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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, half of my Final Four teams got eliminated during the first week of the NCAA tournament, and I believe if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share more stuff I’ve learned over the last year of hosting Stuff I Learned Yesterday.
Today’s Fun Fact of the Day is: The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.
Before I go on I want to again take a moment to thank every one of you that helped get Stuff I Learned Yesterday, Arrow Squad and The Blacklist Exposed nominated for a 2015 Podcast Award. It’s incredible that we have three Golden Spiral Media podcasts in the running this year and I’m very humbled to be listed amongst so many other great shows.
Now we need your help with the voting. The way it works is you get to cast your vote once per day, through March 24th. After voting, you may get an email asking you to verify your vote. If you do, just follow the instructions in the email. To cast your vote visit podcastawards.com. We ask that you select Stuff I Learned Yesterday from the General Category, Arrow Squad from the Best Produced category and The Blacklist Exposed from the Entertainment category. You can choose your favorite shows from the other categories if you like as well. Then fill out your name and email at the bottom of the page and press submit. That’s all there is to it. Until the next day, that is, when we ask you to do it again. So enlist your family and friends and get them voting each day as well. With your help GSM could take home these coveted awards. Now back to our regularly scheduled podcast.
Friday Forum
I want you to be a part of the Friday Forum! Friday Forum is your opportunity to Share what YOU’VE learned, so that other listeners and I can learn from YOU. It can be a message as short as 30 seconds or several minutes long. It really doesn’t matter just as long as it’s something that will benefit others. You can participate in Friday Forum by visiting our Feedback Page or calling our voice feedback line at 304-837-2278.
What I Learned Yesterday:
If you’re one of the listeners that has been listening to Golden Spiral Media podcasts since our early days and The Fringe Podcast, then you may know about a running joke we had where I often informed my co-host that I don’t watch a lot of movies. I watch more now that I once did, but I’m still not one to spend a lot of time watching movies. For example, even though I’ve seen a few clips here and there, I had never seen Dead Poets Society until this last weekend. I know. I must live under a rock.
If you’re like me and you’ve never seen it, I highly recommend it. In fact, I think it will be one that I’ll try to watch fairly regularly.
The movie really struck a chord with me in a lot of ways, most of which I won’t get into today. The movie centers around an all boys prep school and their english teacher who is played by Robin Williams. He encourages the boys to be bold, be free to avoid the status quo, follow their dreams, and take advantage of each day while they still can.
There’s so much great wisdom that he is imparting to the boys all through the movie. I had a high school english teacher that was very similar. You’ve heard me talk about him a few times, most recently in episode 246 where I helped him put a new top on his Jeep in the middle of winter.
In spite of his influence and other great people in my life, when I left high school and headed out to college, I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. I thought I did, but it was just a fantasy. I thought I wanted to be an artist and animate cartoons for Warner Brothers. I say that it was a fantasy because I was basing it on my love for doodling. I’d never taken a formal art class and never been graded on my work. I’d never had to do art as an assignment. Once I got to college and started taking art classes, I knew immediately that my future was not in art. I hated it. It wasn’t fun at all.
So once my art dream fizzled up, I literally had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. I started putting all my focus on working my way up the ladder at the bookstore, and it took me nearly 20 years to get to a point where I had an idea of what I wanted to do.
In the intro to today’s episode I said that I’d be telling you about stuff I’ve learned over the last year of hosting Stuff I Learned Yesterday, so you may be wondering where I’m going with this.
Well, here’ what I’ve learned.
Over the last year, I’ve met some amazing people…YOU! Now, I know that I haven’t met most of you in person, but I feel like I’ve met many of you by way of your emails and voicemails, or by chatting with you over in our Facebook group.
You all are so encouraging and inspiring to me. When my 37 year old self decided to quit the job I’d worked at for nearly 20 years, I did so because I wanted something more than what I had at my corporate job. I wanted to be able to call my own shots, follow my own ideas, do the things that I felt mattered most. I wanted to have the freedom and flexibility to do the things that I thought would make the biggest impact.
I’ve never been happier. I’ve also never worked more hours and never been more stressed financially. But I love what I get to do. As I’ve shared my journey with you over the last year, you’ve had a front row seat to all the ups and downs of my entrepreneurial journey.
I’ve learned that by sharing my life with you and being honest about my life, that I’ve provided inspiration for many of you. At the beginning of the year, I encouraged you to send in your goals for 2015. Here’s what you sent me:
- Barb- Find someone who is a caregiver and encourage them and help them find a way to take a break to do something they love with those they love
- Faith- Finish 2 written pieces. Journal once a week. Cook a new dish every month. Walk 350 miles. Clean one space per month. Read 20 books. Take a class. Get 10 clients by 1 year anniversary.
- Justina- Eat more responsibly. Do exercises. Contribute more to GSM.
- Jeremy- Contribute to GSM shows.
- Yogabon- Make a Friday Forum submission each month.
- George- Save up for 15th anniversary vacation, – Get to my weight lifting goals this year. (Which are very attainable at this point), Meditate at least 6 days a week, Go to an isolation tank once every two months at least, And try to take more of a “What the hell let’s do it anyway” mentality.
- Davia- save $1000, pay off debt to Grace, loose weight (approx 35lbs), get down to 180lbs, become more social/ vocal/ get out more, read a book, check off items on to-do-list, FOLLOW THROUGH.
- Geoff- Pray more consistently and focused, cherish God’s word and serve his people, Learn-experience-and share more freely, write more.
- Ben- Read the NT twice, write a weekly newsletter, launch WDW Ride Guide by end of Feb, Run 400 miles, cook dinner for wife 1x per week.
- Jess- Eat healthier and exercise more.
- Therissa- Become more focused at work. Make informed choices about daughter’s education. Maintain and advance martial arts practice.
- Bryce- Minimize my jobs. Read scripture everyday. Seek ways to love my wife fresh and new each day.
- Scott- Set a date for retirement. Lost at least 30 pounds. Reboot my eating habits. 5 Take a more active part in the SILY community.
I’m not mentioning these things so that I can take credit for any of the progress or accomplishments that I’ve just mentioned. You all are the ones that get credit for that. I mention them because each one of you…yes YOU, have within you the ability to inspire someone.
Inspiration is powerful, isn’t it? Inspiration is like a mighty river that brings life to the world around us. Mark was inspired to podcast because of me. I was inspired to podcast because of Cliff Ravenscraft. Cliff was inspired to podcast because of Leo Laporte. Inspiration that started with Leo trickled to others…MANY others. I can’t even begin to count the number of people who have been inspired by Cliff. His influence is tremendous.
So I’ve learned to seize the day. Don’t put off tomorrow what can be done today. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow.
What is it you want to do? DO IT! You never know who you’ll inspire. You never know what the impact will be. You’ll never know who will be inspired 10 years from now because of what you start today.
I know it can be scary. I know it can be hard. Don’t worry about all the details. Figure out the first step, and take it. The world will be glad you did.
I’m Darrell Darnell and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
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