markel/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Integrity means that you are honest and truthful in what you say or do. You put honesty, sense of duty, and sound moral principles above all else. Be absolutely honest and truthful at all times. Stand up for what you believe to be right.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/morning-mindset-with-paul-g-markel/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Tact means that you can deal with people in a manner that will maintain good relations and avoid problems. It means that you are polite, calm, and firm. Begin to develop your tact by trying to be courteous and cheerful at all times. Treat others as you would like to be treated.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/morning-mindset-with-paul-g-markel/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Decisiveness means that you are able to make good decisions without delay. Get all the facts and weigh them against each other. By acting calmly and quickly, you should arrive at a sound decision. You announce your decisions in a clear, firm, professional manner.
Practice being positive in your actions instead of acting half-heartedly or changing your mind on an issue.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/morning-mindset-with-paul-g-markel/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Initiative is taking action even though you haven't been given orders. It means meeting new and unexpected situations with prompt action. It includes using resourcefulness to get something done without the normal material or methods being available to you.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/morning-mindset-with-paul-g-markel/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Dependability means that you can be relied upon to perform your duties properly. It means that you can be trusted to complete a job. It is the willing and voluntary support of the policies and orders of the chain of command.
Dependability also means consistently putting forth your best effort in an attempt to achieve the highest standards of performance.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/morning-mindset-with-paul-g-markel/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Judgment is your ability to think about things clearly, calmly, and in an orderly fashion so that you can make good decisions.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/morning-mindset-with-paul-g-markel/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Justice is defined as the practice of being fair and consistent. A just person gives consideration to each side of a situation and bases rewards or punishments on merit.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/morning-mindset-with-paul-g-markel/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
During a recent conversation, a person that I know was telling me about an issue that they were having. When I offered what I thought was a solution, they rejected it out of hand. That got me thinking. Are we being intellectually honest with ourselves?
Do we want solutions or do we instead embrace the problem because accepting the problem is easier than applying the fix? This might be a valid internal conversation; do you want the solution or do you want the problem?
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
While watching an old interview with Eddie Van Halen, it was filmed in the late 90’s, Eddie made a statement about why he played the guitar the way he did. Though he only devoted a few sentences to the subject, what I heard seemed tremendously profound. We’re going to discuss and consider what Eddie meant when he said he didn’t know what not to do.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
We examine the parable of the monk and the mountain. What lessons can be learned from this short tale? Professor Paul will discuss the modern lie of “fairness”. What is “fair”? Perhaps, "fair" is a place you go to eat cotton candy and ride the Ferris wheel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
I was reading a story about Jose Feliciano (Feliz Navidad) and how when he decided to learn to play the guitar he would practice all day long, sometimes for 12 to 14 hours.
Friends of Jimi Hendrix have reported that Jimi used to take his guitar with him wherever he went. Anytime he had a spare moment, Hendrix was plucking his axe. If 10,000 hours is the requirement for mastery, the big question is; how long will it take you to reach that number?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
What life lessons can we take from the simple act of fishing, casting a line into the water? What lessons can we instill in our children and why is a valuable investment in time to take your kids fishing? Professor Paul offers some advice from the trout stream.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
[INTRO] ♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
(Official Permission has been formally granted by the band and studio)
Pandering, telling people whatever it is they want to hear, is a short-term strategy and a shortsighted undertaking. If that is the case, why do so many people, groups or organizations do it? Why is pandering still prevalent? On whom does pandering work?
Most importantly, can you be an effective, successful business without pandering? Do you need to pander to be a success?
Blessings come in both large and small packages. Often we get so wrapped up in our day to day living that we may either take blessings for granted or fail to recognize them altogether.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Sometimes we need to do that which we do not want to do in order to grow. Paul does not like to do barbell rows. However, it is part of the training program. Once more, trust your coach and make yourself do what you “hate”.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Are you reaching your goals or do you find that you are coming up short? If you are missing your goals, you might consider whether or not something is missing in your program. We consider lessons from strength training and from business.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Paul received a question; “How do you find things to write about?” There are many ways to stoke creative fire. However, all good creative writers share one thing in common; they are able to minimize distractions and observe the world.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Do you have “writer’s block” or are you just not inspired to sit down and write? During this episode, Paul will share a couple of methods that he uses when he is not feeling motivated or inspired to write. Maybe these tricks can help you.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
More lessons from the garden. Sometimes you need to plant the seeds and have faith and patience. You might be surprised. Paul has a garden report for you.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Can growth occur without discomfort? Childhood is tough but constant growth is happening. Neither muscles nor intellect can grow without discomfort and stress.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Finding a mentor or multiple mentors throughout your life requires a deliberate effort. Teachers and mentors are not going to come find you. You need to put yourself in a position where they have access to you.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
First, share your favorites episode of Morning Mindset on your social media story. How does the term cognitive dissonance fit in our modern world? What happens when people refuse to recognize this situation and make a change? Also, Paul is going to take a summer vacation.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Recently, my wife and I went to our local greenhouse to purchase some starter plants to make up for some of the seeds that never took root.
I was feeling pretty good about our garden until I walked into the greenhouse. Then I reminded myself that I am a novice, an amateur, and they are professionals.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Fear is a natural human response to danger. Being afraid is not a sin, but neither should it become a lifestyle. What we are witnessing, through our virtue-signaling world, is fear being mistaken for virtue.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
The shortest road to madness and depression is the attempt to please everyone, all the time. Despite the fact that we all “know” that we cannot please everyone, how many of us are still frustrated by that attempt?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
“The Office” is one of the most successful television shows of our generation and is beloved by millions. However, The Office was almost canceled after the first season. It was not perfect and many studio execs wanted to drop the show.
However, one man had faith in it, even though it was not perfect. Kevin Reilly, the head of NBC, had faith in the show and saved it.
Today we focus on faith and not giving up just because something or someone is not perfect.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
We all like to look back at old photos. Sometimes when we look at those pictures we say “What was I thinking?”. Do not let yesterday’s behavior cloud or take away from today’s successes.
The old way was not wrong if it was the best way for the time, today’s successes are built on yesterday’s behaviors.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
How did, arguably the greatest leader and President in the history of the United States, begin his military career? What lessons can be taken from the story of George Washington and Ft. Necessity?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
An answer is not invalid just because it was not the one for which you were looking. We have questions in our lives and we all encounter problems. Sometimes we need to accept an answer or a solution even if it is not what we expected it to be.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Sometimes we lose the trail or find ourselves off of the path on which we wanted to be. Today Paul talks about ways to find the trail or get back on the path to success.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Paul has some advice for disappointed High School Seniors who are moving on with their lives minus the graduation ceremony. Ceremonies are nice, but are they truly what is important in the grand scheme of life?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Today’s topic came from a recent discussion by Paul’s strength coach, Matt Reynolds. Every person is going to have to face unforeseen challenges in their life.
How can we prepare ourselves to weather the storm and ride out the tough time? Make some deposits in your emotional 401K on a regular basis.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
People love to throw around the advice, “believe in yourself”. But, how? How can you learn to truly believe in yourself?
Genuine self-esteem does not come from a poster or from getting a participation ribbon or trophy. Paul will offer one way to truly start to believe in yourself.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Most professionals, at some point in time, will have to engage in the creative writing process. One of the greatest roadblocks to creative writing is distraction. Today, Paul will talk about how he minimizes distractions in order to accomplish his writing chores.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
What does it take to have and epiphany, a breakthrough moment? Can you plan or arrange this “Aha” moment? Obviously you cannot. However, there are things you can do to help prepare the way for the breakthrough realization.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Success takes more than education and training. One key to success is passion. Today we consider one example of a man who had genuine passion; Michael Francis Foley.
You might know him as Mankind, Cactus Jack, or just Mick Foley. Foley is a great example of passion.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
To the casual observer, you might be an overnight success. What that person did not see was the ten years of struggle and sacrifice it took to become that “overnight” success. Success rarely ever comes instantly or overnight.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
As humans, we become conditioned to the world around us. The passing of time often makes us forget the beauty of the world in which we live.
Take the time and make a conscious effort to let your eyes see something new.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
You cannot force open the petals of a flower. Sometimes you just have to go out and let things happen. Paul went out into the field and had a close encounter with our national symbol.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Are you looking for “comfortable” and “convenient”? If your answer was yes, you are limiting the amount of good or worthwhile experiences.
Today, Paul shares a couple of stories of difficulty and sacrifice that lead to good things. Good things don't come easy. Occasionally, we need to be reminded of that fact.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Today, Paul will reference a recent phone call with a friend. Frustration was shared and feelings were vented. Why do we do the right thing? Is it because we seek praise?
Do we do what we do only if everyone agrees with us and appreciates it? Be sure that you are listening louder.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Paul shares two different stories to help us understand that perception is not always reality. Sometimes we witness perceptions based upon ignorance.
If you are going to lead a positive and productive life, you must be able to discern the difference between reality and perception based on ignorance.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Consider that lesson of plants. Can start a seed in a paper cup on the window sill. However, if you want that seedling to see its full potential, you have to give it room to grow. We cannot grow if we are living in paper cups.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
How you see yourself, and how you describe yourself, will directly affect how other people see you. Believe it or not, you do have a say in how employers, co-workers, friends, and neighbors view you. It all begins with how you see yourself.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
What does it mean to devote 10,000 hours to a subject? We have our first guest ever on Morning Mindset, Matt DiRito, musician, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.
Matt and Paul talk about dedication and what it takes to achieve mastery.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
At some point in everyone’s life they will have to deal with those who either doubt them or who are actively working against them.
You have a choice to make. You can either focus on that person or you can focus on improving yourself and success.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
When people act and behave that merely mimics what others do or is a blatant attempt to just be a part of the crowd, we call the Me Too Mentality.
The Me Too Mentality is not a positive or productive thing as it can lead to destructive behaviors and outcomes.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
What does it take to be a true friend? Paul takes a moment to acknowledge and mention some of the true friends that he has in his life.
He also considers the stumbling blocks or difficulties that people have in our modern age when it comes to developing true friends.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
When I was a kid, growing up in Detroit, Michigan, all of the banks had bullet-proof glass separating the customers from the tellers.
It was not until my family moved to rural Ohio that I realized that not every bank in the world had bullet-proof glass. I just assumed that was the case because of my lack of experience.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Inspiration cannot be found by sitting behind a desk. Our advice is to get out from behind your desk, go outside, explore and find that inspiration you need.
But, what if you cannot hike in the woods, climb a mountain, or stroll along the beach? Let’s talk about how to find inspiration at home.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
We hear and see the term “hero” expressed and written so often, that it has largely lost its meaning. Today we will consider just what it means to be heroic and how someone can genuinely become a hero.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
We all need to escape from reality once in a while in a good book or by watching a movie. We also need to address the very real problems and issues that require our attention. The key is to find a balance between the two.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Often, people will feel and behave as though the problems that they are experiencing are unique or somehow worse than any problems that came before.
If we take some time to read and examine history, we will see that almost everything we see today has happened before.
Most importantly, we survived those problems and kept going.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
How are seeds like ideas? Paul and Nancy recently planted an herb garden. Today we will consider some of the lessons we can take from the simple act of planting seeds. How many seeds have you planted recently?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
We all make plans. How many of us stick to our plans? Today we consider the importance of sticking with the plan, regardless of whether or not you are tired, frustrated, or uncomfortable.
Once more, we have to apply a gut check and decide if the plan we made was worth carrying out.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
The sun is not always going to be shining. What are you going to do with your time in the sun? Sunshine is like an opportunity.
When opportunities come along, do you take advantage of them or do you wait because they are not perfect?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Recently, Paul was up in the rocks and was reminded of some advice that used to be very common from parents and teachers; watch your step. What does that mean to us as adults in our modern age?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Personal responsibility and preparation take time and effort. Paul talks about what it takes to be a prepared person. Also, he considers that as many decisions are made through inaction as are made through deliberation.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
What are you doing with the time you have? Time is constant and it has a tendency to slip away from us if we don’t pay attention. It is time to take inventory of your time management schedule. Are you making the most of the available time?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
The Adam “Edge” Copeland story on WWE network. Adam Copeland's story is both motivational and inspirational. Adam Copeland came back from a career-ending neck injury. How can you find inspiration from this story and what do you do with that inspiration?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
One of the most difficult things for proud men to do is accept that they need help. Paul discusses how he accepted assistance or help from others.
Sometimes you simply need to close your mouth, be quiet, and let other people help you.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
During this trying time in our nation’s history, it is extremely important for your mental health and well-being to deliberately and purposefully focus on your own mental maintenance. Paul will offer some advice to avoid the constant barrage of bad news.
What is Paul doing to focus on his own mental fitness? He relates several methods that he employs to step away from the bad news and focus his energy in positive ways.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Keeping with the Fighting Solves Everything theme, another method of fighting is to avoid the victim mentality. When we encounter problems and setbacks, it is a natural human reaction to feel like a victim. Nonetheless, allowing yourself to feel like a victim or embrace the victim mentality does you no good.
During this episode, Paul will discuss ways to avoid falling into the victim mentality trap. He shares with you all a few strategies that he employed to avoid feeling like and appearing to others to be a victim.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
After a year away from the Morning Mindset microphone, Paul is back. During this segment, he tells about his journey and battle against an enemy he never expected to encounter.
It’s a new year and a new studio and this nation could use some positive and productive talk.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel.
Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
How do you rebuild burned bridges or repair fractured relationships? Can you be the one who helps others to rebuild their strained or broken relationships? Remember, anger is not a sin, but it is also not a strategy. There is time to consider whether or not a relationship is salvageable or whether or not the bridge is best left burned.
Ask yourself if the relationship was mutually beneficial to both parties or just to one? Was the respect reciprocal or largely one-sided. Were you doing all of the work in the relationship?
(Original Publish Date: 01/30/18 | Original Episode #: 012)
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hey, welcome to Morning Mindset. This is your host Paul Markel, of course you know that because you heard the intro, and I truly appreciate you joining me today for this show. Aaaaaaggghhh, so today’s topic. This may, hmmm… I don’t know if it’s gonna hurt your feelings, but it may bring up hurtful feelings, or feelings on anxiety, or what have you, but we are going to talk about Rebuilding Bridges, and that is repairing strained or fractured relationships.
-
Now you may be thinking that I’m talking about men & women, husbands & wives, boyfriends & girlfriends and so forth, but it could be any kind of a relationship quite frankly. It could be a friendship, it could be a previously romantic relationship, it could be a relationship between you and a family member. Such as aunts and uncles and cousins and so forth, maybe your mother or father, maybe your kids. But it could be a business relationship. Business relationships often become strained and fractured, and sometimes the bridges get burned. Stammer If you’re going to be a mature adult, if you’re going to grow as a human being, every once and a while you need to take the time to consider, whether or not it is time to try and rebuild a bridge, or whether it is time to repair a fractured relationship.
-
Alright, I have a personal story for you, and it’s a business story. I’ve had, I’ve been writing professionally for over 25 years now, and I have a lot of personal contacts in my field on the endeavor, which is the outdoor shooting sports, law enforcement, military community. When I started writing and became a very active writer, I had many relationships with manufacturers and people who, people who made products for well, like-minded individuals. Like I said, the outdoor shooting sports, law enforcement, military type world, and what I found is that as my career grew, and then changed, my business relationships would change.
-
For instance, when I was writing very actively for outdoor shooting sports magazines, at some point I was having between 40 & 50 articles per year published, so I was generating, what we called in the industry “A Lot of Ink”. When I started generating a lot of ink, I had people who would call me up, or they’d send me emails, or send me notes, or they’d see me at shows and they’d be like “Oh hey Paul, did you know that we’re working on This, or would you be interested in talk, or writing about-” specifically writing about this, taking pictures of this, because when I started writing I also became my own photographer, and took thousands upon thousands of pictures and so forth.
-
Well things changed a little bit and I went off on my own, and developed my own television channel and my own radio show and… so I was no longer working for the regular publishing houses. What I found was, some of the people who wanted to be my best friend or wanted to be good friends with me, when I was generating a lot of ink for publishing houses. When things had changed, they weren’t so interested in being my friends anymore, and it the time it was kind of, I don’t know if it was depressing, but it made me kind of sad, to realize that there were a good number of people in the in industry that I thought were friends, they weren’t really friends they were more acquaintances, they were only interested in being my friend or acquaintance as long as I could get them, like I said in the industry we call “Free Ink”.
-
If I could give them free ink, or free public relations and PR, they were all about being my friend, and when things changed, I needed them to support me in my new project, they weren’t so interested anymore. That’s something that I… when you have a relationship that was strained, fractured, broken, the bridge was seriously burned, one of the things you have to ask yourself was, is that relationship a mutually beneficial relationship to both parties, or was one of the parties getting more out of the relationship than the other? Was respect reciprocal? I know that’s a lot of R’s & S’s & C’s right there, but was respect reciprocal, or largely one sided?
-
Were you doing most of, or all of the work in the relationship? Were you investing the lion’s share of the effort in the relationship and it’s like I said, this could be a romantic relationship, a personal relationship, a business relationship. Before you decide, “It’s time to repair that broken relationship”, you maybe need to take a moment and say “Well, maybe the reason that that person and I are no longer friends, or may the reason that that person and I no longer work together or have a business relationship, is because I was putting in all the work, the time and the effort, and as soon as it became time for them to put in work, time, effort, as soon as it became time for that person to invest in the relationship, they no longer wanted to be involved in it.
-
So that may not be a relationship that’s actually worth repairing, it goes back to that while Gut-Check time, ya know Honest Self Assessment. Now you may find when you do the honest self-assessment, that the relationship you had that is now broken or strained, well it was broken or strained because of ego. Because of your ego, or because of someone else’s ego, or a product of the two. Maybe your ego took you in one direction and their ego took them in another direction, it could be that there was some animosity or some anger there.
-
Now remember, Anger is not a sin, as we discussed previously, but it is also not a strategy. Being angry all the time or being angry at someone is not a successful relationship or business strategy. So once you get to that honest self-assessment, and the reason I am talking about this right now, is because I have just returned from a trade show, a convention, and I saw a lot of people there who I’ve known for upward, going on 25 years. Matter of fact there are some people, very few people that I’ve known for going on 30 years, and when you go to these shows, you see these people who are acquaintances and friends, and you see people who you may have once had a good, productive relationship with, and you think to yourself, you realize “hm, we haven’t done business together, we haven’t talked or communicated in a year, or two or three, or however long it’s been”, and that’s a good time to ask yourself real quickly, why is that?
-
Are we, am I not exchanging phone calls or text messages with this person just because I’m really busy, they’re really busy, or was there some kind of strain, a fracture put on this relationship? If the relationship wa beneficial to both parties, and you might want to take a second to say “Did my ego, did my own personal ego damage that relationship?” and again, going back to honest self assessment and growth, you may come up with that Gut-Check answer of “Yeah, it might have been my ego that got in the way of that relationship”. Or if you’re honest and you can look in the mirror and say “No, it wasn’t my ego at all. It was the fact that that person no longer wanted to put time and investment into the relationship.”
-
But there is time, if we want to be mature, responsible, growing adults, that we need to examine these relationships and decide whether or not they can be salvaged, and if they can, that’s probably one of the hardest things for those people to do. Because being able to Rebuild a Bridge, may require you to go back and park some ego. It may require you to humble yourself, to approach that person, whoever that may be and say “You know what? I think things kind of got off track, you and I were very close before. We had a good working relationship, we had a good business relationship, we had a good personal relationship, now we don’t. What can I do to help rebuild our relationship?”
-
Don’t tell them what they need to do to rebuild it, ask them what you can do to rebuild it. Now there may be nothing, but let’s face facts. There are some relationships out there, if you’re honest with yourself, if you think about, you might say “You know what, the reason that it didn’t work or it’s not working, is because I let my personal feelings and my ego get in the way. I hope that you can savage one fractured or broken relationship, that you may actually be able to build a Bridge that you set fire to many moons ago. Alright Ladies & Gentlemen, go out there and see if you can rebuild one bridge.
-
This is me Paul Markel, reminding you that all of my books, if you’re interested in learning more, all of my books are available on Amazon as paperbacks, or you can get them on the Kindle App as Kindle versions, how cool is that? I know a lot of you guys like Kindles, thank you to everyone who has left a review of this on your favorite podcast player, whatever that happens to be, and to everyone who has shared it. If you haven’t shared it yet, why not? Don’t be greedy man, you know there’s at least one person in your life who could use this information. I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Intentions, in and of themselves are not bad. However, intentions are not substitutes for actions for work. Beware of allowing others to substitute work or actions for good intentions.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello, welcome back to Morning Mindset podcast. Yes, I am your host Paul Markel, and if you read this if you read the I'm sorry, if you read it the title of today's episode. You probably filled in the blank yourself. How many times have you heard? Someone say or you said yourself? The road to hell is paved with good intentions or hell is full of good intentions. Now who said that according to the internet it was st. Bernard of Clairvaux who said, "Hell is paved with good intentions".
-
For according to the internet some people believe that John Ray said that cited a proverb in 1670 and said hell is paved with good intentions or you could go back to the Bible or you go to Proverbs or songs or what have you and there is some form or phrasing of that essentially saying that the road to hell or the way to hell or the path. The hill is good intentions. Let's talk about intentions today intentions in and of themselves are not necessarily bad, you know, we come up with an idea or we realize that there's a problem, there's an issue in our lives or something that needs to be fixed or changed or repaired.
-
Or maybe there's a better way of doing something and so we think about that. We realize that we say I'm going to make a change we say to ourselves our spouses our bosses or family members. What have you let's make a change. Let's do something different or better or what have you we have the intention of doing them and we may even go into great detail about what our intentions are. Intentions are not acts, are they? Our intentions-, excuse me, sip my coffee
-
Intentions are not actions, intentions are only words or what's the most popular thing in our culture today feelings and intentions are basically feelings. Well, I feel that this is wrong or I feel that this needs to change or I feel that there's a better way of doing X Y or Z. Okay, great, you feel that way. So what see intentions cost nothing? Intentions are easy intentions are cheap intentions are words and words are cheap. Anyone can say, oh that's a problem, and we really should do something about it.
-
Okay, and what well and that's when the rubber hits the road intentions without works. Meaningless intentions without actions are meaningless, you know, if you told your child, let's say you have a child who is in junior high or high school age or what have you and and you're going to work or you're going out or what having you say. Hey before I get back home. I need you to take out the trash and do the dishes or I need you to do whatever you assign your child a task. He said it's not a, you know, most times really not hard but you assign them a task and then you leave expecting that the task will be completed.
-
But you come home and you find out you come downstairs you go downstairs and your kid is in front of the video game the Fortnight or the Xbox or the whatever it is, right and you're like hey. Did you did you get that done? You get the trash out? Did you get blank blank? Oh, no, I was going to I was as soon as I finish this game, I was going to do it that now if your child says to you as soon as my plan was my intention was as soon as I get finished with this game. I'll do it. I'll get that done. Do you accept as a parent? Do you accept that as an excuse do you say? Oh, okay. Well, I know you didn't do what you're supposed to do. But according to your own words you intended to do it and that's good enough.
-
Do we accept that? I hope not. I'll tell you what if you're if you're a parent out there and you have a child and you're accepting intentions as actions. As the same thing your you're setting yourself up in your kid up for failure. How about work? Let's say you are at work and you are a worker and your supervisor your boss your whatever comes and says, hey, I need you to do this. I need to get this done. We need to get it done by the end of the day because blankety blank blank fill in. Okay, and then add, you know, quarter till five your supervisor comes in find you and they say hey did you did you get that finished? Is it all done?
-
They expect that it's going to be because you know, they told you to and then you say "Oh man, I was really going to but then I got busy and I went over here and I saw something else that I needed to do and I just you know, I was I really planning on doing that. I was going to and I was going to do a really good job", and let me tell you what how good that job was going to be, does your boss or supervisor say oh yeah you intended to but you didn't but you intended to well.
-
Okay fine. I'll just tell the client. I'll just tell the customer that you intended to finish you intended to do that. But but you didn't so and they'll be satisfied. They'll be like, oh well, let me pay you anyway. Let me pay you for the product that wasn't delivered because you intended to deliver it. Now you're laughing you're out there. You're like, that's no Paul. That's not how that works where I am, and that's not how that works in my home. We don't accept intentions as a substitute for actions or work.
-
Then why do we allow other people to do it? When you mean, how often do we allow people to get away with not doing what is right what they should. What they said they were going to do. Just because their intentions were good. Hmm, exactly. Exactly the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It doesn't that phrase doesn't say the road to hell is paved with good actions or good works or a job. Well done. No, it says good intentions, and what does that phraseology mean? It basically means that words are cheap. Anybody can say anything.
-
It's actually the sweat of your brow. It's the labor of your back that makes something happen. That means a something so stop allowing people to get away with good intentions. Intentions are not works. They're not actions. They're cheap. The feeling's right. Anybody can have them anybody can say him anybody can say anything. It takes a man or a woman a stand-up person a mature person to actually do it to get the job done. So don't don't accept it from yourself and don't accept it from others.
-
As I said, intentions in and of themselves are not bad the problem we encounter is it when people think that just by saying something it's the same or the equivalent. I'm getting the job done and it's not it's not at all. All right, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for joining me today. I truly appreciate it share this podcast with somebody that you feel could benefit from it. Leave us a review if you'd like. I would appreciate that. I am your host Paul Markel and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
We hear people extolling the virtues of motivation all time. Some people make a lot of money writing books and speaking about motivation. However, motivation is not always the answer. Perhaps what is lacking in our family, workplace, or community is not motivation, but maturity.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello, welcome back to Morning Mindset podcast. Thank you once again for sharing this with other people for letting your friends and family members and co-workers know that there is such a thing as the morning mindset podcast, you know, there's at least one person in your life that could benefit from this. Recently, I was listening to a friend of mine who has his own podcast and he said something that struck a chord with me and I wrote it down and I wanted to make the comparison that he mentioned something about doing what's right for instance in the fitness world.
-
We are constantly as coaches and trainers in the fitness world are constantly trying to motivate. Our clients or our teams or whatever. If you are the coach of a team whether it's basketball or football or whatever coaches are constantly trying to motivate their players trying to you know, get them pumped up psyched up. But motivation doesn't last forever motivation is actually temporary. There's external motivation where someone stands in front of you and they give you that cheerleader speech, you know, they're like "Rah, rah, we're going to do it" and all that and go and so they're trying to motivate you from the outside and then there's motivation that you get from the inside motivation when you psych yourself up, you're like, okay self.
-
We're going to do this. We're going to get it done hoo-ha, and one of the things that my friend talked about he said he said motivation isn't always the answer. To do what's right and what you need to do and his example was every day I get up in the morning and I brush my teeth and I brush my teeth before I go to bed and sometimes in the middle of the day depending he said I'm not motivated to brush my teeth. I don't look forward to it.
-
I don't wake up in the morning saying alright, I get to brush my teeth. Now. Wow, that's awesome. I can't wait till I get home so I can brush my teeth. We're not motivated about that. But what are we doing? Well, because you said well we do it because we were taught to we were taught basic oral hygiene by our parents or dentist or a combination of the both or whatever and so we don't do the teeth brushing routine because we're motivated we do it actually because we're mature.
-
Often we will hear trainers and mode and not moderate trainers and coaches and people you know, and we go to work. I bet you that several of you in my audience work somewhere where they have those motivational posters, right? They got the posters with the ocean setting or the mountain setting or the beach setting or whatever or maybe a fighter jet or something and they're up all over the place in your work. It's they're there to motivate you right, and we can motivate ourselves and others can motivate us, but it doesn't last that long. You say "Well when it comes to doing what's right, doing the correct thing-" Let's say super mundane tasks, right? Super mundane tasks.
-
It's Saturday morning and imagine that there's not snow on the ground imagine the springtime or summer. It's Saturday morning and you really really really really want to go out and enjoy your favorite recreational activity. Whatever. Happens to be tennis or golf or Trapper skeet shooting or hiking or biking or whatever you want to do that and you can't wait to do that. You're really excited and motivated to get on your bike or fill in the blank, right? You wake up Saturday. It's the sun's out. It's a nice temperature. It's not raining you really you're motivated to do what it is you want to do? But you also look in your yard and you realize that it rained, you know, Monday Tuesday Wednesday the yards finally dry.
-
The grass is tall and it really needs to be cut but you're motivated to do what it is you want to do what you like to do? You don't like mowing the lawn. It's not fun, but you do it. What makes you before you get on your bike or you go grab your motorcycle or your golf clubs or tennis? Whatever what makes you go out there in a garage fire up the freaking lawn mower and go. Mow. The lawn first. Is it motivation? Are you doing it? Because and you're an adult and that's the thing, you know, when you're an adult you do what you want to do. No one's going to come to your house and yell at you.
-
You know, your spouse might yell at you your spouse might say hey, when are you going to get that done? But no one's going to stand over you and make it happen. It happens or it doesn't base upon what's in between your ears. What's going on in between your ears? They're in your own mind. So if you're not mowing the lawn if you're not and I use it just as an example, but because of motivation why are you doing it? You're not going to make any extra money. No was going to give you an attaboy it just something that needs to be done.
-
Why do you do it you do it because it's the mature thing to do because a child wouldn't but an adult knows that they should? If we examine the world that we live in if we examine whether it's our workplace or our communities or our families, if we examine them and we find shortcomings, it may not know a lot of people make a lot of money writing books and doing videos and all that about motivation or now. How can I motivate you to make sales and all that stuff, right?
-
Maybe that the problem that we're encountering, whether it's with our families or our workplace or Community or what have you? It's not a lack of motivation. Maybe the problem is a lack of maturity. Who are you to tell me? Well, answer the question for yourself. Why do we do the things that need to be done? Even though they are mundane or boring or tedious or whatever. We take out the trash and we mow the lawn and we brush her teeth. We don't brush your teeth because we love doing it and we're motivated.
-
Maybe there are some people out there that like literally wake up in the morning and they're psyched to get in there and brush their teeth. I mean, that's what we do with our children, right? That's how you get you. How do you get little kids excited about brushing their teeth? They're not mature yet. So what do you have to do? Well, I know when I was young either you got superhero or cartoon hero or whatever toothbrushes, right? You got a Scooby-Doo toothbrush or a Batman toothbrush or Spider-Man toothbrush or whatever you take the toothbrush and you make it a, you know, exciting for the kid.
-
You get them their own special little toothbrush and Cup Kit and with the Batman thing and the Spider-Man thing and all that and basically, you're applying external motivation. You're trying to get them excited about it because they're not yet mature enough to understand that it's just something that they need to do. How often do we see that in our own world? People don't do what's supposed to be done. They don't accomplish the mission that needs to be accomplished and they expect others to provide them with motivational tools or tricks or what-have-you to get it done.
-
Maybe I'm just throwing this out there just saying it could be that the problem is not a lack of motivation at all. It could be that the problem is a lack of maturity. Lack of mental maturity on that person's part so examine that think about that as your day progresses, you want to live a positive and productive life. Sometimes you need to do it without a cheerleader. Sometimes you need to get it done without coaches without trainers without cheerleaders, and what makes you do what needs to be done even though it's not fun or exciting is maturity. Alright, help your children, help your teenagers to learn and develop that. I am your host Paul Markel, and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
There is a big difference between allowing someone to say “thank you” and asking or expecting handouts. We should be gracious when people want to say thanks but guard against the arrogance of demanding or expecting thanks.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to another Morning Mindset podcast. I am still your host Paul Markel, and I truly appreciate you taking the time out of your day to spend just a little bit of time with me, maybe 10 minutes or so and think about well productivity and positivity and motivation and so on and so forth It's the morning mindset show. If you've been with us for a while, you may remember an episode that I did about letting people thank you.
-
A long time ago, when I was a very new police officer, I hadn't even finished the police academy yet. I was doing my ride-along time with the chief of police and one of the things one of the pieces of advice that he gave me is he said. Let people thank you we're talking about and if you remember the episode was talking about a cup of coffee how the chief would go into the Kwik-E-Mart or whatever. The place was called the Stop-and-Go or whatever and he would pour a cup of coffee and he'd walk up to the counter and he'd set it on there and he'd set a dollar down on the counter and the lady would say "Sorry, register's broken. Can't take your money. Catch me later" or what have you.
-
Or something similar to that and he with a dollar back in his pocket and he said, "You know people will tell you, as you become a police officer, the academy they talk about morals and gifts and so forth and whether or not you know, they'll tell you never allow take anything for free or never take a discount because if you do it's a violation of the code and so forth." He said "That's nice on paper, but the fact the matter is you will encounter people like the woman who runs the Kwik-E-Mart that want to thank you. They want to say thanks to you somehow, and they want to thank you in their own way." Now you wouldn't want them buying you presents, right?
-
You don't want them to give you gifts, that would be silly. But how can they thank you? He said "That cup of coffee is a thank you. That is a way of them telling me 'thank you'." He says "Now I could follow the letter of the law or I could be, you know, a hard-ass and I could say 'Oh no, you will take my money. I will not accept anything free', you know or whatever." He said "I could do that, but what did I just do? I just heard that person's feelings. I just told them that their thanks weren't good enough, and whether you put it in those words or not, what you do if you hurt their feelings and you would alienate them."
-
You just made them, if not an enemy, at least somebody that doesn't care or is going to stop caring. The way the chief put it to me, he said "How do you think we find out what's going on? We're a very tiny, small Police Department. We can't be everywhere all the time. Just how do you think we find out who it is that's been hanging out behind the alleys who all of a sudden is flush with cash because they stole stuff and pawned it? You know, just how do we find that out? You should we find it out because the locals, the citizens, the business owners, they tell us 'Hey, you know, I know you guys are having a string of car burglaries or break-ins and these four teenagers have been hanging out in the Municipal parking lot" or what have you.
-
He said "That's how you find things out. You've got enough enemies on your job, you don't need to create enemies by hurting people's feelings on purpose." So that was the 'Let people thank you' part of the story. Here is the problem that we run into, or at least that I see with people who are either veterans or police officers or public servants or this or that or what have you when it comes to be expected. For instance my chief, he never walked into the Quickie Mart with no money, just assuming that he was going to get the coffee for free.
-
Later on, in my career, I was in a similar situation where I would go into a local restaurant where you know, I worked and the owner of being like, "Oh it's on the house today" or whatever. I say "Look I can't just take free meals all the time, it's going to look bad." She's like "Well, I'm the owner and I can charge whatever I want" and I said, "Alright, well charge me whatever you want." She said it's a dollar, or two dollars or whatever, but I didn't go in there expecting a handout. I didn't go in there expecting something for free. There is a difference between allowing people to express their thanks to you, and expecting a handout, expecting a discount.
-
Part of the problem or part of the impetus for this in the United States of America at least as far as public servants and Veterans and all that goes back to 9/11, you know after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 all of a sudden police officers and firefighters and emergency responders and military personnel, all of a sudden they were good people, all of a sudden we cared about them. As a nation up to that point most people were pretty much, you know, lukewarm to police officers or firefighters or first responders or whatever, and so what did we as a nation do businesses big and small car dealerships and restaurants and Disney World and all these other businesses, started doing Special bonuses and discounts for firefighters and emergency personnel and Veterans and active duty military.
-
All this because they wanted to say thank you, that was their way of saying thank you. Of course, it's a marketing tool too, don't get me wrong. I understand that but then we developed a generation who believed a generation of first responders, firemen, veterans and so forth that believe that because of their status then they were owed. They get discounts and free stuff and so forth, and rather than waiting and I see this all the time, and it really irks me, rather than waiting for someone to offer a discount or what have you they go in they go into the situation expecting it asking for it almost demanding it.
-
Actually, I've heard people demand it. A good friend of mine used to work at casinos, and he worked in nightclubs and so forth and he would tell me stories about these early twenty-somethings, fresh out of basic training. Sailors and Airmen and so forth, showing up at the club demanding their servicemen's discount to get in, not asking if there was one, but expecting it. Because they grew up or they've been educated to believe that because now they do a certain job. Then things should be cheap or free for them.
-
Ladies and gentlemen, on one hand, you need to whatever profession you're in, whatever you do. You need to allow people to thank you when people want to thank you. You need to learn to be gracious and you need to accept it, and it's just as good or just as important to be able to be a gracious person and receive thanks or to appreciate things as it is to give thanks, I believe but there's also, you know, another side of that coin and that is when people go out expecting or demanding discounts and freebies and handouts.
-
There's a big difference between Thanks & Handouts, and we need to understand that and you know, maybe you're listening. You're like "Paul I get it, I totally get it, I understand that." Yeah, but I bet you there's somebody in your life and some of that your encounter you're going to encounter maybe this week or next week or next month who doesn't quite get that and it makes it makes it look. Looks bad on all of us, whether you're a police officer or fireman, veteran, you know a current military member, whatever.
-
It makes you look bad when people that are in the same boat or on the same team as you go out demanding free stuff for demanding discounts from businesses because they believe that they're owed that it's a slippery slope and I thought I would address it because I see it all the time and I've been there done that and gotten the T-shirt. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, that's all I've got for you today, and I thank you for being a part of the morning mindset audience. If you'd like to pick up a copy of the book a signed copy Morning Mindset: a 30 Day Plan for a More Positive and Productive Life, go to our website that is MorningMindsetPodcast.com pretty simple, or you can just go over to Amazon.com and you can get a paperback or a Kindle edition. I am your host Paul Markel and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Beware of the C-students and the underachievers. There will always be people around who will tell you that you “can’t” do something or that you should not even try. They have settled on mediocrity, don’t let them force that thinking on you.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Alrighty, here we go again. Thank you of course to Pop Evil and my friend Matt for that fantastic intro music that gets us going get this pumped up every morning. That's what I wanted. That's what I wanted for the morning mindset podcast and want anything that low. I wanted something that would get you pumped up your blood moving. It's ready for a new day. Alright, you may have read the title this before you hit play Beware of the C-students are like the C-students. Yeah, you know like when you're in school and you get grades A-B-C-D-E-F. Yes, something strange. Where do how do we skip he and go to F. You're like f stands for failure. I understand that but the other letters don't stand for anything.
-
Are you like “A stands for awesome and B stands for Bravo”? When I was in kindergarten as I'm going to take you back way back, I remember. Bringing home report cards because I sought my parents saved my report cards throughout the years. I saw my kindergarten report cards and you had Stars & Hearts and like, smiley faces and all kinds of weird stuff and then I went to first grade and when I was in first grade, they actually use an A through E system. Yeah, you're like no just a lie, and now my parents save the report cards and a was the best grade in Easy was a failing grade. But let's talk about C-students.
-
What is a C-student? Is a C-student the absolute worst? No, they're not is a C-student the absolute best. No, a C-student is somebody that does just enough. To get by now. You could say you could argue the fact that well a D-student, you know if you get a D+, you know, as Tommy Boy did there you still pass even though it was a D but let's just talk about C-students. Let's talk about people who aren't they don't really want to excel they're not trying to be the best there, but they don't want to fail either so they just do enough to get by.
-
The Underachievers of life now, why should you be aware of them know if you are listening to this podcast if you are a fan of the show if you read books about bettering yourself, if you have gone to training classes or schools or seminars if you've decided that you are not going to settle for average, and maybe you're going to venture out and you're going to try something new whatever that new thing is. I don't know could be motorcycle riding or playing an instrument or maybe you're going to try for a different job or you're going to attempt to change career fields or whatever.
-
You take a risk you're going to go out there you going to do something do something new something different. What do we encounter, and I would be extremely surprised. If you do not encounter these people in your life. They C-students and The Underachievers that are perfectly satisfied to be mediocre. But the problem with the C-student in the underachiever. Is they can be very very happy and intellectually, you know pleased with themselves that they're psychologically comfortable being Underachievers and B & C-students, as long as they're not around other people who are attempting to do more.
-
Or should you better or to achieve more? You see the C-student in the underachiever doesn't hang out with the the A and B kids or the A and B people or the overachievers or what have you because why because they feel bad because the C-student in the underachiever, they know, you know at the end of the day in or when they look in the mirror. They know that they're doing just enough. To get by they're not in the poor house and they're not failing but they're not really excelling either. They're doing that, bare minimum just enough to stay off the radar and you know to get by and that's fine with them and they can be psychologically comfortable with that until they run into you or someone else who has the motivation and drive and is trying very hard to be an A-student.
-
Trying to do something more with their lives trying to achieve trying to do something different and beneficial, and when the C-student sees that when the underachiever when they encounter you. Well, it kind of like shines the light on their average nests on their mediocrity going to like that, and so it's C-students and Underachievers will do is it will say to you things like. Why are you working so hard why you trying to work so hard they will convince you or they will attempt to convince you that you can't do something. You can't and you shouldn't even try. Well and mediocrity mediocre, she's me and The Underachievers. They will say things like, you know, if you do that, there's this chance or percentage of failure. Why would you risk? Why would you risk your good job? Why would you risk your career? Why would you why would you do any of that when it's not a guarantee?
-
You know what if you try and you fail, are you prepared for that? You know what if you try that business in the business doesn't succeed. Well, then you're a failure. No, not necessarily a failure. You start again you do it again. You see the mediocre or they will criticize I forgot about this part or the C-student or the underachiever will see what you're doing, and then they will they will pick it apart. They will find little problems with what you're doing to what Andy should pull this is really psychologically Twisted. Yeah, it is psychologically Twisted but it is a very genuine and real situation. It is a reality. Of the world that we live in. Often you will try it you and why do people not attempt to achieve why do people you know, stay where they are.
-
They're not necessarily happy and they decide I'm going to try something new and at maybe family members, you know you some of your family members maybe C-students. Your friends our co-workers, maybe C-students and you tell them you're like, you know, I've got this idea. I've got an idea now. Like I said before I did this for if you tell your wife or your parents, you're like, I've got a great idea. I'm going to go out tomorrow and start a VCR repair shop. Now if they love you, they'll say that's probably not a great idea, and here's why that's not being an underachiever that's being realistic and practical.
But have you told people I have this dream or this desire or I'm going to do this and the first thing out of their mouth is to tell you why it's a bad idea and why you can't why you shouldn't try and they'll throw all these statistics about failure and so forth. You know why they can do that because that's how they lead their lives. That's how they live their lives. They don't attempt to achieve because they've already decided that if they do or they try they're going to fail. So why bother. what kind of a world would we live in if everyone decided to settle and be a C-student?
-
Look at all the technological marvels that we have every day, that you use everyday alright the phone or the tablet or the iPad that you're using to listen to this show is a technological Marvel and it didn't become that way. It didn't happen because people thought and why even try. Stop listening to the C-students. Stop taking the advice of the underachiever and stop allowing people to talk you out of success. Everyone has choices to make in their lives. Some people have made the choice to do the absolute minimum that they need to get by and that's fine.
-
You know, you're well within your rights to do the minimum to get by but what happens is when those people see you and they find you talk to them or they encounter you and you're like I'm going to do this. I'm gonna try this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to know right now what, why? Why are you going to do that? Why you don't work so hard? Why are you going to work harder than you have to? How many times have you heard that dude? You're working harder than you have to you shouldn't no one expects you to work that hard.
-
No one expects you to achieve. No one expects you maybe you expect it from yourself. Maybe you should expect it from yourself. The next time that you have that you're feeling motivated that you feel like you're going to try something new that you're going to venture out that you're going to expand your knowledge base or your skill base and someone tells you don't try. That person is an underachiever, they’re a C-student. They've already settled and they want you to be the same way. You know nod your head or smile or whatever, but don't take their advice.
-
Don't let the C-students, don't let the underachievers bring you down or keep you down you're better now. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, thank you. Once again for being a part of the morning mindset podcast audience. Thank you for sharing this with other people letting people know about it. Maybe you have friends or family or coworkers that you feel like could benefit from it, and as I said before we do have an actual website if you feel like doing that go to MorningMindsetPodcast.com. I'm your host Paul Markel, and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Both the farm dog and the house dog are worthy animals. However, they each have their place and will fair far better in the appropriate situation. Are you a farm dog or a house dog? It might be a good time for you to make a change.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Welcome back to yet another episode of the morning mindset podcast. I'm your host Paul Markel, and I'm excited to talk to you today. Today we're going to talk about dogs. Now when you’re a kid, when you’re a child, we've had dogs, I grew up with dogs. I grew up in a dog type household from the time my first memories, and I don't know how old you are. When you first start remembering things three or four years old or five or so, but my first memories in my memories of our houses, we didn't have a lot of money, but we always had enough.
We always had a dog or sometimes two dogs or you know, depending on circumstances, but I grew up in a doghouse household that had dogs now when you're a kid you pick a dog based upon what? Based on how it looks and baseball and whether or not it's friendly or and all puppies are friendly and all puppies are cute, and it doesn't matter what the breed of dog is when you know, when you're young or if you're inexperienced, you could be an older person to be an experience all puppies are young and playful and cute and so we get our dogs often based upon whether or not we think they're cute.
Right, they're cute dog, or maybe you're a little bit more advanced and you know, maybe your mom or says we're not getting a long-haired dog because they shed everywhere and or we're going to get a short-haired dog because this or we're going to you know, large dog, small dog, whatever but if you have experience with dogs, if you are a dog person if you're serious about it, if you've been a trainer whatever, you know that different breeds behave and perform differently and I know that seems like stating the obvious, but it's not just about how they look, they're wired differently.
Some dogs are perfectly content to lay on the porch. You know porch dogs, we've all seen this the old hound dogs in movies and TV and you know, and you walk up on the porch and the dog doesn't even get any lift his head. It might shift its eyes, look at you and like “Hey, what's up there buddy? You know I'm taking my nap, leave me alone.” I sleep 20 hours a day and then there are other dogs that are extremely energetic. We live in cattle country right now, and there are a lot of there are specific breeds of dogs that are cattle dogs, and why are they cattle dogs, why are they farm dogs?
Well because they're bred in there is part of their DNA to be very energetic and outgoing, they're intelligent, they're smart dogs. Yes, believe it or not, I know that you probably look at your little puppy down there or you look at your dog and you think that your dog is the smartest dog and whole widest world. But the fact is there are differences in breeds now a farm dog who has a lot of energy and is a working dog a high-end.
No, they're not really going to be happy in New York or Chicago or they're not going to be happy living in an urban area. Right and that can be having a happy living in an urban area where you leave them in your condo or your apartment all day long, right is they want to be out in the wide open spaces now are there dogs that are perfectly content to just take a nap lay in the sunbeam and you know, you know hang out while you're at work and then, you know, you come home they get excited for 20 minutes and they go lay back down again. Yes, there are and shape all this is Morning Mindset. What why we talked about dogs. Are you a farm dog? Or are you a house dog? Are you City dog?
You farm dog, and the reason I ask that is you may currently be very happy with your career situation your job situation, but you may not be, and if you're not happy with your current living conditions, if you're not happy with your current job situation, it could be because you are not wired for that job. Now. You may have thought that you were you may have thought, you know when that would be the ideal situation for you many times people will buy when I was a young kid. I was probably kindergarten or first-grade time frame, and my parents were young people obviously because you unless you have five-year-olds, you're young a young couple in your 20s and somebody offered my parents a husky puppy and it was, of course, it was cute as beautiful blue eyes.
Husky puppy, playful and all that. Well in the dog grew up Huskies, if you know anything about husky dogs, they're very active. The very smart dogs and even though we had a large fenced-in backyard, my dad could not keep that dog fenced in that dog would dig under the fence that dog would climb on stuff that dog. He ate our as little kids. He ate our socks like he'd eat one sock consume an entire sock, and then there would be socks in the backyard in dog poop how we had to give him away. We had it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Seemed like you know, we had kids, you know, we were little kids and we had a backyard a fenced in a large fenced-in backyard, but that dog needed more he needed to be out now when you guys hear me tell you this I'm not joking. I'm not being glib and we actually when I was a kid a little kid, we had a Milkman. Yes, there was actually a truck that came around and it had a route in the guy stopped in front of your house, and you could buy and it wasn't just milk. It was all kinds of other things like for instance juices and popsicles and ice cream and so forth.
We legit had a Milkman, right? I know that's you know gone the way of the dodo but we did and the Milkman lived on a farm and so we arranged for this dog to go live on the milkman's farm, and I know it sounds totally cliche and you're like bulk. Now Paul your parents just told you that actually, we went there. We visited the farm and I saw the horses and cows and all this stuff, and so the dog was way happier there because he didn't even have to be in a fenced-in yard. He could just run and Rome and bark at the horses and cattle and so forth, and he was very happy.
Now originally we thought you know that it was a good idea, my parents, I didn't have any idea that I was five or six. They thought it was a good idea turned out it wasn't but the dog was way happier, and we were way happier we change situations. You might not be happy with your current job situation. You maybe you thought when you got that job or you entered that career field may be at the time it seemed perfect to you. It seemed like a great idea, perfect idea. I'm going to do this. I'm going to be happy and then a few years down the line you realize that you're not, and you're frustrated and you may not even know why like why am I frustrated?
Why don't I like this anymore? Why don't why do I dread going to work every day, and what is that maybe because you're a farm dog it living in a condo? Maybe you're not wired for that. Maybe you need to make a change. Now could we have and unfortunately, the sad, sad reality of our modern world is what people will do if their dog is super hyperactive or what have you or wants to be outside or if they get a working farm dog, and they want to live in a condo they go to a veterinarian and they get special pills to calm their dog down and they medicate their dogs so that they're calm, and maybe in your situation you're like well, I mean, I don't really like this job.
You know, I can I can live with it I can deal with it. I can find a way around it. It could be better just to make a change now is changing easy. No, it's not, it requires dedicated effort and it may be a little scary. You know, you might have to take a risk. But it could just be that what you thought was a good idea originally for you. What you thought you were going to be a good fit is not and you need to make a change you need to realize you like and you know the house dog if you put a house dog on a farm, you totally expected it to work. It probably wouldn't like that either. So if you switch situations neither one of them are going to be happy. You may be a house dog. You may be a farm dog. You might be a working dog and you may need a different change.
I had a different change, a different setting and different venue might need to make a change in your life, and if you do you may be way happier more productive. So I thought that was a, you know, it's a worthwhile conversation, and yes, we had many many dogs over the years and we had some dogs that were perfectly suited for kids houses and so forth and there were times that we lived on a small farm and we had dogs that could just free room. Just depends on your situation. Maybe you're in a situation where you need to make a change. Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining me today. I am your host Paul Markel, and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Blessings come in both large and small packages. Often we get so wrapped up in our day to day living that we may either take blessings for granted or fail to recognize them altogether.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello, welcome back to Morning Mindset podcast, and once again, I am still your host Paul Markel and thank you again for joining me. Today we're going to talk about blessings. But before we get into the very specific topic of the day, Blessings; Watch for Them and Acknowledge Them, let's talk about what a blessing is. Do we even know anymore in our modern world? In our current culture and Society do we actually acknowledge the fact that blessings and to be blessed exist at that exist in our world are their blessings and what is a blessing may say "Well blessing, I'm from the south and a blessing is when you for each food you sit down you say the blessing you bless the food.
Yes, but what is a blessing to you or I a blessing is not something that you are owed. Okay, you are not owed a blessing you are not owed that it's not something that that to you work for you can't work for a blessing, you can't purchase a blessing. A blessing is something that is given freely, and nothing you can say or do-, it's like grace. Nothing you can say or do can earn you a blessing. Now you may be a good person and you may lead a good life, and because you are a good person and you lead a good life, blessings come to you.
But you can't go and buy them, and no one owes you them, and they're not obligated to give them to you. A blessing is something that someone gives to you of their own free will, or you could say that God gives them to you of his own free will, because they care about you because they love you. It's not something that they owed you, but they do it because they care they do it because they're generous.
They do it because they're-, often I believe in our world, in our modern society. We are so busy doing what we need to do there. If you are a young parent, you are so busy with your job in your career and your daycares and your after-school activities, and your this isn't your that we become so busy and so wrapped up in our lives that we forget to take notes. Blessings, whether they are large or small, we get so wrapped up in our day-to-day lives, we take blessings for granted what we fail to recognize them all together.
Recently, I was sitting down at the table with my wife and we were talking about a situation that we find ourselves in and not specifically so much ourselves, my wife and I, but a situation that our oldest son is in, and there's a person who has been a tremendous blessing, not necessarily to my wife and I but he's been a tremendous blessing to our oldest son, and I mentioned that to her I said, "This person has been a tremendous blessing to our oldest son", and she said, "You know, you're absolutely right" and we just took a moment, the two of us, to acknowledge that.
How often do we Overlook or take for granted blessings in our lives? I believe that that they are out there that if you are a good person if you are a moral person, I believe that if you don't cheat trying to cheat people or deceive them or take what doesn't belong to you that you will probably encounter blessings on a regular basis. But I also believe that many of us we see them or they occur, but they're so small that we don't take the time to appreciate them.
For instance, your wife said, and this is me, you get a text from your wife and she said "Before you come home, stop at the store and get coffee cream and bread" or whatever, fill-in-the-blank, right? So you do go to the grocery store you get those two items you walk up to the counter and there's somebody with an entire cart full of groceries, and you have two items that you could easily pay for in 38 seconds and be out of the store, because all you want to do is pay for your two items get out of store and go home because you're on your way home.
You wish you weren't there anyway, and the person sees you standing there with just two items as says hey just go ahead and jump in front of me. Did they owe you that? Did you just deserve it? Did they have to do that for you? No, they don't have to do that for you. But that is a small blessing. You know, you were in a hurry because you're running late because of life and you pull into the parking spot, and you find that perfect right up in front spot the one that's never there. That was a blessing, it was. Someone goes out of their way to help you, to aid you, to assist you, [they] didn't have to do it. But they did it.
That is a blessing. Do we take the time to recognize and acknowledge the blessings that come into our lives? Sometimes blessings are just a circumstance. Like I said before, you're in a super hurry and you pull in and you see a spot right up front, and that never happens, but you got it and you're in and out, boom. The person says "Hey go ahead and jump in front of me. You only have two items. Just go ahead and do it", [they] didn't have to do it, but they did. Sometimes blessings are people going out of their way to help us to assist us, to educate us, to maybe hip us to something that we didn't know or weren't aware of.
How many of you are new on a job or new in your career field you show up and somebody takes their time to show you around you don't have to or they tell you what's not in the employee handbook or what's not in the 3-ring binder. What was not in the PowerPoint. They give you those little helpful hints to that age you and kind of smooth your way, your smooth your path. Even though it's not in the official company PowerPoint.
I talked about Sgt. Sizemore previously and how Sgt. Sizemore, he was one of those guys. He was a blessing to us, not because he was nice to us, not because he was kind, but he was kind. Because he gave us more than he had to, that little Lagniappe that we've talked about previously. I guess you know, a Lagniappe is a type of a blessing, that little something extra. So as you progress throughout your week, throughout your year, your month or year, whatever. I want you to take the time and think about it. It'll make you feel better.
You know, if you think and acknowledge "Hey, you know what? This person, that person, this situation actually turned out to be a blessing. I didn't realize it was going to be, I didn't know it was going to happen. But there it was, I couldn't buy it. I couldn't expect it. I couldn't demand it." You cannot demand blessings. You know a lot of us get used to buying and demanding things. "I have money and I can get whatever I want" and what you can't get, you can't get blessings and don't care how much money is in your bank account and I don't care how powerful of a person you are.
You cannot demand them because they come to you freely, and when you get those things when they show up to take a moment to acknowledge them, and if you haven't acknowledged any blessings in your life lately, or you say "Well Paul it's easy for you to say, you know, because your path is paved in Gold." It's not, but I don't ever have that. I bet you that if you get up if this is the morning and you're drinking your coffee or whatever and you're getting ready to begin your day, I bet you that you'll experience at least one blessing today if you pay attention, and look for it. So that is the Morning Mindset for today. It's number 2-2-3. Geez Louise we’re already on #223. Can you believe it? I am your host Paul Markel, and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Decades ago, I realized that the difference between a professional and an amateur was the footwear that they choose. What do your shoes or boots say about you?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Welcome back to the Morning Mindset podcast. I am still your host Paul Markle and thank you once again for joining me for just a little while, while you sip your coffee, or maybe you're standing in your bathroom putting on makeup ladies if you're a dude putting on makeup at I hope that you're in the theater. Or maybe you're getting ready to go to the field. That's right. When I was in the Infantry, and we wanted to camouflage their faces up. We would put the brown and black and green and loam that's right loam is a color when we put loam on our faces before we would go out into the woods. Aggress the bad guys.
But whatever you happen to be doing, good morning, good afternoon, good evening and welcome back to the Morning Mindset podcast. Thank you for taking the time to be with me and thank you to everybody who has shared this show with other people. Thank you to all of you out there who have left a review, whether the review was on iTunes or your favorite podcast player. Alright, what do we get to talk about today? This is something that I learned, oh many[x4] years ago.
Boots and Shoes, boots and shoes. Often you will see people and they may be dressed as, let's say they seem to look and be dressed like other people, but the shoes and the boots are really what set people apart. Like for instance, when I was young, as a matter of fact when I was going through the police academy, I did a strange way. I actually went through the police academy on my own dime, or actually, I used the GI bill money to go, you say "Okay Paul get to the point." I'm getting there, calm down, to supplement my income while I was going through the police academy.
Many of you may not know this, but a lot of times, when you go to a police academy, you're not being paid full time to be a cop. You have to get money from somewhere else, and so I got a job as a uniform security guard and they give you the uniform, they give you the shirt and they give you the pants, and so everybody looks the same. But the difference is what people have on their feet because you are required to buy your own shoes or boots, and I noticed this and this is like going on at least 25 years ago close to 30 years ago now.
I noticed that people who were serious about their profession would spend the money on good boots or good shoes, and those who weren't would not. If you see people out in public, and you look at their shoes, if you look at their boots, this is a life hack for you guys. If you want to know who is a professional and who is serious about their profession, and who is an amateur. All you have to do is look at their feet. I give you a great example.
One of the many things that I did when I was growing up, I was a teenager but the many jobs that I had, I was a field technician for a survey company and a land survey company. What that means is a field technician is a kid that carries all of the tools and gear and crap out into the field. That's you, a field technician carries shovels and the picks and the pins and sledgehammers and all that stuff. The theodolite and it's basically a glorified gopher.
You're the guy who carries all that stuff so that the surveyors can use it, and I worked around a lot of outdoor surveying and construction type people. You could tell the guys who either weren't taking it seriously or were new on their jobs. For instance, people who show up on a construction site in tennis shoes to work. Mmm, and a lot of you guys out there probably laughing, you're like, "Yeah, that's a rookie mistake, amateur mistake". The shoes and the boots that we wear, because most of the time we're issued stuff like you get a job and you'll get, let's say you'll get chat uniform pants or you'll get a uniform shirt or you'll get, you know, whatever.
If you're on construction, they'll give you carhartts, most don't but maybe they will or what have you but it's the Footwear that determines or that demonstrates whether or not a person is serious, because why? Because they are investing their own money in that Footwear. Yes indeed, it's indeed very rarely, even if you're working at a job where they give you a uniform, very rarely will they give you boots. Unless you're in the United States military, you're not going to be given boots as part of your uniform.
You have to buy those yourself or shoes or what have you, and if you're looking for a way to Stand Out by good Footwear. If you could have the gym if you go anywhere, you can tell the difference between people who are actually genuinely serious about their Endeavor and those who are just playing at it or are amateurs or who haven't quite gotten the memo yet. Now, some people are fast Learners and they realize immediately when they show up for a job site, or they have to go out into the woods or were Construction in tennis shoes.
But I'm going to work and it doesn't work very well, and we've got to do something else. Some people don't some people will show up for a training school in tennis shoes. I was once a day attended a firearms training academy and it was in the middle of December in northern, Arizona, and if you guys have ever lived out west in the in the mountainous areas of the United States of America, you'll know that it can snow any time does I don't care what Dick Goddard and the people that's a little Regional colloquialism for you guys. I don't care what the weatherman says there's always a chance that the weather is going to change.
So there I am at this training class in northern Arizona in the high desert area, there are mountains and you know, desert so forth and it started snowing it wasn't supposed to. They said maybe flurries, flurries turned into six full inches of snow on the ground, and there was someone in the class with me that showed up for training, and all they had for Footwear was tennis shoes. Yes, because they didn't get the memo. They weren't quite prepared for that.
Now after spending an entire day in six inches of snow in tennis shoes, this individual left and he drove to the nearest store and he bought himself some boots and came back the next day. So he learned his lesson. But then if you are young if you're a young person starting out and maybe if you're an older person you haven't thought about this or never looked at someone's feet and thought they're serious or there an amateur.
It is the boots and shoes that immediately set you apart as either a professional or somebody who's an amateur and just screwing around and I saw that the other day it was actually very cold. In the town where I live and people came in, I was in a restaurant and some people walk in off the street and you can generally tell people that are visiting tourists and those who aren't and had a winter jacket on in a winter hat and slip-on tents like leather slippers. What rubber-soled leather slippers I thought "Hmm, yep. This person was not prepared for what they were going to experience."
So as you progress throughout your life, especially if you're a young person remember that the boots and the shoes determine whether you're an amateur or professional if you want to be considered to be a professional spend the money on good Footwear. That's just good advice in general when it comes don't go cheap. Don't ever go cheap with Footwear. You will not regret it. It's like that old song about sunscreen, but trust me on the boots. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I am your host Paul Markel. Thank you for joining me and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
One of the greatest lies we tell ourselves is that “diet” soda is better than regular pop. If you were to do some research, talk with a doctor or dietician, you would find out that the substitute chemicals in diet soda are bad or worse than those in normal pop. Why do we accept lies from ourselves?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whenever it happens to be that you are partaking in the show. Welcome to Morning Mindset podcast, and I'm assuming that many of you if you've been listening to us for a while you make this a part of your daily routine and that's fantastic. I'm glad that you're doing that. Pour yourself a cup of coffee, take a moment and absorb what I'm about to drop into your ear holes.
Alright, many of you, if you saw the title if you read the title of today's episode, may have laughed out loud. If you're like me when you were a teenager at one point in time, you had a job at a fast food restaurant. I think probably the majority of teenagers, at least 50% or more of American teenagers, at some point in time will get a job at a fast food joint. It's an entry-level job, it's the first job, it's an easy job for a teenager. They just have to show up and do what they're told.
They don't really have to think but it teaches them responsibility all that good jazz, and I was no different at one point in time when I was at when I was a teenager like high school age. I got a job working at a Hardee's restaurant. Yes, the Hardys restaurant and that's when I encountered the diet soda phenomenon. People would walk up to the register and they would and they'd be obviously a large individual. A large man or a large woman, and I don't mean like Andre the Giant, large I mean like.
They would order, like at Hardee's, they would order a large roast beef with cheddar, and a large curly fry, and then they would say and "Do you have Diet Coke or Diet Sprite or Diet this?" or what have you, and we all laugh because we know that brothers and sisters, the problem is not the soda. Okay, I'm going to Burger King and I'm gonna order a Whopper, a large fry, onion rings, an apple pie, and oh, do you have Diet Pepsi? We laugh at it, but I was sitting actually at a restaurant the other day, and I listen to someone order and they said: "What diet drinks do you have?"
If you are friends with or if you know a doctor, a general practitioner, or if you know anyone who is a nutritionist, and actually I do I know a lot of those people. I know general practitioner doctors and I know dietitians and nutritionists and so, if you were to ask them to down with them about diet soda, they will tell you that the chemical substitutes in diet soda are as bad or worse and in most cases, they're worse than a normal pop.
Yes, I just did the Michigan reference to soda, I said pop. So, why do we do that? Is there anyone out there are there really Americans out there today that believe in their heart of hearts, that diet soda is good for you, are better than regular soda and you know, certainly aren't harmful. I mean it has the word Diet in it, has to be good for you. Are there people out there, adult humans that actually believe that? Or is diet soda, just one of the many lies that we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better?
In the case, in the scenario that I listed before, and you may have been one of those people you're like, "Oh, I'm going to have, you know, a biggie size fry & a biggie size, you know. I'm going to go to Wendy's I'm gonna order a triple with cheese, but I'm gonna order a Diet Coke and that evens it out that cancels it out, that makes it okay. Do we really believe that in our heart of hearts or are these just lies that we tell ourselves?
How often do we tell ourselves lies, or do we accept the lies from ourselves just to make us feel better? In that scenario, we all know that the soda is not the problem. If you're going into restaurants ordering large curly fries and you know, Big Macs and Whoppers and all these things that it's not the pop that's the problem. We know that, but it's the lie that we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better. It's a brand new year, some of you may have made resolutions which are what?
Promises that you make to yourself. You may have goals in mind, you may want to challenge yourself. If you're going to challenge yourself, you're going to make resolutions, if you're going to set goals, one of the biggest things that you need to do is, to be honest with yourself, and that's hard to do because there are so many excuses. You see, diet soda is a ready-made excuse.
It's a ready-made excuse. It makes you feel good. It is a product that was designed to make you feel good about doing bad. Like doing bad come on Paul, and I'm not evil. I'm not a bad person because I drink diet soda. No, you're not. But we can we all be honest with ourselves? Diet soda is not good for you, if you really wanted to do something that was good for you, you would order food and then order a glass of water or a bottle of water and that would indeed be good for you.
But we don't do that do we know many of us don't why well because it's just diet. What does that other drink, it's called Vitamin Water. It sounds like it's super healthy, but if you read the ingredients, you might as well drink a Coke or a Mountain Dew for what you're going to do. There sports drinks are filled with sugar and sugar substitutes, but it's a sports drink, right? So it has to be good for you. These are lies that we tell ourselves because it makes us feel good because it's easy to accept.
It's hard to be honest with yourself. It's hard to look in the mirror and say you know what you're better than this. You can work harder. You should work harder, but you're not doing it. Because of lazy self, the lazy brain doesn't want to hear that lazy brain wants to drink diet soda. Because it has the word diet in it. That's what lazy brain wants lazy brain wants to how many of you have the I'm going to lose weight diet and I'm going to lose weight by eating. Well, I usually have two cookies with my coffee in the morning, but I'm just going to have one cookie today and that's going to that's going to help me lose 25lb by having one less cookie a day.
Brothers and sisters, eating one less cookie a day is not going to help you lose 25 or 30lb. If you want to seek Improvement in your life, if you want to move forward what and whatever it is your career field your you with your family experience or what have you. You got to be honest with yourself. You need to stop accepting lies from yourself lies like diet soda. There are other ones too, but you know what I'm talking about.
Alright, if you want to be honest with yourself, stop drinking diet soda, it is terrible for you. If you'll take one piece of nutritional or diet advice from me. Stop drinking that poison, throw it in the garbage. If it's in your refrigerator, open it up pour it down the sink burn the bottles, burn the cans, destroy them, drink water. You'll feel better, I guarantee it. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I am your host Paul Markel and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Do you know something for a fact, or were you just told? How often do you limit your experiences and potential because you allowed someone else to talk you out of it?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Welcome back to another Morning Mindset podcast and I hope that you've got your mind, right or at least that you're willing to get your mind right. I am your host Paul Markel. Thank you. Once again for joining me the title of today's Short episode is, do you really know? question mark yes question. Do you know something for a fact? Or were you just told how often do you limit your experiences or your potential? Because you allowed someone else to talk you out of it. You've allowed the opinions of other people too.
Well influence your decision making, and this could be person to person or this could be via the Internet and unfortunately based upon the world that we live in many times people take things from the internet and they base their decisions upon the opinions of others. You may not. What with a person or you may not talk to a person or you may not interact with the person because someone told you that that person, blank. Whatever, it doesn't matter.
They told you that that person is this, or that that person is that, or that person said this or that person did that or what have you. They told you that, you don't know for a fact that that's the case, but that's what someone else said. Or you were thinking about going somewhere or doing something and someone said well, you don't want to do that. Well, why not? Well because blankety blank-blank and we say, oh well, okay. Now I'm going to tell you that razor blades are sharp.
I'm going to tell you that fire is hot. I'm going to tell you that it's not a good idea to stick a car key in a wall socket, okay. Trust me on that. You don't have to experience it for yourself to figure it out. But how often do you do that or do you maybe you don't maybe you're very, you know independent and fiercely independent. Maybe you're a stubbornly independent person and you have to find out for yourself. That's not necessarily a bad thing.
Often we will limit our experiences. We will limit our potential. We will limit our opportunities not based upon what we know but upon what we've been told or upon rumor or opinion. Are you basing your choices? Whether it's career choices or life decisions on your own experience and education, or are you basing them on rumors and opinions that are given to you by other people and we need to be honest with ourselves here.
Why is it that so many people will indeed give weight to the opinions or rumors or what-have-you of others? Why will they do that? Well, if we're honest with ourselves, and I think we need to be, we will probably admit that it's far easier just to not do something right and often we Embrace any excuse not to yes many of us do that. I think we're all guilty of it from time to time some more than others.
What we will do is we will allow a rumor or an opinion or someone else's you know, what someone said or I well somebody told me this or I don't even know and how often do you end up in a position where you don't even remember the source of the opinion or the source of the rumor? It's just been going around, and so rather than take that step forward rather than take a risk rather than go out there and live your life. What you do is you use that as an excuse not to maybe there's a person out there that you've been avoiding or haven't been interacting with that is a good person.
Maybe they can help you out. Maybe they can bring some value to your life. But you have an experience that person you haven't talked to that person. You haven't interacted with them because well someone said blank. Maybe you were thinking about venturing out taking a risk. Maybe you wanted to get a new job or maybe even thinking of changing career fields, and two adults and I when you're a kid, you just go crazy and you do everything, you’re like “Wow”, but then once you become an adult.
You know, you're in your 20's and 30's and 40's, the thought of changing careers of leaving your current comfortable job and going somewhere else or doing something else is scary, and there are people who will try and talk you out of it. There are people who will say. "Oh, you don't want to do that." Well, why not? "Oh well because it's too risky or too this or too that" and do we let ourselves be talked out of it.
People tell you well, you'll you're never going to be the next blankety blank-blank or you're never going to do that for a career. You'll never be able to you'll never be able to make a living doing that now if I told you today if I said into this microphone you won't be able to make a living V doing VCR repair. I'm probably telling the truth if I told you, you weren't going to make a living selling buggy whips you probably well.
I don't know if you saw them at the Amish community. You can still so buggy whips but my point is this stop limiting your experiences. Stop limiting your potential because you're making decisions not upon what you know, but upon what you've been told. Do not allow other people's opinions and especially just rumors to negatively affect your decision-making. Base your experiences base your Ventures upon your own facts. Upon your own experience, your own education, go out and find out for yourself.
As I said, I'm not telling you to stick a car key in a wall socket, you shouldn't do that. Fire is hot, water is wet, ice is slippery, razor blades are sharp. You don't need to run a razor blade across your hand just to test and see if it's sharp. Trust me. But stop limiting yourself and stop allowing other people to give you excuses not to have new and better experiences. Alright, that's all I got to say. Do you know do you really know or have you just been told?
Alright, we are diving headfirst into this brand new year. I hope that you're excited about it, and don't forget. We do have an official website. It's called MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Yes, you put all those things together at a.com to it or just put in your favorite search engine, and if for some reason your normal podcast application isn't working or you can't access it. You can always go to our website and access the shows and if you would like an official Morning Mindset coffee mug, yes indeed, or a poster, or a copy of the book Morning Mindset: a 30 Day Plan for a More Positive and Productive Life.
If you'd like any of those things you can get them from our website or if you just want a copy of the book with no signature on it. That's cool to go to amazon.com type in Paul Markel, P-A-U-L M-A-R-K-E-L and you will find it. I am your host and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
According to the Urban Dictionary, Cowboy Up means when things are getting tough you have to get back up, dust yourself off and keep trying. In the military, we say “harden the f*** up”.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello, once again and welcome back to Morning Mindset. I am your host Paul Markel. I hope that you are still with me. I hope you're with me for the for the new year. If you are new if you just started, excuse me if you just started listening to Morning Mindset podcast that has a whole lot to discuss and you've got 200 plus episodes that you can go back and listen to.
Now I'm going to remind you of something if for whatever reason your favorite podcast player has not refreshed or it's not up to date or for some reason. You can't get a hold of it. You can always go to Morning Mindset podcast.com that is actually our official website and all of the shows. Our archives there so you can do that, and if you'd like to get a copy if you'd like to get an autographed copy of the book Morning Mindset: a 30 Day Plan for a More Positive and Productive Life. You can do that by going to the website. Or are you just going to Amazon and Order yourself one. It won't have a signature on it, but you'll get it Prime shipping in a couple of days or if you're one of those digital dudes are dudettes.
You can just get the book as an Amazon Kindle put it on your phone or your tablet or e-reader or take it with you everywhere you go. Alright, and now at the if you've been here a while if you've been with this show for several months, well this may all actually go back maybe six months or more. I said that I am not. Mr. Rogers. I am not Bob Ross. I am not the fictional Saturday Night Live character Stuart Smiley. I'm all about reality and sometimes reality is hard. Sometimes when you speak the truth, it hurts people's feelings because they don't want you to speak the truth. They want you to say what they want to hear. Now, I'm going to say every time I come to this microphone.
I'm going to say what I believe needs to be said, but I'm not going to alter that and I'm not going to modify it because I think that someone might not want to hear. Now, you saw the title today's episode. It says Cowboy Up. I started seeing t-shirts with this slogan on it. Probably. I'm guessing about five years ago, maybe a little more. I remember going to 4-H Camp and hearing I think it was one of the nurses tell somebody that they needed to Cowboy Up. One of the camp nurses told one of the campers that they needed to Cowboy Up and it was the first time I had heard that and what it essentially means and if you want the Urban Dictionary definition, I'll give it to you according to the Urban Dictionary and you got to be careful when you go to the Urban Dictionary.
This is one of those things you probably shouldn't do when your children around and hope your children aren't going there. But Cowboy Up means when things are getting tough you have to get. Dust yourself off and keep trying. Well, there's there's nothing. There's nothing R-rated about that Paul. Now, there's not Cowboy Up essentially means this and it goes and it from a literal translation a Cowboy is on a horse. Maybe he's in a rodeo and he gets thrown from his horse. Now, he could just, you know, kick the dirt and whine and cry and say this isn't any fair and I'm going to go home. But they don't because it Cowboy can't do that. Right? So for cowboy gets thrown from his horse or falls down or whatever. He's got to get up take off his hat dust himself off and get back up on the horse and keep doing it not make excuses.
Not quit, not suck his thumb and go sit in the corner. He's got to keep on going now when I was in the military and well, I was a contractor and was working with young people. We had a phrase in there was a phrase that was thrown around. Of course, it wasn't thrown around in official classes because we weren't allowed to say squares and official classes, because our military is run now by, basically weak people, but the term that real serious infantry people Fighters Warriors in the military use is hardened the f*** up.
Yes, it's miserable. Yes, it's raining. Yes. We're cold. Yes, we're hungry. Yes, the truck didn't show up with the Chow on it. Yes, we're going to have to walk farther. We're going to have to go over this mountain over this Hill Cross this River and it's going to suck but we all have to do it so hard in the f up and let's get the job done. Unfortunately, we live in a world where cowboy up or Harden the f up is frowned upon. We live in a world that will tell you that your own personal Comfort both physically and psychologically is the most important thing in the whole widest world.
That's not how we get things accomplished. You cannot accomplish goals. You cannot accomplish missions. If the moment that the goal or the mission becomes uncomfortable or difficult or tough if the moment that happens you quit and say I don't want to do this anymore. It's no longer any fun. I thought this would be easy and I just discovered that it's not easy. Well if it's not going to be easy and I can't do it immediately and it can't be done in five minutes and I'm just not going to do it and that is the world that we live in. We live in a world that encourages people to quit the moment. They become uncomfortable.
We live in a world that encourages people that the millisecond that they and God forbid get dirty or fall down or hurt their Bruiser Widow knees or what have you we live in a world of safe spaces and political correctness and all kinds of weakness and nonsense, and we try to pretend like this weakness and nonsense makes us more civilized and stronger and better as a society, but it doesn't it does exactly the opposite. Instead of teaching your children that all you don't like that. Oh, did it hurt? You? Whittle feelings will come over here, let mommy give you a hug. Oh, that's hard, that's difficult.
You thought you were going to be able to buy a guitar pick it up and become a rock star the very next day how many guitars sit in the in the corner or in the closets all dusty and not use because we found out that that actually playing the guitar was tough, that you had to actually practice. How many as seen on TV Fitness AIDS? Whether it's the perfect push-up or the perfect shit up or the the the universal all in one gem or whatever how many of those things are in the closet sirs tucked up under the beds because well it's actually was hard and it didn't work immediately.
So I just quit and put it away. How many of you have not reached your goals? Because when you realize that your goal was going to be more difficult or tougher than you thought it was going to be you stopped. I didn't think it was going to be that hard. You know, not everybody can be a United States Army Special Forces Soldier. Not everybody can wear a Green Beret not everybody can be part of force Recon or MARSOC or a Navy SEAL or you know why they can't it looks cool, but it's hard, and if you quit you don't get to do that you don't get to wear the Green Beret or the Trident or whatever. Sometimes in life.
We need to encourage each other to Cowboy Up. We need to encourage each other. Yeah, you fell down you hurt your bruise your knee. You're dirty. You're tired. You're sweaty that happens Cowboy Up. Or in the military vernacular, which I'm most familiar and comfortable with we need to encourage each other to harden the f*** up and drive on, and you'll be amazed at what you can achieve if you will simply Embrace that phrase and if I wounded your spirit today by using the swear word, well, I do apologize for that.
But there's nothing else that can be done about it. I don't swear. I don't use adult language gratuitously. I use it when it is proper and incorrect context and that is exactly what we did today because I'm not Mr. Rogers. I am Paul Markel, and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
You can be productive and independent or you can be a victim. The decision is up to you. Sadly, the victim card is so tempting and too easily accepted.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Greetings and salutations. Welcome back to the Morning Mindset podcast. I am your host Paul Markel and we're going to continue on the brand new year on the Journey of a new year with a question. Are you a victim, and you say your knee-jerk reaction is “No”. Well if the answer is no, then stop acting like one. I feel like I have to address this because I've seen it far too often. I use often I use productivity tools and one of the productivity tools that's really not that productive at least for me anymore.
But it's a thing called LinkedIn and many of you if your contractors or your business professionals. The reason that I have a LinkedIn account is that some of the other business professionals that I do business with they have them and I set it up. I don't know years and years ago. I don't use it that much often anymore because now I don't rely on other people for my jobs. I actually rely only upon myself, but I digress one of the things I started noticing. On LinkedIn was when people would put their status and I'm United States military veteran.
I think I've spoken to that enough times for you guys to know that I served in the United States Marine Corps as an infantryman, and I did a bunch of other things as well, and I was in the first Gulf War with six Marines and we didn't know it was the first Gulf War at the time kind of like World War One, you know, when those guys were over there in Europe fighting in the trenches in World War 1. They didn't call it World War one because they didn't know it. I was the first one but I see military veterans, you know recently discharged military veterans, and in their LinkedIn accounts, they'll put things like “Disabled veteran”.
Now, I know that that might seem like a wise thing to do, you're like "Oh, but Paul don't you know that there are certain companies and businesses and programs that if you hire disabled veterans, then you get tax breaks and so forth?" Are you calling yourself a disabled veteran? Are you calling yourself Disabled? Is that how you refer to yourself? He's like "Well, you know, what's wrong with that?" It's generally, that is embracing victimization. If this hurts your feelings is just too damn bad because I'm not here to worry about your feelings. I'm here to help you lead a positive and productive life and I am here to tell you that you cannot and you will not be able to lead a positive and a productive and an independent life if you Embrace victimization. Every human out there listening to me has different abilities.
Some people are in wheelchairs some people use crutches. Some people don't some people lost limbs overseas. That sucks. You know what it doesn't mean that you are disabled for life. Does your mind still function properly? Are you able to speak and communicate with others? Yes, the answer is yes. You have something to contribute you are not a victim. I see in our modern world in our modern society a push a huge push for victimization the victim mentality. Everyone is a victim of an “ism” of sexism or racism or this is a more of that ISM many of the big rights movements of the 60s and 70s, maybe even go back to the 50s or whatever the rights movements started out.
As you know, potentially productive and good things and we want equal rights for all people equal rights for men equal rights, you know for women equal rights for you know, whatever your skin color is and your ethnic background and you know, all that stuff. It seems on the face of it in the beginning that it is empowering, and we throw these words around all the time. You see in you here empowering Empower this Empower that but unfortunately what these movements devolve into is not Independence and empowerment and strength what they devolve to is these masses of victims.
Rather than people saying yes, I'm going to take charge of my own life. I'm going to take charge of my own destiny. I'm going to work. I'm going to earn what I'd you know, just I'm going to deserve what I earn and learn what I deserve instead what these rights movements do is they create massive groups of victims. They make it easy for people to accept the victim card and fall prey to that, and if you have accepted the victim card if you put yourself if you will line yourself with another group of put-upon victims, you can't you are hindering yourself. Now. It's easy. It's part of the human condition human beings love their we have two brains.
We have two minds. We have the weak mind and the strong mind we have the lazy mind in the productive mine. In the lazy week, productive mine says heck. Yeah. I'm a victim of blank. I'm a victim of something. something or someone or some group of people did me wrong and now I'm a victim, and because I'm a victim then it's not my fault that I don't work hard. It's not my fault that I'm not productive. It's not my fault that I don't have the job that I want to have that I don't have the life that I think I deserve because I'm a victim. That's bull crap, that's toro caca. The United States of America was not a country built by victims.
It was a country built by people who said we're going to take charge of our own lives, and we're going to accept both our successes and our failures. We're not going to take our failures and blame them upon some other circumstance or some other group of people and say it's okay that I failed because it's not my fault. That is not how you lead a positive and productive life. My friends, I have a lot of acquaintances business partners friends close friends that have been in war and have lost body parts, and I'm proud that the vast majority of these people are productive individuals. Could you sit around and say woe is me, life sucks. It's not fair that this happened to me. It's not fair, you know, that I have red hair and freckles.
I'm teasing them kidding. You sure that's easy. Anybody can do that. Anybody can sit back and whine and cry and say I'm a victim, therefore, it's not my fault. You can you know as an American as a human you can do that. I would recommend against it because you're never going to be happy victims are not happy people victims are miserable people because victims don't take charge of their own lives. You can't be independent. You can't lead a productive and positive life. If at the same time you are dwelling on victimization and that is sick and twisted, just what do you want to say and I'm keeping this family-friendly and I hope you appreciate that because tomorrow is not going to be so much.
You can't live a positive and productive life if you've allowed yourself to buy into the victimization mentality. You know, what if you are a US military servicemen, if you're a veteran if you lost a leg or two legs, I have had the great Fortune of getting to know a US Army veteran a colonel who lost both of his legs from above the knee, bionic legs. Usually use a chair, sometimes crutches. Sometimes this guy has the most positive can-do spirit of any human you ever want to do encounter. He could sit around and say I'm a hundred percent disabled veteran and everyone needs to feel sorry for me poor me. Give me, give me, feel sorry for me.
He could but he doesn't. Gets up every single day puts on his bionic legs. He puts on a happy face and he says let's get this job done. I'm going to have to struggle it's going to be harder than it used to be but I'm going to do it. You don't have to be a victim. You don't have to buy into other people may have told you other people may have said, you know, wow life really wasn't fair to you. It sucks. You should you know, you have every right to sit in the corner and pout and you can and maybe you should for a little bit but get out of that corner.
It's time to start leading a positive and productive life. It's time to be independent. It's time to be strong and you cannot do that. If at the same time, you're calling yourself disabled, you're calling yourself a victim stop referring to yourself as disabled stop referring to yourself or thinking of yourself as a victim of something that's is where you're going to start. That's we're going to start right now today for brand new year no more victimization. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I'm your host Paul Markel, and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
It is okay to take time off to refresh and rejuvenate your mind and body. This is one of the hardest things to do for small business owner and contractors.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello, and if you are listening to these in chronological order and you are following the calendar, happy New Year, welcome to a brand new year a brand-new year of mourning mindset, and we're actually we're approaching our actual one year anniversary. I'm pretty sure. That it was January 15th of 2018 when we launched this adventure, I believe that's the case so welcome to a brand new year take time off to refresh. Yes indeed, that is what we just did. I just did that during the Christmas break and it's okay to take time off to refresh and rejuvenate your mind and body.
This is one of the hardest things to do for people who are small business owners or contractors people who work for themselves or people who work under contract because you're like time is money, money is time if I'm not working. I'm not making money. It's not so hard actually for people that have if you have a normal 9 to 5 40 hour week job with you know, scheduled vacations and so forth, and then your time off is already pre-planned for you. But for those of you who are out there and you maybe you have two jobs.
Maybe you have a full-time job and you have another job that you do for fun or extra money or what have you and it's very easy. To feel like you're wasting your time or if you take time off you feel like I'm wasting my time or I feel guilty or what have you need to know when to work and when to take time off and I know this may seem silly to some people, but I know a lot of folks out there. Especially young folks that are trying to get ahead. You know you want to be recognized by your company.
You want to be recognized by your peers you want to advance you want to go get that promotion and so forth in your work work work work work work work and especially at this time of the year in my field of endeavor. There are a lot of people in my peer group that are killing themselves because it is trade show season. Yes, Trade Show Season is just about to officially kick off and when trade show season comes along people are working long hours extra hours extra meetings extra planning extra travel and so on.
That's because of that fact that's one of the reasons that a lot of experience larger companies will give their people time off before the trade show season begins because they want them to be what they want them to be fresh and rejuvenated and they say go home take time off don't answer emails. Don't don't text or tweet or whatever just relaxed because we're going to need you. In a few weeks. Why do we need to do this? Why do you mean you're like “Paul, you said at the very beginning that the show was all about, you know positive and productive, and how can I be productive if I'm taking time off? How can I be productive if I'm not answering emails?"
Your body let's say I'm going to use a fitness and strength reference here. How do you strengthen your body, like how do you grow muscles? You grow muscles by stressing them, right? You have to stress your muscles, you have to work your muscles. You actually have to overload your muscles, and when you overload your muscles, when you stress them, they will respond by growing and expanding and net that will make you stronger. That's how the human body works. But in addition to that, if you are on a strength training program and you have a good coach or a mentor, they will remind you that part of your strength training is sleep. You say odd doesn't make any sense at all.
You know, how is how to sleep make you stronger? It is actually during your deep cycle sleep pattern that your body repairs itself. It doesn't repair itself because you're laying on the couch watching TV. It doesn't repair itself because you're sitting at the table, you know, it repairs itself when you're sleeping. It sounds funny or counter-productive. You're like, "Well I want to be strong. So I've got to work(x5). Also in addition to that, if you are serious about gaining strength, you can't you won't gain strength if you go to the gym every day. Many people when they decide they say "I'm going to this is my resolution. I'm going to do it, I'm smart, I'm intelligent, I have motivation. I'm going to the gym every day. I'm going to go five times, you know a week."
Your body cannot grow your muscles can't grow now. You can increase your cardiovascular endurance by going five times a week. You absolutely can but if you're trying to grow strength trying to grow your muscles, they can't because they don't have time to rest. They don't have time to grow. Your mind, your productive mind is the same way. If you try and force your mind to go(x6), produce(x4). Every day and if you take time off, then you're wasting your time. If you don't answer emails that you know within 30 seconds of the moment they arrive you're wasting your time, you're not being productive.
You're not going to get that promotion. Calm down, calm down. Eventually what you will reach as you'll reach a point O overload and you'll be worthless to everyone including yourself. part of being productive. Is knowing when to work when it's important to work and also when it's important to take time off. Just like growing your muscles. You have to sleep. Yes, you know part and as that's a great thing about strength training program is your coaches recommend that you eat and your coaches recommend that you sleep and it's okay to take naps. That's right.
It's absolutely within the training program. To take naps. My wife's Akiko and take a nap, and I said yes, I am is part of my program training regimen my coach told me that I should take a nap, but seriously, ladies and gentlemen, if you hope to lead a positive and a productive life, you need to have balance and you need to figure out when it's time to work and when it's time to. Take a break, turn off your phone. Tell everyone "Look if it's an emergency, call 9-1-1. I'm not answering emails. I'm not answering texts. I'm going to put my phone away and I'm going to go read a book or take a walk or do whatever."
Alright, so this is me telling you that it is okay sometimes to take some time off, refresh and rejuvenate. There's too many R's right there. You want to rest your mind, you want to rejuvenate your body. Alright, that's it for today. Ladies and gentlemen welcome to a brand new year. I'm excited. We're going to do lots and lots of good things in this new year. I am your host Paul Markel and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
The term “resolution” has become a bit of a joke, or a punchline, due to the fact that most people make and break them in a very short time. We will take a close look at resolutions, goals, and challenges to help us improve our lives.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Welcome back to the Morning Mindset podcast. I'm your host Paul Markel, and I hope that during the last week or so. If you're listening to these live, if you're listening to them sometime in the future, the date doesn't really matter. But we took some time off around Christmas time over the Christmas break spend some time with our families and I hope that everyone out there in the audience that you have the opportunity to take some time off to spend the holiday season with your family and relax and enjoy. The holiday season if just for a little while now as I record this and as this is going out it is time to flip over the calendars and begin a brand new year.
What do people do what people talk about when December 31st rolls around, as the end of the year rolls around, people take stock in their lives. They think about what they did what they accomplished what they wish they would have accomplished. During the previous year and then they look forward to the new year and often we hear people making resolutions. Unfortunately, the reality of our world is that the term resolution has become a bit of a joke or a punchline. It's something that late night, you know night talk show comedians for a couple of days. We'll talk about resolutions and jokes and so forth and why is that? Why has the term resolution become a punchline or a joke?
Well, it is because most people make them and break them in a very short period of time whether it's a day or a week or a month, but what is a resolution what is what does it mean to resolve? Essentially a resolution is a promise that you make to yourself. When we talk about resolutions, generally we're not resolving that we're going to do something for someone else we're going to do something for ourselves. It's a promise that we make to ourselves. It's a challenge that we make to ourselves and unfortunately, many of us fall very short during that. But just because the resolution has become a punchline, doesn't mean that it's not worthwhile.
Think of resolutions as goals. We've talked about a previously on this show what short-term goals and Midterm goals and long-term goals, and whether or not it is a goal for let's say your resolution is to blank you want to improve your life. Somehow during the New Year. and you took a look in the mirror, and you said I need, whatever. I need to get a new job, I need to get a better job. I need to make more money, or maybe I need to fix my finances or I need to quit smoking or I want to lose weight. I want to get healthier or stronger or have a better relationship with my spouse a better relationship with my children, whatever it happens to be. That's great.
These are promises that we make to ourselves now when you set a goal if it's a specific goal, let's say you want to buy a new house this year you want to buy a house for the first time ever and you know, your lender said you have to have a minimum of $5,000 down before you can get the loan. So that is a very definite and specific goal. Your goal is to earn X now other times we say well I want to. Lose weight or I want to dis or that now the goal is important but just as important as the goal is the journey toward the goal because if you're serious about it, if you're serious about meeting your goals, whether they're short or mid or long-term goals, then what you will do.
If you're serious about achieving your goals is you will alter your behavior in order to achieve those goals. That's what challenges are often. We see and challenges become the new buzzword and quite frankly YouTube and the internet are wearing it out there wearing out the word challenge and they're watering it down and it's becoming almost pointless but challenges if you challenge yourself. You're challenging yourself. You are saying to yourself. I want to make a change. I want to make an improvement. I want to discipline myself. I want to lead a more positive and productive life and that's fantastic. Now often we fall by the wayside and we get disappointed with ourselves and that is one of the reasons why resolutions get broken.
People will say okay my resolution for this new year as I'm going to quit smoking cigarettes, right and they do good. They do well for a couple days and then the third day in they break down and they smoke a cigarette. Now what most people will do unfortunately is they'll break their resolution and they'll say well that was nice. I broke my resolution. I'm done. I might as well go right back to where I was before. What doesn't have to be the case, you know, let's say your resolution is I'm going to go to the gym three times a week every week all year long and by February 1st, you find that you've gone once or twice or three times in the entire month.
You say well, I broke my resolution. I might as well quit and go back to the way I was no, you don't have to just because you quote break and that's the thing about these New Year's resolutions is people think "Well, I broke my resolution. So that's it for the year. I'll try again in another 11 months. I'll try it again", but doesn't have to be the case, and you shouldn't expect that you're going to be perfect. I saw a picture. I was on the internet and it was a picture of a basically a fit or trim person and it showed them slowly morphing into an overweight, obese person and it said this end the title was it said: "This did not happen overnight." It didn't happen in a week or a month.
Even it took you 20 years from in 20 years. You went from being a physically fit person of you know, recommended weight to wherever you are now and maybe your maybe you that's not your problem. Maybe you're very physically fit right now, but what people expect. It took you 20 years to get to the point where you are 48 pounds overweight or whatever you feel is, you know overweight, and what we do to ourselves as we say, well I'm going to resolve and I'm going to challenge and I'm going to make myself. I'm going to be thin again, and they think that they're going to do it in 30 days. You know, it took you years to get to that position, that point and you think that in 30 days you're going to make this huge change? That's not how people work.
Maybe you've been smoking for 20 years and you want to quit. All right, you can quit you should quit but it's not going to happen overnight and you're going to stumble but just because you stumble does not mean now that you have you have an excuse and that is what we do as a society. We stumble and the very first time we stumble or the very first time that we fall short on our resolution or our path to our goal or our challenge or whatever the first time we stumble we use that as an excuse to quit.
Like "Hell, I broke my resolution, was nice while it lasted but I'm just going to go right back to where I was." No, you don't have to go right back to where you were. You don't have to go back to those negative or bad habits. Stop using it as an excuse. How many times have you heard that either from yourself or from others? Oh, yeah. Well, you know my new year my resolution was I was going to do blank. But then, you know, I was going to cut out sweets or I was going to cut out was it going to drink soda anymore wasn't going to eat, you know cookies or sweets anymore.
How is doing well for a few days and then you know I came home and I was tired and I had a bad day and and I ran for the cookie jar and and well, that's it. What do you mean that's it? Well, I broke my resolution. So it's okay and if we can be completely and totally honest with each other. How many of us have broken resolutions just so that we would have an excuse to go back to The Way We Were. did I slap you in the face with some cold reality? Yeah, that's true. So here's the deal. If you're serious, give yourself a break.
You know, you're going to stumble, it's okay. But if you're genuinely serious about your resolution, about the promise and think about like that when you hear the term resolution, think of it like this a resolution is a promise that you make to yourself. It's an agreement that you make with yourself. You're going to go for a new goal or a challenge or what have you? So just because you stumble just because you fall just because you break your New Year's resolution doesn't mean it's time to quit and go right back to where you were pick yourself up off the ground and drive on. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, well as my calendar is said this is going to go out on New Year's Eve, and so I will talk to you guys again next year. I'm your host Paul Markel, talk to you real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
A common question during the holiday season is, what was the best Christmas present you ever received? That took me some time to think about. But, I have an honest and thoughtful response to that inquiry.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Ho ho ho! Welcome back to the Morning Mindset podcast, and if you're listening to these in order as they are released chronologically per the calendar. It is almost Christmas as a matter of fact, I believe if my show notes are right that this episode. We'll be releasing right before Christmas weekend Christmas weekend. 2018 and if you're listening to these episodes in the future, well, hello future man, or woman welcome from the past. But and also we will be dark Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
A little bit of Showbiz Ligety for you guys there we will be dark on those days. So, what was the best Christmas present you ever received or what was the best Christmas present ever people ask this, you know pretty frequently around the holiday season people will say oh, what's the best present you ever got or you know, what have you and of course there is the expected answer your you could think what if you're an adult with children and a spouse then you're supposed to stop and think "Hmm, I should say whatever gift it was that my wife or husband gave me or then you say well, they expect me to say whatever the macaroni picture that my child made in first grade. That was my favorite one ever."
What have you, these are the expected answers or you could say the birth of our Savior. Jesus Christ is the best present ever and that is, of course, something that is expected of you. But that doesn't really take a whole lot of thought doesn't matter of fact, it takes only the thought of figuring out what other people want to hear and that's the problem that we encounter in our world is often when people ask us questions, Rather than giving them an honest answer we stop and try and think what do they want to hear? What do they want to hear? Do they do they want to hear X, Y, or Z or is that the actual answer?
Now I thought about this, I gave it some honest thought what was the best Christmas present ever or some of the best presents? You know when you're a child you get toys and so forth, and when you're an adult you get practical things like wool socks and ties and underwear and shirts and stuff like that. Like, you know, I got you something. I knew you needed, and your wife's like I know you need new underwear. So here you go there in multiple colors, but what are some of the best presents I've ever received.
Well, I'll tell you thinking back to when I was a young child as opposed to an old child when I was young. I received a Playmobil. If you guys know what Playmobil is Knights of the Round Table playset and if memory serves me there were either six or eight nights, and they had all the accouterments it came with they had little horses and swords and Lance's and helmets and Shields and there was like a little round actually wasn't around table. That was a rectangular table, but there was a throne and I'm sure that there's a crown for the king and so, and I law when I was a kid when I was a young child in the 70s. I loved Playmobil stuff and my absolute number one favorite thing. When was the Playmobil Knights of the Round Table or night or whatever it was?
They called it the knights set, and I would sit on the, you know when I got that Christmas morning, I ripped into that thing and I opened it up. I got all the little figures out and all the little horses and everything and I laid there on the floor of the living room by the Christmas tree and I played with that thing for hours. Why because it inspired my imagination there is no batteries. Nothing lit up. You know that it did they didn't make sounds, there is nothing electronic about them. They didn't make sounds it didn't make lights. There's no app to plug in there was no online upgrade to come up with then when I was older my parents knew that I was and then I got into The Dungeons and Dragons thing and so I would go to the Hobby shop.
I think it was called Hobby Lobby or, Hobby Kingdom. The Hobby Kingdom or whatever and they had these little LED figurines dwarves and elves and nights and fair maidens and monsters and Orcs and goblins and all that stuff, and of course, when you bought them they were just plain. Gray, you know their unfinished and what I did in on Junior High I got the little testers paint kits and I painted them various colors and all that stuff and my parents knew that I was into that when I was in junior high and they bought me this set.
It was a Roman legion set and it had all the little legionnaires and chariots and tiny little figures and you could make dioramas and what have, and I remember that because I got that and I thought it was fantastic and I painted each, you know, all the little characters I painted them and and so forth and I would set up scenes and what have you and when I was you know, the thing about Dungeons dragons is the original most kids don't understand this today. They don't realize it because they all have Xboxes and PlayStations or Wii's whatever, but Dungeons & Dragons really required a tremendous amount of thoughtful creativity and imagination because it wasn't all laid out and played out for you.
I mean you had your little figures and you had your cards and you had so forth, but most of it was in your imagination, and so thinking about the greatest Christmas presents that I ever received. At least when I was a child, the greatest Christmas presents that I ever received were those that caused me or required me or inspired me to use my imagination whether it was the little Playmobil said or a little figurines or what have you, and I guess I had an active imagination or whatever you want to call it when I was a kid, but thinking about that and I would spend hours and hours.
I mean that I when I was in elementary school, I was in elementary school. I was probably well. I know I was I was 10 years old the year that Star Wars came out and we went to see in the movie theater and it was the greatest thing at my ten-year-old eyes had ever witnessed. It was phenomenal it changed my life, and so I immediately assumed well as soon as they're available. I discovered that there were Star Wars action figures and so of course, you know, 10-year-old me, 11-12-year-old me there. I am and I had the Star Wars action figures and the reason the Star Wars action figures, the same thing, you know and inspired my, and that's what I would say.
Now you can do whatever you want. I don't care, maybe it was a football. There's a little football, maybe was a Red Ryder BB gun. I don't know. I never got a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. I was surprised although I gave my child one. I was able to give my youngest child. I gave him a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas many many many years ago. At least for me my honest thoughtful response to that inquiry. What's the best Christmas present ever? Well, if you're talking about sitting, you know at the base of a Christmas tree with all the bright lights and shiny tinsel and ornaments and stuff the best Christmas present I ever got or those that inspired my imagination.
There you go, that is my honest answer to you freaks out there. I hope that you have a wonderful holiday weekend Christmas New Year's whatever it is that you're celebrating, you know, maybe you're celebrating Leif Eriksson day or. What do they do on Seinfeld it a Festivus. I've got over again. Maybe you're celebrating Festivus just year, but regardless, I am your host Paul Markel and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
We all get down or feel down. That is natural. We should focus on and remember things that lift us back up and make us feel good. What in your life lifts you up? Try to spend more time focusing on that. (Filter: Take a Picture, playing my guitar, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to Morning Mindset, I got it right that time. That's right. I am your host Paul Markel. Thank you, once again for joining me for this show for sharing this with other people for leaving comments on your favorite podcast application. Whatever that happens to be today. We're going to talk about what lifts you up. We all get down. We all feel down at certain times we go through highs and lows in our lives. That's what life is all about. That's natural.
But what we need to focus on is not so much the things that get us down or when we do get down when we feel low when we feel bummed out when we feel like we don't want to get out of bed or we don't want to do anything, what have you. Need to focus on things that lift us up? What lifts you up? What makes you feel good? Put you back on your feet, again, Julie Andrews. She sung are saying about it in The Sound of Music.
That's right, it was called favorite things and you older people understand this and you know these younger people are like, what is he talking about raindrops on roses and Whispers on whiskers on kittens, not Whispers and warm woolen mittens. Those are a few of her favorite things when the dog bites when the bee stings when she's feeling sad. She simply remembers her favorite things and then she doesn't feel so bad. That's an actually a concept that's pretty old. But how often do we think about that?
How often when you're feeling down when you get down when you just win the blues have taken a hold of you. Do you have a plan in place to bring you out of it? Or do you just kind of float along? I know I've been guilty of this. Sometimes I've gotten down or felt like, you know, what's the point and I don't have a plan or I didn't put a plan into action. What I want you guys to do is I want you to think about that now it's easy to feel good when everything is going well course, it's natural when you encounter something that makes you, legitimately, seriously just it uplifts you.
It makes you feel good. I don't know what it is, it could be a song. It could be a picture that you look at it could be an episode of a television show. They're the office is a classic American television show. I know it was British first, but no one cares about that. There are certain episodes of the I like the office. It's been off the air for a while now, but it's still available on Netflix and there are certain episodes of the television show The Office that actually just make me feel good. There are certain songs that just instantly it's like an adrenaline rush. It's like a stiff drink or what have you makes me feel good. For instance. The band filter has a song called take a picture. That when I listen to that song it instantly lifts me up.
They're older songs that lift me up. For instance. I talked yesterday about Stairway to Heaven Sarah to have an instantly lift me up because it transforms me back to where I was at the time and I think about that that makes me feel good. Playing my guitar as I said before I'm not I don't claim to be a musician by any stretch of the imagination and I don't play for other people, but when I have the opportunity I sit down by myself, and I play and I don't think about other things. That's the great thing. That's the greatest thing about musical instruments is that when you're focusing on the instrument itself and focusing on trying to hit the right chords and hit the right strings and all of that stuff.
When you're focusing on that, you're not focusing on anything else. You're not focusing on what's got you down or depressed or angry or frustrated or what have you when I'm playing my guitar. I don't think about what's on Facebook or social media or anything as think about the good stuff. What lifts you up? Maybe it's a passage that you have read or a poem or a song or what have you something that I when I if I'm feeling depressed or if I'm feeling like extremely frustrated. I guess. I like to read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. If you guys don't know what Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, it was actually turned into a song many many years ago.
But it's a time for everything and it explains an ecclesiastic that includes you a sees that as humans who inhabit this Earth. There's not only time for happiness. There's also time for sadness. There's not a time for us, for death, but for birth. Birth and death happiness and sadness peace and War there's a time for all things under heaven and when I read that, I reread it. I'm in a pretty much have it memorized by now, but I'll go back and I'll read it. It makes things and puts things into perspective. Sometimes we just need some perspective in our life.
Sometimes when we get down or feeling down or we're bummed out, we just need something to kick-start us to give us that little bit of perspective to make things seem like they're not all that bad. Just like Julie Andrews song sang about or something about what is the correct pronunciation is she sing. She sang she sung. My English professors. I hope they're not listening to this right now. But so. What I want you guys to do when you're feeling good when you're feeling up when you're feeling upbeat and you encounter something and there may be things that you've never thought about. You know, what I forgot about that song Or that passage or that book or that show or whatever set yourself a plan.
Set up a defense mechanism or a defense plan create your own defensive plan against the blues that sometimes we all need to sing the blues and sometimes singing the blues is just part of life and I understand that you know, that's something that Darryl taught Michael singing the blues is sometimes part of life. There's an office joke for you guys for those who get it, Congratulations.
If you don't don't know what to tell you. So what lifts you up and when you find something that lifts you up make a mental note of it so that the next time you need to enact your your plan your defensive plan against the blues you can go and do that thing, and appreciate that thing for what it is whether it's a song whether it's a passage whether it's a book whether it's a musical instrument, whatever it is, maybe it's just petting your dog.
I don't know but think about that consider what it is in your life that lifts you up. All right, ladies and gentlemen, that's all I have for you today. Thank you. Once again for being a part of the Morning Mindset audience. I hope you're enjoying it. I hope you're sharing it with others. Don't be greedy. Don't be greedy. Share this show with other people. I'm sure that there's at least one person that you know, that would get something out of this show, and if you'd like to leave us a message or write us a letter or what have you go to MorningMindsetPodcast.com and you can do that, and if you'd like to get a copy of the book it's available on Amazon, or you can get signed copies from our website. All right, that's it. That's all I have for you guys today Merry Christmas. Happy New Year, and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
We remember those who have wronged us, but we should remember those who have treated us with kindness. Being kind is not just niceness. Sometimes kindness is honesty.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor PaulHello and welcome back to... I almost said the other the name of my other show, but welcome back to Morning Mindset. Yes, I need to remind myself. I need to get myself in a Morning Mindset type of mood before I hit record on the digital recording software that we use here in our studio. Alright, today I'm going to share something personal with you. You're welcome. A lot of people I would say most people probably have a song or a group of songs a playlist that defines their time in high school or their time as a young person.
I have actually several songs. There are several songs that if they come on the radio or if I find them on my phone or a search for them deliberately that I can be transported right there. Right back to where I was at that time when I was listening to it, and one of those songs is Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven and if you're an old codger like me, you're like, "Duh, that's everybody song." But if you're a young crumb crunching Millennial, you're like what that old classic rock song from that old band Led Zeppelin. Yeah, now the reason that I mean other than the obvious that the fact that it is a monster ballad, why Stairway to Heaven means something to me.
That's because when I went to high school in Detroit, I started high school at the time. It was the early 1980s and if you know anything about music history Stairway to Heaven was released in the late 70s, it became a monster hit and the DJ's that DJ'd is high school dances. That song was chosen to be the final dance of the Night song and I don't know how long they had been doing it before I went to high school there and I don't know how long they continue to do it after I was gone. But while I was there Stairway to Heaven and it’s a long song was the that was the signal that this is the last dance of the night. Now in modern times, people would be like, oh that's a stupid song and, you know, dance to that and the fact of the matter is it wasn't really it was a slow song but it wasn't a slow song.
It was a slow song that got faster didn't matter. It didn't matter. Now. The reason that that song means so much to me. Is I recall the Freshman mixer if you guys don't know what a mixer is. This is something that they used to do in the old days before the Advent of Facebook and Snapchat and Instagram and all of these Modern Marvels they wanted. Freshman to get to know each other and to get comfortable with their new school because why because well the fact is the majority of the people that were at the high school didn't go to elementary school or junior high together.
Now I know many areas of the country, you know, you go to elementary school with the same group of kids and then you go to Junior High with the same group of kids and you go to high school with the same group of kids and you know each other from kindergarten through graduation, but when I was going we had a lot of small parochial elementary schools all over the Greater Detroit area, and then we had just a couple handful of high schools, and so all these small parochial Elementary and that basically they went K-8 schools.
You would all get together in this one school and you only knew maybe 20 or 30 people when you actually started your freshman year. So they would have this thing called a freshman mixer and it was a dance and it was only for freshmen because they didn't want the freshmen to be overwhelmed or intimidated by the upperclassmen. Now the people who put it together in addition to teachers obviously was the student council the freshman, sophomore, junior, senior student council members. They put it together, they organized it in all that, and I remember during the Freshman mixer, asking two senior girls. I know I was 14, I asked two senior girls not the same time separately. To dance. and they both did and it was like I was dancing with angels.
I was so far out of my league, but you know what? They said. Yes, they danced with me out there on the gymnasium floor in our socks because you weren't allowed to wear Street shoes on the gym floor, and their names were Janice McPhee and Patty Duffer. He says wow, Paul. How long ago is that Ben? It's been a while take today's date and go back to the fall of 1981, and that's how long it's been. Why do I remember them and why do we remember that dancing water? Remember that because ladies and gentlemen, they were kind. To me every freshman every 13, 14, 15-year-old doesn't matter whether you're a boy or girl. You're self-conscious. You're awkward and I was no different but even though I was an awkward skinny 14-year-old freshman.
These senior girls. Do you guys remember that? Can you can you recall when you were 13 or 14 or even 15 years old looking at the seniors a high school seniors and they just seem so old and wise and mature and so far out of your league, even though today it's funny because if you look at someone that's three or four years older and you're like, yeah, whatever no big deal but back then, you know when you're that young. But those two girls and they're obviously grown women now, but they were kind to me, and I remember that kindness all these years later now kindness doesn't always have to be about just niceness or being you know, smiling and you know false niceness sometimes kindness can just be Honesty.
When I was in infantry school, and I was in the Infantry School in the Marine Corps the sergeant who was in charge of my assault section and I was in assault man so we had an assault section the sergeant who was in charge was a salty infantry marine and he took the time and I talked about him before his name was Fred Sizemore sergeant. He took the time not only to teach us what he was supposed to teach us what it said in the, you know, but he also had the 3-ring binder that said teach these kids this these are the subjects you need to cover. These are the tests. You need to give this is what you have to do according to the rules. He did more than that, and he was honest with us. He told us he said there's the way they say things are, and there's the way things really are in the Infantry in the Marine Corps.
He told us that the Marine Corps you as you might think it's big. It's a large organization. He said but the Marine Corps is a small organization in the global scheme of things and the Infantry is even smaller. He said you might think that you can screw someone over here and you'll never see them again. I said but you will be said or you could treat someone right and do the right thing because then you'll end up in a unit with them a year or two or so from now and you'll already have a relationship established with them the moment you arrived, and Fred Sizemore was absolutely right everywhere. I went in the Marine Corps every base.
I checked into or checked on to every unit I was a part of, I ended up at some point in time running into or being stationed with people, Marines, infantrymen that I had known previously. Now Sergeant Sizemore did not, he would not fit the I guess the general textbook description of kind or kindness, but he was kind to us because he was honest with us and he told us exactly what we could expect out of our new lives out of our lives as Marine Corps infantrymen, and I remember that. I remember that to this day. I remember his name and I remember how he treated us because of the staying power of kindness often. We remember and we dwell on those who have wronged us. It's human nature.
Everyone does it I do it you do we all do it. But what we should be doing is we should be dwelling on we should be remembering we should be thinking fondly of. Those who have treated us with kindness. Now those people that I just mentioned here, they probably didn't think anything of it. They probably, those wonderful young women who were kind enough to dance with an awkward freshman. They probably don't sit at home thinking about that dance or about that freshman they danced with.
Sergeant Sizemore probably had hundreds, if not thousands of young Privates and PFCs go through his school there were in his in the assault section while he was stationed with the school of the Infantry there on Camp Geiger. He probably doesn't remember me as an individual. But that's okay cuz I remember them remember them all. Things that you do that you don't think anything about May resonate with others. If you are honest, if you are kind if you are considerate to other people you have no idea that could resonate with them and stick with them for years and years. There is a definite staying power to kindness. So give it a try. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I am your host Paul Markel and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
How often do you take the time to truly appreciate good service? Do you show appreciation or do you just expect it as a given? Praise in public, correct in private.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Alright, let's get right into it. Welcome back to another episode of Morning mindset podcast and we are on I heart radio and iTunes and Stitcher and all those good things. But if for some reason your favorite podcast player is not working that morning or that afternoon you can always go directly to our dedicated website and the dedicated website is MorningMindsetPodcast.com and the audio links will be there as well as the show notes and all the other good stuff, and if you'd like to send us a message or ask a question or what have you. You can do so directly from our dedicated website. How easy is that? Super easy, yes indeed.
-
When is the last time that you took the time to truly appreciate good service? Have you taken that time and have you gotten any good service lately? Have you done business with a company that went above and beyond? Have you eaten at a restaurant or shopped at a store where they went above and beyond the norm to give you good service a good product a good experience. Good service. Do you show your appreciation or do you just expect that as a given you're like, “Well, that's their job, they should be doing it right and I'm not going to thank them for doing their job, right?” You can be that way. It's true.
-
The fact that matter is we live in a world where unfortunately more people will complain than praise. Unfortunately the fact that that's why that is why when you have a podcast like I do there's a reason why folks like me and all the others that do podcasts and television shows and all that on demand stuff. That will actually ask you we will say if you enjoyed Today's Show, please leave a review. Because unfortunately, the reality is most people if they have a good experience. They just appreciate that experience in their own heart.
-
They think oh that was a good experience and I'll go back again, but they don't say anything about. But those who feel that they were slighted that they didn't get a good experience somehow that it was a bad experience or they didn't get exactly what they wanted when they wanted it. Well, they'll complain it seems that the only time you hear from people is when they have something to complain about. Now Morning Mindset is all about leading a positive and productive life and one of the ways to lead a positive and productive life is not just to be a complainer.
-
That's what everyone does that's the easy default to the world people only speak up when they have something negative to say. Do you want to be that person? Do you want to be the person that only speaks up that only says something when they have something bad to say do you ever have anything good to say have you ever taken the time to let someone know even if it's a complete stranger that they did a good job and that you appreciate it. It's also a sign of maturity. It's also a sign of mental maturity for you to thank people that do a good job and genuinely mean it.
-
We've had a really positive experience. Since we moved to Wyoming since my family moved to Wyoming we move the entire business up here to Wyoming, and the first year we were here we decided that we wanted to give out a Christmas gift baskets to our friends and family members, and we wanted to do something special something, you know from the West something that represented or the west and Wyoming we found a company called the Wyoming Buffalo company or. IO Buffalo.com, and my wife it was it was her job. It was her job to come up with with the gift baskets and arrange them and you know, send them out and so forth, and she was having kind of a hard time.
-
She actually tried several different companies and she got really super frustrated. She was extremely frustrated all she wanted to do was send out gift baskets to our friends and family members and. She found out that she was being led down these click-bait sites or that they were their bait and switch in you know, they would say oh, you know, this gift basket is $29.99 you like what seems like a good deal and then you find out that it's $20 shipping or that that gift basket is a limited thing and the actual one is $49.99 and so on and so.
-
Well, my wife stumbled across this company called the Wyoming Buffalo Company, and what Wyoming Buffalo does is they send out gift baskets and all kinds of Western Americana type stuff like meat that's right and sauces and salsa and all these there's just too much stuff to mention. Well, they took care of her. The woman she called her up and she said hey, I'm having a hard time. I need some help and she said what can I do for you?
-
This and she was fantastic and so actually during this year my when it was not Christmas time. My wife sent her a card sent her note said hey, I just wanna let you know that I really appreciate all the effort that you put into helping me for going the extra mile. We had one situation where a gift basket got lost in shipping. It would Som something happened the shippers lost. It didn't send it. What have you and the person that we were sick because we send everyone a heads up or like heads up?
-
There's a package coming. Let us know when you get it and the person said I never. Received anything and they should have gotten it. So we call the folks. My wife. Did she call the folks at this company Wyoming Buffalo Company and she should arms terribly sorry that that happened and she put together and shipped out a replacement basket that day? Wasn't her fault wasn't the company's fault. It was the shipper's fault because they were morons and they lost it, but that didn't do us any good. Matter of fact she shipped it before we even gave her payment. This Christmas season and all year long. Take the time to let people know when they do a good job.
-
It's a sign of maturity on your part and it'll probably be a relief on their part because let's face facts most of the time if you have a small business if you work in a restaurant or store or shop, the only time you hear from people is when they have something bad to say do you want to be that person do you want to be the person that only speaks up when they have something negative or bad to say? I hope not that's not what this show is all about.
-
I'm not and I'm not saying to ignore, you know, somebody screws up or does something bad or poor you get bad service. I'm not saying to ignore that but don't let that be the only time that you speak up. Somebody goes a good job. Let him know, tell them that you appreciate it. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, that is all I have for you for today. Thank you very much for joining me. I am your host Paul Markel and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Wearing out a pair of running shoes is actually a good thing. If you purchased quality shoes, when they wear out it means that you have actually used them.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to Morning Mindset podcast. I am your host Paul Markel. Thank you. Once again for being a part of this show for sharing it for listening for applying it in your life. All those good things that today we're going to talk about something that is well. Actually, it occurred to me kind of by accident recently. I was playing my guitar now. I'm not a musician by any stretch of the imagination. I own a guitar and I like to sit down and strum the strings and make some noise and it's just for me.
-
It's not for anyone else, but. I looked at my guitar pick a pick that I've had for I don't know several months and it had the original company logo or brand on it and I looked at that pick and I realized that there was just a tiny tiny little bit of the original. I can't remember which brand it was is a black pick and it had a white logo on it. But the logo is basically gone now it's worn off and I realized obviously that. The reason that the logo is worn off of the pick is because I've used it because I've had it in my you know held in my right hand and I've been using it quite a bunch and I was also looking at the guitar and I thought I'm probably going to have to replace these strings pretty soon now from a financial standpoint.
-
You might be thinking. Oh, I don't want to have to do that. I don't want to have to replace strings on a guitar because that cost me money, but when you replace them, what does that mean? Well, it means that you've actually been using right. Let's think about other aspects in our lives other areas such as Fitness, whether its strength training or cardiovascular training or what have you how often or how many times have you worn out your workout shoes your training shoes your running shoes your Crossfit shoes, whatever. How often have you worn those things out?
-
If you haven't worn out a pair of running shoes yet, then guess what that is a really easy simple indicator that you're not doing what you should be doing or at least not what you have planned to do. You should actually look at having to buy new running shoes as an achievement. If you have to buy new running shoes or whatever type shoes athletic shoes, if you have to buy new shoes, that means that you actually use them that you wore them out because you use them so much that now you need new ones, and again from a financial standpoint, you're like, oh man, I gotta buy new ones, but it actually from a psychological standpoint.
-
You should be pleased with yourself. You should be pleased that you have to replace your running shoes your training shoes your workout shoes because that means that you actually put in enough work to wear those suckers out because they don't wear out by themselves. Do they know they don't I was looking at my gym equipment and I was looking at my knee wraps and my wrist wraps and so forth and I was wondering how soon I would need to replace those wraps and I don't want to have to replace those wraps because they're not cheap. But the reason I would have to replace them because I'm using them.
-
Unfortunately, many of us fall into the Trap that we decide we're going to start something doesn't matter what it is a hobby, fitness routine, what have you, and we purchase the gear, and then we never use it when we sell it on eBay or we sell it on Craigslist or we sell it at a yard sale at for a greatly reduced price and it's in great fantastic condition right now. You can go to eBay or Craigslist or what have you and you could probably find Fitness Gear and it'll say, you know, Barely Used or lightly used or like new condition and why is it in like new condition?
-
It's in like-new condition because the person who originally purchased it, they spent the money and they made a well a fragile commitment. They spent the money. They said they were going to do it. They used it. Once twice shoved under the bed put it in the closet and forgot about it. We see this with Sporting Goods gear all the time. How many times have you picked up a set of skis or tennis racket or what have you, and it's just like new used but like new and why is it used but like new it's used but like new.
-
Well, we never followed through with our commitment. If you're going to make a commitment to yourself whether it is to start a new hobby or whether it is to learn a new skill or you're going to get fit or stronger or what have you make that commitment and one of the ways that you can gauge your dedication to that particular commitment is how often do you have to replace that gear? You say "Paul, I don't want to spend a bunch of money on stuff." You already spent money on stuff. Why don't you use that stuff where that stuff out where it out and get new that is how you know that you have actually made them.
-
So my challenge to you as the new year is approaching and I know that many of you out there are looking at the calendars and you're looking at a fresh new year. The Year 2019 is I speak the words into this microphone and you may be sitting there thinking I'm going to do it this year. I'm going to get fit going to lose weight. I'm going to you know, do whatever I'm going to start a new hobby a new recreation and learn a new skill. What condition will your shoes being in March and April and May will you need new shoes or your shoes be sitting in the closet in used but like new condition?
-
My challenge to you is, wear out your shoes. I want you to do it. I want you to wear those things out. I want you to use them so often that they wear out and they have to be replaced, and if you do that, then you know that you are on the right track. Alright, folks. Thank you very much for joining me. Thank you for all of the reviews that you have left over this last year. We're coming up on a year next month. It will be one year since we've launched the Morning Mindset podcast.
-
Holy cow, this year is gone fast. I hope you've enjoyed it. I hope you appreciate it. I hope you share this show with someone else and if you're feeling dedicated or if you're feeling like you want to pick up a coffee mug or a poster or the book an autographed copy of the Morning Mindset book, then you can go to MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I am your host Paul Markel and I'll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
We are often admonished not to reinvent the wheel. That can be good advice. Sometimes we make things harder than they need to be. However, we can indeed make a better wheel when it is called for.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to the Morning Mindset podcast. I am your host Paul Markel, and today we're going to talk about Reinventing the wheel how many times have you been told? Whether it wasn't a professional standpoint a business standpoint or whether you're in school or what have you to not reinvent the wheel. We've often been admonished or we are often admonished by others not to reinvent the wheel, and what does that mean?
Well, if you're young crumb cruncher and you've never heard that for some crazy reason don't try and reinvent the wheel or we don't need to reinvent the wheel simply means we don't need to over think it or a solution already exists, such as the wheel, right? If the solution already exists then use the existing solution. Don't try and come up with a new one when the solution already exists that could be very good advice. However, you know, and we do sometimes when we try to make things harder than they need to be lots of that's where the wheel advice comes in nonetheless.
However, also, can we make a better wheel? Well, if you if you look at it for me a literal standpoint, let's say the original wheel was made of what you know, we all love to see the cartoons or the movies or what-have-you where they portray a caveman. With a chisel and Hammer like cavemen had chisels and hammers. I'm pretty sure cavemen didn't have steel chisels and steel hammers or whatever but all rights as a rock. They're carving a wheel out of stone. Right the original, you know the wheel and someone says, you know, we don't need to make that out of stone. That's way too hard. Let's make it out of wood.
So they made wooden wheels and then someone came along and said, you know wooden wheels are nice and they work but wouldn't it be better if we use some type of a cushioning material and rubber and spokes and are and all that. So it is true that you know, the wheel was invented. I don't know 2,000 years ago or twenty-five hundred years ago or 3000. I don't know long time. When Anacletus was walking around they invented? He had Wheels, right? But the wheels of thousand years ago the wheels of today are different because the wheels are today are more advanced.
Now, you may be confronted with a problem for which you already have a solution or there may be a tool that seems to work pretty well, but the tool could be better, and that ladies and gentlemen, that is the that's the that's the not the solution the conundrum that you will find yourself in. Sometimes people will advise you to okay, you're thinking too hard don't reinvent the wheel we say, okay, but that's when you need to ask yourself. You need to be genuinely honest with yourself and say. Are we really trying to reinvent the wheel? Are we trying to come up with a solution when a solution already exists or we wasting our time or on the other hand, are we trying to take an existing solution an existing tool and make it better to make improvements upon it?
Now you might be saying well. Every time I step forward and I do this I'm always trying to make improvements and that's great if you are, but I've also say this many times when people say don't reinvent the wheel or at least in my own personal experience when I've been admonished not to reinvent the wheel it wasn't because it was impossible to find another solution and it wasn't because. We could not make improvements and the in the way we were doing things it was because the person who told me don't reinvent the wheel did not want to put forth any effort to make improvements.
They didn't want to put any thought into changes because well that would require effort and time and commitment and risk. Yes, risk many people will not attempt to make improvements on anything because they're afraid of the risk. Well, what if I try and I fail our what if I try to do that and someone else doesn't like it or nobody appreciates it or no one gets it or no one understands or what it what if I do all that work and no one cares. Better to just keep things the way that they are. You have to decide what kind of a person you're going to be.
Are you going to be the person that tries to make the wheel better when they can try to make improvements on existing Solutions tools what-have-you ways of doing things or are you going to be the person that tells other people? Whoa pump the brakes slow down there, buddy. Don't think too hard. Have you ever has anyone ever told you? That isn't anyone ever said? Oh you're thinking too hard. You're thinking too hard. Can it be can that be true? Is it possible to think too hard? Hmm, I don't know about thinking too hard.
There is such a thing as overthinking something. But what you have to do when you find yourself in that position, whether it's at work or at home or in a professional relationship or whether you're just being creative. Yeah that little conversation with yourself. So you say am I legitimately overthinking this am I trying to reinvent the wheel or is there a way for me to make the wheel better? Alright, ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to treat a family member or a friend or child you have an adult child or a child who's in high school or Junior High and you want to give them a leg up on life purchase them the book Morning Mindset: a 30 Day Plan for a More Positive and Productive Life. I bet you they'll enjoy it.
I bet you'll get something out of it. If you'd like a signed copy. You can go to MorningMindsetPodcast.com follow the links and it'll take you where you need to go. If you don't want to sign copy and you don't care anything about that, you just want the book and you want it fast go to amazon.com and you can get it Prime shipping and bing-bang-boom will be to you in a couple of days. You can wrap it up and give it as a gift to someone you really care about. I'm even if you don't buy anyone a book.
Even if you don't buy a coffee cup if you believe that there's someone else in your life that could benefit from positive and productive talk and thinking turn them on to the show. Leave us a review let people know about the Morning Mindset podcast. Alright, that's it Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of you. Happy New Year and all that good stuff. I am your host Paul Markel and I'll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Here is a motivational talk for the coaches, teachers, and instructors out there. Heraclitus knew the deal in 500 BC.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to Morning Mindset. I am your host Paul Markel, and I'm glad to be here and I'm glad that you are out there listening now today. I've got one for you guys who find yourself as instructors or coaches or teachers basically anyone who finds himself in a position. Where they need to coach instruct teach other people pass on whether it's physical skills or educational skills, or what have you to a group of individuals a group of people or their it's a sports team or whether it's a classroom full of kids or what have you, and the title is searching for the one I'm going to give you guys a quote and the quote is from Heraclitus of a thesis and Heraclitus according to the internet was a Greek philosopher.
That was pre-socratic. That means he came before Socrates and one of the things that hair Cletus was noted for having to do was to train. Men during the Peloponnesian War. This is 500 BC. So it goes back just a little while and the quote from Heraclitus that has been around for a while in that I've been using for I don't know a decade or more is this. Out of every 100 men, 10 shouldn't even be there. 80 or just targets 9 are real Fighters and we are lucky to have them for they the battle make but the one is a warrior and he will bring the others back here Cletus was talking about training men for the military and he said out of every 100 men that they send me 10 of them shouldn't even be here.
Heraclitus just targets 9 or real fighters and one is a warrior and he will bring them back, and as I said here are Cletus was he was BC. He was a PC guy. He lived in the 500 BC time frame so long time ago more than 2000 years ago if you're keeping score. I had the opportunity to work as a full-time instructor for the United States military and I was working actually as a military contractor for a combat skills school and strangely enough when we started with the school. Our average class sizes were around 60 men and then the military in their Infinite Wisdom decided that.
They needed to put more people through more often, and so they would increase the class size from sixty to a 100 same number of coaches, same number of hours in the day. We're just going to increase the class size to a 100 per class so we can get people through the training, and I can tell you that hair Cletus was 2,000 years ahead of his time. That hair Cletus was a genius because when I examined the classes and I had a lot every month every four weeks we would get a fresh new 100 bodies.
In our combat skills are essential, combat skills school, and I can testify that seriously legitimately. No kidding. Out of every 100 men that they sent us 10 of them shouldn't have even been there. They had no business being at the school. They were oxygen thieves. They were time thieves had no business even being there. 80 of them were there and they didn't hurt anything, but they didn't help either. Then we have the 9 and the 1 and what do you mean Paul by searching for the one if you've ever been a teacher a coach and instructor what have you and especially if you've been one for a while, you know that every class you get every class that shows up you end up with problem children, and when I say problem children, there are adults that are problem children and what do you end up doing?
Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is this when we have a huge class and we have people that are there because well why they're there because they were sent there by their unit by their Commander they're there because they have to be. We're talking about law enforcement training or military training or work workplace-related training where it's a mandated course. Everybody has to go through this training whether they want to or not. You're going to have people in your class that would rather be somewhere else. They're not interested in the subject matter.
They're not interested in learning. They're only there because someone told them that they had to be there, and many of these people become problem children, and as coaches and instructors, what do we end up doing we end up devoting all of our time are in our effort and our attention not to the nine and the one but two those problem children that shouldn't even be there. Anyway, they end up being our attention.
They're basically attention thieves or attention vampires. So rather than devoting ourselves to the students that actually could and would benefit from our wisdom from our experience from our knowledge. We end up babysitting problem children, and I saw that when I was working for the military. I saw that my coaches and instructors and myself even were spending all kinds of Time Babysitting problem children, and that there were people that really legitimately could have used us could have used us to you know, coach them and struck them, you know, give them the benefits of our experience and our training instead.
They weren't and I sat down this is been a long time ago. It's been at least 10 years ago, but I sat down with some of my coaches and instructors and. We talked about this I'm and I you know, the hair Cletus quote I've been using as I said for probably 15 years or more, and I said look, this is the problem. This is the issue that we have is instead. There are people that could genuinely use their good and they could be great if we were able to devote some time and attention and help them. They could go from being good to actually being great.
If we would give them our time and attention I should but instead what we're doing is we're defaulting to the 10 that shouldn't even be here to the problem children, and so my challenge for my coaches and myself from that moment forward was every time we got a class of a 100 instead of searching for the problem children. People that you know that we're going to need to babysit instead I said, what we need to do is we need to be searching for the one. The one that hair Cletus said one of them is a warrior one is a warrior and he will bring the others back, and that's a totally different way of looking at.
If you're a coach a teacher and instructor it's easy to become depressed or frustrated or anxious or just burned out by the problem children. By those who you feel like you're constantly having to fix correct hover over what have you and what do we do? We do that so often that we end up focusing our attention. On the 10th it shouldn't even be there instead of those that could actually use our help. So we need to look at it in a different way. If you are in a position where you're doesn't matter, you don't have to have a 100 you can have a class of 10 or class of five or class of 20 or what have you.
Instead of focusing all of your time and attention looking for the problem children instead. Make a mental commitment to search for the one, and you may not know for a fact who that one is but I bet you you'll know the top 9 and 10 and if you spend that time with the top nine or ten people in the class those who want to be there those who are motivated those who are intelligent and have the drive to actually learn and get better.
You can change them from good to great and you can actually influence and find that one. So ladies and gentlemen that is your assignment for today. If you find yourself in a position where you are a leader with your coach instructor or teacher instead of focusing all your mental energy on the problem children instead search for that one. The one who can be a warrior the one who could be great. I'm your host Paul Markel, and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Why do we give up? Do we give up and quit because the strength of our body fails or does the mind give up first? If you push yourself, you will likely find that the body is far stronger than the minds give it credit.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to Morning Mindset. I am your host Paul Markel, and today we're going to talk about strength physical strength versus mental strength, and yes, there are both kinds of strength. People can be physically strong and mentally weak and then there are some people that are very very mentally strong even though their body wants to give out on them, and I was recently I was under steel was actually in the squat rack, had 300 some pounds on my shoulder and I had to do multiple sets because my coach had programmed me.
Yes, I actually have a strength training coach and my strength training coach. He sends me via the magic of email. He sends me my workouts and he tells me what he wants me to do and then I go and I do it because I have my own home gym. I have my own rack and bench and plates and all that stuff, and so I don't have to travel anywhere except to travel out into my garage to do it.
So but I was underneath the bar underneath the bar bill and I finished my fourth set was a lot of sets that day and I will admit to you guys and when I open up my workout, I usually know about what it's going to be. I have a pretty good idea what he's going to program me for what he's going to tell me to do the amount of weight. Sometimes he'll we mix it up a little bit.
Sometimes it'll be a little bit lighter to give my muscles time to recover, but we want to make sure that we're still doing the movement so we don't get stiff and so on and so forth and I'll admit to you when it's that day when that day comes where I have to do lots of heavy sets my mind says "You know, we have a really comfortable chair that we could be in and it would be nice to sit in that comfortable chair, and now that it's chilly now that it's cold outside. Wouldn't it be great to go sit in that chair and put a blanket over us and watch TV?"
That would be way more fun, that'd be way more enjoyable than being out in this cold garage, getting underneath that steel. That's what the mind says. That's what lazy mind says, and when I was doing the workout, you know, I did the first set I was like “Okay, knock that one out” second and I am okay got that, and third, alright only got one more when we did the fourth one and it occurred to me that from a physical standpoint, it didn't hurt that badly. Yeah, I wasn't completely and totally exhausted.
You know, I didn't have to bend over and grab the grab the bar and hold myself up or anything. I was able to do it. My body was plenty strong enough to get it done. But it was the mind that says hey, this is uncomfortable. Hey, wouldn't it be better if we wanted to use, you know if we did something else if you just go ahead and quit we can go relax and be comfortable? Because the mind wants you to be comfortable our least lazy mind does now when I was in the Marine Corps, and we had to do conditioning marches, which we called humps.
A conditioning March is not running. You're not running but you put all of your field gear packs and weapons and ammunition. If you have it in the, you know, sometimes you don't have the ammunition because it's just an administrative help or whatever, but you're carrying your weapons. You're carrying your packs. You're carrying your helmet, your flack jacket, and all that stuff. You march, you walk. It's not a Cadence Marge, it's not like a close-order drill. You just have to go forward, and you have to keep going forward and then you realize you reach a point where you're extremely uncomfortable and your mind says what are you doing to your body? Why are you doing this? I'm uncomfortable. This is not fun. I don't like this. You should quit.
Your body has the ability to keep going but your mind wants to stop because most people when they become Marines or soldiers or when they enter the military and they're forced to do really hard vigorous things. Most people that is the hardest thing they've ever done in their lives. Now there are obviously exceptions to that. There are people who joined the military who were very skilled high school athletes or maybe even Collegiate athletes.
There are those who had hard lives and worked very hard because they grew up on a farm and farm kids my hat is off to you because. I did spend several years working on a small farm but a professional Farm is back-breaking work. It's uncomfortable. It's up early in the morning. It's de bed late at night. It's doing things that you'd rather not do but they have to be done. That is why Farm kids and athletic kids, kids who are athletes fare far better in basic training than urban city kids do.
I know you can shake your head all you want you're like, oh that's not fair as prejudicial or whatever. No the fact the matter is when you get into a military structure you have to do things that are hard. You have to push your body. That is the purpose of the conditioning March. It's to make you train your mind. You're teaching your mind not to be weak. You're telling your mind "No the body has what it needs."
Very rarely do people ever push their bodies to the point where the muscles actually fatigue and give out and say, nope. No more. That's it guy, got no more for you. I'm just going to fall down here and lay on the ground for a while. Very rarely do humans ever get themselves or push themselves to that point because long before most people would ever get to muscle failure genuine legitimate muscle failure long before they get there their mind is already given up their mind says, oh wow, this is uncomfortable. Let's not do this anymore, and the natural response of people of humans is when the brain when the mine says hey this isn't comfortable. Let's stop they stop, and so they never learn your mind and your body never learn to push yourself.
You never learn to push beyond your normal comfortable limits because the mind doesn't give the body enough credit for being strong. I can tell you out there the vast majority of you who are listening to the sound of my voice right now. I'm going to make a broad sweeping assumption, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the vast majority of you who are listening to me that your body is far stronger than your mind gives you credit. You can do more you can achieve more.
You can succeed far more than your body or your mind gives you credit for. Often the mind says quit when the body could keep going and I know you're out there you might be thinking but Paul I don't want to be an athlete. I don't I'm not, you know involved in physical Endeavors and it's not that big of a deal. the thing about working your body and pushing your body and. That your body is stronger than your mind gives you credit for. Is it when you do that?
When you push Beyond where you've been comfortable when you reach discomfort and you keep going and you push through to the other side, what you're doing is you're training your mind. You're telling your mind. Hey, we can do more. We can go farther. We can survive discomfort. As a matter of fact, we can survive the discomfort and come out on the other end better than we were before.
So ladies and gentlemen, the next time you're in a situation where your mind says, hey, you know, just go ahead and give up we can't do this. It's impossible you might as well not even try just stop now. You need to realize that you have far more strength within you then your mind normally gives you credit for and you need to train your mind. You like no mind. No lazy mind. I am strong and I can do it. Alright, that's it for today. Ladies and gentlemen, I am your host Paul Markel and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Purchasing a tree from a lot is certainly more convenient than cutting your own tree. We find ourselves balancing between an investment in money and an investment in time. It is the time investment that creates memories.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to the Morning Mindset podcast. I am your host Paul Markel. Thank you. Once again for being a part of our listening audience. I truly appreciate it, and if I say that too often if I thank you too often. Well, what you can do to get me to stop is write me a letter to add MorningMindsetPodcast.com and say “Paul, stop thanking me. I don't want you to thank me anymore. Alright, but until then I'm going to continue to thank you. During the previous episode, we talked about memories as Christmas gifts.
-
It was most of us have a lot of stuff at least I do. I have a lot of stuff and I don't really need stuff and I think that I'm at that time in my life where I'd rather have the memories than the stuff. So what did we do here just recently? Well my family and I. We went out to the woods. Yes, that's right. We went up into the mountains into the national forest, and we harvested our own Christmas tree. That's right. I bought the tag, and we stalked and hunted and took it out. Now. I probably could have been doing this when I was younger when I lived in Ohio or even Mississippi because I mean, let's face it.
-
There are pine trees, evergreen trees, just about everywhere in America, but here in the west the National Forest Service actually encourages people to go into the woods and harvest their own Christmas trees and you go into the office and you give them a ten dollar. They give you a yellow or pink or orange tag, whatever.
-
It happens to be that year and little pamphlet instructions on how to harvest a Christmas tree in case you couldn't figure it out for yourself. Yes indeed. They even tell you what you should take along with you when you go out into the woods to get your own Christmas tree. So we did this is the second year in a row that we have done that last year. We did it and it was quite the adventure. Yes, indeed.
-
We did not realize just how much snow was actually going to be on the ground already and we went up above 8000. I guess close to 9,000 feet to get her Christmas tree last year. This year we were a little bit more worldly and a little bit wiser and we did not Venture as far up into the mountains, but we were still I guess around 8,000 maybe 8,500 feet up and up there. The snow was about two feet deeper.
-
So way deeper than it is in town. So but we did we went up we part we went out and we got our tree now is the. Christmas tree the tree that we took out of the woods does it look as full and attractive as a Christmas tree lot tree those that are specifically grown on a Christmas tree farm. They were planted and raised and basically genetically designed to be fluffy full Christmas trees. The answer is no.
-
The tree actually looks like a native evergreen tree that you would get from the forest in the mountains. So the question that many people may ask is would you rather will would you rather have an attractive farm-grown tree and some people will say yes. Absolutely, I don't want some tree that looks like it was growing on the side of a mountain. I want a big fat full tree, and you can go and spend your money and you can stop on the way home from work tomorrow night or in the afternoon.
-
You can drive by the Christmas tree lot and you can exchange $30 or $40 or $50 or however much they're charging for trees and you can take one home and that's great. That's fantastic. Or you can invest your time, and what we did is we spent way more. We invested much more time in our Christmas tree Harvest than we did money, and when you invest the time you're creating memories, and it's up to you.
-
You can do whatever you want. I'm not telling you that you have to, you know, be Clark Griswold and trudge out into the Wilderness to harvest your own Christmas tree. Remember this if you are going to do that you need a. I saw of some sort whether a chainsaw or what I use is I actually have it's a manual chainsaw. It's one of those pack saws those emergency saws. It has two handles on it. It looks like a chainsaw chain, but it has handles. I'll basically they're leather. They're not in the leather nylon straps and you just hold them and you cut the tree like that and that's what I did.
-
We took along a tow rope this year case we had to pull the tree out of the woods, but it turned out that it wasn't that heavy and Zach the shipping ogre just carried it out on his shoulders. But that was our Christmas tree hunt and we didn't spend a whole lot of money, but we invested some time made it probably took us between the time. We left the house and got up into the mountains and got back.
-
We probably had, you know to three hours invested or so and of course my I also had to buy the family lunch. Because I'm the dad and since we all went out into the cold everyone wanted to stop and have a warm lunch inside on the way back which is fine, which is fine so that when you are adventuring out when you're venturing out this Christmas think about that. Will you do you want to spend the money?
-
Or do you want to spend the time and I know sometimes it's just easier to spend the money because you don't feel like you want to waste the time or take the time but every once in a while is I would suggest that you purposely and deliberately invest the time instead of the money, and make those memories that we were talking about previously. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I've got much more for you coming up.
-
I'll be back tomorrow with another one and the as the Christmas season quickly approaches. If there is someone in your life that you feel would benefit from the Morning Mindset podcast or the Morning Mindset. You can either go to Morning Mindset podcast.com follow the links and get them the book Morning Mindset: a 30 Day Plan for a More Positive and Productive Life. The book is available as a signed copy from our official website. You can also get a coffee mug.
-
A motivational coffee mug that you can look at every morning when you're listening to this. That's pretty cool. There's a poster on the store, there's a coffee cup on the store or there's the book on the store and if you don't want any of those. You just go to amazon.com and type in the word Paul Markel. That's me, M-A-R-K-E-L and all of the books that I have written will pop up in front of you including the Morning Mindset book.
-
So get it by it. I'm sure that as you listen to the ship plenty of time to get it before Christmas if you want to give it to someone as a gift. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, that's your instructions go forth and do good things. I am your host Paul Markel, and I'll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
We all have things. Many of us have more things that we want or need. One of the best things you can give your family is something that cannot be purchased in a store; fond memories.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Welcome back to the Morning Mindset podcast. I am once again still indeed your host Paul Markel. Thank you very much for joining me. Now during last week's episodes a couple episodes last week. I talked about Christmas and Christmas Memories some of the memories I had from when I was a very young child and some of the memories that I had when I was a young man, just recently married, had a little son and such. Shared those with you and I keep those memories with me share them with my wife and my family and I wanted to talk today about what I believe is probably the best Christmas gift for your family now, I don't know about you. But if you're if you're similar to me or if you're in a similar position.
-
Each year, you know you will hear from your family. They will ask you what do you want for Christmas or do you want anything for Christmas? We do this with our kids all the time, right Little Johnny Little Suzy we say what do you want for Christmas Johnny? What you want for Christmas Susie the used to be really simple didn't it used to be simple? We wanted a GI Joe with the Kung Fu Grip or we wanted the Six Million Dollar Man. Steve Austin action figure, right? He wanted that I wanted a football or whatever a football.
-
Daisy Red Ryder BB gun 200 shot Range model with a compass in the stock in the thing that tells time it used to be really simple. Didn't it? We were kids. It was simple to just ask for something whatever it was you maybe you wanted ice skates or you know, you name it. But you wanted something simple or something that you'd had your eye on all year, and like I said when I was a kid, there are two times a year that you got toys or presents on your birthday and Christmas and Lord help you if your birthday was close to Christmas.
-
Because then you had to wait a whole rest of the year, you know, if you're born in January, you're kind of shortchanged man because people are like man, I just gave you a Christmas gift and it's your birthday. My son. My son has a January birthday and he gets kind of shortchanged the best way to do it is maybe to have like a June birthday. That way you can spread it out. My we don't do that anymore. We indulge our kids today. We spoil our kids we give them presents and toys all the time. But when you get older, you don't really need toys. You don't really need presents.
-
You know, when you're an adult if there's something that you feel like you need, that you need to satisfy your life, whether it's a new golf clubs or a new bowling ball or whatever. Whatever it is that you see generally you figure out your budget and you just go get it. You don't wait for Christmas you know when you're an adult especially if you're the dad if you're Santa Claus, you don't wait around for Christmas time to ask for a new whatever because you're the one who's in charge of getting this stuff anyway.
-
So, how do we deal with what's the best Christmas gift? What do you want for Christmas Dad? Do you want for Christmas Mom, and most of the time the honest answer is I don't need anything. I don't have to have anything. Now. You always say well, come on dad. I know you don't need anything. But what do you want? I got to give you a present. I got to get you something or you save your wife, you know, she says to you. I don't eat anything this year.
-
Don't get me anything. Which really means you need to get me something but you shouldn't have had to ask me that's what that really means or there's some better be something under the tree because of there's not I'm not going to be happy the best Christmas gift that I can remember ever getting and now that I'm older and I can consider it the best Christmas gifts to me are the memories. Of Christmases past. Are the memories of the times that I spent with my family?
-
As a child the memories of going over to my grandparent's house and having Christmas dinner and exchanging gifts in the living room, and you know, I got gifts that I that I enjoyed when I was very young right after Star Wars was released. I was a child once the original Star Wars came out. I was in elementary school and I immediately got into the Star Wars action figures, and I started collecting Star Wars action figures and one year for Christmas. When I like I said, I was in elementary school. I remember what year it was. It wasn't even 1988. It was in the 70s, but I got a death star playset.
-
That's right, the Death Star playset from my grandma and grandpa for my Star Wars action figures and that was wonderful, but. You know aside from the actual physical things when I think about that now when I go back and think about the Christmases that I've had over my lifetime, I don't think so much about the objects about the things about the toys. I mean you remember things like that because it's nostalgia. But what was more important to me and what has been more important to me, especially as I get older is the memories of the times that I spent with the people in my life where I was and I think about where I was I think about the situation, you know, there were sometimes when I was in the Marine Corps.
-
There was a couple of times a day. Could not go home for Christmas and that's one of the big things at least it was when I was in being in the military and you're in the military, especially if you're in the Infantry and you're deployed all the time, it's will you be home for Christmas? You know, we are home for Christmas this year, and if memory serves I was home for one. When I was active duty, I was able to come home for one Christmas and that there were several times that I made it home, you know a week after Christmas or I got to go home before what have you but one year I wasn't able to go home for Christmas because it just wasn't in the cards.
-
I had Duty and you know, we were doing we were doing our military stuff. But a good friend of mine only lived his hometown was only a few hours away from where we were stationed, and so we got a couple of days off not really enough time for me to fly home and fly back, you know, it's just by the time you get there you're finishing up in your turn around you're coming home again. So we drove over to his house and I spent Christmas with him and his family and it was wonderful.
-
It was wonderful, even though I wasn't able to be with my family. I was able to I was able to share it with him and his family. There were times when I was deployed overseas and I just shared the Christmas holiday with the people in my company my platoon my unit. Then I got married and had kids and so forth and what I'm saying to you is this right now as the Christmas season is approaching. People will say to you. What do you want? Maybe your kids say that? Maybe your spouse says that?
-
I would say and if you're the dad if you're Santa Claus, maybe your responsibility is to help all those other people. Make good Christmas Memories. Your job is to create fond Christmas Memories and sometimes the memories don't seem so fond when they're closed up and they become Van Der as you get farther away from them like trudging up and down the side of a mountain to harvest a Christmas tree to harvest your very own Christmas tree. It doesn't seem that fun when you're actually doing it.
-
After you're done years later, you can talk about it. So if you're the dad if you're the Santa Claus, if you're in charge of getting gifts for people, I would say one of the best gifts that you can give yourself and your family is to do something that creates fond memories. Things that people will carry with them long after the toys and the Trinkets and the ties and you know, all the crazy stuff that you get and you put on the shelf and then you just like don't even know what happens to it long after all that is faded away. You'll have those memories and that is what I hope that each and every one of you will have this year. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I am your host Paul Markel. I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
People tell you all the time to “be professional” or at in a professional manner. However, what does that truly mean? The mere word “professional” is not a magic fix it.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to Morning Mindset podcast. I am your host Paul Markel and I hope that you are ready. Are you mentally ready? Are you psyched up for today's episode, and if not get yourself there real quick. Maybe take a moment, pour yourself a cup of coffee. Do whatever it is you need to do to psych yourself up and get ready for today's show. Alright, keeping in in line with the productive and positive, want to lead positive and productive lives, don't we?
-
Whether it's personally or whether it's in a business aspect or career field or whatever it is. We're endeavoring to do you will hear, and you probably have heard, throughout your life the admonition, the advice, to be professional. At work or you know, you may have been doing something, you may have been engaged in some behavior and a supervisor or a manager or somebody came over and said: “Hey, guys, be professional you need to be professional”.
-
Or you're in a seminar or a training session or something and then the guy up front or the girl up front was advising you and how to deal with customers or contacts or what have you, and they said: “Be professional, always be professional.”How many of you work in an office environment, or have worked in an environment? Where they had some type of one of those posters, you know, the motivational posters or what have you and it advises you to be professional. But how? It doesn't do us any good to just throw those words out say be professional.
-
Okay, that's like telling someone to. Play hard, you know do a good job. We can't just say to do something people need to understand how and sadly I do not believe that the adults of this world have done a very good job of preparing the Utes of America the Utes of this world to be professional. Let me tell you why, when you are a professional, you treat the situation not with levity or as a joke, you treat it as a serious job as something that needs to be done a task that is required something that needs to be completed needs to be done in order to achieve a goal.
-
If you're acting professionally, if you're behaving in a professional manner. You probably have an end goal in mind or you should have some type of a goal in mind right? You say well, I don't know maybe yes, no. Be professional one of the ways to be professional is to leave your personal feelings out of decision-making processes or proceeds. Leave your personal feelings at home leave your personal biases and I know that's difficult extremely difficult.
-
But when you're making decisions, are you making decisions based upon facts based upon Real World experience or are you making decisions based upon your feelings or your emotions, and ladies and gentlemen what we have done I would know. I don't know I guess since the mid-1990s. We have slowly moved away from facts and moved more toward feelings and emotions. We have taught the current generation, the generation that's entering the workplace is early 20-somethings.
-
We've been teaching them for 20 years that. When it comes down to it, the most important thing to them is how they feel. How do you feel about that? How does that make you feel? Is that make you feel? Okay? How do you feel? Well, if you feel like you tried hard will give you a ribbon. You didn't really do anything. You didn't actually accomplish anything. You didn't really put forth any actual effort, but you were there. So here's your Ribbon. Here's your trophy, and why do we give ribbons and trophies to people that don't actually accomplish anything?
-
Well because it's the nice thing to do because we're trying to make everyone feel good. Ladies and gentlemen, you cannot behave in a professional environment. You cannot behave professionally. If you make all of your decisions based upon feelings and emotions, but what if we taught people what if we taught these young people that feelings and emotions are the most important thing in the whole widest world.
-
You wonder why you're in a business environment that is not professional. Maybe it's because of instead of dealing with facts and realistic goals basing our decisions on experience. We're basing them instead upon feelings and emotion. You don't want to do that leadership here on the Morning Mindset podcast. We've gone over the 14 United States Marine Corps leadership traits and what they mean and why they're there. If you looked at "professionalism" and you applied that to the leadership traits, you probably would see that they go hand in hand. Punctuality being where you're supposed to be when you are supposed to be there.
-
That is the sign of a professional fairness and Equity making decisions not based on your own personal feelings, but on actual fact and reality that is being professional treating others with respect and equally treating them based upon. Their Merit and their performance not on whether or not you want to be their buddy or whether or not you want them to like you or whether you like them that is being professional judging people not by their skin color or their sex or what have you but judging people and evaluating them based upon how they actually perform in the workplace and what they do not what they said they were going to do.
-
Not their feelings about a certain thing, but what they've actually accomplished that is being professional. It's not enough folks for us to just say the words be professional because just telling people putting up a poster on the wall that says be professional doesn't do us any good doesn't help us how and if you see a poster that says be professional. There should be the word how question mark but how. Not joking when it's not appropriate now sometimes jokes and levity are appropriate.
-
I don't think I could get through my day. If I didn't make at least a few jokes or smart-alecky comments but understanding when that is appropriate that is the key. Yes indeed. Ladies and. So I think we've nailed on our we've hit on a few Nails here that we can hang our hats on “Be Professional”, how? Jokes, levity, only when it's appropriate to treat people not based on their skin color or their sex or whatever, treat them based on their performance. They either perform very well and did their job correctly or they didn't base their evaluations on that.
-
Base your business decisions, not upon your feelings and emotions, but base your business decisions on fact and experience. What are your goals? What do you hope to accomplish examine those first then make decisions? That's how we act professional, and it's very difficult in this world that we live in because everyone wants to give all their weight. To their emotions, they want to put everything behind their feelings. when we do that. We are not acting in a professional manner.
-
Alright, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for joining me today for this episode of Morning mindset. I truly appreciate it. If you have a friend or a family member that you believe would benefit from this podcast. Please share it with them. Let them know that it is out there Christmas is coming up and is not too late for you to order the book Morning Mindset: a 30 Day Plan for a More Positive and Productive Life. You can get that by going to Morning Mindset podcast.com and ordering a signed copy, or you can just pop over to Amazon and you can order one there. It's as easy as that. I am your host Paul Markel. I'll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Recently Paul had a conversation with someone regarding strength training and the occasional strains and soreness that is common to the process. It the growth and development worth the risk of pain and injury?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Welcome back to Morning Mindset. I am your host Paul Markel and thank you once again for taking the time out of your day to join me for just a small amount of time just a little bit maybe the time it takes you to drink your first cup of coffee, or maybe the time it takes you to commute to work in the morning.
-
Either way, today we're going to talk about growth through pain. Recently, I was talking with someone with a young man about starting strength and about my strength training journey, and I mentioned that I had strained a muscle in my arm and I was currently in the process of rehabbing it and I've done that before I've strained muscles in my legs or in my back or what have you, and it takes time it's frustrating it takes time to fix it.
-
It takes time to come back from that injury, but it's not the end of the world and the old man I was talking to said well, if you're going to be hurting yourself, or if that training or exercise program requires you to hurt yourself. I don't know if that's something that I would be interested in and from a young person's perspective that might seem. Like a good idea or reasonably logical thing now as a person who's been on this decade for this decade on this Earth for five decades. Now I can tell you that I've been involved in a lot of programs where I was sore and strained and injured.
-
I guess we could say now, you know, not tremendously injured. But I played football when I was in high school for a little bit. I was in a big football player, but I did it and I engage in other types of physical activities. I engaged in martial arts types activities and obviously, you know, I was in the Marine Corps. I was in the Infantry and when you're in the Infantry specifically you get injured, people get injured in training all the time. They don't try and injure people. It's not the goal for people to be injured, but it's a hazardous duty and sometimes you get injured.
-
If you're going to grow your muscles. You have you actually when you if you know anything about human physiology when you're growing your muscles, you're growing your muscles because you're breaking them down. You're actually tearing down your muscles, from a truth, you know standpoint from a true standpoint. You're damaging your muscles when you overload them with the steel weights. But then your body responds by what, and sometimes you need to go through some pain in order to achieve some growth.
-
Now this could be applied to us from a well a personal or psychological standpoint. Doesn't necessarily have to be growing muscles or from a fiscal standpoint. Sometimes we need to experience pain in order to grow. That could be any aspect of your life. I don't know what's going on in your life, but understand this just because there's pain involved does not mean that the endeavor is not worthwhile, and it doesn't mean that the endeavor should be avoided sometimes pain is just pain and it's something you should deal with and you need to learn to deal with and get Beyond it and grow.
-
Not going to belabor the point but I wanted to touch on that. I thought was a good topic for Morning Mindset because we're all about being positive and productive here, aren't we? Yes, indeed we are. Alright, ladies and gentlemen. I am your host Paul Markel, and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Paul shares some Christmas memories from a time when he was a young married man and had only one child.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello, let's go ahead and continue on with the season of Christmas and I feel like sharing. So I'm going to. That's a great thing about being the benevolent dictator of this show, is I get to do what I want when I want to do it. That's right, and I didn't get to this position overnight, it took a little while. Going back thinking about Christmas Memories. I've got a lot of very fond Christmas Memories, and one of those and this is one that my wife and I share with each other and we talked about, we have for 20+ years now, is when my wife and I were a young married couple and we had we moved into an apartment and this apartment was part of a large house.
You know, many cities in America, there are large Victorian houses big houses two-story houses, and what do they do? Someone will buy the house and they'll divide it up, you know Upstairs/Downstairs and the divided into Apartments, and we were in one of those types of homes was a large house. It was probably over 40 years old at least when we moved into it, maybe older. So it had really high ceilings. We were on the first floor, and we had high ceilings probably at least 10', 10 foot ceilings, and the first year that we were there this is when we're a young married couple our oldest son, our first son Jarrad was just a toddler at the time.
He wasn’t quite 3-years-old and that's a special time in a little kid's life. Because you know when a child is one or two, you can buy them Christmas presents and you can give them things, but the fact the matter is is you know, a really young child can't really appreciate it. They just as soon play with the wrapping paper in the bows is any kind of a toy. It's not until they get into that pre-kindergarten stage that they can appreciate the Wonder of the shiny, you know, presence and the lights and the colors and all that. So Jarrad was, he wasn't quite 3-years-old yet.
He was almost three at Christmas time and his mother and I, we went out we said we're going to get a Christmas tree, obviously, and we wanted to get a live one or a real one a genuine Christmas tree went to a lot in the snow. It was snowing and purchased a tree purchased a big tree, a tall tree. Tied it to the top of the car, because I did not have a pickup truck then, and did as most people do. You know tied it to the top of the car and drove it home and we set that thing up and it was almost as tall as the ceiling, it filled up the living room.
It was a giant beautiful tree, and Nancy and I decorated it with all the lights and everything, and she started wrapping Christmas presents for Jarrad. Remember, this is the time we only had one child. So you'll have one child you dote on them and you spoil them and she went out and she bought all kinds of things that you know, a three-year-old would like, and she bought coloring books and she bought this's and she bought that, and rather than take the crayons and the coloring book and wrap them all in one or take all the coloring books and wrap them up.
She wrapped every single individual coloring book, and she wrapped the crayons, and that kid had so many presents underneath the tree that when he woke up on Christmas morning, he came out into the living room and I'll never forget this. I'll never forget him standing in the doorway. He had those footie pajamas, you know, the fuzzy footie pajamas that you put your toddlers in, because they're so cute and it keeps them all warm and snuggly. Well, he had yellow footie pajamas on, and he walked into the living room and he stopped and he stood and the tree was all lit up.
It was filled, you know with presents underneath it. and he stared wide-eyed and then we told him he could go ahead and open. So we started handing him presents, we handed him so many, that he got bored with it, and got tired of opening presents. He didn't even want to finish he wanted to play with the stuff that he had and I laughed and I still tease my wife for rapping every single individual coloring book and box of crayons and everything, and she wanted to make sure that he had enough presence open and he did he had plenty of presents to open
It was one of those memories at that, 25 years or while Jarrad's not quite 30 yet, but all these years later, we still remember that that Christmas and that apartment. We only spent maybe a year and a half in that apartment, but we remember we remember that giant tree. I remember him in those yellow footie pajamas, sitting at you know at the foot of the Christmas tree unwrapping every single coloring book and box of crayons and what have you. I hope that you have memories like that and if you're a young person, if you're a young, recently married person, if you have little kids, I hope that you have the opportunity to spend the time with them to take the time to spend with them, and you know, it's tough.
Let me tell you what, you know it we're doing okay now. I mean, I have a car to drive and have a home to live in and I have food to eat. So we're doing alright, but it's hard when you are a young married couple it's difficult. If you are a young married couple right now and you're frustrated because it's tough, understand this. That's the way the world is. It is and the reason that you're able to do it, is because you're young. That's why people have babies and kids when they're young because they have time and patience and energy. But I hope that you, during the season, are able to take some time, make some memories and they don't have you don't have to do everything all at once.
It doesn't have to be Monumental. Sometimes it's just the simplest things. Sometimes it's just the simplest things that really matter, so I'm not going to belabor the point. I just wanted to share that with you. I hope that you appreciate it, and I hope that you're out there wherever you happen to be enjoying Christmas Memories with your family. Alright, folks. I am your host Paul Markel and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Paul takes the time to share some of his fondest Christmas memories from his youth. Merry Christmas everyone.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Okay, welcome to another Morning Mindset podcast. I am your host Paul Markle and it is still the Christmas season and if you would indulge me. If you would I'd like to share with you some of my Christmas Memories now when I was a young man, I was a young child my parents had lots and lots of photo albums. I don't know if people even do people even do that anymore two, people have legitimate photo albums, or is that something that only your grandparents do?
-
But we did we have photo albums and I remember looking at pictures of myself when I was two or three or four years old or five or what have you pictures of sitting on Santa Claus's lap in the mall, you know picture sitting in front of the Christmas tree in my parent's house. But I don't really remember those Christmases. Those are just you know, other people's memories that I that I see that I was there and I was present but I don't remember that one of the first Christmas is that I actually do recall though was when I was in elementary school and we were living in the suburb of Detroit called Roseville, Michigan, if you know anything about the geography of Southern, Michigan and the greater Detroit area there's a lot of suburbs that surround Detroit, Michigan.
-
I was born in Detroit. I was born actually in the city of Detroit, but when I was young I lived in this little subdivision lots of, you know, a suburb named called Roseville, which is right next to Saint Clair Shores and so on and so forth, and I remember we would have a Christmas party at school every year, and we had a gift exchange and I think back then the the gift exchange limit was like two or three dollars, you know, they would tell her moms and dads that that we were and we would bring a gift for a boy or a gift for a girl if you were a girl you brought a girl. If you were a boy you brought a boy gift. Can you imagine that in today's world?
-
Yeah, where there was no gender fluidity when I was we knew in the 1970s that we were either little boys or little girls and we understood that. Even in the second and third grade we did but I remember how excited I would be at the idea of the gift exchange because back then we still put Christmas trees in our classrooms and we would decorate the Christmas trees and we will put the little gifts underneath them and then we had room mothers how many of you guys had room mothers? If you're young and you're listening to me, I don't know if that if they still do that if they still do that, but the room mothers were volunteers.
-
They were moms who volunteered every year to assist the teacher with party's right there. Like the if you guys know the office that the TV show The Office they're like the party planning committee, and the room mothers would always make sure that for our Christmas parties and birthdays and stuff that we had cake or cupcakes usually cupcakes or cookies or punch or juice or whatever it was, and they would come in and they would just kind of oversee it and help the teacher out.
-
But I remember before the last day before we would get out for Christmas break. We would have our little party are in class Christmas party, you know, and we would do the gift exchange and it was always a trepidatious feeling wondering if you were going to get a good gift. Because you knew that there were some kids in your class who are going to show up with really lame gifts. But when I was I don't remember what year it was with it was in third grade or fourth grade or what have you but the gift that I got for the Christmas gift exchanges school was a little red by plane.
-
Yes, it was it was made of metal. It was a toy biplane. It imagined a Hot Wheels car only a little bit larger. Now like the Red Baron would have flown and back then we knew the Red Baron wasn't because it was cool stuff. I remember how excited I was to get that and I came home and that was my main focus for several days because you get out of school. Obviously, you get out of school before Christmas Day. We probably got out three or four days before who knows when it was so there I am at home around the Christmas tree waiting, you know playing. My little toy plane, my little red biplane and to this day I still remember that thing. It was so cool, I was so excited about it.
-
I remember the Christmas season in Michigan as I don't remember Christmas season in Michigan. We didn't have snow. I don't recall one. Sometimes we had a lot of snow. Sometimes we had a little bit of snow, but we would go out. You're ordering that Christmas break myself and my brother and sister and the neighborhood kids because there's always neighborhood kids and at the end of the street we would build snow forts and we'd be out there with our plastic shovels and buckets and so forth making, you know snow fort blocks and what have you and we'd stay out as long as we could until our cheeks were red and our fingers were numb or mittens were all wet, and then we go inside and you know, Mom. My mom would warm us up.
-
She'd make us hot cocoa. We didn't have microwaves back. Then she would actually make it on the stove and she would take all of our wet stuff because my mom was very handy. She would. She needed scarves or crocheted are scarves and she could even do mittens and hats and all that stuff, and of course we'd come trumpet in the house and our hats and mittens and scarves and all that would be wet and she take them and she'd throw them in the dryer, and so by the time we were all done drinking our hot cocoa and we're all warmed up again our stuff would be dry, and at least for me, I would be back out at it.
-
I'd be back out in the snow messing around with my buddies and friends and playing and throwing snowballs and all that until the sun went down and we had to go in for the night, and those were wonderful memories. We didn't have a lot of money when I was young, as a matter of fact, it was hard, it was tough on my mom and dad when I was a young person. I remember having you know, a car would break down or something would go wrong with the family car and there was a time when we only had one car there was often when I was young.
-
It was very common for a family. You know Mom and Dad kids and silver is very common to only have one car to car families. You hadn't had that money and we didn't have a lot of it but we still had everything we needed. We had a warm home to live in we had parents that loved us. We had gifts under the tree even if they weren't super expensive gifts, but we appreciated him. I know I did and I loved I grew up. In the warm embrace of not only my immediate family but my aunts and uncles and cousins and my grandparents on both sides because back then in at least when I was young in the I was born in the 60s and grew up in the 70s.
-
Grandparents and aunts and uncles all lived within a few miles of each other. So it was very easy to you know, visit each other's houses for holidays and so forth and that was something that it's something that I've carried with me all these years and I'm very very tremendously grateful for that. So I thought that if I would just share a little bit with you, we don't always have to be solving all the world's problems in the Morning Mindset right? Sometimes we can just share, have a good time. Alright, folks. I'm going to keep saying this because I can and this is my show. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Despite what you may have been told, Xmas is not a secular way from removing Christ from Christmas. Paul will explain why this is.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Welcome to a brand new week a brand new episode of Morning Mindset, and we actually we are at a benchmark or we reached a kind of a high water mark. I guess you could say in the morning, we did episode 200 last week and now we're moving on. This is episode number 201. How did I come up with 200 things to talk about? I don't know but I did and here we are and we're advancing now as I speak the words into this microphone and this is getting ready to be broadcast out to you. It is now December, that's right.
-
So we're getting ready for the season of Christmas. I know that your local Walmart probably had Christmas decorations out in September, but for me, I don't really start getting excited about the season of Christmas until it is December. Let's talk about understanding the X in Christmas. Now maybe it is you who is guilty of this or you know, someone, a relative or friend, many of us may have an aunt or a grandmother or a mother or an uncle is usually women that get all bunged up about this, but it could be mental.
-
That has told you every year, it seems like that this person rails against the use of X, Mas, and they have contrived to convince you they have told you that that is a secular worldly way of trying to remove Christ from Christmas and you may have seen the bulletin boards or the reader boards out in front of the church that say things like let's keep Christ in Christmas and similar things, right? Well, people who say that don't know anything really about the history of the Christian church, and I'm going to head I'm going to go ahead and quote from an article called The X in Christmas literally means Christ.
-
Yes, it's they're not trying to remove Christ from Christmas by using the X. The article goes "I guess you probably heard the phrase keep Christ in Christmas and so on and so forth. The idea always seems the same, that the usage of X is to rub out or remove Christ from the Christmas season, but that is not the case at all. The X actually comes from the Greek. Christos or Chi, C-H-I, meaning Christos or Christ." I remember when I was a kid, going to church during the Christmas season and I was raised in a Lutheran Church and if you know anything about the Lutheran Church, they are very big on Christmas trees because Martin Luther was really big on Christmas trees.
-
Now, I know that there are people in the in the secular world or even in the Christian world that will debate whether or not Martin Luther was the first person to cut down a pine tree and bring it inside and decorate it and call it a Christmas tree. Some people say that that's not true that it goes all the way back to Pagan the blah-blah-blah, whatever I don't care but the fact the matter is if you grew up in Lutheran Church like I did they put up Christmas trees. Every year big ones and they decorated them with Christian themed ornaments and one of the Christian themed ornaments was a very decorative X, and you're like it's like the letter P over an X, and that is the Christos meaning Jesus Christ. It's shorthand for Jesus Christ.
-
You may have seen the word X IA n used for Christian as a shorthand for Christian and that is perfectly legit. Is a perfectly legit thing to do. So I just wanted to touch on that real quick because and I know I have had my own relatives people that I'm very close with, you know for years have said things they like don't use and what's you know, what's weird or strange about this whole X Mas thing or Christmas thing? I don't recall growing up or in my youth anyone complaining about that.
-
But my entire life as long as I can remember Merry Christmas has been abbreviated X-Mas. I remember being a child being an elementary school seeing that but I don't remember people complaining about it or getting on their high horse about it until recent history. I guess so before during this Advent season during this Christmas season during this holiday season. If you have one of those people in your lives that says, you know that admonishes you never to write out X Mas or that the use of X Mas is the worldly or secular way to try and steal Christmas away from Christ or remove Christ from the Christmas season.
-
Understand this that's not the case at all, and in fact, it's Christians who started using the x or the Greek Chi. As Christos meaning Christ, so the X in Christmas is not it doesn't mean Xmas. It's not like an episode of Futurama where they refer to the holiday is Xmas and it was Christians actually who started using it. So the next time your beloved aunt Susie gets all bunged up and she wants to. She wants to tell you not to use that you might want to say alright, let's go ahead and educate ourselves a little bit and use the language properly and know what we're talking about, and maybe that's part of being a productive and positive individual maybe have it leading a positive and productive life.
-
One of the ways we can do this is actually knowing what we're talking about. Think about that, what a cool concept that is. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, that's all I have for you guys today. It's the Christmas season. I hope you're you're getting excited about it. I hope that you have some I don't know where you're living in the world, but I hope if you live above the frost line that you get some snow for Christmas, and I know it's still early in the season. I'm perfectly aware of that, but I'm into it. Alright, Merry Christmas, and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Accusations of arrogance or being opinionated or even dogmatic are thrown about. But, are those accusations warranted or true? Is it wrong to be opinionated or dogmatic?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Welcome to episode number 200 of the Morning Mindset podcast. Wow, and I've been doing this show for less than a year as I speak the words into this microphone. I hope you're enjoying it. I hope you appreciate it. I hope you like what we've been doing. When I say we me and my producer in the background who you don't ever hear from because I am alone in the studio alone with my thoughts and loan with this carbon steel microphone.
-
Today we're going to talk about opinionated and arrogant or arrogant and opinionated, and it kind of dovetails right in with yesterday's discussion on identifying quality. Now if you have gone out and gotten the experience lived life got an education and training and so forth. You may be better able to identify quality then other people, and for instance, whether it especially when it comes to training, let's see education or types of training or what have you if you go out and you get lots of Education you take lots of classes training courses.
-
What have you, I've done that for 30+years, and so I feel that I am very, very capable of identifying a good trainer, a good training program, a good class, a good instructor. I'm very skilled or well-equipped shall we say to identify high-quality good instruction and poor mediocre or average instruction. It doesn't take me very long to sniff out an average or a poor instructor because well because I've got 30 plus years of experience doing it and what that leads to I may say, I don't like this or I don't appreciate that or I don't endorse this.
-
There are also programs products gear things that I wholeheartedly and very strongly endorse. and the reason that I'm endorsing these things is because I have this experience and the spaces in Education and Training, but when you go forward and endorse something when you endorsed a when there's a training program or whether it is a product or where there is a way of thinking when you endorsed that and when you endorsed it strongly and wholeheartedly you open yourself up to the accusation of arrogance or opinionated.
-
I've been accused of both of those. I've been accused of being arrogant because I believe that I'm right. Or that I believe I'm always right that Paul Markle guy. He always thinks he's right. Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I do. I do think I'm right and the silly and ridiculous thing about that accusation is that people that throw it out? What is the other option? Is the other option? Not believe in your own thoughts not believe in your own decisions. Opinionated people say that guy's very opinionated all I don't I don't like him because he's opinionated.
-
For what makes an opinionated? Well, you know, he said exactly and here's the thing people are often accused of being opinionated because they tell you. with without reservation exactly how they feel about a certain subject. They don't beat around the bush. They don't offer half-truths. They don't temper what they're going to say with political correctness. They say exactly what is on their mind with Noah. No uncertain terms, right and when they do that they're accused of being opinionated.
-
She politicians are rarely accused of being opinionated because they temper everything that comes out of their mouth. They never tell you exactly how they feel they never take a stand on anything because they may need to change it tomorrow or this audience might not like what they have to say so that they have to modify their opinions. Or their thoughts or their decisions or whatever they have to modify their speech based upon whose hearing it. Now when you don't do that. When you offer your own opinions your thoughts your beliefs and you don't take into consideration.
-
Who's listening? You're accused of arrogance you're accused of being opinionated and recently I was listening to Matt and Scott talked about starting strength and some of the people who have criticized starting strength over the years and they've criticized it for being dogmatic. Meaning that there they hold firmly to their beliefs and they refused to change them. Yes, sometimes being dogmatic is actually a good thing. I ask you this if you were looking for someone let's say I don't know, let's go ahead and say something like you wanted to learn how to play the guitar.
-
You wanted someone to teach you and you could pick any person right any person in the world to teach you to play guitar to show you the ins and outs in the upside downs and the Mastery of the guitar. Who would you go to like, you know, when one of those Lottery situations where you could just pick any person, and they would be made available to you to answer all of your questions and to show you what they knew and so forth. Who would you choose would you choose someone that is a master of that for instance, would you choose Eddie Van Halen?
-
Would you choose Eddie Van Halen to teach you the guitar or would you choose somebody that? Well, that doesn't feel that they're very good. It's silly to me, but yet it still exists. people don't appreciate those who they accuse those who have strong truthful opinions of being arrogant people who don't change or modify their thoughts based upon who the audience happens to be that day and they're accused of being dogmatic or opinionated sometimes it's good to be opinionated and I don't know what about the arrogance thing, but I can tell you this if someone has experience education and they have been striving or if they have striven to master, whatever it is their field of endeavor.
Whether it's strength training or you know being a musician or what have you they probably have very very strong feelings about that because they've invested a lot of time and effort into it. So before you're willing to throw out the arrogance label or the opinionated label or you know, before you listen to someone like that you might want to think about exactly where that comes from. I just thought I would date. You know, what the heck I would I would deal with that subject. I would address it because I run into it quite frequently. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, like I said today was episode number 200 of Morning Mindset podcast.
Thank you very much for being a member of this audience. I would truly appreciate it. If you would leave us a rating on whatever podcast player, it is that you use to listen to this and if you purchase the book, Morning Mindset: a 30 Day Plan for a More Positive and Productive Life. Thank you for doing that, and if you would leave a review for that as well, that'd be fantastic. Alright, folks. I'll be back again, and we'll start off with episode 2-0-1 next time. I'm your host Paul Markel, I'll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
How do you know what is really the best? How can you discern quality from the average or the inferior? Experience and education. An 18-year-old Private has no idea if the training he receives is the best, average, or mediocre. The same goes for food, coffee, clothing, gear, etc.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor PaulWelcome back to Morning Mindset, I am your host Paul Markel and I'm happy to be here speaking into this black carbon steel microphone at you, and we're fastly approach or rapidly, we are rapidly approaching episode #200. Yes, I'm sitting here looking at my show notes thinking man. Is it possible? Can we have almost a 200 episodes already? The answer is Yes.
We're going to talk about identifying quality. How do we learn to identify or recognize quality or appreciate? I guess I should say appreciate quality. This is a topic that I decided to talk about or discuss because I had a recent discussion with a couple of friends and we were talking about this very thing. How is it that some people just don't seem to be able to recognize or appreciate quality and why is that? Sadly, I think many people in our world today have substituted convenience for Quality.
If they can get it quick they can get it fast if they can get it immediately. They'd rather have immediacy or convenience than quality. It's set as a fully grown adult a seasoned and mature adult. It is sad to me to think that there are people who would rather have something that is an inferior product, but have it fast or have it delivered conveniently, than to have to wait for something that is a quality product, and it's not always just that.
Sometimes it's the fact that people don't know any better. For instance, and I've mentioned this before, but I think it bears repeating. When people have no basis in experience, education or training, they really can't identify something that is quality or not. Because they don't know. Let's say, for instance, you take an 18-year-old, an 18-year-old College freshman, right? Super impressionable and part of the reason that they're impressionable is because they deceive themselves into believing that they're geniuses that they're super smart, that they know everything.
Now so an 18-year-old takes a class on you fill in the blank philosophy or what have you, and they come away from that class thinking that that Professor is the smartest person they've ever heard. It's the greatest class on philosophy on human philosophy or psychology or whatever it is. It's the best thing and they're they're just overcome by the geniousity of it and how great they think it is. now is that class actually the. Philosophy or psychology or whatever class was at the best information available where that was that person the best instructor the best professor and you say I don't know was here wasn't he the 18-year-old thinks he was, but why does the 18-year-old think?
Because they have nothing to compare it to it's their first ever experience with that thing, and so they have nothing to compare it to. They have no idea whether it was the best available or mediocre or the worst. There are P. I like to you know, I use the phrase that life is too short to drink bad coffee. I will not deliberately drink bad coffee. Now it's not because I knew coming out of the out of the womb in the Cradle. What good coffee was I learned over time? That's right. I went and experience it for myself.
I tried out all kinds of different coffees and I educated myself and after educating myself and gaining lots and lots of experience. I was able to determine. What at least to me is a quality product, and it doesn't matter whether its food or clothing or gear or coffee or what have you many times people settle for mediocre or average and it's not necessarily because they're lazy it's because they just don't have the experience or education or knowledge to discern, and you should have that. She that is why we try so many different things.
That is why human beings can't well, they should I mean you can travel that is why they should travel. Many people believe that their city or the way things had that transpire in their City their Town their Community is the way of the world, and it's not until they travel and go somewhere else. So they realize it's not or folks do not appreciate. Where they live there are many people that think that that the state that they live in at the country the country that they live in is inferior or it's somehow morally wrong or what have you, and that things are better other places and they believe that until they actually go out and experience.
Those other places I have been to many, many countries many continents. I've been in a Cell the country, but I've been on every ocean on planet Earth and I've been on the majority of the continents of planet Earth, and I've seen how people live and I've seen how life is in other countries and I can tell you this compared to them. The United States of America is a pretty good place to live, but I know that and I can make that comparison realistically because I have seen with my own eyes and I've experienced good bad and ugly.
Often we cheat ourselves people in our in our modern world. We deprive ourselves of experiences. We deprive ourselves with the ability to deprive ourselves of the ability. To discern between what is poor or mediocre average or high quality, and we've cheated ourselves because we don't take the time and opportunity to get the experience get the training to get the education to go out there and live life and experience different things, and then after we've done that we can come back and we can say okay.
This is probably better than that. This gear is probably you know higher quality than that gear this food and or coffee or clothing or whatever. Often times people just settle and it makes me you know, but you're a free man, you're a free woman you can do whatever you want. If you never want to leave the town in which you were born if you are perfectly free to do that. You can stay there. You can stay there are some people who never live more than you know, five miles away from the hospital that they were born in and that's fine.
You can do that. But if you do you're really shortchanging yourself, you're like that 18-year-old that has no basis for making any kind of a comparison because they don't know any better at all. So if you really want to be able to identify quality. To know what good food tastes like good coffee. Good gear, good clothing, good gravy, good grief, Charlie Brown. Get your butt out there get some experience get some education and live life. Alright, that's all I've got for you guys today. I am your host Paul Markel, and I will talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone. How do we hold on to 16 as long as we can? That, my friends, is the question.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor PaulAlright, welcome back to get another Morning Mindset podcast and those of you who take the time to actually read the title of today's show, or these shows before you listen to them, you might be thinking "What is he going to make a musical reference?" Yes, he is going to make a musical reference. When I work out when I go into the gym and I pick up the steel and put it down, rinse, lather, and repeat over and over again.
I like to put my phone I take my phone and I pull up the music app and I search out a station and I plug it into the speakers and I listen while I'm working out and I had it plugged into our turned onto a station. I think it was the Amazon Prime music Queen Radio station. If you know anything about this these quote-unquote stations, you pick an artist and they play that artists and other artists from that time frame and that genre that style of music. So there I am doing the thing the other day in the gym, and the song Jack and Diane from John Cougar Mellencamp when I was first introduced to him.
He was John Cougar and then he decided that he was going to go change his slave name back to his birth name, which was John Mellencamp. I grew up. In the early why I came of age in the late 70s early to mid-80s. I graduated from high school in 1985. So when the American full album from John Mellencamp was released in 1982. That was right there right in my bailiwick right during my era Mighty naira freshman-sophomore year, you know that kind of a thing and. Jack and Diane was a big song was a huge song when I was growing up.
A little ditty about Jack and Diane. now if you're my age, if you are around 50 you remember this probably very fondly you remember that it was top of the charts for a long time, like a year or so and I heard that song, I don't know 500,000 times during my teenage years. But I hadn't heard it for quite a while, in fact, the other day when I heard it in the gym was probably I don't know the first time in 10 years or more since I actually listened to the song, and one of the lyrics you know, or the chorus is life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone, and you say well, you know, you probably heard that if you've heard the song Jack and if you've never heard it, if you're a young crumb-crunching Millennial person, go to YouTube and look it up and watch it and listen to it.
This is life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone and it's just holding onto 16 as long as you can change coming around real soon. Make us women and men. and. What's funny about that is when I heard that song when I first heard it, you know going back to 1982 in 1982. I was 15 years old, so I wasn't yet 16 like he was talking about in the song. but think about when you were 16, think about when you were a teenager think back to that time and how every day was. Exciting the prospect of every single day at least to me.
It was exciting everything you did was of great import what you use me what you wore. You know, what kind of clothes you wore who you talk to what kind of car you had or didn't have everything was of critical importance. Right every day was an adventure it seemed I remember being a teenager and if you couldn't like I had there was a girl that I was very much fond of, and if I couldn't see her for one day, you know for if I had gone two or three days without seeing her it seemed like forever.
Or if I had a family obligation, you know when I was 16, 17, 18-years-old. I don't know in high school that a family obligation on a Friday night and I couldn't go out with my friends. It was just it was like the end of the world. Because when you're young everything is fresh and exciting and new, and then what happens to you when you grow up and in the truth is you need to mature what we can't have an entire Society of 16-year-olds of juveniles because people who are juveniles have no concept of the future.
They have no concept of civic responsibility or Duty because everything is all about what they want and they want it now, which is fine. Because that's the way kids are supposed to be but they're supposed to mature over time. But part of what we lose during the maturation process is we lose that thrill. Long after the thrill of living is gone. How many of you have thought about that over the years? Maybe you haven't maybe the first time you did. Life goes on after the thrill is living is gone, and when you first hear that, you know when I was 15, I thought that's kind of weird because you know.
I couldn't imagine at age 15, the thrill is gone because everything was fresh and new and exciting and you know, the world was open to me nothing but the future, and here we are now, I don't know how old you are if you're listening to me you maybe 20s-30s-40s-50s or Beyond. Maybe you're in your 60s or 70s. I don't know. Is there any been thought my audience in their 70s if so, hey, how you doing? But how do we keep that? How can we keep the thrill of living?
Even though we are way beyond 16 now sit changes have come around real soon and made us women and men now we have responsibilities and we have mortgages and we have families that need to be taken care of and we have careers and we have all these things that weigh on our heads. Yeah, teenagers today these Moronic teenagers that stick that you know that the news media finds them and they asked them their opinions. Does anyone else feel that this both ridiculous and insulting at the same time? Some news reporter will go and they'll ask a sixteen-year-old their opinion about anything, and we're supposed to listen like, what basis does an experience in reality?
There's a 15 or 16-year-old have they have none they have none. But how do we as adults? Is there a way that we can keep that thrill of living? I think there is. I think there is one of the things that I enjoy and it may seem simple or simplistic but I really enjoy music. I enjoy the music from my era. But I also enjoy other music as well as I've grown and aged. I've kind of expanded my musical tastes and I like to listen to music when I listen to music.
It makes me feel younger. When I exercise when I do physical training and I don't know I haven't always done the starting strength and the barbell training but you know, I used to hit the bag and I used to do other, you know, physical things. I still do sometimes but that made me feel younger it gave me that thrill. What is it for you? I don't know. I don't know but I just thought you know, I was listening to that and it struck me. It struck me as I was listening to that song that I should come to this microphone and talk about it for a little bit.
Maybe you felt the same way. Maybe that is why we run into trouble as adult humans. You know, why do men, and women, not going to exclude you, women. Why do they get into trouble? Through extramarital Affairs through the use of recreational as opposed to professional or commercial drug use or what. Have you going to going to bars and drinking when you're in your 40s, you know or 30s even 30s or 40s or 50s going to bars and engaging in the behavior. That is self-destructive.
- Because why what? Maybe that's their way of looking for the thrill after The Thrill is Gone. I don't know are there other positive ways that we can look for the thrill that we can reinvigorate ourselves and make ourselves feel like we have that excited 16 17-year-old minds again. I think there are, and we talk about those quite often here on the Morning Mindset podcast. So alright, ladies and gentlemen, according to the clock on the wall is time for me to be quiet and let you guys go to work or get back on with your life, whatever it is you happen to be doing today. I am your host Paul Markel, and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Sometimes cleaning is not enough and you need to apply a fresh coat of paint. The same applies to our lives. Once in a while, we need to apply a fresh coat of paint. Women are good at this, men not so much.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
[INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello, and here we go again, and it's time for yet another Morning Mindset podcast, and I want to take a moment right now to thank all of you out there in the Morning Mindset listening audience. That's right, every one of you who have written us a letter or letter like, you know what I mean. No one actually sends paper letters anymore, but an email or to the Facebook page or what have you, thanking us or acknowledging us telling us that you're listening.
-
I truly appreciate that. Sometimes when I'm sitting here alone in my studio because yes, I am alone in the studio talking into the microphone. I think "Is there anyone out there actually listening?" I hope that there are people listening and I assume that there are other people listening, but when you're in the studio, you're all by yourself talking into the black carbon steel microphone, you don't know.
-
So for those of you that have reached back to us to say "Yes, I have been listening and I have been paying attention. Thank you, thank you very much, and for those of you who have left a review on your favorite podcast application. Whether it's iTunes or iHeartRadio, I just realized recently iHeartRadio is a little bit different than iTunes and some of the others. You have to have so many, you have to have X number of episodes in the can and pre-produced before iHeart Radio will accept you and you have to have been running for so long.
-
It's a certain amount of time before iHeartRadio picks you up. So if you're listening on iHeartRadio, thank you very much, and I hope that you will leave a review to let those folks now. Well, wherever it is iTunes or in Stitcher, Podcast Gallery, there are a thousand podcast players. But leave a review and let those people know that you're paying attention and you're listening because it does matter iTunes pays very close attention to recent and 5★ reviews.
-
The same thing with iHeartRadio and you may not know this and I know I'm going a little longer with just the talky-talk, but that's okay. But when it comes to internal promotion Amazon is the same way in order for Amazon to promote a book internally to their other customers, it has to have a minimum of five 5★ reviews. Until a book has at least five 5★ reviews that have been guaranteed or verified or whatever.
-
They won't promote it internally, that's why when people do these podcasts and write books. That's why they reach out to you and they say "Hello, if you liked the product, please let other people know." You said is the only way that the because I don't talk to people at Amazon on a daily basis. I don't talk to people at iTunes or you know, Stitcher, Podcast Republic or iHeart Radio. I don't have conversations with them.
-
The only way that they know that this is a valuable product and that they should promote it to other people is based upon your reviews. So it does matter. Alright, it is a holiday season and what do most people, or the majority of people do during the holidays? Many of you have family and friends over to your house right for visits and dinners and this is an ATS, and what does that mean? Well, generally it means that you do house cleaning, but you do more than you normally do. I mean most people sweep the kitchen floor and they vacuum and they take out the trash and stuff like that. But when you have friends coming over or relatives coming over, that's when you do the things that you don't do all the time.
-
That's when you dust the heat vents, that's when you pull up the the the rug in the entryway and you mop the entryway floor and you dust the banisters or the railings or what have you, and we're no different. So recently we did the like top-to-bottom thorough detailed cleaning because we anticipated people come on over and like most people, we have a two-story home, and when you enter the front of the house, you have to go up some stairs to get to the main kitchen living room area. Which means that you go upstairs that if there's a banister a handrail there's a handrail there and the handrail it's painted white like the wall.
-
It's the same color as the wall, and what do we all know about white handrails or white handrails get dirty, because people put their dirty paws on them all the time, and so I had the task of scrubbing the handrail, and I did it and what I realized after I cleaned it thoroughly top to bottom was that, even though it was clean, a lot of the paint had started to rub off on the edges on then you know on the ends the top than the bottoms and in certain places in the middle, it had started to rub off, and so what do I need to do now?
-
Well, I realize now I have to actually go through the process of taking the handrail off the wall, unscrewing it all and imma take it out in the garage. I'm going to repaint it because the cleaning is no longer going to cut it, just cleaning it. Now often when you clean things, like for instance you clean the toilets or your bathrooms or whatever, and after a fresh cleaning, it looks all "Wow looks great. It looks brand-new", but with something like a handrail or what have you, eventually you have to break down and you have to put on a fresh coat of paint. Just touching it up, just cleaning. It just wiping it down isn't going to do it anymore. It's not going to cut it, you're going to have to go the extra mile.
-
You can have to put in the extra effort and apply a fresh coat of paint. Now when you do, how many times have you done that? How many times have you said "Well, it's time to paint the porch railings or it's time to paint the fence or it's time to paint the trim on the house or what have you and it's kind of a pain in the butt and you have to go through all the rigmarole of the putting down the tarps and the taping things off and what have you but then once you've done it.
-
When it's over with and you take away the tape and the tarps in the paper and what have you and you examine what you've done you think wow. Looks like new right looks brand-new. It's like a new thing a new whatever new house new porch new this whatever we can apply that same exact thing to our own lives. Every once in a while we examine ourselves. We examine Our Lives. We look in the mirror and we realize that we have to do a little bit of something extra.
-
If you want to feel new again reinvigorated how many times have you found yourself? Whether it's in a work position or just as in life in general that? It's getting its kind of dull. That you're not excited. You're not invigorated. It doesn't you don't your life doesn't seem new or fresh anymore, and how can we calculate we bring that excitement that freshness that newness a little bit more back into our lives? Put a Fresh coat of paint on your life.
-
Now women are really good at this. When women are feeling this way, what did they do, and when women are feeling I don't know that they need something new or be invigorated or what have you? What do they do? They go and they get a brand new haircut, right? They go in they get a brand new haircut or they get new clothes or new shoes or a new coat or new something or other. They go and they do that and that's like putting a new coat of paint on their lives, it makes a change.
-
It's an improvement. Men, not so much. Men, we really get stuck in our ways, don't we? Yeah, we do. I do, I don't know about you, but I do we really get stuck in our ways and often men because we're we're male animals where we put our heads down and we just press-, we're like a bull in a corral and we just put our heads down and we push against the fence and it doesn't give but we keep pushing and pushing and pushing hoping that eventually it'll give and it doesn't. But we just do it because we're men. How can you put a new coat of paint on your life men?
-
Now, men, I'm not telling you that you have to go to the hair salon and get a brand new haircut because it's probably not going to happen. I haven't had a new haircut in 40 years. Well, okay 35 years, maybe a little bit less than that. But 30 years, at least I've had the same haircut and I'm not going to get a new haircut now, but what can you do? What can you do to put a Fresh coat of paint on your life? Well, you could explore a new skill.
-
Is there something you've always wanted to do but you just out but you talked yourself out of it. You're like, well, I always wanted to learn how to blank fill in the blank, whatever. Play the guitar, play the piano, I always wanted to learn how to snow ski, water ski. I mean, it's just I don't know who you are fill in the blank. But first, whatever reason you always put it off and you made her an excuse you like. Well, I'm too old or I'm to this or I'm too busy or what have you maybe now's the time maybe now is the time to decide.
-
You know what? I'm all done waiting, I'm all done making excuses. I'm going to go for it. I'm going to try this new thing. Whatever happens to be. Every once in a while, you have to take out take the time out and put on some new paint and make things fresh. Again. Dave Thomas knew it and those of you who read Dave's Way by Dave Thomas, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Alright, ladies and gentlemen that is it for today. Thank you. Once again for being a part of the Morning Mindset audience. I am your host Paul Markel, I'll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Thanksgiving or the idea of thanks is critically important for the development and maintenance of productive and positive living humans. We teach our children to say “thank you” to teach humility and appreciation.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Welcome back to Morning Mindset, thank you very much for your patience, and I hope that you used this last week to catch up. Yes, we were dark last week the week of Thanksgiving. I took the time off. I took that week off because every once in a while, I need some time off ladies and gentlemen, I need to stoke the fires and recharge the batteries and all the other colloquialisms that we use to figure out how it is. We're going to come up with even more Morning Mindsets. Alright today, I'm going to talk about the importance of thanks.
-
Yes, we are just coming off of the Thanksgiving weekend, and yes, and I also understand that you may be listening to this in the distant future but it still applies Thanksgiving or the idea of thanks is critically important for the development and the maintenance of a productive and positive living human. Yes, think about it. Hopefully, if you had children when you were raising your children, you told them to say thank you. You taught them to say thank you when grandma gives you a gift or present you say thank you. When you take them trick-or-treating they say, “Say thank you.” Now, why is that? He's like, well, it's because it's polite and it's good manners. Yes, you are. Correct. It is polite and it is good manners. But why do we have a season of thanks? Why is it important for us as a culture as a nation as human beings to take the time to give thanks and who are we giving thanks to.
-
See that's another thing that has been lost. Thanks to the commercialization of our modern world. As we who are we giving thanks to and what are we thankful for everybody and maybe not everybody but it's a tradition. Normally. I think that most people on Thanksgiving they take a moment, and they say what they are thankful for that year and it's typical, you know, I'm thankful that my family is healthy. I'm thankful that I have a job. I'm thankful that we have this food to eat and that's good, but the entire concept of Thanksgiving or giving thanks, is a very valuable lesson and it's a productive tool for humans and human development because you see ladies and gentlemen when you give thanks.
-
You have to be or you're demonstrating humility and appreciation. You're taking a moment to say. You know, what? I couldn't have done this or made this happen all on my own through the sheer power of my own will and desire. Giving thanks and demonstrating thankfulness is a sign of humility. Yes, when you thank someone, you know, let's just go back to the, you know, you receive a gift when you thank someone for a gift you are showing humility and appreciation because a gift is not something that you can Demand right a gift is something that is given to you from the benevolence of The Giver.
-
They've decided that you are worthy and they will give you this gift and there's nothing that you could do or say to force that it just happens because that person cares enough about you to do it. We often find in our lives and we see on display very unthankful unappreciative ungrateful humans. Who inhabit our world those who through their actions and their words behave as if they believe that anything and everything that they want and desire at any moment in time is their right to have they demand it. They feel they deserve it and anything they want no matter what it is day or night, they should have it.
-
We view these people only think men that person is one ungrateful SOB. That person is one arrogant SOB. Right, and why do we feel that way? Why do we see that, and why do people behave in that manner? Why do people behave in public in front of our own our eyes in an ungrateful and selfish fashion? That's because they were never taught or they did not grasp the concept of thankfulness. The meaning behind Thanksgiving because if they did if they understood thankfulness, then they would understand humility and appreciation. How to appreciate things that are given to you as a gift that you couldn't demand and you couldn't get without the benevolence of someone else.
-
That's why the season of Thanksgiving is so important. That's why it's important for us as adult human beings to take the time out once in a while to give thanks to genuinely take a moment out of our day out of our week month year, whatever to step back and to be contrite not will not actually contrite but to display humility and exhibit genuine thanks. Because when you thank someone when you are thankful. You are humble. Yes, because you have to be there, you know, is that you don't thank someone. Say "Well I'm going to thank you, but I just deserve this and I should have had it anyway, so regardless" now that's not genuine thankfulness.
-
If we hope to live productive and positive lives if we hope to live productive and positive lives with other people. Because how do you feel when you encounter someone that is ungrateful and selfish. Do you want to be around them? Do you want to spend time around them? Do you want to work with that person? You're probably thinking no. No, I don't want to work with selfish ungrateful a-holes. I want to stay away from them. So you want to be the person that others want to be around you want to be the person that sets the example, correct?
-
I'm hoping that you do that's why you're here. So I just wanted to just take a moment and touch on the importance of Thanksgiving in the season of thanks and why it is that as humans. We teach our children to say thank you. We teach them to do that because we're trying to teach them humility, and sometimes it sticks. Sometimes it sticks, sometimes it doesn't. Teach your children, well teach them to say thank you and as an adult human, every once in a while, it's good for you to step back and say thank you, right?
-
Now I had a question during our off time that actually arrived via the email, and someone said how can I get a signed copy of the Morning Mindset book did I miss it? The answer is no you didn't miss it. All you have to do is go to MorningMindsetPodcast.com, that's right. MorningMindsetPodcast.com, that is the official website of this show, and if you go there, there will be a link that will take you to the store and you can get a signed copy of the Morning Mindset book.
-
You can get an official Morning Mindset coffee mug, in regular or extra large size and I have an extra large cup of coffee in my hand right now. Hmm, or you can get a motivation poster. Yes, my son Zachary who's also the store manager. He came up with the coffee mugs and the poster and what have you and if you don't want to get a signed copy if an autographed copy of the book is not important to you.
-
You don't need my scribble on it, you just want a copy of the book to give to a friend or relative or someone that's cool, too. You can go to amazon.com and type in Paul Markel. That's Paul Markel. That's me, and the book is called Morning Mindset: a 30 Day Plan for a More Positive and Productive Life. Alright, that's it. That's all I got to say for you today to you today. I am your host Paul Markel, talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Although they are often used in a negative way, both repetition and redundancy are both important concepts when it comes to learning and keeping the system running.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor PaulHello, welcome back. Yes, indeed I welcome you every day, and are you glad that I welcome you every day or is me welcoming you every single day, every single episode has that become redundant? Today's episode topic is repetition and redundancy when I was a child, I remember my father scolding me for being redundant, said: "You're being redundant". But let's examine both of those Concepts when it comes to education, and learning, and expanding our brains.
Repetition. How do we learn to do things? Well, how do we learn physical skills? For instance? How do we learn to play the piano? How do we learn to throw a baseball or catch a baseball or a football or what have you or play the guitar? Through repetition, right how many folks are so gifted and so talented that you can hand them a guitar and a pick they will look at it and immediately be able to play a song or a millet e how many people sit down in front of the piano put their hands on it and are immediately able to play the piano.
You say well obviously just about no one. I mean there may be in history a couple of crazy prodigies who are listening to music and they just sit down and immediately take to it. He said but the rest of us, what do we have to do? Well, we have to engage in the process of repetition. If you've ever listened to it's not fun to listen to a child practice the piano or the trumpet or any musical instrument really it's not fun to listen to them.
Why? Because they go back over they start and they make a mistake they go back again and make another mistake. We make a different mistake and they go again and again and again and again, but eventually what happens. If they're dedicated eventually their fingers learn to go where their brain needs them to be, right the brain knows what to do, but it has to convince the fingers to do. That's repetition, repetition and redundancy. Both of those are used as pejoratives or they can be used in a negative connotation. You know, if we're talking about, oh I don't like that blank because it's just a bunch of repetition.
Alright, I don't listen to that guy because he repeats himself or becomes repetitious. You when it comes to education that's something I've been involved in for. I don't know 25 years or so. Educating individuals educating people training them. I've done physical training lots and lots of physical training teaching people to master a physical skill, and I know how to do it and I can teach you how to do it. As a matter of fact, I can sit down with you and over a period of a couple of hours I can show and demonstrate and explain to you everything that you need to perform a certain skill.
But just because I explained it just because I demonstrated it just because I broke it down step-by-step doesn't mean that in a period of two hours you are going to have mastered that skill. You probably won't have. You'll know how to practice, but in order for you to achieve competency and you know some modicum of skill. What you're going to have to do is you're going to take what you were taught and you're going to have to engage in repetition.
So repetition isn't necessarily a negative thing, and when I do educational- when I perform, whether as a coach or as an instructor or a teacher or if I'm writing, and I'm creating some type of educational or instructional material. I deliberately build repetition into that work, and the reason I do it is that it has to be reinforced. That is how human beings learn. I know I know that it's easy to say all this is repetitive. This is just this is just a repetitive exercise. Yeah, and sometimes repetitive exercises are good, and sometimes they're very important now, let's examine redundancy.
What is 'redundancy'? Now if you're using it in the negative, if you're using it as a pejorative being redundant means you're just doing something that someone has already done or you're just repeating or you're following or you're you're doing something that doesn't necessarily need to be done because it already has been. Now when we talk about other things such as Engineers, if you are an engineer, you know that redundancy is not a negative. It's a positive. It's a very important positive for instance an aircraft, an airplane, a jet airliner has numerous redundancy systems.
So that if one wire breaks, can you imagine if you were on an airplane and you probably never thought about this, but if you are in an airplane, and there were wires and tubes and hoses and you know, all these things, you know, a hydraulic system and a pneumatic system and electronic system. If one screw came loose or if one wire broke or if one, you know pneumatic line broke if that one line breaking would bring down the plane how dangerous would that be? If everything had to work, absolutely 100% all the time, you're probably sitting out there. You're like do you mean that's not the case Paul like an airplane night every piece of every airplane isn't perfect every time it takes off.
I don't want to scare you but the fact the matter is when Engineers design things like. They put in multiple redundancy systems so that if one fails or if there's an error somewhere the entire system doesn't crash. On ships on Military warships, they build a numerous redundancy system so that if the ship takes damage in one area, it doesn't take down the entire ship if the bridge is hit. I was actually stationed on board an aircraft carrier for two years as part of the Marine Detachment and I learned a lot in two years and one of the things that I learned as they had this thing up on that building like thing on the flight deck, you know, you guys all know what an aircraft carrier looks like, right?
It's got a big flat top and then it has this building scooted over to the side, right and that's where the steer the ship and that's where the captain is in the slot stuff happens, right? It's like a control tower. Well, I learned when I was on the aircraft carrier that there were numerous redundancy systems built into that ship and that even if during a time of war that the superstructure so they called it if it was completely destroyed. We could still steer and navigate the ship from a different part of the ship because they had built in redundancy systems. Redundancy systems are critical when it comes to emergency things such as firefighting or medical, you know, emergency medical gear.
You always want to have a redundant system for that. So the words repetition and the words redundancy, they're thrown out and often. They're thrown out in a negative light. They're used negatively. But the fact the matter is, repetition and redundancy are both very important and they can be very important positive Concepts. So think about that next time someone says oh this is just repetitive or oh, this is just redundant take a moment to think.
You know, what sometimes repetition is very important for Learning and skill maintenance and redundancy can save your life. Yeah, how about that? Alright, ladies and gentlemen, thank you. Once again for being a part of my audience, part of the Morning Mindset podcast audience. I am your host Paul Markel, and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
We consider the words of General George Patton. What did he have to say about having an active mind and a strong body?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello, welcome back to Morning Mindset, and I've got a topic for you that ties in with my other show. The other show that I happen to do. I was researching And discussing General George Patton's principles for life and Leadership and I was referencing it on the other show and I came across something that I thought would work very well here on the morning. Mindset show I had to be careful when I use the same studio and the same microphones in the same everything to do both shows, and yes every once in a while I slip up and I thank you for being a member of the other audience.
-
I know that you guys are members of the Morning Mindset audience. Yes indeed. What did Patton have to say about an active mind and an active body or a strong body and this chapter? The title of the chapter is an active mind cannot exist in an inactive body, and I've got some quotes from General George Patton here. The first quote is Wars are won by men with strong Wills to win and with strong bodies and then he continued.
-
He said "A strong will to win is more important than a strong body" men have won battles when totally exhausted and near death from injuries. However, that will to win did not get into the brain without having a strong body. You have to keep the body active to keep all the juices running into the right places. General Patton never stopped stressing physical fitness and if you know anything about Patton, you'll know that even into his 50s, he would go out every morning and run and he made sure that his troops knew that he was running because he set the example.
-
He led by example. Nobody made him do it. He didn't have to do it. No one was going to go to his tent and say Hey general you didn't go out and run a mile this morning. What's up now? He did it because he knew that he needed. Into we got another quote here from actually Napoleon Bonaparte and it said Napoleon said it takes The Sword and the spirit to win in war. The spirit is most important in our world today.
-
We seem to believe that we are more enlightened and intelligent than our forefathers or our ancestors were we like to believe we like to deceive ourselves into believing that because we have smartphones and access to the internet and what have you that we've got it all figured out in those old guys. Didn't know what they were talking about. For instance. We see a diminishing role or diminishing stress on the importance of the or of the importance of physical fitness. I witnessed this for a long time.
-
Now several years numerous years, probably 10 or 12 or more where we're diminishing the importance of physical education with our children and one of the things that we should be doing is increasing or. Proving the physical education of our children because the mind and the body work in consort. Your mind cannot be strong. It cannot be well trained all well fueled by oxygenated blood if your body does not support it.
-
Basically your body is the support system for your mind, and when it comes to being positive and productive leading productive and positive lives, we cannot ignore that fact and even Napoleon Bonaparte understood it General George Patton understood it, and here we are in our modern era believing that because we have access to the internet and we have smartphones and we have apps and we have all these things that we can somehow shortcut the system.
-
That we can have strong intelligent well-functioning brains without feeding them the proper nutrition and without exercising our body, and it just doesn't work that way. It really doesn't I've told the story on my other show, but I'll tell you guys one of the things that I had in my old Studio. We used to have a studio and Training Center. We had a fitness center training center, and then we had our recording studios in the other half of the building.
-
So half of the building was for physical training and the other half was for making the radio and the TV and in the radio Studio television Studio side of the building. There was a great big whiteboard, a dry erase board as you guys know and quite often. I would be in the gym part and I would be either on a treadmill or I would be punching the bag. We had a lot of heavy bags and so forth. I'd be doing that, and I would have a thought, and I would have an idea for the rather the TV show or the radio show or a new book or an article or whatever.
-
I would have an idea and I would run all sweaty from the gym side into the other side and I would grab a dry erase marker and I would put notes on the on the board. I tried to take a regular notebook with me into the gym and I found that I would constantly sweat all over it, and I know you guys like you need one of those, right? In the rain tablets man, one of the ones that you can sweat on and it won't mess them up. Yeah, that's probably true. I probably should have had a right in the rain notebook in the gym with me so that I could rain sweat down on it wouldn't ruin the pages.
-
But I realized, you know, that was one of them many times in my life that it was a firm to me that I realized that when I physically exercise when I worked when I sent. You know heavy oxygenated blood flowing through my body up to my brain when my brain was flush with that oxygenated blood that I was able to think clearly and I was able to come up with new and different ideas. I would hope that you have experienced that for yourself if you have not, and I will say this if you are in a position right now in your career or your job or whatever it is you do the where you are stumped.
-
You've been looking for a solution. You've been looking for an answer. You've been looking for a different way to attack a problem or what have you, and you don't feel like you're getting the answers that you need. Get your butt up out of the chair get away from your desk and go. Go stimulate some blood flow go do something physical, to get the oxygenated blood flowing and pump into your brain, and help your brain and your mind to be active.
-
You can't just sit in a chair constantly staring at a computer screen. You got to get up you gotta move around you got to do something physical. Your strong body supports an active mind they work together in concert. Alright in concert. How's that sound so I'm good you guys are leading gentlemen. I am your host Paul Markel. I thank you for being part of the Morning Mindset audience, and I remind you that as Christmas fast approaches.
-
If you would like to give the gift of motivation and inspiration to a friend or relative a loved one, you can get the Morning Mindset book. It's called Morning Mindset: a 30 Day Plan for a More Positive and Productive Life. You can get it at Amazon.com or if you'd like a signed copy, yes indeed. If you'd like a signed copy go to MorningMindsetPodcast.com and follow the links from there. Alright, that's all I've got to say to you guys today and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Before you hit the send button for any type of digital message, take ten seconds to re-read what you wrote and consider the context. You might be glad that you did.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello, welcome back to Morning Mindset. Today we're going to talk about context. I'm going to start with a short personal story as you guys know, I've been writing professionally for 25 plus years now, and I've had a number of editors, and with the Advent of the internet, I was able to communicate with my editors via email. They were able to communicate with me their wants and desires and needs they were able to communicate those with me via electronic mail, and I had one editor who I thought must have really hated me.
-
You say well if your editor hated you, they wouldn't buy stories from you. They wouldn't print your stories if they hated you, but I thought he must have thought I was a jerk or a not nice person, and I understand this is family friendly. Because the emails that he would send me were always very, let's say curt, borderline rude. Borderline sarcastic and I thought man this guy must really think I'm a turd, or a jerk or something. Because every time I get an email from him, it's just the most curt, short, rude thing that I could imagine reading or writing.
-
Well, I thought that until I got together with some other fellow writers at a writers event, and we were talking about writing for this one particular magazine and this one particular editor and I said to him "I've got to ask you guys, when he emails you, just to see you know, how are his emails?" and a friend of mine. He said "Oh, he's terrible. He's the worst email writer in the world" and I said, "Thank the Lord I said, I thought it was me. I thought he was angry at me or that I was a jerk." He didn't like me, nope.
-
He said "No, no, no, we all get those emails. The emails that we get from him are all short, curt, rude and like he's angry at us and here's the thing. He really wasn't here, and he really wasn't a person who was trying to be rude or short or curt or discourteous or what have you. It was the fact that he did not understand the way that his emails and his messages were coming across to other people. He knew what he was trying to say, he knew the information he was trying to convey, and he just assumed that that context would be conveyed to everyone else who was reading it.
-
But it wasn't, what it came across as is he came across as like he was a jerk, and we were butt heads and needing like us it was kind of was very rude. Now today here in this Modern Age, this wonderful Modern Age that we have how much of your personal interactions in your conversations. Let's say in the course of a week how many of your business conversations take place face-to-face or via telephone?
-
Mmm, and you say if you're like most people I would say probably less than half and maybe even a smaller percentage of those of those conversations that you have with people of your interaction with others probably less than half of all of it is either face-to-face or verbal via a telephone. Most of them are what? their via email, or text messages or direct messages or if you have one of these. These when it caught the inner office software programs where everyone works through sent.
-
There's one called Basecamp where everybody works under the same base camp dealio. So you've got all the employees using the same channel and interweb if you will. So a great deal of your correspondence a great deal of your interaction with your peers and friends and business associates, and so forth are via digital message, right? So there you are you compose a digital message but really touch send do yourself a favor? Before you hit the send button, for an email or a digital message via text or basecamp or whatever it is that you're using to transfer your words in a to the eyes of someone else take 10 seconds and reread it, and think about the context think about what you wrote and consider the context and whether or not the people on the other end.
-
Are going to be required to assume or guess your feelings, or whether it is implied? Because you may and this is all you know Morning Mindset is all about leading a more positive and productive life, and sometimes you may alienate other people. You may cause hurt feelings for no reason other than the fact that the messages that you send seem to be rude or Kurt or just short you're being short with them. Or sarcastic or what have you. Sarcasm does not transfer well through digital messaging.
-
Alright, so stop or use it very sparingly use it very sparingly. Often we were being sarcastic in our emails and our messages and we think that we're being funny. But it doesn't come across to the receiver as funny. It comes across to the receiver as we're being a jerk or condescending, and you might say no, that's not what I meant at all. I didn't mean for that to be condescending. I hear the reality of it is this when you send that digital message, it's not like a sentence that you say to someone over the phone if you're on the phone with someone and you say something or face-to-face and they give you that weird look or they say what or understand or whatever.
-
You have the opportunity to clarify whether it's on a phone call or face-to-face, you can clarify your point. You're like, oh no this I want to talk about at all what I meant and then they go. "Oh, okay. I see, I understand what you meant by that and we're good." But you can't do that with a digital message, can you? No you can't. Because what they're going to do is they're going to read that sentence over and over and over again with no context from you.
-
No explanation from you, and they may come out thinking this guy is an a-hole. This guy's a jerk. This guy is a smart alec and he thinks I'm stupid, and you might say "No, that's not it at all. It doesn't matter, right? So. If you want to lead a positive and productive business relationship with other people before you send off and I've done this and I know I've been guilty of doing it and I try to go back and always reread, you know, my messages, especially emails. I'm composing an email to someone I try and go back and reread them, and think about like that. I'm reading it from their perspective, whether the context is there whether they understand it will they understand the context of what I'm saying?
-
Because if they don't then and what's worse is that they come back they're like they may come back to you and say what or I don't understand or can you explain that a little better? But most people won't most people just read it and think what a jerk or they'll forward it to someone else there other co-workers say. Am I wrong or is this guy jerk? It just seemed like he's a jerk and they're like, yeah, he is a jerk. You may not be a jerk. You may not want to be a jerk, but it's coming across that way because the context is being lost.
-
So ladies and gentlemen, you can take one piece of advice from me today before you send another email before you send another message another base camp another whatever take 10 seconds reread it. And consider whether or not the person on the other side, the other side will understand it and realize what you meant. And if not elaborate or just make a phone call. Okay. All right. That's all I got to say about that tub subject. Thank you very much for being a part of the Morning Mindset audience. I'm Paul Markel, I'll talk to you guys again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
With the passing of Stan Lee, we consider life and how we live it. When you depart this earth will others be able to honestly say of you that you led a life well-lived?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to Morning Mindset. I am your host Paul Markel, Thank you once again for taking the time out of your day to join me here for the Morning Mindset podcast, as I sit in front of this microphone and record today's episode. I was just recently, or just I don't know an hour or so ago, made aware of the passing of Marvel Comics Stan Lee.
-
Stan Lee was 95 years old when he passed away. I think that we can all say that Stan Lee probably lived a very, very full life. He was not taken from us in his prime, he wasn't taken from us too early. But regardless of that the fact the matter is when someone an icon like Stan Lee passes when he leaves this world leaves us all behind and makes us feel sad. I mean, I feel sad obviously, I didn't know Stan Lee personally.
-
I never met Stan Lee, but that really doesn't matter because Stan Lee has been a part of my life since. I don't know. I was since I was old enough to walk into a comic book store and give them 35 cents for a common core 45 cents or 50 cents. I don't remember what Comics were, how much they were when I was a little kid when I was 10 11 years. But I spent a lot of time in comic book stores.
-
There was one comic book store, in particular, that was located a few blocks, I don't know quarter of a mile from my house when I was growing up in Detroit and I would walk over there with you know, 50 cents or 75 cents in my pocket, and I knew I could only afford to buy one comic book that day.
-
You know, I had just enough in my pocket to buy one, and if you want to do a comic book shop in the 70s or 80s, there were hundreds literally hundreds and hundreds of titles available to, you know the Spider-Man and the X-Men and the Hulk and the Fantastic Four and the, you know, of course, I'm trying to keep it all Marvel. But of course there is Batman and there was all the other stuff. So there I am agonizing over which comic I'm going to buy with the 2 or 3 quarters. I don't remember what they were.
-
They were definitely way less than a dollar when I was buying comic books. But what was I going to buy was I going to take home with me? What story was I going to keep up with what storyline and I used to go back and forth between storylines like I would get hooked on whether it was a Spider-Man 1 or whatever and I would follow that story for a while and then I would get interested in something else get interested in.
-
I was very big into the X-Men comics when I discovered those, and I follow the X-Men story, The Saga of the X-Men. Angel and you know Cyclops and Wolverine, of course, Wolverine, maybe not of course, but Wolverine was my absolute favorite I think is probably most young boys young men as we were growing up. They idolized Wolverine because he was he was a sassiest smart-aleck, but he was he was strong and he you know did his own thing and he was his own boss and all that and how did.
-
This all became part of our lives. How did in a lot of you guys who are younger you 20-year-olds and 30-year-olds? You may not have ever hung around in comic book stores or comic shops, but the Marvel Universe was made real to you. Thanks to cinema, thanks to Hollywood. I think that we can all say that when we examine the life of Stan Lee that he lived a life. He had a life well-lived, and he left a legacy behind for millions of people now expect that you will be the next Stan Lee or anyone like him, but when someone like Stan Lee departs from us when they leave this earth and they leave us all behind we were in obviously we're sad we're glad for what he has left us.
-
You know, we're going to continue to enjoy. The heroes and the stories that Stan Lee created and he helped bring to life. You know, my grandchildren will probably be enjoying that you know, when they come around I don't have any grandchildren yet, but my son and his wife need to work on that, but I'm just saying the same thing as we examine a life well-lived. This gives us an opportunity for introspection that gives us an opportunity to look at our own lives and when it is time for you to depart from this earth when you have departed whether you depart early or late or meat medium or middle time or whatever.
-
It is Will others be able to honestly say about you if they were to describe you. Would they be able to say that you led a life well-lived? It's not that hard of a question. Not that difficult of a question. But it's a question. Nonetheless that we should all consider, you know when you leave this world will people be able to say about you that you know, if you leave early some people leave us far too soon Bruce Lee, you know Bruce Lee was in his early 30s when he left us. But even though he didn't live to you know, Stan Lee lived three of Bruce Lee's lifetimes, but both Bruce Bruce Lee and Stan Lee and they were not related by the way.
-
I don't believe they were related in any way, but we can say about both those individuals that they low they lived a life well lived before, how'd you take some coffee or something? So when it's time for you to go? And and you depart and leave all of us behind will people be able to examine your life and honestly be able to say that you lived a life well-lived you had and you led a life well lived in shape all you know, you can't expect everyone to be Bruce Lee or Stan Lee or and I didn't mean to just pick out those to lie people there, but just jump to the Forefront of my mind.
-
Do you expect that? No, I don't but what we all have the opportunity to do now, you know when someone like that passes is to look at our own lives and think about you know, when we go, what are we doing with our lives today, and it's a serious question. We're talking, you know Morning Mindset, we talked about being positive and productive leaving leading positive and productive lives. So as you go about your day as you go about your week as you make your plans think about that.
-
Are you making the most of the time that you have available to you? And I'm not talking I'm going to tell him you that you can never watch television. I'm not telling you that you can never relax and just do nothing and veg out now. I'm not saying that at all, but what do you do with your creative moments? What do you do with the time that you have available to you?
-
This question the only you can answer but. When I when someone like this, you know every once in a while and we lose someone, you know, last year. We lost Gene Wilder and I was a huge fan of Gene Wilder's films and we lost him but we could say that he lived a life. Well, let he led a life well lived. So that's all I've got to say to you guys today. I just thought I would come to the radio come to the microphone and talk about my own personal feelings and how I am glad that Stan Lee was in this world.
-
I'm glad that he produced what he did it gave me a lot of joy in my youth and of course as I became an adult I was able to take my children to see the film's the Spider-Man films the X-Men films, you know, the Captain America films and all of that and it's something that I've enjoyed with my children basically their entire lives. So thank you, Stan Lee. Thank you for everything you left behind for us. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, that's all I have to say today. I truly appreciate you guys being a part of the Morning Mindset audience they don't forget there is actually a website.
-
It's called Morning Mindset podcast.com, and if you pop over there, we have a couple of items that you can purchase. My son. Zachary is the use of the guy who takes care of the store. They have been we have an official Morning Mindset coffee cup in two different sizes. If you'd like to Avail yourself to one of those we have posters and of course we have the books. Morning Mindset: a 30 Day Plan for a More Positive and Productive Life and Christmas is coming up and starts the season for giving and if you want to give something to someone that you think they might be able to use to improve their own life. You can either go to the store our store and Morning Mindset podcast, or you can just go over to Amazon and pick one up there either way. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I'm Paul Markel. I'll talk to you again, real soon
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Every year as winter begins, we are treated to advice as to how to keep our minds and bodies active and healthy during the cold and darkness of the season. Most people will also experience and emotional darkness or winter in their lives. What can we do to get through the dark emotional times until the sun comes back out?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
[INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello, welcome back to morning mindset, and if you're listening to this in the morning, either the sun has just risen or you're waiting for it to rise and hopefully, you're drinking a delicious hot coffee beverage. If that is your bag man. If it's not your bag man. Well, then I don't know what else to tell you, drink some tea or something.
-
Welcome to the morning mindset podcast, and today we're going to talk about defeating the darkness. Yes, as I sit down in my studio to record this episode. We just had the rollback of the clocks weekend. We just fell back to Standard time. That's where we were on. I know that not everyone on planet Earth and not every state but.
-
Where I live we do daylight savings time and whether or not you're in favor of it or it doesn't matter the fact that matter is we just roll them back and we're back on Standard Time and also in the northern hemisphere in the United States of America. We're on that Journey that annual Journey around the Sun and what does that mean?
-
It means that the days are now shorter and the Darkness is longer and in the northern hemisphere as I'm speaking the words into this microphone every single day gets shorter and shorter and shorter until we change seasons and they start getting longer again. But what do we do? What is a natural Human Condition every year in the winter time as the days start to get colder and the night's get longer?
-
What do we have? We see the local channel news, you know NewsChannel5 does a how to survive the winter doldrums and so on and so forth and that is important. It is important that we physically. Take care of ourselves that we get enough nutrition that we get enough Vitamins because you know, we're not seeing the Sun as much it's cold our bodies and when the temperature is cold, it's harder for your body to physically fight against the illness Isn't So horse.
-
You need to keep yourself warm. You need to keep yourself healthy, hydrated, make sure you drink enough water and so on and so forth and that's something that's pretty common every year. You know we do that we talk about how to survive in the winter survival plan from tonight it on news channel 11 or when you know, what have you news Channel 12 tight 11 how to survive the winter doldrums and and basically it's the same advice that they regurgitate every single year if you if you've been on the planet as long as I have you know, that your local news channel 5 on your side.
-
They have seasonal stories and every year they Trot out the same story. They might have a different person deliver it and they might you know put in a pop culture reference or something. But basically it's the same story like for instance the daylight savings thing since I was in high school there have been op-eds and opinion pieces and so forth every time we change the clocks.
-
They roll a story they run a story about isn't it time to just go ahead and eliminate daylight savings time or you know daylight savings time was an idea invented, you know concocted by Benjamin Franklin to save whale oil and we don't use whale oil anymore. So who cares and you know or daylight savings time was put in place for farmers and most people aren't Farmers.
-
So who cares every year. The same story over and over again and that's the same thing we get every year when it starts it's darker. Now you may live in the south where it's not really that cold but it's colder, you know, I've lived in the South and it gets down into the 40s and 30s sometimes and but the days definitely are shorter and it is darker, and so we talked about you know, what can we do? How can we keep ourselves physically? Healthy during the winter during the darkness. This is another type of Darkness that enters Our Lives. It's an emotional Darkness. Now, like the winter, like the actual genuine season of winter, that is dark and cold.
-
It's not there forever. It doesn't last all the time. Eventually in and it's not Game of Thrones where we're going to have, you know, 18 years of winter. I don't know what planet they live on in Game of Thrones, but it's obviously not planet Earth because they have Winters that last for decades. No, our winters don't last that long.
-
Even if you live in the in the north and even if you live in the mountains, it still doesn't last forever even though it seems like it might but we also experience on occasion. We experience an emotional Darkness. We experience Dark Times. In our lives where we feel internal that we're living in darkness whether or not there's actually visible light in front of us here and the sun is out or what have you, we feel like we're living in darkness and the truth of the matter is some of the advice.
-
That is given to us every fall when we change the clocks and the days start getting shorter and the night's get longer. We give we get the advice about, you know, take vitamins, take multivitamins, you know to use a tanning bed go to the gym and do things like that, and the truth of the matter is if you're experiencing a time of emotional darkness, which is very natural and it happens to just about everyone some point in time in their life.
-
I'm sure it happens to everyone and may not be happening to you right now or it may you may be in an emotional winter. Now tell you this at winter doesn't last forever even in the north even in Michigan even in Montana. It doesn't last forever, but we still have to deal with it. Don't we just because Winters not going to last forever.
-
We can open our windows and turn off our heaters and say well in three months this will be over. So no big deal. We still have to deal with it. many of the same techniques. That people talk about for dealing with the physical realistic seasonal winter and darkness will help you if you're going through in a period a period of emotional.
-
Darkness, for instance, one of the things that we have myself and the other the shows that I do when I say we have suggested is keeping your mind active and strong and how do we keep our minds active and strong? Well, we don't keep our minds active and Strong by sitting in front of the television and letting it talk to us.
-
We keep our minds active and strong through education. We keep our minds active and strong through Reading. We keep our minds active and strong through exposing ourselves to information and ideas that we may never have before. To new ideas to new information reinforce old ideas and old information that we've known strengthening your mind through Reading. Strengthen your body through exercise legitimate real physical exercise and no walking back and forth to the kitchen to get coffee is not exercising.
-
Okay, exercise has to be really planned and deliberate. It has to be something that you're doing other than your normal routine getting up from your desk walking to the break room pouring coffee and walking back to your desk seven times during the day, is not exercising. So stop trying to tell me it is okay. If you're experiencing emotional Darkness or emotional winter, make sure that you actually are consuming good food. Not a bunch of carbohydrates sugar and crap make sure that you have enough protein in your diet.
-
Make sure that you have enough fiber. I know I sound like a commercial but the truth matter is you needed. Make sure your diet is good, make sure you're doing things and I know you may not want to you know that and that's the hardest thing about winter in the cold and the Darkness is, you want to wrap up in a blanket lay on the couch and just stay there until the sun comes back out again.
-
But laying there under a blanket isn't going to make the Sun come back out. It's not going to help you. You're going to have to make yourself do it, you know, if the make yourself do the physical exercise you're going to make yourself stimulate your mind through Reading. Or whatever we talk about winter projects and hobbies occupying your hands in your mind through projects through physical activities doing things.
-
I don't care if it's knitting, sewing, building model airplanes. I don't care, do something. Do something deliberate and before you know it and that's a great thing about winter projects and keeping yourself busy physically, and mentally if you do that pretty soon. The winter will be over the darkness will be over and the sun will become will come back out again.
-
So you can defeat the darkness and it's not there forever. Alright, ladies and gentlemen that is it for me. I went just over 10 minutes today. I hope you will forgive me. I am your host Paul Markel, I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
How can you help someone that you care about to educate themselves and broaden their horizons? The season of giving is fast approaching. Perhaps instead of purchasing an object that will be quickly discarded, you could give the gift of education.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Welcome back to Morning Mindset. Yes, indeed. I am your host Paul Markel. Thank you for joining me today, I truly appreciate it. Today I'm going to talk to you, let me give you a hint, a secret a trick. I'm going to help you to trick your friends or family members or people that you really care about.
-
I'm going to teach you and we give you a little hint on how to trick them into improving their own lives, and you say "What? You shouldn't have to trick people into improving their own lives." No, you shouldn't, but this little trick actually came to me from a friend of mine.
-
A few years ago, he sent me a message and it was a picture of his father and his father had a book in his hand and he was reading it. He said "My father asked me what I wanted for my birthday this year" and this is a grown man, his father's a grown man, and he said "What I told him was for my birthday, I want you to read this. Look, I don't want you to buy me anything. I don't want you to give me anything. What about your gift to me? We'll be reading this book."
-
Oh, yeah. I know how many people in your life that you care about, you really, whether they're children or parents or spouses or whatever. People that you're close with and you've suggested in the past. You said "I read this book and I really enjoyed it, and I think you'll enjoy it too" and they come back with "Hi, I don't have time, I'm busy, maybe someday" yadda-yadda and he said "Well Paul, if you want to read the book, then you just give them that book as a Christmas gift." Ha ha ha you can do that.
-
But how many times have you given a book as a Christmas gift and it doesn't get read how many times has someone given you a book as a gift? They wrapped it up and they handed it to you and they said happy birthday Merry Christmas. Whatever Happy Guy Fawkes day and they gave you a book, and you say thanks.
-
You took the book, and you said it down and put it on a shelf and it's still there and one of these days you're going to open it. You're going to read it, but that isn't today. That is how we normally do that. That's how we normally encourage other people to read something that we think will benefit them something that we got a lot out of or we enjoyed or whatever and we think that they will too as we wrap up a book and we hand it to him we say.
-
Merry Christmas, happy birthday. Happy Hanukkah, whatever, you know, Happy Leif Leif Eriksson day and they don't read the book. Do they know if they don't they don't read the book? If instead what you do is you say to them this is my copy of this book I read. But I really think you will get something out of it.
-
I think you will benefit from it, and this is you know when people ask and I guess this is really good, it's a good way to gut check people because when people say to you, well, what do you want for Christmas? Yeah, we get that all the time right? Well, Dad, what do you want for Christmas? What is Mom wanting for Christmas?
-
Ask your kids what you want for Christmas, you know people ask you. What do you want for Christmas, and if you're like a typical woman or wife, you'll say I don't need anything. I don't want anything which means you should have been listening all year long to all the things that I wanted and already have those written down and purchased for me.
-
Isn't that right baby? Yeah, but people will ask you they will say "What do you want for Christmas?" and what you can say to them in return is, if someone says "Well, what do you want for Christmas / Hanukkah / Guy Fawkes day", whatever you say. Can I have anything I want within reason and then they look at the Tilt their head and I'll say what if I want something that won't cost hardly any money at all or cost no money.
-
What if what if what I want for Christmas will cost you not one dime won't cost you anything, and now they're sitting there. They're like what? Okay. What's this? What does he want? He wants a coupon book for back rubs or something like that. I won't have you ever got those from your kids. You got the coupon book.
-
This is good for 15 minutes of silence or you know, sweeping the kitchen floor or whatever. Good for taking out the trash you ever notice how kids they'll make a coupon book and for a gift for you and the coupon book will have things in it that they already have to do anyway, like take out the trash or sweep the floor.
-
But you have to you have to exchange a coupon to get that I bet you that's somewhere in a box in my house. I still have a coupon book for my wife. That's what will stay good for one free back rub or something like that or but if they ask you that I okay and if you're sincere if you're genuinely sincere they say what do you want for Christmas?
-
You say I don't you spend any money on me, but I do want a gift, and then they say oh, what is that? Your gift to me will be reading this book and you hand them a book, and you say that will be your gift to me this year is if you read this book if you read the words that are in this that's all I want.
-
Now you may have a person in your life who will cringe and like can I just give you twenty dollars, or a card, can I just give you an iTunes gift card? Can I do that? Nope, nope. All you said what do you want for Christmas, and the answer is I want your gift to me is you reading this book and it kind of turns it around doesn't it has anyone ever done that to you.
-
Is that as anyone ever said hey you asked me what I wanted for my birthday and what I want is for you to read this book. That is your gift to me is to read this book, and obviously, it's a two-way gift. You're giving to them you're making them do something that they probably wouldn't do on their own if you just wrap up a book and hand it to him for Christmas and they open it.
-
They'll look at it and smile and say thank you, then. They'll set it aside and then they'll go put it on a shelf and then a year from now, it'll still be on that shelf and will be on red. So if you really if you read something this year that motivated you that inspired you that you think someone could benefit from but they're that person.
-
You know, now you may have somebody in your life that loves to get books as gifts, and they're excited to get books as gifts. Sadly, most people aren't. So how do you get them to do that? How do you give them the gift of Education or Enlightenment or what have you? Well, that's one way I just taught you.
-
I just gave it to you and thank you, Matt, for reminding me that that's what I could do, and that's something that people can do. So as the season of giving is fast approaching us. Someone says what do you want for Christmas from me and I like. Alright. This is what I want and you'll find out really fast whether they're genuinely serious about giving you a gift for Christmas or if they just want you to have what they want you to have and there are those people in our lives.
-
There are those people in our Lives who they're going to give us what they want us to have. Not what we actually want ourselves. Either way. It's going to be an eye-opening experience. I guarantee it just like that guy from the suit Factory. Alright, ladies and gentlemen that is it for another Morning Mindset. I am your host Paul Markel and I will talk to you again hopefully real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
The recently released biography film about Queen and Freddie Mercury will mean different things to different people. Paul will share what the movie meant to him during this episode of Morning Mindset.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello, welcome back. It's that time again for Morning Mindset, and today I'm going to do something. That's a little bit topical. I know that I try and keep these Universal. I've always tried to do that so that no matter when you listen to it, whether it's sometime in the distant future or recent past or what have you. That it will apply and I'm taking a little bit of a risk because this is going to be a bit of a pop culture reference the movie Bohemian Rhapsody the movie by the title of that name was just recently released.
-
It’s a biography film about the band Queen and their lead singer Freddie Mercury who died in 1991, and that I took my son my son and I went and we watched the movie this past weekend and I really enjoyed it and one of the reasons I really enjoyed it or I believe I did was because the music of Queen was. Very very important in my childhood. It was very popular. They were at the height of their Fame right during my formative years the late 1970s on into the 80s and that's when they were they released.
-
We will rock you and news of the world and the game with another one bites the dust and under pressure with David Bowie and so on and so forth. A lot of big songs that obviously got a lot of AirPlay and if you're if you're anyone and I don't know about young people today, I mean, I guess they do but everybody since the invention of the radio has had a soundtrack to their youth.
-
Whether you know, I remember when I was a young child, you know in like elementary school early Elementary School. I remember my dad and my mom listening to what was called at the time oldies stations. That's right. You know my mom and dad I'm driving around in the car and the in the station wagon in the backseat and my parents were listening to them.
-
At the time was called the oldies station and what was on the oldies station music from the 50s and 60s. I don't have do they still have radio stations that they call the oldies stations. I don't know if they do. I think at the current thing is classic rock. Alright, classic rock is for people in their 40s and 50s and maybe even 60s.
-
So, you know Chuck Berry and basically the music you would have heard on the TV show. Happy Days. That was the soundtrack of my mom and dad's generation and my soundtrack included a lot included Ted Nugent and the romantics and The Knack and My Sharona and of course a lot of the big bands and so forth, but my soundtrack also included Queen now the movie is going to mean different things to different people a young person.
-
Who never knew the band Queen as an active band now, I understand that Brian May and Roger Taylor that they have done special concerts and they've done some tours and they put together some music. They worked with Paul Rodgers and some other artists, but essentially. After Freddie Mercury passed away after his death the original quartet the original four guys and the creative magic that they were able to, you know, put together ended with his death and if you're under 30, you never knew of him of queen or pretty Mercury being alive.
-
I mean, he's been dead for not quite 30 years now, so think about that. You're talking to somebody that's 28-29 years old. It's music basically to them its history in them and they'll they may see this picture and think that the picture somehow is a call for like, gay rights advocacy or what have you, and I'm afraid what's going to get lost in that is the fact that the band, like many of the great acts from the 60s 70s 80s.
-
I know like I still like a classic rock as 60s 70s 80s into Ding you. These bands it what there was no American Idol back. Then there was no Dancing with the Stars. There was no America's Got Talent or the there was none of that you had teenagers that that just had passion and drive and some of them have actually had genuine talent and some of these people with Talent found each other, and through that passion and drive and sacrifice, you know all the old bands that you consider to be of the super bands. If you look at their stories, they weren't handpicked by a studio Executives didn't go out and recruit all these people to assemble them as a band and put them out in front of the world.
-
Now, they did things like, you know, they played a gig at a nightclub for. You know fifty dollars and they had to divide the $50 for ways and pay their bar tab and pay for their fuel and gas and by the time they did all that they basically had played for free if you were able to watch some of these documentaries of the original bands, you know, rush or queen or you know, the who or you name it a lot of these bands these guys were just paying their dues they were struggling they were sacrificing and a lot of, for instance that in the band Queen all of the guys in the band Brian May, Brian May was like a physicist who studies like, astrophysics and I can't remember John Deacon was electrical engineering and then oh and Roger Taylor was studying to be a dentist. So they weren't idiots. They weren't bombs, but they sacrificed.
-
In order to achieve something that many people by will look at today and say it was pretty great. They put everything together and they became a talent that even though they haven't made our produce new music for 30 years or more. So almost 30 years people are still listening to and appreciating today, and that is what I would hope that people would get from the movie Bohemian Rhapsody the fact that I know there's a human drama, you know, there's the and you have to have that in movies. You have to have drama in the movies to keep it interesting for the audience. You can't just tell the story exactly as it was because most people story exactly as it was isn't that interesting but in this situation.
-
I really hope that the genius, the musical genius, and talent of Freddie Mercury and Brian May and Roger Taylor and John Deacon, but that's not lost. But it's not lost behind this Hollywood contrived, you know, political correctness. Shall we say or social Consciousness or whatever the fact that matter is it for individuals came together?
-
They had, they took their individual talents. They combine them with the others and they came up with something that was tremendous something that we can enjoy today and years and years and years later, I mean. Started in the early 1970s and here we are today appreciating and enjoying the music that they left us and one other thing that I came away with and many of you if you watch them.
-
If you listen to this program if you listen to Morning Mindset and you watch the movie, and then if you're a geek like me and after the movie, you went and watch the behind the scenes interviews with Brian May and Roger Taylor and you know the actors that were involved at and so forth and a lot of people are very sad that that. Freddie Mercury, he contracted he contracted HIV and he died of pneumonia in 1991 and he was only 45 years old and people feel felt.
-
It was a tragedy that we've lost him. So relatively early in his life and it was but Brian May and Roger Taylor are now in a position to do what. you know, they lost their friend. But they're here to tell the story. Sometimes you are the story and sometimes it's up to you to be the Storyteller right now.
-
You're drawn oxygen on planet Earth. You are working on your story and someday your story will be told and that was exactly what went down in the movie Bohemian Rhapsody. So it's rated PG-13 if you're worried about I wouldn't take young kids to see it. Certainly teenagers Junior High and older kids, I would take to see it. I hope you guys go to see it and I hope you enjoy the music and the experience. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, that is that I am your host Paul Markel, and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
In this world of political correctness, censorship, and constant fear of offending, it can be extremely difficult to find some genuine wholesome family entertainment. We don’t have all of the answers, but we do have one suggestion for the upcoming Christmas season.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello, welcome back to Morning Mindset. I am still your host Paul Markel. Yes indeedy do and I'm glad that you took the time out of your day to spend just a moment a few moments maybe with me and today we're going to talk about wholesome family entertainment. Yes, and. Eat if you're about my age, or maybe even older you remember a time in the United States of America when there actually was wholesome family entertainment, entertainment for the entire family that that moms and dads and brothers and sisters could all sit down and could enjoy together, and they could enjoy it without being preached to by liberal Hollywood insiders.
-
They could enjoy the movie without worrying that people were going to be offended or without watching a movie that had been sterilized. Because people were going to be offended or could potentially be offended. We had to look at that movie and decide whether or not there's anyone out there in the world that might be offended by it, and if so, it has to be sterilized.
-
It has to be centered. No, I was raised in a country where we had good wholesome family entertainment and it wasn't sterilized and it wasn't censored because moms and dads were just expected to know what was best for their children and something that I am very very grateful that I've been able to enjoy my entire adult life and well the entire time I've been a dad.
-
Now the movie was out before then I'm talking about A Christmas Story. A Christmas Story with Ralphie in the BB gun Randy and you know, Mama and Papa and Mom and Dad all that, you know, the old man, you know, that's that's Darren McGavin since title in the movie. His title as "The Old Man", but A Christmas Story actually came out when I was in high school, and I didn't pay a lot of attention to it because I was 16 17 years old and and there was only a couple of things in the world that I was really concerned about at the time and Christmas movies weren't one of them but as I grew older I grew to appreciate it and I essentially memorized the whole movie know by now, but I've had I have kids that are grown and they're adults and ever since they were little kids.
-
We've enjoyed watching this movie together and it's very it's very gratifying to me that I was able to do that and now my children who are grown and you know, some of them have their own families they can make that part of their own Christmas tradition. Now, the reason I wanted to share this with you, I know that you guys are like, "Yeah, okay Paul, we know that the movies out there you just telling us to go watch the movie." Hmm, kind of, but there's something else. There is this place that you can go to and it's called A Christmas Story house. Now if you guys are serious hardcore cinephiles or moving Geeks, you will know that the movie A Christmas Story was filmed in two locations.
-
It was filmed in both Canada and in Northern, Ohio. The school scenes were filmed in Canada and the outdoor scenes the Higbie scenes the house Ralphie's house walking up and down the street in the snow and all that that was filmed in just outside of Cleveland little suburb area of Cleveland. I'm not sure what the exact area of Cleveland is, but will the house.
-
It went up for sale a few years ago, or I don't know almost 10 years ago by now. The house went up for sale and a guy bought it a fan of the movie bought the house and he invested his own money in restoring the house, and not only did He restored the house to what it looked like in the movie.
-
There's also a Christmas story gift shop and Museum right across the street and recently I just discovered that he bought the house next door, and if you guys are fans of a Christmas story, you know that the who lived in the house next door 875 smelly hound dogs the Bumpus', the Bumpus' lived next door.
-
That's right, and they bought the bump his house. So now they own the Christmas Story house and it's been restored to look like it would have in the late 30s early 1940s. They bought the bumpers house and the bump is the house is a guest house you can go and you can stay there very very cool. Very cool.
-
So this Christmas season the reason I know all about this and I can speak so highly of it is because of my family and I the very first. That they open the Christmas Story house and it's actually probably been more than 10 years now, but the very first year they opened it. We went to Cleveland and we went to the Renaissance Hotel and they had an autograph signing and pictures with many not all but many of the original cast members.
-
They flew in. Some of them are actually still local and some of them just flew in from California or wherever they're from to do pictures and autographs we got. For the house and a good gift bag with all kinds of memorabilia and goodies and so forth and it was a wonderful family experience. There was no Hollywood political correctness.
-
There was no censoring there was no worrying about who's going to be offended by this or not. It was just literally one of those things that that. I knew from my childhood and we need to find as a nation again. We really do so if I can offer you one piece of advice this coming holiday season and when my family and I went when we visit it was the Thanksgiving weekend.
-
I think it was the Friday after Thanksgiving that we went and we toured the house and did our little. If I can make a suggestion to you, if you are in that area of the United States of America if you were in the Cleveland, Ohio area, or if you're within driving distance, if you're within driving distance of Cleveland, Ohio, I would definitely put A Christmas Story house on your list of things to do this holiday season load the kids up in the car and drive over there, and spend the day, you know get a hotel room or what have you and I know they're actually people that actually the fly in from all over the United States just so that they can do that.
-
But that is my suggestion to you. It's something in this world where we have acrimony and strife and terrorism and just all kinds of there are all kinds of horrible things in the world that are constantly clamoring for our attention. Every once in a while, we need to you know, push that away and it's going to be there the problems of the world will be there when we get back but do something wholesome do something with your family and I can think of right now in the United States.
-
There's only there's that many things that I would say are straight-up wholesome family entertainment, and that is the Christmas story movie and A Christmas Story House and Museum and so forth. So if that is you know something you would like to do great and it's really simple their website is a Christmas story house.com. So just Google it look it, and we're going to I'm going to try and I'm obviously I'm trying to keep it positive keep it productive and the holiday season is fast approaching us.
-
So yes chances are that are Morning Mindsets may have something to do with the upcoming Christmas season. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, that is it for today. I am your host Paul Markel. Thank you once again for joining me for Morning Mindset. I'll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Let us take a look at the “You Can’t” crowd. How often do you allow the “You Can’t” crowd to affect your decision making? Is there a real difference between a practical reality and intellectual laziness?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello, welcome back to Morning Mindset. Let's strap in, strap on, let's get ready to do this. Alright, I hope you have a hot tasty beverage to sip or if you're driving your car. Just put your hands at 10 and 2 and look at the road, and listen if you're on the treadmill, that's cool too. Give me another five minutes.
-
Alright or 10 minutes. How's that sound? Give me the 10 minutes. Let's take a look at the "You Can't" Crowd. The "You Can't" Crowd, right before I sat down to record this before I entered the studio closed the door and turned on the black carbon steel microphones. I was reading an article online. I came across this article because someone suggested it to me. I saw the title and thought yeah, that'd be a good thing. I started reading it and it was full of good news. Basically, it was how it was talking about tourniquets and I don't want to get too far into that.
-
But it was a very positive article. Let's just say it was a positive article , and like most online articles and we do this because of SEO and because of system is sharing and you know, all that mumbo jumbo to get people to look at stuff, and I know why it is that people allow comments at the end of their articles online and understand that, whether I agree with it or not, I understand.
-
So in my perspective from my perspective and I think most people's perspective. It was a very positive article, right it wasn't you can't you shouldn't this is bad. This is wrong. Whatever was actually this is what we're doing and this is good and it's saving people's lives people's lives are being saved because of this, right?
-
Very first comment in the comments is Negative Nelly. Negative, you know, I don't know what. Norman I guess, an N-word. Negative Nancy, Negative Norman. So, Norman jumps in and writes a whole paragraph about how you people don't understand and blah blah blah and you can't and you shouldn't and you're going to get sued and then out of that.
-
Basically, the this is why you shouldn't do what's right regardless of the facts and the article I was reading it was it was in a medical journal and it was about a study that was conducted and so on and so forth. So regardless of the facts regardless of the demonstrated facts in the article from the research study.
-
The first thing this person had to say was you shouldn't or you can't. There you go, and it made me think our first of all it is that kind of nonsense infuriates me because we aren't talking about how to get red wine stains out of a dress shirt. We're not talking about the best barbecue recipe.
We're not talking about something simple. We're bad advice. Won't hurt anybody. If somebody gives you bad advice on barbecue sauce, maybe you know, your meal won't taste that great or whatever, but no one's going to die. You know, if somebody gives you bad advice on how to get red wine stains out of a dress shirt or out of your carpeting or whatever and it turns out not to work.
-
Well nobody died. Right? No one's going to get hurt. There's not going to be any lasting physical effect. But when it comes to things like this in this nature use of tourniquets and traumatic Medical Care and so forth bad advice can cause people to die to lose their lives and that it really infuriates me when people the "You Can't" crowd sticks up their lazy ugly heads and gives bad advice that net bad advice.
-
As I said, the bad advice is not like, you know, red wine stains or cooking recipes or whatever bad advice in this area can cause people to die. How often do you allow the “You Can’t” crowd to affect your decision-making? How many times have you wanted or thought about doing something new doing something adventurous doing something different doing something branching out or what have you and the "You Can't" crowd and the "You Can't" crowd could be one person or it could be multiple people or what have you shows up.
-
Tell you all the reasons why you can't now there is a real difference in Practical reality. In intellectual laziness for instance. I am over 50 years old right now. I will admit that to you freely, and if I decided tomorrow morning, you know what? When I was growing up I used to drink Tang and I used to watch movies about, you know outer space exploration so forth.
-
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to get my car and I'm going to drive to the NASA headquarters, and I'm going to tell them that I want to be an astronaut , and I'm motivated and I'm going to do it and no one can tell me I can't is that really a practical reality like probably not probably not.
-
Let's say I started jogging and I feel like I'm pretty good at jogging I can you know, go a mile or two miles or several miles or whatever and you know, I can do it. So I get in my car and I drive down to Colorado and I go to the US Olympic Training Center, and I say hey, I'm going to try out for the Olympic long-distance runner team or the Olympic track team.
-
They're like, I'm glad that you're the best runner on your block, but you're probably not going to make the Olympic team that that is a practical reality. That's probably not going to happen. But more often than not how often when someone tells you shouldn't do that or you can't do that or don't even try that.
-
That's what drives me insane is the regardless of facts of evidence. What will Arab studies what we, you know, new information? So forth regardless of all of that. You should even try don't even try you can't you shouldn't and here's why you should. As I said, I'm not talking about being you know, 50 years old and trying to make the US Olympic track team.
-
I'm talking about people that are so intellectually lazy, and where does that we know where does the “You Can’t” crowd come from, and why is the “You Can’t” crowd even care? seriously, so the people that tell you shouldn't and you can't. How does your attempt to do something, to improve yourself, to change, to venture out, how does it actually affect them?
-
Seriously, how does it affect them? Why do they tell you that you can't you know, like well whether I try and succeed or whether I try and fail it doesn't affect you really at all. So where is this opinion coming from? I'll tell you a little bit of it is psychological it goes back to the C student, right the person who is who does just enough to get by so that they can get a see, you know, she's obviously not failing you're not failing but it's not the best grade.
-
It's not a good grade. It's not really something that you would brag about right, but it's just enough. Often the C students of our world, they don't like it when the B and A students show up because it exposes them as lazy. It exposes them as those who do just enough to get by a lot of these you can't you shouldn't people they're not even C students.
-
Most of them are D students. They're passing, they got a D, D's passing, right? You don't have to you don't have to repeat that grade if you Daddy, I mean it's not great, but you don't have to feed it. So here are these ambitious A and B students show up in there. Like I want to do this.
-
It's really kind of sick and twisted if you think about it. But yet how often do you allow yourself to be influenced? By the "You Can't" crowd. how often have you allowed yourself to be influenced by the you can't crowd because you read something you read a comment on an article or you saw a YouTube video or whatever and you are all excited to go take a training class or to do something new or something different or venture out and then, someone, you saw the "You Can't" video or the "You Can't" article or the "You Can't" comment and then you decided not to.
-
There is a real difference between practical reality and intellectual laziness and by far when you encounter the "You Can't" or "You Shouldn't" crowd, it's not because it's a practical reality or it's impractical most of the time it's because the "You Can't" people are intellectually lazy, and I'm not going to have any of it and you shouldn't either. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I'm your host Paul Markel, and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
How do you build a good, solid reputation? Unfortunately, in our instant gratification world, it does not seem that young people are being taught how to build a reputation. Paul takes a look back at his career and relates some personal stories.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Alright, let's go ahead and begin this Morning Mindset episode. I'm your host Paul Markel as the lovely Miss Alex reminded you of at the very beginning that really cool motivating music that we started with. Yes. I'm looking at my coffee cup because and I'm thinking about how excited I am. My favorite local coffee shop Sweet Marie's Bakeshop, they moved into a brand new facility and they expanded.
-
So a larger building, so larger facility, more dining area, more choices and it's a good thing for them. But the bad thing for me was is in order for them to move into their new facility, they had to close down their old facility and they're closed for almost a month. I know, I was dying for Sweet Marie's hot coffee.
-
I had to make my own coffee, but I survived. I survived and what are we saying? Life is too short to be drinking bad coffee. But that's not what we're going to talk about today. We're actually going to talk about reputations. Yes indeed reputations and a lot the reason I felt the need to focus on this as you know, many of you might be thinking.
-
Well, I'm an adult and you know, I'm older and my reputation is already built or it's not built or what have you. But I know a lot of people in my audience are younger, and they may just be starting out in their careers. Maybe you recently got out of high school or you recently got out of college or you recently started a new job, and unfortunately, a reality of our current world is that everything is based upon instant gratification instant Fame instant everything. We have been taught by well, you name it whether its food fast food right grocery stores now Walmart grocery stores and so forth. You don't even have to shop for yourselves.
-
You can go online, tell them what you want to order it. They'll find it baguette put it in boxes or whatever you pull up out front. They load it into your car. You've already paid for it and it's ready to go. YouTube Facebook now whatever else Twitter Instagram, you know, but mostly YouTube and so forth is responsible for young people believing that Fame can be instantaneous and it should be instantaneous.
-
The Dancing with the Stars or you name it whatever reality TV show or Talent based TV show where you bring a bunch of people on and one of them is crowned the winner and their given instant Fame and notoriety. That's not really how the world works. I know you're like no, but it does Paul and I've got Amazon Prime shipping.
-
I order something in and if I'm within 200 miles of, you know, delivery center, I get it the next day instant instant instant. Everything is instant gratification. You cannot build a valuable reputation, A+ a good reputation. You cannot build a good reputation overnight, you cannot build it instantly because no reputation that is built instantly is going to last.
-
You have to build your relationships or your reputation one relationship at a time. Now I started doing that 25-plus years ago when I got into the writing world. I got into the outdoor shooting sports writing world, and I was actually writing for, paper magazines. Yeah, I know you're like "Magazines made out of paper and you know, like dead trees with ink and stuff, and you have to-" yeah those things those things.
-
No internet, yeah. I was, I started writing before there was an internet, and I had to build my reputation with several different. Groups or areas or of people I had to build my reputation with my editors. Because my editors needed to know that if I accepted an assignment that I was going to complete it.
-
As well as I could as close to their expectations as I could and then I was going to do it on time, and then I was going to give them everything they needed if they needed photos, you know, if they needed extra verbiage, you know, whatever it was that they needed. I was building my reputation one article at a time.
-
That was what the editors. How're the people that paid me those are the people decided whether or not my work went into print or whether it went into a file drawer and just sat there? But then I also had industry or commercial Connections in order to do my job as in an outdoor shooting sports law enforcement hunting shooting kind of a guy I frequently needed stuff right?
-
I needed things. I needed objects and you don't make any money as a writer. If you have to review gear you don't make any money if you go out and buy the gear and review it because the amount of money that you're going to get paid by the editor for writing that article and shooting those photos probably won't even cover the amount of money that you would have spent to buy the gear, and since I was not in the in the business of giving away my time or trying to lose money most of the time after I almost all of the time I would have to contact representatives from different manufacturers and say "Hey, can I have or borrow blank?" Can I borrow one of these going to borrow one of those, what have you.
-
Now, most of the time if it was a low dollar item like ammunition or holsters or you know product or parts or pieces or whatever. They just send it to me and they're like don't worry about it. But if it was an expensive piece, they would loan it to me and I would have to send it back, and every time I ask for something I was basically writing an IOU.
-
I was basing that individual article or review. I was basing my reputation on that, and people they needed to know okay if we send Paul this two thousand dollar item and tell him he can have it for 30 days. Is he going to get it back to us in 30 days? Is he going to be reliable, and I did and I knew what I was doing and I knew I was I was you know building my reputation one relationship at a time, and then the third group of people that I was building a reputation with was actually the audience the readership every time I sat down to write an article I had to think "Alright, I need to make sure that I am honest and reliable and trustworthy and that I don't reverse myself and if I ever have to reverse myself if I ever have to change my mind."
-
I need to explain why that is. Now, do I do things the same today, as I did 25 years ago? Some things I do, sometimes I don't. Do I use the same gear or objects today? As I did 25 years ago some yes, and some no and those that I've changed or things that I've left behind or disregarded or altered or whatever.
-
I have to understand that people are watching and they're paying attention and I should. As a service to them explain, why did that and what I've found over the period of last 25 years or so is that I was able to build a reputation to the point where people know, that based upon just my word alone not holding it with a credit card or mortgages or loans or whatever.
-
Just I, you know send an email or a call on the phone that I can be trusted to deliver and do what I said. I was going to do and ladies and gentlemen that takes time. Takes a long time. But it's worth it. Nothing good no reputation. That is worthwhile is ever gained overnight, and unfortunately, I think a lot of young people don't quite have that concept because everything they see, everything they touch, everything they are involved in today seems to be all about immediate or instant gratification.
-
They're frustrated because they're not a rock-star the first day they pick up a guitar, or they're not famous the first time they put out a YouTube video or their thought is if I can just get that one YouTube video. I'll be famous all the people that are famous today for YouTube video two years from now, you won't even know who they are.
-
Build your reputation one single relationship at a time and remember that as you're building relationships, it might you might think ah, this one guy or this one company. They don't matter then, I don't care. No, they all do build your reputation one single relationship at a time. It's like you've built the house. Alright, ladies and gentlemen that is it for today. Thank you very much for joining me. I'm your host Paul Markel. I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Can you have fun without being silly or wasting time? When is the last time you actually took the time to deliberately have fun? This may be the key to spicing up a tedious routine or to help you feel creative again.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Okay, it's time for another Morning Mindset. I am still your host Paul Markel, and today we're going to talk about having some fun. Yes, indeed. We are I've been involved in some very serious professions in my life. I've been a police officer. I started my military career as a United States Marine, in the Marine Corps infantry and the security forces Battalion and I've done all that stuff.
-
I've been a professional bodyguard which is obviously a serious task or job. I've done a lot of serious stuff in my life, and if you are serious all the time that you can get burned out pretty quickly. It doesn't take very long for you to get mentally burned out or mentally stressed out. If you are always serious and you say well, you know Warfare and law enforcement and keeping bad people from hurting good people.
-
It's a very serious task. It's a very serious undertaking. It is absolutely is and there's time for fun and there's time for silliness, and then there's also time for seriousness to be very serious. If you've ever spent any time around Infantryman, Marines, soldiers, what have you people who are involved in Warfare?
-
Or if you've ever spent any time around street cops, you know that that most of those people that I just described have a very sick and twisted and odd sense of humor. Sometimes they're accused of having gallows humor, and the reason that they do that. Is if you were to listen to a psychologist or psychiatrist would say that Gallows humor is a mental defense mechanism to keep them from actually breaking down and losing it after dealing with all of the serious things that they have to deal with in their lives.
-
But let's say you aren't involved in any of those things. You're just a regular dude or regular woman and you have a normal job. But your normal job has become very tedious. To you. It's everything becomes a job. We talked about this we talked about this last week. We talked about how people think that oh man.
-
I'd love to do blank. If I could do blank as a job, I would be happy all the time. It would be great. You are so lucky to have that job or that person is so lucky to have that job because it would be so fun and exciting and cool interesting, but eventually, everything becomes a job, and everything eventually becomes can become very formulaic and tedious.
-
If you're looking for a way to break up the routine if you're looking for a way to break up the tedium of whatever it is you happen to be doing. Maybe it's time to have some fun and I'm not talking about being a clown or being a goof but every once in a while, you just need to do something fun.
-
Now myself for my own personal standpoint. I have to or I'm tasked with creating content on a daily weekly basis, my job is to create content whether it's a video content or audio content or the written word or what have you and I have a formula and I have a routine and I know what I'm supposed to do and right now or recently, I guess I could say I found myself not being very inspired and everybody goes through this every writer every person who's involved in creating content of some sort goes through this is kind of a burnout phase like, I don't feel like this and I don't want to do it anymore, and it's not that I'm going to quit not doing any more.
-
But I feel like I've gotten into a routine a tedious routine with the content creation, and what I've done for myself recently is I've come up with some fun projects some kind of maybe a little bit silly a little bit unusual, but just fun and you know. When I haven't released them yet.
-
I'm still working on them. But the process of creating these fun projects has actually invigorated me. It's made me look forward to the process again. Because I was at a point where I was just I was creating content because I had to and it was something that was expected of me, but I wasn't really enjoying it so much and I realized recently that I needed to do something fun.
-
Not necessarily super serious. Not at all super serious something that would be entertaining but that I wanted to do because I thought it'd be fun. It'll be interesting and that process deciding. You know, what I'm going to have a little bit of fun with this doesn't always have to be 100% straight down the line by the book.
-
You know the formula how many of you have a job and in your job, you have the specific sop you have the formula. This is how we do this and we don't deviate from it. We do ABCD hit send were finished and move on again, and that's how we get things done, and a lot of people say well that that's how you're productive, is you have to have a plan.
-
You have to have a formula on you do that formula and you are productive. But productive is not always creative is it and creative is not always productive, and if we can marry those two if we can marry being productive and being creative together at the same time, then maybe we'll have something special maybe we'll have something super positive to offer to ourselves and to others.
-
I'm not saying you have to be a clown. I'm not telling you that you have to be a goof some people have a really hard time having fun or relaxing. Some people have too much time on their hands just grew around and other people get annoyed with them because it seems like all they want to do is screw around and have fun.
-
It's a balancing act right but I'm going to tell you this if you find yourself right now in a position with your career or with your work if you're a brain surgeon or a heart surgeon, I don't want you screwing around. Stick to the formula. Okay, but if you find yourself in a position where your current job your current task list has become very tedious very routine.
-
Maybe you've lost the Fire or the passion that you once had to do that job. Take the time to just have a little bit of fun, and you know make maybe you and maybe you'll be the only one having fun and that's okay. That is absolutely okay. If you're the only one that is having fun. That's okay because it's you who needs to be creative and it's you who needs to be productive, and if you can put those two together if you can put productivity and creativity together, then you've really got something and every once in a while.
-
You need to break the routine need to spice things. Up, and he'd have a little bit of fun and that's what I'm doing. Right now. I've got a couple of projects that I'm working on that I'm putting together that I'm hashing out in my brain and it's just for fun and I'm really looking forward to doing it and actually, the process of doing it has made me feel a little bit more creative and excited about what I need to do. That is my advice to you little look behind the curtain there. Alright, that's it for today. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you for making Morning Mindset part of your daily routine. I am your host Paul Markel, talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
As someone who has attended thousands of required meetings, I have come to loathe them. Meetings are often a necessary evil. Are there ways to ensure that meetings are productive and positive and not simply monumental time wasters?
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back. It is time for another Morning Mindset podcast. I am still your host Paul Markle in case you were wondering and if this is your first one if someone recommended this to you and said hey, you need to listen to this guy and listen to this topic today. Congratulations, and I'm glad that you're here.
-
I'm betting that many people in the office, work environment will come across this and I'm like, yeah tell me about it. Today's topic productive meetings question mark productive meetings like Ron Burgundy there. That's right. Why did I put a question mark behind it? You're like well, we'll Paul your meetings are all about productivity.
-
That's how we have and develop productivity is through meetings, right? I'm in my fifth decade here on planet Earth, and I have been to I think safely over the last 30+ years, literally thousands of meetings and we had what was called formations. In the Marine Corps and the Marine Corps, you had Daily Formation.
-
Now you're like what formation is where everybody stands there, and listens to the first sergeant or the XO or the Gunnery Sergeant or whoever they listen to them talk. They have a clipboard and they go over the topics of the day and then at the very end, they open it up for questions and so on and so forth then in the obviously the working civilian world.
-
I've been to innumerable meetings, and I will say this. I'm guessing that the majority of you out there who have been in the professional work world for any length of time have come across the meeting that is you're sitting there and you're thinking okay. This meeting is just a meeting because we had to have a meeting.
-
Or do you have meetings to schedule meetings? We need to have a meeting. I really everybody needs to go to the conference room where we need to have a meeting weekly meeting morning meeting afternoon meeting whatever. Many of them these gatherings of individuals rather than being productive end up being monumental time-wasters.
-
Have you ever gone to a required meeting? I'm not talking about voluntary. I'm talking about it was required for your job. You had to be there you had to sit quietly and listen to someone drone on about a topic of which you had either had no interest or already knew everything about but you listen to that person drone on about that.
-
Again, and again and you leave thinking wow, thanks for wasting my time. Thank you very much for wasting my day. I could have been doing something productive myself. But instead, I was sitting in a conference room listening to you go over all of the stuff that we all already knew. Yes, so. Do I still have meetings?
-
Yes, yes I still do have meetings. So how can we and it doesn't matter what your profession is or what you're doing.?How can we? Have positive and productive meetings that are not time-wasters. Now, I understand if you are low on the totem pole or if you're a worker bee or what have you may not have any input into how or when the meetings are scheduled how often they happen what goes on during them.
-
You just have to be there and you just have to sit and listen and maybe interject once in a while. But if you are one of the people who have some say in the meeting, and when it happens and what is discussed and how long it takes and so forth step number one before you schedule a meeting before you just need York to react and have everyone stop what they're doing and I'll Gather in the conference room or you know, like wow Converse longer all the guy we don't conference room anything anymore.
-
We have GoToMeeting apps. Alright. Here's the thing a GoToMeeting app where everybody turns on their the cameras on their laptops or everybody turns on the cameras on their phones or their iPads or whatever and everyone sits there and you're in Chicago or New York and LA and Atlanta and we're all having a meeting at the same time.
-
Isn't that wonderful and isn't technology great. It's still a meeting. It still is you know after the after your very first teleconference meeting after the first one when you're all excited because it was super cool because you are using the internet to do it after that newness wears off. It's still just a meeting.
-
So if you are in charge or have any say in it step number one before you schedule a meeting to ask yourself. Is this something? That we actually all have to be present at the same time in order to do we really have to have it? Is it a requirement? Well, what do you mean? I mean we did have a meeting because that's how productive your productive meetings.
-
Now is this something that could be done via memorandum? Is this something that could be done via email? Do we have to have this meeting, and if your answer is yes we do. Before you have the meeting have a real legitimate agenda. Alright during this meeting. We need to discuss these topics.
-
Boom-Boom-Boom-Boom, have an idea of how long you want it to be. You don't just want to have an open-ended. Well, it's just going to go until it ends and 15 minutes half hour 45 minutes. Alright, I don't know what's gonna go and go and go no. Don't do that. Do not waste people's time if you can help it.
-
Don't waste your time. Is it going to be an information only or you going to be seeking feedback? because if it's in information only and you don't want the participation of anyone else. You probably don't need to have a meeting to do that. If there aren't going if it's not going to have two-way communication.
-
If it's one-way communication. I'm going to tell you what's going to happen, and that's it. You may not need to have a meeting. Now. Keep in mind that if you're having one of these you need to have some type of structure and order you cannot let people go off on story time, story hour. When I call our story time if you allow them people will take the meeting Off Track by telling personal stories.
-
We don't need that. You don't want that you need to nip that in the bud because is interesting is that story is you can tell that story later on your own time inner need to be rude about it, but you need to have certain phrases like let's stay on topic. I think everyone understands let's move on to the next topic.
-
We have a limited amount of time. Let's make sure everyone has an opportunity to speak. What have you, all those things are, you know telling people to shut up without actually telling them to shut up. So when you're going to have a meeting number one, does it do we need to have this or we just have it out of habit.
-
We're just having a meeting because that's what you do, and if we're just doing it because that's what you do. You're wasting people's time. Don't do it. If you decide that you're going to have a meeting have the agenda ready and prepared know what you're going to say and the questions you're going to ask.
-
Have a time limit in mind. I'm not telling you that every meeting has to be exactly 10 minutes or exactly 14 minutes or exactly 30 minutes or whatever, but you should have an idea say, you know, look at what you have to say and realize that okay all of this material here. We've got three items on the agenda.
-
It's been 5 minutes on each no more than 15 minutes moving on with our lives. Do not deliberately waste people's time ensure that everyone understands take the opportunity to make sure that everyone has Clarity and understands why you did what you did and what you were talking about because there's no point in having a meeting.
-
If you're going to close the meeting leave and you know, 25% of the people there have no idea what they're supposed to do with that information that they just. Make sure that you check for clarity. Now a lot of professional people say are you start ever meeting what the joke I start every speech with a joke livens people up and that that's that's you can do that if you want and what I find is when you do that when you put that pressure on yourself you put pressure on yourself to come up with a joke and then you don't or it doesn't really matter if it's funny or not.
-
But if your people respect you. You shouldn't need to trick them into having meetings and the more productive short concise to the point meetings. You have the less likely people will be to want to avoid them. So don't get in the habit or you know, get in the habit of having productive meetings and avoid the habit of monumental time-wasters.
-
I'm not going to waste any more of your time because I see the clock on the wall says I've been talking for a little bit more than 10 minutes. So that's it for today's Morning Mindset. I hope that you enjoyed it. I hope that you share this with other people. I am your host Paul Markel, and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Recently, we experienced a forced Internet blackout day. The Internet for the entire city was out. But, that was not such a bad thing. Consider scheduling an Internet blackout day for yourself. You may be surprised at how productive you can be without access to the world wide web.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to Morning Mindset. I am your host Paul Markel. Thank you, once again for making this show a part of your day. At least five days a week. I'm hoping that you're listening five days a week because we're delivering it that often except it's if it's a holiday or if I'm on vacation, but it's not a holiday and I'm not on vacation.
-
So congratulations to you. I had kind of a holiday. Last Friday a week ago Friday, I got up and I was having my coffee and sitting at the table and I usually check you know, I do like probably the majority of you do I'm sitting there at the at the table waking up drinking my morning coffee and I pick up my phone and I want to check my emails and notifications and all that stuff before I start the day, and my phone is running really super slow.
-
Like it's I look at it. Like how come I can't pull up my email and ran really slow. I was like, okay, so I look of course I look up in the corner and it's just I have no ice is I have no Wi-Fi connection or says the Wi-Fi connection. Is there meaning that my phone is reading the router right?
-
I know. Techies are probably gonna say that's not a router. It's it's the modem or the whatever my foot point is this so the internet was not working at my house. The Wi-Fi isn't working thousand my okay. Well, I'm gonna go to the office anyway, so I get dressed and I go to the office and get into the office turn on the computer and I realize there's no internet there at the end so fortunately, Where I am in town, our office is walking distance to our internet providers office.
-
Like it is literally like three businesses down the street. So I just walked out walked over and went into the internet providers office and I said, hey, good morning, and she says yes, it's down. I said, oh, I'm not the first one. She said and this is the quote. She gave me she said a third-party contractor was Excavating or something and they cut the lines.
-
She said a third party contractor cut the lines and they're in the process of repairing them now. This is about nine o'clock in the morning on a Friday. Okay. So what did I do? I went back into the office and our know it was Thursday, whatever. I went back into the office, and I recorded some but of course, I couldn't put them I couldn't put them up for you guys because why because you need the internet to do that and I wasn't able to do our group show notes because we share those with people that are in multiple States via the Internet.
-
So I did things around the office. It did not require the internet and then I went home and while it's always like well, I don't have to do internet work for business now. So what I'm going to do, what am I going to do? Why did physical things and physical things I did laundry? Thank you very much for asking washed it and folded it all myself come because I'm a big boy.
-
I sat down and I played my guitar because guess what I have a guitar and an amplifier and I have a plastic pick and none of those things require a Wi-Fi connection. I read a little bit. Yes. I did. I read a little bit and essentially and I did some other things I prepare some projects for the TV show and some videos that were going to do, but the forced internet blackout.
-
Was actually it was kind of great because no one expected me. Now, of course, I had phone service, you know, I had my normal phone service, but if you guys are like anybody else or like me or what have you. You don't want to be surfing the web all day long with your phone service unless you have unlimited, you know, 4G or whatever if you have unlimited 4G go ahead rock on but I.
-
So I don't want to be using my phone connection to surf the web or whatever. I just sent out a message to everybody who needed to know. Hey, and it wasn't and here's the thing like where I am the entire city. I had no internet. It wasn't just like oh we'll go over to the go to the cafe go over to the coffee shop and use there's no there was Zero none nada the entire the entire Valley where we had no internet.
-
So I just did physical things. As I said, you know I went out and I did some inventory stuff. I worked on some projects. I worked on a new project a new that we're doing for our other show and it was good. It really was and I would suggest it kind of like, you know, we talked about the 24-hour blackout while taking your phones and all your Wi-Fi things anything.
-
It's electronic just turning it off. For 24 hours read books do chores or catch up on projects that you've been meaning to catch up on but you're constantly distracted by this or that or whatever and the great thing, you know the forced internet blackout. It wasn't like people like, hey, man, you're just you're just slacking off today and you need to get on it.
-
You know, I sent a message. I'm like look don't ask me to answer anything via email or whatever because I can't do it. It's just not going to happen. No one expected me to be there. No one expected me to be on my phone or on the laptop or whatever and because no one expected that I just took care of business.
-
I took care of what I needed to take care of. I think I might have taken a nap that day out naps are good, though. Naps are good, though, especially if you're training. I trained that day. Oh man, I forgot so I had weight training that day, and in addition to my normal programmed workout, I went ahead and I why put more weight on the squat bar than I ever have and I got underneath it and I squatted down I stood back up and I said a personal record for squatting so and I misspoke myself.
-
I said Friday, it was actually Thursday. So it was a very, very productive. Now obviously I had to come back on Friday and take care of things. You know, we had to make sure that everything was scheduled in and what the weird irony of the internet being out and maybe it was just a trick played by somebody that didn't want to work that day.
-
But when I got to the office around 9:00 or so in the morning, it was out and then my son Zachary, who actually puts the show up. He sent me a message about five 35 35 or something like that and said, hey the internet just came back up. So during the entire workday during the entire workday. The internet was down and I know you might be sitting out there.
-
You're thinking dude it where I work if the internet were to go down, that would be a catastrophe. Could be a catastrophe would it really be a catastrophe or could you use that opportunity just to do something else if you have never I had a forced internet blackout day, but if you've never had an actual deliberate blackout day a 24-hour blackout where you just tell people look I'm not going to use my phone.
-
I'm not going to text. I'm not going to email. I'm not going to do anything electronic. No phones, no laptops. No TVs anything. I'm going to read books. I'm going to take care of I'm going to do projects. I'm taking a nap. I don't want to do whatever I want to do. You should do that put that on your list of things that you should do and you'd be amazed at how wonderful of an experience that can be to just unplug from everything electronic.
-
I'm not telling you to be a Luddite and I'm not telling you to you know to go back in time or what have you but. Just once in a while give yourself an internet blackout day. Just an Electronics internet, whatever you want to call it blackout day and relax and you'd be amazed. How much you enjoy it?
-
Alright, ladies and gentlemen that is it for today. That's it for today's morning - oh, thank you very much for joining me. Make sure that you're leaving a review so that other people will know and if you have read the Morning Mindset book, and I know a lot of you have because we went through the whole thing, and we did a book study. Please feel free to go to Amazon and leave a review. Alright, I'm your host Paul Markel. I'll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
My wife, son and I drove up into the mountains recently, and our mission was to fire roast coffee up there. You may say “Why couldn't you just do that in your backyard?” Because it's not the same. We went out, did it in the wild, and we got our hands dirty, and the coffee tasted so much better.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Whatever time it happens to be when you're listening to Morning Mindset. If you're listening to this with your morning coffee, fantastic. Good morning. I am your host Paul Markel and we're going to talk about leading a more positive and productive life, and if you have purchased the Morning Mindset book, good.
-
Morning Mindset: a 30 Day Plan for a More Positive and Productive Life. If you purchase the book, if you enjoyed the book, if you would recommend it to others, please let other people know. It would be fantastic if you would leave a review of the book on Amazon, whether you got it as a Kindle or paperback version so that other people could understand.
-
The fact of the matter is, third-party reviews matter a lot when it comes to promotion and people obviously know that I want to promote my own book. But if you recommend it, it may mean something else. I let's talk about getting your hands dirty. Now during a previous episode, maybe more than one, I talked about you cannot find inspiration sitting behind a desk. Right?
-
You're can't find inspiration sitting behind a desk, and matter of fact that phrase maybe on a coffee mug that you could purchase and sip your morning beverage out. So I took my own advice often. I need some inspiration to come up with new topics for this Beast that we call Morning Mindset podcast because you know, I'm doing it five days a week which means that five days a week.
-
I have to come up with a new Fresh interesting topic. Hopefully, it's interesting for you to talk about. So, what did I do? Recently recently. I went up into the mountains. Yes, I kind of live in the mountains, but I live at 7,000 feet. But technically the 7,000 feet that I live at is considered a valley because we are between two large mountain ranges.
-
So my wife and my son and I we drove up into the mountains and our mission was to fire roast coffee and you say “Why couldn't you just do that in your backyard?” Because it's not the same. Now, actually, what we want to do is we wanted to record it on video and I wanted to record it in an attractive setting.
-
What we did is we took green unroasted coffee beans, and a cast iron kettle basically a dutch oven and a hand grinder. Yes, an actual hand grinder for coffee. You pour the beans in it and then you work the crank around. It's a little box. You probably have seen him in old-timey western movies people were sitting there by the campfire and they were grinding the coffee and then a percolator.
-
That's right a coffee percolator, which is actually invented around. 1880 time frame. So what we did my wife and my son and I we went up into the mountains. It was pretty chilly was in the upper 30s or so, but we found a spot where the wind wasn't bad and we lit a fire, and we roasted the coffee beans now have to admit that roasting coffee beans over a fire in a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven basically was something that my wife came up with it was an idea that my wife had that she wanted to do.
-
She had been the manager of a coffee shop. She'd actually run a couple of different coffee shops, and she was she was very much into coffee in the process of making coffee and where it comes from and how its roasted and so on and so forth and she studied in research and she actually visited coffee roasting houses and talk to them to see how they did it and so forth and she decided that she was going to roast her own coffee and so sued trial and error she figured it out and it was time for me to actually do it.
-
So we did now the reason this is called getting your hands dirty is because what we actually got our hands dirty and had to light real actual fire in Asheville campfire, and there's there's soot and smoke involved you end up when you leave your clothes and your hair smell like smoke your hands are dirty from the soot from the bottom of the pan or what have you but we roasted the coffee.
-
Then we took the beans the freshly roasted beans dark almost black a very dark brown. Like I'm a hug any brown poured them into the hand roaster. I sat there on the ground or I'm sorry, the hand grinder ground them up, then put them in the percolator, put the percolator on the fire, on the edge of the grill.
-
They're boiled it up pour it into a couple of canteen cups and set by the fire and drank our coffee. Now the entire process probably took around 30 minutes, maybe a little more maybe close to 40 minutes by the time we got the fire going roasted the beans ground the beans boiled the coffee and drinking like now that's a long time.
-
There is no way you're sitting out there you're thinking there's no way in hell, I would invest 40 minutes in making a cup of coffee now admit that you know, that is a pretty good investment. Now the actual being roasting. From lighting the fire to getting the beans on the fire destroying them and then getting them out and cooling them took about 15 to 20 minutes or so.
-
So those but if you're going to do that, you could do a whole bunch of beans store them and then grind them at your leisure and Brew them as coffee. The coffee was delicious. It was wonderful one of the best cups of coffee I've ever drank. My wife agreed so it's not just me. But we got our hands dirty.
-
We didn't use any Electronics. No batteries. No apps no plug in anything everything we did was manual. It was old school, and we drove home. We know we spend a few hours up in the in the mountains, and yes, we videotaped it. I had my son along as a videographer and he videotaped the how to what we drove back down out of the mountains got home and that evening both my wife and I we had a really satisfied feeling.
-
We had that feeling that we had accomplished something, that we'd actually done something worthwhile with our time. Now, you might be thinking that's silly ball. I can just go to the store by pre-roasted beans pre-ground beans. I don't have to undertake to grind them in order to roast them. I just buy them in a bag throw them in a pot hit start and it goes and you can do that.
-
That's fine. I'm not telling you that you have to go out and roast your own coffee or grind your own coffee or whatever, but there's something cathartic there's something very very. Spiritually Worthy. Of getting your hands dirty and doing it yourself. How many of you had mothers or grandmothers who planted Gardens Every Spring, and they harvested the vegetables throughout the summer and into the fall and they cook those vegetables and those vegetables were tomatoes or carrots or you know corn or beans or whatever. They meant a lot to them, because they didn't just go to the store and buy them. They actually went through the real process.
-
They got their hands dirty planting. They pluck the weeds, you know, they tended to them that they watered when this when it wasn't raining enough, and they grew those themselves and they were very proud of that and it was something that made him feel good something that made him feel worthy and in our digital age when everything appears via the push of a button and most of the well all of our entertainment whether it's music or video or whatever or the written word in many cases, it's all notional, It's all digital.
-
It's not real. It's not a thing you can put your hands. I would recommend to you if you want to live a positive and productive life every once in a while. You need to take the time to get out and very very deliberately get your hands dirty. All right, ladies and gentlemen, I'm your host Paul Markel that will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
When we grow older, we find ourselves having to Wrestle with the Cynic, and I'm not talking about wrestling with an external cynic. I'm talking about wrestling with the internal cynic, the one within you.
If you like the show, please check out our Official Morning Mindset Merchandise!
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to Morning Mindset. I am your host Paul Markel. Thank you one more time, yes, once again, thank you for joining me today. I hope that you're having a wonderful day so far whenever that happens to be I know many of you listen to this on your morning commute or while you're sipping your morning coffee, which is a great way to consume this.
-
But if you have to listen to it in the evening or the afternoon, that's cool, too. Let's talk about Wrestling with the Cynic. Now, what does it mean to be a Cynic or Cynical? A Cynic is a person who has lost their faith in their fellow man, and they believe that all people are motivated by greed or self-interest and that's really not untrue.
-
The human animal is motivated by their needs and desires, right? Human beings are animals and they need water, and they need food and they need shelter and they need, you know, basic human requirements. But they also need psychological requirements as well. They need affirmation, they need love, they need acceptance.
-
But when we grow older, or the older we grow- and I find myself having to wrestle with the cynic, and I'm not talking about wrestling with an external cynic. I'm talking about wrestling with the internal cynic. It doesn't take very long or doesn't take very many experiences where you are abused or you were burned or you were used or you were tricked or you feel like someone just used you for what they could get and then they discarded you and left.
-
It's pretty quick, or it's pretty easy to become a cynic, very rapidly I should say, and that's natural. It's a natural human response and I suppose that one of the things that I wrestle with on a daily basis is how to keep that cynic in check now, I guess they you can say that there is a healthy cynicism.
-
I don't know if you've ever heard of that person has a healthy dose of cynicism. That is they are wary of the wants or desires or matching nations of other people before they just jump in with both feet. They said back and say "Hmm, is this a good idea and is this person really have my best interest at heart, or they only thinking about themselves and to hell with me?"
-
That's a great question. I've had that in my life, I've had people who you know, came to me and it seemed as if by their words that they wanted to assist me or aid me. Be my friend or be my business associate or what have you and then as time went by I discovered that they were all about what they could get whenever they could get it and the hell with the consequences and to hell with me.
-
I think many of us, I would be surprised if there's someone in my audience is listening that has not had a similar experience. So, how do we deal with that? How do we not become completely and totally cynical? Think, it's a good question. One way, and I believe that this is a very positive way, when you are when you're a cynic, often the thing that is made you a cynic or made you feel that way has been either betrayal or the fact that you were lied to or that you were used or that someone whether they lied to you or not.
-
Basically, they took what they could get from you and then you discarded you personally or your feelings or what have you, and when that happens after that happens? How do you feel? How does it make you feel? It makes you feel, well, generally poorly about yourself. You're angry at yourself, you think “How could I allow this to happen to myself?”, and you develop a poor self-image. It's very easy to develop a poor self-image after you have been used after you have been taken advantage of.
-
You feel like "Well, maybe I deserve to be taken advantage of" or "Maybe I'm just a dummy" or "Maybe that's all I have in my life" or "That's all that I have come to me, is to be used or taken advantage of" and I'm telling you that doesn't have to be the case. If you find yourself, falling into that cynical trap or if you are wrestling with the inner cynic.
-
One thing that I would suggest to you is that you focus on your own development. You're like but isn't that selfish pole? I'm not telling you to focus on your own personal development at the expense of others. I'm telling you to focus on your own self-development by your own investment by your own effort.
-
Whether it means going to the gym more often or starting to go to the gym, whether it means eating better, or eating more healthy, or more sensibly. Whether it means investing your time and effort in a new Talent or skill. You may have always wanted to learn how to, Blank. Fill in the blank, to do woodworking, or to do needlepoint, or you remember when your grandmother we used to sit as a child and watch your grandmother knit and it seemed like there wasn't anything that your grandmother couldn't make out of, you know, with two needles and yarn or crochet hook and yarn and you always wished you would have learned how to do that.
-
Well to start, say that you always wanted to play an instrument, whatever that instrument happened to be. I don't care if you're 52 years old, I don't care if you're 60 years old. I don't care if you're 48 or 39 or what have you, if you're living and breathing you can do that. Instead of worrying about other people or investing your mental energy worrying about others and how others are seeking to take advantage of you, or take advantage of a situation or what have you.
-
What I want you to do instead is I want you to focus on self-development, not self-development by taking advantage of other people were cheating or lying or what-have-you. I'm talking about self-development through actual effort, whether it involves reading or study or physical exercise or physical movements or learning new skills.
-
Do it, pick one. Choose it and learn it, and you'll find that you're not so much concerned with what other people think and say and do if you are pleased and happy with your own progress and people will see that in you. People will see that self-confidence, they will see that and they're probably less likely to try and take advantage of you.
-
It's difficult to wrestle with the inner cynic. Everyone does, I do and I would be surprised if you don't as well, but we can't let it win. If we're going to be living in this world, if we're going to be occupying space on planet Earth we need to do so in a positive and productive fashion and sitting around thinking about how the world constantly is trying to take advantage of it is not a way to do that.
-
So, next time you find yourself wrestling with that inner cynic you're feeling cynical. Take some time, think about working on yourself your own personal development your own achievements. You're still alive. You're still taking in oxygen you're moving around on this planet. You can achieve you can do new things.
-
You can learn new skills new talents do it. Stop worrying about what other people have done or will do because you can't control that but you can't control yourself. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I am your host Paul Markel and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Focus first on the mission and performing to the highest standard. If you can do that, success will sneak up on you. You don’t have to chase success, drive for it, just do whatever it is to the best of your ability and success will come naturally, sometimes if you don’t even expect it.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back! Yesterday, during our discussion of Motivation, I was remiss. I did not discuss or mention one of the primary motivators in many American’s lives, especially my wife’s life, and that is coffee. So forgive me. Laughs Maybe all of the motivation you need comes out of that pot in the morning, and remember folks; life is too short for cold french fries and old coffee. Don’t do it to yourself, don’t drink bad coffee. Life is just too short to do that.
-
What are we going to talk today? Let’s talk about Success! Many of you are like “Hey, yeah! That’s what I wanna talk about. I am here, to talk about my Success.” How are people successful? Now I know there have been many books, seminars and so forth, written about Success, but I want to offer this to you. This little phrase; Let Success Sneak Up on You. You say, “well that doesn’t make any sense, unless I focus on my success I’m never going to achieve it”, not necessarily. People who spend all of their time watching the numbers, counting their money, looking at the outside attributes of success.
-
Often times they focus so hard on something they miss it. What I want you to do, instead of focusing on Success, focus on the job, doing it right, doing it to the best of your ability. If you do that, if you focus on doing a good job, if you focus on creativity, on doing everything right, what’s going to happen is success is going to come along with that. I found this myself in my career, whether it’s as a writer, or as a television or radio host & producer, is if I focus on doing the job, on whatever task it is I happen to have if front of me, and I focus on that to the best of my ability-, when I’m producing or writing, when I create a product I don’t create it thinking “Is this going to be a successful product?”
-
Instead I focus on doing it to the best of my ability. You say “Don’t those things go together?”, not necessarily. If you’re constantly thinking “Am I popular, is this going to be successful, are people going to like it?” If that’s what you’re focusing on, then you’re not focusing on the quality of whatever it is you’re trying to develop. Like I said it could be spoken word, you’re trying to make your business successful, everybody want to have a successful business, right? That goes without saying, so if every single person out there business to be successful, how is it that so many are not?
-
Rather than focusing on how many people like me or if I’m popular, or constantly worrying “Is my business a success today?” Instead what I want you to do, is focus on the mission at hand. This is when you go to have that honest self-assessment with yourself, and you say “Am I performing to the absolute best of my abilities?” then you say “What if the answer to that question is Yes? I am performing to the best of my abilities, but I’m still not successful?” Then you need to do something else, you need to find another way.
-
But I think the best way for you to achieve success, is to not focus on it continuously. Focus on doing it right. If you provide a service to others, if you are in the service industry, rather than focusing on “Is this business successful”, focus on if it is achieving its mission, and is serving its customers. Are your customers getting 100%, are they getting the best possible service that you can offer? Don’t worry that you’re supposed to be a success over night, because you’re not going to be! Nothing gained quickly is worth a damn.
-
I have a piece of advice that was given to me about 20 years ago, I was concerned that I wasn’t moving fast enough in my career. I was actually, I wasn’t sure if what I was doing was the right thing, and I was close to 30 [years old]. A wise older gentleman, who owned his own business said to me ‘Paul, calm down. Very few people before age 30 know exactly what they want to do and find their calling. Some people do, but most people are still looking for that calling, looking for that niche by the time they’re 30 y.o.”
-
Because when you’re 20 y.o. you think you know everything, right? You got out of highschool, maybe you went to college, you think “I know exactly what I’m going to do with my life”. But things change, and what seemed super important at age 20, doesn’t seem so important anymore. Or maybe you find that you enjoy something else that you didn’t understand. So don’t worry so much about “I have to be successful today”, think about taking that mission and performing it to the best of your ability. Because if you do that, eventually success will sneak up on you, it will find you, believe me it will.
-
So today, stop worrying so much about success. Worry about performing, getting up every day and making it happen. So let Success sneak up on you. Alright I’ll be back tomorrow, looks like tomorrow is going to be… is it Friday or Thursday. Laughs I don’t know. What I do know is this, I’m Paul Markel, and I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
It is easier to get motivated if you take the time to get started, getting started requires discipline, and discipline is determined by your motivation. You can motivate yourself if you have no discipline, and vice versa. If you see someone with no drive, no motivation, it’s likely that they have no discipline either.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Here we go again! Welcome to Morning Mindset, I am very pleased to be able to do this, to provide this service to you and if you’re enjoying this service, could you do me a favor and share it with at least 1 other person, if you haven’t yet. If you have shared this with someone you thought would benefit from it, great. Today we’re going to talk about Motivation. Yes, Motivational speakers and personal Motivation and career Motivation. How many times have you hear someone use the term Motivation?
-
It is a buzz word and it has been in this professional world for a long time. Ya know back in my military days they would always talk about “False motivation is better than no motivation at all” and so on and so forth. They’re always trying to get you Motivated, but what does it mean, and are some people naturally more motivated than other people? Motivated. You say it enough it loses meaning, but what is it and how do we keep it? Now everyone has their ups and downs, everyone has their good days and bad days, and some days you just don’t wanna.
-
You just don’t wanna go to work, get started on that project, mow the lawn, you just “don’t wanna”, and that’s natural, it is. But as mature, responsible human beings and adults, sometimes we understand that if We don’t get the job done, it’s not gonna get done. Now Motivation can come from different area. I like music, I’ve enjoyed music my entire life and you’re like “Well everybody likes Music, ya know you turn on the radio and it distracts you” no when I say I like music, I mean I’m… involved in the study of music, and music motivates me.
-
Music doesn’t necessarily motivate everybody, some people could be motivated by something as simple as going outdoors, taking your dog for a walk, what have you. But when it comes to projects, when it comes to having to do something you don’t necessarily want to do. For instance, maybe you’re recording a daily podcast show, laughs and you’d rather be doing something else. Naw seriously, it’s easier to get motivated if you get started. I’ll give you a good example and this is a classic example, exercise.
-
Whether it’s lifting weights, or you’re gonna jump around in a zumba class, or you’re gonna get on a treadmill, exercise bike or what have you. Before you start that activity you may look at it and be thinking “I am not at all motivated today. I know that the schedule I made for myself weeks ago, says that I’m supposed to go into the gym, the fitness center, the wherever, and I’m supposed to do that. But I just don’t want to.” It’s natural, people have that, and getting started is the best way to get motivated.
-
Let’s say you’re at the gym/fitness center, and you’re really not motivated, you don’t feel like doing it, and you start bargaining with yourself. How many times have you done that? You say “Umm, okay if I skip today, I promise that I’ll make it up later in the week” or “I can skip today then I’ll go 2 days in a row”. Rather than bargain with yourself, what you should do is #1, in the fitness place, change your clothes. Put your workout clothes on, once you get your workout clothes on, you’d feel like an imbecile if you put your workout clothes on, if you didn’t workout then changed again, wouldn’t ya?
-
Or get in your car, and drive to the gym, put your workout clothes on, even if you don’t feel like it. Get started, make yourself do the first set. Make yourself do the first 5 minutes on the treadmill, and if you’re already on the treadmill, good job give me 10 more minutes. But seriously, get started. I’ve been engaging in strength training for over a year now, under the tutelage of a professional strength training coach, and there are days that I don’t wanna do it. There are days that I get to that point where I know the calendar says, and I know my coach expects me to do it, but I just don’t want to, and what do I do? Well, I know that I’m expected to, and I know that if I don’t, my coach is going to say “Hey, what’s up, where’s your workout?”
-
So, I just get started, and 99% of the time, what I’ve found is if I get started and get into the activity, I find the Motivation to finish. Because hey, I started it, may as well finish. How does Motivation work with Discipline or vice versa? You’ll probably find either in your personal or professional lives, that people who lack self-discipline also lack Motivation. Motivation isn’t some kind of magical word, it’s not something you buy from a seminar or you find in a jar and take as a pill. Motivation is there because you have discipline, and Motivation is there to help you get started. Yes indeed [x2].
-
So today I’m going to ask you, find your Motivation, find your discipline. If you could discipline yourself to begin the project, to start the workout, to get to where you need to be, then I betcha that you’ll find the Motivation to carry on and continue it. Alright, I’ve got a book, well I’ve had a book for a while, called “Team Honey Badger; Raising Fearless Kids in a Cowardly World”, and as you look at the news, as you look out across our nation, I think you will agree with me that we have a problem in our nation. We have a nation of cowards, who want our children to be raised as cowards, they want them to be raised in a subservient manor.
-
Do you want to raise your kids to be fearless, because you’re not always gonna be with them, you understand that right? I know you’re the guardian and protector of your children, but you can’t always be there, and they’re not going to automatically learn to be self-sufficient and fearless. You have to teach them. So I highly recommend, “Team Honey Badger; Raising Fearless Kids in a Cowardly World”, it’s available as paperback or as a kindle version. So if you have kids, if you’re planning on having kids, I highly recommend the “Team Honey Badger” book. Alright guys, I’ll be back tomorrow.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
As we continue with Morning Mindset this week I’m going to discuss a topic that actually was in the show notes for later on, but I decided to move it up because this is the week, well, this is the week that we sprang forward, that we changed the clocks.
Every year, like clockwork, you can set your calendar to it... every single year when we spring forward, when we go to daylight savings time, what happens? People complain about it for a couple of days, and then we stop talking about it again for six months, until we fall back. Everybody loves to fall back, that extra hour, so they don’t complain about that as much.
[INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Welcome back to Morning Mindset. As we continue with this week I’m going to discuss a topic that actually was in the show notes for later on, but I decided to move it up because this is the week, well, this is the week that we sprang forward, that we changed the clocks. Right. Every year, like clockwork, you can set your calendar to it... every single year when we spring forward, when we go to daylight savings time, what happens? People complain about it.
There are newspaper articles written, there are blog posts, you run into people and they’re like ‘It’s the stupidest thing ever, why do we keep doing this?’ And we….we complain about it. As a society we complain about it for a couple of days, and then we stop talking about it again for six months, until we fall back. And everybody loves to fall back. Everybody likes that extra hour, so they don’t complain about that as much. Then a year later, we’ll spring forward again and people will complain about it again, for what? For..chuckle... a couple of days and then we’ll move on with our lives.
Now, when I was younger and we would go to church on Sunday mornings, back in the 70’s and 80’s and so forth, you know when uh, we would have that spring forward day, because we always spring forward Saturday night, Sunday morning, so come Sunday morning church time, people would be late. chuckle There would be sporadic attendance, or late attendance on the Sunday after we sprang forward because people were still an hour behind. Of course in the fall, people were an hour early.
I’m going to talk today about punctuality. Yes, punctuality because we’re talking about time, right? Be where you are supposed to be when you are supposed to be there. And in today’s world that seems almost like a super power. I was given this piece of advice probably thirty years ago or more when I was a young United States Marine. If you’re a student of history, you should know who Admiral Arleigh Burke was. But if you went to public school in the last twenty years, you probably glossed over WWII and don’t know any WWII heroes, but Admiral Arleigh Burke was a WWII hero.
He was an Admiral in charge of the Navy, part of the Navy at least, in the Pacific Theater. Arleigh Burke had a quote. He had a rule for, not only punctuality, but being a professional. And he demanded this of all of his officers and ships commanders. “A fine rule is to get going sooner than anticipated, travel faster than expected and arrive before you’re due”. Kind of like… it’s adding onto the….be where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there.
Now, if you have ever been in a position where you’re a supervisor or a manager, or you have to work with other people, or organize or supervise other people, how many of you believe that punctuality...being where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there….is a super power? I know. Now, how about something simple…you know…leave faster, travel faster, get there before you’re due. You’re like ‘I can’t do all those things’. Alright.
One of the other rules when I was in the Marine Corps, especially in the infantry, is “If you are not fifteen minutes early, you are late”. You say “Ahh, come on Paul, that doesn’t make any sense, you know. If you’re supposed to be there at 8am, then be there at 8am, you’re not late and you’re good to go”. But that’s not the way we worked in the Marine Corps because if we were having formation at 8am, at exactly 0800 and 1 second, that is when the First Sergeant will start talking. You don’t walk up to formation at 8am. Chuckle At least you don’t walk into formation at 0800 exactly and be a happy camper afterwards. Laughter
How many of you in your personal life have ever needed to go somewhere, and you needed to go somewhere with a group...with your family or what have you? And you say “Alright, I did the math and in order to get where we’re going on time, we need to leave the house no later than” 8 o’clock, 9 o’clock, whatever it is, let’s just say 8, stick with 8. So there you are at 8:01, standing in the front living room, standing by the front door, you’ve got the keys, you’ve got your jacket on, you’re ready to go.
And what is everyone else doing?........ “Hang on, hang on, I’ve got to get some coffee. I’m turning the coffee pot off, I’ll be down in a second” “Where’s my travel mug? Do you know where my insulated travel mug is? How come it’s not in the cupboard? I have to find it” “Have you seen my phone charger? I’m looking for my earbuds. I had them on the kitchen table and now they’re not here. Where are my earbuds?”
So, it’s not 8 o’clock anymore. Now it’s 8:10, now it’s 8:15. At 8:27 everyone’s finally in the car. You start the car and you back out of the driveway and you begin your trip 27 minutes late. What kind of a tone does leaving late set for the trip? If you absolutely have to be somewhere. For instance, if the plane is going to take of whether you’re on it or not, you now have to rush, you have to hurry, you have to hope you don’t catch traffic and so on and so forth.
If you’re expected to be somewhere at a certain time, if people are waiting for you and you show up late, it’s not a good thing, right? How many of you know people, or maybe you’re that person at work, who has the reputation for being reliably unreliable? Yes... reliably unreliable. Now, gut check time. Honesty time. Have you ever wondered why you didn’t get promoted. Let’s say you’re working at your job and there’s another person...you’ve both been there the same time, and a shift supervisor job comes up.
And they pick that person and not you. And you get bent out of shape. You’re like “That’s bull crap. We’ve both been here the same amount of time, we both do the same job, how come they chose that person over me?” And I will ask you this….honest self assessment time….”How often are you late”? ….”Well, no, I mean, I do my job….” “Ok, you do your job”....How often do you clock in, you’re supposed to be there at 0700 every morning, and you’re clocking in at 0707…. Seven minutes after, eight minutes after, ten minutes after, fifteen minutes after?
You call the supervisor….”ohh, this problem, the the the….this this this...babysitter, traffic, car, battery...whatever” and you just can’t ever seem to get there on time? Or you’re always barely there on time? You’ve developed a reputation. As a person….if you can’t even get yourself there on time, if you can’t even supervise yourself to be there on time, how are you going to supervise other people? And, chuckle this is a very important one...you cannot have a manager or a supervisor that is constantly late when they’re going to expect their people to be on time.
Let’s face it. If you’re a young person and you’re looking at your supervisor, your manager, your boss person, whatever, and they’re always late, and it comes time for you to, well, either have that extra cup of coffee or, you know, spend more time in front of the mirror...whatever, and you’re like “ppffwww my supervisor is always late, why should I bust my butt to get their on time? It’s no big deal”.
My beloved bride, my beautiful spouse, has been managing and supervising people her entire life. And that is one of the biggest issues, or problems, that probably any supervisor or manager will tell you today...especially with the new generation, the young generation….they don’t understand the concept or the importance of punctuality.
My bride, and this is a while back, she hired a kid, a 19 year old, you know, out of high school. Technically, according to society, this is an adult human now...she hired this kid, in the first five days of work, he was late FOUR times. Four times in FIVE working days. So, it came around to week two. She called him and said “Hey, you don’t need to worry about coming into work tomorrow, we’re no longer going to require your services.” And he was actually shocked. He couldn’t believe it. He’s like “What? But...but…” She said to him “Out of five days, you were late four times. And the last day, you were thirty minutes late.” And he said “It was only thirty minutes, I don’t understand.”
Obviously you don’t. Obviously you think the world is here to serve you. And that’s a problem with our current generation. They think the world is here for THEM not that THEY are here for the world. And they don’t understand what punctuality means. So if you’re working with a young person, you might want to tell them that punctuality is as simple as this - be where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there. It’s not that hard. And if you really don’t understand, go with the Marine Corps rule of “If you’re not fifteen minutes early, you’re late”.
Alright. Ladies and gentlemen, have a fantastic week. I am your host Paul Markel and I’ll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Despite all of the shiny electronic gadgetry that constantly screams for our attention, you need to pick up an book, a genuine dead tree version, and read. Amazon.com has over 3.4 million book titles available for purchase.
According to Jim Morrison’s teachers, the late singer of The Doors even at a relatively young age, was a voracious reader. The band name was take from an Aldous Huxley novel, The Doors of Perception. Reading is not just for students, reading is for teachers, instructors, etc.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to Morning Mindset. Welcome to a brand new episode, a brand new week, and I’ve got a challenge for you this week. Yes according to the Production Calendar, yes the ever present production calendar that my behind the scenes producer keeps me on, this is Monday’s show. So I’ve got a challenge for you this week. Grab some Dead Tree and Exercise your Brain. Okay, despite all the shiney, electronic gadgetry that constantly screams for our attention, occasionally you need to pick up a Book.
-
A serious, no kidding Dead Tree version and read it. You’d think in the modern era with all the iPhones and iPads, Etc, that books would probably be on the downturn, right? Do people even write or read books anymore? Well actually Amazon has over 3.4 Million book titles available for purchase. I actually did a trip back in time here recently, I’m an older gentleman, I’m not too old. But I was a fan of The Doors way back in the beginning, around ‘79-’80 timeframe, of course The Doors had broken up by then. But I discovered them when I was a young teenager, and recently I kind of Rediscovered The Doors.
-
Not that I ever stopped liking them, but other music & styles came out and, I got in the mood, and I started listening to The Doors. I put on my headphones and started listening to the, I dunno 25-30 greatest hits compilation from Amazon.I did some research, some more reading about Jim Morrison, and according to his teachers, even at a young age was a voracious reader. In fact the name of the band was taken from a Aldous Huxley novel, The Doors of Perception. A lot of music efficinatos, music geeks may have known that already. But reading is not just for student, reading is for teachers and instructors.
-
Reading is actually for Writers. How many of you out there are aspiring writers? I know there’s some of you out there who think I’d love to write a book or a novel, I’d love to write fiction. Or, maybe you’d like to write about your favorite topic, whatever that topic happens to be. The most skilled writers in the world are avid readers, and I know that this may seem overly obvious, but it’s not. You know that drinking enough water, drinking an ample amount of water is good for you, right?
-
How many of you drink more than 32.oz of water a day? Now I’m not talking about soda, coffee or tea, I’m talking about legit water. You say “Gumbles I know it’s good for me”, laughs dietary fiber! You all know and will probably agree, that dietary fiber is important in your daily food intake. You’re like “Gumbles Sometimes”, exactly. So you need to read to exercise your brain, to strengthen your brain actually. How many of you actually do it? You say “Gumbles I guess it’s true, I should read, and I know it’s brain exercise. It helps me focus and so forth.”
-
Reading will help you focus, reading will help you with your attention span. If you have a “not good” attention span, reading will help you increase your attention span. If you are feeling distracted constantly, and when I say get some Dead Tree, I’m serious. Now Kindle readers are great, don’t get me wrong, I read books on Kindle all the time. But I really like to take some dedicated Quiet Time and get a Book and sit, by myself, and read a book. An actual book, and when I read a book, the majority of the time I’m reading History or Fact, and I will read with a highlighter and a pen or a pencil very close at hand.
-
Generally I’ll have a pencil and a highlighter right there next to me with my cup of coffee while I’m there reading, because I know what I’m reading is educational, or it’s historical or what have you, and I’ll want to take notes. I wanted to challenge you, remember we talked previously about Maintaining the Habit and developing good habits, and how us as humans & creatures of habit, sometimes it’s difficult for us. Sometimes it’s difficult for us to actually take the time and do something that we know is valuable.
-
For instance, reading. How many times have you said, or you hear someone say “Ah you don’t understand. I have a family, I have a career, I don’t have time to read.” I hear it all the time. I hear it from people who are my peers, they say “Ah yea- I get it Paul. I don’t have time to read.” Hmm, you probably do, and I can guarantee you that if I followed you around for a day with a stopwatch, and tracked all the time you wasted, there would be time in your day to read. But you don’t do it, why? Because you allow yourself to accept the excuse. Saying the words “I don’t have time to read, I’m too busy” is an excuse that we offer ourselves, is it not?
-
“Oh crap, you caught me.” Yes I did, I caught ya. So I don’t care what you read, I don’t care what the topic is, I don’t care. But I want you to develop the good habit of reading, and what do we say about physical/strength training? It’s better to dedicate yourself, and even if you can only sit down for 15 minutes, pick up a piece of dead tree, and read a chapter. Some of you may be very fast readers, some of you may be very Slow readers. My wife gets on me all the time, like “I don’t get how you could take so long to read something” because she’s a fast reader and I’m a reader-, sometimes I’ll get to reading and I’ll actually go back and re-read the last couple paragraphs just to make sure I got it.
-
I’ll highlight it and all that, but that’s just me. But I want you to develop that habit, as you go through your week I want you to exercise your brain! I want you to take the time to read something, even if it’s only for 15 minutes. Alright is that good, does that work for you guys? There’s a challenge for ya, and I may be so bold, to recommend some Recommended Reading, I’d like for you guys to go to Amazon and if you have kids, you know someone who has kids, if you have grandkids, go to Amazon.com and get the “Team Honey Badger; Raising Fearless Kids in a Cowardly World”.
-
It’s available as a Dead Tree version, that’s right a paperback version. Or if you really, really wanna use your Kindle reader, that’s good too. “Team Honey Badger; Raising Fearless Kids in a Cowardly World”, on Amazon. There you are, you’ve got your homework assignment. I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Colonel John Boyd, an Air Force Fighter pilot who was never defeated in a dogfight, was also a master tactician and student of modern warfare. Boyd used to tell junior officers that in every man’s life he will come to a point where he must make the choice to be someone or to do something.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello, welcome back to Morning Mindset. Alright, it looks like, according to my show notes and the calendar, this is a Friday episode, so let me see if I can give you something worthwhile to lead you into the weekend. Now, if you have been involved in law enforcement, or the military, or any Marshal endeavour, you should have heard of the name Colonel John Boyd. If you haven't go ahead and look him up. Colonel John Boyd was an Air Force fighter pilot who was never defeated in a dogfight. That's right, he was never defeated in a dogfight, and he was also a master tactician and a student of Modern Warfare.
-
And there's a very good book available on Amazon and it's called, uh, I think it's called John Boyd the Fighter Pilot… or the… who changed the art of warfare... something like that but, it’s BOYD, John Boyd. And John Boyd came up with something that was called the ooda loop. OODA…. Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act. Many of these things may be, well, you’re like ‘I’m not a cop, I’m not military, I don’t care about this stuff Paul’, well you should know a little bit about John Boyd. He was an American Hero. He dedicated his entire life to the preservation and protection of the United States of America.
-
He was very involved during the Cold War Era. Many of you who are young are like ‘Cold war? When it was really cold outside and they were fighting?’ No. No. Look it up. Boyd, uh, he never made General but he was a Colonel and often he would have lieutenants and captains and junior people underneath him. He would have them in his staff or in his office and every once in awhile he would have to give them The SPEECH. It was called the Do Something Or Be Someone speech.
-
It went a little something like this: John Boyd would tell junior officers, or subordinates, or people who worked for him… He’d say “There Comes A Time in every man's life when he will have to make a choice to either be someone or do something”. To the Casual Observer you're like ‘Uhhhh, it doesn't make any sense Paul. You can be someone and do something at the same time and it's all gibberish nonsense’. Well let me explain it - What Boyd meant, and he was dealing with a pentagon power structure, he was dealing with entrenched military bureaucrats on a daily basis.
-
And chuckle like we mentioned yesterday, Boyd was probably, I don't know if Boyd was a fan of Patton (I actually believe that he was, and I’m sure that Boyd read books about George Patton) John Boyd was all about grabbing the problem by the nose and kicking it in the pants. And when he would do that, very much like Patton, he would annoy his peers and his superiors because he would constantly point out what was wrong and he would tell them how we were going to fix it. He didn’t just go along to get along.
-
You say, well, okay that's great for him and that’s great for Patton, but it doesn’t apply to me. Well, it really does. At some point in time, a man, a person, a human, need to make the decision ‘do they want to do something’ or ‘do they want to be someone’, what is your priority? And if you’re going to do something, you want to do something great whatever that happens to be, it doesn’t matter, choose your career field. Let’s say you’re in the medical field and you want to be the best surgeon, the best doctor, uh, I don’t care, I don’t know where you are, but you want to do something important… you want to do something valuable… you want to leave a genuine legacy behind.
-
You want 50 years from now for people to see what you did and say ‘Man, I don’t know who this guy or who this woman was, but that was really something, that was important’. You want people to be talking about what you did, what you ACCOMPLISHED….25, 50 years from now, 100 years from now, right? And it doesn’t matter…. It could be music, it could be art, it could be literature, it could be whatever. You want to do something.
-
Now, in your pursuit to do something, you may receive recognition. Unfortunately many people today, uh, whose names you know, authors, inventors, designers and so forth, you see that name and you’re like ‘man, that person, they must have been a rock star in their time, everybody must have thought they were geniuses, and that they were cool, and that they appreciated it’. If you study history, you will find that quite often, many great authors were not recognized while they were alive.
-
Many works of art, many works of literature, books, movies, and so forth, that you think ‘Man’, like for instance - how many of you guys out there are Star Wars fans? How many of you are Star Wars geeks? And you think ‘Dude, Star Wars was the greatest movie in the history of ever, it’s the greatest movie series in the last 100 years, or whatever’. You think that, right? And you think that Star Wars, when it was released was a smash hit and that the entire country, the entire WORLD, loved Star Wars. That’s not the case at all chuckle
-
When Star Wars was first released, it was met with kind of a ‘ehh’. The studios didn’t appreciate it. The powers that be didn’t really think it was great. It broke the formula, it was different, it was strange, it was unusual. It wasn’t supported at all by the entrenched Hollywood network system. They didn’t think it was great. It wasn’t until the people got ahold of it that it grew legs and became what it is today.
-
Often times, if you want to do something, you have to be prepared to have that something not accepted immediately. Sometimes you’re going to do something that not everyone is going to appreciate, but you know in your heart, that what you’re doing is important. Whether or not you’re getting the accolades for it immediately.
-
Now the other side is to be someone. If you want to be someone, if you want to be loved and appreciated, if you want to move up and get positions of power or authority or what have you, not do something, but focus on being someone, then you’re going to need to compromise. You’re going to have to compromise your own personal beliefs. You’re going to have to modify your beliefs so that they are in direct line with those who are above you, those who are currently your superiors.
-
You have to modify your beliefs so that your peers and superiors all think that they are good, because, well, they’re also their ideas as well. For instance Star Wars and the studio system. If George Lucas had set out to make a guaranteed hit with the studio system, if he wanted the people at the studio to think he was a genius, to think he was wonderful, to pat him on the back and say ‘you’re one of us’, he wouldn’t have done what he did.
-
Because the studio system did not appreciate Star Wars. Go back and read your pop culture history. They did not appreciate it. But he had a vision to do SOMETHING… not to be someone. Now, today, you could say ‘George Lucas is someone, who are you buddy?’ But he is someone today not because of what he strove to be in the eyes of, in this case the studio system, but he strove to do something important and to let that thing stand on its own.
-
Here’s the trick - as a human being, it’s really hard, it’s really difficult, to make that conscious decision that you want to do something rather than to be someone. Because my making that decision, you immediately ostracize yourself from a large percentage of your peer group. You’re going to do something that’s unique, you’re going to do something that’s different, you’re going to do something that may not have been tried before, or may have been tried and failed. And people are not going to automatically support you.
-
It’s hard to go out and to do something rather than to be someone. Class presidents chuckle How many of you went to high school? Ok, put your hands down now. The class president. Was the class president in your class the smartest, most intelligent person in the class? In your senior class or whatever… were they the most gifted and skilled, were they the ones that were constantly trying to come up with new and better ways to do things? Most of you probably say… ‘mmmm, no, no our class president, when I was a senior, was the most popular guy in the class’
-
How did he become popular? Or maybe in your case it was a she, how did they become popular? Did they become popular by focusing all their efforts and time on doing something? Or did they want to be liked by people? Hmmmmm, yeah, exactly. Politicians are very rarely people that do something. Most of the time politicians are people that want to be someone. They want to be liked by everyone, so they modify their tone, they modify what they say, they look and they see what is currently popular….what does everyone like right now? And they’re like, ‘ok, that’s what everyone likes today, I’m going to like that too. And if I like that too, then I’ll be part of the crowd and they will accept me. I can be someone in that crowd’
-
John Boyd made the hard decision not to be someone, but to do something. The legacy that he left behind… and his family life suffered, his personal life suffered, he didn't become a General, he didn’t become a millionaire, but what he left behind for the Air Force, for the United States Military, for those of us that are practicing the Marshal way, is extremely important. But he wasn’t recognized for it, for the most part, while he was alive. Because he didn’t ‘go along’, he didn’t want to be someone.
-
It was a lonely journey. And so you’re going to come to that point in your life, maybe you already have and maybe this is just reinforcing it. If you’re a young person, it’s really difficult, and not everyone is going to, not everyone is cut out to do something, but consider human history. Consider something that may be your favorite. I’ll give you one more, then I’ll let you go. Are you guys music aficionados? Are you guys music lovers?
-
You say ‘yeah, I’m a music lover’, how many of you like rock n roll music? Do you like Black Sabbath? You’re like ‘Black Sabbath is classic rock, oh, Black Sabbath, they are the classic rock band, a band which hundreds, or at least dozens, maybe hundreds, of other bands emulated and looked to’ and you think to yourself, you know, man these guys go to a party, go to an event, and the house shuts down. Everyone shuts their mouth and goes ‘hey look, it’s the guys from Black Sabbath’
-
You think that, right? They were not appreciated. chuckle I was alive when Black Sabbath was a relatively new entity. And when they first came out, the Rolling Stone Magazine, all of their albums, you know, they gave them five star reviews, one being terrible and five being great, the Rolling Stone magazine gave all of the Black Sabbath albums that existed back in the late seventies, early eighties, uh, they gave their first four albums ONE star each, they gave Paranoid TWO stars, so they gave it a D instead of an F. Yeah. Yeah. Laughter
-
Now, they set out to do something. And it didn’t matter that the critics, the music critics of the time, didn’t matter whether they liked it or not, whether they appreciated it or not. Now, today, they are someone. Everybody who was in the band Black Sabbath, is someone. But that didn’t happen initially. Initially they bucked the system. They didn’t make what was currently popular at the time.
-
So, uh, that is… I’m going to leave that….this weekend… like I said, this show was released on Friday morning, so you’ve got all weekend to think about it. Do you want to DO SOMETHING or do you want to BE SOMEONE? The choice is up to do. Alright, this has been a little bit longer of an episode than we normally do but I thought you would appreciate it. I thought this was important enough of a topic to take four or five extra minutes and give it to you. Thank you for being with me today, I truly appreciate it. I’m your host Paul Markel and I will talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
General George Patton, when referring to confronting the enemy told his troops that “We are going to grab them by the nose, and kick them in the pants.” That same concept can be translated to daily problems.
Patton often irritated his peer and superiors by saying what was on his mind, forcefully, and not simply going along to get along. He was never afraid to tell the Emperor that he was naked.
(Apologies for the little bit of Static)
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Good morning, or good evening, whenever it is you happen to be listening to Morning Mindset. You can listen any time you want, and that’s the great thing about being an American! Well maybe you’re not an American, but through the beauty of on-demand audio, you can listen any time of day or night, and you can re-listen, haha. If for some strange reason you’re new to the show, congratulations and welcome, and I’d like to congratulate you on your excellent decision making skills.
-
Alright today we’re going to talk about George Patton, and if you went to Public School in the last 20 years, and you don’t know who General George Patton was, A] You need to get on the Internet and do some research. But those of you who know the name General George Patton, a very, very famous WWII General & American Hero, he used to have a phrase; “Grab it by the Nose” or “Grab them by the Nose”. When talking about confronting the enemy, Patton told his troops, “Grab them by the Nose and kick them in the pants.” That’s right, and that meant that they’re going to take on the enemy, head on. They were going to address the issues, the problems, the task at hand head on, and they’re going to kick it in the pants.
-
That same concept can be translated to daily problems, now I’m going to assume that most of you are not preparing for active combat, where there’s going to be an enemy that you need to grab by the nose & kick in the pants, and he didn’t literally mean “Kick them in the Pants”, he meant shoot them. But when he talked about the “Grab them by the Nose” strategy, he meant that they’re going to address the problem head on. We’re not going to sit back and wait for the problem to fix itself, because it’s not, we’re not going to apply a half-hearted solution. When you “Kick your problem in the pants”, that’s not half-hearted, that’s full hearted.
-
Patton often irritated his peers by saying what was on his mind, forcefully, and not simply going along to get along. Patton was never afraid to tell the Emperor that he was naked. Yes, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, I would hope that all of you who are listening to me, when you were young, heard the story of the Emperor’s new clothes. What was that story, what was the moral of the story of the Emperor’s new clothes? The Emperor was vain, and he was arrogant, and he had a whole bunch of Sycophants. If you don’t know what a sycophant is, again, go to the internet and search it.
-
But he has sycophants all around him that would tell him, even when he was naked, that his clothes were wonderful, that everything was great. That everything is going great, we’re going along to go along, don’t make waves. How many times have you heard that, “Don’t make Waves”, “The problem will sort itself out”. Now General Patton’s way of solving a problem, was not to sit back and hope it solved itself, Patton wanted to address the problem. Okay, there’s a problem, Boom, grab it by the nose. Now how are we gonna solve this problem? We’re gonna kick it in the pants!
-
That’s not a half-hearted thing. From a personal standpoint, I feel like we’ve gotten to know each other over the last couple of months. On a personal standpoint, I’m not Patton but I’ve been in situations where I make my superiors and peers uncomfortable, by saying what was on my mind, by actually addressing the problem. I have been that guy, that has told the Emperor that he was naked. Now the trick is, most of the time the Emperor does not want to be told that he is naked. The Emperor is happy having people around him telling him how great he is and how amazing his clothes are, even though he’s completely naked.
-
I’ve never, whether it’s a stubborn streak from my mother or father or grandparents, I don’t know where I got this streak. Maybe it’s my Scotts-German ancestry, but I’ve never been able to just sit back and tell the Emperor I love his new clothes. I’ve always been the guy who told the Emperor that he’s naked. Doesn’t always make me popular, however people say “How’s the small business”, I’ve been a small business owner, I incorporated around 2009, so you can do the math. People are like “How’s that working for ya?” Well it must be working pretty good, I have a home to live in, I have a car to drive, I have food to eat, and it’s working out pretty well.
-
I found that after working for other people for many years, going on 30 years, I found that I am my own best employee and my own worst employee, because I have the tendency to tell the Emperor he’s naked. Now this isn’t always a bad thing, people are like “Well you just talked me out of it, I’m not gonna grab it by the nose and kick it in the pants”. I have had employers in the past who truly appreciated that. Not all of them did, but many of them actually did, and you may be fortunate enough to find someone who will appreciate that. How many of you out there, I know some of you had said “I wanna advance in my career, I wanna do things and I want to be noticed.”
-
You wanna be noticed? Grab the problem by the nose and kick it in the pants. Take it head-on, and it doesn’t have to be a Work situation. If there is an issue, and you can continue to pretend that that issue is not going on, you can continue to apply half-hearted solutions to that problem, hoping that it will fix itself. But the longer that problem lingers, it grows like a cancerous tumor. When someone is diagnosed with cancer, what do the doctors say? They always say they wanna catch it early, right? Why do they wanna catch it early? They wanna catch it early so they can address it immediately, grab it by the nose and kick it in the pants.
-
No physician is going to say “We found cancer in this part of your body, so what we’re going to do is we’re going to leave it untreated for about 6 months or so, and just see what happens.” No cancer doctor in the world is going to say that. They want to find it, identify it, and start kicking it in the pants. That’s how you survive cancer, you don’t survive cancer by thinking “Eh, maybe it’ll cure itself.” Maybe if I just pretend the problem isn’t here, it’ll just go away. No, that isn’t now we do it, is it? You’re like “No, that isn’t.” We address it head on, and we apply a solution.
-
It’s almost like Patton was, whether he knew it or not, referencing the Marine Corps Leadership Traits. What is the T in JJDIDTIEBUCKLE? Tact, dealing with problems calmly but what? Firmly. That’s right, but Firmly. So apply some tact, locate the problem, address it head on, and once that problem has been identified, grab it by the nose and kick it in the pants. Sometime you gotta tell the Emperor he’s naked. Alright ladies & gentlemen, you didn’t know you were going to get a George Patton, Emperor’s new clothes section, did ya? No you didn’t! You’re welcome.
-
Okay everyone who has left a review on Amazon for the book “Team Honey Badger”, thank you very much. If you haven’t but have purchased the book, “Team Honey Badger; Raising Fearless Kids in a Cowardly World”, it would be fantastic if you would leave a review on Amazon. So today’s show is brought to you by “Team Honey Badger; Raising Fearless Kids in a Cowardly World”, it’s available on Amazon as Paperback or Kindle, and written by a little author named Paul Markel, yours truly. Alright I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Who is your Relief Valve? A relief valve allows excess or dangerous pressure to be “bled off” or vented before the pressure becomes too great and catastrophic failure occurs. Everyone needs a person who acts as their relief valve.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Welcome back, and you guys ready to go? Well if you’re not hit pause then come back later. But for the rest of us we’re going to start right now. Today we’re going to talk about a Relief Valve, who is your Relief Valve? You say “But Paul, a Relief Valve is a safety feature that allows excess pressure to be vented off, before the pressure becomes too great an a catastrophic failure occurs. How many of you out there had moms or grandma’s that had Pressure Cookers when you were young?
-
I know mine did. My mom did, my grandma did, and on top of those was a Relief Valve, and the Relief Valve was there to make sure that the pressure cooker didn’t explode! So that it didn’t reach catastrophic failure. All you engineers out there know all about Relief Valves and pressure Valves and so forth, but we’re not talking about physical machines here, we’re talking about humans. Everyone needs a Relief Valve, and when I say a Relief Valve I mean somebody who can help you bleed off the excess pressure before it builds up and, well you have a catastrophic failure.
-
Everyone has issues in their lives. My issues are different from your issues and so on, but the fact is every once in awhile you get to a point where whether it’s family pressures, work pressures or both, when they build up to the point where you feel like you’re going to explode, where you’re going to have a catastrophic failure. I don’t want you to have a catastrophic failure, I don’t want you to explode, what I want is for you to have a Relief Valve. Now I have been very, very fortunate in my life to have not one, but several people who act as my Relief Valves.
-
I can pick up my phone at any time of the day or night, I try to be a good friend, I don’t call people at 3 o’clock in the morning. But if I need to vent, how many times have you heard someone say “Ugg, I just need to vent, then I’ll feel better.” That’s what you’re doing, you’re venting off that excess, dangerous pressure. Now, being a Relief Valve kind of goes two ways. You can’t just be the person that calls to vent constantly. You have to be the person who picks up the phone constantly.
-
You may be involved in something, you may be really busy, your phone rings and you look down, because this is our modern world and it’s not like when I was a child, where it would ring and you’d think “Gee, I wonder who’s on the other end of the phone, I have to pick it up to find out.” In our modern world you don’t have to answer the phone to find out who’s calling, in our modern world you can just look down. Now for me personally, I don’t know about you guys, but if my phone rings, and it’s not a number that’s pre-programmed into my phone, I don’t answer it.
-
Unless I’m expecting a call from a certain area code at a certain time, I let it go to voicemail. So how many of you are in a position where, if you phone rings and you look down, and it’s That Person. That person who you know that’s your Relief Valve, how many of you pick up the phone? You need to do it, because being a Relief Valve is also being a friend. There are people in my life who I can call up and say “Hey, I’m on the roof, ready to jump. I need you to tell me why I shouldn’t. I’m being facetious, I’ve never actually been on a roof ready to jump, but I’ve felt emotionally like I was “On the Roof, ready to Jump”, like if I don’t talk to somebody, I’m gonna snap. I’m gonna start punching walls or something.
-
Or how many of you have encountered people in your life who, through casual acquaintance or work or what have you, and you think to yourself “Everyone in the world cannot possibly be this stupid. Am I the only one in the world who still cares, am I the only one in the world who can see the truth? So you need to call someone and say “Hey, you’re not gonna believe-” Laughs have you ever encountered a situation, that was so ridiculous, that was so moronic or imbecilic, that you had to pick up the phone and call someone to say “Dude, you’re not gonna believe what I just saw, you’re not gonna believe what someone just said to me”.
-
They’re like “Give it to me brother”, and you tell them, because you know that they can appreciate that. I’ve been there, I’ve been that guy, and what I hope for you, is I hope you have a really solid Relief Valve, or more than one. It’s a redundancy system, right? Because if you need a Relief Valve, you really need them to be there. So if they are out of town, out of phone range, if they are in a position where they can’t answer your call or they can’t talk to you, is there someone else that you can call? I’m not really talking like a Suicide Hotline here, I’m talking about just someone who can help you get through all the ???, all the bull-feces that you encounter on a daily basis.
-
But if you’re going to have someone to be your Relief Valve, you have to be a good Relief Valve for them too. Sometimes being a good friend is just being a good listener, you’re like “What?!” Yeah, sometimes being a good friend is just being a good, patient listener. You don’t have to- and most of the time when someone calls you, and needs you to be a Relief Valve, they don’t need you to solve the problem for them. They just need you to let them, to be a Relief Valve, and if anybody is- that’s the thing about my people, the people who are my Relief Valves, I assume that they’re not listening to this show Laughs.
-
I assume they’re not out there tuning in every day, they know me and can talk to me on the phone. But for those of you who are my Relief Valves, anyone who I’ve ever called up and said “Dude, you are not going to believe what I just saw, listen up”, I truly appreciate you, and I will try my best to be a Relief Valve for my friends as well. So as you go about your life, I want you to think about- and you know what, there may be somebody, since you heard this you went “You know what? That guy/girl, they are my Relief Valve, and they have been my Relief Valve for a long time. And maybe-” honesty time, maybe you have been using your Relief Valve a lot.
-
Maybe the relationship is going really far in one direction, maybe you use them as a Relief Valve far more than they use you. That’s fine, but what I would do is I’d let them know, send them a text. Right now, today, if there has been someone there for you, send them a text and say “Thank you for being my Relief Valve.” and I bet you they’ll appreciate it. Alright guys, find a Relief Valve, don’t allow that excess pressure to build up and let you crack. I don’t want you to have a catastrophic failure, I want you to Vent. We need humans in our lives in order to do that. So whoever your Relief Valve happens to be, send them a text today.
-
This episode is brought to you by “Team Honey Badger; Raising Fearless Kids in a Cowardly World”. Do I have to tell you we live in a cowardly world today? Go to Amazon.com, you can get it as a Paperback or a Kindle version. Once more that’s “Team Honey Badger; Raising Fearless Kids in a Cowardly World”. I’m Paul Markel, and I’ll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Maintaining the Habit. Humans are creatures of habit. That is not a mystery. When it comes to developing good or positive habits often we allow the great to be the enemy of the good. My coach, Matt Reynolds, recently discussed Optimal versus Real life.
Regarding strength training, it is better to do something physical, rather than simply to do nothing at all because the conditions are not perfect. The important thing is to maintain the good habit.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Alright, welcome back to Morning Mindset, I am your host Paul Markel and thank you, one more time. Can I thank you enough? I don’t think I could possibly thank you enough, but thank you for joining me today. I hope that you are ready to close your mouth, open up both of your ears, and listen just a little bit louder. Speaking of listening louder, about that intro music. In case you don’t know, that is the intro to a song by a band called Pop Evil, the bass player Matt DiRito is a friend of mine. You should check them out, if you’re a fan of Rock & Roll music, check them out. If you’re not, then don’t, I don’t know what to tell ya.
-
Alright let’s talk about Maintaining the Habit, human beings are creatures of Habit. That’s not a mystery, that shouldn’t be a shock to you, you’ve probably heard that your entire life. People are creatures of Habit, and that can be a good thing and a bad thing. When it comes to good or positive Habits, we often allow the great to be the enemy of the good, and please allow me to explain. Recently my coach Matt Reynolds and I, we recently discussed Optimal vs. Real Life (x2). There are perfect situations, and then there are realistic situations. It’s better to do Something [physical] rather than Nothing because the conditions aren’t perfect.
-
I’ll give you a good example from the Fitness/Strength Training world. How many of you have been at that point in your life where you’re like “Alright, I’m gonna lose weight” or get stronger, or learn a sport, what have you. It’s something you haven’t done, or it’s an area of your life you’ve neglected. So you say “Alright, I’m definitely gonna do it this year. I’m gonna lose weight, or get stronger, I’m gonna get more fit.” Okay great, so you make that commitment to yourself. But if you have not been doing that up to this point in time, you don’t have that habit developed yet, in fact you have the opposite.
-
You have the habit of making excuses and sitting on the couch. That’s the habit you’ve developed and you need to break that habit. So you start going to the gym. You find a gym, or you buy stuff, how many of you have bought stuff? Right, you bought stuff and brought it home, you put it in your rec-room or your garage, and you’re in there like “I’m gonna do this.” and you do it and you’re excited about it. Then you come back a day or two later and you do it again, then you do it a 3rd or 4th time, and what happens?
-
Excuses start creeping you, you start losing the habit. You’re like “Ah I was going to today, but this is going on, and the kids, or the husband/wife or whatever. But it’s okay, I promise myself I’ll do it tomorrow.” Okay then what happens? Yesterday was a hard day, “I know I was supposed to do it, but it’s not gonna kill me to miss a couple days.” How many times have you said that to yourself? “It’s not gonna kill me to miss a couple days”. One of the things that Matt & Scott were talking on their show, about Strength Training.
-
Okay when you’re involved in Strength Training, especially barbell training, you need a few things, right? Like a genuine, no kidding barbell set, with accompanying free-weights. You need a rack of some sort, a squat rack, whatever it is as long as it’s some kind of rack system, so you can get under the weight to do squats. You have some minimum requirements, right? Now many people will travel, especially if you are a business person. Part of being a successful business is having to travel, you have to go on the road, and that’s fine.
-
But you’ve been doing Strength Training religiously, let’s say Mon-Wed-Fri or Tues-Thurs-Sat, whatever your schedule is, you’re doing it. You’re really, genuinely doing it. Then it comes time for you to travel. Let’s say you find yourself in the Best Western resorts in Provo, UT or Burlington, IA, and there is no barbell gym there. You say “Ah, all I’ve got is this Hotel Fitness room”, and the hotel fitness rooms, what have an exercise bike, a treadmill, a generic Stairmaster (if they even gave that), and if you’re lucky they’ll have a little rack in the corner with some dumbells on it, maybe.
-
Some of them may have one of those all-in-one machines, at one of the fancy hotels they maybe have one of those machines. Now from an Optimal vs. Real Life scenario, if you’re involved in serious barbell training, you walk in and say “None of the stuff I need is here. There’s no barbells or racks, there’s no point in me doing this because I can’t do it right. I can’t do what I’m supposed to do.” One of the things that Matt & Scott brought up is, “I would rather you do Something rather than Nothing. Do not allow the Great to be the enemy of the Good.” Is it great that the hotel exercise room only has a bike, a treadmill & a rack of dumbells?
-
Is that a great, optimal situation? No it’s not, but it’s real life, and the most important thing Scott & Matt pointed out, when they said this I was like “Ah man, I have to share this with my audience”, so you’re welcome. They said “It’s more important for you to maintain the positive habit, than it is to be in an optimal or great or perfect situation.” No the situation isn’t great, but it’s important to do what you need to do, and when it comes to your personal development, if you’re trying to develop good habits. You’ve told yourself “I want to develop good habits” and you genuinely do.
-
So rather than, let’s say the fitness thing or whatever it happens to be. You told yourself “I’m going to to Monday, Wednesday & Friday, I’m going to do it” and then Friday shows up and you’re like “Ah, I’m busy. Things and this and life and so forth. I just can’t do it, I promised myself I was gonna work out 3 times a day, an hour a day. That’s my goal.” You say to yourself, “It’s Friday, there’s no way I’m going to get a 1 hour training session in today. It’s just not gonna happen.” Okay, it would be better for you to take the time and do 15 minutes on Friday than it would for you to do nothing.
-
You say “Yeah, but then I won’t be able to do this exercise and that one, and if I can’t do all that, then I’m missing out.” That would be great, that would be optimal, but it’s better to make yourself do it than it is to just do nothing. So when it comes to developing good habits, Laughs and working on those good habits. You’ve made the investment in yourself, you’ve made the commitment to yourself, right? Then instead of accepting the excuse because the situation is not perfect or optimal, just take the time and do it. You’re better off taking 15-20 minutes, than doing it not at all.
-
Because what did we say before? Humans are creatures of habit and soon not doing the work will become a habit. Alright, that’s all I’ve got to say to you guys today. Let’s, let’s do a little gut-check. It’s March now, at least it’s March as I’m releasing this, I don’t know when you’re listening to it. But I released this in March, so we’re a full 2+ months into the new year. How many of you know friends, neighbors and so forth who, on January 1st said “Oh this year, this new year I’m gonna lose weight, get fit, get stronger. I used to be strong when I was young, I let myself get soft, I’m gonna do it.”
-
Okay, how many of those people, in the middle of March, are Still doing it. How many of them worked on that habit, maintained that habit, and kept that habit? Maybe you did, maybe you didn’t. Alright, gut-check time. That’s all for me today, thank you for being with me once again. This show is brought to you by the book “Team Honey Badger; Raising Fearless Kids in a Cowardly World”. If you have kids, if you know people who have kids, Etc, pick up “Team Honey Badger; [Raising Fearless] Kids in a Cowardly World”, available on Amazon as a Paperback or a Kindle version. Alright folks I’m Paul Markel, and I’ll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Quiet Time is Meditation Not all meditation has to be that of the eastern philosophical kinds. You do not need to sit cross-legged on a bamboo mat to enjoy and appreciate meditation.
Meditation is about give you mind a break, a deliberate and purposeful break. Mental rest is essential for clarity and continued productivity.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Good morning, afternoon, evening, whenever it happens to be. Thank you again for joining me for this episode of Morning Mindset, I am Paul Markel and according to my show notes, this will be released on a Monday. Now you can listen to this any time of day or night, I don’t care. But if you are listening to it in a traditional fashion, if you’re turning it on Monday morning, making your coffee, preparing your day, well welcome to another week, and we’re looking forward to serving you another week.
-
Today we’re going to talk about Quiet Time and how Quiet Time is Meditation. Now many people when they here the term “Meditation” they think of Yoga, they think of Eastern philosophy, they think of, you know Buddhist Monks sitting on the side of a mountain, cross-legged with their hands in their lap. You know spacing out, meditating, and that is true, that is one form of Meditation. When I was a young man, when I got in the Martial Arts one thing we were taught was Meditation, and at the time it really freaked my parents out.
-
They were very traditional, so the idea of me sitting down cross-legged, practicing Eastern Philosophical Meditation, “Uggh, what is this, some kind of weird Cult thing?” and it’s not. Meditation really, is about nothing more than giving your mind a break, and seeking mental clarity. Gasp Today, in our modern world, be honest with yourself. When was the last time you deliberately took time and-, I don’t mean sleeping or taking naps or spacing out, I mean when was the last time you took the time to give your mind a break?
-
You’re like “Ummm… I don’t know”, exactly. I don’t know. With our electronic gadgets, there’s always something, whether it’s children, whether it’s your iPhone, Computer, Etc., whatever it happens to be, it seems that someone or something is always screaming for your mental attention, and it’s difficult. People talk about stress, I see constantly articles in magazines, well not actual magazines but you know what I mean, on the internet and so forth. Although I suppose there are still paper magazines, it still befuddles me that people purchase paper magazines and take them home and, ugh.
-
It’s like buying 8 Track tapes, I don’t see the purpose behind it. But regardless, you always see these articles and people are talking about stress. Stress Recovery and Daily Stress and This and That, Ramble. One of the reasons we have so much stress in our lives is because A) Most of it is Self-Induced and B) We often don’t take the time to appreciate Quiet Time. When I saw Quiet Time, I mean literally, taking your phone (yes your phone) and putting it on the charger in a different room.
-
Away from you, so you can’t be tempted to pick it up and look at it. You’re not even tempted to pick it up and look at it. If you’re going to do Quiet Time, no screens of any kind. Lists Examples Now just because I’m talking about Quiet Time and how Quiet Time is Meditation, it doesn’t mean you have to get down on a bamboo mat and cross your legs. I know a lot of you are thinking “Paul, I can’t get down and cross my legs like I did in kindergarten, I haven’t done that in years. What I want you to do is deliberately give yourself a mental break.
-
Sometimes picking up a book, especially a fiction novel. Picking up a fiction novel and brewing a cup of coffee, (I like Cigars) lighting a cigar and sitting somewhere quietly with no distractions. Do you have a place where you can go, where you can experience Quiet Time? I know what you may be thinking, “Oh my Living Room”, a Living Room is not a good place because it is a communal area. A bedroom could be good, but if you’re sharing it with your spouse, it’s a communal area. Do you have an area where you can go and get legitimate Quiet, and you don’t need hours & hours.
-
But 15-20 minutes, 30 minutes or more, is good Quiet Time. If you find yourself in a position where you’re like “I’m losing it, I’m constantly stressed.” or you’re not sleeping. It may be because you are not giving yourself a Quiet Time. You’re never giving yourself the opportunity to mentally rest. Mentally rest, that’s right. I want you to do that, this week whether it’s today or tomorrow or whenever. I want you to find a place, and it might be difficult for some of you. Some of you, depending on your living situation and so forth, to find a place where you can go sit Quietly and not be interrupted. Not have to worry about phones ringing, and like I said, if you’re going to have Quiet Time dedicate yourself. Take your phone, put it in another room.
-
Pour a cup of coffee, a glass of wine I don’t care, but give yourself a mental break. If you hope to be productive in your personal life, in your professional life, if you hope to be creative. You need to take the time to seek Mental Clarity. Giving your brain some rest is the only way to maintain real, genuine mental productivity. At least it’s Monday when this releases, I don’t know when you’re listening to it. But I want you to put on your schedule, take some time for quiet reflection & meditation.
-
Like I said you don’t have to put on a saffron robe and sit on the side of a mountain to appreciate meditation. All meditation really is is clearing your mind of distractions, clearing your mind of conscious thoughts, and giving it a break. Your mind, you remember those old “You deserve a break today” commercials at McDonald’s? ♫ You deserve a break today ♫, you know what? Your mind deserves a break, and I want you to do that for yourself this week.
-
Alright guys, that’s all I have for you today. Please check out the books I have on Amazon, I’d truly appreciate it. If you want more from myself, you can go to Amazon.com and get all of my books on Paperback & Kindle versions. Alright, I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Give them a lagniappe, that little something extra. You might have also heard the phrase “give them the pickle”. Let’s talk about the benefits of give people just a bit more than they expected or paid for.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Alright guys welcome back to another Morning Mindset, I am your host Paul Markel, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today, whenever that happens to be. I like to think that many of you like to sit & sip your morning coffee while you sit and listen to Morning Mindset, just enough time to- I don’t know how much coffee you drink in the morning, but if it’s 1 cup you could start the Morning Mindset, and about the time you’re done with your coffee, you’re done with Morning Mindset and you’re ready to begin your day.
-
Give them a Lagniappe. How many of you, listening to the sound of my voice right now, know what a Lagniappe is? I’ve been very fortunate in my adult life, that I’ve been able to live in many different places in the U.S.A., I’ve lived on the East coast, West coast, North & South. One of the things I learned when I moved to the South, to Biloxi, MS, which is very close to Louisiana and Cajun country, I learned the term Lagniappe, and Lagniappe is actually spelled like Lasagna. It’s L-a-g-n-i-a-p-p-e, and you’re like “What in the freaking world is a Lagniappe?”
-
Well how it was explained to me was, a gift or a little something extra and I applied this when I was teaching. One of the many things I’ve done in my life, I’ve been a coach, I’ve been an instructor, and I’ve been a professional platform teacher. I’ve done that for the United States Military, Law Enforcement and so forth, but what I strove to do and what I still strive to do, is whether or not it’s from someone else’s curriculum, like from the ubiquitous 3 Ring Binder, or the PowerPoint presentation, or if I’m teaching from my own curriculum, one I’m teaching myself, I like to give the students something more.
-
Something more than is in the 3 ring binder, something more than is in the PowerPoint presentation. Give them that little something extra, give them that Lagniappe. You may have heard this, if you’re a small business owner or an entrepreneur, you may have heard of the phrase “Give them the Pickle” and you’re like… and if you haven’t heard of “Give them the Pickle”, there’s probably a book written right now called “Give ‘em the Pickle”. What does that mean? Well it means you’re giving them something for Free.
-
Obviously “Give them the Pickle” means, an actual pickle. But the pickle isn’t always a pickle, sometimes it’s just something they weren’t expecting, that the customer wasn’t expecting. You say “Paul, you were just talking about being an instructor, those people aren’t really customers.” Well in a way they are, if you’re an instructor, a teacher or coach, the people who are taking in your words or viewing your actions, they might be students or team members. But they’re customers, they are buying into what you’re selling.
-
So what is that little something extra? I don’t know, you tell me. What are you doing in your life, in your business, are you offering people that little something extra? If you are a Biblical scholar, or even if you’re not, you may remember Christ saying “Go the extra mile. If someone compels you to go a mile, go another.” Going the extra mile, doing that little something extra. You may be thinking, “How can I set myself apart?” If you are in a position, whether you are young or old, whether you are just starting out your career, or whether you’re advanced in your career and you wanna go further!
-
You ask yourself “Okay, I’ve done everything. I have done everything my boss has asked me to do. Yet I’m not getting promoted, I’m not getting a raise, I’m not getting anything else.” Have you ever taken the time to do something extra? “They’re not paying me to do extra things!” Laughs Do you want to remain where you are, or do you want to advance? Hmm… and if you are in a position to provide someone with Customer Service, do you give them that extra customer service? Sometimes it can be something really simple.
-
For example I had to have a chip fixed in my windshield many years ago, and they came out and fixed the chip in my windshield. They drove out to my workplace, that was great, that was a little something extra. I didn’t have to drive down there during the work day to the window place, they came to my work and replaced the chip in my window. Okay, little something extra. When we were done I signed the receipt, we exchanged credit cards, and he gave me a brand new pen that had one of those little touchscreen tips on it, that you can use on your phone.
-
He said “Here you go, thank you for your patronage and we appreciate it.” I was like Wow, that was pretty cool. They came here, they got the job done as fast as they said they were going to, then he gave me this pen with the stylist tip on it as a free gift, and I know it was just a pen, but it was something extra. The whole “Give them the Pickle” actually came from deli owners, who would sell a sandwich & chips, and they’d put the pickle on there and the customers weren’t expecting that, and they’re like “I didn’t ask or pay for a pickle wedge, but I got it anyway!”
-
How much did it cost the deli owner to put a pickle wedge on the plate. Not much right? But it was that little something extra that kept the customer happy. So you want to keep your customers happy, you want to advance, you want to keep your Boss happy? Give ‘em a Lagniappe every once in awhile, remember that. Give them a little something extra, and it may turn out very well for you.
-
Alright this episode was brought to you by “Team Honey Badger; Raising Fearless Kids in a Cowardly World”. It’s available on Amazon as a paperback or kindle version and it’s by Paul G. Markel, that’s right yours truly! Thank you very much. Thank you for joining me today and I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Don’t Cut Corners, Dave’s Way. Why are Wendy’s hamburger patties square? Because, according to Dave Thomas the founder, “we don’t cut corners”.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello, welcome back to Morning Mindset. I am your host Paul Markel, thank you for joining me once again, and good morning, good evening, whenever it is you happen to me listening to this. That is the beauty of On Demand Audio, you can listen any time you want, in fact you can listen in the morning, then come back and continue in the afternoon. I will let you, you are allowed. Laugh Alright, on the journey I call life I have had many experiences, many positive experiences, and one of the most positive experiences I had as a business owner or Budding Entrepreneur, was to be handed a copy of a book called “Dave’s Way” by Dave Thomas.
-
Many of you are like “Oh Dave Thomas, the guy who founded Wendy’s”, Yes. The guy who founded Wendy’s, and unfortunately Dave passed away. He left us, left his legacy behind, and many young folks today, they don’t know who Dave Thomas was. Dave Thomas was a guy who was very influential in the restaurant business in the 60’s-90’s. Dave Thomas wrote a book called Dave’s Way, and my lovely bride, many-many moons ago she went to work for Wendy’s restaurants.
-
She was a Manager, and part of her Manager Training, every Manager of a Wendy’s restaurant got a copy of the book “Dave’s Way”. It’s not a difficult read, it’s not a long read, but it’s an important read because well, you know Wendy’s restaurants, you could agree that Dave Thomas knew a little bit about being a business owner and an entrepreneur, and about being a successful business owner, how to run a successful business. When someone does it, you may want to pay attention when they tell you how they did it.
-
So my beloved bride read it and she passed it on to me, she said “Paul you really should read this book” and I did, and I’m glad that I did that. Now there’s a lot of good anecdotes and useful information in the book Dave’s Way, and by the way you can find the book Dave’s Way online. On amazon, eBay, it’s ridiculously inexpensive. The information in that book is way more valuable than you’ll pay for it. You may pay $0.99, $2-3-4, whatever it costs you to find a copy of the book Dave’s Way, I suggest that you pick it up.
-
Especially if you’re an entrepreneur, a business owner, or you’re thinking about becoming a business owner. Even if you’re not, even if you’re just a manager who runs a business, a restaurant, what have you. One of the things Dave Thomas liked to say to people, or one of the answers that he liked to give, people would say “Dave, why are Wendy’s hamburger patties square? Everyone else’s are round, why are yours square?” and Dave would smile at them & say “Because at Wendy’s, we Don’t Cut Corners”, everyone would get a good chuckle.
-
But Dave was very, very serious about that. When you hear the term “Cutting Corners”, taking shortcuts, some people say “Shortcuts are a good thing, they help you get somewhere faster”. That’s not always a positive, often times when we discuss cutting corners or taking shortcuts, it’s not a positive it’s a negative. I’m going to give you an example. Why do Chinese products have a bad rap? Is it impossible for manufacturers in China to make quality products? Don’t they have the ability & technology in China to make good products? The answer is Yes they do.
-
They do have ability, they do have the technology in China to make high quality products. Then why is it that “Made in China” have the pejorative? Because people say “Well if it’s made in China, then it’s crap”, because quite often what they will do is they will take shortcuts and they will cut corners. I have a good friend who is a business owner, or he is contracted with a factory in China. Being in the Firearms Industry like I am, many people will try to farm out manufacturing, or portions of their manufacturing, especially if it’s in textiles or molding, to China.
-
They’re like “Oh man I can get this thing made in China, and it’ll cost a fraction of what it’ll cost in the U.S., and it’s just as good.” Here’s the problem, here’s what they will do. They will go to China, they will say to whoever the company owner is or what have you, they’ll produce a product and say “I need 10k of these, 20k, 30k, whatever, and I need to see the final product.” So they’ll take the specifications from the designer, and they’ll produce them and they’ll show it to the company owner. They [C.O.] will say “Yes, this is exactly what I want. Make me 10k.”
-
The problem with China is if you or a representative of your company is not there at the factory or facility where they are making these, let’s say they are using X type of thread, X type of material, buttons, snaps, so on & so forth, and the original models are exactly up to your spec. What will happen is they will do the first production run, it’ll be exactly up to your spec, and you’ll go away all happy. You’ll say “That’s great, just keep doing that.” Then what do they do? They begin to take shortcuts, they begins to cut corners. Anyone who has ever bought any recreational gear that is stitched, you should know that cross-stitching & double-stitching is what you need.
-
Because if your pack or your vest is not cross-stitched or double-stitched, or for instance buttons. How many of you have purchased a shirt made in China, and the buttons fall off, and you’re like “This is ridiculous, this is a brand new shirt and I’m having to re-stitch all the buttons!” Do you know why that happened? Well it’s quite simple, that happened because originally they made it to specification, then they started cutting corners, and what they ended up with was an inferior product. With buttons that fall off & stitching that comes apart, even though the original may have been good.
-
So where are you in your career goals, where are you in your personal goals, where are you in your goal to become an entrepreneur or what have you. It’s easy to cut corners, but what happens when you cut corners & take shortcuts? You get the reputation of being Cheap, do you want the “Made in China” cheap crap reputation? I understand that you can make good products, you can make products to spec in China. Many of them are not, and why is that? It’s very simple, they did not take Dave Thomas’s advice, they cut corners & took shortcuts.
-
Do you want a stellar reputation in the business community, or do you want the cheap crap reputation? Often the difference between something that is high-quality, and something that is perceived as cheap crap, is by whether you made the conscious decision to cut corners. So if you own a small business, if you’re going to be a manufacturer, somebody who is basing their reputation upon what they produce, don’t cut corners laughs, and I would definitely recommend if you haven’t done it already, go to Amazon or if you’re in a used book store and you see a copy, a paperback copy of “Dave’s Way” by Dave Thomas, grab that thing up and read it. You’ll be glad you did it. Alright, I’m Paul Markel, and I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Earning the Reward. Hot cocoa on a cold winter day. Cold beer on hot day. We understood this concept as children but far too many have lost the understanding of earning the reward.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Welcome back to Morning Mindset, and I hope you’re ready to engage your brains and listen just a little bit louder this morning. Pour your coffee, or if you’re driving, hands at 10 & 2, pay attention to the road. You can listen to the sound of my voice, but watch that road in front of you, and if you’re one of those folks who listens to me on the treadmill, give me 10 more minutes laugh. Today we’re going to talk about Earning the Reward, hmmm… this concept was reinforced to me, or I thought about it over this last weekend.
-
As I’ve mentioned, my family & I live in Wyoming, and it is cold in Wyoming. It is cold, we have snow and mountains, and sometimes I’ll get a little wild-hair and I’ll go up into the mountains, and put on some snowshoes and trudge up & down the trails with my snowshoes on. I wear the layers, and I’ve got all the warm, snuggle gear on, and I was raised in the North. I was born in Michigan, and I spent my teenage years in Ohio, so I’m fully aware of winter, and the effects of winter and going out on a cold, snowy day and so forth.
-
Coming back in, something that I enjoyed this weekend, that I haven’t really enjoyed since I was a child, was trudging out in the snow, then coming back in and, ya know you take your cold gear off, and you put on your warm, fuzzy gear, whatever it happens to be. You come back in the house and sitting down in a chair, and drinking a cup of hot cocoa, and you say “Oh that’s silly Paul. I mean that’s for children.” Well is it really just for children, or is it for Humans, is it for people? You say “Well it’s just hot cocoa, you can have it any time of the day, you’re an adult. Anytime you wanted you could get it.”
-
Yeah I could, but there’s something about going outside into the cold, doing whatever it is, then coming back inside and getting warm. Skiers know this, I think some people just downhill ski so they can enjoy some by the fire time, in the evening. In every ski lodge, what do they have? They have a communal fireplace, so after you’ve been out in the cold all day long you get to come in and, enjoy the reward of that hot fire, that comradery, whatever it is. How many of you have worked a really hard day out in the summer, and spent a hard day sweating? Then the afternoon, the end of the work day, someone hands you a cold beer, and you drink that cold beer.
-
How good does that beer taste? You say “Ah, it tastes about the same as every other beer I’ve had.” Eeeeh, not really. That beer tastes a little bit better, why? Because you have earned the reward. Now as children we understood that, at least I hope you did. I don’t know how old all of you are, you might be a young 20-something or even a teenager. But when I was growing up, you had to Earn the Reward. Whatever it is, you had to go out and do your chores, mow the lawn, what have you. But you had to Earn the reward.
-
For example when I played little league baseball, back in the mid-late 1970’s, when I was in Elementary school. In the summertime, if you won the game, if you were winners, the coaches would take you for ice cream. Right? Well we only got ice cream when we won. Gasp You’re like “That’s mean, that’s not nice. Etc.” No, we- you’re like “Well that’s just silly. It’s just ice cream, and every kid should get ice cream. No child should ever be denied ice cream.” But it was more than just a treat, it was more than just ice cream.
-
When I was young the rules were- and you’re like “You had rules when you were a kid? Rules are restrictive and doesn’t allow kids to blossom & flourish.” No, children need structure and they need rules in their life. But when I was a kid if we played a game, and we lost, right if we lost, we didn’t get ice cream. The coaches were like “You want ice cream after the game?” “Yeah, yeah we do”, “Then Win, then work hard, then try harder than the other team.” You’re like “Wow… that’s really hardcore Paul, I can’t even imagine that in our modern world.”
-
But we learned something, and I remember one time, it’s funny how you remember things as you’re older. But there was a time, where our coaches actually surprised us. We lost the game, and it was really close. I think it might have gone into extra innings or whatever, and it was heartbreaking. The coaches all gathered us together, and we all kind of felt bad because, we all tried really, really hard, and we just didn’t make it. The coaches gathered us together and said “You know what? This is the hardest we’ve seen you play, ever, and not win. You didn’t win today, but every single one of you put forth the effort. Every single one of you worked hard, so here’s what we’re going to do. We’re gonna go get ice cream.” We were all like “WOW!” and it tasted great, it felt great because they acknowledged what they did.
-
Now imagine our world today, where children are raised in a world where, “Well no child should ever not get ice cream.” Yeah well, some kids are just lazy. Some kids just sit there and suck up all the good oxygen while everyone else does the work, some kids don’t even sweat. What are you teaching your children when you reward them, for nothing, when they don’t Earn the Reward? You say “Well Paul, ya know as they get older they’ll develop-” nooo. That’s not how it works, you have to learn to Earn the Reward when you’re young, and you know Earning the Reward, even something as simple as sitting down & drinking that hot cocoa.
-
Something as simple as that really cold beer, at the end of a hard day. It tastes better, you feel better, because you know inside of your heart that you Earned it. You know when I was a kid growing up in Michigan, I lived in Detroit, I know of all places, and we would go out and shovel snow. When I was 10, 11, Etc years old, winter to me meant that I would be out in the cold, shoveling sidewalks & driveways. That’s what winter meant to me, and I knew it was gonna happen. I would go out and shovel our driveway, shovel the sidewalks, and I’d come back in and generally, my mom would have hot chocolate for me.
-
I Earned that Reward by working, and that concept is often lost on the current generation. Sadly I think that concept has been lost, not on teenagers & Elementary school children so much today, but human beings who are in the United States who are in their 20’s. You know they were raised on No Score Soccer and it doesn’t matter what you do, everybody gets the reward, everybody gets the goodies, you don’t have to earn it. As long as you feel like you deserve it, you get it. What kind of world does that put us in? That puts us in the kind of world where we have Adults who have never actually had to Earn the Reward.
-
They just expect that it’s going to be given to them. So take the time to think about your day-to-day life, think about “When was the last time you Earned the Reward”? I hope that you’re earning it every day, for those of you that are fully-grown adult human beings like myself, there is a phrase; Whiskey is a Reward for a job well done, and every once in a while, you have to appreciate something like that.
-
Alright today’s show is brought to you by “Team Honey Badger; Raising Fearless Kids in a Cowardly World” and sadly we live in a cowardly world, and how do we raise children in a cowardly world? If you or someone you know has children/grandchildren, this book is a must read. It is available on Amazon as a Paperback or Kindle Version. Team Honey Badger; Raising Fearless Kids in a Cowardly World. Alright folks, that’s it. I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Don’t tell me, Show me. Too many people spend far too much time telling you what they are going do or want to do, while at the same time too little time actually doing that thing.
In beautiful tourist areas, people say they want to move there, but few ever do it. People complain that a situation is wrong, but they don’t ever take steps to make that situation right.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Welcome back to Mornin Mindset, I hope everyone listening enjoyed the 14 United States Marine Corps Leadership Traits. The Leadership training series we’ve done over the last 14 episodes. Now if for some reason this is your first Morning Mindset with Paul Markel, welcome. You can go back & I strongly encourage you to go back to the beginning and catch up. If nothing else go back to, let me check my show notes here… I believe we started the Marine Corps Leadership Training at episode 18. So if you do nothing else, go to episode 18 and move forward and catch up to where we are now.
-
What are we going to talk about today? Thank you for asking. A little thing called “Don’t Tell Me, Show Me”. Far too many people spend too much time telling you what they’re going to do or telling you what they want to do and so forth. But more often these people don’t actually do that. I’ve got an example for ya, for instance we live in a beautiful - we as in my family, we live in beautiful Saratoga, Wyoming. Saratoga is in a place called Platte Valley, we’re about 7k feet above sea level, we’re nestled in between the Sierra Madres & Snowy Range of the Rocky Mountains. So it’s kind of a valley and it’s called the Platte Valley because of the Platte River, flows through the valley.
-
It’s beautiful in the summertime. May, June, July, August, it’s gorgeous up here, but it’s also 7k feet, we’re in Wyoming, and we’re in the mountains. In the winter time it’s cold, and it’s windy, and it’s windy a lot! Now many people will come during tourist season, they’ll come up here during the beautiful time of year, they’ll come up when it’s warm and it’s not humid so even when it’s hot it’s not that bad. They say “Oh we’re going to move here. I’d love to move here. Oh when we retire, we’d love to come up here. This place is so beautiful”, so on & so forth.
-
People do that all the time, they go to beautiful tourist destinations and they go “Aaaah, man if we could ever arrange it or when we retire…”, what have you. But that’s difficult, and when we (as in my family & I) decided to relocate here, we moved almost 2k miles from our previous location. My wife & I came up and scouted the area. We came up and spent an entire week here in town, we stayed at a bed & breakfast, we met with some of the local business owners, we met with a real estate agent, we did all the normal things you do. We went to the restaurants, we went to the shops, we went to the stores, we met people. We drove around the area and got a really solid feel for it.
-
People asked us “What are you doing here?” and we said “Well, we’re out, we’re actually scouting to see whether or not we want to move here” and of course being nice people they’d say “Oh well… that’s nice and hope you like it…” so on & so forth. We did that in the month of September, like 2 years ago, and we came home and we started making plans to move. We made the decision to actually do it. Now we knew it being Winter in Wyoming, we did not want to move our entire household in the middle of the winter.
-
Many of the highways around here are closed 6 months of the year, from the end of October-beginning of November, the snow starts flying, they close the highway through the mountains and that’s it. They’re just closed until the spring when the snow melts, and there only a few ways to get in & out of town. So we waited until spring, we worked with a real estate agent to make sure we have a home to move into, that’s kind of an important thing. We packed up everything. You know I own a small business, we packed up 2 households; my oldest son and out family, we packed up an entire business and we moved. We relocated to Saratoga.
-
When we came back up here in the beginning of April, we ran into many of the people we had just talked to during the previous September, when we stayed for a week and we were scouting, and they were surprised. They’re like “You’re back, what are you doing?” and we’re like “We moved here”. You say “Well you told these people you were going to do that, why would they be surprised you’re back?” Because in our modern world people all the time talk about what they’re going to do. They tell you what they’re going to do, especially in a situation like this, where you have a place that’s very attractive.
-
It’s beautiful, it’s rustic, the beauty of nature, in the warm time. But in the winter time it’s not so much. So most people who live in a town like this, they will hear people say things like “Ahhh, this is so beautiful, oh we’re going to move here, blah-blah-blah.” But they hear that & think “Ha that’s nice, but you’re never actually gonna do it.” They don’t believe everyone who says how beautiful it is and how much they love the area, they don’t believe those people are actually going to go through with it, because 99 out of 100 never do.
-
My question to you is, do you spend more time telling people what you’re actually going to do, or do you spend more time actually doing it? Do you spend time following through with what you said? With our socialist media, like with Facebook and the this & that, people are all the time declaring that they’re going to do Blank. “I’m gonna do this, we’re going to do that” and so forth. But how many of them actually carry through with that? I know you’re sitting there going “Hmmmm… yea you’re right Paul”, and I’m not accusing you of anything.
-
But let’s face facts, most people put more weight on what you say, what your intentions are, than your actual results & the results of your actions. People have fallen into this trap where they can voice their intentions, and if they voice their intentions then that’s what gets them Credit. That’s not how it used to be in our word, used to be people could say “I don’t care what you tell me, Show me.” The state motto for Missouri is ‘The Show Me State’, and many people in our… I’ve been using that, saying “I’m from Missouri, Show Me” and people say “What does that mean? Show me like produce it?”
-
Yeah, don’t tell me that you’re going to do something. Show me what you’ve accomplished, and I learned that when I was in Elementary. I don’t know how many of you people did, but when I was in Elementary school, I would have to do what we called State Reports. I don’t know if I was in 4th grade of 5th grade, but I was a kid, and you had to pick a state and do a 5 minute report on that state. This was before Google, this is before the internet, this is when you actually had to go to encyclopedias and go to the library, pull out Books. You’re like “What?! If I had to go to the library and pull out those tomes made of dead tree, I don’t know what I would do.”
-
But everyone wanted to do the cool states. Other kids wanted to do Texas, Florida, stuff like that. I was assigned the state of Missouri, and I was living in Michigan at the time, so I knew about Nothing about Missouri when I was in Elementary School. I had to research it, and one of the thing I learned was the State Motto was “The Show Me State”, and so for years and year, as an instructor, a teacher & so forth, I would just say to people “You know what, just Show Me” or I’d say “I’m from Missouri, Show Me”.
-
Every once and awhile someone would come up to me and ask “Hey man, what part of Missouri are you from?” I was being sarcastic, but the point is this. Don’t tell me about your intentions, don’t tell me what you plan to do. Just, Show Me. So that id my charge for you today, as we come to the end of another episode of Morning Mindset. If you’re constantly talking about what you’re going to do, stop talking about it and do it.
-
Alright today’s episode of Morning Mindset is brought to you by the book “Team Honey Badger: Raising Fearless Kids in a Cowardly World” and oh my Lord, do we live in a cowardly world today. If you have or know somebody with kids/grandkids, I highly suggest picking it up. Team Honey Badger by an author named Paul G. Markel, and it’s on Amazon as a Paperback or a Kindle. There you go folks, and I’ll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Endurance is the mental and physical stamina that is measured by your ability to withstand pain, fatigue, stress, and hardship. For example, enduring pain during a conditioning march in order to improve stamina is crucial in the development of leadership.
Develop your endurance by engaging in physical training that will strengthen your body. Finish every task to the best of your ability by forcing yourself to continue when you are physically tired and your mind is sluggish.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Alright folks, you’ve been with me, hopefully you’ve been with me for a couple of weeks now, and we’ve been on this journey, we’ve been on this journey to learn the United States Marine Corps Leadership Traits and how to be a better leader. Not how to be a boss, not how to be in charge, but how to be a leader, and yes I genuinely believe in the United States of America, and probably the world too, but mostly in America. That’s what I’m dealing with. We have an absolute, genuine crisis in Leadership.
-
We have a very, very sad lack of leadership. We have a lot of Bosses, we have a lot of people who will tell you what to do, we have a lot of politicians who will attempt to buy your votes and buy your favoritism, by telling you whatever it is they think you want to hear or giving you whatever free thing it is they think you want. But that’s not what a Leader does, and we’re all the way down to the E in BUCKLE, JJDIDTIEBUCKLE, and that is Endurance. This is something near and dear to the heart of every United States Marine, especially those that are in the Infantry.
-
Endurance is the mental and physical stamina that is measured by your ability to withstand pain, fatigue, stress and hardship. For example, enduring pain during a conditioning march in order to improve stamina is crucial in the development of leadership. Laugh The ever-present Marine Corps Hump. That’s what we called it in the Infantry, Humping. Humping is a forced march, a conditioning march, it’s when you take all of your stuff and put it on your back. Your pack, your weapon, your helmet, your flak jacket, you get all that stuff you need to go to war with, and you walk, you march.
-
Not at a leisurely stroll, at a very, very vigorous pace, and you keep going, and you keep going, and then you go even further than you ever thought you would go. The whole time you’re thinking “Why are we doing this? We have helicopters, we have AMTRAK’s, we have trucks, why are they making us walk?” Because it’s not about moving from Point A to Point B, it’s about conditioning your body. It’s about pushing yourself even further than you thought you could go.
-
Well what does the Marine Corps say you can do to improve your Endurance? Strengthen your Endurance by engaging in physical training that will strengthen your body. Finish every task to the best of your ability, even when your body is tired and you’re mentally sluggish. So you guys out there, you’re like “Alright Paul, that’s all great for Marines. You guys put on your big heavy packs and grab your rifles & machine guns, and you go for a walk. But I’m just a dude, I’m just a woman, I’m not going to put all of that stuff on me, I’m not gonna ‘Hump’. I’m not gonna march, I’m not gonna do any of that.” No, you’re probably not.
-
See the thing with the force march, or the conditioning march, is you don’t get to set the pace. Someone else is up front setting the pace, and you have to match the pace. Because if it was you, every time you got kind of uncomfortable or hard, you’d slow down or sit down. But when someone else is in charge, you just have to keep going regardless. So what can you do in your own world to increase your own physical stamina? By training. Well it says, suggestions for improvement are really simple, it’s simple but difficult at the same time. Engage in physical training that will strengthen your body.
-
From a personal standpoint, I am involved in a program called Starting Strength, it’s a program developed by Mark Rippetoe and you may have read the book. It’s on the 3rd Edition by now, and I’m being coached by Matt Reynolds, and Matt is one of Mark’s senior students. It is physical strength training using the barbell. Yeah, the big long one with the fat ends, yeah the barbell. Not dumbells, not kettlebells, the Bar-Bell. That’s right, and when you engage in the Starting Strength program, when you begin every single workout is programmed to be a little bit heavier than the [previous] one.
-
So let’s just say for instance, you begin and your coach says “Alright, I want you to put 135lb on the barbell, and I want you to squat it.” A lot of you guys are like “Ah that’s super light!” Calm down, and I want you to do it correctly and this is the form, and they coach you and you do it. Alright, you do it 5 times, for 3 sets. Then in 2 days we’re going to put 5 more pound on there, and in 2 more days we’re going to put 5 more pounds on there, Etc. So very quickly, in a couple of weeks, you’ve gone from your starting weight, which is let’s say 135. You can do the math right?
-
So in 10 sessions you’ll have increased that by, well 10 x 5. So now you’re doing 185, 10 sessions later. You’re like “Well 10 sessions is a lot”, 10 sessions is only a few weeks. So now you get to where you’ve been doing it for 3 months. Now you do the math, now you’re 150lb heavier than you were, and you continuously put more and more and more weight on the bar. Until you get to the point where you’re doing something very physically uncomfortable. It’s not going to hurt your body, it’s not going to harm your body, but you’re going to go through fatigue and hardship.
-
Physical training that strengthens your body is voluntary hardship. It’s hardship you undergo, because you know there are benefits on the other side. Now when we launch this is discussion about being a leader, being a leader is not going to be easy. Sometimes being a leader requires sacrifice, Sometimes being a leader requires doing that which is not comfortable, Sometimes being a leader requires putting forth more effort than your people, putting forth more effort than you ask your people to work. When it comes to Endurance, when you want to strengthen your body, you’re actually strengthening your mind at the same time.
-
You’re like “That doesn’t make sense, the barbell doesn’t make my brain stronger”, no the barbell doesn’t make your brain stronger, but it is your mind that tells your body to keep going. You get under it and you’re like “Ugh, this is super heavy today. I don’t even want to do 1 set, nevermind 3 sets” and you’re an adult. Most people out there are adults, you could stop, you could quit. Your body says this is going to be heavy, this is going to be stressful, go ahead and put the weight back down, go sit on the couch and watch TV.
-
Take a nap, taking a name would be nice and comfortable. No, when you go under voluntary hardship your brain tells your body “I know this is going to suck, but guess what. We’re going to do it anyway.” The more times you encounter that, the more times your brain forces your body beyond the discomfort & stress, the more times your mind says “Yeah body, I know you’re tired, but we’re going to keep going until this is done.” The more times you do that, the greater your physical & mental endurance will be.
-
I know it’s not fun, but being a leader is not fun. Laughs If you could become strong by sitting on the couch eating cookies, then everyone would do it. But you have to Endure voluntary hardship. So Endurance, it’s part of being a leader, and believe me, if you make yourself do that… if you’re the leader you need to be able to work as hard or harder than all the people around you. ‘Cause as soon as you say “I’m tired, I quit”, everyone else around you will look and say “He’s tired, he’s quitting, time for us to quit too.”
-
Alright, JJDIDTIEBUCKLE, the United States Marine Corps Leadership Traits. I hope you have enjoyed and appreciated this series. As I have mentioned a few times previously, there are people in corporate America who will pay hundreds & thousands of dollars to go to seminars to have people teach them these very things, and all you have to do is listen to Morning Mindset with an open heart and an open mind. Alright that is the end of JJDIDTIEBUCKLE, I hope you enjoyed it.
-
If you would like to get more from myself, Paul G. Markel, if you would like to read what I have written, all of my books are available on Amazon.com as paperback & Kindle versions. Remember when we talked about Knowledge, picking up a piece of dead tree and expanding your mind? Go to Amazon, it’s Paul G. Markel and you’ll find all of my books as paperbacks & Kindles. Plus as a bonus, if you have Kindle Unlimited, you can download most of my books onto your phone or tablet, For Free. You’re welcome for that. Alright, I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Loyalty means that you are devoted to your country, the Corps, and to your seniors, peers, and subordinates. The motto of our Corps is Semper Fidelis!, (Always Faithful). You owe unwavering loyalty up and down the chain of command, to seniors, subordinates, and peers.
To improve your loyalty you should show your loyalty by never discussing the problems of the Marine Corps or your unit with outsiders. Never talk about seniors unfavorably in front of your subordinates. Once a decision is made and the order is given to execute it, carry out that order willingly as if it were your own.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whatever time it happens to be. You guys know you don’t have to listen to Morning Mindset in the Morning, right? Even though it’s called that, you can listen any time of day or night. I’ll let ya. I’ll give you permission, how does that sound? Laughs So whenever it is you happen to be listening, welcome back and man, we’re getting close. We’ve been focusing on the 14 United States Marine Corps Leadership Traits, and we’re all the way down to the last 2. The L in JJDIDTIEBUCKLE, is Loyalty.
-
Alright referring back to our Training Material, Loyalty means you are devoted to your country, your Corps, your Seniors & Peers, and subordinates. The motto of our corps is Semper Fidelis, meaning “Always Faithful”. You owe unwavering loyalty up & down the chain of command, to Seniors, Subordinates and Peers. Yes, I fully understand that the vast majority of you listening to the sound of my voice right now are Not United States Marines. Laughs So you say “Paul, I can’t practice the motto ‘Semper Fidelis/Always Faithful’, and I don’t really have a Marine Corps chain of command.”
-
No, I understand that you don’t. You can still exercise loyalty to your country, your family, community, seniors, peers and subordinates. Exercising Loyalty, I think in addition to having a tremendous crisis of leadership in the United States of America, I believe we also have a Loyalty crisis. How many of our children today are taught to be Loyal? You say “Well, I want my kid to be Loyal and I think kids should be Loyal and adults should be Loyal to each other.” But are we really? Because this goes back to Selfishness & Unselfishness.
-
When we raise children to become Teenagers and then young adults. We raise them to believe that their comfort is the most important thing in the world, and how they feel about something is the most important thing in the world. Their feeling, their personal comfort, their psychological comfort, if they ever become uncomfortable physically or psychologically, then something is Wrong. How can you be Loyal to others, how can you practice Loyalty to others when you’ve been raised to believe that it’s your own personal feelings or comfort, that is the most important thing in the world?
-
Hmm… that’s kind of, there’s an incongruity there, isn’t there? What does the Marine Corps suggest for ways to improve this particular trait? To improve your Loyalty, you should show your Loyalty by never discussing the problems of your Marine Corps, outside of your unit or to outsiders. Never talk about seniors unfavorably in front of subordinates, once a decision is made and the order is given to execute it, carry it out willingly, as if it were your own. Well obviously, many of you guys are not in the Marine Corps, but let’s talk about discussing problems outside of the chain of command.
-
Discussing your own personal problems and do we not see this constantly? Through Social Media, through Facebook especially? People will discuss Personal things, Publicly. You shouldn’t do that. Wherever you happen to be; a Workplace situation, a Family situation, a coaching or teaching situation, there’s always going to be issues. That’s the way the of the world, that’s how we live. No family is perfect, no Job is perfect. You’re going to encounter troubles, conflicts within. Deal with those conflicts from within, without dragging outsiders into it.
-
How many times have you encountered someone who is having a problem in one of these situations, and they tell you about how screwed up their boss is? Or about how screwed up their supervisor is, or about how their company is run by a bunch of idiots, and ‘you won’t believe what these idiots made me do’. Now if you’re going to be a member of that company, of that party, a member of that family or community, and remain a member of it, you should probably exercise a bit of Loyalty towards them.
-
Now if that company is so ridiculous, so stupid that you can’t take it, then have the courage to, going back to the C in BUCKLE, have the courage to resign and leave there. But don’t stay there. If you’re staying there you should be there for a purpose. Now let’s talk about talking about seniors unfavorably in front of your subordinates. Now when I was in the Marine Corps, did I think that every decision made by someone higher rank than me was a great one? No, I didn’t. But you don’t discuss that in front of your subordinates, because what does that do?
-
It creates, fumbles let’s say I’m a Corporal, and a Staff Sergeant tells me “Take your team and go do This. You need to go do this.” So as a Corporal I go to the Lance Corporals and Privates and PFC’s, I say “You’re never going to believe what Staff Sergeant said to do. That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, and that’s wrong.” That’s going to breed Disloyalty in the unit. If you as the Supervisor go out to the Shop Floor and you’re like “Hey, that idiot in the front office says he wants us to do this and that’s probably the stupidest thing I’ve heard all day” the people who work at that company are not going to have respect for the boss, the owner, what have you, and you’re going to breed disloyalty.
-
You say “Well big deal, the person who gave me that instruction was an idiot.” Okay, you may think they’re an idiot, but how long is it going to be until the people listening to you turn on you, and do the exact same thing? Because that is the example you set for them. “Once an order is given, carry it out willingly, as if it were your own.” Demonstrating Loyalty, Demonstrating Loyalty.
-
Loyalty, it’s one of those things people will observe. If you are Loyal, if you exhibit Loyalty towards your command, toward your company, toward your family, toward your community. If you do that, others will pay attention, others will see that, and they will emulate it. Alright, man. Tomorrow’s- I’m kind of sad, but I’m glad at the same time we’ve been able to do that. I’m very, very gratified that I have with which to use to deliver this information to you. Alright tomorrow we’re going to come all the way to the end of the leadership traits acronym, JJDIDTIEBUCKLE, BUCKLE ends with an E, and tomorrow we’re going to discuss Endurance.
-
Until that time, I want to thank everyone for joining me, thank you to everyone who left Facebook messages, there are a lot of people who left Facebook messages, lot of people who left critiques and comments and so forth on their favorite podcasting application, whatever that happens to be. Thank you very much, I truly appreciate it, and we’ll be back tomorrow with even more. I’m Paul Markel, and I’ll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Knowledge is the understanding of a science or art. Knowledge means that you have acquired information and that you understand people. Your knowledge should be broad, and in addition to knowing your job, you should know your unit's policies and keep up with current events.
Increase your knowledge by remaining alert. Listen, observe, and find out about things you don't understand. Study field manuals and other military literature.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to Morning Mindset, of course I am your host Paul Markel, and just in case this is your very first time listening, A) Welcome & B) You’ve got a whole lot of catching up to do. Because we are almost finished, we are almost through the 14 United States Marine Corps Leadership Traits, in our Leadership Training course, and today we’re going to talk about Knowledge. Knowledge is the K in JJDIDTIEBUCKLE, alright.
-
Knowledge is the understanding of a science or art. Knowledge means that you have acquired information, and you understand people. Your Knowledge should be broad, and in addition to knowing your job, you should know your unit’s policies and keep up with current events. Alright, what does the Marine Corps suggest for ways you can improve your knowledge? Well it’s not that complicated, increasing your Knowledge means remaining alert. Listen, observe, and find out about things you don’t understand.
-
Study field manuals and other military literature, and I’ll add on to that that you should be a student for life. You should continuously seek out new information, Knowledge and so forth. So Knowledge, you say “Well obviously Paul, that’s something that a leader would have, right?” Well not necessarily, it doesn’t necessarily seem that obvious. Many people who are put into a position of authority, once they get into a position of authority, they stop learning. They stop training, they stop seeking Knowledge because they don’t have to anymore.
-
Because they’re the boss now, because now they’re in charge. They had to learn all that stuff when they weren’t in charge, so they could get in charge. But when you’re setting an example, when you’re a Leader, you should be thirsty for Knowledge. I actually have a good friend who is a firearms trainer and instructor, but he likes to say that there is no such thing as a Master and there’s no such thing as an Instructor, there are Students & Student Instructors. By saying that what he means is even though you are put into a position of being a teacher or an instructor or the coach, you still are required to be a student.
-
You should continuously be learning, and I think that’s good advice to everyone. If you get into a position where you are in charge of people, or you’re the boss, and you stop learning or you stop seeking Knowledge, then you just fall back on whatever it was that you learned years before. Flub One position you do not want to be in, is that of where your subordinates, the people you’re supposed to be in charge of, always seem to know more about a subject than you do. You’re not a leader if the people you’re leading constantly display more Knowledge of the job or the task at hand than you.
-
You need to be the master of that subject, whatever it happens to be. If you are a coach, if you’re coaching sports, if you’re a business leader and you’re leading people in manufacturing, or whatever it happens to be. Sales or… you need to know as much about that subject as humanly possible, and how do you do that? Well, you need to discipline yourself. You’re going to need to discipline yourself, to seek out that knowledge. You guys might remember a segment we did way back when, when I talked about “Are you worth it?” Are you worth the cost and the time to get training? Oh yeah, yeah, you remember that now, don’t ya? It’s almost like I knew this was going to happen.
-
But are you worth it? Is the Time & Monetary investment worth it? Only you can answer that, but the fact of the matter is, if you hope to be in a leadership position, if you hope to be in a position where, people are following you, looking up to you, you are leading them, you need to know what the heck you’re talking about. Laughs It’s not always easy, I’ve been a firearms instructor for, a long [x3] time, many decades, and often I will encounter people, not so much anymore, I would encounter people, especially with the United States Military, who said “Oh, I already know all that. I know all that stuff”, regarding firearms training and so forth, and I go “Oh, okay you know that stuff. How do you know that stuff?”
-
“Well I took a training class in-” and then they would say things like 1999 or 2002, and this is 12-15 years beyond that, I’d say “Well the last time you took a class was 11 years ago, you might want to have a little of a refresher here.” Think about your physician, your doctor. Say you had to go in for surgery, whatever kind of surgery it happens to be. Would you want your surgeon to be somebody who continuously maintained their Knowledge, continuously went to training and seminars and so forth, so that they were up to date on the latest surgical procedures. Or would you choose the surgeon who hasn’t had any training or new Knowledge applied since they graduated medical school in 1978?
-
You’re like “No, I want the surgeon who’s way up to date! 100% up to date on the most modern surgical techniques possible. I don’t want a guy hacking on me who hasn’t had any surgery since 1984.” Well there you go. So when it comes to Knowledge, it’s really not all that hard, but it requires effort on your part, it requires dedication on your part. Many times people will say to me “I don’t have time to read.” That’s something I heard all the time from people who are professionals. They’re like “Gumbles Whatever Paul, I know you’re always suggesting these books and this and that, but I don’t have time to read, I don’t have time for that.”
-
Okay well, that is how you get Knowledge. In addition to taking courses and attending seminars and so forth, one of the ways for you to acquire Knowledge is to pick up a piece of dead tree, or if you’re a Kindle guys or girl, open it up and reading and exercising your brain. Yes I understand you’re busy. You probably have a family, you probably have a full-time job, but is that an excuse or a reason? Is that a reason or an excuse? If you wanna be a leader, you have to fill your brain with Knowledge, and sometimes that requires a bit of sacrifice and taking the time to do so.
-
So, and most Knowledge today, books are not really expensive, especially in our modern era with Kindle. I mean if you’ve got a smartphone or tablet that has the Kindle app, they are very, very inexpensive. It’s not like how it used to be, and we have all this Knowledge available to us at our fingertips. With the internets, the world wide web, we should have the most well informed populous in the history of man. But do we? Do we have the most well-informed populous in the history of man, or do we just have a bunch of ignorant dolts running around, because all they use the internet for, or their smartphone or their iPhone, is to play little candy games, and basically as a distraction tool.
-
If your tablet, is your iPhone, is that something you use to gain more Knowledge? Or is it something you use to distract you from what’s going on in the world today? So, Knowledge. I strongly encourage you to increase your Knowledge, observe and pay attention. That’s one of those things that they said; “Pay attention, observe, and be conscious of what goes on around you.” Hmmm… that’s like Free Knowledge right there, isn’t it? Alright ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining me. We’ve got 2 more leadership traits, we have loyalty and endurance. So stick with me, we’re almost done. I am your host Paul Markel, and I’ll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Courage is what allows you to remain calm while recognizing fear. Moral courage means having the inner strength to stand up for what is right and to accept blame when something is your fault. Physical courage means that you can continue to function effectively when there is physical danger present.
You can begin to control fear by practicing self-discipline and calmness. If you fear doing certain things required in your daily life, force yourself to do them until you can control your reaction.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Alright, sometimes I wish that for Morning Mindset, we could just do Motivational Music. Wouldn’t that be fun? If we just did 10 minutes of Motivational Music? Because our intro music is pretty motivating. Alright today we’re moving on, we have a task, we have a journey to complete, and we are moving on with our United States Marine Corps Leadership Traits. We’re all the way down to the C in BUCKLE, and C stands for Courage. According to the United States Marine Corps Leadership Training, Courage is what allows you to remain calm while recognizing fear.
-
Moral Courage is the ability to stand up for what’s right, and to accept blame when something is your fault. Physical Courage is the ability to function correctly even when there is physical danger present. Alright what does the Marine Corps suggest as a way to improve your Courage? You can begin to control fear by practicing self discipline and calmness. If you fear doing certain things in your everyday life, force yourself to do them until you can control your reaction.
-
Wow, Courage, and we’re talking about Leadership here, and I think Courage is one of the #1 people would consider the #1 trait when it comes to being a leader. Not a Boss, the the person who’s in charge, not a Politician, how many politicians actually have Courage? Very few. But a Leader, a leader must display Courage because, what are your people doing? Whether they’re student, or your a coach, you’re a father Etc. They’re watching you, they’re watching to see whether or not you display Courage. Now if you’re in a work situation, you may not have to stand up to physical danger, but moral Courage, inner strength to do what is right.
-
Not what is convenient, not what is easy, but what is Right, and also to accept blame when something is your fault. You know it takes Courage to stand in front of people you are in charge of, a leader of, and say “You know what? I made a mistake, it was my fault, I accept responsibility for that mistake and I’m gonna do the best I can to make it up to you.” That takes Moral Courage. Moral Courage is not making excuses, hmmm… have we talked about that before on this show?
-
Now Physical Courage, I’m going to give you an example of physical Courage. Sometimes Physical Courage is just doing what you need to do, because you understand that you can’t let people down, or shouldn’t let people down, or other people are counting on you. Courage doesn’t mean a lack of fear, Courage means facing your fear. It means “Okay, that thing out there-” whether it is a physical threat, or whether it’s an emotional threat, you’re going to face it. Now going back to my Marine Corps experience, when I was on Parris Island, South Carolina, doing basic training/boot camp, it was 1987 at the time, and I remember there was a time when we were all sitting down and every once and a while… boot camp is a crazy place. But every once and a while our instructors would sit us down and lay a little wisdom on us.
-
They would give us a little bit of Encouragement, most of the time we were just going from place to place. Training-training, running-running, shooting-shooting, ya know and it was a non-stop pace. But every once and a while we would all just be sitting down on our butts, and one of our Drill Instructors would be standing in front of us, and relayed a story. Give us a little bit of a lagniappe, if you would, and one of my Drill Instructors was Infantry, he was an Infantry Soldier and he became a Drill Instructor obviously.
-
So he told us that he was in Beirut, now if you guys are young, you won’t remember Beirut in the 80’s, especially the early 80’s. Beirut in the early 1980’s was a very dangerous place, and we sent the United States Marines in there to protect various people and interests and so forth, and my Drill Instructor was part of a unit that was sent into Beirut. He told us, they were landing in what was called a Hot LZ, which means that as the helicopters were coming in, they were taking fire, they were being shot at. They knew they were being shot at, and when you go into a hot LZ, escentially if your helicopter is equipped with a ramp, a rear ramp, the helicopter doesn’t actually land.
-
The pilot comes down just close enough so the ramp is just touching or maybe a foot off the ground, the landing gear doesn’t touch ground and you get out fast. So our Drill Instructor related to us, he said “We were coming into a hot LZ, they put the ramp down, we knew we were being shot at, we knew we were taking fire. Do you guys think I was scared?” and the recruits are like “Eeerrr… uuuhhh… no Drill Instructor, you weren’t scared.” He goes “You’re damn right I was scared, you’d have to be an idiot not to be scared. But I stood up and got off that helicopter, and do you guys know why?”
-
And us being recruits we just stare up at him like “Uuuuuuuh…” He said “I got off the helicopter, because I knew my unit was relying upon me. I knew that everyone else needed me to be there with them, and there was no way that I was gonna let them down. As scared as I was, I got up and I got off that helicopter ‘cause I wasn’t gonna let my team down.” The funny thing is, I heard that story, but I forgot about it. Ya know it’s one of those memories that get logged way back in, in the recesses of your brain.
-
Well 3.5 years or so, about 4 years after basic training, I found myself in an armored personnel carriers, we called them in the Marine Corps “Amtraks”. They were these armored tractors, these amphibious things that you put troops in, and they have tracks and we’re driving across the desert. You guys should know by now, I was part of what ended up being Gulf War 1, I was part of Sixth Marines, and we were part of a unit that was designated as Task Force Ripper, and it was our job to breach the minefields that the Iraqis had set up, to breach through the minefields, to attack and defeat the entrenched infantry, and then the armored artillery, so we could open up a lane so the army’s big unit could come through safely up from Saudi Arabia up into occupied Kuwait.
-
So there we are, we’re cruising along in that Hummer, I can hear the explosions on the outside of the track, and when you’re riding along in one of these tracks you’re cruising [x3], all the sudden the driver throws on the breaks and you hear the hydraulic locks on the ramp door go Choonk. You hear them open, and the ramp door starts going out, or going down if you will. In that moment, this was the first time we were going to get out of that track under fire. We were taking sporadic artillery and mortar fire and so forth, and right at that moment, I remembered what my Drill Instructor had said to me, had said to us as a group.
-
About getting off that helicopter in Beirut under fire, and my position as an Anti-Tank assaultman, meant that I got onto the track first, which means you’re all the way in the front, but that meant I was going to be one of the last people off. At that moment in time I remembered, “I wasn’t going to stay on that helicopter, I wasn’t going to hesitate, because I knew that people were relying on me, and I wasn’t going to let my team down” and that came back to me at that moment. I stood up, and yeah I, I understood fear, I wasn’t scared because I made peace with the fact that I may be killed and so forth. But it’s scary when you go outside and people are dropping artillery and mortars on you, you know. It’s not a fun thing.
-
So Courage, I was able to find that Courage when I needed it, and it was because of something that a leader had demonstrated to me, almost 4 years prior. So you never know when something you do-, you may exhibit a courageous act, you may lead my example, and you may think “Eh, I’m a leader and I’m doing these things, and sometimes I feel like my words and my actions are falling on deaf ears.” You know you may get frustrated and think “These people that I’m working with, they just don’t get it. They’re not paying attention, they just don’t get it.
-
But you don’t know that. It may be something you do, something that you say could be that seed that’s planted in the mind of that person, and it could be years before they call back on that, before they think “Hey, I remember when I was in this situation” and whatever you said or did, the example you set could give that person the Courage that they need at that moment in time. I hope that through the Morning Mindset, and yes I know that this is just a Podcast, and you’re just listening to my voice through your iPhone or whatever, but I hope that through Morning Mindset I can give you a little extra something to help you carry on throughout your day.
-
Alright tomorrow, or the next segment which will be tomorrow, will be Knowledge. We’re going to go to the K in BUCKLE and the K is Knowledge. Until next time, I am Paul Markel, and I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Unselfishness means that you avoid making yourself comfortable at the expense of others. Be considerate of others. Give credit to those who deserve it. Avoid using your position or rank for personal gain, safety, or pleasure at the expense of others. Be considerate of others.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
And we’re continuing on, with JJDIDTIEBUCKLE, the United States Marine Corps Leadership Traits, this is your Morning Mindset free class on Leadership & Leadership Traits, and training. As I mentioned before, there are executives and corporate officers who pay quite literally hundreds if not thousands of dollars where they have someone get in front of them, and talk about these very things. So you guys are welcome.
-
Alright, today we’re going to talk about Unselfishness, the U in BUCKLE. We’re getting down to the end here, so pay close attention. Okay how does the Marine Corps define Unselfishness? Unselfishness means that you about making yourself comfortable, at the expense of others. Be considerate of others, give credit to those who deserve it. Alright and the leadership training, or the ways for you to improve your Unselfishness trait would be, avoid using your position or rank for personal gain, safety or pleasure at the expense of others. Be considerate of others.
-
Wow, again here we are in our modern world, in the world in which we live, and how difficult is it to display Unselfishness? You say “Well, Paul I’m not a Selfish person, I’m a very Unselfishness person, and I believe that I demonstrate that trait regularly.” How difficult is it to teach that? The reason I think it’s so tough to teach Unselfishness today, is because in our modern world, we’re taught, or children are taught, we’re told that how you feel about a situation, whatever situation, is the most important thing in the world. It’s all about you, and your feelings, and your thoughts, and your comfort.
-
It’s very difficult today… people say “Why do you think children behave the way they do? Why do teenages and millenials and so forth, why do they behave the way they do?” Because going back to the no score soccer or “we don’t keep score” t-ball or baseball or whatever, everybody gets a trophy. Everybody gets a trophy why? Because everyone is #1. Now you say “Paul, how does that deal with Unselfishness?” Why do we give everyone a trophy, not just the one kid who won the race, or not just the one child that did better than all the other children? It’s because every child is the most important child, and that’s what we tell them. We give everyone a trophy because everyone here is the most important player on this team.
-
Even though you just sat your fat butt on the bench and played on your GameBoy the whole season, even though you didn’t put forth any effort, even though you never broke a sweat, according to our new modern thinking you’re just as important on this team as everyone else, and what are we teaching them? Our kids who become teenagers, who become millennials, who become young adults. We’re teaching them that They are the most important thing in the world, not other people, not to consider other people first. But Them.
-
Look at our politicians, our supposed leaders of the United States. When I said ‘Avoid using your position or rank for personal gain’, almost every day, if not weekly or monthly, we’re treated to news stories of “Leaders”, of politicians, of bureaucrats who did exactly that thing. They used their position or rank for personal gain, and it happens over and over and over again. Being Unselfish is not as easy as it sounds. Now to be fair, the human condition is to be selfish. The human condition is to take care of yourself first, right? The human condition is always to ensure that you’re comfortable, you’re fed, so on and so forth.
-
Now can we work with this while we’re trying to develop our leadership qualities. Well of course we can, of course we can. It’s not wrong to make sure that you have warm clothing, it’s not wrong to make sure that you have food to eat and a place to sleep and so on and so forth. That’s not necessarily wrong, you have to have that. One of the ways that the Marine Corps taught it’s Leaders Unselfishness, is from the very, very beginning, even in basic training. You’re taught that the people in charge, whether they’re squad leaders or platoon leaders or Sergeants or what have you, they always eat last.
-
The men, the troops always eat first. When we were… I was in the Desert Storm, Desert Shield, what turned out to be Gulf War Pt. 1, and quite often there was not enough clothing, not enough boots, desert boots, what have you to go around. We only had so many. For instance, when we were over there it got cold, and you’re like “You were in the desert, how’s it cold?” Believe it or not, it gets cold in the desert, and they came around with these polypropylene longjohn underwear things. These polypropylene underwear tops and bottoms, but they didn’t have enough for the entire company. Let’s say the company is close to 200 people or so, I don’t remember the exact number in our company, doesn’t matter. But out of that they only had 80 or 50 or 75, whatever. So how do they start issuing them? There’s not enough for everyone.
-
You start from the bottom rank, and you work up. You start from the Privates, PFC’s, Etc. Desert boots, and this may seem strange to you as you’re listening to this, but the first Desert War, we didn’t have Desert boots. We had our jungle boots, our green & black leather jungle boots. Yes it’s kind of crazy to think of being in the Desert with jungle boots, but the supply train hadn’t caught up yet. When it came time to issue actual suede Desert boots, there weren’t enough. There weren’t enough suede Desert boots for everyone, and so I never got a pair. I never got a pair because I was a Corporal, and we issued the suede Desert boots to the Privates, PFC’s, Lance Corporals and so forth, and by the time it was time for the Corporals and Sergeants to get their boots, they were all out of 12’s, and I just didn’t get any.
-
So ya know, this is just one, and ya know this is just a quick example, of how the Marine Corps teaches people to be Unselfish. Is to think of the Troops first, before you sit down, one of the thing we were taught is before you sit down at night for the evening, before you get yourself chow, before you relax and go to sleep, you have to check on all of your men to make sure they are taken care of first. Now you say “I don’t have troops Paul, I’m not a Marine. I have co-workers or I have some kids or whatever’, and when you’re a parent it’s a little easier, because those little creatures running around are flesh of your flesh and blood of your blood, so generally you want to make sure they’re fed first, and that they’re clothed first.
-
Most parents will do without so their children can have. When it comes to being a business leader or a leader in your community, do you make sure that everyone else has everything they need, before you take care of yourself? I’m not talking about starving to death or anything crazy like that, but I mean take the time to think about that, to put others first. Unselfishness, it’s part of the Marine Corps Leadership Traits and there’s a reason that it’s part of the Leadership Traits. Because when you are demonstrably Unselfish, what does that show your people?
-
That shows your people that you are more involved in their well-being, or you care more about their well being than your own, and as a leader they’re more likely to follow you. Because if they notice they other, your troops, your workers, the people you’re coaching or mentoring or what have you, if they discover that you’re always taking care of yourself first, before everyone else, that’s not the sign of a leader and they’re not going to want to follow you.
-
Alright, that’s it for today. We’re all the way down to B & U, we’re down to C. C stands for Courage and during the next episode of Morning Mindset we’re going to talk about Courage. I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Bearing is the way you conduct and carry yourself. Your manner should reflect alertness, competence, confidence, and control. To develop bearing, you should hold yourself to the highest standards of personal conduct. Never be content with meeting only the minimum requirements.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Alright, hello, and welcome back! And according to my show notes calendar, this episode of Morning Mindset is going to be released on a Monday morning, so welcome to a brand new week. We’re looking forward to helping you start each and every day of this week off on a positive and productive note. Now, just in case you’re brand new, this is your first time listening, brothers and sisters let me tell you what, you’ve got some catching up to do.
-
Right now we’re a little bit more than halfway through the United States Marine Corps Leadership Traits. JJDIDTIEBUCKLE, and we’re going to do the B in BUCKLE. And yes, I know, JJDIDTIEBUCKLE is nonsensical. Doesn’t matter. In the military they make up acronyms so that young privates and PFCs and Lance Corporals can remember them. And old Corporals, 30 years later, can remember them too. chuckle So…
-
Let’s talk about Bearing. Bearing is the way you conduct and carry yourself. Your manner should reflect alertness, competence, confidence, and control. Now, many of you who have been listening to me know that at one point in time I was a police officer. I was a law enforcement officer in my native Ohio. I spent, well, almost two decades working as a police officer for various municipalities.
-
One of the things that an instructor of mine said, a guy named Ed Nowicki, he’s retired now but he was a really, very good, competent police instructor, and he was a mentor of mine. He said ‘you can always tell a cop, a good cop, you can always tell them, who they are, even in civilian clothes. And the reason you can tell a guy is a cop, even in civilian clothes, is because he looks as if he owns the very ground upon which he stands’.
-
So, if you ever look at a good street cop, in street clothes, when you look at them, stand off and watch them, observe them, they look as if they own the very ground upon which they stand. That is how they behave. And that is Bearing. A person who stands tall and erect, keeps their head up, pays attention to what’s going on around them, and exudes competence, confidence, and control. That is what you want in a leader, and that is why Bearing is part of the Leadership Traits.
-
Now, when I became a United States Marine, obviously they focused very heavily on Bearing from the very, very beginning. There was this thing that we were taught in basic training, and of course it carried on throughout, called Your Military Bearing. Standing tall and erect, head held high, your spine is like an iron rod, like there’s an iron rod from the ground through your spine. You’re as tall….I don’t think Marines could possibly be any taller physically than they are. They don’t slouch, they don’t lean. They stand up straight. They keep their heads up and they pay attention to what’s going on around them.
-
Consider the world in which you live. Whether it is, you go to school everyday, or you go to work everyday, whether you’re interacting with people socially. Take a second, step back, raise your OWN head, and look around, and observe people. Watch how they conduct themselves. Watch how they stand. Observe their Bearing. How many people do you encounter, or will you encounter do you believe, if you’ve already been paying attention, that do not stand alert? Do not exhibit confidence and control, but instead slouch, lean, look at the ground. They’ve got that attention vampire in their head. Yes, they’ve got that phone in their hand, and everything else in the whole world is just carrying on around them and they’re slouched over in the corner with their head down, looking at their phone.
-
Is that Bearing? No. Is that good Bearing? Positive Bearing? Is that Military Bearing? Well, no it is not obviously. If you want to be a leader, if you want to inspire confidence in other people, because, and, if you’re a parent, I know you might not have signed up for the job, or thought that’s what you’re going to be doing when you became a parent, but you are indeed acting as a LEADER when you are a parent.
-
Your kids, or the people who work for you, or the people you are coaching, or what have you, they are going to look at you. They are going to watch you. Your children are going to... they constantly observe you. That’s all they do. They’re watching you constantly, and they’re waiting for you to screw up, of course, because that’s what they are, they’re kids, but they will watch and they will mirror your Bearing. If you are alert and competent. How do you become competent? You become competent by diving into education, by reading, by taking training, by understanding what your job is, what your mission is.
-
When you know that, when you know that you’re able to perform the job to the highest of your ability, then you will have confidence, will you not? You should. Bearing is something that we probably don’t think about a lot. chuckle I’ve got a story for you. This is a bodyguard story. Many years ago...I’ve done a lot of things, I’ve worn a lot of hats, in my lifetime. I was a United States Marine, I was a police officer, I was also a professional security provider. I was an executive protection agent. Most of you guys know an executive protection agent as a ‘bodyguard’.
-
When I was working as a bodyguard, I would have to work, not only with executive men, but also with their families, with their children, and so on and so forth. I was working on a team where there was myself and there was a woman, and we were working with the clients family, the kids, the wife, and so forth. I was standing off to the side, watching the children, watching all the area around the children, of course, and I was standing erect, I had my arms folded across my torso, my chin up, and I apparently exuded competence, confidence, and control.
-
This woman said to me, bless her heart, she said “you, you shouldn’t stand like that, you look intimidating”....That’s kind of the point….”well, you’re standing out, you look intimidating”. This is the way con…chuckle and I said “Well, Ok, this is how I stand. This is how men stand”. And that was something, that, she didn’t quite get. She was, you know…. She, and the reason that you have women on executive protection teams is because, number one, women blend in very well with children, in like a child setting.
-
If you have children, clients children, especially if they’re elementary school aged, no one thinks twice of a woman taking elementary school aged kids on field trips, or in and out of school, or around school, or school activities, or what have you, but if there’s a large, imposing man with these little, elementary school children, people are like ‘what’s this guy doing? That’s not their Dad. Who’s this big guy?’ but if it’s a woman, even if it’s not their mom or whatever, people are like ‘oh, must be their friend, or their aunt, or whatever’. They never think twice about it.
-
So, women can be very effective protection agents because they can go places where they won’t draw attention to themselves or to the clients. But they’re not men. And the way I was standing, was the way confident, competent men stand. I was exhibiting Bearing in that case. Now, what does the Marine Corps say as far as helping you increase or improve the Trait of Bearing?
-
‘To develop Bearing, you should hold yourself to the highest standards of personal conduct. Never be content with meeting only the minimum requirements’. Oh Wow. I like that one. ‘Never be content with ok. Never be content with average. Never be content to be a C student. Stand up straight. Hold yourself to a higher standard of personal conduct’. I like that, I like that a lot. If you can do that, you are on your way to being an effective leader.
-
Alright folks, that’s it for today. Like I said, according to the show calendar, this one dropped on Monday morning, so I’m looking forward to being with you for this whole week, and we will finish out…. Well, today and the rest of the week, it looks like next Monday…..the Marine Corps Leadership Traits. All fourteen of them. I’ll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Enthusiasm is defined as a sincere interest and exuberance in the performance of your duties. If you are enthusiastic, you are optimistic, cheerful, and willing to accept the challenges.
Understanding and belief in your mission will add to your enthusiasm for your job. Try to understand why even uninteresting jobs must be done.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Well I hope that you’re enthusiastically looking forward to this episode of Morning Mindset. chuckle Welcome, Welcome Back. Let’s continue on, let’s talk about United States Marine Corps Leadership Traits, and today’s Trait is Enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is defined by the United States Marine Corps Leadership Training as sincere interest and exuberance in the performance of your duties. If you are enthusiastic, you are optimistic, cheerful, and willing to accept the challenges.
-
Alright. Fantastic. Enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is contagious. I have a very good friend who was paid a very nice compliment a while back, and that compliment was, uh, my friend said that he was told that whenever he showed up that he brought a sense of joy with him. I was like “wow, that is an excellent compliment” and that would be part of enthusiasm. chuckle
-
How many of you know enthusiastic people and are glad when they arrive? Whether you see them on a social setting, you know, at church, or you know, at the ball field, or wherever it you go to hang out… at the coffee shop, and you’re happy to see them. Leaders need to be enthusiastic, because why? Well, because when you’re a leader, the mission is not always going to be a fun mission. The mission is not always going to be a…shall we say...one that the men will look forward to, that the troops are gonna look forward to.
-
If you’re a coach and you’re preparing your young, you know, students there...you have your young students and, uh, you’re a coach, whether it’s basketball, football, or whatever, whatever kind of thing is it, you need to prepare them, right? Sometimes part of that preparation is making them sweat. Sometimes part of that preparation is making them do things they don’t want to do. But we still need to do it, we need to be enthusiastic about it, right? So, let’s get it done.
-
Now, what does the Marine Corps say about how to improve your sense of enthusiasm, that Trait? Understanding and belief in your mission will add to your enthusiasm for your job. Try to understand why even uninteresting jobs must be done. Yes indeed. And as we mentioned previously, there will be times when you are assigned a task, or a job, or a mission, from those above you.
-
If you’re a supervisor, or a leader, everybody’s got somebody that’s the boss of them, right? Everyone’s got someone over them. You’re going to have to go to your people and say “Hey, this is what we’ve gotta do, let’s get it done”. And like I’ve said previously, if you go to your people, and you’re like “uugghhh, we gotta do this, I don’t want to, I know it sucks, but we gotta get it done”. If that is your attitude as a leader, then you’re people are going to follow right along. They’re going to be like ‘this guys right, this is crap and we don’t want to do it’.
-
If you continuously display enthusiasm, as I said at the very beginning, if you’re one of those people, who brings joy into the room with them, if you’re one of those people, when you show up other people are happy because you’re there. That is fantastic. That is a huge compliment. And when you do that, people are more likely, when you give them a task or assignment, that may not be all that interesting, that may not seem all that fun, they’re more likely to say ‘well, this guy...this girl...this person is always upbeat, alright, let’s get it done, let’s put our noses down and do it’.
-
Now, conversely, laughter how many of you know a joy vampire? Or a joy sucker? How many of you know someone, who, when they enter the room, or the social situation, sucks all of the joy and life out of the room? You could be standing around with a couple other people, having a nice conversation, and that person walks in, they walk up to you, and the whole room just deflated. Because you know what? Rather than being optimistic and enthusiastic, every time you talk to this person, something is wrong. Or chuckle someone is unfair, or they have a new problem to tell you.
-
Now, am I telling you that you’re never going to have problems? Of course not, that’d be ridiculous. Everybody has struggles. Everyone has problems. Everyone has issues that they need to deal with and overcome. But there are some folks that, everytime you encounter them, rather than being enthusiastic, they’re the exact opposite. They suck the joy, the goodwill, and the enthusiasm right out of the atmosphere. We call them joy vampires.
-
Those people don’t make good leaders. Because when they show up, everyone else says ‘ohhhh man’... they get that feeling of dread. If you have someone who’s been put in a leadership position over you, whether they’re a supervisor, or a boss, or a shift leader, or whatever you want to call them, and they show up, they walk into the room, and everybody there says ‘ugghhh’, they take that deep, you know, that deep sigh, because they know that whatever is about to come out of that person's mouth is going to depress everyone. Right?
-
garbled chuckle What you might want to do is, well, try and do the opposite. I know life is hard. I know missions, and tasks, and assignments may not be necessarily be what you want to do, but you still need to attempt to be enthusiastic. Now, one of the things that the Marine Corps says here, and I’m going to review it, is understanding and belief in your mission. This is where you need to have a little bit of, well, experience and education, and intelligence, so that you know what it is exactly that needs to be done.
-
For instance, the coaching situation. If you’re a good coach, you know the insides, upside down, backwards, and forwards of whatever it is you’re coaching. You know that sport, you know that endeavor. Whatever that physical activity happens to be. I don’t care if it’s shooting, or throwing a football, or hitting a little golf ball, or whatever. If you know it inside out, upside down, and you’re passionate about that thing, when you’re coaching, when you’re teaching, when you’re leading people, it’s easier to be enthusiastic, is it not? Well, I would hope it would be.
-
So, as you go about your day today, try to exercise enthusiasm. Even if it’s something that you don’t necessarily want to do. Part of being a leader is doing the things that you don’t want to do. Remember, being a leader is not necessarily easy. Anybody could just sit around and complain. That’s not what leaders do. Leaders have to demonstrate optimism and enthusiasm to their people. And if you can do that, brothers and sisters I’ll tell you what, people will want to work for you.
-
And if you’re constantly enthusiastic, if you are optimistic, when you do encounter that situation that is a big crap sandwich and everyone has to take a bite, they’re more likely to join in with you and take care of it than to, well, push away. So, J.J. DID TIE T I E… we got all the way down to E Enthusiasm. Alright, our next installment, we’re going to talk about Bearing. Yes, we’ll talk about bearing during the next installment of the fourteen United States Marine Corps Leadership Traits.
-
I’m your host Paul Markel. And, all of my written work is, indeed, on Amazon. It’s available on Amazon as paperbacks or Kindle editions. So just go over to Amazon, type in Paul G Markel, or just Paul Markel books and it will take you right where you need to go. Until the next time, I am Paul Markel, and I’ll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Integrity means that you are honest and truthful in what you say or do. You put honesty, sense of duty, and sound moral principles above all else. Be absolutely honest and truthful at all times. Stand up for what you believe to be right.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Continuing on, and thank you to Pop Evil for giving us permission to use that awesome intro music. It’s rockin’, it gets you moving in the morning, at least I hope it gets you moving in the morning. I’ve been listening to this show ever since we released it a month ago, and it still gets me excited. Laugh I hope that you find it gets you motivated as well. Alright continuing on with the United States Marine Corps Leadership Traits, the traits that every Leader should exhibit. The next one in JJDIDTIEBUCKLE, is the I in TIE, and that is Integrity.
-
Integrity means that you are Honest and Truthful, in what you say or do. You put Honest, sense of Duty, and sound Moral Principles above all else. Wow, that’s a big one right? If you’re going to be a Leader, remember this isn’t about being a Boss, and Telling people what to do. This is about being a Leader that Inspires others, a Leader that people will look up to, a Leader that people will voluntarily follow, and if you want people to voluntarily follow you, look up to you, and you want to Motivate them, you need to display Integrity. Again, how many times have we looked at our nation’s Leaders, we use that term when it comes to Politicians, we say “Our Nation’s Leaders”, and we look at them now that we’ve been examining the Marine Corps Leadership Traits, how many times have you examined a politician or looked at a politician or something they said or did, and you now apply the Leadership Trait to them and say “Hmm… Integrity.”
-
You mean being Honest and Truthful in what you say and do. A sense of Duty, Honesty and sound Moral principles? There are many people who have been elected to office who Integrity is a completely foreign thing. They don’t base their decisions on what is the Honest and Truthful thing to do, they don’t base their decisions on a sense of Duty or Moral principle, they base their decisions on political expediency, and how can they get the most for themselves? Or how can they promise people more free stuff, so they can get more votes and stay in power.
-
One of my favorite examples of Integrity is a coffee cup story, and probably, oh my Blasphemy going on 15 years ago. I had a coffee cup and it came from a company called Spyderco, they make knives, and it was one of those clear glass coffee cups. You don’t see those very often, but it was colored glass, it was clear, and at the bottom of the cup, when you tipped it up you looked at the bottom of the cup, it said the following words; Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one else is looking, and I love that definition of Integrity.
-
So if you come to a crossroad and you are questioning if you are genuinely applying Integrity. It means doing the right thing, doing your best, even though no one’s standing around watching you, even when no one can see you do it. Doing your best even when noone is watching. When I was a police officer, again many moons ago, I would have to, on frequent occasion, deal with youthful offenders, deal with young people who were not on the right track. They weren’t murderers or rapists or kidnappers yet, but a lot of them were not exercising sound moral principles or good judgement.
-
I would have the opportunity to speak with them, and one of the speeches that I would give them is, “Do you know what Integrity means?” and most of the time they get that glossed over look. “Duuuuuh… If I say yes will you shut up?” No, and I would give them the Integrity speech and say “Look, as you move on with your life, and you find yourself in a position where you can do wrong, where you could steal, where you could take something that didn’t belong to you. Take a second and ask yourself, or-” and you know the thing is, where I am now, I have no idea whether those young miscreants, whether they fixed themselves or whether they’re like “That old cop dude is full of crap and he don’t know what he’s talking about.” and they move on, become dirtbags and now they’re wards of the state.
-
But, Integrity. What does the Marine Corps say about improving your Integrity? Well, be absolutely honest and truthful at all times. Stand up for what you believe to be right. Truthful and Honest at all times, is that difficult? I’m not trying to say you guys are liars, or I’m a liar or lying is good, how often do we skirt the truth in order to save feelings? Or to ease the burden of hurt feelings so we skirt around the truth, or we Laugh shall we say, omit the truth. The omission of truth is still a lie. MMmmmm… I know, I know, and this is something we all have to work on I think.
-
If you’re going to be a leader because, let’s face facts, if you’re put in a Leadership position and your troops, your kids, your workers, whoever it is you’re in a leadership position over, if they discover you lack Integrity or they discover you’re skirting the truth, or maybe omitting the truth to them, they’re not going to look up to you. They’re not gonna respect you and they’re less likely to follow you, and not only that but in the case of children, they’re going to mimic you. Remember it doesn’t matter what you tell your kids, it’s what you show them. That’s what they’re going to do.
-
So Integrity, pretty big thing, and I’m gonna have to share a very sad story with you guys. My Integrity coffee cup broke, I don’t know if it fell off the counter or it fell off the kitchen table, but fell, and it broke, and I don’t have it anymore. Laugh I’m pretty sure they only did 1 run of those coffee cups, those Integrity coffee cups. But even though the cup is gone, the lesson has stuck with me and that is a lesson I’ve shared. I’ve been sharing it for probably 15+ years or more. So Integrity, doing the right thing even though no one else is looking. Honesty, sense of Duty and sound Moral principles.
-
I know, I’m weighing heavy on your shoulders, giving you a lot to think about, aren’t I? But who said being a Leader was easy? Being a Leader is not easy, and sometimes you need to do difficult things, sometimes you need to do that Gut Check when it comes to being a Leader, in order to do self improvement, to exercise self improvement, and that’s what we’re all about here. So positive Morning Mindset stuff, that’s all I have to say about that. Now tomorrow, we’re going to be back with the E in TIE, and the E in TIE is Enthusiasm. So I want you to Enthusiastically look forward to the next episode of Morning Mindset. Until then I am your host Paul Markel, and I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Tact means that you can deal with people in a manner that will maintain good relations and avoid problems. It means that you are polite, calm, and firm. Begin to develop your tact by trying to be courteous and cheerful at all times. Treat others as you would like to be treated.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Alright, let’s get back into it. The Marine Corps Leadership Traits, I hope you guys are enjoying this series. I am certainly enjoying being able to offer you this information, as I said I learned this, this is something that was taught to me… ah man as I look at a calendar, like 30+ years ago now. At least 30 years ago I was a Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corps, learning the Leadership Traits. Infact I took a M.C.I., Marine Corps Institute Manu- or not Manual Laugh, a Marine Corps Institute Module on Leadership.
-
Alright so where have we been? We went to JJ, and then the DID, now we’re at the TIEBUCKLE part of it. I know that doesn’t make sense but stick with me, and if you are a boss, if you are a business owner, if you are a leader and you want to help other people be leaders, I hope you are using this to your advantage. The T is Tact, oooooh. Tact means that you can deal with people in a manner that will maintain good relations and avoid problems. It means that you are polite, calm and firm.
-
Hmmm, this one right here, Tact, the ability to have Tact. If you guys have heard of that, unless you’re a young crumb cruncher and you’re still in school. “Telling someone to go to Hell and having them looking forward to the trip”, that is Tact Laugh, and many people confuse Tact, it says in the description it says “You are polite, calm” then it says “and Firm”. Many people confuse Tact by thinking it means you have to be meek, you have to be subservient, be a what you would say… a very quiet person. Tact doesn’t mean that you are a quiet, meek, subservient person, it actually means that you are relaying the information that needs to be relayed, you are dealing with the situation that needs to be dealt with, without making the other person angry.
-
When it comes to being a leader, this is an extremely valuable trait, and why is that? Well because, and especially… human beings have always been this way, especially in our modern era where everyone’s all wrapped up in their feelings right? “Well I know I was wrong, but the way he pointed out me being wrong, it made me feel bad, it hurt my feelings.” Okay, Tact means that you can tell someone that they’re wrong, or they have an area for improvement, or they need to improve. They need to do something better, on time, what have you, without getting them all bunged up and making them feel like an idiot.
-
I’ll give you a good example, there is this thing called a Compliment Sandwich. You know what a Compliment Sandwich is? A Compliment Sandwich is something a lot of coaches use, my Starting Strength coach uses the Compliment Sandwich, and a Compliment Sandwich is this, something like; You’re doing really well, I appreciate all the effort that you’re putting in. You need to focus harder on your squat technique, and get deeper into it. But keep going because I’m proud of where you are now and where you’ve come from.
-
So you give them a compliment, you give them a critique, and you give them a compliment again. Ergo, the Compliment Sandwich, and when you do that people will come out on the other end realizing that they need to improve something, or they need to modify their behavior, or they need to modify the way they’re working or performing, but they don’t feel like a complete and total idiot. Laughs Now what does the Marine Corps say is a good way to improve your Tact? Try to develop your Tact by trying to be courteous and cheerful at all times, treat others as you would like to be treated. Now isn’t that the golden rule? That’s the golden rule we were all taught in Sunday school, right? I know I was. Treat others like you would like to be treated yourself.
-
Super simple, but Tact is very difficult, especially when you become frustrated. How many of you have been in a situation where you had someo- Children. Or someone who works for you, or someone you’re trying to coach or teach or what have you. You explain something, and you think that you have done a really good job explaining that thing. You think you have done a really good job communicating your desires to whoever it happens to be, children, students, workers, what have you. Then you turn around, leave, come back and learn, they didn’t do that at all. They completely missed the point, they are not doing what you said needed to be done. They’re not following your instructions, so it’s very easy to become frustrated, and to let that frustration show.
-
Now I know that my beloved spouse is going to listen to this episode at least at one point in time, and she’s going to come to me probably and say “Ha! You’re talking about Tact, how should-”, yeah, I know I need to work on my Tact. Hence the reason I’m doing these, and from a completely and totally selfish standpoint, when I do the Leadership Traits, when I re-examine them myself, it gives me the opportunity to focus on my own Leadership Traits, and to realize where my shortcomings may happen to be. Now you may be fantastic, you may be one of those coaches who has their compliment sandwich down pat, and you can tell people to go to hell and have them looking forward to the trip.
-
If that is you, congratulations, but I know that a lot of folks out there need to work on their Tact. How do you get people to make corrections, and take self improvement, do things the way that you know they need to, as a Leader, without making them frustrated or making them feel angry at you, or ashamed or whatever. Whatever emotion they happen to be using at the time, they’re attaching themselves to. So, Tact. Deal with people in a way that maintains relations and avoids problems, be polite, be calm but also be firm. This kind of goes back to our Decisiveness, during our previous episode. Decisiveness not only means saying and doing what you mean, and being direct about it, but also being firm.
-
This is what we’re going to do, and here’s why, and I’ll tell you why but I’m not kidding. I’m not Charlie Brown, we’re not being wishy-washy here, just because I was polite and just because I was calm about it, doesn’t mean that I wasn’t serious. So when you exercise Tact, you’re polite, you’re calm, but everyone should know that you’re very serious about it. So there you go. Try to develop Tact by trying to be courteous or cheerful at all times or whenever possible. Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. Alright folks, that brings us to the end of today’s episode. I truly appreciate it, I truly appreciate anyone who’s out there paying attention, listening, and trying to get the most out of these Morning Mindset episodes. We’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Decisiveness means that you are able to make good decisions without delay. Get all the facts and weigh them against each other. By acting calmly and quickly, you should arrive at a sound decision. You announce your decisions in a clear, firm, professional manner.
Practice being positive in your actions instead of acting half-heartedly or changing your mind on an issue.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Is that not the most rockin’, get you motivated music? Yes, yes. We are very happy and pleased to be using that music as our into for Morning Mindset. I am your host, as you know, Paul Markel and I’m hoping that you guys are enjoying these episodes as much as I am enjoying putting them together for you. So, you’re welcome and I’m welcome and we’re all welcome. Today we’re going to continue on with J.J. Did Tie Buckle. That is the Marine Corps acronym for the fourteen Leadership Traits.
-
chuckle And I know it doesn’t make any sense to you, but it’s not supposed to make sense. Alright. The second D, so we did J.J., then we did DI, now we are going to talk about the second D in DID….Decisiveness. What does Decisiveness mean when it comes to Marine Corps Leadership Training? Decisiveness means that you are able to make good decisions without delay, get all of the facts and weigh them against each other, by acting calmly and quickly you should arrive at a sound decision.
-
You announce your decisions in a clear, firm, and professional manner. Let’s go ahead and examine decisiveness and how it comes to being a leader, or what it means to be a leader. Now in order to be decisive, you need to have what? You need to have a little bit of education, a little bit of intelligence, and hopefully you have some experience. Because can you make good, sound decisions, quickly and calmly if you don’t have the facts? If you don’t have education? If you don’t have experience? And should you be making those decisions?
-
For instance, if you find yourself in a situation for which you are completely and totally unfamiliar, and you have no experience or education in that area, should you be making that decision? Should you be making decisions related to that topic? Maybe not, maybe the best thing for you to garble excuse me, do as far as being decisive, is to get someone else to help you out. Now, how many of you know people who are adequately or aptly described as “indecisive individuals”?
-
How many of you have spouses? Particularly wives, who, uh, display indecisiveness continually? Honey, where would you like to go out to eat? You said you wanted to go out to eat. Yes I do. Ok, where would you like to go? I don’t know. laughter How about we go here? No, let’s not go there. Indecisiveness. Now, that’s kind of funny, and we talk about it, but in our work relationship, in our business relationships, in our personal relationships, being constantly indecisive can be a source, ahhh, I guess it can be a source of soreness, it can be a source of discontent in a workplace. If you can never seem….
-
Have you ever had a boss or supervisor and one of the things you could say about them is “they can never seem to make up their mind. We’re waiting for guidance. We’re waiting for instruction, and the boss can never seem to make us his or her mind exactly as to what we want to do”? Now part of decisiveness, if we go back to the definition, is to announce your decisions in a clear, firm, and professional manner.
-
That goes back to having an indecisive boss or supervisor, and you say “well, not only does this person take forever to make decisions, but when they do, we’re never certain what exactly it is that they want us to do”. chuckle When you’re decisive, you make a solid decision based upon the facts, then you announce your intentions. You’re like “Ok this is what we’re going to do, this is how we are going to get it done, this is the direction, this is our mission. Let’s go do it”.
-
That’s decisiveness, and when you encounter people, bosses, supervisor, so forth, that don’t have that, what does it do? It leads to a tremendous amount of frustration in the ranks. Now, according to our friends at the United States Marine Corps, suggestions for improvement in the decisiveness area. Practice being positive in your actions, instead of acting half heartedly or changing your mind on an issue.
-
This goes back to the, how many times have you had someone say “Um,well, we probably should do this, I think maybe probably we should do it”. Then you’re like, “well”, they come back, they’re like “Hmmm, I don’t know if that’s the best way”. Alright. Hold on for a second. Before we start doing anything, let’s make a decision. Let’s make a genuine decision, let’s stick to it, let’s move forward. But in our world, what does it….what factor screws up decisiveness? Is it facts? Are they facts and experience? Nooo, no no.
-
What screws up and what keeps people from being decisive is what? Feelings. Ohhh feelings. And wondering how your decision will make people feel, or how it will be perceived. Or wondering if it will offend this group, or offend that group. This is exactly what we get from politicians. Politicians are continuously indecisive. Matter of fact, when I was describing what a poor supervisor or poor boss does, about, you know, being wishy washy, or not answering the question, or taking forever to answer the question, doesn’t that sound like a politician?
-
“I’m not going to answer the question because if I answer it, then there’s a chance that someone might not like my answer”. You cannot be decisive, you cannot make good decisions and apply those decisions, if you’re constantly worried that you’re gonna offend somebody. If you’re constantly worried that, well, you know, this might hurt someone’s feelings. Well, are we dealing with facts or are we dealing with feelings? Why are we making the decision that we are making?
-
And that is the biggest stumbling block in our modern world...I believe. And a lack of decisiveness, is because, rather than examine that facts of the situation, people go and they examine the feelings of the situation. And when you do that, you never know where you’re going to end up. What happens? When you start worrying about feelings instead of facts, you end up doing nothing. Or you do, you know, you chuckle do the action or perform the action in a half hearted, kind of, maybe, I’m not sure manner.
-
Is that how we get the job done? Is that how we get the mission accomplished, whatever the mission happens to be? Is that how we get it done? By action in a half hearted, kind of...you know, uninvolved manner? Noo. It’s not. Decisiveness, this is probably something, and if we’re honest with ourselves, if we look at our daily lives, if we look at our interactions with other people, especially if we’re talking about schools, or if we’re talking about the government, or if we’re talking about political things, we see a tremendous amount of indecisiveness. And that’s not helping.
-
That’s not helping us to have a strong community, a strong state, a strong country. None of those things help us with leadership. And that’s one of the reasons we have a critical lack of leaders. A critical shortage of leaders in The United States of America is, you know, pointed out right here. Because a leader makes a decision, sticks by the decision, explains the reasons for the decision, and then carries on.
-
But politicians and bosses, and so forth, well, they can’t do that. So, decisiveness. And people will respect decisiveness. People don’t respect, indecisive humans. Bosses, supervisors, parents…. If you’re a parent and you can’t make a decision and stick with it, you’re children are not going to respect you. If you waffle and you’re wishy washy, and you go back and forth continuously, your children will not respect you.
-
So, Leadership Traits. And that, according to, well, my list here, that’s number five. J.J. DID, D I D, Decisiveness. Try practicing decisiveness by being positive in your actions instead of half hearted. Quit changing your mind. Make a decision based upon the facts and carry on. Alright guys, that’s it for today. Thank you very much for joining us, me, we chuckle and when I say “us”, you know, I have people behind the scenes that are helping me put these together to make sure that you can get them.
-
Alright, tomorrow we’re going to move on to the T in J.J. Did Tie Buckle. We’re going to talk about Tact. Until then, remember, all of my works are available on Amazon. My written works, my books, are available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle, as Kindle versions. And please, do us a favor, do me a favor, if you would, leave a review on whatever it is you are listening to this on. Whatever podcast application you’re using, and share this with at least one other person. I’ll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Initiative is taking action even though you haven't been given orders. It means meeting new and unexpected situations with prompt action. It includes using resourcefulness to get something done without the normal material or methods being available to you.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Ok guys let’s charge right ahead and keep on going with the Marine Corps Leadership Traits. Yesterday we talked about dependability. Alright, and I hope that by this time you are sensing a pattern and that maybe you are taking the time to write these down on a notepad or create some flashcards for yourself, or what have you. As I mentioned previously, all of the Leadership Traits are discussed in my book Patriot Fire Team Manual, in the chapter on Leadership.
-
Imagine that laughter, and you can get that as a paperback, or if you want to have it on your phone or your iPad, or whatever it is you look at everyday, go to Kindle and type in Paul G Markel and the book is the Patriot Fire Team Manual, download it, put it on there, finger snap boom, leadership. Especially, as we mentioned before, if you are the person who owns a business, if you have a business and you have employees, and especially if you have supervisors that are supervising various number of employees, this may be an excellent way for you to sit down and to coach your supervisors on their Leadership Traits.
-
Because you don’t want supervisors that are just bosses. You don’t want people just cracking the whip and saying “DO IT”, you know, this is not a galley with slaves that all have oars and we’re rowing them to the beat of the drum and the crack of the whip. We’re talking about having people that can actually LEAD others. Today we’re going to talk about initiative. Initiative is taking action even though you haven’t been given orders. It means meeting new and unexpected situations with prompt action.
-
It includes using resourcefulness to get something done without the normal material or methods available to you. Oh my goodness. The Marine Corps is, especially the infantry, and whether it’s Army infantry, Marine Corps infantry, what have you, infantry is all about initiative. Hmmm. And you’ll forgive me if I take a sip of water while I’m doing this. I’d like to do it in one cut, one take, without having to break it up so we have good continuity.
-
So initiative. What do you base your initiative on and how do you have, or exercise, good initiative? Well, one of the ways is by having good mentors and good coaches, by having experience and education. So when you encounter a situation, it’s not something that is daunting or overwhelming. You see that and you’re like “Okay, this is a problem. This is a situation that needs to be corrected. Now, I haven’t been given specific orders to correct the situation, or maybe I haven’t been given directives”.
-
How many of you have ever worked in a place where the employees exercised no initiative at all? They go to work, and let’s say you’re in a manufacturing plant, or an assembly plant, or shipping, or whatever, and they encounter a problem. They can’t go forward until the problem is solved. The employees say, “Well, I’m just an employee. I don’t have the authority to fix this problem, so I’m going to go over here and smoke a cigarette until somebody comes along and tells me what to do. I’m going to over here and sit in a chair and play on my phone until someone comes along and gives me specific directives”.
-
How many times have you ever been in your workplace, and people get there and they don’t have a specific plan of the day, or a plan of the day has not been issued or approved yet, so instead of just doing what needs to be done, or exercising some initiative, straightening up, doing….I don’t care, they just stand around? Is that the kind of employees you want? No. Is that the kind of supervisors you want? No
-
If you have people that are working for you, whether they’re children or whether…. You’re a coach... Is anyone out there a coach?.... and the coach is on the way to practice and the coach has a flat tire, right. He can’t get there until the tire gets fixed, or whatever, but everyone is just standing around on the field. Now, there should be somebody there that says “You know what, I don’t know why the coach is late, car problems, or some personal problem, but we’re all here, let’s get the gear out, let’s start running plays, let’s start throwing passes, let’s start warming up, let’s do some… whatever”.
-
The fact is, you want people to take the initiative and you want them to take the initiative based upon their education, their experience, and what they know should be done. Remember what we talked about yesterday, about dependability and how dependability is like a super power. Let me tell you what, same thing with initiative. If you are a supervisor, maybe you’re just a mid level supervisor, you have one shift and there’s four people that work for you. The owner, or the boss, or the overall operations manager comes to you and they’re like “Hey, what did you do?” and you say, “Well, I encountered this problem and I knew how to fix it, and I knew it would need to be done, so we took care of it, did it, and now it’s done.”
-
Let me tell you what, that manager is going to think you are a great guy, or a great girl. Because in today’s world, what do people do? “Well, nobody told me to do anything, so I’m just going to stand here. I get paid the same”. Is that what you want from your supervisors, from your employees? Just to stand around and wait? No, you don’t obviously.
-
So, what does the Marine Corps suggest as ways to improve your initiative and your abilities? To improve your initiative, work on staying mentally and physically alert. Be aware of things that need to be done, then do them without having to be told. Wow. chuckle Again, like a super power. If you want to achieve in this world, if you want to be recognized for your achievements, if you want people to recognize you for your abilities, you say “Aw man, I’ve been at this job for so long, you know”, this is where a gut check comes in.
-
This is the gut check. We talked about this at the very beginning. Every once in a while you have to be able to do an honest, no kidding gut check. Maybe where you are, you feel that you should have been promoted by now. You should be getting paid more money. You should have more authority. I would say to you, “When was the last time you exercised initiative? Good, solid initiative? You weren’t told, you weren’t directed.”
-
And many times the person who, how many times, like for instance, the General or the Colonel is not in the trenches with the men. The General or the Colonel is not in the field with the men. Something may occur that the General is completely and totally unaware of. Same thing with an operations manager at a facility or a plant. You have an operations manager. They’re not necessarily on the floor, they’re not necessarily in the offices or the trenches with the people and they don’t even know that the situation is a problem, or has become a problem.
-
Or maybe they don’t have the insight to see that like you do, because everyday you’re seeing and encountering these certain situations. So you take the initiative. You fix it, you repair it, you do whatever needs to be done. Then you go forward and say “Hey, this was an issue, this was slowing down our productivity, this was slowing down our ability to meet the mission, we took care of it, and this is how we took care of it, and I want to let you know.”
-
Chuckle If you can do that for a manager, if you can do that for someone who is in charge of you, again, exercise in super powers. But, if you are complaining that you’re not being given the proper due or the proper respect or the proper amount of money, or whatever, I would ask you “Are you taking initiative? Or, are you that guy that just says ‘well, until I’m told to do it, I’m just going to stand over here and look at my phone, I’m going to go out back and smoke a cigarette and when you guys are ready, you let me know’.” That’s not initiative.
-
Ladies and gentlemen, J.J. Did Tie Buckle. The D and the I. The D is dependability, the I is initiative. To improve your initiative, work on staying mentally and physically alert. Pay attention to what’s going on around you and what needs to be done. Be aware of things that need to be done and do them before you’re told. Like I said, once again, in our modern world of ‘I’m not doing anything until I’m specifically directed to do it’. In that world, if you exercise initiative, brothers and sisters that’s like a super power!
-
Okay. I think that’s all we have to say about this. Remember that the entire J.J. Did Tie Buckle the Marine Corps Leadership Traits can be found in the Patriot Fire Team Manual. It’s available as paperback or kindle. You can get them anytime you want because that’s the beauty of our modern world. Chuckle So, go ahead and do that if you would like. If not, just pay attention each and every day. We’re going to be back tomorrow and we’re going to talk about decisiveness. Decisiveness. Until then remember I am your host Paul Markel, and we will talk again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Dependability means that you can be relied upon to perform your duties properly. It means that you can be trusted to complete a job. It is the willing and voluntary support of the policies and orders of the chain of command. Dependability also means consistently putting forth your best effort in an attempt to achieve the highest standards of performance.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Welcome back to Morning Mindset, and welcome back to the United States Marine Corps Leadership Traits. Now if this is your first one, what I would suggest that you do is go back to the previous two so you can get the whole deal. Alright, I don’t want you guys to miss out on anything. Now the D in JJDIDTIEBUCKLE, the first D is Dependability, uugghh Dependability, you mean to be where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there? Wha~at? That sounds like something you’d want from your employees, not from your supervisors and leaders.
-
Well it goes both ways, and according to the United States Marine Corps, Dependability means that you can be relied on to perform your duties properly. It means you can be trusted to complete a job, it is the willing and voluntary support of the policies and orders of the chain of command. Big Military word [phrase] there. Dependability also means putting forth your best effort in order to achieve the highest standards of performance. Alright, like I said many of you, when I said Dependability when we started, you thought “That’s something I expect from my children, that’s something I expect from my workers, that’s something I expect from people that I’m supervising, that I employ. That’s not something I need to do as a boss or a supervisor or a leader.”
-
Actually it is! How many of you out there are a parents, and if you aren’t a parent I can tell you this, if you ever become a parent, your children, they’re not just going to do what you tell them to do. They’re not going to just follow the rules as you’ve explained to them, what they’re going to do is they’re going to mimic your behavior, and if you are not a dependable person, they will not be a dependable person. If you want them to do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, then you need to do that yourself. A Leader has to set the example, we haven’t really stressed that too much, but it should really go without saying that being a leader, means setting the example and again, this is the difference between a leader and a boss.
-
A boss doesn’t have to be expected to complete the job to the highest standard possible, a boss just says “Go and do it”. There are a lot of people in the world who are bosses. Politicians quite often exempt themselves from the laws and the statutes that they create for everyone else. Politicians will create laws, pass bills that apply to you and I, but it says in the bill “Oh P.S., this doesn’t apply to me, the senator. This doesn’t apply to me the representative, or what have you, it only applies to you. That’s not leadership, that’s being a boss. So what does the Marine Corps suggest for ways to improve your Dependability?
-
You can increase your Dependability by making a habit of being where you’re supposed to be on time, by not making excuses, and by carrying out every task to the best of your ability regardless or not if you like it. Wow, let’s break that down real quick. Being where you’re supposed to be, when you’re supposed to be there. Super simple, it seems to be super simple, but as a leader you’ve got the be there First. If the work day starts at 8, 8:30, Etc, I don’t care, it doesn’t matter when the work day starts. If you’re supposed to be there, if everyone’s supposed to be there, you need to be there.
-
The fact of the matter is if you expect all your people to be at work on time, clocked in, ready to begin the day at 8 and you don’t show up until 8:15, they’re not gonna show up until 8:15 because “Why should I be here on time, when the person who’s in charge can’t even be here on time?” Yes, I know there are reasons sometimes why you can’t, but there’s a difference between an occasional being late and being late consistently, just because “I’m the boss and I can show up whenever I want to”. Okay, you can’t do that, a leader can’t just show up whenever they want to. A Boss can, ‘cause he’s like “I’m the boss and I can show up whenever I want to, and if you don’t show up on time Imma punish you.”
-
That's not how we inspire others, that’s not how we inspire enthusiasm in others, laughs. Be where you’re supposed to be, on time. When I was in the United States Marine Corps, the rule of thumb was quite simple, if you’re supposed to be in formation or wherever at a set time, you needed to be there 15 minutes early. We were always told “If you’re not 15 minutes early, your late”. Now you say “That doesn’t make any sense, that’s crazy Marine Corps thinking”, Laughs. But the point is you need to be where you’re supposed to be, on time. Alright where else are we at here? It says, don’t make excuses! ^Excuses vs. Reasons, it sounds like something we’ve discussed previously on Morning Mindset, the difference between an Excuse and a Reason.
-
If you couldn’t be where you’re supposed to be, or do what you’re supposed to do, legitimately need to address that and say “Okay was there a Reason that this didn’t get done?” Or was it an excuse? I got tired, didn’t want to, got distracted, those are excuses. Do the best to your ability, perform the tasks to the best of your ability, regardless of whether or not you agree with it, and this one may not so much apply to the normal, civilian world or the civilian workplace. But in the Military, you have to do the job, you have to meet the assignment, you need to focus on the mission and quite often if you’re a leader-, for instance if you’re a Corporal or a Sergeant, Etc, everybody has a boss and everybody has someone over them.
-
So you’re a Corporal and you have a squad that you are in charge of, and the Staff Sergeant, comes to you, the Corporal, and says “You need to take your squad and go do Blank”. You realize that it’s a crap job, it’s not a fun job, people aren’t going to like it. But as a leader you can’t go back to your people and say “Well, I know this is a bunch of bullcrap, and I don’t agree with it, but Staff Sergeant says this has to get done, so I guess we gotta do it.” No, because if your perform and act that way, your people are going to be like “He’s right, this is crap and we shouldn’t be doing it.” As a leader, you need to do it to the best of your ability, regardless of whether or not if you agree with it.
-
If you are a low-level Supervisor, you may not see the entire big picture, you may not know what everyone else is doing and the person who have you this assignment may not have time to sit down with you, hold your hand, and explain to you why that mission is important. You just need to trust that that mission is important and that it needs to get done. Sometimes it’s not fun, sometimes you have to do inventory and have to count everything, you’re like “Eeeeck, we spend all year long messing with this stuff and now we have to sit down and count each and every one of them? I don’t wanna do that, it’s a waste of my time.” Yes, but it needs to be done, does it not? Yes it does.
-
So whether or not the task is a fun task, or whether it’s something you agree with, sometimes you need to exercise Dependability and do what needs to be done. The great thing is if you do that, and let me tell you what, if you’re a young person listening to me, or even if you’re an older person, if you’re a young person you could probably use this advice more than anyone else. Do you wanna have a good job, do you wanna be promoted in your job? Do you want to be given more responsibility at your place of work? It’s not really all that hard. All you have to do it be where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there, and do the job that you’ve been given, without complaining, to the best of your ability.
-
If you do those things, in today’s modern world that’s like a Superpower. If you can can consistently perform, and I’m not asking you to cure cancer or do calculus or you know do rocket science, I’m just saying be where you’re supposed to be, on time, do what you’re supposed to do to the best of your ability. That’s it, if you can do that I can guarantee you, that you will be given more money and more responsibility in the very near future. Because like I said, in today’s world that is like a Superpower. Laughs Alright I think that’s enough for today, tomorrow we’re going to talk about Initiative. Initiative, until then remember that I am your host Paul Markel, and I will talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Judgment is your ability to think about things clearly, calmly, and in an orderly fashion so that you can make good decisions.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Alright let’s get this going! I am Paul Markel, I am your host, and we’re moving on with the 14 United States Marine Corps Leadership Traits. As we discussed previously, I think it’d be a great idea for you to write these down each day as we discuss it. Now a lot of you may be drinking your coffee or you may be listening to me as you are driving back & forth to work, that’s alright because one of the big benefits of On Demand Radio, or On Demand Podcasts, On Demand Audio, is you can pause this and listen to it again later, or you can relisten!
-
Yeah, I know! You’re welcome, and if you are a person who is in a position of leadership, perhaps you are the owner of a company and you have may supervisors that work for you, and those supervisors supervise many employees. You may want to do a Leadership Seminar for your supervisors and use the Marine Corps Leadership Traits, as a tool to help them develop their Leadership Traits, and as I said there are people in Corporate America who will go to seminars and spends hundreds and hundreds of dollars to learn these very things, and these are the things I was taught.
-
So some 30 years ago, when I was a Lance Corporal looking to become a Corporal, a Non-Commissioned Officer in the United States Marine Corps, alright yesterday we talked about Justice, and now we’re going to talk about the second J in J.J.D.I.D.T.I.E.B.U.C.K.L.E. Judgement! Judgement is your ability to think about things clearly, and in an orderly fashion so that you can make good decisions. Think about that for a second. How many people do you know, and maybe you’re guilty of this yourself, make their decision based upon emotion, or they make rash decisions before they clearly, calmly and in an orderly fashion, consider all the variables and the facts?
-
This is not easy, I know it’s not, because in our modern world what are we given? We’re given short little snippets of information, headlines. How many of you know what a listicle is? A Listicle is an article like, “5 Things you didn’t know could kill you before age 30” or “10 Celebrities you didn’t know were Dead”, “3 Ways to Improve your Sex Life” you know, those are Listicles, and they are Bullet Point articles. Unfortunately the curse of the listicle is that people aren’t given, or they never take the time, to get an in depth view of the situation. What they get is just bullet points, and bullet point thinking is something that has been going on for a long time in our country.
-
But in order to exercise sound Judgement, you need more than just the bullet points, right? As we about during a previous episode of Morning Mindset, with the ^Absolutes, we have these Zero Tolerance Policies. Zero Tolerance is not taking the time to clearly, calmly and in an orderly fashion consider all the facts of the case, no. Zero Tolerance means you just take the bullet points, ya know, Little Johnny had antihistamines, was given Benadryl, we found Benadryl in his backpack, and “That’s a drug, and we have a Zero Tolerance Policy on drugs, so little Johnny is suspended.” That’s not judgement.
-
So how can you improve your Judgement? Well according to Marine Corps Leadership Traits, you can improve your Judgement if you avoid making rash decisions. Making decisions based off what? The bullet points, or emotions. Approach problems with a common-sense attitude, and again, here we are in our modern world, with our critical loss or lack of leaders. How can you, you know what is a Judge? Now if you know anything about the judicial system, you know you have someone sitting up on a bench, and they have to Judge the facts of the case. But when a judge renders a decision or makes a decision, they should take their time. You’ve heard of Deliberation, right? What is deliberation, why does the jury get up and leave the room and go into another room. Why do they do that? I mean they heard everything, they’re sitting right there in the jury box, why don’t they just vote right now?
-
Mm, “Guilty!” or “Not Guilty!” Why don’t they just do it right now? Because it’s important enough, the situation is important enough that they take the time to get up, go back into a private room quietly, and consider all of the facts, not just weight it upon their emotions. You know “I don’t like the way that guy looked, he’s gotta be guilty”, things of that nature. When you have a judge, that is called a bench trial, where there is no jury, where the judge gets to decide. Judges will leave, go to their chambers, and come back (quite often) and render a decision. Why do they do that? Because they are taking the time to consider all of the facts, and why do they go somewhere by themselves? Why do they go back in their “Chambers” to do it? Because if they’re trying to make a judgement, in and around a bunch of people who are trying to get their attention, it’s really hard to make a clear, calm and orderly decision when you’re distracted, when other people are constantly hounding you.
-
So if you are in a position where, you may have to make a decision, you may have to make a decision where you reduce your staff. You may have to let some people go, or maybe your initial reaction is “I need to let some people go”, but before you do that, try to make a clear and calm decision, decide if that is the best way to do things. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, you don’t know. I can’t tell you in your personal life what is the best way to make a clear, calm and orderly decision, to make a good decision. But I can tell you this; before you make a decision based upon emotion, or the bullet points, especially if it’s an important decision in your life or in your business.
-
Take the time, I would say go somewhere where there are no distractions, and the distractions may include taking your phone with you. You may wanna take your phone somewhere, put it on airplane mode or just put it on the charger and go for a walk. Clear your head, and whatever it is that decision you need to make, you’re going to make the decision based upon your experience and education, but also based upon the facts of the situation. So Judgement, and remember we’re talking about being a Leader here, and sometimes being a leader means you have to make hard decisions, and if you want to make the correct decision, even if it is difficult, you need to exercise sound Judgement.
-
Alright guys, so we’re 2 into it, we had ^Justice & Judgement, tomorrow we’re going to talk about Dependability, and if you’re one of those slick folks to popped over to Kindle and you typed in the words Paul G. Markel, you found the Patriot Fire Team Manual on kindle and downloaded it on your phone, then you can follow along through the discussion. As always, I’ll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Justice is defined as the practice of being fair and consistent. A just person gives consideration to each side of a situation and bases rewards or punishments on merit.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Alright welcome back to Ssss~ Morning Mindset, I almost said the name of my other show, laughs. No welcome to Morning Mindset, and as we discussed previously, in our discussion yesterday of Leaders vs. Bosses, I believe that the United States of America has a critical shortage of Leaders today. You don’t just tell someone that they have to be a leader, you don’t just give them a hat and say “Put this hat on, you’re now a Leader.” we need to coach and encourage and train our leaders, and there are absolute, genuine ways to do that.
-
Now I was a United States Marine, when I was working on becoming a Non-Commissioned Officer [NCO] we had to go through Leadership Training, and one of the big things we had to study was the United States Marine Corps Leadership Traits, now there are 14 of them and I’m not even going to attempt to do all 14 in one sitting, I’m not even going to do 2 per sitting. What we’re going to do is talk about 1 trait per day until we’re done with them. Sound good to you guys? Alright.
-
So the Marine Corps Leadership Traits, when we were, when I was in the Corps one of the things they teach you is they teach you Acronyms. They make up acronyms for everything in the military so they you can remember it at a moment’s notice, and the Marine Corps Leadership Traits, forgive me if you already know these but a lot of people [don’t], is broken down into the acronym J.J.D.I.D.T.I.E.B.U.C.K.L.E. and you say “That doesn’t make any sense” laughs and no it doesn’t make sense but I learned these 30 years ago and I still remember them because of J.J.D.I.D.T.I.E.B.U.C.K.L.E. When we went through our Leadership Training we actually had to sit down with a Staff Sergeant or a Gunnery Sergeant or a First Sergeant and they’d say “Okay Lance Corporal, you wanna be a Corporal, tell me about the Leadership Traits.” and you’d have to do it.
-
So #1, and you may want to get a pen or a pencil, I tell you what. If you are genuinely serious about improving your abilities as a leader, whether you’re currently in the position of being a leader or you may in the future be a leader, I would say get a stack of notecards, you know those file cards, the little 3x5 cards, and a pencil, and as we go through these over the next 14 episodes, and write them down. Then use them as flash cards, then when you get up in the morning, read one, then put it on the bottom. Super simple way, ya know I’m gonna give you a little hint here. There are people in Corporate America that pay hundreds of dollars to go to seminars to be taught these very things.
-
So you’re getting it free for nothing. you’re welcome. Alright #1- Justice. According to the Official Marine Corps Leadership Traits, and you can get these in the Patriot Fire Team Manual, which is available on Amazon or on Kindle. Justice, the definition is; Justice is the practice of being Fair & Consistent. A person gives consideration to both sides of a situation and decides rewards or punishments on merit. This is very difficult when you have a society that’s based on feelings and emotion. It’s very difficult when you’ve been taught or convinced or you’ve practiced making all of your decisions on what you think is fair or how you feel about a certain situation. Justice is not about how you feel, Justice is about actual, genuine results or actual, genuine facts.
-
If a person screwed up, they broke the rules, they broke the law, what have you. The Justice or the Punishment that needs to me knead out needs to not be based on what you feel, it needs to be based on actual facts. If a person did a good job, they might not be a person you’re necessarily friends with, there may be an employee that kind of gets on your nerves. You may be one of those people who is a supervisor or a boss or whatever, and there’s one or two employees who really get on your nerves, and it’s all you can do to stand and talk to them. Now they’re not necessarily a bad person, but they just get on your nerves.
-
Now did they do a really good job, and do you base the rewards and the merits based off that they did a really good job, or do you allow the fact that they annoy the crap out of you to cloud your judgement? Okay, so Justice, be honest with yourself about why you are making a particular decision. Try to avoid Favoritism, and treat all people and situations in an equal manner, and this is very, very difficult for us isn’t it? Because no matter where you were raised, no matter where you came from, everyone has certain likes & dislikes, and everyone has certain prejudices. Now you’re like “Prejudice is wrong Paul, and I don’t like it when people use that.” It really doesn’t matter because based off where you came from, where you were raised, based off your personal experience and education, you’re going to view certain people and situations in a different manner.
-
So as a Leader, being a leader isn’t necessarily easy. Being a boss is easy, you get the authority and you drive people based upon your authority. You say “I said do it, and if you don’t I’m gonna punish you or I’m gonna fire you or whatever. End of story, I’m the boss.” But that’s not how leaders work. Sometimes being a leader is difficult, sometimes it requires a serious Gut-Check. Sometimes when you’re a leader, you have to go ahead and take responsibility for a problem onto your own shoulders, not put it off on someone else. So when it’s time to knead out Justice, to give people their due, whether it’s rewards or promotions or what have you based upon their merits, or when it’s time to knead out punishment or discipline based off actual facts. It’s difficult to put your personal feelings aside.
-
But you have to do that because that’s what leaders do. I remember a, there was a sign, a plastic sign and it was on the door of the guard shack, when I was on the Forrestal. I was other places besides the Forrestal, but I was there for two years and that’s where I have a lot of experience and that’s where I first became a Leader. It said “A Marine on Duty Has No Friends”, you say “Ah that’s kind of mean, that’s kind of crappy. You Marines are really mean people.” But no, what that was meant to remind you was that you don’t give your friends special consideration. Justice, just because you’re friends with someone or just because you’re not friends with someone doesn’t mean you were allowed to treat them differently when it came to being on duty, to legitimate work.
-
What did we talk about yesterday? The accomplishment of the mission, right? So just a quick wrap, Justice is defined as the practice of being fair and consistent. A Just person gives consideration to both sides of a situation, and decides rewards or punishments based on merit. Be honest with yourself about why you made a particular decision and avoid favoritism. So United States Marine Corps Leadership Trait #1, is Justice, write it down, and as I mentioned at the beginning my book Patriot Fire Team, the Patriot Fire Team Manual is available on Amazon as a paperback or as a kindle version.
-
In the Leadership chapter, all of these are written out, they’re spelled out, and if you wanted to be a super slick listener, you could go to Kindle, put them on your phone, and follow along as we do these. So today’s leadership trait, write it down, remember it, is Justice and during the next segment we will move on to the next J, because J.J.D.I.D.T.I.E.B.U.C.K.L.E. and we’re going to talk about Judgement! Alright folks, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
What is the difference between a leader and a boss? Is there truly difference or are we just splitting hairs.
[INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Alright, welcome back to another episode of Morning Mindset. I am, once again, still remain your host Paul G. Markel. Today we’re going to talk about the difference between Leaders or Bosses. Now we’ve talked a little bit about ^Leadership up to this point in time, but we’re going to focus this time really heavily on Leadership and Leadership qualities, during the next two weeks.
-
There’s a very important reason behind that; #1 I believe that the United States of America right now has a critical shortage of Leaders, and I don’t mean Politicians and I don’t mean Bosses, and I don’t mean those who have been put in charge of us. I mean Genuine Leaders. Now many of you have seen the posters, especially at your workplace, you know. “A boss says” or “A Leader says”, or what have you, you know various motivational posters that you can buy online and put up in the break rooms and so forth, but is there a genuine difference between a Leader and a Boss?
-
Or are we really just splitting hairs? Now again, when I was in the ^United States Marine Corps, actually I became, I was given a Leadership position, I was put in a Leadership position relatively early on. I was a Lance Corporal [LCpl], and a LCpl for those of you who don’t know is an E3, which is a relatively low rank in the military. But back when I was in, they didn’t have a whole lot of money to pay people, and promotions mean money, I mean promotions also mean responsibility and leadership and so forth, but they also mean money. It was pretty tough to get promoted back in the mid-80’s.
-
Especially in the United States Marine Corps, so what you had quite often is people of lower ranks, such as an E3 or a LCpl performing the job of a Corporal, which is an E4 would be doing, and you have very similar situations, the Corporal would be doing the job of a Sergeant and so forth. So when I was a LCpl, laugh if you’ve ever been in the military I’ll tell you I was a Senior Lance, I was a LCpl that had some experience behind him, and I was put in charge of a team, a team of four individuals. So there was myself and four other guys, and I was their Leader. At the time I was probably… 21-22 age range, and I have four people underneath me that I was responsible for.
-
I was responsible for being their Leader, not their Boss. Now technically since I was put in a Leadership or, ya know I was fumbles I was a Team Leader, that’s what I was called I was a Team Leader on the U.S.S. Forrestal. So I had the legitimate authority, but you’re not supposed to just rest on that authority, say “Well, I’m in charge so you have to-”. I remember when we were going through our Leadership coaching, our Staff Sergeants and Sergeants would coach us young guys on How to Be a Leader, and we had to learn all 14 United States Marine Corps Leadership traits and memorize them and discuss them and understand what they all meant so that we could be effective Leaders.
-
Now you don’t become an effective leader overnight, it takes time. You actually want to take the time to coach your leaders, to start them out small and then build upon that. You don’t just hand someone a Leadership position and say “Okay, you’re in charge of 100 people today”. You shouldn’t, that’s not the way you should do it. Now I remember having a little poster or what have you in the Marine detachment, and it said stuff like this; A Boss says “I”, a Leader says “We”. You know, “A Boss depends on their Authority, a Leader depends on Good Will”, “A Boss inspires Fear, a Leader inspires Enthusiasm” and so forth. “A Boss says ‘Go Do It’, a Leader says ‘Let’s Get It Done’.”
-
So on and so forth, and you guys have probably seen them, but I really, genuinely believe, as I sit here in my studio talking into my Zoom recorder so that you guys can hear this, that in America today, we have a genuine crisis in Leadership. We have our Bosses and we have authority figures and we have politicians who have created bureaucracies, and they tell us what we have to do. We have politicians that rely on their executive authority to enforce their will, but how many genuine Leaders do we have in America? Whether you’re for President Trump or against him, and if you’re against him I don’t really know what you’re doing here, but the fact is the reason that Donald Trump became the President of the United States was, whether they expressed it outloud or not, the people of America are fed up with Bosses and Politicians.
-
Donald Trump became the President of the United States of America because millions upon millions upon millions of Americans all agreed on one point; that they were tired of Bosses, that they were tired of the standard Politician. That instead, they wanted Leadership. Yes, that’s what Donald Trump offered the people a year and a half ago or so, he offered them Leadership. He didn’t just say “Well I’m gonna be in charge and you have to do what I say.” Or he didn’t say and do the typical Politician role where “I’m gonna offer you free stuff, and I’m gonna be the guy who offers you the most free stuff, so vote for me.”
-
He was not a typical Politician, and he is still governing as not a typical Politician, he’s governing as a Leaders which has people, the typical Washington insiders and the media pundits and so forth, they don’t know how to deal with it. Because all their lives they’ve dealt with a standard, cookie-cutter Politician, a Politician who panders to the people, who doesn’t inspire Leadership. We haven’t had a genuine Leader as President since Ronald Reagan left office. We’ve had Politicians, who put their finger in the air and decide what will be popular, and once they figure out what will be popular, that’s where the govern from.
-
A position of “Who Wants What?” or middle of the road so [they] don’t offend anyone. That’s not how Leaders behave, leaders aren’t people who put their fingers in the air and decide what’s popular and go that direction. A Leader knows that there’s a mission that needs to be accomplished, and a Leader understands that the priority is to accomplish that mission, not be worried about people’s feelings. Now a Leader doesn’t go out and deliberately hurt people’s feelings, but a Leader doesn’t change his position based off of how certain people may or may not feel. Because if you do that, you’re completely ineffective as a Leader, you can not be an effective Leader if you’re constantly worried that your choices are going to hurt someone’s feelings.
-
A Leader looks at the mission and says “Okay, this is the mission”, whatever it happens to be. Maybe your mission is you have to produce X,000 number of Widgets and you have to Ship & Deliver them by a certain date. That’s your mission. A Leader doesn’t say “Ehhh, well we promised the customer, the client we’d have X,000 widgets delivered to them by this date, but I know a lot of you guys have a lot of other stuff to do, and I don’t wanna rush you, and I don’t want you to feel like I’m bossy or telling you what to do”. No a Leader says “Hey everyone, this is our mission, and this is our plan to accomplish this mission, and I’m gonna monitor you guys, I’m gonna monitor your progress and we’re going to get this done.”
-
Now it may not be that explicit, it may be other things, but if you’re a parent, you’re supposed to be a Leader. You’re supposed to set the example and that’s what Leaders do, they set the example for the troops or the people that they are leading, and as a Parent you set the example for your children. So I do genuinely believe that one of my missions in life is to help you and all the people I encounter, to be a better Leader. Not necessarily to be a Boss, and especially not to be a Politician, but to be a Leader. Because for the United States of America, and you may be listening to this somewhere else, but at least for the United States of America, for us to succeed, for us to grow and I guess get back to the greatness that we once were, we’re going to need Leaders.
-
People who aren’t concerned about hurting feelings, people who aren’t concerned about political correctness, and people who aren’t concerned about just being in charge. Because it’s easy to say “I’m a Boss, if you don’t do what I say I’m gonna fire you or punish you”, that’s not a Leader. We have Politicians that are like “If you don’t do what I say, if you peasants don’t do what I say, we’re going to send out men with guns and we’re gonna force you to do it!” That’s not what a Leader does, a Leader doesn’t have to force you at gunpoint, Leaders don’t have to threaten you, and in the U.S.A. we desperately need more Leaders, on every level.
-
Like I said, when you’re a Leader you don’t necessarily start out with 100 or 1,000 people, you may start out with just a couple, just a few. That’s what they do in the Marine Corps, that’s what they do in the Military, they start you off small, you’re in charge of 2-3-4 people, then a squad, then a platoon, then a company and, if you’re never in the military squads and smaller, then platoons and so forth. Battalion, a regiment, and army, what have you, but you don’t get that overnight. So what we’re going to do, and I kind of wanted to set this up with this episode, is for the next 14 days, I’m going to focus on the United States Marine Corps Leadership traits, one at a time per show, and what I would suggest if you are genuinely serious about becoming a Leader, and you say “Well Paul, I’m not really in that position right now. I’m just a worker, I just have A job, I’m not in a position to be a Leader.” I betcha that you are.
-
I betcha that in some way or some area of your life, that you can be an effective Leader. Whether it’s as a coach, whether it’s as a parent, whether it’s being a Leader to your friends or peer group. Everyone has an opportunity to be an effective Leader, and what we’re gonna focus on over the next 14 days is ways that you can improve your Leadership traits, and you can be a better Leader to those around you. Alright that’s it, and if you’d like to avail yourself to the written work of yours truly Paul G. Markel, you can go to ^Amazon.com and you can shop around, you can pick up any of the books by myself in paperback form or kindle form. Alright guys, I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Today we will examine why we make the career choices that we make. How can you make the correct choice when it comes to your career?
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Okay, welcome to a brand new week of Morning Mindset! We’re gonna help you get your mind right, and I’m glad you made the decision to join me today. Congratulations on your excellent decision making skills, at least for the next 10 minutes or so, Laughs and thank you for letting me share a little bit of my personal life, my 30+ years of professional experience with you. You say we’re gonna talk about “Why did you join the Marine Corps Paul? Why did you join the Marine Corps?”
-
You say “I didn’t join the Marine Corps, why did you join the Marine Corps?” and I’m gonna share something that goes back, well over 30 years now. When I was at basic training on Parris Island, we had these folks called Drill Instructors that were there to help us get our minds right, help us get our bodies right, and they were not the best humored folks, they didn’t laugh or smile a lot. They were very serious individuals, but our papa, our daddy, the one who took care of us, was our senior drill instructor and my senior drill instructor was SSgt Ericson. SSgt Ericson I can remember distinctly, the first week of recruit training standing on line, at attention, and SSgt Ericson walked up and down the squad bay, and he said “I’ve got a question for you. Don’t answer, just listen. Why, did you, join the Marine Corps? Why are you here?”
-
He said “Let me tell you what. If you’re here because you wanted to impress your mommy or you wanted to impress your daddy, there are a lot of other ways you could have done that. If you’re here because of a girl, if you wanted to impress a girl, want to make girls like you. There are a lot of other things in your life that are a lot easier than becoming a Marine to impress a girl. How many of you are here because your recruiter told you about getting all kinds of free and inexpensive college? If you’re here because your recruiter promised you free and inexpensive college, you screwed up. There’s a lot easier ways to get college loans and inexpensive college, than becoming a United States Marine. If there’s any of you out here who became a Marine because you thought you needed a good job, and you thought this would give you a good steady job and a paycheck, ooooh, you screwed up big time. Because there are a lot of easier ways to make a living than being a United States Marine.”
-
So there I am, standing on line thinking “What’s this guy’s point? Because in my mind, I did not join the Marine Corps because I wanted to impress my mommy or daddy or a girl. I didn’t join the Marine Corps because some recruiter promised me a bunch of cool free stuff. I did not join because I needed a job, I had a job when I joined the Marine Corps. I joined the Marine because I wanted to be a Marine. So I’m standing there, and drill instructor SSgt Ericson, he said “Right now at this moment in time, you’ve got a decision to make. If you joined the Marine Corps for any other reason that you wanted to be a United States Marine, you’re not gonna be happy. This is not going to be a good experience for you. You better make that commitment right now, that you want to be a United States Marine, and that is your goal for basic training. Not ‘I want a job’, not ‘I want free college’, not ‘I want benefits’, not ‘I wanna travel and see the world’, not ‘I wanna impress people’. If you’re here, for any other reason than you want and desire, and your #1 goal is to become a United States Marine, then you’re wrong and you better fix yourself.”
-
Years later, and it’s been going on 31 years since I stood there at attention, in Parris Island in South Carolina, and listened to my drill instructor give those words of advice. But he was absolutely right, he was 100% right. Marine Corps basic training to way too difficult, it is way too hard, it requires too much sacrifice and effort just because you want to impress somebody, looking for free college and goodies, or you wanted a job or needed a job or something. What I’m going to say to you today is, where are you in your career goal? If you are a teenager or a college age person, and you’re looking for a career choice. Or maybe you made a career choice and it’s not exactly where you wanted to be.
-
You’re thinking “Hmm, I’m here and I have a job and I’m making money, but this isn’t what I want to be doing.” Or maybe you’re considering another career choice, maybe you’re considering leaving the place you are now and moving on to another place. Why are you doing that? Are you doing it just for money? I mean money is money, everyone’s gotta have money. Everyone has to have cars and places to live and food to eat and all that good stuff, and I understand that. There’s lots and lots of ways in the world to make money. Are you happy where you’re at? If you’re happy being who you are, doing what you’re doing, you may be better off staying there instead of going off and doing something you don’t necessarily want to do, because they’re offering you more money. When I talk to kids, young people, teenagers, what have you, about joining the military.
-
I tell them “Look, when you go to the recruiter’s office-” and this is the difference, let me tell you what, I’ve been there, done that, got the t-shirt. There are recruiters out there who have been trained, they are trained and have been taught to sell the military like they’re selling a used car, like they’re car salesmen. They sit down with these 17-18 year old kids, and they give them the benefits package. They say “Oh if you join, we’ll give you this” and they have the glossy brochures and the shiny pictures, and they tell them about all the wonders ya know. All the things that they can get, that I can give you. “I can give you all these things”.
-
But they’re forgetting one very, very important thing. It doesn’t matter, all the free stuff, or the benefits package or the college or the this or the that. If that person doesn’t genuinely want to serve, whether it’s Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, whatever, if they don’t have a genuine desire to serve, then that person is not going to be a good soldier. That person is not going to be a good sailor or a good Marine or, okay Air Force I’ll cut you a break there. But that’s not the person that you want, when it comes to recruiting people, haha, how many of you people are in a position where you may have to recruit people to work for your company?
-
Do you want people to come work for your company just because they think they can make X money? Because people work for money, only to a certain extent. They will only do so much for money. They will do way more for passion and love and desire, than they will do for money. You want to compensate your people, you want to compensate them for loyalty, you want to compensate them for a job well done, but if you have someone you’re recruiting someone who’s prime drive is “how much stuff are you going to give me”, that person’s not going to be an effective employee. That person’s not going to be someone that works For You.
-
They’re going to be working for the money, and as soon as someone comes along that can offer them a little more, they’ll be gone. Poof. So why did you join the Marine Corps Paul Markel? I joined the Marine Corps for one reason and one reason only; because I wanted to become a United States Marine. Yes they gave me food, and they gave me shelter, and they gave me money while I did it, but I didn’t do it for the food, shelter and money, I did it because that’s what I wanted to do. When it comes to career choices, are you doing it just to get a paycheck, or are you doing it because that is what you are genuinely, 100% passionate about?
-
Now sometimes you have to wait, sometimes you have to do a job just to pay the rent, until you can do what it is that you are passionate about. Sometimes you have to do a job to pay the rent, while you’re also exploring your passion part time, or after hours or what have you. That’s fine, that’s how a lot of people start, that’s how a lot of entrepreneurs started. They were doing A job but that was not their passion, then they decided to pursue their passion. I don’t know what your passion is, you have to decide for yourself. But that’s why I became a Marine and you have to ask yourself, “Why am I doing what I am doing?”
-
I know there’s a lot of recruiters out there who will say “We’ll give you this, I’ll give you that, I’ll give you all this stuff.” But does that stuff fill that hole in your soul? Can you fill that hole with money, or do you fill that hole with the feeling of a job well done, with creating and applying that personal Discipline to do the absolute best. I don’t know, you tell me. But think about it, think about that as you go about your day. I’m Paul Markel, your host, I am the author of several books, and if you would like to explore any of those you can go to Amazon.com and, I’ve got one called Dad Rules, it’s kind of a fun book. I’ve written a lot of serious text over the years and I did the “Dad Rules: Wit and Wisdom from a Dad to Whom it may Concern”, and it’s available as a paperback & as a kindle version. Alright folks, I’ll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
When I entered USMC boot camp I discovered their way of forcing recruits to discipline their minds, mouths, and bodies. No Pro-Nouns and Close Order Drill.
Let’s examine the importance of self-discipline. We view the term “discipline” as a negative because it makes us think about punishment. George Patton said that all wars are a result of a lack of discipline on the part of one party and the need to re-establish discipline by another party.
Your personal success and your personal failures can be largely attributed to either an application of or a lack of discipline.
[INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Alright it’s that time again, it’s time for Morning Mindset. We’re going to help you get your mind right, and today we’re going to be talking about Discipline. Ooooh, Discipline, yes indeed. When I entered the United States Marine Corps many, many moons ago, back in the year 1987, and I attended boot camp on Parris Island, I discovered that they had their own special ways of helping recruits discipline their minds, their mouths, and their bodies. Many people who look from the outside in, at military training, especially Marine Corps training, because Marine Corps basic training is the most rigorous to say the least and one of the ways that they do that is, people say “Ah that’s mean and barbaric and they hurt feelings and its offensive” and so forth.
-
Well you only have so much time to teach so many subjects, and a Marine recruit has to learn a lot in a relatively short period of time. There is a lot of physical and mental discipline that has to be instilled in that man or woman, before they can graduate and move on in their military career. So they don’t have a lot of time to screw around. Every minute, I told someone the other day, I was talking to my oldest son and I was explaining to him, he said “Dad, don’t you think that that it would be good if they instituted this kind of Strength Training into Marine Corps boot camp? I said “Yeah it would be good, but they don’t have the time to do.” He said “Well they could make time”, I said “You don’t understand. Every minute, and I’m not being facetious here, every minute of the training day is scripted and scheduled.” Marine Corps drill instructors don’t have a minute to waste.
-
Since they don’t have a minute to waste, they don’t have time to sit down and explain to recruits, say “Okay little Johnny, we’re going to do this, and this is the reasoning behind it. No, they just do. So how do Marine Corps drill instructors force Marine Corps recruits to to discipline their minds, their mouths and their bodies. Well for starters, you are not allowed to use pronouns, you’re like “What? You can’t use pronouns?” Yes, when a Marine Corps recruits speaks, he does not use pronouns. They do not say he or she or they or it or what have you, when a Marine Corps recruit speaks, they would say something like “Sir, this recruits requests permission to make a headcall Sir.” But you say that’s stupid, that's harassment, that’s treating them like robots, no, no it’s not. It’s absolutely, very deliberate.
-
This is why. When I was a teenager, and most people recruit when they’re a teenager or early 20’s, I actually turned 20 y.o. when I left to go to recruiting, so I was kind of an old recruit in that aspect. Most people were 17, 18, most at 18. But up until that point in your life, especially if you are a teenager, you’re probably very used to saying whatever you want, whenever you want to, and you don't think about what comes out of your mouth. How many of you people know people who don’t think before they open their mouths? You hear people speak and you you say “Did you even think about what you were going to say or did you just put your mouth on autopilot and start making words?”-
When we were in basic training, well when we spoke to each other, when we spoke to each other we didn’t speak in pronoun linggidy, but you don’t speak to a drill instructor or anyone else in authority using pronouns, and there’s a very specific reason for that. Because that way before you start to speak, you have to engage your brain and think. I know it’s crazy right? Like I said, how many of you know people who don’t actually engage their brains before they speak, before they open their mouths and just let words come spilling out? Now the other way that they taught you to engage in discipline, to discipline your body, was through this thing we called Close Order Drill. A drill instructor, that’s what they teach you, they teach you close-order drills. You do left-face, right-face, order arms, and you march and you do it in order, and you perfect every movement and motion of your body.
-
You stand straight and erect and tall, and you look straight forward, and you hold the rifle in the exact right place, and you move the rifle exactly in the correct way. You pivot your heels in exactly the right way. Some people say “Well close order drills is antiquated and it’s ridiculous, and it was needed way back when we needed them to line up shoulder-to-shoulder, and listen to voice commands and engage in combat in that way, but we don’t need to do that anymore. So close order drill is pointless.”
-
No, close order drill is absolutely essential because, again, it forces people to, it forces the recruit to Discipline their body, to do it right. And the only way they’re going to do close order drill, correctly, on time, on command, is for their minds to command their bodies to do it right, that’s how they Discipline themselves. Let’s examine the importance of self-Discipline. Many people out there, you, me, a lot of people you know, view the term Discipline as a Negative. Because why? Because well it makes you think about punishment. We Discipline children, or at least we used to in the United States of America, we used to Discipline when the misbehaved. It was a way to show them that their behavior was wrong and they needed to fix themselves.
-
We don’t do that anymore, we have conversations with our 3 y.o. about changing their ways of behavior, which is just pointless. If you’re trying to a 3 y.o. about the error of their ways, you may as well go talk to a wall about the error of its ways, because a 3 y.o. doesn’t have the capacity to learn. You swat them on their fanny, you say “Don’t do that again, that stove is hot, don’t do it again.” George Patton once said, all wars are a result of a lack of Discipline on the part of one party, and the need to re-establish Discipline by another party. Your personal successes, and your personal failures can attributed to either an application of or a lack of, Discipline.
-
You say, you look in a mirror or you step on a scale, if you’re that bold, and you look at that scale and you’re like “Uuuuugh. When I was 18 I weighed Blank, now I weigh Blank +100lb. How did I get this way?” I don’t know, maybe you say to yourself “I know I need to quit smoking. I know I do, I have to quit smoking. I know it’s bad for me, I know it’s bad for me. I puff on these, I’m a pack of Marlboro a day smoker and I know I need to stop”, why don’t you stop? You don’t stop because of a lack of Discipline. Maybe you have personal successes in your lives, and you point to those successes and I say to you, that if you achieved and you had any success, it’s probably because you Disciplined yourself and you did the work.
-
Either way, Discipline is not a pejorative, it is not a negative thing. Before you say “Life isn’t fair” or “This person is Lucky”, and that is a very typical human reaction. We see people who have succeeded, and the sour grapes thing is to say “Well, they sure are lucky or they did get lucky.” Sadly, there’s a tendency of people who see- who view the strong and they want to cut them down. Musclehead or this or that, and why is that? Because they know in order to do that themselves, they’d have to exercise some serious and absolute Discipline and they really don’t want to do it. Say “Well, I can’t because…” what? Because I’m going to give myself an excuse.
-
Have you heard that before on this show, Excuses and Reasons? Are you making excuses for yourself not to exercise Discipline? You say “Alright Paul, alright Smart Guy, let’s say I’m not exercising Discipline the way I should” there is one way, and I’m not going to make you cut all pronouns out of your vocabulary, I’m not gonna make you do close order drill either. But one thing you could do, let us say you’ve made the decision, that you’re going to be more fit. Right you’ve made the decision to either lose weight, or gain strength, or whatever, you’re going to do something physical. You make a commitment to join a gym, or you decide to buy some gym equipment, but let’s say you make a commitment. You say to yourself “I’m gonna go on Wednesday.”
-
But by the time Wednesday rolls around, you’ve had a long day, you’re frustrated, you’re tired, you don’t want to go. So you don’t, or you do. When you don’t want to go, when you don’t feel like it, and I’m not talking you’re throwing up, I’m not talking you’re sick, I’m talking you just don’t feel like it. You say to yourself “Eh, I don’t feel like it today, eh I’ll do it tomorrow.” Make yourself do it, make yourself go. If you can make yourself go to the gym, even though you don’t want to, that is an exercise in Discipline. Ladies & Gentlemen, in our modern world Discipline has been-, like I said, it’s viewed as a pejorative, viewed as a negative. Discipline is not a negative, it’s a very important positive, and many of us have lost that as we grew up and got older because why?
-
Because everything around you is set up to make your life comfortable. Everyone and everything you see, whether it’s fast food or clothing or whether it’s make-up or chairs or beds, everything is designed around your comfort. But Discipline isn’t about comfort, is it? Discipline is about doing what needs to be done, even if you’re tired. So ladies & gentlemen, my assignment for you today is to find one small area of your life, where you can exercise Discipline over yourself, and uh, it’ll snowball eventually. Like I said I’m not gonna make you cut pronouns out of your vocabulary, I’m not gonna make you do close order drill.
-
So, both successes or failures can be attributed to both Discipline, or a lack thereof. Alright that’s if your today, I gave you a bit of bonus time, well uh, a couple extra minutes on Friday because I think you deserve it. Thank you once again for joining me here for Morning Mindset, for letting me help you get your mind right. If you’d like to read more and explore, go to Amazon.com and type in my name, Paul G. Markel, super simple, and you’ll find all of my books either as paperback or as kindle versions. I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Absolutes; when you say Always or Never, you set yourself up to be wrong. Beware of the tendency to embrace absolutes. “Zero Tolerance” for instance is absolutely wrong and it allows for both tyrannical behavior and intellectually lazy behavior.
Absolutes are like Natural, Inalienable Rights, they are few and far between.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello welcome back to Morning Mindset, and I’d like to thank you for joining me. Sometimes I feel like Bob Ross when I’m doing the show, I’m like “Thank you for being with me”. I’m not Bob Ross, I’m nowhere near that nice or patience of a human being as Bob Ross was, or at least how he portrayed himself on the Joy of Painting. Today we’re going to talk about Absolutes, how many of you have dealt in o had to deal in Absolutes? Whether it’s in your family life or your career or what have you, and when I say “Absolutes” I mean using the words “Always” and “Never”, or “Always” or “Never”.
-
Whenever you say “Never Blank” or “Always Blank”, you’re setting yourself up to be wrong. Now as a person who’s been involved in the Martial Endeavors, shall we say. I became a United States Marine in 1987 and actually a year before that I took my first professional Firearms Training class. I did a 40 hours firearms training class, and I know a lot of you may not be gun people or gun savvy, but allow me a moment. Whenever you say “Never do Blank” or Always do Blank”, you’re setting yourself up for failure. I’ll give you a really good example.
-
When you are holding a firearm, the firearm has a muzzle. That’s the dangerous end, that’s the end that the bullet comes out of. Now you may say “Always point your muzzle-” where? Some people will say “Always point your muzzle downrange at the target, or if you don’t have a target, always point it down. Always, Always, Always, Muzzle Down, Muzzle Down, Muzzle Down” Some people will say “Muzzle always Up, Up, Up, Up, Up, Up” and both of those people are wrong, both of those pieces of advice are wrong, because they are Absolutes. I’ll give you a great example, if you are a homeowner, if you are a mom or a dad, let’s say you keep a handgun. You keep a handgun at home for self protection, to protect your home and your family.
-
Something goes wrong, a crash in the night. Everyone’s scared, your kids run into your bedroom, you grab the handgun. You don’t have a target or you don’t have a target yet, or anything I want to point it at in front of me, so what have I always been taught? Muzzle down always, Absolute! So I point the muzzle down, but I’m a mom or I’m a dad, and what is down there around my legs, what is clinging to my right leg? My 3 y.o. Daughter is clinging to my leg, is it a good idea to point your pistol at the top of your 3 y.o. Daughter’s head? I’m gonna say that’s a bad idea.
-
But when you deal with Absolutes, always, always, always, you will do things that maybe you shouldn’t have done. You say “Okay Paul, I’m not really a gun person, what’s your point?” My point is that what you should be doing instead is thinking with a gun in your hand and thinking about your surroundings, and pointing the muzzle of the gun in the appropriate direction, whether that is forward or straight up or straight down, because it’s not always going to be the same. Maybe you are a mom or a dad and all of your kids are upstairs sleeping in their bedrooms, and you hear something outside. You know, the trash can falls over or the dog barks, and you don’t know why, but you know something is up.
-
So you take your pistol and you’re downstairs checking, because you can’t call the police every time a dog barks or any time a trash can falls over, can you? Well, you probably shouldn’t, and you’ve been taught muzzle up, muzzle up, always muzzle up. So you point your muzzle directly up, you’re walking around the first floor of your house. What’s directly above you? All of your children’s bedrooms. Believe you me, basic interior home construction isn’t gonna, it may slow it down but it isn’t going to stop a bullet if you negligently launch one. So do you want to be pointing your gun straight up, when the people that you love are straight above you? Probably not, so you have to be thinking.
-
Beware of the tendency to embrace absolutes, as in always-always and never-never. I’ll give you another good example. If you have children and they are in the public school system today, I feel sorry for you. I’m very glad my children are all grown now and don’t have to deal with any type of school system anymore. The Zero Tolerance policies, yes we have allowed our nation to embrace, and our schools and our workplaces to embrace these zero tolerance policies. They say “That’s good because that keeps our children safe in school.” Does it really keep your kids safe in school, or does it mean that the kids that get sent to school with cough drops by their moms and dads end up going to the principal's office.-
You say “Or that would never happen”, it has happened. Or the kids are sent to school with whatever. They have seasonal allergies, so their mom or dad gives them Benadryl or something, and they get in trouble, “Does that happen?” Yeah it happens all the time. What about Zero Tolerance Weapons Policies? And you’re like “Okay what is this?” Some kid unpacks his lunch and his mom has packed a knife to peel the apple or cut the apple. Or they chewed their gun into- they chewed their pop-tart into the shape of a gun. The chewed their gun into the shape of a pop-tart, that is something, I’d like to see that. Chewed their pop-tart into the shape of a gun, or kid has a t-shirt on with crossed rifles and says “United States Marine Corps” and we have to call the Sheriff because we have a zero tolerance policy on weapons and that’s a picture of a weapon.
-
Zero Tolerance is an Absolute, and it allows for both tyrannical behavior and intellectually lazy behavior, because if you believe in absolutes, you don’t have to apply logical, reasonable, rational thinking. You don’t have to do any of that, you can just point to a rule book and say “It say here Never or it says here Always”, and I’m not actually going to apply analytical thinking to the situation, that would actually apply effort on my part, so what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna apply tyrannical behavior, because-” do I have to tell you we see tyrannical and intellectually lazy behavior on part of School Administrators going on all over our nation?
-
You could work the google machine, look it up. Absolutes, instead of embracing Absolutes, because they free you from the need to think, and that’s what Absolutes do, they free you from the need to think. Absolutes instead should be treated like natural, inalienable rights. Let’s you know go back all the way to the time of the bill of rights and so forth. Natural, inalienable rights were supposed to be few and far between. Not everything you Desire or like is supposed to be a right. Now today we have, people think that everything they like is their right and the government should give them that thing, but the fact is if we go back to the concept of natural, inalienable rights, they weren’t supposed to be plenty, they were supposed to be few.
-
When it comes to Absolutes, is there room for absolutes in our lives? Of course there is. Absolutely you should look both ways before crossing the street, absolutely should never chew on razor blades. You absolutely never should stick your finger into light sockets, those are Absolutes. But when it comes to behavior, when it comes to work, you run into Absolutes, be careful. Absolutes, instead of inspiring rational and analytical thought, they actually do the exact opposite. I don’t want someone, like our previous example, with a gun in their hand to be a robot. I want them to be a thinking human being. I want my children’s teachers and principals and administrators, I want them to examine a situation on its merits, rather than doing some kind of knee-jerk fallback to a zero tolerance policy.
-
So beware of Absolutes, when you embrace Absolutes you’re almost all the time, Absolutely wrong. Alright that’s all I’ve got to say about that. If you want to hear more of what I have to say about child rearing, raising fearless children in a cowardly world, I have a little book called “Team Honey Badger; Raising Fearless Children in a Cowardly World”, and I have done so. I raised 3 fearless children to adulthood, and I’ve got some tips and tactics for you to do that, you can find Team Honey Badger, written by me Paul Markel, on Amazon as a paperback or as a kindle version. We’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Desire and deserve are not interchangeable terms, despite the fact that modern American use them as such. What you desire may not be deserve and what you deserve may not be what you desire.
If you believe you deserve something what have you done to earn it? The trouble with the millennial crowd is that they all believe they deserve everything that they desire just because they want it.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello, welcome back to Morning Mindset with your host Paul Markel which is me! Ugh, how many of you out there are moms or dads, or how many of you are supervisors, or maybe you’re bosses, maybe you have employees. Maybe you are dealing with the up 7 coming millennial crowd, and how many of them think they deserve everything they desire, just because they want it? Today we’re going to be talking about Deserve or Desire, or Desire or Deserve, and are they interchangeable words?
-
Alright and, laughs I know many of you are already nodding your heads and you’re like “Yep Paul, I’ve been there, I’ve done that, I dig what you’re squealing”, but let’s dive into it. Desire and Deserve are not interchangeable terms, despite what your millennial children or teenage children think. Just because the American Modern Culture, the Modern American Culture uses the terms “Desire” and “Deserve” doesn’t necessarily mean they’re interchangeable. What you Desire may not be what you Deserve, and what you Deserve may not be what you Desire.
-
So be careful what you ask for. When you’re dealing with your children, how many times have your children said they deserve something, or they feel they deserve something, and why? Why is that? Is it because they’ve earned it, because they’ve done anything to earn that thing? Or is it just because they want it? How many times in your life have you felt that you deserved Blank. “I deserve a promotion” okay, do you really Deserve a promotion or do you Desire the promotion? Now desiring a promotion or a pay raise doesn’t necessarily mean you do. Now you might, but before you walk into your boss’ or your supervisor’s office and demand a raise or demand a promotion, because you think you deserve it, you might want to do a little bit of a Gut-Check and say “Hey, do I legitimately Deserve a pay raise? Or is it something I desire because hey, everyone wants more money right? Everyone wants more money, and I Desire that so I Deserve it.”
-
People in our modern culture have fallen into this trap where they believe, and let’s face it. The central Federal Government and the State Governments and Uuuuugh, shall we say the “Big Media Complex”, they are very, very good at convincing people that if they Desire something, that means they deserve it. That is essentially how the entire political platform, the entire Democrat Political Platform is built on “If you desire it, you deserve it! You desire a mobile phone? Well you deserve to have a mobile phone. It doesn’t matter if you’ve gone out and earned enough money to buy one. If you desire one, heck you deserve it. We’ll take money from other people and we’ll put it in a great big pool, and we’ll buy you a mobile phone. Not because you deserve it, but because you want [it].”
-
There’s an entire political party that has made its platform giving people what they want. Whatever it is they say they want. Doesn’t matter whether they’ve earned it, doesn’t matter whether they worked for it, doesn’t matter whether they need it. They desire it, therefore they deserve it. But when it comes to promotions, when it comes to pay raises, and so forth. If you have children, you may want your children to listen to this episode of Morning Mindset, because the world always has a way of balancing itself out. You can’t fight nature, you can try, we always try. Humans always try to fight human nature, constantly we fight against human nature or we try to fight against nature in general, and most of the time we lose.
-
One of those ways is, we constantly strive for things, things we wants. Sometimes what you deserve isn’t a reward, sometimes it’s punishment. Sometimes what you desire is not actually what you Need, and when we come to that crossroad in our life where we think, we start believing that we deserve this or that, because we desire it. We’ve talked previously on this show about, we talked about Education, we talked about Training, we talked about Knowledge and Experience, we talked about ways of earning things. Of actually working a little bit harder, of going through the trouble of trying to educate yourself, to make yourself a more valuable employee.
-
Now if you’ve gone out and actually taken steps to make yourself a better employee, to make yourself more valuable, then you probably do deserve greater compensation. You generally would deserve that, if you went through all the steps, for instance. Wherever it is you work, for you to become a supervisor, you have to meet these steps. Meet these criteria. Did you go through all those criteria, or did you skip over a few of them because you thought they were stupid and pointless, but you still want the promotion anyway. Now when people come to you and say “I deserve blankity, blank-blank.” You sit them down and say “Okay, why is it exactly that you deserve more money, or deserve more responsibility?”
-
You go back to the old testimate of the bible and the story of the talents, and the story of the servants, and if they used their talents in a wise fashion. If you go back and you went to sunday school probably. A businessman went on a journey and he have X number of talents to different servants, and when he came back he asked the servants what they did with the talents. What they were referring to at the time, not physical talents, they were talking about money. But think of talents as money and an investment, and one servant said “I took your money and I invested it and this is what I got in return.”
-
He says “Well done good and faithful servant, because you have been, well you have been faithful with small responsibilities, I’ll give you bigger responsibilities.” Well another servant say “Well I invested blank and this what I got” and he said “Well done good and faithful servant, you invested your talents wisely, I’m going to give you more responsibility, more money, here you go.” And another one said “Well I knew you were greedy, so I took it and hid it under a rock, so here you go. Here’s your original talent back.” He said, essentially, “Be gone from me, you have not been responsible for even the smallest thing, so therefore everything you have I will take away from you.”
-
So when it comes to did you desire or did you deserve, when you talk to your children, when you talk to maybe your employees, those who work for you, maybe it’s people you coach, could be a coach. Somebody on your team, one of the kids on the team thinks he should be the team captain, or a co-captain or whatever, and they really believe that they deserve it. That’s when you say “Well, what have you done to deserve this? Simply desiring something, does not mean you deserve it.” Yes indeed, so if you want to be responsible for greater things, if you want to have more responsibility, if you want to have more money, you have to be responsible for more smaller things.
-
You know, I’m not here to preach the old testament to you, but it’s a very good story, it’s illustrative, and there are a lot of stories in the bible that are. So ladies & gentlemen, this is what I’ll leave you with today, before you sit down and decide that you deserve blank, or before you allow someone to tell you that they deserve, whatever it happens to be. Money, a new car, a phone. How many of you have teenagers that you believe deserve a brand new phone! That’s when you say “Okay, you Desire a new phone, but what have you done to earn it?”
-
This is the really real world here. In the really real world, we don’t get things just because we want them, and the lesson for today is; Desire and Deserve are not interchangeable. Alright thank you for joining us for today’s Morning Mindset, I hope you’re getting your Mind right with all that we have to offer. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this and shared it, and thank you to everyone who has gone to Amazon, because as you know, as you’ve heard previously, all of my books are available on paperback or Kindle as Kindle Versions, so you can take them anywhere you want to go on your iPad or iPhone or whatever it is that you like. I’ll talk to ya again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
How do you rebuild burned bridges or repair fractured relationships? Can you be the one who helps others to rebuild their strained or broken relationships? Remember, anger is not a sin, but it is also not a strategy. There is time to consider whether or not a relationship is salvageable or whether or not the bridge is best left burned.
Ask yourself if the relationship was mutually beneficial to both parties or just to one? Was the respect reciprocal or largely one sided. Were you doing all of the work in the relationship?
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hey, welcome to Morning Mindset. This is your host Paul Markel, of course you know that because you heard the intro, and I truly appreciate you joining me today for this show. Aaaaaaggghhh, so today’s topic. This may, hmmm… I don’t know if it’s gonna hurt your feelings, but it may bring up hurtful feelings, or feelings on anxiety, or what have you, but we are going to talk about Rebuilding Bridges, and that is repairing strained or fractured relationships.
Now you may be thinking that I’m talking about men & women, husbands & wives, boyfriends & girlfriends and so forth, but it could be any kind of a relationship quite frankly. It could be a friendship, it could be a previously romantic relationship, it could be a relationship between you and a family member. Such as aunts and uncles and cousins and so forth, maybe your mother or father, maybe your kids. But it could be a business relationship. Business relationships often become strained and fractured, and sometimes the bridges get burned. Stammer If you’re going to be a mature adult, if you’re going to grow as a human being, every once and a while you need to take the time to consider, whether or not it is time to try and rebuild a bridge, or whether it is time to repair a fractured relationship.
Alright, I have a personal story for you, and it’s a business story. I’ve had, I’ve been writing professionally for over 25 years now, and I have a lot of personal contacts in my field on endeavor, which is the outdoor shooting sports, law enforcement, military community. When I started writing and became a very active writer, I had many relationships with manufacturers and people who, people who made products for well, like-minded individuals. Like I said, the outdoor shooting sports, law enforcement, military type world, and what I found is that as my career grew, and then changed, my business relationships would change.
For instance, when I was writing very actively for outdoor shooting sports magazines, at some point I was having between 40 & 50 articles per year published, so I was generating, what we called in the industry “A Lot of Ink”. When I started generating a lot of ink, I had people who would call me up, or they’d send me emails, or send me notes, or they’d see me at shows and they’d be like “Oh hey Paul, did you know that we’re working on This, or would you be interested in talk, or writing about-” specifically writing about this, taking pictures of this, because when I started writing I also became my own photographer, and took thousands upon thousands of pictures and so forth.
Well things changed a little bit and I went off on my own, and developed my own television channel and my own radio show and… so I was no longer working for the regular publishing houses. What I found was, some of the people who wanted to be my best friend or wanted to be good friends with me, when I was generating a lot of ink for publishing houses. When things had changed, they weren’t so interested in being my friends anymore, and it the time it was kind of, I don’t know if it was depressing, but it made me kind of sad, to realize that there were a good number of people in the in industry that I thought were friends, they weren’t really friends they were more acquaintances, they were only interested in being my friend or acquaintance as long as I could get them, like I said in the industry we call “Free Ink”.
If I could give them free ink, or free public relations and PR, they were all about being my friend, and when things changed, I needed them to support me in my new project, they weren’t so interested anymore. That’s something that I… when you have a relationship that was strained, fractured, broken, the bridge was seriously burned, one of the things you have to ask yourself was, is that relationship a mutually beneficial relationship to both parties, or was one of the parties getting more out of the relationship than the other? Was respect reciprocal? I know that’s a lot of R’s & S’s & C’s right there, but was respect reciprocal, or largely one sided?
Were you doing most of, or all of the work in the relationship? Were you investing the lion’s share of the effort in the relationship and it’s like I said, this could be a romantic relationship, a personal relationship, a business relationship. Before you decide, “It’s time to repair that broken relationship”, you maybe need to take a moment and say “Well, maybe the reason that that person and I are no longer friends, or may the reason that that person and I no longer work together or have a business relationship, is because I was putting in all the work, the time and the effort, and as soon as it became time for them to put in work, time, effort, as soon as it became time for that person to invest in the relationship, they no longer wanted to be involved in it.
So that may not be a relationship that’s actually worth repairing, it goes back to that while Gut-Check time, ya know Honest Self Assessment. Now you may find when you do the honest self assessment, that the relationship you had that is now broken or strained, well it was broken or strained because of ego. Because of your ego, or because of someone else’s ego, or a product of the two. Maybe your ego took you in one direction and their ego took them in another direction, it could be that there was some animosity or some anger there.
Now remember, Anger is not a sin, as we discussed previously, but it is also not a strategy. Being angry all the time or being angry at someone is not a successful relationship or business strategy. So once you get to that honest self assessment, and the reason I am talking about this right now, is because I have just returned from a trade show, a convention, and I saw a lot of people there who I’ve known for upward, going on 25 years. Matter of fact there are some people, very few people that I’ve known for going on 30 years, and when you go to these shows, you see these people who are acquaintances and friends, and you see people who you may have once had a good, productive relationship with, and you think to yourself, you realize “hm, we haven’t done business together, we haven’t talked or communicated in a year, or two or three, or however long it’s been”, and that’s a good time to ask yourself real quickly, why is that?
Are we, am I not exchanging phone calls or text messages with this person just because I’m really busy, they’re really busy, or was there some kind of strain, a fracture put on this relationship? If the relationship wa beneficial to both parties, and you might want to take a second to say “Did my ego, did my own personal ego damage that relationship?” and again, going back to honest self assessment and growth, you may come up with that Gut-Check answer of “Yeah, it might have been my ego that got in the way of that relationship”. Or if you’re honest and you can look in the mirror and say “No, it wasn’t my ego at all. It was the fact that that person no longer wanted to put time and investment into the relationship.”
But there is time, if we want to be mature, responsible, growing adults, that we need to examine these relationships and decide whether or not they can be salvaged, and if they can, that’s probably one of the hardest things for those people to do. Because being able to Rebuild a Bridge, may require you to go back and park some ego. It may require you to humble yourself, to approach that person, whoever that may be and say “You know what? I think things kind of got off track, you and I were very close before. We had a good working relationship, we had a good business relationship, we had a good personal relationship, now we don’t. What can I do to help rebuild our relationship?”
Don’t tell them what they need to do to rebuild it, ask them what you can do to rebuild it. Now there may be nothing, but let’s face facts. There are some relationships out there, if you’re honest with yourself, if you think about, you might say “You know what, the reason that it didn’t work or it’s not working, is because I let my personal feelings and my ego get in the way. I hope that you can savage one fractured or broken relationship, that you may actually be able to build a Bridge that you set fire to many moons ago. Alright Ladies & Gentlemen, go out there and see if you can rebuild one bridge.
This is me Paul Markel, reminding you that all of my books, if you’re interested in learning more, all of my books are available on Amazon as paperbacks, or you can get them on the Kindle App as Kindle versions, how cool is that? I know a lot of you guys like Kindles, thank you to everyone who has left a review of this on your favorite podcast player, whatever that happens to be, and to everyone who has shared it. If you haven’t shared it yet, why not? Don’t be greedy man, you know there’s at least one person in your life who could use this information. I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
One of my favorite classes to teach to my military students was Land Navigation. The learned to use a map, compass, and protractor. In order to get to the designated point on the map, students needed to first know where they were and move on from there. Next, they would plot out a course. If they needed to travel a great distance they would break it down to shorter “legs”. Periodically they would need to sit down and assess the situation and be sure that they were still on course.
Personal goal setting is very similar to land navigation. Step one is to know where you are on the map. This goes back to our previous discussion of honest self-assessment. Where are you on you life journey? Short term goals: this year. Mid-range goals: the next 5 years. Long term goals: 10 years.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Alright it’s that time again. Pour yourself a cup of coffee, or if you’re driving don’t pour yourself a cup of coffee. You both hands on the wheel and pay attention to the road in front of you, or maybe you’re on a treadmill. Either way, it’s time for Morning Mindset. Way back when, maybe 10 years ago or so, I went to work as a military contractor. A small arms and tactics instructor for the United States military during the Global War on Terror, and as you probably saw in my Bio, many-many moons ago in 1987 I became a United States Marine, so I have a little bit of experience with that whole Military thing.
Now as an Instructor, one of my favorite matches to teach to my military students, was Land Navigation. Now many of you, if you were boy scouts or girl scouts, you may have heard of Land Navigation or you may have heard it referred to as “Orientering”. It’s basically using a Map and a Compass and a Protractor and a Pencil, and finding your way in the woods, in the field, wherever you happen to be. But a lot of you guys out there are like “Paul, it’s 20--, I’ve got Google Maps and I’ve got my GPS and I’ve got my smartphone. I don’t need an actual paper map and a compass and so forth, I just punch in where I want to go and it takes me there.
M’kay, what you do in the Military though, is something a little different. Yes, the Military does have GPS units, but it is also very important for them to teach very basic fundamental land navigation. Because all these new, shiny things we have with technology are always subject to error. The batteries might die, the satellite could be off, have you ever trusted Google Maps or any of the other online maps service and only to find out, you weren’t where you’re supposed to go, and it didn’t take you where you needed to be? They’re no infallible, and depending on where you are on planet Earth, the maps may not be quite up to date.
So what we would do is, we would have an initial classroom session with the kids, and when I say kids I mean 18, 19, 20 year old, young military students. We would go over how to read a map, how to use a map, how to use a compass and a protractor, so on and so forth. We do that in the classroom, then we get out actually into the woods. Out into the field, and we would give them maps, they would have maps and compasses and protractors, and we would divide them into small teams and they would have to find their way. Now the first thing they had to know, in order to navigate using a map, you have to know where you are.
Yeah, you can’t just open a map and say “Alright, let’s go”, you have to be able to look at the map and say “Okay this is exactly where I am on this map.” You’ve gotta have a starting point, that’s the first thing you have to have. If you don’t have a starting point, if you don’t know where you are on the map, it doesn’t matter how good at reading a compass you are. So the first thing they had to figure out was “Where am I on this map? Where is my starting point?” Then the next thing they would have to do is they would have to plot out a course. They would have to get a reading on the compass or on the protractor. They’d have to aline their maps so they were lined up facing north.
Then they figured out approximately how far they needed to go. Now if it was a great distance, if it was a long distance, rather than try and go all at once, they would divide the journey up into what they called “Legs”, Shorter Legs. Periodically, especially if it was a long leg, they’d have to sit down assess their situation, and say “Okay, are we still going in the right direction? Are we on track?” and when it comes to Goal Setting, Goal Setting is very, very similar when it comes to working with a map and a compass and Land Navigation. Think about it, you’re going to set goals for yourself. Whether they’re relationship goals, career goals, educational goals, whatever these goals happen to be.
Now it’s good to set goals, but going all the way back to the beginning of Morning Mindset, you need to do that Honest Self Assessment, you’ve gotta do that gut-check, you have to determine “Where am I right now? Where am I right now on my journey? What kind of education do I have, what kind of experience do I have, am I heading in the right direction?” I don’t know, step #1 where are you right now? And it doesn’t really matter where you are, everyone’s gotta start somewhere, but you’ve gotta start with some Honest Self Assessment. Okay, somebody who just graduated High School yesterday, their goal could be “I wanna be the CEO of Google.” Okay, that’s a nice goal, but you’re not gonna walk through the front doors of Google tomorrow with a resume and say “Here ya go, I wanna be your CEO, I wanna be your President.”
That’s impractical, right? Well alright, let’s say that was your goal. How do you get there? Just like with Navigation, when you set your course, it may be a long journey. It’ll be easy to think “Man this is gonna take so long…” but if you break it up into shorter legs, shorter segments, it doesn’t seem so long, and then as you go through those shorter legs and shorter segments, you can sit down and do some honest self assessment. Say “Alright, am I still on track? Are all my compass readings good? Let’s take a look at the map and see if we’re where we are supposed to be. Look around and figure it out.”
So when it comes to setting goals, #1 where are you? Where are you in your life at this moment in time? What can you achieve in the short term? Now generally when I’ve been taught, many, many years ago when I was taught about goals, from my life coaches and so forth, they said Short Term, Medium, and Long Term, as in what am I gonna do in this next year? This is easy to do at the beginning of the year and it’s what most people do. Most people in January, or around the first of the year, they do some self assessment and you know, they take stock of their lives and say “Alright this year I’m going to Blank.” Fill in the cliche; quit smoking, lose weight, exercise more, save money, whatever it is right?
But the problem is, is they just say that, but they don’t have a map. They don’t have a compass, they don’t have a protractor, they have no way of getting there they just say these things. What I want you to do is I want you to write it down. What is your goal for this year? That is a short term goal, “This year I’m going to Blank.” Now it may only be one thing, say this year you want to get a promotion at work, or you wanna quit smoking or you wanna get stronger or you wanna lose weight, whatever it happens to be. Alright great, write that down. That’s a One Year goal. Now if you’re a young person, especially of college age, you’re gonna wanna write down not just a one year goal, but you’re gonna wanna write down Five Year goals, forcast out five years.
Within five years, what do I want to have accomplished? Maybe it’s “I wanna have a degree.” okay. Maybe it’s “I want to get married”, maybe my goal is to purchase a house. Whatever it happens to be. So one year, five year, then we want to start projecting for long term goals. Like I said you just got out of high School, maybe you just got out of college, you don’t walk through the front door of Google or IBM with your brand new resume and degree and say “I’m applying for the job of CEO or of President.” what have you. That’s not how it happens. So if you want to do that, let’s say I do want to be the CEO of a company someday, I wanna be the President of a company someday, that’s a 10 Year goal.
So for one year goals, write it down, and when I say write it down, I’m not kidding. I mean find a pen, find a pencil, find a notepad and write it down. You say “Paul I’ve got an app on my phone, I just take notes on my laptop or I take notes on my phone.” Five years from now do you think you’re going to have the same phone now and the same amount of apps in it? How many pictures do you have on your phone that you looked at once and haven’t seen for years? How many of you out there have phones in desk drawers that you won’t throw out or trade in because they’re full of old pictures that someday, you think you’re gonna look at again?
Like I said, in my personal experience, when I was a young Marine I was stationed aboard a ship called the U.S.S. Forrestal and a friend of mine, we were talking about goals and he said “Paul, you need to write your goals down.” He was a real goal oriented guy, so he said “Write them down” and I said “Okay I will.” So I say down and I wrote them all down, I wrote down a one year goal, short term, five and a ten. Many years later, after I’d been married, after I’d already had children, I went through some of my stuff from when I was in the Marine Corps and I opened up that book and I found, ya know what? With one exception, I had fulfilled all of those goals.
So I want you to do that. I want you to get a notebook, I want you to write down your one year goals, your five years goals and your ten year goals. Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you very much for joining me here today, and I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
A life raft is exists to simply keep you alive until someone comes along with a real boat. We don’t travel on a life raft, we just bob up and down on the waves and go wherever the current takes us. No motor, no rudder, just floating along surviving.
Are you living in a life raft? As you just floating along waiting for someone to come along and rescue you or show you the way? How are you going to start the engine and set a course? Some folks are bobbing in waves in an life jacket, while others are clinging dearly to a piece of floating wreckage. We want to get you up out of the water and moving toward the shore.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to Morning Mindset. I am your host Paul Markel, and thank you for joining me for a brand new episode. I truly appreciate the opportunity to speak to you this morning. Today we’re going to talk about “Living in a Life Raft”, and you might be thinking to yourself, “What does Living in a Life Raft have to do with Mindset?” Well stand by, because we’re gonna talk about it, okay.
What is a Life Raft? Everybody out there, probably who is an adult and even kids, know what a Life Raft is, right? A Life Raft is a piece of emergency equipment on a boat, or a ship, and when do you use a Life Raft? Well you only use a Life Raft in a crisis or an emergency. Travelling on a boat, you’re on the Titanic or whatever, and boom. There’s an iceberg, there’s a hole in the ship, the ship sinks, everybody climbs into a Life Raft. Well, unlike the Titanic, hopefully there’s enough Life Rafts for everyone, right?
But what is a Life Raft, what is it there for? Is a Life Raft a travel craft, is it a vehicle designed to take you from Point A to Point B? Well that’s not really what it’s designed for. A Life Raft is simply there to keep you alive, until somebody comes along with a real boat to rescue you, right? Or in the case of the Coast Guard, a helicopter to rescue you. But when you’re in a Life Raft, you’re not heading on a certain course, right? You’re just kind of bobbing along, on the waves, going wherever the current takes you. Now you might get lucky and you might wash up on shore, but most people, when they end up on Life Rafts, they just bob up & down until they happen to get found by a helicopter or another ship, something like that.
If you were going to take a cross-atlantic or cross-pacific journey, you wouldn’t go down and get a Life Raft, would you? Of course you wouldn’t, you wouldn’t get a Life Raft because Life Rafts don’t have motors, they don’t have rudders, they don’t have steering systems and compasses and navigation equipment and so forth. A Life Raft is just a safety tool, a safety net in the water I suppose you could say, and there you are in the Life Raft, bobbing up & down on the waves, going with the current, wherever the flow takes you, and you’re waiting for someone or something to save you. My question to you today, as you examine your life, is this; are you Living in a Life Raft?
Are you living your life as if you were in a Life Raft? Are you just floating along, waiting for someone to rescue you, or show you the way? Maybe you started out on a journey, I dunno maybe you were in High School, maybe you were in College, and you had big plans for your life. You said “Oh man, I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna accomplish that” and it could be that like the Titanic, you ran into an iceberg, right? Something happened in your life, a crisis, or a roadblock or, ya know like I said, you ran into a big rock, and you were on your way to your destination. You were travelling forward, and boom. Things all came apart and you just started floating along.
Maybe in your career you had big plans, but then you ended up just taking a job, just for the time being. You’re like “Ah I’ll take this job, I’ll take this just for the time being.” but then, the job became comfortable, and you’re existing. I mean you’re not losing anything, when you’re in a Life Raft you’re not drowning. You’re just kind of floating along right? So you could, I suppose, be comfortable in a Life Raft if you stayed in it long enough. Are you living your life, as if you were living in a Life Raft? Now some of you may be thinking “Paul, I wish I had a Life Raft. I’m actually in the water with a life jacket on. I’m in one of those big, orange life jackets and I’m just floating up and down and I wish I had a Life Raft.” Or maybe, maybe you’re like Jack in the Titanic, and you’re out there and you’re just clinging to a piece of floating wreckage, and you wish you had a Life Raft.
Where do you want to be? We need to figure out a way to get you up and out of the water, we need to figure out a way to get you out of the Life Raft, back into a boat, back into a ship that has a motor, and a rudder, and a navigation system so that we can get you going forward. Now what have we talked about up to this point with our Morning Mindset? We’ve talked about, well just recently, previous episode we talked about what Weeds or Saplings in your life are keeping you from growing? Are there weeds in your life that you need to get rid of so you can continue to grow? We’ve talked about Honest Self Assessment, have you engaged in Honest Self Assessment, have ya done a gut check? I don’t know, you tell me.
‘Cause if you say “Ermm, Paul you may be right. I might just kind of be floating along. At one time I had a big plan for my life, and I was gonna accomplish things and I was gonna do things. Then I got comfortable and, now I’m just floating along.” Well, what are you gonna do, how are you gonna start that motor? How are you gonna get that rudder pointed in the right direction? Well one of the things we talked about is Education and Training and Experience. Are You Worth the Investment in training? Or are you just making Excuses for yourself?
You say “Ah well you know, that’s nice but I can’t. I don’t have time, I’m too busy, it costs too much money.” Now you’re offering yourself excuses and those aren’t reasons. What about Voluntary Hardship? Are you willing to undergo voluntary discomfort or voluntary hardship? Are you willing to be uncomfortable and get out on the other side, and achieve something? You might say “Alright Paul, Smart Guy, maybe I am Living in a Life Raft. So what? What’s your solution?
Well, like I said, sometimes you have to make hard choices. Sometimes you have to be a little bit uncomfortable. If you want to achieve things, you may have to risk. So, laughs before I let you go, I just want to let you know that I am here for you, Morning Mindset, we are here for you, and as we progress, we’re going to be talking more about positive and proactive things, that you can do in order to get that motor started. To get yourself a rudder, or maybe you’re going to fashion a sail out of an old sheet or a jacket. Something to get you forward, so you’re not waiting, hoping that something good is going to happen.
Sadly, you know folks, I betcha there are people in your life, who are living in that Life Raft and what they’re doing is they’re just hoping, that someone is gonna come along and save them. Hoping that they’re gonna get lucky, or hoping that- how many of you know people that play the lottery. They’ve got all kinds of big dreams, for when they win the lottery. “If I ever win the lottery, I’m gonna derpidy derp-derp”, whatever. I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do that. We like to play these little games with ourselves on social media. How many of you have been on Facebook and you’ll see a post and it says “If you had, Blank. If you had $100,000, what would you do with it?”
Or if you had $1,000,000 what would you do with it or what have you. But, that doesn’t get us going in the right direction. That’s just hope, and luck, and non-sense. What I want you to do is think “No, I’m not gonna wait around for someone to come rescue me. I’m gonna pull myself up, and I’m gonna turn this Life Raft into a pleasure craft. I’m gonna go ahead and start moving toward my goals, and that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about during the next episode of Morning Mindset, we’re gonna talk about setting goals and how important that is.
I’ve set goals in my life and I was actually very, very pleased with myself, that I’d set some goals and I’d kind of forgotten about them. I went back and I looked at that old notebook from years and years earlier, and read the goals that I had written down for myself when I was a young Marine, and realized that I had achieved just about every one of them. Even though I hadn’t deliberately and purposely been waking up everyday thinking “I need to achieve that specific goal.”
So, please join me tomorrow, or the next episode, or whenever it is you’re listening to this. You can binge listen if you want, I’ll let ya. Alright guys, thank you very much for being a part of Morning Mindset, I am your host Paul Markel. Thank you for sharing, thank you for reviewing, and we’ll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
When I was young my mother planted a garden every spring. We also had fruit trees and grapevines as well. Part of the upkeep process was the ritual of pick out the weeds from the garden and pruning the grapevines and fruit trees.
What is sapping your strength? What weeds are keep you from growing to your full potential. Take stock of your garden or tree. What distractions and energy suckers need to go in order for you to blossom?
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome to another positive, proactive and productive adventure that we’re calling Morning Mindset. I am your host Paul Markel, as you should know by now. We’re really in the weeds now, we’ve got several episodes underneath our belts, and today we’re going to talk about What is Sapping your Strength? Now when I was young, my mother planted a garden each and every spring, from the time… well as long as I can remember. When I had memories, all the way up through the time when I graduated from High School, moved out and went on my own.
Every spring my mom would go out and plant a garden, and part of that planting a garden meant that she had a ritual, and that ritual was pulling weeds. Now not only did we have gardens, but quite often where we would live, we would have grapevines and/or fruit trees, depending on where it was at the time, but I remember there was a time where my mom had a huge vegetable garden, we had grape vines, and we also had fruit trees, and every one of those things needed upkeep and maintenance.
That meant that when I was a little kid, I think that my mom might have paid me, I don’t know… a penny a piece or a nickel an hour or something, Laughs to go into the garden and pull weeds. I remember one time when I was real young, I thought I was gonna do my mom a favor. I was gonna be nice, and I went out into the garden, and I pulled weeds, and it turned out that I pulled out all of my mom’s rooting, sprouting carrot plants. Because I thought they were weeds, I didn’t know better.
But as we got older, my mom taught us “Okay, these are tomatoes right here, and these are carrots, and so forth. But these right here are weeds and they need to go. Because as long as the weeds are there, the plants aren’t going to get the nutrition they need. The weeds will choke them out.” and we had a similar routine, my mom had a similar routine with the grape vines. You know, every year she would go through the grapevines and she would prune the grapevines, and we would prune the fruit trees. We had a very small apple orchard, we had maybe 6-8 trees, but we would go through and if we wanted good apples my mom, she would prune all the little saplings that would start growing out of the truck of the apple tree, because those were not productive.
Those were not productive vines, those were not productive branches, and my question to you is, what is going on in your life that is keeping you from your full potential? What weeds do you have growing in your own personal career garden, your relationship garden, that is keeping you from growing to your fullest potential? I don’t know what those are, but this is when it comes to Self-Assessment time. Now when it comes to strength, how many of you have heard the term “Sapping your Strength”? Probably every one of you, right? Unless you’re a millennial and you make up your own language, but the vast majority of you have heard the term “Sapping your Strength”.
Where does that come from? Well a sapling is actually just a small branch that grows out of a larger tree, and when we’re talking about fruit trees, if you have a pear tree or an apple tree or what have you. What will happen as the tree grows and matures, is all these tiny saplings will start growing out of it. Now, the more saplings you have growing out of the base tree, the worse your fruit production will become and if you don’t take care of that, if you don’t prune those, you’ll eventually have no fruit at all. Because the tree is sending all of its strength, all if its energy to all these tiny non-productive branches.
So when you go to a fruit tree, like a pear or an apple tree, and you take, well whatever it is. Your pruning shears, your machete and you chop those things off, you cut them off. Now to the layman, he might think “Why is he cutting branches off the tree? Doesn’t he want it to grow fruit, aren’t those alive & living branches?” Yes they are, but they’re non-productive, they’re Sapping the Strength of the tree. We need to get rid of all those non-productive branches. Now maybe you’re stuck, maybe you’re stuck in your career, maybe you are stuck in your family or your life goals. Maybe you’re stuck when it comes to your fitness goals, maybe you wanna be stronger, wanna be thinner, wanna run faster, wanna perform a sport or what have you.
But you find yourself not moving along or not growing as quickly as you think you should. This is a time where I want you to sit back, and think about your daily routine. I want you to think about what you’re wasting your time, or spending your time and energy upon. What are you focusing on? Are you finding weeds and distractions in your life? Are there things in your life that, when you have a moment of self-assessment and honest clarity, you say “You know what, that habit I have? That is a weed. That is a weed in my garden and I have to get rid of that bad habit.”
Perhaps it is Friends or Acquaintances. There can be people in your life that are saplings, they are sapping your strength and energy, even though you may have thought originally that that person was going to be a friend, or a fun acquaintance or what have you, you may find yourself thinking “Well ya know, every time I spend time with that individual, every time I talk to that person, they are like an energy vampire. They bring me down.” How many of you know people in your life, I mean I’ve had those people in my life, that we all go through troubles. Alright let’s be honest, everyone has good days, everyone has bad days.
I would find it strange if every single person you encountered on every single day, it’s their best day ever. That’s, I mean, that’s a rarity. We also have those people that, every time you encounter them, they stop to tell you how terrible things are. All the time, and it gets to the point where, even if they’re a close friend of yours, even if they’re someone you once enjoyed spending time with. Now you find that every time you get on the phone with them, by the time you get off the phone you’re depressed. Or you’re frustrated, or you find yourself drained, and why is that?
Because that person is allowing all the weeds and the distractions in their life to bring them down. There’s never anything good, every time you talk to that person, and as hard or as hurtful as it sounds, you may need to or want to minimize contact with that person. Now it may be a situation where you say “Look, we need to have a talk” and you say “Bob, Suzy, Fred, whatever. Kyle, it seems like every time you and I have a conversation, something is Bad. Something’s wrong, something’s terrible, something’s not going your way, someone has done you wrong. And it seems like it’s all the time. Is that really the case, or is that all you’re focusing on?”
Now they may say “Screw you, I thought we were friends and I thought I could share with you.” and ladies & gentlemen, being a friend is not just dumping all your garbage on your friend’s doorstep. Sometimes you need to help your friend, sometimes you need to bring them up, sometimes you need to elevate them. If your idea of friends is having people around so you can continually dump garbage on their front doorstep, that’s not really being a friend. You may have bad habits that you’ve developed over the years, and if you’re completely honest with yourself you say “You know what? These habits, whatever they may be, are Sapping my Strength. These are weeds in my garden and I need to pull these things out if I want to grow.”
So my challenge to you today is this; examine your daily life, examine your weekly life, examine your work life, and check & watch for those distractions. Those energy suckers that need to go. What do you need to cut off? There may be something that you thought was a positive or productive, or maybe it’s fun or maybe it’s entertaining, but when you get down to it, you realize that that habit, that behavior is actually a weed, it’s a sapling. It’s keeping you from growing to your full potential, and the challenge you’re going to have is plucking that weed out, cutting that sapling off, and giving yourself the opportunity to grow.
Alright thank you very much for once again joining me for Morning Mindset, I am your host Paul Markel and all of my books are available on Amazon.com. You can go to Amazon.com, put in my name, Paul G. Markel, and you can find all my books in paperback & in Kindle versions. We will talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Today’s episode of Morning Mindset is about the most important investment you can make in your life; yourself. Are you worth investing in, in terms of time and money? That is a question that only you can answer, and you have to look in the mirror and be honest about it. Most people will spends tens and hundreds of dollars a month on entertainment, but have nothing left over for training or education. Listen up to hear what Professor Paul has to say on this matter.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
-
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to Morning Mindset, I am your host Paul Markel, as you probably heard from our lovely Hostess/Introductress, Alex. Thank you Miss Alex for giving us that wonderful introduction. Today we’re going to talk about Investing In Yourself, are you worth it? Well I don’t know, let’s dive into this and talk about it.
-
Schooling, Education, Training, all of these things require and investment in time and money. Quick caveat, or full disclosure, I am a person who conducts personal training, I am a person who hold seminars. I am a person who charges people to teach them various things. But before I did that, some 31 or so years ago, I was just a dude, and I spent my hard earned money to seek out professional training and education. I’ve been doing that actually, my entire adult life. My entire adult life I have gone all over the United States of America and I have engaged in training and education, and I’ve sought out instructors, and I’ve been very fortunate in my life that I’ve been able to sit down with and attend classes with some of the greatest instructors, as far as my career, which is law enforcement and military, and ya know small arms & tactics.
-
But I’ve been able to spend time with some of the best instructors and get some of the best training that is available, and that didn’t happen by accident. Many times I had to travel great distances, to access that class or that school or that training. I had to take time off, I had to spend my own money, I had to, well, suffer Voluntary Hardship as you could say in order to get that training.
-
My question to you is, why do we as a society, as adult men & women, why do we invest more in entertainment and distractions, than we do in education and training? Or do you? I don’t know. Some people think that education and information should be free, “I don’t know why you’re charging for that article, or I don’t know why you’re charging for that video. There’s other people that do it for free!” I’ve actually held classes, I held classes that were free and I’ve held classes that I charged a tuition for, and what I’ve found over my experience, like I said about 30 years or so, is that when you have a class or a one day seminar or whatever, that’s free of charge. “Just show up, it’s super valuable information and I want you to come”.
-
People do not value that which is free. It’s kind of a strange conundrum of our modern culture, that people want to receive education, people want to receive the benefits of someone, of an instructor, a teacher, who has spent their entire life accumulating education and experience and knowledge, and now they’re going to dull some of that knowledge back out to you, they’re going to relate some of that experience to you. Something they’ve invested their entire life getting, and you want it for free.
-
But, on the same hand, you will go out and invest literally, sometimes even more, Hundreds of dollars every month, on Entertainment. Things that don’t provide you an enate value, other than to simply amuse and distract you. Netflix, HBO, Cable or Satellite subscriptions, Phone Apps, Games. How many of you have a smartphone or an iPhone, and you have 3, 4, 10, a dozen apps on your phone. They’re various things, their gem-drop games, or candy games, or whatever. But they were only 99¢, so you bought them, and the other one was only 99¢.
-
How many of you have recurring charges of- on your phone? Every month you pay 99¢ for an app, and you have 12 of them on your phone? But you won’t spend a dime for education. You won’t buy a book, because the book costs $15, or you won’t buy the book because it costs $24. “I’m not paying $24 for a book!”, and I would say to you, how much do you spend combined on Netflix and phone apps and games and HBO and all that per month? “Well I want that. I want HBO, I want Netflix, I want those things.”
-
Okay, you want them. What do they do for you? “Well they’re, ya know. They’re fun”, is it entertainment and distraction, or is it education and training? Now I’m not saying you have to spend hundreds of dollars every month on training and education, but do you even have an education and training budget? Exactly. Do you, as an adult, and I don’t care what your occupation is. You could be a plumber, an electrician, you could be in the medical field, you could be in the legal field, whatever.
-
Do you have a budget, a monthly budget, an annual budget, that you allocate toward education, schooling, training, to help you improve in your career field? I’m willing to wager that the answer most of you are gonna give me is, “Well, no, but you know, if something comes along that I think I might be interested in, yeah I’ll probably find the money for that.” Okay, that’s great. Where are you on your journey? Where are you on your career field journey, where do you want to be, do you want to reach the next level? Do you want to be independent, do you want to have your own business? And let me tell you what, having your own business doesn’t mean you can take days off whenever you feel like it. Having your own business doesn’t mean “Well I don’t feel like going to work today, so I won’t.”
-
When you have your own business, if you don’t go to work today, the job doesn’t get done. It’s not like when you work for another person, and someone else pick up the slack when you’re not there. Days off, I’ve been running my own business now for almost 10 years, and taking time off just means that when you come back, you’re gonna have to make up for all that stuff you missed. But what do you want to do, what are your career goals? Where are you going? Now you say “Yeah, I’d certainly like to Blank”, alright.
-
How much have you invested in yourself? Not in someone else, not in what I said, toys or gear or Netflix. How much are you investing in yourself? To improve yourself, to educate yourself, to get more training, more schooling, more education, more information into your brain-housing group? How much? None, zero, a hundred, a million, you tell me. But let’s be honest with ourselves, most people who think that education and training, and videos and articles and books, they should either be low cost or no cost, they should be able to get it for free.
-
Those same people who think education and training should be free, have no problem dropping ya know, $19.95 or $24.95 or whatever it is a month for Netflix. They have no problem dropping $19 a month for HBO or holy cow, a cable or a satellite subscription. A satellite TV subscription is what, $200-175 a month? I knew a guy that was spending over $200 a month on satellite TV subscriptions. I said to him “Brother, you gotta stop that.” Go to Wal-Mart, go to Best Buy, get a Roku box. Buy it one time, hook it up, and cancel your satellite.
-
But, where is your priority, what are your priorities in life? Is your priority to be entertained and distracted? That’s fine! Gut-check time, going all the way back to the very beginning, Honest Self-Assessment. Are you worth the investment in schooling, education and training, or is your money better well spent on you know, cable TV and phone apps and games and so forth? So don’t look at me, don’t tell me “Ah man, I was really hoping to get that promotion, or I was really hoping to become a partner. Or I was hoping to advance and become a supervisor, where I work. But I didn’t get it.” Why?
-
Maybe part of the reason is because you didn’t advance yourself, maybe you didn’t Invest In Yourself. That’s right, so the next time someone offers you education, training, or some type of schooling, and you’re balking at the cost. You say “Well I don’t know, seems like an awful lot.” The Investment is in You, the Investment is in You. So the question I will leave you with today, as we go forward is, Investing in Yourself, are you worth it? Answer for yourself.
-
I also wanted to take a moment to not only thank you for joining us for Morning Mindset, for being out there everyday, I hope you’re enjoying it. But I wanted to make sure everyone out there knew or knows, that if you would like to avail yourself to any of the written works of myself, Paul Markel, you can go to Amazon.com, and pretty much every book I have available at Amazon.com is available as a paperback or a Kindle version, I know a lot of you guys are Kindle readers. So just put in my name. P-a-u-l Markel, M-a-r-k-e-l, and read and educate yourself to your heart’s delight. We’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
-
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
On this episode of Morning Mindset, Professor Paul talks about the importance of engaging in Voluntary Hardship or Voluntary Discomfort. Another person who understood the importance of Voluntary Hardship was General George Patton, who actually has an interesting quote on the matter. You may hear the term “Voluntary Hardship” and think, what is that about? That sounds like no fun, and you’d be right. But it’s necessary.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to a brand new episode of Morning Mindset. Thank you for joining me, I am your host Paul Markel, and today we’re going to continue on talking about growth, personal growth, growth in our relationship, growth in our business careers, growth in our personal endeavors. We’re going to explore the concept of Voluntary Hardship. Ooooh, Voluntary Hardship, “You already lost me Paul, I don’t want to do things that are hard, I don’t want to do things that are uncomfortable”, laughs sit back, drink your coffee, we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do it together.
-
Alright, humping makes you hard, and before you giggle, or after you’re done giggling, when I was in the United States Marine Corps, that is what we referred to our forced marches as. We referred to them as humps, as humping, and what a forced march is is essentially you take all of your gear, all of your military, fighting war gear. You take your pack and your flak jacket and your helmet, and your designated weapon system, whatever that happens to be, and you put it all on your body, and you march. You march, for a long time, you just keep marching, and when you’re a young Private in the Marine Corps, you think to yourself “This is stupid, we have trucks, we have helicopters, we have amtraks, we have all these things that can be used to take us from point a to point b. Why do we have to put all this stuff on our backs, and walk? Why are we humping?” and this is not a leisurely pace, this is a very vigorous pace you’re going at.
-
The reason is, well in the Army they call these Ruck Marches or Force Marches, and the reason they have you Hump in the Marine Corps, in the Marine Corps Infantry, is not so much that they don’t have trucks, or they anticipate the helicopters not being able to fly or the amtraks not having fuel. It’s because they need to make you hard. Humping makes you hard, humping forces you to go beyond, far beyond what you ever thought that you could do in your life. Let’s face it, most people when they do some form of exercise, well what do they do, how do they do exercise?
-
They exercise until their body starts feeling tired, and the moment their body starts feeling tired, they stop. Because they say “Well my body is giving me the signals, is giving me the queues that I am now uncomfortable, and once I reach a state of discomfort, I need to stop.” Recently I was reading a book about General Patton, and I have a quote here from Patton regarding physical fitness and readiness. I want you guys to listen up while I share this quote, and this quote goes all the way back to the early 1940’s, when General Patton was actually preparing the army to go overseas and fight World War 2.
-
This is what Patton said, he said; “You have to drive the body to the last inch of energy, then go on. You gain nothing by just going up to where your body says you’re tired and exhausted, your body will build and grow only to fix the demands, that the mind makes upon the lazy body. If you only exercise until you get tired, the body will stop a bit shorter every time. You have to go to the point of exhaustion, and go on.” That was from General George Patton, and according to George Patton’s aids, when he was in his mid-50’s he would still get up every morning and run at least a mile before beginning his day.
-
Well what does that mean to us? What does that mean to you or I in this modern age? You say “Well that’s great and all Paul, that’s great for Marines, it’s great for soldiers and so forth, but I’m not a soldier, I’m not a Marine. I’m just a person.” Okay, fantastic. What do you want to do with your life? Do you want to grow and advance in your career, whatever that career happens to be. You’re like “Yes, of course I go Paul. Of course I want to grow and advance, that’s why I’m here, that’s what we do.”
-
Alright, how many times, in your effort to grow and achieve and move forward, have you reached an area where it became uncomfortable, where you reached a state of discomfort, and you realized you were uncomfortable, or maybe you didn’t even realize it, but you instinctively stopped? Or you stopped pushing, or you stopped trying, or you stopped trying to advance because well, the situation became uncomfortable, and so you quit. Why? Because that’s how you’ve been conditioned, in the United States of America, in our modern world, it’s almost as if discomfort is a crime, or being uncomfortable is a sin. Anyone who is uncomfortable immediately feels like they’re being wronged. Look at the snowflake, millennial crowd. Everything in their lives is insured to make sure they are never uncomfortable. Not only physically, but psychologically. It’s this whole “I’m Offended” thing, what is Being Offended?
-
Well it’s being psychologically uncomfortable, and the moment they feel psychologically uncomfortable, they call Training Timeout, they run for a safe space, someone needs to fix things because I should never be uncomfortable. Is that how we grow, physically and mentally? No. The body will only do what the mind commands it to do. The body will always tell you, “You know what, let’s sit down. Let’s go lay down on the couch”, the body will tell you “Hey, I’d rather take a nap than go to the gym”, and if you listen to the body, then you’ll go take that nap. But the mind is supposed to be in control. How do you push yourself beyond discomfort? How do you truly engage in Voluntary Hardship? Most people will never push themselves past the point where they get tired, or uncomfortable. Because why should they?
-
You’ve probably been taught, if you’re less than 30 years old you’ve been taught your entire life, that everything in the world is supposed to be designed to make sure that you are constantly comfortable. One way that you can engage in Voluntary Hardship, or Voluntary discomfort, is to engage in strength training. When I say strength training I mean barbell training and I mean lifting up heavy things. The whole core concept of the starting strength program, is to force yourself to engage in Voluntary discomfort or hardship.
-
Now if you’ve got a good coach, that coach will do something called programing. That coach will say “Alright, I want you to lift this much weight, this many times.” and they’ll show you how to do it, they’ll help you with your form and so forth. Now, you may get to the point where you say “This is too heavy, I can’t do this”, but your coach, if you have a good coach will say “No, I know that your body can do it, but your body doesn’t want to. Your body wants to be comfortable, your body wants to go take a nap.” This is the time that you have to use you mind, and your mind has to command your body to do it.
-
I know body, you want to go sit down and watch TV, but the mind is telling you we’re going to push this weight, for one more rep. We’re going to do this one more time, two more times. Now that I’ve done it once more, I can do it one more time after that, and yes, is there this thing called the point of exhaustion? Yes. Do you work your muscles to the point of exhaustion, is that possible? Yes it is. But most people don’t work themselves to actual, genuine exhaustion. They work themselves to the point where they become tired and they’re uncomfortable, and the body says “Hey let’s quit” and the mind’s like “Hey I’m down with ya, let’s quit.”
-
When you do something that you have never done before, that you never thought was previously possible, what you instill in your mind, in your spirit, is an understanding and a believe that you know what? I can do more. I have not been doing enough. Most human beings will never meet their true potential. Most people have far more potential than they ever reach, because what do they do? Well going back to yesterday, they offer themselves excuses and they readily accept them, then going into today’s show, when things become uncomfortable, or when they reach a level of discomfort, they stop. Because they feel like “Ya know, I’m not comfortable, and everything in my life up to this point has taught me that I’m always supposed to be comfortable”, nope.
-
That’s not how it works, that’s not how, and that’s not how the human mind grows. Both the human mind and the human body can only grow when they are uncomfortable, when they go through hardship, and they come through on the other side. So today’s lesson is this, if you have not done it, if you don’t understand it and if you have not been part of it, I would challenge you. Look for a way to experience Voluntary discomfort or Voluntary Hardship. As General Patton knew, the only way to grow the body is to push it, force the mind, have the mind force the body, to go further than the body ever thought it could.
-
If you keep listening to your body, your body is going to tell you to go sit on the couch and eat chips. The mind needs to say “No, we are going to the gym and we are going to train”, and believe me, I’ve been there, I’ve done that, I’ve had the devil on my shoulder. The devil has said “You know what? We should take a nap. That would be more fun than going out into the garage, picking up the barbells and push the steel. Because if we do that, it’s going to be not comfortable, but boy that couch sure is comfortable.”
-
Yes, I know it is. But what we do is we go out and train, and we do what we need to do, and we command our bodies to do what needs to be done, and we take control of our lives, by engaging in Voluntary Hardship. Alright that’s everything for today folks, thank you once again for sharing this podcast, thank you for leaving a review of this podcast, thank you for being a part of it, and I’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Professor Paul breaks down the difference between Excuses and Reasons, which are not the same thing, they are not interchangeable terms. Excuses are made by children, and are soft, based off of feelings. Reasons are solid, real and genuine. A great example of this is the “Green Belt Syndrome”, which Professor Paul covers in detail in this episode.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to Morning Mindset, thank you to everyone who is joining us for what is going to be our second week of Morning Mindset podcasts, and we truly appreciate all of you out there who have joined us and become part of this and I hope you enjoy the experience. Now today we’re going to talk about Excuses vs. Reasons. Excuses are Not Reasons, I know you’re like “Come on Paul, I know that. I’m a grown adult”, but do we… America is the Land of Excuses.
Americans live in a land of excuses. Often we are, we find ourselves falling into that trap where we offer ourselves excuses, and we want to deal with that today because, if we’re looking to progress in our careers, if we’re looking to advance & improve our relationships, whether they’re personal relationships, family relationships, business relationships, we need to be honest with ourselves and say “Ya know, am I offering a Reason. A genuine, legitimate reason, or is it just an excuse?”
Now quite often people will, I’ll give you a great example. I didn’t make it to work on time today, because I hit the snooze button and went back to sleep, but now I’m here. Is that a Reason, or is that an Excuse? I wasn’t to work on time today because I had a flat tire, I had to get out, it took me 30 minutes to change it, and now I’m here. Alright, a flat tire is a reason, you hitting the snooze button and going back to sleep is not really a reason. It’s an Excuse.
Do you accept excuses from your children? If you are a grown adult, if you are a mom or a dad, you have children, and your children fail to do their homework. They fail to do their chores, they fail to meet some type of an expectation. What do Children do? Children offer you excuses; I forgot, I was tired, I got distracted, and so on and so forth. That’s fine because they’re children, but how many people carry that into their adult life? You say “Paul, I know those people”, and I want you to not be one of them.
The biggest problem with excuses is not so much the excuses we offer to others, but it’s the excuses that we offer to ourselves. You come to a point in your life where you decide, I want to make a change or I should be making a change. Whether it’s a career change, whether it’s a lifestyle change, maybe you decided “You know what? When I was young, I was hard and fit and I was in good shape and all that”, and 10, 15 years have slipped on by, and now I’m soft. I’m not hard anymore.
Is that something that’s an eventuality? You know, as we age, when you become 30-40-50 years old, do you have to become soft, do you have to be a mushball? Or are you that way, just because you’ve offered yourself excuses? You want to make a change in your life, you want to make an improvement in your life, but it’s so easy to make excuses. That devil gets up on your shoulders and says “Hey, you’re doing okay, you’re doing alright. Why work harder?” Or the devil will say “You know you’ve tried to work harder, you’ve tried to do things better, but no one cared. No one recognized it, you didn’t get appreciated for that, so why should you even try”.
Do you accept excuses from other people? If you are a supervisor, if you’re a boss, if you’re a mom or a dad, will you accept excuses from other people? Maybe you do! Maybe that’s the easy way, that might be the quick fix. Alright, somebody shows up late, you’re a supervisor, one of your workers shows up late. You say “Hey, what’s up?”, “Oh, eh, I-uh, dadada…” and they give you some lame excuse. But you need to get the project going, you need to get the work day started, so you just accept it, say “Alright, just get over there and go to work.” That’s the quick fix, you accepted the excuse, they offered you the excuse, and you moved on. Now you say, “Okay great, that’ll never happen again.”
Will that never happen again? If you allow people to give you those excuses, and you accept those excuses, what are you doing? You’re essentially setting a pattern that it’s going to keep happening over and over again. Now I know it’s hard, I know it’s difficult, I know it requires discipline on your part to stop and say “Nope, let’s go ahead and nip this in the bud, right now.” If you don’t accept excuses from other people, why would you accept excuses from yourself? When it comes time to make a change, when it comes time to make an improvement, when it comes time to get stronger, faster, more educated, what have you. Stop allowing yourself to accept excuses.
Don’t accept excuses from yourself. That’s the worst person that you can accept excuses from. I’ll give you an example. When I was a, when I was a young man, I was a teenager, I was probably 18 years old, and I was feeling my oats and getting out on my own, and I decided that I wanted to further my martial arts education. So I started taking classes, and you know, it was a taekwondo school and you started out real low at white belt, and yellow belt and blue and so forth, and the mid-level, kind of between black belt & white belt, was green belt. I remember one of my instructors telling me, well the main instructor, talking to us about how he would lose people after they get their green belt. I thought “Hmm, that’s kind of weird. Because here I am, thinking “Wow, those guys who have black belts, those guys really are dedicated.” Ya know, they’re people I would look up to and I want to hit all those steps, ya know, get all the way up there.
But the way he explained it is, people start out, knowing nothing. You start out as a blank slate, you’re a white belt, you nothing about nothing [anything], you close your mouth & pay attention, you start to learn. Eventually, you get pretty good at it. You get way better at the martial art, than you ever thought you could be, and you get to this point where you’re a green belt, which is kind of about 9 months to a year, maybe a year and a half into the study, and you earn your green belt. Now you’re in a position where you say to yourself, “Wow, I know more now, than I ever thought I would know. I can kick and punch and jump and do things better than I ever thought I could.”
But it doesn’t get easier from there, it actually starts to get harder. The tests and the forms and the, ya know different maneuvers they ask you to execute, they’re not easy like they were in the white belt & yellow belt days. Now they become harder and harder, and so what many green belts would do, as it got harder they’d say “You know what? I’m already way better, way more skilled, than I ever thought I was gonna be. So I’m gonna Quit”, or “I don’t need to put myself through anymore of this hardship, any more of this difficult stuff, because I’m already really good, so I don’t need to learn anymore” or “What more is there for me to learn?” and they drop out.
They don’t progress and as I’ve gone throughout my life, I’ve seen that in different fields of endeavor, whether it was with firearms or whether it was in physical training or whatever. People got better than they ever thought they were gonna be because they were a beginner, and then it gets really hard or incrementally harder, so the little devil gets up on their shoulder and says “You know what? You’re already pretty good. Why are you torturing yourself, why are you trying to work harder, why are you making things more difficult? Wouldn’t it be easier just to rest where I am?” and that’s what excuses do, excuses say “Hey, I’m pretty good where I’m at right now. I mean I’m not starving to death, I’ve got a house and I’ve got something to drive back & forth to work, or “I’m actually farther ahead now than I ever thought I was gonna be, so I’m pretty good.”
Now there may be a Reason, that you’re not advancing, there may be a reason why you haven’t reached the next level. But Reasons are reasonable and genuine and true answers, Excuses are soft, and those are the things we offer ourselves. So the next time you are confronted by a situation where you need to make a choice, you need to ask yourself, am I allowing myself to accept excuses, or are these genuine reasons? That’s all part of the grow thing and, quite frankly folks, you know it, I know it, we all know it. If you’re a mom or a dad, you don’t accept excuses from your kids, or at least you shouldn’t. If you don’t accept excuses from your kids, you shouldn’t be making them for yourself either.
Excuses and Reasons are not the same thing, they’re not interchangeable. Alright thank you very much for joining us for today’s Morning Mindset, and I look forward to talking to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Education can be physical or intellectual, Information can be intellectual and illustrative, Experiences can be both Good and Bad, and we learn from both. This podcast is a Think On! Production.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome back to Morning Mindset, thanks for giving me this opportunity to speak with you this morning, or this afternoon or this evening. Whenever you happen to be listening to this. I probably should have addressed this at the beginning, you don’t have to listen to Morning Mindset in the Morning. I know, you’re an American, you’re a free man or free woman. You can listen to this show any time you would like to. There ya go, I am your host Paul Markel and let’s dive into it.
Today we’re gonna talk about Education, Information and Experience. Hmm, and you say “Well Paul, aren’t all those things kind of the same?” Well they are, in a way. What it comes to Mindset, we talked about this in the very beginning of this podcast, we talked about our goals and Mindset and how we’re going to use our mindset in a positive and productive way. Whether it’s in our family relationship, our business relationship, or personal endeavors.
So step #1 is we have to establish the mindset, why is it that we’re going to do what we do? Then we should seek out Education, Information and Experience. Now Education can be both physical and intellectual, if you go back to you know, junior high or elementary school time. Do you remember when you entered high school as a freshman and you had to go to P.E.? What is P.E.? P.E. stands for Physical Education, right? Obviously education, a lot of people when you hear the word education you think of intellectual endeavors. There are books, and teachers, and tests and so forth and that’s part of your education.
But physical education can be just as productive and just as intellectual education. Now information, when you talk about, well you’re like “What do you mean ‘seeking out information’?” Obviously if I’m going to be educated, I’m going to be looking for information. Information is generally intellectual and illustrative. For instance, you purchase DVDs online and you watch the DVDs so that you can get some information, you listen to a podcast so you can get some information, and it may be part of your educational process.
The reason I felt it was so important to bring this up, you’re like “Well Paul, we’ve all gone to elementary school, we all went to junior high and high school and here we are. I’m driving around listening to you, I’m sitting, drinking my coffee listening to you and I understand that.” Well unfortunately a lot of folks, when they leave their primary education, whether they went just through high school, or whether they went to college and got a bachelor’s degree, or an associate’s degree or whatever, they stop thinking about education.
The truth of the matter is, you should be a Student for Life, you should continuously be seeking out Education, Information and Experience, regardless of how old you are. I don’t care if you’re 40, 50, 60 or what have you, if you’re still sucking in oxygen and staying here on the planet Earth, you owe it to yourself to constantly seek out new, educational experiences, and that really should be your goal. When you sit down, when you have the time, for instance like right now, when you’re drinking your coffee or driving to work or what have you, think about it.
Ask yourself, when is the last time that you sought out new information? Now many of us, we get very involved in our lives and our careers and our families and so forth, and we just keep using the same education, the same information, the same things that we have for years and years and years. We don’t seek out new information. Now anyone who’s a professional, if you are a professional such as a physician or a nurse or a firefighter, or maybe you’re an attorney or what have you, people who are in traditional professions are constantly seeking out education, well because many of them have to.
Many occupations now have requirements, for education. They have requirements for their staff to continuously up their training and so forth. Think about it like this, if you had to go have heart surgery tomorrow, who would you want operating on you, who would you want to be the person cutting you open? The guy who’s last training and education was in 1978 when he became a doctor, or the guy who went to an open-heart surgery seminar last month, or three months ago or what have you, who continually upgrades his education?
You’d probably want the guy with the most recent education, right? Well because what do we know? We don’t conduct heart surgery in the United States of America today like we did in 1978 or ‘82 or ‘91. There have been advances, and unfortunately many people will learn what they learned, wherever it was. Junior high, high school, or even college. They learn that, then they stop. They stop learning and they figure, that’s good enough.
Now I said Education, Information and I said Experience, and I really haven’t really talked about Experience yet. Experiences can be obviously both good and bad, but experience leads us to putting education into application. Oooh, I know, big words right? But I want you guys to go out there and I want you to seek new experiences. This is something that, unfortunately, you know as you grow older, and you get more and more adult responsibilities, often people won’t take the time to seek out new experiences, and I want you to do that in your life. I want you to take that Mindset that we’ve been cultivating here and I want you to continuously seek out new information.
When was the last time that you did something new, that you had never done before? When was the last time you sought out a new experience, and it could be something simple, as taking up a new hobby. Let’s say you always thought about golfing or playing tennis, or knitting or crocheting or I don’t know. Whatever it is you’re into. You may have thought about that, but when have you taken the step to actually learn something new, to gain new experience?
All these things help you to be a more well-rounded individual, a more well-rounded person. So my challenge to you today, is to take a moment and to think about that. Think about when is the last time you sought out new information? Not just reinforce the stuff you already know, but genuinely sought out new Education and new Experiences. Get out there, live your life, grab yourself a brand new Experience.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to me today. I truly appreciate it and I would love it if you would share this podcast with somebody else in your life. You know that there’s probably one person in your life who could probably benefit from this, and if you would leave us a review on iTunes, or wherever it is you happen to be listening to it, I would appreciate that as well. Ladies & Gentlemen, I will talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Anger is a motivator, not an overall strategy for dealing with problems. Allow angry to inspire you to action: Examples: Felonious Assault - Righteous Anger Motivator / Application of Tools and Techniques is the Strategy. Being Told that I Cannot or am Incapable of Doing Something - Anger at Insult, Strategy: Prove said person wrong by doing the best job I can. This podcast is a Think On! Production.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Alright, welcome back to Morning Mindset. I’m your host Paul Markel and thank you once again for joining me. Stand by for discussion of Mindset and all things that wrap around it, and let’s talk about Anger and whether or not it is a strategy. Anger is Not a Strategy, but I’m gonna tell you why. Anger is a Motivator. Now many, many moons ago, I was a young child and I went to Sunday School, and in Sunday School we obviously learned about the Old Testament and the New, and one of the stories we learned about in Sunday School was when Jesus went into the temple and her overturned the tables of the money changers[1], and he drove the money changers out of the temple.
Many of you had a similar upbringing, you may have gone to Sunday School or you may have gone to Church and you remember seeing paintings of Jesus driving the money changers out of the temple, right?[2] When you’re a kid you hear these stories, and you acknowledge them and you appreciate them and you move on with your life, but often when you’re a child you don’t think “Well, why was that story told? Why was that story included in the new testament? What is the purpose of that story in my life?” Many years later, as an adult I started examining that situation, and you say “Well why would there be an example of Jesus Christ losing his temper or becoming angry?” I mean he didn’t drive, he fashioned a scourge out of cords and he drove the money changers out of his father’s house, because they had turned it into a den of vipers.
Well he didn’t drive them out of the temple with a scourge because he wasn’t angry, he was very angry because of that, he was upset over that. Now today in our modern world, it’s easy to fall into this trap of thinking or of believing that Anger is Wrong, and when you get angry, it’s like Yoda says man, “Anger leads to fear, leads to hatred, leads to the dark side.”[3] Because what do we know from Yoda? Everything leads to the dark side. This push in our touchy-feely society, that if you ever become angry, then you’re wrong and you should do something to fix yourself, and if you become angry or lose your temper, you should apologize for that, that’s you doing something wrong.
That’s not really the case, the fact of the matter is sometimes anger is a valuable emotion, and I believe that story about the money changers was included in the new testament of the Bible, was to give an example to modern Christians, and to let them know “You know what, it’s okay, sometimes, to be angry.” Anger you know, it’s an emotional response, it’s an emotion, but it’s supposed to be a motivator, but not a strategy. Several years ago, a good friend of mine was in a business deal with somebody, and he thought everything was gonna go really well, and he was looking forward to this new business venture, and then after a couple months things kind of fell apart and his business partner did some things, said some things that upset him.
That made him angry, and he was really P.O.’d, he was really angry about that, and I talked to him on the phone for a long time, and he was telling me what he was going to do. His strategy though seemed to be based a lot on, you know, being angry. He was angry and he was gonna do this and he was gonna do this and this is how he was gonna go forward. I listened to him because I’m a friend and that’s what friends do, and then later on, you know after we weren’t on the phone anymore, I just sent him a text message. I said “Remember, anger is not a strategy,” and said “Yeah okay, I get you, see what you’re saying there.”
But let me give you an example, okay, of how anger is not supposed to be a strategy, but it is a motivator. If you are in a situation where, let’s say a thug, a criminal, a bad person, a neerdowell, attempts to engage in a felonious assault on you. They’re assaulting you with a weapon, or their fists, threatening your life with a gun or a knife or what have you. You should be angry, if someone attempts to engage in a felonious assault against you, you should be angry.
Anger is the motivator, you’re like “This person has no right to threaten me with a weapon. This person has no right to attack me. I am not angry, but how am I gonna deal with that?” Well am I going to deal with that through simply being angry? Is anger gonna lead me to the other side, to victory, to survival or what have you? Well no, actually it’s not. What’s going to lead me to the other side, what’s going to lead me to not being a beaten or bruised or dead victim, what’s going to lead me to the other side of being the victor in this situation, is the proper application of tools and techniques.
That’s my strategy, my strategy isn’t just to be angry. Someone attacks me, and my strategy is “I’m really angry, and because I’m angry…” you say “Well, doesn’t anger make you strong Paul? Doesn’t anger make you-” Well erm, eeeh, that’s not really the point. The point is, the Motivator was anger. Now I know, that was kind of a really serious example there, and you’re like “Well what about other things in life?” Alright I got one for you. I really, don’t like to be told that I can not or am incapable of doing something.
Laugh When people tell me, that I can’t, and that I can’t, I don’t mean “I’m not allowed”, I’m not using the word “Cannot” as allowed. When people say “Well, you can’t do that” or they belittle you to the point where they say “You’re a nice person, but you’re not capable of doing that. You’re not capable of performing.” If someone tells me, that I can’t, that they believe I am incapable of doing that. That generally angers me, I kind of feel insulted by that. Any time someone tells me, that I can’t do it, my knee-jerk response is to set out to prove that person wrong.
Now just because I feel kind of angry or insulted, that’s not my strategy. My strategy to prove them wrong is not to continuously be angry or insulted, my strategy to prove that person wrong is by going forward and doing the absolute best job that I possibly can, and succeeding in whatever endeavor it is that I couldn’t do. So anger in that case, was a motivator, like “Who are you to tell me I can’t do that? Who are you to tell me that I’m not good enough? I’ll show you!” But the strategy that I employed that yes I could do it, is not just to be angry all the time. That’s not a strategy. Now anger is not a sin, it is not wrong to be angry.
Regardless of what Yoda says about “Anger leads to hate, hate leads to the dark side” and so forth, the fact is, sometimes Anger is a motivator. Sometimes it’s a very, very justifiable motivator, but it’s not a strategy, alright? We need to understand that, there are things that go on in our world, you may see the news.
You read it on our phone or your laptop or your tablet or whatever, and you see things in the world that anger you. Okay, we acknowledge that. But in order to make things better, in order to correct the situation, in order to solidify our own position, we can’t just be angry. Anger is a motivator, alright? Anger is not a strategy, so don’t base your strategy on being angry. Laughs Your strategy has to be something productive and proactive.
Alright folks, I hope you appreciated that. I appreciated the opportunity to speak these words deep into your earholes, and if you enjoyed them, please leave us a review on iTunes or wherever this happens to be that you’re listening. Your favorite podcast app, and also do me a favor, and do them a favor too. If you know someone in your life who you know could benefit from Morning Mindset, take the time to share it with them. Alright guys, I appreciate it and I’ll talk to you soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
We examine the value of coaches and mentors. No Score Soccer / Everyone Gets a Trophy has ruined many people in the search for Mentors. Coaches tell don’t tell you what you want to hear, they tell you what you need to hear. Mentors are examples for us to emulate and set the standards for us to follow. We challenge every listener to seek out a coach and mentor. This podcast is a Think On! Production.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your Mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Welcome back to Morning Mindset, I am your host Paul Markel, and get ready for your daily dose of positivity. Yes, we’re going to be Productive today, we’re going to use our Mindset in a positive and productive manner, and today we’re going to talk about a subject that is near and dear to my heart. Because I have both, had these people in my life, and I have been one of these people, and I’m gonna talk about coaches and mentors.
Now returning back to something we discussed previously, the current situation in our culture, the “no score soccer” and everyone gets a trophy, and when everyone gets a trophy, and when we don’t keep score, what we’ve done is we’ve actually ruined the ability or ruined the thought process in our young people, that makes them or gives them the desire to seek out coaches and mentors. Think about it, if you’re entire life you’ve been told my your mommy and daddy, and your teachers and all the adults you encountered, that it’s okay. It didn’t matter that you didn’t really put forth effort, that you didn’t run fast, that you didn’t score, that you didn’t try. But you were there, you showed up. You arrived and you took in, you sucked up some good oxygen, so you get a trophy, you get a ribbon.
And when more emphasis is put on your feelings than on results, why should you seek out a coach? Do young people today even understand the concept of a mentor? I don’t know. Think about it for a second. A coach is someone who tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear, think about that. Coaches, when you show up a coach doesn’t say “Ah man, you’re great! You’re the best-ist ever! Just keep doing what you do, I don’t have any critiques for you at all.” Now you may be a person who is naturally gifted, but are you perfect, and I’m guessing probably not. A good coach, even when they find someone who’s naturally gifted, will bring out even more and that’s what a coach does. A coach sees you, he sees your current abilities, he sees what you can do, what you can’t do, and they reach down and they help you get more out of yourself than you thought you had in you.
That’s what a good coach does. But if you already think you’re perfect, if you already arrive at the game, that the only thing that matters is “how you feel”, and whether or not someone hurts your feelings, and you’re going to get a trophy or ribbon anyway because you already showed up, then why do you need to listen to a coach? Why do you need to take the advice of a coach when you already feel really good about yourself? So when we explore that, and I’ve been a coach, I’ve been for a lot of years. I’ve coached adults, I’ve coached young people, and it’s a very gratifying experience to be a coach. I’ve been extremely fortunate in my life to have a lot of really to quality coaches, instructors, mentors in my life.
Now let’s talk about mentors for a second. If you say the word “coach”, most people understand, or if you say instructor or teacher, most people understand. But what about genuine mentors? Now a mentor and a coach can be the same thing, those guys can be the same people or those gals can be the same people, but they’re not necessarily the same people. For instance, I have a few individuals in my life that I consider to me my mentors. Now I wouldn’t really refer to them as my coaches or my teachers, but they’re my mentors because they have achieved greatness in the same field that I am involved in.
Whatever it is you happen to be doing in your life, whatever it is you’re interested in. Whether it’s the martial arts or whether it’s business or whether, you name it. There should be people, in your field of endeavor, in your field of interest, that you look up to. People that, you don’t just look up to them, the difference between a mentor and a Idol. You can have Idols, let’s say you’re a young entrepreneur and you’re in business, and you look up to Tony Robbins, just to pull a name out of a hat, as your business Idol. You say “Man, I really wish I could be like Tony Robbins one day.”
But is Tony Robbins actually your mentor? Probably not, because a mentor is somebody that you can actually learn from and communicate with. Now you may be able to go to a Tony Robbins seminar and you may be able to ask Tony Robbins specific questions, and you may be fortunate enough to get answers, but most of the time you don’t. A lot of idols, people you look up to, are not really mentors. I’ve had several mentors in my life, people who not only could I communicate with, ask them questions, but they would ask questions back to me. Yeah you’re like “A mentor is like your idol, they’re like the person you seek to be like.”
But a mentor, like a coach, is somebody who seeks to get out of you more than you know is even there, and it’s not necessarily a formal relationship. Sometimes, there are a lot of people now, who I looked up to when I was younger, I met them, we developed a mentor relationship, and now we’re actually friends. But a mentor is someone who will ask you, I’ll give you a great example. I wrote my first book, I wrote my first book back in 1997, and I sent a copy of it to my mentor, and before I did that I actually got on the phone with him. His name was Jack McGeorge, and I told him what I was doing.
I told him “I’m writing this book about executive protection and this is what it’s called and so forth, and Jack said to me “Why should anyone read your book?” and I was like wow, that’s kind of a hard thing to say, ya know? But he was being serious, he wanted me to think about it, and he said “Why should anyone read your book?”, and so I stepped back for a second and I said “Well, because-” and I have him the reasons I thought and he said “Okay, that sounds good. Send me the book.” and I sent it to him and he wrote a foreword, a review to it, a jacket review of the book, and that’s what a mentor does. A mentor doesn’t just agree with you because it would make you feel good, a legitimate, genuine mentor is not somebody that’s just gonna say “Oh, that’s a great idea” even though they don’t think it is.
A mentor, a successful mentor, is going to be somebody that when you do something dumb, or you do something that doesn’t make any sense, they’re gonna call you on it, like a coach. How many of your guys played football? Football in junior high, high school, can be a very beneficial, not just from a physical standpoint but from a psychological standpoint, a very beneficial activity. Because, just because you go out there and run around, doesn’t mean you ran around in the right way, and if you, let’s say you are a running back or what have you. If you’re supposed to run downfield and catch the ball, the quarterback tells you to run X pattern and you run Y Pattern and go the wrong way, the coach isn’t gonna say “Ah that was a great job, just try a little harder next time.”
They’re going to point out your mistake to you, and let you know that in the future, you need to correct yourself. A coach doesn’t say “Hey, good job running down the field” when you ran the wrong way and didn’t catch the ball. Unfortunately, a lot of people today expect that they can run down the field, not catch the ball, and the coach is gonna tell them “Great job! You’re wonderful!” You’re not, you don’t learn anything from that experience. My mentors, you know the people that I respect the most as my mentors, are people that challenged me. People that didn’t just accept what I said as “a great idea”, they weren’t my cheerleaders. Your mentors are not supposed to be your cheerleaders, now they can be. Sometimes a mentor can build you up, lift you up and say “You know what, I never thought about that before. What you did, what you said, what you wrote or what have you, made me think, and I appreciate that.”
And really, there’s not much higher praise that you can get in life, than to have someone that you look up to and respect, and respect because they’re honest, not just because they’re kissing your butt. There’s a lot of people in the world who will kiss your butt because they think you can give them something, but when you have a mentor or a coach, who legitimately gives you praise, that’s worth a lot. And that’s hard to come by, and that’s why seeking out coaches and mentors is so important for your professional and personal development.
So ladies and gentlemen, that’s my goal that I’m going to give you today. That is your assignment. Wherever you are in your career or your personal endeavors, I want you to, if you haven’t done it already, I want you to seek out legitimate coaches and mentors and remember, a coach and a mentor, these aren’t people who are just going to tell you you’re wonderful because they wanna spare your feelings, a coach or a mentor is not someone who is not going to tell you what you want to hear, but they’re going to tell you what you need to hear.
Alright kids, that’s it for Morning Mindset today, I truly appreciate you stopping by to share some time with me. Please do us a favor, and leave us a review on iTunes or whatever podcast application you happen to be listening to right now, and if you know anyone in your life that you think could benefit from Morning Mindset, please feel free to share this, and we’ll talk to you again, real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.
Welcome to the Morning Mindset Podcast, a brand new digital audio product. Our host, Paul G. Markel will lead us through a brief description of Mindset and how it affects the choices we make and the actions we take.
Mr. Markel offers some background as to the development of the Morning Mindset show as well as his personal background. What do we have in store for you for future episodes? Listen louder, we have a hold list of topics ready to go. This podcast is a Think On! Production.
Episode Transcription [INTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your Mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.
Professor Paul
Hello and welcome to a brand new show, a brand new segment, a brand new Product. This is a new podcast, we’re gonna call it Morning Mindset, I am your host Paul Markel, and uh, I’ve been doing this for quite a while now. Not Morning Mindset, but I’ve been doing Radio Hosting and Podcasting and broadcasting and so forth, but this is a brand new show and it’s specifically designed to be a quick, easily digestible product.
This is something you should be able to listen to while you sip your morning coffee, as you take your morning commute, as you begin your day each and every day. Little bit of background, the Morning Mindset concept started, at least with us, myself and Jarrad my producer, we started this about 3-4 years ago. We were doing Morning Mindset with Facebook Live & YouTube, and I decided that, this avenue, the on-demand podcast, was probably the best way to deliver the content easily & most readily to the greatest number of people and the largest audience. So, there ya go.
Now the Time-frame on these, we’ve been doing podcasts and normally our shows go between 42, 45, sometimes 50 minutes long, but this is gonna be short. Each and every podcast for Morning Mindset is going to be between 10 and 15 minutes, as a matter of fact I do have my stopwatch, yes. I opened up the app. Laugh The stopwatch app on my phone and I’m watching the time. So, uh, I’ve been told that I have the ‘ability to speak at length’, shall we say, and I’m gonna try and keep these quick and easy to digest.
So, what is Morning Mindset? Well #1, if you’ve never heard my voice before, congratulations and welcome. My name is Paul Markel and I have been a United States Marine, a Police Officer, a Professional Bodyguard. I’ve been the author, well I am the author of numerous books, I’m the father of three successful adult children, I’m the host of Student of the Gun Radio & Television, and I’ve been writing professionally for about 25+ years now. Now, the Mindset concept, we talk about Mindset all the time.
When you hear, people bandy about things, when they’re talking about business or they’re talking about education or they’re talking about fitness or they’re talking about strength training or sports or what have you. They talk about Mindset, and they throw that out there, and it’s almost as if they use the term ‘Mindset’ just to try and reinforce their point. But what is Mindset, what does it mean? It’s not just a word that we throw out, just to convince people to listen to our show or convince people to take our advice. Mindset is that thing that determines how you view the world, and the actions that you take or the actions that you do not take.
For instance; you get in your car, you put the key in the ignition, you will either put on your seatbelt, or you won’t. No one is in the car with you, no one is putting a gun to your head, telling you you have to, and you know you say ‘Even if it is the law, ya know, it’s the law, you have to do it’. But what makes you put it on? Well, it’s either your education, your experience, or it’s the fact that you are afraid of getting a ticket. Now if you’re afraid of getting a ticket, that is still Mindset. Or maybe you say, ‘You know what? I’m an adult, I’ll do whatever I feel like doing, I don’t care, I’m not gonna put it on’.
Either way, your Mindset is going to determine whether or not you put that seatbelt on or whether you don’t. When it comes to fitness or training or strength training or what have you, Mindset it pretty simple. You, as an adult, you’re going to decide ‘Well, I know that I should go to the gym and train today, i know that I should, I know that it’s on my schedule.’ But other things in life get in the ay, I get busy, I get tired, I get annoyed, I just wanna go home, so on and so forth.
So, do you take the time to go to the gym and train? If you do, or don’t, regardless of those two, that is a choice based upon your Mindset. Now what I’m hoping to do, through the next weeks and months and so forth, is help you to make good decisions, help you to use your Mindset in a positive fashion, and we’re going to talk about things such as Self-Assessment, Coaches vs. Mentors, Anger is Not a Strategy, Excuses are Not Reasons. We’re going to talk about the difference between Education, Intelligence, and Information. Setting goals, rebuilding bridges, do you desire or do you deserve, those are just some of the pages, and I was looking at my future show notes.
So as we progress, and, one of the things that I wanted to stress from the very beginning, the reason I decided to do a show called Morning Mindset, is because Mindset is actually the most important thing when it comes to preparedness, readiness, training, whether you’re talking about a business experience, a fitness experience, a personal defense or survival or readiness experience, your Mindset is far more important that the things you buy.
Unfortunately in the United States of America, we try and skip over the hard stuff; the Mindset, the self-discipline, the determination, by doing what? By spending money. Laugh Look at the weight loss and fitness industry. The weight loss and fitness industry survives based upon the people who have a weak Mindset or a weak constitution. They want to purchase their way around discipline. I’m gonna by the aberciser or the thigh master or the perfect push-up, I’m gonna buy a machine or tool, I’m gonna buy a gadget and I’m gonna own that gadget, and that gadget, I’m gonna use that gadget 3 minutes a day, 3 times a week. I’m gonna look like Schwarzenegger or I’m gonna look like Suzanne Somers or what have you.
The fact of the matter is, we know deep within our core, we can’t buy our way around Mindset. We can’t purchase our way around self-discipline and determination. Those are thing we have to genuinely apply ourselves. So when we talk about Mindset, Mindset should be at the top of the pyramid, it is #1. And, I’ve been a police officer, like I said, I’ve been carrying a gun my entire life, and a lot of people will, they will get a concealed carry permit, or they will have a permit to carry it from their state or locality, and they’re legally allowed to do it. But do they do it all the time?
This goes to police officers, sheriff’s deputies, citizens, what have you. They get dressed, they look at the gun on the dresser, in the safe or whatever and they think, “You know, I’m just gonna run out and do Blank. I’m just going to church, I’m just running to the store real quick. I’m not going to a bad neighborhood, I’m not going somewhere I would ‘need’ a gun.” So they don’t take it with them. Well, that is a Mindset choice, and it doesn’t matter how many guns you own in your safe, it doesn’t matter how many, you know, objects you purchase. If you don’t have the Mindset to use them, to carry them, to be ready to use them. Then all the stuff you buy, regardless of how cool and gucci and neat and interesting it is, is really pointless.
So, Mindset is the top of the pyramid, Mindset is the jewel in the crown, and(?) we’re going to spend a good deal of time talking about that. So I hope that you’re as excited as I am, I’m very excited, this is a brand new product for us. Jarrad [*Zach] is in the background, he’s going to be editing and he’s going to be putting everything together, producing it. Zachary, my studio engineer, is going to help me to make sure these go out each and every morning! So that wherever you are on planet Earth, as you’re sipping your morning coffee or you’re doing your morning commute, or you’re prepping for your day, you can pop it in, you can turn it on, you can listen to it, get the Morning Mindset knocked out. Maybe you can start your day in a more positive way.
As I said, I am Paul Markel, if this is your first time listening to the sound of my voice, thank you very much. Congratulations, I hope you enjoy this journey we are about to begin. Tomorrow we’re going to talk about “Self-Assessment”, that’s going to be the topic for the day for Morning Mindset for tomorrow. We hope that you will join us then, and if you enjoy what it is we’re going, please leave a review. Whether it is on iTunes or PocketCaster or Podcast Gallery, or whatever it is you happen to be using to listen to the sound of my voice, please leave a review. Alright ladies & gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us, and we’ll talk to you again real soon.
[OUTRO]
♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫
Alex
Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.