Stuff I Learned Yesterday
About Stuff I Learned Yesterday
Stuff I Learned Yesterday is a podcast that aims to encourage, inspire, challenge, motivate, and improve the lives of those who listen to it. Stuff I Learned Yesterday is released each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Each episode ranges from 5-15 minutes long and contain short stories based on real events and lessons learned by the hosts. Friday episodes are called the Friday Forum and are filled with inspirational and motivational thoughts submitted by Stuff I Learned Yesterday listeners. Submit your story for a Friday Forum episode by calling 304-837-2278, visiting our feedback page, or click on the Send a Voice Message button on the left hand side of this page.
411- DeChristmasifinication
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As I write this we’re in the process of deChristmasifinication—a term I made up several years ago to describe the arduous process of putting (placing, cramming) all of the Christmas decorations back in their eleven-month storage spot. In my house our stuff takes up an amazing amount of space and every year I’m both happy and sad to see it all go.Read More…
410- The Power of Music
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Music may not be the central focus of your life. But if you stop and think about it you will realize the power of music has a huge impact in your life. Our lives don’t have an epic John Williams, Hans Zimmer, or Bear McCreary soundtrack playing as we go about our lives. Or does it? Read more…
409- Small Gesture, Big Impact
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It takes only a small gesture to positively influence your own or someone else’s life – just changing your hot cocoa mug to a different color can make your enjoyment of an already delicious beverage even sweeter. Well, during a very normal conversation in my car recently, something equally small really made me stop and think.
It was early afternoon on a Thursday. I had just picked up my daughter, Lila, who’s in second grade, from her elementary school, and as we often do on our drive home, we were talking about the highlights of the day. In between all the discussions of the fun she had in technology class and what games she played during recess, Lila announced with a great amount of enthusiasm, “Mom put a raspberry in with my blackberries in my lunchbox!”
Now my wife is always very careful to pack Lila nutritious things in her lunch, but the fruits are pretty much interchangeable depending on what’s seasonal and available at the grocery store. Lila enjoys raspberries and blackberries equally; in fact, blackberries might have a slight edge in her order of fruit preferences. So why would one red raspberry sitting atop her container of blackberries cause such a moment of happiness? Read more…
408- When the Odds Are Not in Your Favor
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Today’s episode will be a bit different. Rather than share a story of a lesson from my own life, I’m having a conversation with my 11 year old son, Colby. His team won the state academic championship over the weekend, but had to overcome some significant hurdles while doing it.
I was really inspired by not only the positivity and resilience of the team of 6th graders, but I was also inspired by the actions of their coach. What was Colby thinking throughout the whole day? Did he lose focus or confidence? Did he give up or think they were going to lose? What did he learn during the process? Let’s find out! Read More…
407- Friday Forum
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Today is the Friday Forum!! In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a contribution from Bonita. Bonita shares lessons she’s learning about parenting as one of her children becomes an adult. You can participate in the Friday Forum by visiting our Feedback Page or calling our voice feedback line at 304-837-2278. Read More…
406- Starting Right
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Starting right is important. Frank Herbert’s “Dune” beginning saying “A beginning is a very delicate time.” Much rides on how we start things, but we must start. So how do we focus on starting right? Read more…
405- Bite Size Pieces
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Have you ever been confronted with a monumental task that you’ve procrastinated on for so long that as more time passes, the job keeps getting bigger and bigger? Perhaps you have a backlog in your filing at work, or maybe you have a dripping faucet that you just haven’t gotten around to fixing, or you’re dreading the prospect of having to call a plumber. Perhaps you’ve let the bills pile up and some of them are past due, and you can’t seem to get ahead of the deadlines, making the financial burden worse than it would have been.
The stress of an unfinished project can be paralyzing, and the obstacles in your way are as varied as the examples I just listed. Sometimes, your schedule is just so busy you don’t know when you’re going to find the time to tackle the task. Other times, money is the issue, and timing things in your monthly budget would require an MBA. But most of the time it’s just the sheer magnitude of what you’re trying to confront that becomes too daunting to mentally get past. You want to knock out the entire task and be done with it, but it’s just too darn BIG! Read more…
404- The Freedom of Minimalism
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When I married Derek, we ended up having a lot of duplicate stuff, as many newly married couples do. Now, Derek is a self-proclaimed minimiliist. He used to take pride in saying that he only has three shirts. Clutter was the worst thing in the world to him. So when we got married, we ended up getting rid of some of my stuff, which was hard, but I still held on to quite a bit. Eventually, we planned on taking an epic road trip across the county in a travel trailer. And somehow we came to the decision that we should get rid of half of our stuff before taking off. I agreed, but I didn’t know how I was going to handle it emotionally. Read More…
403- Finding Success in Systems
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A few weeks ago I got an email from a local friend of mine who needed some help with a project. They are going to be relocating their office this year, and he wanted some help figuring out how to properly record in their new space which will have a classroom space for training seminars and workshops. He invited me to join him at the location of another local company that has a similar setup, and will in all likelihood be sharing some of the new office space with him.
I happily joined him and looked forward to seeing how I could help them, spending some time hanging out with my friend, and learning a few things during the workshop that was being presented. Read More…
402- Friday Forum
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Today is the Friday Forum!! In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a contribution from Jason. Jason shares a story about breaking through fear and learning from constructive feedback. You can participate in the Friday Forum by visiting our Feedback Page or calling our voice feedback line at 304-837-2278. Read More…