Normally this podcast is focused on helping my children understand how we made parenting decisions along the way. The reason that I feel like this is so important to them is because as a child, I did not know or have explained to me why certain parenting decisions were being made in speaking with my own parents.

They certainly did not have any of that explained to them. That required a lot of work on my part to go back and understand why I was parented in a certain way in order to enable me and my wife to make better decisions and more conscious choices in our parenting moving forward. In this episode, I’m going to talk for the first time about who I am.

Summary:

On today’s episode, I am going to be talking about who I am. I have been hesitant to share much about myself because I don’t want to give you, the listener’s, a bias. Although, we are human and we want to connect. Many people have expressed interest in knowing who I am. I do think it’s important that you know a little bit more about me.

For starters, I started this podcast so my kids would have a manual. They will know how they were parented and know what their default setting. I didn’t have that. Because I didn’t have that, I had to spend a lot of time figuring it out.

When it comes to podcasting, or any other platform, people are (largely) broken down into two groups. The first group comprises those who have an academic or industry background.. they want to be seen as a thought leader within their industry. The second group is the group that wants you to know who they are (they want to be internet famous, or sell you something… not that there is anything wrong with that).

I want to be a conveyer of the information and as someone who provides examples, I don’t want the podcast to be about me. Obviously there are overlaps between those two groups. Today I will share a bit about me in hopes of helping this message resonate. I discuss my background, some of my experiences and why my wife and I made some of the decisions we did.

In This Episode

[01:47] Why I’m sharing about me

[3:27] The reason I started this in the first place

[5:05] Craving examples

[7:03]Background on me

[8:43]Determining what I wanted to learn about

[11:12]My first experience as a business owner

[16:15] My time in Hawaii

[17:38]Working for homeland security in Washington DC

[21:15]Being purposeful about my parenting

[23:26]My wife’s perspective 

Quotes

“We’re human, we want to connect.” [00:01:15]

“While we are different, there are many things that are very very similar.” [00:02:42]

“The challenge with the academics is that what people crave today, it’s not more information. We’re overwhelmed with information. What people crave today are examples” [00:05:04]

“it’s not like we have the perfect life. we’re making the very best of what we have.” [00:26:30]

 

Transcript continues below

The reason that I haven’t even brought myself up to this point. Is because I wanted to focus on the method and I wanted to focus on the process and also the information rather than focusing on the person. After 10 episodes, I realized that w people want to know who it is that they’re listening to.

Ultimately, we’re human. We want to connect. That’s something that’s very important to us. I was a little hesitant to, but any information about myself. Out there because I feel that it biases the listener. When I give you my background and tell you about my education, my life experience, my work history, the history of my family, where they came from, what they have been successful in, where they have failed, where they have struggled, where they’ve succeeded.

It may bias you, but at the same time, it may make you feel either more or less of an affinity.