Leaning Toward Wisdom

I know, I've been a dog on a bone with this. Some might say, "You're beating a dead horse!" Maybe. And maybe that's the method to my madness in the past few episodes.

Do you know about the dead horse theory?

It's had a long-standing place in management lore. It goes like this, according to the Internet.

The “Dead Horse Theory” is a satirical metaphor that illustrates how some individuals, institutions, or nations handle obvious, unsolvable problems. Instead of accepting reality, they cling to justifying their actions.

The core idea is simple: if you realize you’re riding a dead horse, the most sensible thing to do is dismount and move on.

However, in practice, the opposite often happens. Instead of abandoning the dead horse, people take actions such as:

• Buying a new saddle for the horse.

• Improving the horse’s diet, despite it being dead.

• Changing the rider instead of addressing the real problem.

• Firing the horse caretaker and hiring someone new, hoping for a different outcome.

• Holding meetings to discuss ways to increase the dead horse’s speed.

• Creating committees or task forces to analyze the dead horse problem from every angle. These groups work for months, compile reports, and ultimately conclude the obvious: the horse is dead.

• Justifying efforts by comparing the horse to other similarly dead horses, concluding that the issue was a lack of training.

• Proposing training programs for the horse, which means increasing the budget.

• Redefining the concept of “dead” to convince themselves the horse still has potential.

The Lesson:

This theory highlights how many people and organizations prefer to deny reality, wasting time, resources, and effort on ineffective solutions instead of acknowledging the problem from the start and making smarter, more effective decisions.

Today, let's aim it at ourselves. Personally. Professionally. I encourage you to take it personally. Make it personal. Apply it. Learn from it. And lean toward wisdom.

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No notes today. No excuse. I'm just lazy today.

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When we learn that our behavior and choices belong entirely to us and are independent of what others do, it's the road less traveled to becoming a better person. Rare are the people who have made up their minds to behave like that, likely because it demands a willingness to suffer wrong and move on to do what's right. No matter what.

Self-discipline is at the heart of enduring suffering, sacrificing, exercising grace and gratitude. All hard things!

Easier things are becoming bitter, harboring resentment, and embracing a victim mentality. Hatred. Retribution. Payback. Those are all easy and require no self-control.

However, as is often the case, ease can be damaging over the long term. It makes us worse. It wrecks us. Refusing to put in the hard work of temperance ultimately comes at a high price over time.

Discipline sometimes has no involvement with others. For instance, about 3 weeks ago, I began mainly eating carnivore. I did it solely for myself, to feel better. I also hope to drop some unwanted weight, but that was secondary. Nobody else influenced my decision. I'm not doing it for anybody else. Self-discipline helps me improve my health and overall well-being.

Another area of self-discipline is spending. Since January, I've had some planned purchases to elevate my game as a content creator. Late last year, I made some purchases for items I've come to need. Much of it involves unsexing things, such as a network-attached storage (NAS) system that allows me to store large video files easily. I invested in a 4-bay device (that means I can load up four large hard drives that will work in unison). It wasn't cheap.

I also invested in some software and other tools necessary for my current role as a content creator, producing three different shows, including this one. I started this journey around 1999, so it's not how I started. I wouldn't recommend spending a lot of money to start producing online content. That phone you carry around every day will do the job. I recently encouraged a friend to use his phone and a $150 wireless microphone setup, along with a cheap selfie stick tripod device. It's a great way to start and can likely serve you well for years to come. Twenty-five years ago, that was NOT the case, so through the years, I've invested a significant amount of money in this craft. Until last year, that was all audio, too. New flash: audio is way cheaper than video! :D

Spending on anything can get out of control. It requires discipline to avoid spending, especially overspending. I've hit my limit - planned or otherwise. Okay, I've almost hit it. I've two items on my list that I still need to purchase, both of which are equipment-related. The most expensive of them is a computer hub so I can more efficiently connect everything to my computer instead of having three different smaller hubs. It's a device that wasn't previously available due to technological limitations.

After that, I'm intentionally hitting the PAUSE button on spending because I'm going into full-blown saving mode. I'm approaching this with intention, a plan, and self-discipline, just as I do with my diet.

Teddy Swims was on Q with Tom Powers, a CBC production. Here's the YouTube link.

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A few weeks ago, Megan Moroney was on The Bobby Bones Show. She's an emerging country music star touring with Kenny Chesney. I only know that because I've seen snippets of their shows on social media. Not knowing who she is or anything about her, I trolled through a short clip of Bobby Bones's interview with her. During the interview, Bobby asked her a question that prompted an answer we can all relate to, but here's a young lady who seems to be breaking through country music in a BIG way. But that's hardly the whole story.

For Megan, it was country music. For me, it's currently two things: learning to play the guitar and starting a carnivore diet.

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Thanks for watching. If you choose to listen, thanks for that, too. Other than that, I've got nothing. The show speaks for itself. But here are the links I mentioned (and promised to share): LetTheBibleSpeak.tv

https://hotspringsvillageinsideout.com/a-champion-bull-rider-who-loves-to-cut-hair/

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I apologize for being absent lately. Let me explain.

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He asks me, "How do you measure success?"

I have questions before I answer.

"Success in what?"

"Sales success is easy to measure. Serenity, not so much."

Turns out he was focused on how I viewed MY success in general.

Part of the challenge of measuring or defining success is the common disease of comparisonitis.

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It doesn't mean you're to blame. It means you accept responsibility for yourself—for your choices, decisions, behavior, reactions, feelings—and all the rest. I've yet to discover a downside.

Mentioned in today's show:

VIA Survey

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All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things by Robert Fulghum was published in 1986. It was quite the rage because it was filled with commonsense life maxims. I read it and appreciated the author's point that even children can (and should) learn how to behave toward others.

We are almost 40 years later, and it seems like a prehistoric work of fiction. When I purchased this book, I had yet to turn 30. I had two small children and a wife I'd been married to for about nine years. Back then, the content was much less remarkable than it is today.

I appreciated Mr. Fulghum's sentiment that kindness and courtesy are behaviors he learned as a small child, but that was then and now. When Fulghum grew up, parents trained children by providing guard rails, forbidding certain misbehavior, and encouraging proper behaviors. That's much less visible today.

When I first read the book, I quickly realized that kindergarten didn't teach me these things, but my parents and older folks did. Increasingly, I realized they weren't teaching me some arbitrary rules they had constructed. Their training manual wasn't a book by some doctor or psychologist. They were using the Bible, the Word of God.

The book focuses on fundamentals, such as the " golden rule," which originated in God's mind.

John 13:34-35

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another".

Matthew 7:12

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

I learned that at home while reading the Bible. I also learned it by attending worship services every Sunday, a day that was (and still is) referred to as "the Lord's Day." Of course, every day belongs to the Lord, but the day of worship is unique and set apart for public worship.

Hebrews 10:25

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day (of worship, Sunday) approaching."

As an old man, I reflect on my training, and I've remained true to it because it was always based on the ultimate authority, God, and the Savior of all mankind, Jesus Christ. It wasn't just a group of old people who littered my life, nor was it just my mom or dad imposing their will. It was a pattern for living, trained into me by these people who loved me and wanted only my best.

Over the years, I've leaned hard on the precepts and principles of my training and continued it. It didn't stop when I turned 18 or 21.

The truth is, I made more dedicated, conscious efforts after I became an adult. I spent more hours studying and conversing with older mentors who continued my training. The foundation had been set, but the building didn't begin until I was an adult, out on my own. That's the litmus test for convictions - when you're on your own, no longer under the thumb of anybody else, and free to choose for yourself. When that time comes, what will you do? How will you behave?

Honesty, truth, kindness, courtesy (and much more) were instilled when I was a child, but as an adult, many no longer make those choices. We justify our poor behavior, choosing to be victims of others or circumstances we don't think we deserve.

I first saw deception at work on a stereo store showroom floor during my teen years. If a shopper was lied to about a piece of gear they considered, they might buy it. If you told the truth, they might not. My training and my conscience wouldn't let that happen. It became easier when I realized that telling the truth worked better than telling the lies I knew others were telling. It turns out that the truth always works best.

Personality and communication play a role, but the truth and doing what's right aren't subjective to either one. I've learned that some people struggle to communicate clearly, while others overcommunicate. Some need more public adoration and attention, while others don't want it at all. Everybody has the God-given obligation to behave in ways that please God, and these are the ways taught to all of us in scripture.

I was 27 when I first formed my business philosophy.

I've always been prone to candor. Telling it as accurately and honestly as I can. It's helped me avoid confusion that otherwise may have occurred. For instance, in every business dealing, I abhor ambiguity. I abhor it in my personal life because I've seen much misunderstanding result from people who lack the courage (or whatever it may require) to say what they want, what they require, and what they'll accept.

Even with explicit candor, people can still remember things the way they think they should have been. Years ago, while talking with an old businessman who was retelling a story whose facts I knew, I challenged his recollection. It didn't happen as he said it did. When I confronted him, he said, "Well, I remember it the way it should have been." His recollection made him the hero that he never was. Our minds can fool us into such conclusions. But we're still wrong.

Honesty is hard if it's not your habit. It's harder still if you've not been trained to exercise it. Without fear or compromise.

Competence demands work and commitment. I believe it's also a Bible-based principle.

Colossians 3:23-24

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

The Bible contains many stories and illustrations of people dedicated to their work or servitude. I sought to be the best employee, boss, and cohort possible—not because everybody always deserved it but because I was attempting to serve God through Christ.

I've devoted countless days to achieving greater competence. History will judge whether I succeeded.

Giving more, like all the rest of this, is not negotiable. This has been a thorn in the side of others in many business situations because I've always begun every business relationship by focusing on how I might benefit the other person. It's my worldview. They need to benefit before I can think about what I want. It's God-centered, but it also feels especially good to me.

Simultaneously, within this business philosophy, I also formed my own definition of leadership. While studying the Bible more, I also studied leadership and business more. I defined leadership as: a) influencing others to improve, b) doing for others what they can't do for themselves and c) a focus on others (which turns out is the definition of compassion).

I don't find it difficult to give more, but I've had cohorts over the years who did. My behavior wasn't driven by being altruistic. It was driven by faith, conviction, and doing what's right. I quickly realized it was a competitive edge, but that wasn't the point. Have I left profits, revenues, or anything else on the table? In other words, have I failed to maximize all I might have been able to get? Sure. And I'm good with it. It feels good to be because it's right.

Make it right. Fix it. Apologize where necessary. But don't just say you're sorry, actually change. The Bible calls it repentance. It's making up your mind to change. Stop doing whatever you're doing that's harmful (to yourself and others), and start doing better.

Lip service is easy. That's why the bad husband can apologize to his wife, but nothing changes. He continues to mistreat her, selfishly patching things up because he's the most important person in the world. Repentance is hard but worthwhile. It demands self-sacrifice, which is the hardest part.

I've learned not to enable poor behavior. My own or others.

As a young leader, I was offered a position at a specified pay rate. After a small bit of negotiation, I agreed. I was an employee. Over time, I discovered I had made an unfavorable deal compared to my co-workers. I was underpaid. At first, I was angry, but a mentor taught me not to be angry because I had agreed. He reminded me of the Lord's parable of Matthew 20.

1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.

2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.

5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.

6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?

7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.

8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.

9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.

10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.

11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,

12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?

14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.

15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?

I immediately felt guilty because I realized I was the whiny wo

I posted this on social media a few days ago.

It's easy to desire improvement, but it's hard to change our habits to bring about improvement.

Each year begins with the hope that 2025 will be better than 2024. Maybe it will. Maybe not.

Our habits are going to determine it.

These 2 sentences are true. Life bears witness to their validity.

Links mentioned in today's show:

• In Thy Paths, a YouTube playlist of sermons

• A TV segment about why most New Year resolutions fail

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