Stuff I Learned Yesterday

For as long as I can remember, I’ve admired the way my dad has the ability to create with his hands. Some of my earliest memories involve interacting with his creations. My dad was a carpet layer, and a good one at that. He drove a full-size fan, and it only had seating of the two front captain’s chairs. The rear cargo area of the van was completely covered in carpet that dad installed himself. On the driver’s side of the cargo area was a large tool chest made of plywood and covered in carpet. It housed the tools of the trade when they weren’t in use. Our house featured other handy works of his including a locking gun cabinet and a cedar chest. Even the paddle he spanked us with when we got in trouble was something he’d hand-made. Read More...

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Walking home from school discussing the flagpole moment that would live in infamy, Ralphie, Flick and Schwartz relived the triple dog dare moment as Randy toddled behind them. And then, they heard the laugh of Scut Farkus. Scut and his toad henchman, Grover Dill, yelled at, intimidated, and twisted the arms of the boys until the boys ran away, screaming for their lives.

I’m sure most, if not all of you have seen this scene from the movie, “A Christmas Story.” Later in the movie a dejected Ralphie has enough when Scut blindsides him with a snowball to the face. Ralphie transfers all his pent up disappointment and frustration into his fists, and Scut’s face becomes the recipient of all that fury. Scut had it coming, and you can’t help but smile at the bully getting what he deserved. Read More...

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A curious boy once asked a wise owl how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop. The owl opted to conduct an experiment to determine the number. One…Two…Three…crunch! Three, the owl declared. In the longer version of this famous commercial, the cow, fox, and turtle all confessed they’d never been able to make it to the center without biting it, and clearly the owl had no more patience than the other animals when it came to enjoying the sweet taste of a Tootsie Roll Pop.

Unfortunately for me, purchasing a car from Georgia and having it shipped to Oklahoma is a process that cannot be sped up by biting. That beautiful flame red classic would eventually find its way to my garage, and regardless of my level of patience, I had no choice but to wait. Read More...

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I could feel the wind jostling my hair. It wasn’t the kind of wind that knocks you back, but it was there letting me know that at that height, there was nothing to obstruct it. Behind me I heard the words of my friends Charles and James cheering me on. When I took the first step that would eventually lead me to this place, my heart was full of courage and confidence. The obstacle seemed small, the danger non-existent. But now I’d come to the end of my journey. My perspective had changed. I’d signed the waiver, strapped on the harness, climbed the seemingly endless flights of stairs, and fastened myself to an umbilical cord of rubber bands. Staring down at the parking lot below, the airbag that would break my fall in case of failure now seemed a lot smaller. For that matter, the trees, cars, buildings, people...everything seemed smaller. There was nothing left to do but trust all the processes and people who’d helped me get to this point, to lean on the experience of those who’d walked this path before, and see for myself whether or not the bungee cord would hold. Read More...

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When I was 5 years old my parents bought me a Mighty Tonka Off Road Adventure Buggy. The Tonka Adventure buggy looked something like a Ford Bronco of the era. It was about 14 inches long and about 8 inches high with large wheels. It was great for playing in the dirt, and turned my backyard into an off road race track. I’d stand behind the Tonka, lean down and put my hands on top of it, and push it while running laps around the yard. In my mind I was at the wheel of a life-sized 4x4. It’s my first memory of loving a car. Read More...

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Tucked away at The Factory at Franklin sitting at the table farthest from the door, there I sat listening to Cliff talk about goals and limiting beliefs. After teaching on these topics for a while he instructed us to turn to a blank page in our workbook and number it 1 through 25 down the left hand side of the page. He then gave us 10 or 15 minutes to fill out all 25 places with things that we wanted in our life 5-10 years from now.

Last week I asked you to perform this exercise, except I only asked you to come up with 20 things. How did it go? If you were like me, you came charging out of the gate like a racehorse at the Kentucky derby, only to run out of steam when I came to the back stretch. In this exercise, I only came up with 11 things. Here they are: Read More...

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In March of this year I brought back Stuff I Learned yesterday after being on hiatus for over 4 years. I had a burning desire to share the story arc that comprised all of last season. For some of you that listened to the original run of Stuff I Learned Yesterday, several of the stories shared last season were familiar because I’d shared them in some capacity on previous episodes of SILY. I shared them again and in more detail because I felt it was important to tell the whole story as an arc.

This season will be taking a similar approach in format. That is, the entire season is one continuous story, with each episode being a story within the larger story. Last season was titled, “The Dream,” and this season is called, “The Car.” Read More...

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When I first had the idea for what would eventually become last season’s episodes of Stuff I Learned Yesterday, it wasn’t so I could share the story on SILY. What is now collectively known as “The Dream” season of Stuff I Learned Yesterday started as a yearning to share my story from the stage. In the fall of 2018 I attended a conference called Free the Dream which you’ll hear more about starting with the new season next week. After that conference I felt compelled to share my story and inquired about the possibility of being a speaker at the next year’s conference. However, I was not approved to be a speaker for that conference.  Read More...

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As I mentioned last week, I just started my ninth year as a full-time entrepreneur. I also said that it wasn’t my dream until it was my dream. We’ve spent this entire season looking at my dreams. We started when I was in high school and visited several dreams along the way. So how about you? What’s your dream? I’m serious I want to know. Not sure? Hit the pause button and give it some thought. If you can, close your eyes, clear your mind. Allow your mind to wander and think. Don’t restrict yourself. Don’t tell yourself anything is too silly or too big. Don’t say you’re not smart enough or you don’t have...whatever. Don’t shut yourself down. This is a judgement free exercise, and that means no judging yourself. I mean it. NO JUDGING! Now, hit that pause button and let your mind wander until you’re uncomfortable, and then wander some more. I’ll wait. When you’re ready, hit play. Read More...

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Eight weeks have passed since we started this season. The name of that first episode was called Birth of a Dream. That dream was to one day be an animator for Warner Brothers. I then killed that dream and then had no dream for the next few years. Then, after working at the bookstore long enough to see all the opportunities, I dreamed of becoming a buyer within that company. A few years later, I achieved that dream, only to have it smashed when I was fired from it 18 months later. Read More...

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