Help Yourself!
Crafting Joyful Mornings and Balanced Brews
Can a consistent breakfast routine really simplify your life and help you manage your calories effortlessly? Join us on this flavorful journey as we explore the art of crafting the perfect breakfast sandwich, balance taste with health, and navigate the tricky world of indulgent condiments. We also step into Bryan's Beverage Corner to uncover the joys of a cheater nitro cold brew and the guilt-free pleasures of Coke Zero, all while stressing the importance of moderation. This is a tale of routine and culinary passion that might just change your mornings forever.
Ever wondered why a single Nitro cold brew can keep some people awake until the wee hours? Listen as we share hilarious coffee shop escapades, including a caffeine-induced sleepless night and the endearing frustration of an infrequent Starbucks visitor. Discover the unique charm of the Fainting Goat coffee shop with its Star Wars-themed drinks and learn why a decaf latte topped with chocolate cold foam could be your new favorite treat. These stories weave humor and insight, revealing the quirks of coffee culture and the simple joys of a well-chosen breakfast.
What does Theodore Roosevelt's wisdom have to do with modern stress and personal growth? Reflect on the timeless relevance of his words as we delve into the battle between the inner critic and the man in the arena. We'll examine the value of failure, the stress of contemporary life, and how recalibrating our reactions can lead to better outcomes. Drawing inspiration from Brene Brown's "Daring Greatly," we emphasize the importance of enthusiasm and purpose in work, and the often difficult task of accepting praise. This episode promises a rich blend of humor, practical advice, and deep reflections designed to inspire and entertain.
Can a consistent breakfast routine really simplify your life and help you manage your calories effortlessly? Join us on this flavorful journey as we explore the art of crafting the perfect breakfast sandwich, balance taste with health, and navigate the tricky world of indulgent condiments. We also step into Bryan's Beverage Corner to uncover the joys of a cheater nitro cold brew and the guilt-free pleasures of Coke Zero, all while stressing the importance of moderation. This is a tale of routine and culinary passion that might just change your mornings forever.
Ever wondered why a single Nitro cold brew can keep some people awake until the wee hours? Listen as we share hilarious coffee shop escapades, including a caffeine-induced sleepless night and the endearing frustration of an infrequent Starbucks visitor. Discover the unique charm of the Fainting Goat coffee shop with its Star Wars-themed drinks and learn why a decaf latte topped with chocolate cold foam could be your new favorite treat. These stories weave humor and insight, revealing the quirks of coffee culture and the simple joys of a well-chosen breakfast.
What does Theodore Roosevelt's wisdom have to do with modern stress and personal growth? Reflect on the timeless relevance of his words as we delve into the battle between the inner critic and the man in the arena. We'll examine the value of failure, the stress of contemporary life, and how recalibrating our reactions can lead to better outcomes. Drawing inspiration from Brene Brown's "Daring Greatly," we emphasize the importance of enthusiasm and purpose in work, and the often difficult task of accepting praise. This episode promises a rich blend of humor, practical advice, and deep reflections designed to inspire and entertain.
Welcome to Help Yourself. Food and Philosophy with Brian and Nick. I'm Nick and I'm Brian. People criticize the Roman that had to crucify Jesus, but I think he nailed it. What you eating, brian?
Speaker 3:Gosh. Wow, like that's very divisive.
Speaker 1:Stalin said that dark humor is like food.
Speaker 3:Not everyone gets it okay well what you eating, bro, starting out with with the uh, dark jesus joke that's.
Speaker 1:That's a good way for some people believe Jesus was dark skin.
Speaker 3:All right, Serious, serious podcasting, All right. Uh, what am I eating? Well, this morning I had breakfast, of course, and I have been in such a rut because I've been basically just eating the same thing every morning, which is partially helping me with diet, Kind of like making sure I'm not gaining weight is one of the easy ways is and uh, if you, the audience still remembers uh, Austin, who was on our you know our uh episode quite some time ago talking about fitness, they sit, keeping your you know what you eat the same every day is an easy way to do things without having to like journal your food, Because if you know exactly what you're eating, you eat the same thing every day. Then you don't have the oh gosh, what, how many calories? Is what do I? Do? You just figure it out once and then, you just do that.
Speaker 3:The question is whether or not you can do it every day or not, whether you can like overcome the voice in your head that, basically, is telling you like why? Why are you eating this again? We just had this yesterday. Why don't you eat something else? Or you know, know, do something like that.
Speaker 3:And I'll say that my, my downfall in it is that I like sauces and condiments and things like that, and you don't realize how much sauces and condiments can add, especially if you're you're adding like creamy kind of sauces and things like that. And I've talked pretty extensively about my mayonnaise obsession, so that can play into it as well. So I try to not add anything to it, but a lot of times I do so. Then it sort of throws that out the window a little bit. But this morning I had a breakfast sandwich that was just a like a English muffin, sausage, cheese, egg and I've come up with a very clever way to cook it and make sure that everything gets warm where it's supposed to get warm and everything gets toasty where it's supposed to get toasty and all that stuff. But then I also add usually an extra slice of cheese to it. So um adds a little bit of calories, but there it's. You know, for me a lot of times it's about the process of the cooking of the the sandwich. So I disassemble the whole thing, I toast the English muffin, I take the sausage and the egg and I put that separately, because if you put the egg in the cheese then the cheese is going to melt too much in the heating of the egg and the sausage and I don't want that to be like melty and crusty and hard, so do that. And then I put it all back together, wrap it all in a paper towel and then I heat it like one last final heat so that it comes out like a McDonald, like a McDonald's sandwich or something like that. So so really, really good. Uh, where you can, where you can change it up, is like change different kinds of cheese. So add a slice of pepper Jack if you want, to add a slice of provolone instead of cheddar or something like that, and you get a little bit different flavor from it. So, but I have to limit myself to not go too crazy about all of the add additions, because otherwise I'll take like a 250 calorie sandwich and I'll turn it into like a five or 600 calorie sandwich and that's not good. So so, yeah, uh, not a very exciting breakfast, but I've been trying to do that as much as I can, uh, just to make it easy on me in terms of keeping track of, like, what I've had to eat.
Speaker 3:So, and then my Brian's beverage corner. Uh, I, this this morning. I actually have had two cups of coffee today and I've been doing I know I've been doing my own cheater nitro cold brew, not really nitro, but, um, cold brew that you just buy in the supermarket out of the. You know that's in the bottle and I try not. I usually don't use the concentrated ones that you have to like dilute with water, so I just use the ones you can just pour in and put it in a new cup. So I usually put it in a cup with some ice, and then I have some different kinds of creamers that I use. The one I used today was a Coffee Mate coffee mate duos and it's a. It was it's vanilla and caramel, so it's like a double flavor that they do some kind of magic. I don't know how they put two flavors in there, but not my job. So I had, I've had two cups of coffee, so hopefully I'm not over caffeinated, because the next thing also has caffeine is I'm drinking a Coca-Cola zero, which is again another boring thing I've talked about all the time.
Speaker 3:But recently I have gotten I don't know sort of into drinking a Coke zero two or three times a week. I don't know why. I just I drank one at one point and then I was like, wow, that was really good. And then, like two days later, I'm like I'm going to have another one. And the other thing is is availability, is all the offices that I work in they always have Coke zeros in the fridge. So the availability plus me going oh, that's sort of good is means that now I have a little bit of a habit that I'm trying to make sure I don't again go too overboard. I don't again go too overboard. I don't want to end up drinking two or three coke zeros a day, um, but I'll have one with lunch, yeah, exactly exactly so, um. And then I've got my trusty uh iron flask, f degree, fahrenheit degree thing, full of water, because hydration is important. So so that's where I'm at today, right now. What about you? What are you eating?
Speaker 1:We went to Starbucks. Actually, I've been to Starbucks two days in a row. I want to mention this before I forget, as you know, Brian the day before this recording today, I had a Nitro cold brew.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:And I have had or have stopped taking in caffeine from coffee because I seem to have developed a sensitivity to it Like just more and more. I'm staying up late very easily. So by doing that I've also increased my sensitivity to caffeine. So even though I had that nitro in the morning and had no other coffee or caffeine the rest of that day, I was up until three easily, like oh gosh yawning, not feeling tired, having full mental faculties carrying on conversations and just fully engaged in the wake. So that was rough. I have no.
Speaker 3:I don't think. I have a recollection of the last time I was up till 3 am.
Speaker 1:Well, neither do I, oddly enough.
Speaker 3:That's crazy, though. I wonder why that is. I wonder why, like, do you think that it's like just so, it's just like you've just overloaded your system, or do you think that part of it is that part of it is you stay up. You tend to stay up a little bit late anyway, um, not that late, but you tend to stay up a little bit later. And I say late for me, because I go to bed early.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I'm sure it's a combination of factors and like that plays into it. There's the fact that I've increased my sensitivity to caffeine by coming off of it, so the times I do take it can be kind of rough. As far as today, though, when we went to Starbucks, I got some bacon and cheese bites. Oh nice, those are pretty similar to your breakfast, except the sandwich part. Yes, nice.
Speaker 3:Those are pretty similar to your breakfast, except the sandwich part. Yes, yeah, those are good.
Speaker 1:Take a chance at pronouncing it. I have asked them before like how to pronounce it a couple of times. One barista didn't know, the other one did and told me, but I then forgot.
Speaker 3:So you better be careful though because Go ahead.
Speaker 1:I was just going to say you better be careful though because go ahead.
Speaker 3:I was just gonna say you better be careful because they'll they'll start calling you like the gruyere guy or whatever. Like you'll walk in and be like, hey, what's up? Gruyere, you know, I hope not sorry, I interrupted you. What were you saying?
Speaker 1:you're good. So you know. They put a little sticker on. You know the stuff they hand you after right part of like their process to make sure they don't get stuff mixed up yeah and on there it just says bacon egg bites. That's, that's all it says on the sticker is bacon egg bites, but they've got this fancy word for cheese right a little accent over one of the letters you know on the menu, but that's in bolts, it's just bacon egg bites I know my wife was.
Speaker 3:just she went to she doesn't drink coffee, so she. But she went to starbucks recently because some of her friends were there and she came back and she was complaining a little bit because she's like they just don't have any sympathy for somebody that doesn't show up, like, doesn't go there all the time, like you say something wrong on the menu, and they're like, uh, do you mean a venti or do you mean uh? And you're just like I don't know, I want the medium, like what's the middle one? Like just give me that one, you know. And so she was. She was frustrated because for those of you listening and also you, nick, you know this this likes the system, cause you go there often but they come out and they call the order and they put it down in the little area where you pick your orders up. And well, she didn't know any of that. So she's just like sitting at her table, they didn't call her name, they just put down her sandwich and said cafe order.
Speaker 3:And she didn't know that that was anything, and so she was like oh, is that mine? And she's like, yeah, did you have the cafe order? And she's like I don't know, I got a sandwich, is that cafe Like? She's like I don't go here.
Speaker 1:Like you know, Wow, so like yeah, that Starbucks has maybe a bit of an attitude and maybe they don't often get food orders.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, on that note, I got to have you come out to near where I am because there's a cool coffee shop out here called the Fainting Goat and they have almost I would say almost all but a lot. If you look up their menu, a lot of their drinks are Star Wars themed and they have like a huge Star Wars like theme to the whole thing, like they have lots of. So like one of the one that I get is a car, it's called carbonite and it's a iced coffee with um cold foam on top of it, so like the, basically it's a like black iced coffee and then they just put the foam on top and then over time that like filters down and like mixes with the coffee. But when you get it it's black, all black on the bottom and totally white on the top and uh, and yeah sounds pretty yeah, and they have got.
Speaker 3:They've got good food and they've got all kinds of stuff. Yeah, I know I think I've been.
Speaker 1:I've been to fancy goat once before, and then they started in spring hill I think you're right.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, I'm naming.
Speaker 1:I'm naming geographic areas. That's bad that's okay I've been, just I've been to that place before yeah, and then they did just open one in franklin so yeah got it. And then to drink, I simply got their espresso decaf latte or a latte decaf um with just a hint of sweet cream, and then put their chocolate cold foam on top.
Speaker 3:Do you find that it's?
Speaker 1:better for you now that you're doing the decaf. Oh, definitely. Yeah. It does mean that I get sleepy at weird times.
Speaker 3:Yeah, partly cause I'm so sleep deprived and I don't have the caffeine to kind of kick me through the day, and it's like there's still parts of me that expects the coffee to give me energy and yeah I'm surprised when I get drained, but I've noticed that because when I I did that same thing when it, when I dialed my caffeine back, like when I was trying to not drink as much in any given day, um, same thing happened to me, like at weird times in the day. I'll just be like what? Why? Like, I feel like I could literally lay down immediately and fall asleep. You know, like it was just very strange, but you sort of get used to it after a while.
Speaker 3:And then I think the key to it is talking, like we always talk about, like the habitual nature of it. Basically, like you got to do it. You got to like, for the first little while, you have to do it exactly at the same time every day, like here's what my routine is I get up, I do go to the gym, I do this, and then this is when the coffee comes in the picture. This is when the coffee comes in the picture, this is when the caffeine comes in the picture, and you do it exactly the same time every day for a certain amount of time, and then your body starts to go oh, okay, that's when the caffeine comes. Okay, got it, you know, um, but that's that. Therein lies the very hard thing that we all have to deal with, which is really we should be like making everything a routine, but as humans, we're not like that, right. So we're, we're very.
Speaker 1:We crave differences a little bit, you know it is weird that we we are kind of creatures of habit, but we're also novelty seeking, right? Yeah Well, I think it's.
Speaker 3:I think it's also like I mean not to get, we're Well.
Speaker 1:I think it's also like I mean not to get. This isn't even getting into our topic yet, but I think we get to a point. No, this is dead okay.
Speaker 3:We can do whatever we want. No, I think that's funny because you know you, like you said, you know, I think that we are creatures of habit but we sort of seek the novelty. Creatures of habit, but we, we sort of seek the novelty, but I also think it's. We have a natural like, a natural affinity or not affinity is, affinity is not the right word. We have a natural, I think, tendency to want to like, resist when somebody is like you're going to do this, like at this time, and you're going to do this at this time and like every day. And then I think, naturally, at some point, you're like no, I don't want to do that at that time, I want to do this at this time and like every day. And then I think, naturally, at some point, you're like no, I don't want to do that at that time, I want to do it at this time, like, and I'm going to, I'm a grown adult and I could do it, you know, and so I think I think we could.
Speaker 1:I'm a big boy. I go to bed when I want.
Speaker 3:Right, exactly.
Speaker 1:Like don't tell you what I want to do, and I want to tell you what I want to do?
Speaker 3:I'm the inner voice here.
Speaker 1:No, I'm the inner voice. Oh man, hi, we're clinically insane. Welcome to our podcast.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and we should, oh, go ahead.
Speaker 1:Not only do we talk to ourselves, ourselves, ourselves, ourselves ourselves, that we talk to talk to each other.
Speaker 3:And the thing that I was going to say is that, you know, we yeah, I forgot what I was going to say, but I think we were talking about like inner voice, and you know sort of how that plays in. Well, so that's that could segue into our topic I think well so you want to, you want to give it the, the, uh, the intro yeah, I'll do my best well I'll make an effort.
Speaker 1:I can't say it's my best A for effort, just being super self-critical right now, the so pivoting off of inner voice and sort of an inner critic of sorts. There was a gentleman in Brian and I's Toastmaster group who shared the quote that he and I know and love, but it's just going to be reminded of and I think it's worth exploring it's the quote it's almost a poem really, but from Teddy Roosevelt, about the man in the arena.
Speaker 1:I'll do my best rendition of it. It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. So yeah, there you go very, very powerful yeah, it's, it's.
Speaker 1:It's something I needed to hear. I've I've been fairly down and dumpy and certainly leaning more on the side of cold and timid souls. Yeah, so, like this was a good little kick in the pants, a reminder of who I can be and who I have been. You know, the man in the arena, so to speak. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think I mean this is obviously as you, and I love the quotes. You know this is a long form kind of quote which is, as you said, almost like a poem, but it has so much in it I love. I love succinct wisdom. You know things that are a couple of things that you can take and you can either look at them in their context. So you could do the study of Theodore Roosevelt and you could say what was the context of this and you could go into that and I bet you it has a huge deep meaning there. But you can also take it out of context and use it for your own purposes, because there's so much general or generic or usable wisdom that can apply to so many different things, usable wisdom that can apply to so many different things. I also think it's crazy that this is a hundred and twenty four year old quote and it's still as valid today as it is, as it was when he said it. It also Makes me think of some of the things we talked about in the in our previous episodes the, the not confirmation.
Speaker 3:The cognitive biases, the one about that we had Ed Zinkowitz on for the. You know the. The world's getting worse and worse. You know, declinism, declinism To me. Whenever I think of that or start thinking like, oh man, it's so much harder now. It's. So we have different stresses and and we have different. And then you read a quote like this and you go, wow, they just they had the same stresses that we had. They just didn't have cell phones and they didn't have. You know, they didn't have some of the things we have, but they had the same stresses and that meant the same thing to those people 120, I mean 100 and whatever 14 years ago.
Speaker 1:And instead of getting new tires, they had to get new shoes for their horse. Right yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean it's yeah, it's, and it's that that, to me, makes me feel connected to humanity If that makes sense, or connected to it, makes me feel normal. It makes me feel like whenever I read things like this, it makes me feel normal. It makes me feel like whenever I read things like this, it makes me feel like, oh, I, I I'm going through the same things that they went through you know 50, 75, 100, 200, 300, you know, because even if you read marcus aurelius and some of the other stuff that we've gone over, it shows I think it just indicates that they were going through the same mental processes that we were going through. They're, like all of the things and you know, dealing with the same worries and concerns and, oh, am I good enough? Or self-esteem, or all this stuff. Maybe they didn't have the names for them, but they're going through the same stuff.
Speaker 3:So it makes me like. It makes me feel like, instead of what I had felt like or have felt like in my life, of being abnormal, like, oh, everyone else has got their stuff together, but I don't, for some reason. It's like how come Then you read stuff like this, or like how to stop worrying and start living, or some of the other things and you go, oh okay, wait, I'm dealing with the same stuff, so I know I'm being repetitive, but just me, yeah, and I think that goes a same stuff.
Speaker 3:So I know I'm being repetitive, but just me, yeah, and and I think that I think that goes a long way to like this is the perfect episode for both of us, so that you said that that leads a long way or that goes a long way to, to what?
Speaker 3:It, it, no, it just it just goes a long way to, uh, to begin the process of getting better, like, which is what we always talk about. How do you get better? How well, one of the first things you need to do is realize you're not abnormal, like, there's nothing like that. You have the tools that you need in order to move forward. Um, you know, you know short of short of some other things that we've talked about on the, on the podcast. You know some mental disabilities, some, obviously, brain deficiencies, things like that that are physical things, but you know you have basically that's what. I think that's the first part of it. It's like the recognizing the pro. There's a problem, you know. It's like recognizing that you're absolutely normal. You just need to work through this stuff, and it might be that you use a different tactic to work through it than I do, but we're both working through the same thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think one of the things this draws upon is that there is a duality within us of that critic and the man in the arena and at work. I talk about it being the the dichotomy between being analytical and operational. Yeah. And there's always that tension, whether we're talking about departmental things or whatever else. It's like operations just wants to do the thing right. Yeah. They're okay with low information, high action and being analytical, being critical, a critical thinker right is often the other side is high on information, low on action. Right.
Speaker 1:And you need both right. There has to be a balance, and I would bet like even the man in the arena after he wins or loses then engages in some critical thinking about okay, what worked, what didn't work yeah you know how was my footing? Did I pivot wrong? My my knee hurts. What happened there? Right, but getting information after the action, it's just the critic. Someone who's a critic tends to never get to the action step. Right.
Speaker 1:Right or they don't. They don't even have a say or an influence in the action steps, because they're criticizing other people. So I think for us, though, when we're talking about, like our inner critic or a self-critic, versus becoming that strong man who stumbles in the arena, it's just sort of an interesting I don't know something for me myself to assess. All right, am I being more of a critic in my life? Yeah or in information low action, or am I, you know, being more action and low information?
Speaker 3:might be time to turn the knob a little bit, you know, to get more of whatever it is I lack yeah yeah, I, I can say that one of the things is so like, just starting from the sort of the top of that quote um, you know, the, that very first line, it's not the critic who counts, um, it's you know, basically, to me that says the, the person that is actually doing this stuff I mean, this is sort of the crux of the whole thing is like the person that's actually in the arena fighting the fight, right, and I, I think I feel like we have, I feel like there's a lot of people that are critics out there of all kinds of things, but there's uh not that many doers, uh, and whether in the political arena or in just the you know our country or whatever else, but I, I feel, generally speaking, that there's the doers are the people who actually get stuff done, and that that sounds like really, really lame, but but it's, but it is.
Speaker 3:I'm just saying, like you you know, like the people that you know the people that, like you, might work with somebody on a group project or whatever, and there's a lot of people who are like great idea people. There are people that are like, oh, we should do it this way and we should do that, but when it comes to the execution of that, it doesn't. They aren't part of that. You know that's that's not their no-transcript and I think that's what sort of this is, you know, sort of talking about. I also like that it really does talk about the failures, like basically it talks about who strives valiantly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, who errs, who comes short again and again, because there's no effort without error and shortcoming, which to me is, you know, the best of us have failed more than the rest of us, you know to quote somebody that's, you know, really really super wise and full of themselves and egotistical.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, um, but it really, it really is like I think we focus on the wrong things and, um, you know, failure, whatever that means, is a good thing, and I think, even in I think even in corporations and companies like they, they don't, they're focused so on the yeah, but can we make it succeed? And you're like, well, yeah, we can make it succeed, but we're gonna have to fail a few times to make it the best thing possible. You know, um, and I think that gets lost in the mix. You know right.
Speaker 1:well, yeah, the incremental failures aren't tolerated because they eat into profit or eat into persona or public relations. And sometimes you can't afford failures, right, like nobody wants their surgeon to try bold new strategies on them there has to be protocols and practices and safety and whatnot. Yeah, I mean in that case failure is.
Speaker 3:You know. The price for failure is potentially a life right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but there's definitely a spectrum of, you know, avoiding unacceptable consequences versus avoiding any consequence. Right.
Speaker 1:We sort of get that in our head that any consequences to be avoided. I believe it's Tom Bilyeu who has a YouTube impact theory YouTube channel called Impact Theory. Uh-huh, he meets all kinds of people Um, big, big names too, but I can't remember if he was quoting somebody or he was saying this himself, but he, they were sort of talking about the culture today and and he was saying like I feel like people need to be chased by a lion. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And the context, the way he clarified that, was just that our sensitivity to stress is way too high. When we get an unwelcome email, that's maybe the most stressful thing that we experience that day or that week, and so that's that's the peak and that that freaks us out, that could ruin our day, that could ruin our week, when you know, but you lose that perspective of like it's just an email, because it it's all relative to how much you experienced day to day. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Sort of a level set of what our ancestors had, or maybe not what we do need, but perhaps we need where. Just just try to outrun a lion and then reset your, your barometer of of stress, such that emails have the proper perspective. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, or someone waiting forever to park in a parking, or waiting forever for a perfect parking spot and blocking people behind them, like whatever, whatever modern inconvenience can that pales in comparison to being chased by a lion? Um, you can have that perspective yeah, yeah, and I think and some of this arena quote does play off of that too that for me, like there's, there's because of the imagery talks about there being an arena, like a gladiatorial arena like that kind of stress is much greater than the stress I might feel about cold calling somebody for an over an opportunity that interests me.
Speaker 1:That makes me nervous. Yeah. Like making phone calls, nothing I mean, I could be a Roman gladiator. Yeah. Yeah, trying not to get eaten.
Speaker 3:I also like get going back to your email example, because I've had a few examples of that just in the last few months, where I'll get an email and just like, oh gosh, you know, this is not the email that I want to receive and it's not doesn't have the tone that I want to receive, you know. You know, I see in an email from anyone, um, and I I have to like remind myself that nothing in and of itself has any kind of value inherently, like so an email doesn't have a value unless you place that value upon it. So I have to. That's where I, that's how I sort of reel myself in a little bit Like oh, man, that's, I just really did not want to get that email, but it's like well, wait, this is me putting all that on it, and it's a lot of the what if like, what if this and what if that, and that person doesn't like me, and they're going to, you know, they think I don't do a good job, or whatever that is, and, um, you know, but that's me putting all of that on it.
Speaker 3:It's all of the, the baggage and all the other stuff that comes along with that thing. You know what I mean. So, um, sometimes, though, I'll get an email like that and go, all right, that's fair, like the criticism or whatever is fair, like cause, cause I didn't do what I said I was going to do, or whatever, and so I'm like, okay, you know, I'll take it. So, um, but yeah, it's, it's uh, I think this is toastmasters criticism, right or or band booster.
Speaker 1:This isn't like client criticisms.
Speaker 3:No, not, not usually um, not usually, most of the time clients are pretty, you know they're pretty under, you know understanding or anything else. Um, but yeah, it's, I'm just saying you don't, you don't make mistakes with your clients ever never, never, not once. Do I ever make mistakes in any context.
Speaker 1:I'd hate for your clients to hear you on this podcast and suddenly wonder if they should get a new person.
Speaker 3:Well, so anyway, pivoting off of that. So on any other topic yeah.
Speaker 1:So we were on the no effort without error, like we're about right past halfway through the quote yeah, and then, um, I also.
Speaker 3:So the next part in there talks about great enthusiasms, right, um, great devotions. He, you know who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends in time, his time himself, in a worthy cause and, if you want to, if you want to like, make that generic themself in a worthy cause, um, I'm sure him or herself, him or them so, um, you know, which is, which is also something that everybody, I think, first of all, enthusiasm.
Speaker 3:We've talked, I think we've talked about enthusiasm on the podcast before, and I think enthusiasm actually it's uh, it's origins are, isn't it god? Something with god enthusiasm like? Isn't there a? Or spirits yeah, something like that.
Speaker 1:It's a spirit, a spirit of another entity, a supernatural entity.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think also everybody wants to spend their time in a worthy cause, like spend their energy and time on something they think is valued. I think that's universal, like that statement in and of itself is universal. I don't think anybody's like I want to do this crappy job, doing this crappy thing. That doesn't mean anything to anyone. Nobody really ever does that. And then some people do jobs that some people you know that people might perceive, perceive as that, but they, their attitude is well, this is an important part of the you know society or whatever is well, this is an important part of the you know society or whatever. And and so they're there. So that's even a thing where it's almost like a reframing for yourself, where maybe many people think, oh, that guy's nothing, but if that person wasn't doing their job, then things don't happen. Or you know, conveniences don't happen for everybody else or whatever that might be. You know so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, else, or whatever that might be, you know. So, yeah, the, was it the? The sermon illustration that comes to mind is uh, was it a priest going walking by a church being under construction and two brick layers are working, and so you know the priest is not busy, so he stops and casually interviews them, yeah, and he talks to the first one and he's just all been out of shape. He's upset, he's mad, he's just laying brick after brick. It's his dumb job. It's dumb work.
Speaker 1:It's hot, sweaty and just all been out of shape. And then the priest talks to the other guy and other guy is like all serene and happy and whistling and is thrilled to be contributing to the construction of, you know, god's house, to to, uh, you know, a place to spiritual focus and connection. Um, now that's the whole thing into like being purpose driven right? Uh, in fact, maybe that illustration came from a christian book called the purpose-driven life. I don't know it could have been uh, could have been. There's another reference to another.
Speaker 3:Uh, there's another reference in this quote to another book a little further down. We'll get to it. But um, daring greatly, um, uh, brene brown uh wrote a book called daring greatly and I think that's where she got I think I, I don't know, I don't want to quote it, but I'm pretty sure that that's where she got that that probability seem high yeah yeah, um just a quick answer back on the enthusiasm before I close this browser.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. It is to be inspired or possessed by a God.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what I thought Um which you know. Um, I think I, in the more generic sense, I think that's one of the things that in order to be a doer, you have to do it with enthusiasm, like with, you know, gusto, you have to have moxie, whatever, whatever antiquated word you would like to put in to that space. Um, what if I don't want to use any antiquated words? No, you've got to use only antiquated words.
Speaker 1:Well, I hope it's not. I hope that's not a sign that there's no modern words, because no one in modern times is it hasn't yeah yeah, well, I just think I think that's.
Speaker 3:I think that's a lot of times. In going back to your example, I think that's where people fall short is your and I won't say people I always like sounds like I'm excluding myself from that. But you know, you sort of you know how, when you like sort of half-ass something or you do something like, you're like well, I have to do this thing. It's stupid, but I'm, I'll get it done, but I'm not going to be happy about it. I'm not going to have enthusiasm, right.
Speaker 3:First of all, your work products less. It's not as good. Second of all, you're, you're more miserable, like while you're doing it right, and I think that's an important. I just think that's an important thing that when you're doing something you have to do those sort of trite things of I say trite but like the you know the fake it till you make it kind of thing which is is like this is part of your job. If this is part of your job, then try to work yourself out of that part of your job at some point. Like, if that's something that you don't like in your job, then you're going to have to do it until you don't have to do it anymore.
Speaker 1:Right, so if you don't like People working for you to do the job now, or you process to automate it, or yeah, yeah, and I think I will say this, that I do.
Speaker 3:I will say that I've done in the past at least a lot of things that I'm just like. I just really don't want to do this anymore. I just have been doing it for a long time and I'm not enthusiastic about it. It's like it's a thing that I have to do, but I'm not enthusiastic about it. And I and it's not impossible, but very difficult to get myself enthusiastic about it and more recently I've been going okay, well, how can I, how can I get myself, how can I work on what I do in life, to work myself out of that part of my job, and that's my job. You know, that's my how I'm going to figure that out, but anyway, yeah, and so there's either.
Speaker 1:so I'm hearing you talk about there's opportunities to reframe, so there's look at what you have to do with a different perspective. Maybe tap into the why, like why are you doing this? Yeah and sometimes it can be as simple as wanting to avoid pain. Right like I can be much more enthusiastic about doing my taxes when I focus on the pain that I'm avoiding later yeah doing it. I don't want to do my taxes, but if I do, yeah I don't get audited or I don't have to pay it back.
Speaker 3:Or you get a refund, yeah or you get your refund quicker.
Speaker 1:Or I get to avoid a free, interest-free loan to the government because they already borrowed that money for 8 to 12 months. Anyways, yeah right, I was able to get right back and get my start earning my own interest on it. Um, but yeah, I think one of the things that comes to me here too that I need I have plenty of opportunity to re-inject into my life Is that idea of always do your best. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know that when it it not doing your best is this weird sort of emotional insurance policy for me and I think for others as well. So cause then when it fails, then like oh well, I didn't really try cause I didn't really want it? Yeah.
Speaker 1:I didn't really try, so that that's why I failed it. Really try because I didn't really want it. Yeah, I didn't really try, so that's why I failed. It's not because I wasn't good enough, it's like I just didn't put my heart into it. But when I look back at the times where I did do my best, that's always when either A I got some of the best outcomes in my life, like turning points in my career and relationships and just everything. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Or it. It didn't work out and I at least had no regrets and I learned a whole lot, like I got, I learned more from doing my best than I do from just just yeah, as another now antiquated phrase phoning it in right, I'm on you.
Speaker 3:I can't think of the etymology of that phrase texting it in now, you're just texting it in. Yeah, ghosting along.
Speaker 1:Ghosting along Right, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:No, I think you're right, I think that oh go ahead.
Speaker 1:No, you go ahead I was going to move on to another aspect of the same no, I was just going to say that.
Speaker 3:So, with regard to that, I think you're right, I think, um, you know, I think that's part of the learning process of the whistle while you work, kind of thing, or spoonful of sugar, uh, you know kind of thing where it's.
Speaker 3:You know, I think you do turn out a better product. And I will say that in with regard to Toastmasters, you know that we've all had speeches. If you've been involved with Toastmasters for a length of time, you've all had speeches that you haven't prepared as much as you should for, or you just wrote them very quickly and hastily and then you delivered them and you didn't. You know the delivery was not as good as it could have been if you had prepared a little bit more and done and gotten a little bit more excited about it. And that's that you can really see it in that instance, just because you're in front of other people, so people can read your enthusiasm level about the subject matter and about the delivery and about being up on stage and about all of these things. Right, and and that's, and that's unfortunately, one of the major reasons why somebody might like you're speaking or dislike you're speaking, because if you go up and you're not enthusiastic and you're monochromatic. And monochromatic is that right? No, mono, is that right? It's?
Speaker 1:fine, yeah, you're being poetic. Yeah, climate monotonal.
Speaker 3:Monotonal yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, anyway.
Speaker 3:So if you're doing that, then people are like. You're being colorful with your language. Why? Would somebody. You know, why would somebody yeah, exactly yeah, no, but like, why would somebody want to listen to you? And that's the whole thing is like if you're in front of people, you know they're, it's not like you're trying to get them to listen to you, but you're supposed to be up there because you have something that's at least somewhat important to say.
Speaker 1:So I feel like you know it's um, yeah, um, so plateaued on the learning curve, you know, but I think yes like when some, when somebody new joins, and they're clearly doing their best even though their product isn't as good as, say, a seasoned toastmaster. Yeah, it's a joy to see them trying hard and yes learning by doing, and there's plenty of people who've reached that so-called pinnacle and toastmasters of being a distinguished toastmaster like yeah the paper and the badge to prove it, like they're not trying anymore, they're not doing different things with powerpoint, or they're not trying different hand gestures or different ways of telling the same story, like they're just, you know, they're just doing it, um, and I'm somewhere in the middle there, right, like I'm more just doing it and I'm not accomplished.
Speaker 1:Definitely, I thought you were talking about.
Speaker 3:I thought you were like subtly talking about me here, like there are some people, um, that have a dtm, that you know I was genuinely speaking generically in generic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, having looked, you know, having looked. You know, whenever there's a conference, they have all the people who've earned their DTM. Yeah. Get up and welcome those who've earned it that year and and like just looking at those people and they're not, they're kind of retired. Yeah, you know, in terms of their activity. You know, I will say like on on my.
Speaker 3:I did shift my actually talked about this on the podcast previously too. I've I've somewhat shifted my um focus to helping other helping others, cause I don't care about getting mold. I. We know people you and I both know people that have multiple DTMs. Uh, distinguished Toastmasters. For the those out there that aren't, Toastmasters.
Speaker 3:Um, but it's also not an excuse to cause like that's. You know you can continually learn. So, um, again, going back to the quote and doing, you know, talking about that with regard to what we're talking about right now, which is sort of repetitively doing something, who spends himself in the worthy cause, who, at the best, knows at the end the triumph of high achievement and who, at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so sort of talking like that, where it's a repetitive thing. And then, above that, obviously, who comes short again and greatly. So, you know, sort of talking like that where it's a repetitive thing, and then, above that, obviously, who comes short again and again. So he talks about it a couple of times where it's, you know, you gotta, you've gotta be the person that's actually trying to do stuff, and the outcome doesn't really matter that much. Um, what matters is that you're the one in the quote unquote arena, you're the one that's actually trying to get something done and, uh, and you know, you do it while you're daring greatly and you do it with enthusiasm, and I think that's yeah, that's very honestly, that's exactly what we encourage in all of our toastmasters.
Speaker 3:Is what do you? You know, just get up and speak. Who cares what happens? What's the worst thing happens? You, you, you. You're supposed to go up there for the four to six minute speech and you end up speaking for two and a half minutes and you sit down because you're too nervous. Okay, fine, what happened? You got up there for two and a half minutes and you sat down, so you tried it. So now, next time, what are we going to do? You know, next time? And yeah, exactly, and so, um, I also think at the end.
Speaker 3:So the last part of this um is so like uh, I don't want to say like pointed or very, like, almost like challenge. It's like a call to action kind of. Is you know? So, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls which you've already referenced, who neither know victory nor defeat. So, basically, he's like. He's basically like wow, you're just sort of a sad sack. Like, if you're not in the arena, you're never going to know victory or defeat. Like, even if you think you think you know victory, you don't know it because you weren't in there, you didn't. You know, you didn't do all the things. We just talked about.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. So right, it's all vicarious if anything like the, if you're a fan of the stands yeah right, you might, but you don't really. You weren't the one striving and having to deal with that sense of defeat and it, yeah, it's even when, when I do like the phoning it in or the half-assing it yeah like I don't know victory and I don't know defeat, whether it was okay or not yeah it's just this middle ground where I didn't succeed, but I also didn't fail yeah, and I.
Speaker 1:I don't feel either of those feelings of success or failure which then leads to a lack of enthusiasm. It's a negative feedback loop yeah right.
Speaker 3:If it's not exciting, it's not engaging, then you lose interest, you lose motivation well, and I the the most straightforward example of this that I can think of is the when the, the owner of an nfl team, gets a super bowl ring right. So it's like, literally, this bird, he was not in the arena, he was not. He was in the arena but he was a spectator, right, but his guys who he's traded and got on the team and everything, those are the guys that were in the arena, that actually won the game, right, but he still gets the ring. So, uh, I mean I would think in that person's mind they probably think oh yeah, I won.
Speaker 1:Like I won a Superbowl, you know, but did you really my team? I picked them, yeah, right.
Speaker 3:Like I paid the money and I got. I got the coach that got the guy who got the thing, who caught the pass, who you know what I mean, like way down the line. So I get it. But at the same time it's like but did you really win a super bowl? I think you, I think you, uh, your team that you own won a super bowl, but did you?
Speaker 1:I don't know about that, you know yeah, I who I can empathize with the whole from a being a manager standpoint yeah I never really know when I'm succeeding or failing, or yeah, you know, cause there's so many just close calls from our projects going down or something that I happened to chime in or whatnot, or you know, I gently encourage this colleague with this or that and it's like I don't. I'm not in the arena, I'm just. I'm the coach. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And because of that, though, I only ever know that victory or defeat vicariously right and it's. I can almost empathize now with managers who are guilty of taking credit or allowing others to give credit to them instead of to their team, because it can be almost like an empty void of feedback for the manager to know whether they're doing a good job or not?
Speaker 1:A lot of unseen assistance. It's hard to know whether you win or lose. Right, you win in the gladiatory arena. It's hard to know whether you win or lose, right, you, you, you win in the gladiatory arena. It's obvious.
Speaker 3:Right, the the lion is dead and you are not yeah um, but you know, one of you stopped moving and it wasn't you like that, that's good yeah if yeah, but doesn't that go back to like some of the things we talked about in the past, where it's like, if you set goals and you have things for yourself, you know, granted, are you, you know you have that. Like it's the context that you're putting on it? Again, going back to the nothing has an inherent context. You're you, it's any context you want is you're going to put it on that, whatever that thing is. And so the question is question is you know? Are you in the arena as a manager? Yeah, I think you are. I think, um, it can be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it definitely can be. It's just yeah, my I'm not striving greatly on the, you know, the individual contributor piece, but I'm striving greatly on, you know, keeping things in communication right making sure that things don't go off the rails and tracking yeah like there's definitely ways I could be doing my best in that regard and knowing the victory and knowing the defeat yeah, you're right well, I think that that's about all.
Speaker 3:But I think the funny thing is the next episode. What we're going to be talking about is sort of pivoting a little bit on this and going all the way back to the top and going almost back to that first line talking about it's not the critic who counts, and a little bit of that we're going to. We're going to talk about that a little bit and talk about without spoiling too much. You know, you're the way that criticism happens, whether that be internal or external, and then you know how you handle criticism, how you handle praise. I mean praise. It's funny to me because, like you talk about somebody praises you. Like I have a really hard time. I'll take criticism all day long and say, yeah, you're right, I'm not good enough, I should have done that better. And then somebody says, brian, you did a great job, I'm, that's really awesome. Like I don't, I don't know about that.
Speaker 3:Like you know like I'm always deflecting deflecting the praise and and taking the criticism or the critique or the uh, you know assessment. So I think that's what we're going to talk about in the next episode and probably some other stuff, I'm sure I'll object to things about how to dare greatly. Yeah, definitely All right. Well, until next time we out.