In the Loop with Andy Andrews

On this week’s episode, I talk about a football player who impacted my life, and a new movie about his life that you should see with your family this fall.

When I was in high school, we were across town from another high school named Woodlawn.

• We had heard about racially motivated riots there and how some of the kids had to be bussed into school.
• During the football season, I became aware of a student on Woodlawn’s team named Tony Nathan.
• He was unbelievable—a running back no one could stop.
• In the fall of my 10th grade year I would get the newspaper every Saturday and read the articles about Tony.

They announced that undefeated Woodlawn would play Banks, another undefeated powerhouse, in the playoffs.

• The game would be played at Legion Field where at the time Auburn and Alabama played each other every year.
• I talked my dad into going, and when we got there, 20,000 people must have been standing outside the gate.
• They delayed the game so they could keep bringing people in; once we got in, you could see lines of cars stuck on the interstate.
• There were 40,000 people in the stadium, 20,000 were turned away, and they estimated another 40,000 were stuck on the interstate.

The upcoming movie Woodlawn centers around the whole Woodlawn team’s spiritual awakening around this time and has so many lessons for the whole family.

• It’s really not a football movie. It’s built around a football team, but it’s a movie about family, decisions, hardship, and overcoming.
• You will want your teenagers to see this.
• The only reason I would talk about this on the podcast is because I think it will be a great resource for your family.

Click here to learn more about the major motion picture Woodlawn, in theaters October 16, 2015, and tune in to the podcast to hear more from Andy about his personal connection with the film.

On this week’s episode, I answer a listener question about the “treasure chest” that Polly and I have for our boys.

The boys know that we have treasure chests for them, and it’s something we will probably give them when they are around 21.

• The treasure chest has things that they will need to know or want to have.
• They don’t get to go in these chests, but I’ll occasionally show them something that’s going inside, or tease that something has been added.

When you have some kind of awesome family moment, take something from that place and write a note explaining what it is. Wrap it up and put it in a box.

• When you’re gone, instead of having a vague memory of that day, your kids will having something tangible—a treasure.
• There are very few things that I have of my parents, who passed within months of each other when I was young.
• I can picture my dad’s handwriting, but I don’t have any of it.
• It will be very important and comforting for the boys to know how much we loved them; the “treasures” make it obvious that we thought about them all the time.

Tune in to hear about some of the books, recordings, and other items we have already added—but don’t tell Austin or Adam!

Questions for Listeners

Do you have a question? Call in and your question might be featured on the show!

• Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
• E-Mail: [email protected]
• com/AndyAndrews
• com/AndyAndrews

On this week’s episode, I talk about why it’s important to let your kids make mistakes, and how “treading water” in life means you’re not only failing to get ahead but actually losing ground.

Not too long ago the boys had a movie they brought to me and asked if they could watch it.

• I looked at it and kind of paused before saying, “yes, you can watch it.”
• As they walked away I said, “You can watch it if you want to.” They stopped and of course wondered why I said it like that.
• I told them that we choose what we watch and read, and we also choose what we won’t watch and read. How we think becomes who we are.
• The movie wasn’t really good or bad, just a time-waster. But in the current of life you’re either swimming upstream or you are being swept away. If you’re just treading water, you’re headed downstream.

We want our kids to grow up to be productive, influential, and purposeful adults.

• Sometimes it’s okay to let our kids lose money or time.
• It’s much better that they learn these things at a younger age when we as parents can be there with the net to catch them.

Tune in to the full episode to hear the direction I intentionally face in my office, and who is always looking down on me from my office ceiling.

Questions for Listeners

Do you have a question? Call in and your question might be featured on the show!

• Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
• E-Mail: [email protected]
• com/AndyAndrews
• com/AndyAndrews

On this week’s episode, I answer two listener questions on how fear shapes your life and how to balance belief in yourself against pride.

I find many instances indicating that God can use tragedy and bad choices to fulfill His purposes, but I don’t find any evidence that God decides to make you scared.

• The times that I have been scared have usually been instances that I’ve kind of brought on myself.
• I can’t imagine God would say “Fear not” so many times but still try to instill fear in us anyway.

Adam started at a new school this year and he was fearful.

• I talked to him about purpose and we broke down all the things he might have to be fearful of.
• When he came home from school I asked how it was and he said it was different. I said, “Good different?” He said, “It was.” So, if it’s different, and it’s good, then it’s probably better.

The old saying is that God made you with a purpose.

• If you’re out there speaking thoughts and truths that you’ve spent time struggling with, you’re wide open to criticism.
• But if He made you that way—with a purpose—then He believes in you. And if you believe in Him then you believe in His creation...yourself.

Tune in to the full episode to hear Andy tell a story about the night former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer was elected into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.

Questions for Listeners

Do you have a question? Call in and your question might be featured on the show!

• Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
• E-Mail: [email protected]
• Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
• Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

On this week’s episode, I discuss some of my favorite speakers and the methods that help me stay organized.

I don’t get to see many speakers because I’m usually by myself when speaking at an event, but I listen to them online.

• I shift and change who I’m listening to, but Patsy Clairmont is first and foremost my favorite speaker.
• There are very few people who can deliver serious topics with humor, and Patsy is one of the best.
• Ken Davis is also up there for the same reasons. He is so funny to me.

One of my other favorite speakers is someone I wouldn’t have said if you asked me a couple of months ago.

• He’s a great guy, but he didn’t seem to be very comfortable telling his story when he got started 20 years ago.
• Speaking is kind of a gift. You can learn it and shape it, but to a great degree you can either talk or you can’
• I’ve found that some companies are hesitant to bring in speakers because they’ve brought in speakers who are athletes or actors previously. While these people can memorize their lines, there is often something missing because they are not professional speakers.
• But there’s one athlete in particular who has become one of my favorite speakers.

When it comes to organization, Michael Hyatt is on the cutting edge of using the newest software and gadgets to keep his life in order.

• He knows more technically than I will ever know.
• I keep a pen and a piece of paper beside me.
• At the end of the day, I unload my pockets with napkins and pieces of paper with notes that I’ve written.
• Sometimes those things pile up faster than I can go through and categorize them, and at that point, they go out of my sight and into the closet.

Tune in this week to hear the name of the athlete that has become one of my favorite speakers.

Questions for Listeners

Do you have a question? Call in and your question might be featured on the show!

• Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
• E-Mail: [email protected]
• Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
• Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

On this week’s episode, we’re finishing up our series on discussing my office and the items that bring me a spirit of gratefulness, belief, opportunity, and achievement.

Tune in to this week’s episode to hear about:

• The book that I’ve read in its entirety every month for over 30 years. (I’m shocked that I still get new understanding from some of these things…)
• The award from the Center for Healthy Families that reminds me to be obedient, seek wisdom, and that I make a difference.
• The gift Adam made me for Father’s Day.
• How islanders would pull sharks to the shore hundreds of years ago.
• The item Civil War officers used to brush the day’s dirt away, and why it reminds me to move forward and look towards another day.
• What started me on the path towards learning the Seven Decisions.

Questions for Listeners

Do you have a question? Call in and your question might be featured on the show!

• Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
• E-Mail: [email protected]
• Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
• Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

This week, we’re celebrating our 200th episode with a deeper look at the items in my office, and more specifically, what I keep within arm’s reach at my desk.

You might look at my desk and not know why some of these things are here—and you might also not know what these things are!

Tune in to this week’s full episode to hear which of these objects remind me of:

• The fact I can choose my thinking, and if I’m scared, that isn’t from God.
• Ingenuity.
• The history of our country and that there are things that seem impossible, but with the right thought process, impossible things can be made simple.
• Things last even if they’re covered up or buried. We need to make sure that the things we create are of great value.
• While things are permanent, they can still be shaped.
• There is always a way to figure something out.

Questions for Listeners

Do you have a question? Call in and your question might be featured on the show!

• Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
• E-Mail: [email protected]
• Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
• Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

On this week’s episode, we’re continuing our visit inside my office and discussing why it looks the way it does.

People have made excuses for themselves and other people based on environment.

• As an adult, you have control over your environment.

• You are never trapped, although you may choose to think you’re trapped.

• If you understand that your thinking is the foundation of everything, that gives you control. You want to achieve “the best.”

• The objects in my office spur a specific thought. Everything has a story and lesson.

Everywhere I look, I want to produce gratefulness and belief in my spirit.

• I have to produce the best in writing and speaking topics. To do that, I know what kind of thinking produces the best.

• When I am in an ungrateful or aggravated state of mind, could I possibly come in and create the best?

• I urge you to not have the same kind of office that everyone has.

Tune in to the full episode to hear about the personal letters from around the world Andy hangs in his office, and why they’re almost disappearing from view!

Please send us pictures of what this episode prompts you to do with your office or workspace; also let us know the state of mind you were after.

Questions for Listeners

Do you have a question? Call in and your question might be featured on the show!

· Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY

· E-Mail: [email protected]

· Facebook.com/AndyAndrews

· Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

On this week’s episode, we’re recording from my office in Orange Beach, Alabama, and talking about the “wall of influence” that sits across from my desk.

I have been around people successful in entertainment, business, and politics, and have seen them hit a point in their career where they turned kind of monstrous.

• It’s an odd world to live in where people say, “You’re great. You changed my life.”
• If you’re not prepared to deal with that, I see how you could turn into an idiot!
• I have an “influence wall” to remind me where I’m from. Whatever it is that I am, these people are the ones who deserve the credit.
• Every time I look at that wall, I am reminded of an umbrella of authority.

If you look at people’s lives that have gotten out of control after having a lot of success, it’s because they have no authority in their lives.

• While we watch “heroes” in our modern day, everyone thinks they’re great until we find something out that’s leaked to the public.
• To our kids, that’s one more notch of disappointment that makes them think, “Oh, well that’s how people really are.”
• Everyone on my influence wall is on my board of directors, but not everyone on my board of directors is on the wall.
• The board of directors is something that ebbs and flows.

If you have an influence wall, take a picture of it and email it to us at [email protected].

Tune in to the full episode to learn about some of the people Andy considers major influences and authority figures in his life.

Questions for Listeners

Do you have a question? Call in and your question might be featured on the show!

• Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
• E-Mail: [email protected]
• Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
• Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

On this week’s episode, I’m answering more random questions—this time from listeners—for our second episode of Getting to Know Andy Andrews.

• What was your first thought when you woke up today?
• What question do you hate to answer?
• Is there something you constantly lose at your house?
• Have you ever been pulled over by a cop?
• What is your favorite knock-knock joke?
• If you had to be trapped in a TV show for a month, which would it be?
• What is your favorite movie and movie quote?
• What’s the best meal you ever ate?

Please tune in for some surprising answers and very funny insight into Andy’s likes, loves, and even a few of his “little foibles.”

Questions for Listeners

Do you have a question? Call in and your question might be featured on the show!

• Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
• E-Mail: [email protected]
• Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
• Twitter.com/AndyAndrews