Episode 3: Do You Have Your Coffee?

 

In this episode, Tricia and Rob explore several conversational topics: their shared love of flavored coffees, the importance of clear hellos and goodbyes when talking with friends, good reasons to be home (or on your way home) by 2am, Rob’s “Enneagram 7” love for having fun with people he enjoys, and their answers to this fascinating question: if you wanted to host the perfect dinner party and you could invite anyone you wanted—living or dead, famous or not, from anywhere in the world, who would you invite?  We obviously wandered through a wide variety of topics!

 

Tricia started off the discussion with one of her core values: that hellos and goodbyes matter: “The first two minutes you spend with a person really determines the rest of your time with them.”  Rob agreed, but places a higher value on his ‘hello’s” than his “goodbyes,” especially when he hasn’t yet determined how long he is going to stay.  Both concluded that, really, nothing good happens in either conversations or in making wise choices after 2am.  It’s just a good time to be home—or at least, on your way home.

 

Tricia posed the main question for today’s conversation: “If you are having a dinner party and you want to have great conversation, who would you invite to your perfect dinner party? They can be living or dead, famous or not famous, you know them personally or you don’t, anyone you’d specifically love to have there.  Who’s on your list? Who would you invite?

Sure enough, the list they created included all of the above: a varied collection of famous people they’ve never met but would like to and why, a few personal friends who would be awesome dinner party conversationalists, and a few you’d just expect to see there, like Oprah Winfrey, Aaron Sorkin, Nora Ephron (screenplay writer of movies like You’ve Got Mail and When Harry Met Sally) and of course, Julia Roberts—as well as a few personal friends. Today includes a brief look at the dinner party menu (based on the preferences of women versus men), and a serious conversation about how to respond when someone says something unkind or critical about you—wisdom based on very wise counsel that Oprah received from Poet Laureate Maya Angelou. 

 

Books Tricia and Rob recommend on this podcast

The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz

Unoffendable, Brant Hansen.

 

Highlightable Quotes from this episode:

• “Wise decisions aren’t made well after 2am; there is a reason you are still up and awake at 2am and it’s just never good!” - Rob 
• “Here’s what it ultimately comes down to for me:  If I would not invite this person to my dinner party, why do I give them any air time in my head to be critical of my life?” – Tricia
• “For me and my belief system, I can choose to be offended and put a whole lot of energy behind being offended, or I can choose to change the channel.  I can choose to turn it off.  I can choose to ‘mute’ the person, to ‘snooze’ the person. I can choose to ‘unfollow.’  I can choose any number of options that allow me to say, “you know what? I am not going to put any energy behind being offended with that.”  Sometimes I can say, “Oh, that bothers me. I am going to take some action to fix it.’ - Rob

 

Rob’s tip for Keurig coffee loves: try the brand called Crazy Cups (He said it was with a K. It’s not.): all kinds of flavored coffees!  There’s chocolate coffee! Death by Chocolate coffee! Coconut Chocolate coffee—and even Peanut Butter Cup coffee!  Because, what’s better than great coffee at a dinner party, unless it’s a great cigar at Cigar Night?  

 

You can find Tricia on Facebook or Instagram at Tricia Lott Williford, and that’s also the name of her blog: Tricia Lott Williford.  You can find Rob on Twitter or Instagram at robalott (that’s one b and two t’s!), and he also has his own podcast called The Leading Creative Podcast.