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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, I was born 6 weeks early and weighed in at 4lbs 1.5oz, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I’ll share stuff I’ve learned from a month of doing Stuff I Learned Yesterday.
Friday Forum
Tomorrow is the Friday Forum and I am very pleased to announce that it will be an all female episode! Go ahead and send in your contribution for next week’s Friday Forum by calling and leaving a message at 304-837-2278, emailing an audio file to feedback@goldenspiralmedia.com, or clicking on the Send Voicemail tab on my website, GoldenSpiralMedia.com.
What I Learned Yesterday:
I want to start this episode by revisiting an episode from earlier this week. Monday’s episode, titled “The Journey From Crippled to Courageous” received some of the best feedback and responses of any episode so far. However, it also received the most critical feedback so far. Don’t get me wrong, the email I received was written with a tone of love and respect. I was in no way offended by the email, nor do I think the email was out of line. The author of the email pointed out that my choice of the word crippled could be interpreted in a way that I never intended. If my use of that word made you feel inferior, broken, like less than a person, or incomplete, I offer you my most humble and sincere apology. I chose that word because it was a word that Emilee was comfortable with and since it was a story about her, I never really considered it beyond that context. I learned that I need to be more mindful of those types of things in the future. It is never my intention to hurt or tear down anyone during the course of this podcast and if I did that to you, please forgive me.
Now on to today’s episode.
Time really flies when you’re having fun, right? The first episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday was released on March 17, so that means that today marks the one month anniversary of Stuff I Learned Yesterday. This last month has been one of the most challenging and rewarding that I’ve had both personally and professionally. I’ve learned a lot about myself and some of you in the process. I don’t anticipate that I’ll do this type of retrospective episode every month, but I do think there is value in taking time to reflect. I’ll probably take time to reflect when I reach certain milestones like my 100th episode, 1 year anniversary, etc.
While Stuff I Learned Yesterday has the smallest audience size of any podcast I’ve ever done, it has already become one of the most rewarding podcasts for me. In case you’re wondering, Stuff I Learned Yesterday is the 8th podcast that Golden Spiral Media has done. Portable Orchard will likely not be coming back anytime soon, The Revolution Podcast and Almost Human Podcast will continue as long as NBC and FOX keep airing new episodes of those shows. Cutting the Cable may be making a comeback this summer. I’m currently looking at options for summer shows, and some of those options could involve bringing it back. Triplecast is currently being reworked as two new hosts are taking the helm. Some of you might be excited that some new outlines have been drawn up for new dadhacker episodes, so keep your fingers crossed that dadhacker will come back soon. The remaining show is, of course, The Fringe Podcast.
The Fringe Podcast was rewarding in many ways. It is the show that brought most of us together. Many online and in-person friendships were formed because of The Fringe Podcast. As much as I love Fringe and enjoyed talking about it over the course of 5 seasons, the relationships I formed with the podcast listeners will always be my very favorite thing.
But Stuff I Learned Yesterday has already done something that The Fringe Podcast did not, and probably could not. It has allowed me to share my life with each of you in a very personal way, and in doing so, allowed you to share your life with me too. The relationships that are forming through the conversations of this podcast are very special to me.
When I decided to do this podcast I knew that I was taking a risk. I knew that sharing my life in this way would open me up to possible failure and criticism that I’ve never experienced. I knew that it may turn out that no one cares what I have to say unless it’s about a TV show or a movie. However, I also knew that it had a chance to bring our community closer and help each of us grow. That was my goal, and so far, I think that’s what’s happening.
Here are some of the comments I’ve received so far:
I have listened to Golden Spiral Media podcasts since they started podcasting about Fringe BEFORE the show had even aired. I wasn’t sure if I was going to listen to this podcast, since it wasn’t about a television show, movies or technology. And, it took me up to SILY Episode 19-I’m Glad You Like the Shirt On My Back to even listen to one. I have since listened to all the SILY episodes, although not all at once, because I wanted to think about them and give each one the time I thought they deserved. I have grown to truly appreciate the SILY podcasts. The older I get, the more I realize that I want to work everyday to be a better person, father and husband (son, brother, et al) and I feel that this podcast helps in a small way. My wife and I have tried to teach our kids to be thoughtful, mindful and self aware and I find that I can share most if the SILY podcasts with them and have discussions about them.
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I will admit I was ready NOT to like this podcast. I thought it might end up being too sappy or have too many religious overtones. But Darrell has managed to strike the perfect balance of inspiration, storytelling, and that indefinable personal touch that makes this short format, daily testimonial perfect for my drive into work. I’ve learned a lot from what he has shared so far and plan to implement many of his ideas in my own life and career.
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I was a huge fan of Darrell’s work on the Revolution podcast so I decided to give this one a shot too. Darrell’s personal insights and anecdotes as well as his positive attitude have truly enriched my days since I have been listening. As a fan of the works and insights of motivational leaders like Zig Ziglar and John Maxwell, I think Darrell is going to make a huge impact with this podcast – he already has for me.
In addition to learning more about many of you and building deeper relationships this last month, I’ve learned a few other things. I’ve learned that doing a daily podcast is even harder than I thought it would be. It takes me much longer to create each episode that I calculated that it would. This has caused me to struggle with my other responsibilities and it’s been a challenge on some days to get the episode out. Honestly, at some point I may make Stuff I Learned Yesterday into a Monday, Wednesday, Friday podcast, but for now, I’m keeping it a daily show.
I’ve learned that something that seems like a good idea at first, may not be such a good idea after all. Before I ever recorded a single episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday, I composed a list of over 30 ideas or topics for episodes. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked over that list and thought, “what was I thinking?”
I’ve learned that inspiration is everywhere. There have been several days when I’ve gotten out of bed with no idea what that day’s episode would be about. On many of those days I would look at my list of ideas and it would be one of those, “what was I thinking” days. But as you know, every weekday since I launched has had an episode. Inspiration has come from some of you, from my kids, strangers on the street, dreams, moments of quiet reflection, reading the Bible, sermons at church, and internet videos.
Now here’s the lesson that I want to leave you with today. If I’d known how challenging it would be to do this podcast everyday, I honestly might have put it off longer or maybe not even done it. But if I would have done that, I would have robbed myself of the rewards that this last month has brought me. The truth is, the best things in life aren’t free and they don’t come without hard work in sacrifice. If you’re a parent then you would agree that kids are absolutely one of the most rewarding things in the world, but parenting is also extremely challenging. I think the struggles help us appreciate the rewards that much more.
Don’t let fear or insecurity keep you from life’s rewarding moments. Maybe you’ve been procrastinating on a project or perhaps you’ve been planning something and unwilling to start until you’ve figured out every single detail. You’ll never have every single detail figured out. Take the leap, push that boat away from the dock, and start your adventure today.
I’m Darrell Darnell and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
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