In the Loop with Andy Andrews

Andy and AT share a message from a listener about an amazing moment the listener created in a restaurant by honoring a friendly waiter.

When you honor people and give them a “standing ovation,” amazing things happen.

· Everyone involved will end up paying it forward.

· It will change the way they interact with everyone for at least the rest of the way.

· It will create an immeasurable ripple effect.

We’re very quick to tell someone when things aren’t done properly.

· Why don’t we point out when things are done right?

· We can change our culture by beginning to do things differently, and honoring those who get it right…instead of always complaining when something is wrong.

We’re either doing something or nothing.

· Which one are you doing?

· If you’re doing something, Andy wants to hear about it.

· We’ve all got the guts to tell everyone how bad someone did, but who has the guts to tell someone what a different they made?

Were you encouraged or helped by this podcast? Send it to a friend!

Questions for Listeners

· Have you given a “standing ovation” recently? Andy wants to hear about it! Call, email, or contact us on Facebook or Twitter.

o Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY

o E-Mail: [email protected]

o Facebook.com/AndyAndrews

o Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

Andy and AT discuss what we need to do to make days like Valentine’s Day special. Andy shares a funny story of what he recently did to make just an average night with his family a special occasion.

Is it important to make Valentine’s Day special, or is it just a dumb holiday?

· Yes, it is a dumb holiday…and yes, we DO need to make it special.

· At one point, Andy was just having his assistant order flowers to send his wife, Polly, for him.

· Eventually, Polly told him that flowers he had his assistant order didn’t mean all that much.

So he started putting more intention into doing something that showed Polly he actually cared.

· You don’t have to wait for Valentine’s Day or any kind of special day to surprise your spouse or your kids or anyone with something special.

· Andy did this the other day by cooking a surprise dinner with an extremely unique menu for his family.

· Look for ways to make ordinary days special days, no matter whether it’s Valentine’s Day or not.

If you do a surprise dinner for your family, find Andy on Facebook or Twitter and send him your menu!

Were you encouraged or helped by this podcast? Share it with a friend!

Questions for Listeners

· What would you like to hear Andy discuss on the podcast? Let us know!

o Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY

o E-Mail: [email protected]

o Facebook.com/AndyAndrews

o Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

A few weeks ago, Andy had the opportunity to speak in front of a large number of members of the U.S. Congress and their spouses. Before he spoke to them, he and A.T. discussed what the talk would be about.

What king of message should someone share when speaking to leaders, influencers, and decision-makers?

• You should always go in with a humble attitude.
• Show gratefulness for their service and their influence.

All leaders face criticism, so you have to take that into account.

• You may be thinking the leaders you are speaking to need to change some things, but that’s true with all leaders.
• You have to show a little grace if you’re hoping to engender change.
• If you go into a room of people and tell them they’re stupid and going in the wrong direction, the result you desire will not happen.

You have to remind them of the things they already know to be true.

• You may not be that qualified to speak about the specific type of work they are doing, but you can illustrate principles to them that are true no matter what they’re doing.
• Andy is not an expert in golf, but he was still able to talk to a group of the best female golfers in the world and help them bounce back from a rough start in the Solheim Cup.

Were you encouraged or helped by this podcast? Forward it to a friend!

Questions for Listeners

• What would you like to hear Andy discuss on the podcast? Let us know!

o Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY

o E-Mail: [email protected]

o Facebook.com/AndyAndrews

o Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

On today’s podcast, professional drummer Jeff Jones, formerly of the band Big Daddy Weave, joins Andy and A.T. to talk about transitioning your life and career.

After reading The Traveler’s Gift and listening to the podcast, Jeff decided it was time to transition from being a drummer to becoming a speaker.

• He had been the drummer for Big Daddy Weave, touring all over the country and the world, for 13 years.
• He had been gone about 140 days per year for his family’s entire life.

Jeff came up with the acronym WISE, which has become the crux of his message.

• It stands for What I Sacrifice Every Day.
• The acronym embodies the choices you make in order to achieve the results you want in your life.
• When he was a kid and decided he wanted to play drums for a living, he began making sacrifices every single day in order to achieve that dream.

Andy’s Storms of Perfection series also inspired Jeff to create a custom pair of drumsticks for camouflage company Mossy Oak.

• The series inspired him to take action.
• It taught him that almost every successful person started out overcoming adversity.
• You don’t have to be “special” to be successful.
• All you have to do is seek wisdom and take action.

To get a FREE eBook from Jeff, go to JeffDrummer.com, enter your email address, and he’ll send it to you!

Were you encouraged or helped by this podcast? Click here to forward it to a friend!

Questions for Listeners

• Have you ever made a major career or life change? We’d love to hear your story!

o Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY

o E-Mail: [email protected]

o Facebook.com/AndyAndrews

o Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

On today’s podcast, Andy and A.T. discuss how to teach children to persevere through difficulties and struggles.

Listener question: How do you influence your boys in a positive way in regard to what they want to be when they grow up?

• It’s important to connect what someone wants to do with the things they have to do to get there.
• You want to encourage while also keeping in mind that their mind can easily change, especially when they are younger.

Whatever your children are trying to do or learn, you have to encourage them to stay in the hard places.

• You gain ground when you keep going through the hard places.
• Even adults tend to stop trying when things get hard.
• We remain comfortable only with the things that come easy.

We need to change the culture surrounding childhood education in our country.

• Cultures that have better results in education have better results because of the way they think.
• Our culture does not think there is honor in struggling, which causes us to avoid struggling through difficulties.

Were you encouraged or helped by this podcast? Forward it to a friend!

Questions for Listeners

• · What are the biggest challenges you have with raising your children?

o Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY

o E-Mail: [email protected]

o Facebook.com/AndyAndrews

o Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

On today’s podcast, Andy and A.T. discuss the techniques that are necessary to mastering goal setting.

Andy’s tip for goal-setting is to be honest with yourself

• If Moses had spent a little more time up on the mountain, he would have come down with an 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not kid thyself.
• Don’t set yourself up for defeat by trying to do something crazy.
• As opposed to saying, “I’m never eating brownies for the rest of my life,” try to not eat brownies for a week.
• Accomplish your goals in small chunks and you will eventually accomplish something major.

Reward yourself when you accomplish small milestones

• Don’t overdo it, but give yourself a small reward.
• It’s important to keep your morale up.

Be able to measure your goal

• The bathroom scale is a great tool.
• Find a “bathroom scale” to measure any goal you set.

Instead of always focusing on the ultimate goal, focus on the process

• Become a master of the little things you have to accomplish along the way to the ultimate goal.
• Never lose sight of what you must be doing right now.

Were you encouraged or helped by this podcast? Forward it to a friend!

Questions for Listeners

• What goals have you set recently? How are you going about accomplishing them?

o Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY

o E-Mail: [email protected]

o Facebook.com/AndyAndrews

o Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

On today’s podcast, Andy discusses how the ability to work through confusion is what separates the great from the average.

God has created you with a will that is stronger than your emotions

• People often say “That’s just the way I am” and use it as a crutch for bad behavior
• But you can use your will to overcome your feelings and emotions
• You have to use your will to overcome the tendency to ignore your health

If what you are currently doing is not getting the results you want, you need to:

• Begin thinking differently
• Go beyond just “thinking outside the box”
• Do not do what everyone else is doing, because not everyone is achieving the results you want

Confusion always guards the answer

• Ordinary people have no problem getting through little bitty pieces of confusion
• Those who can work in the midst of great amounts of confusion can do great things
• Ask “Why?”

On today’s episode of In the Loop, Andy and A.T. discuss the epidemic of business, government, and community leaders being unfaithful in marriage and what we can do about it.

What are the sources of infidelity?

· One is the fact that we live in a fallen world—the nature of man is a source of it

· Our affections rule every part of our life, so we must guard them carefully

· Even if you’ve been married for a long time, you still need to constantly guard yourself

· You have to live an open life—a life in which you are honest with yourself

· Never be convinced that this can’t happen to you

Andy recently talked to a group of politicians and their spouses about infidelity and dishonesty

· He told them that all the infidelity and dishonesty among politicians had made the average voter sick of all of them, whether they had done anything yet or not

· He told them not to let weak moments get in the way of all the work they put into getting elected and all the good things they want to accomplish

· Share everything with your spouse—email accounts, Facebook passwords and messages, etc.

· Never be in a room alone with someone of the opposite sex

· Make fences around you that are guarded by those you love

Most of the time, men are at the root of infidelity, but Andy has a thought for women as well

· Marriage is about love and respect

· Women feel respected when they are loved

· But men feel loved when they are respected

Were you encouraged or helped by this podcast? Send it to a friend!

Questions for Listeners

· How do you guard your marriage from infidelity?

o Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY

o E-Mail: [email protected]

o Facebook.com/AndyAndrews

o Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

On today’s episode of In the Loop, a veteran writes in and tells an amazing story of losing and regaining hope in her life.

You have to be an honest person to overcome the loss of hope and control in your life.

· Andy says if there had been an 11th Commandment, it would have been, “Thou shalt not kid thy self”

· Being honest with ourselves is extremely important and allows us to understand so much more about our lives

Principles exist and are at work in our lives whether we know about them or not.

· When we become aware of principles, we can harness them in our lives in ways that can allow us to accomplish great things

· The truth is one of those principles

Hope itself is a thought process.

· It is a specific way of thinking, and it is something that can be proven

· Because of this, it can be chosen—you can choose to be hopeful

· If you’re still here and you’re still breathing, then you have not yet accomplished what you were put here to do

Below our choices and decisions is our thinking.

· Our thinking is at the base of everything we do—the positive and the negative

· Your mistakes and the best things you’ve done in life are all products of the way you think

Were you encouraged or helped by this podcast? Click here to forward it to a friend!

Questions for Listeners

· How do you remain hopeful in tough times?

o Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY

o E-Mail: [email protected]

o Facebook.com/AndyAndrews

o Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

On today’s episode, Andy and A.T. discuss the power of the individual and how to channel it through discovering your passion.

A listener named Sheryl writes in about her experience with breast cancer. Her story prompted A.T. to wonder how people who aren’t writers or speakers or someone with a large audience can have a big, lasting impact on the world.

• Andy brings up the butterfly effect story that he often tells on stage
• The story illustrates how great moments or accomplishments all go back to “ordinary” people who did a seemingly small deed that caused big things to happen down the line

Sheryl mentioned that her experience with cancer didn’t “define” her; it “refined” her.

• Andy points out that this is often seen as an odd way of thinking
• It’s actually a great way of thinking
• As a society, we often think logically to the wrong conclusions
• We have the ability to choose the way we think

Everybody has something they are meant to do.

• It takes a different way of thinking to figure out what that is and master it
• When you can mix your passion with value for others, you can affect enormous amounts of people

Quote from H.G. Wells:

• “The test of greatness is this: what did that person leave to grow? By this test, Jesus stands first.”

Questions for Listeners

· Have you discovered your passion? How were you able to do so, and what are you doing with it?

o Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY

o E-Mail: [email protected]

o Facebook.com/AndyAndrews

o Twitter.com/AndyAndrews