TCMMY: Exchanging The Brass For Gold

Have you ever wondered why we often settle for what's good when we could strive for what's truly great? This week on the all-purpose pod, I share a personal story about choosing healthier options over the convenience of fast food, a decision that transformed my approach to personal goals and aspirations. We'll discuss the power of the "weekly mirror check," a practice that encourages self-evaluation and growth, helping you align with your bigger dreams. Drawing from my experience as a coach, I emphasize the importance of listening to your inner voice and committing to the path of greatness.

Imagine walking through New York's jewelry district, trying to distinguish genuine pieces from convincing imitations. It’s not just about jewelry; it’s a metaphor for life. We explore how authenticity in relationships, personal goals, and self-worth can make a profound difference. I also dive into the parable of the prodigal son, illustrating how purpose-driven actions can le

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:49

Thank you, welcome back to the all-purpose pod for an all-purpose life. Wherever you are and however you're listening today, call me Mr you, the podcast. Thank you again for making us a part of your morning, your day and your week. We're your weekly mirror check before you change the world. Baby, what does that even mean? Nobody's ever asked for it before, but happy to share it. When we say weekly mirror check, what we're talking about is an opportunity for self-evaluation, an opportunity for personal development. I used to be a coach. Many of you guys know this. The history is kind of laid out in all the seasons of the show but I used to be a coach and have a guard and I worked in the realm of personal development and that's what I dealt with Weekly evaluations, business building, personal growth, spiritual growth, things along that line. And what I'm hoping is that this show, especially when we get into some of the teachings, like today, it'll promote some thought. It provokes some thoughts, some new ideas. Perhaps, maybe you'll think of your life a little differently than you did before you started watching the show. So we're excited about being your weekly mirror check before you started watching the show. So we're excited about being your weekly mirror check before you go change the world. For me, that really just tells me that you guys have all the potential, all the ability, all of the giftings and talents to change this world and make it better than what it is. And it's going to happen, despite what you see in news and media. It's going to happen and you guys play a part in that. Don't sit on the sidelines. You play a part, you got a role, you got a weapon. You are a part of this and we're excited about seeing what you're going to do and who you're going to become through it all. But first off, I just want to say thank you to all you guys that have been subscribing to our YouTube channel. It's growing. We're really excited about that. It's growing. We're getting a lot of comments and topic ideas from you guys, but mainly comments and questions about what we're doing, why we're doing it. We even recently posted a quick video about kind of casting a vision for why we do what we do. So for those of you guys that are supporting us or thinking about supporting us, casting a vision will help you out with why you should actually theoretically support us.

Speaker 1: 3:13

So we're just going to talk a little bit today about something that's on my heart in regards to exchanging good for great. It's not recent, but it was actually an episode that I posted a while ago in regards to exchanging good for great, or, in this case, brass for gold. What does that mean? What I believe has happened and this is a great story from my childhood that might help out with some of this but there's definitely a propensity for us to look at gold as being unattainable and choosing brass instead, because it's easy to get our hands on, it doesn't cost us as much and we don't have to go through all of the drama, through the conflict, through the struggle to get to the goal. So, basically, to be clear, so there's no sugarcoating, this passing up gold for brass is taking the easy way out. Now, I know that all of us have dreams. We all have goals, things we want to accomplish, things that are so big dreams are so big that it scares us. Here's my question Are you still on that path? Do you still desire to accomplish that? Are you still in process of doing that? A lot of folks have gotten off of the train. A lot of folks have gotten off of the path and they settled for good instead of great they settled for brass instead of gold. For me, it feels like here's a great example Recently.

Speaker 1: 4:56

Now, if you know me at all, you know that I'm not a big fast food fan. I don't back in the day, that's different. I consume whatever, wherever and however Excuse me, but in these times in recent years I have an aversion to it. I don't want any part of it, I don't want anything to do with it, and whenever I get my hands on it at all is usually a very unique situation. But there was one place here locally. I won't call the name. I get my hands on it at all is usually a very unique situation, but there was one place here locally. I won't call the name. I won't give them free advertising and I don't definitely want to cast a disparaging light on them. They do great work with their food. Their food is made pretty much on order and it's fantastic. It is fast, but it's really, really good. If you ask me privately, I'll tell you the name without hesitation, but here in this forum I'm not saying the name, but my wife and I have enjoyed their food at least twice a month, which is a lot for us, but we enjoy it like that.

Speaker 1: 6:03

Recently, we begin to listen to our bodies. We've been on the road of doing that anyway. We've been listening to our bodies a lot more. Lately, and after we eat this food which I say is great it's incredible. After we leave out of that place on the drive home or whatever, we don't feel very good and it took us several times to figure out that our body was talking to us. We weren't listening. We enjoy what we craved at the moment and we didn't listen to what our bodies were saying to us. We had to add that place to our never going to eat there again list. That's what's happened. So now we're at a place where we have taken off some of the most popular names in fast food Some of you guys still enjoy today. They're off of our lists. We don't eat there anymore under any circumstances, more under any circumstances.

Speaker 1: 7:08

Now, what's the point of all of this? The point is that we have decided to choose great over good, because we talk about health and we talk about all the things that being healthy means for us and for our families, for our business, for our ministry, for our personal life and our marriages. But we choose good over great. Oh, so many times, so often, and that doesn't just apply to fast food. In that scenario I just gave you Even to expose myself a little bit more and share more of my life, which is what I've done since episode one, season one, of the Carmen Mr you, the podcast. I'll do it again.

Speaker 1: 7:47

Certain TV shows. I don't watch a lot of TV, but at night, in the evenings, before I crash, I was known to watch certain TV shows that were just kind of a habit, because I'm developing myself and because I'm making it my goal on a daily basis through a string of solid, consistent disciplines. Now I find myself not excited about or desiring to watch those shows at that time of night anymore, and it doesn't sound like it's a big thing to you, maybe, but what I'm trying to tell you is that, whether it's the TV shows or whether it's the food, when you discipline yourself consistently daily, you're going to find yourself losing the taste for those things that you've wanted so much before, that were part of your vernacular, part of your life, part of your routine. You're going to find yourself not wanting those things anymore, and it doesn't even stop at fast food, it doesn't even stop at TV shows. It could be the music that you're listening to, a lot of people compromise about that. They hear the lyrics and they ignore what they heard because they like the beat. Again, I put myself out here first If you guys want to jump in and be honest about it. Happy to hear your comments, happy to hear your thoughts anywhere where you can find this podcast posted. Love to hear your comments and that you want to be transparent with me. I shared about the fast food, share about the tv shows. Now the music. If you know me at all, which most of you that are listening I think you do if, if you don't, you're learning today.

Speaker 1: 9:26

I was a big fan retain myself as a big fan of 90s hip hop. It was the era where I was in the streets not just listening to the music. I was out there making music in this era, out there trying to get record deals and out here running with some of the big names in 90s R&B and hip-hop music. But specifically the hip-hop part is significant here because if you listen to some of the lyrics now, this doesn't put a spotlight on the 90s only. If you go back to the 60s and the 70s, some of the lyrics are like wow, what are they talking about. You know what they're talking about, they've been talking about it, but we dance to it. It's a dance, it's a disco hit. We dance to it, but lyrically there's some challenges there. Sing with 90s hip hop, love it, I can get with it anytime, anyplace. But when you hear the lyrics, that's challenging. It's challenging to try to nod your head and tap your feet over what they're saying on these songs and I began to lose my taste for that. I was known to be somebody who enjoyed that era. That was where I was from. I was immersed in it and even when the 90s were long gone I was still reminiscent about this.

Speaker 1: 10:52

But you really have to consider everything that you put in your life and put it in the magnifying glass to see whether it's good or whether it's great, because in many cases you're going to have to pick one. If you like the food but it doesn't do good for you, you have to decide if you want good or great. That TV show that you like so much that your family likes to watch, maybe it's not hitting the way it was before. You got to decide if you want good or great, that musical choice is an appetite that maybe nobody else even can tell that you're into it. You're driving in the car by yourself. They can't hear you, they can't see you. Your windows are rolled up, your AC is on and you're playing music that you want to hear and you're singing to it. Maybe the folks at church don't even know what kind of music you actually like. Is it good or is it great?

Speaker 1: 11:49

What stands in a place that you would call comfortable? What's comfortable or comforting to you? Is that good or great? Is it an action? Is it a default that you go through when you're having a hard time, when you're feeling low or depressed? What's your go-to? What's that place you go to for comfort? Is it good or is it great? We have to decide if our comfort is going to, if we're going to allow our comfort to kill us or not, because, in any case I can think of right now, if you're comfortable in it, it's probably not a good place to be, or, at the very least, it's probably a temporary place for you to be at, and it's time for you to get those feet moving and move on. I have heard this so many times in success books and success principles and being around folks that are really successful and have the lifestyle to show it. I have put in the years to be considered successful. Everyone to a man will say the same thing when asked and this is not my philosophy. There's books on this. There's books behind me on this kind of stuff Successful people sacrifice the 80% to get the 20% done.

Speaker 1: 13:15

What's the 80%? What's the thing? Or the things that you are dogging about, that you like and you ain't giving them up? Don't let nobody tell you what to do. That kind of attitude, what's that thing? How important is it? Is it in the 80 percent of things where that are kind of ancillary, they're just menial things that you have to do but they're not important, they're not the primary thing, they're not, they're not the main thing being the main thing? Or are they in the 20 percent when they're so valuable? They're crucial to your growth and development, they're crucial to your relationships, they're crucial to the purpose that you are created and made to walk in? Where does it apply?

Speaker 1: 14:04

If it's just a fun hobby, you got to ask yourself is it worth your time? Is it worth your energy? Yeah, a nice big juicy burger is probably a lot better than some things you can eat At the same time. They may not be the best choice for you. In that moment you got to decide which one is good and which one is great. Good is the epitome of average. It's a good thing, it's fine, it works. Great is another level. Great takes you to a place that's outside of yourself, outside of what you can accomplish. Great takes you to a place where you are proficient, where you're walking in your purpose, where you're profitable. Great is outside of all your efforts and it's the fruit, the momentum that your life has. That's great. So is that fast food good or great? Is that musical choice good or great? Is that musical choice good or great? The TV shows your pastime habits, what you do when you want to wind down. Is that good or is that great?

Speaker 1: 16:03

I really believe that anybody that's ruled by their comfort, you'll fail longer and you'll perish quicker. I really believe that If you rule by your comfort, you'll fail longer and you'll perish quicker. I say fail longer because there's nothing wrong with failing. Failure is the next step to success. If you want to be successful, you have to fail. You have to learn what not to do. You have to go through struggles and trials to build up enough character and integrity to handle successes. On the other side of your struggle you have to. I know folks that are ruled by their comfort so much that they fail longer, and they've been in failure mode for years, excuse me and they're trying to figure out why they're still there Because they exchanged great for good.

Speaker 1: 16:56

There's a story and I want to run this by you guys, and I don't get your opinion. I think it speaks for itself, but it's a passage that we all know, as in the Bible, as the prodigal son, the story of the prodigal son. I'm going to read some aspects of it to you today just to kind of give you a bit of a picture. But it's in Luke, chapter 15, luke 15, 11 to 32. We're not going to read all 22 verses, but I just want you to have that Luke 15, 11 to 32. You know that we, we have our teachings. We're talking about scripture, trying to deal from the word of God, because that's what runs my life and that's the barometer for my life. I definitely want to put that out there, make that clear and plain.

Speaker 1: 17:43

But the parable of the lost son, or the prodigal son, now it goes as such. There was a man who had two sons. The younger one says to his father Father, give me my share of the estate. So he pressured his father. It's not obviously that's not tradition, it's really passed on at the death of the father, but he wanted it before his time and you see that there's some maturity issues here as we move on, that there's some maturity issues here as we move on. But the younger son wanted his share early. So the father, under pressure and duress, divided his property between him and his son. The older son didn't even ask for anything but because of tradition he went ahead and made the division early for both of them. So, even though the older son didn't ask for anything, he got his early as well.

Speaker 1: 18:37

So not long after that, the youngest son got together all that he had set off for a distant country and in that place he squandered his wealth in wild living. If you read the story, you know that he was into a lot of different things. He was hanging out with the ladies of the evening just blowing his money. However, there were casinos. Back in that day he was out there gambling and betting on all along blacks. That's what he was out there doing Right during that time.

Speaker 1: 19:06

After he spent everything that he had, there was a severe famine in that whole country and guess what? Predictably he began to be in need. So he went out and hired himself to a citizen of the country. He was looking for work because he had nothing else. He burned up all of his money, all of his game. He lost it all, and the famine was some hard times. So the citizens of the country hired him to feed his pigs in the field Not the job he had at all at his father's house and he was to the point where he even wanted to eat what the pigs were eating. But no one gave him anything. He worked and he was paid and suddenly he came to his senses and said if I go back to my father's house, the least I can be is a servant in his house. I'd be treated better than I am right now. I wouldn't have to be in the slot with these pigs desiring to eat what these pigs eat.

Speaker 1: 20:08

Well, the short version of the story is that he went home to his father. His father received him with gladness, happy to see him back home, and gave him the same place he had before he left A place of royalty, a place of honor, to be able to be back home with his family and have everything he needed. Of course, you know whatever the father has the children have. So what the father had was obviously a lot of wealth. The son had it as well. He gave all of his wealth away and squandered it all on wild living. The Bible says he came back to a place where he had everything he needed, and I brought that up because in the beginning he's a great example of somebody giving up great for good. Great was him staying in his father's care, learning what his father's doing, understanding the rationale for why he built his life the way that he did, learning about being patient, learning about integrity and honoring his father and not disrespecting him by making him go against tradition, by throwing a tantrum to get your way, but learning how to be mature, learning how to be an adult. That is great. That's not what he chose. He chose good, give me me the quick money, now I can go do what I gotta do. That's good, not great.

Speaker 1: 21:32

There's another story and I won't go into that now. I shared it on a recent podcast. Maybe you can find it somewhere a couple of weeks ago I believe, but there's a story similar to that of two sons and the father was getting ready to pass away. He was old and sickly. He was getting ready to pass away and he offered his son the option of two things A million dollars right now in hand or a penny doubled every day. And most of you guys probably heard the story. It's a very incredible story. I'm not sure what it's titled, but I can help you find it if you reach out to me offline. I hope you find out where it's located if you can't find it yourself. But the oldest son picked the $1 million up front. Obviously the youngest son, after thinking about it for a while, he picked the penny doubled every day. Long story short, the oldest son ended up going broke because he couldn't pay all the people, all the assistance that he needed to be there to manage the $1 million. He couldn't pay them all. He ended up in more debt than the $1 million that he had more than a million dollars in debt and the son who chose a penny doubled every day probably had about three and a half million dollars and growing every day. What's the moral of the story? Or both stories. Choose great, not good. Choose great, not good.

Speaker 1: 22:59

I want to share real quick about what I was telling you guys about with the brass and the gold. It's the actual title for this episode exchanging the brass for gold Back in the day. It's a funny story in a lot of ways. I look at it now and I laugh, even though when I was in it I wasn't actually laughing. But back in the day, back in New York, I used to sell jewelry and oils. I was a merchant or vendor, if you will. A lot of circumstances to go with that. You can find a lot of those in our early episodes of the podcast on Apple podcast Spotify. However, you hear our podcast audio only, of course.

Speaker 1: 23:37

But I was in the jewelry selling business. I didn't have a lot of expertise in that, but I tried to learn from those that were doing it longer than I was. Try to learn what people like. Try to find authentic gold as much as I could Authentic jewelry, for that matter, as much as I could. I had little chests that I would buy to kind of test to see if the metal was pure or not, and you know, if it wasn't then I wouldn't sell it, things of that nature.

Speaker 1: 24:06

Well, in New York there's a jewelry district. Of course you can find it. If you Google it you can find out where the jewelry district is. But in most cases, most of these stores they make millions of dollars a year. I don't know how much they make, I'm sure it's a lot. They make millions of dollars selling this jewelry to out-of-town guests, tourists, some celebrities who are doing maybe photo shoots or movies and TV shows, things of that nature. So the jewelry district in New York is very, very popular, of that nature. So the jewelry district in New York is very, very popular.

Speaker 1: 24:50

But in a lot of cases they sell jewelry that's not the authentic item. That's really important. I don't want you to miss that. They sell jewelry that's not authentic but they make millions of dollars selling the stuff. Think about that. But then they have the ability to make that much money. Somebody has to be a client, somebody has to buy it for them to make as much money as they do, even though they know that it's not real. Or in some cases, they think it is real. Sometimes the jewelry salesman will lie to them and tell them it's real, when it's not.

Speaker 1: 25:24

If you haven't gotten to the point where they used to even stamp a gold necklace, 24 carat just put a stamp on it. If you have the right tool. It's not hard to do. It doesn't make it 24 carat gold or 10 carat gold, but they do that, even do it with silver. They'll mark it 925 to symbolize that it's sterling silver and it's authentic. Market 925 to symbolize that it's sterling silver and it's authentic. And a lot of times it's not. It's stainless steel with a silver overlay over it and it peels over time. And then you got green marks around your neck wondering what's going on and breaking you out because you're wearing jewelry that's not real.

Speaker 1: 25:58

I was in this life. I've seen this. I was actually a victim of it, if you want to be technical. But I know so many people who looked at the price of the gold and looked at the price of the brass and said you know what? I'll take the brass. It looks just as good and it doesn't cost as much. Let that settle in, because I really want to hang out there for a few more minutes before we close the show out what looks just as good as the real thing, but it doesn't cost as much. You can apply that in so many different places. What looks almost like the real thing but doesn't cost as much. Almost like the real thing but doesn't cost as much For them to get gold and to have the status that comes with it to tell their friends and family I'm wearing a gold herringbone necklace and it costs just about hundreds of dollars.

Speaker 1: 26:57

This is a status that comes with it and back in that day people cared about that kind of stuff a lot. They wore gold like it was going out of style, like it was the last pieces on earth. They wore them like they were out of their minds, which I think they kind of were in some ways. But most people couldn't afford those prices and they were probably mocked up anyways just because of the district that we were in. But they were already costly to start with. So they couldn't afford an authentic gold necklace. I mean a real, genuine, 24-karat gold necklace. If you can find one, that would legitimately that it would cost you a grip and people couldn't afford that. So they settled for either brass or they would settle for what we call a knockoff, an inauthentic version of the real thing, or, as we know it back in those days, gold plate. People would settle for that because it looks the same and it didn't cost me as much. They hurt my wallet as much.

Speaker 1: 28:11

But what you don't have is the real thing, but you're pretending to have it. I'm asking you today, before we close this show out what do you have in your life? What if you acquired in your life that looks like it's the real thing? Excuse me, but it's not. It's a knockoff, it's a counterfeit version of what's real. It could be a friendship. It could be a mindset about money. It could be an alternate life that somebody told you or you convinced yourself that it's not bad. It's not the one that I wanted, it's not the one that I chose. It's not the one that I dreamt about all these years, but it's close, it'll do. It's good enough.

Speaker 1: 29:02

Come on, don't exchange great for good. Don't exchange great for good. Don't exchange gold for brass. Don't exchange steel and silver for silver plate. It's really not worth it. And we do that not just with jewelry. We do it in every area of our life, with our health, like we discussed earlier in the show, what we watch and listen to, what we're comfortable with, what we're good with. Are you good with the gold plate? Are you good with the fake and the inauthentic, or do you want the real?

Speaker 1: 29:42

Some people are married because that was their dream. They didn't even care. The husband was who he said he was or not. They just wanted to be married so they could tell their friends they got a ring. Come on, man, this is real out here. We got to talk about this some more. We'll do another episode on this one. We have to. I'm not even supposed to be in that.

Speaker 1: 30:06

But don't exchange great for good, exchange good for great. Do an upgrade. Wherever you are and however you're listening to. They Call Me Mr U, the podcast. We thank you once again for making us a part of your morning, your day and your week. We'll give you a weekly mirror check before you change the world. Of course, you can find us on YouTube, at youtubecom forward slash at. They call me Mr U. Of course, you can find us on all our social media platforms Facebook, linkedin, instagram, twitter and, of course, did I miss any TikTok? Yeah, I missed one. Thank you again for joining us and making us a part of your morning, your day and your week. We're your weekly mirror check before you change the world. Exchange good for great, exchange that brass. Choose gold instead. Have a great day. We love you. We appreciate you. Enjoy the music. Coach out. I'll see you next time.