There are so many people in the world, and with that comes so many opinions and voices. While it is important to take in the words and opinions of those close to us, sometimes those voices drown out our own thoughts and our own voice. What differentiates the important voices from the unimportant ones? Well, it depends on the voices we give power to, and the voices that we give the most power to become the loudest voices in our lives. In this episode, I discuss the importance of recognizing the loudest voices in our own lives. 

This episode discusses dealing with failures, setbacks, and losses. Failure grows us in ways that winning doesn't, it prepares us in ways that success can't, and it pushes us in ways that we could never imagine. Changing the way you view failure is a skill, and I believe that failure doesn't always have to be your enemy, but it can be your friend. 

This episode discusses the importance of just getting started. Often times we don't move on an idea or put ourselves out there until we've developed the perfect plan -- which doesn't even exist. Instead of worrying about all the situations that could arise, all the things that could go wrong, and stressing about things that are very unlikely to happen, why don't we just focus on taking that first step? Fear can protect us, but it can also be our greatest enemy. I encourage you to take that first step, to put yourself out there, and to simply just begin, because no matter what you do, you've gotta start somewhere. 

This episode covers what I consider one of the most important yet difficult things to do; protecting your peace. Protecting your peace requires you to respect yourself enough to establish boundaries and demand that those boundaries are respected by those around you. It is something that not only allows you to the best version of yourself, but it helps in all of your other relationships as well. There are many different ways you can protect your peace, and this episode covers what I believe are some of the fundamental ways you can do so. 

On January 26th, 2020, the world lost Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gigi, and 7 other people that were dearly loved by those around him. Growing up, Kobe and LeBron were my two favorite athletes. The previous generation had Michael Jordan, but Kobe Bryant was the MJ of our generation. I don't have many people that I consider 'heroes,' but Kobe was definitely one of them. The only time I've ever shed a tear for the death of someone I didn't know personally, was when Kobe died. The memory of Kobe has been on my mind a lot over the last year, and that inspired me to share what his career, life, and legacy meant to me.

Today's episode focuses on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and takes a deeper look at who he was, and what he stood for. Often times MLK's legacy is white-washed and minimized to his "I Have a Dream" speech and the fact that he led non-violent protests during the Civil Rights movement. Although he does deserve recognition for those things, they don't quite entirely encapsulate his legacy. In order to give our audience a deeper understanding of MLK, we talk about some of his lesser-known quotes that give us a better understanding of him and his legacy. 

This episode features my good friend Jacob Gerstman. In this episode we talk about the short film that we had worked on over the last 7 months; A Better America. The film was released on 1/11/21 on his YouTube channel "Gerstman Films" and my Instagram podcast account @realtalkoywak. In this episode we uncover how this short film came to be, our emotions through the process, things that we learned, things that we overcame, and so many other topics. The film was a grind, but now that it's in the rearview, we decided it was a great time to reflect on the journey.

This episode reflects on the year 2020 and also covers topics such as setting goals and New Year's resolutions. 2020 was a hard year for so many people across the globe, as we dealt with a pandemic among many other things. However, not all the issues of 2020 will suddenly disappear in 2021 unfortunately. With 2020 just about in the rearview, although 2021 will bring problems of its own, it's time to start looking forward and focusing on what is next. 

This episode features my first guest and a good friend of mine since middle school -- my boy Jaylin Booker. Jaylin is one of the nicest and most genuine people I've ever met and he always has something good to say. In this episode we talk about the importance of being thankful in relation to different areas of life, and how it changes the way we live. 

This episode is an anomaly as it is the first and probably last episode where I'll discuss politics for an episode for the next 4 years. I discuss my many different emotions and feelings post-election around many different areas. I had initially had an idea of the direction I wanted to go, and I intended for this episode to be a little more organized, however, sometimes things don't go quite as planned.