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.
106- The Flowers and the Birds
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Today’s podcast is all about keeping it real. I’m going to keep it real, and I hope you do to. Okay, let’s start with a test. When I said that today’s episode title was called “The Flowers and the Birds” and then told you about Bernard the bumblebee, did you think that this would be another episode about my flowers? C’mon, be honest. Well, it’s not. Instead, it’s about stress.
Stress comes packaged in a lot of different varieties. For example, it comes by being unhappy with a job or relationship. It comes at the loss of income or sudden unexpected expense. It comes with unwanted health news. It even comes with good things like a new job, planning a wedding, the arrival of a baby, or planning a family vacation. The truth is, we can pretty much point a finger at anything and there’s probably a way that it could bring stress into our lives.
I wise woman once told me not to worry about the things we can control because we can control them and therefore need not worry about them. That person also told me not to worry about things we can’t control because they are out of our control and worrying about them will accomplish nothing. Having nothing left to worry about, then we can rest. Good advice, huh?
For the most part, I don’t consider myself a worryer or a stresser. But there are times when I get overwhelmed and start to stress out. I know that I should just let it go, but it’s hard. I want to know the end result. I want to be in control. I want to have security. And sometimes those things just aren’t made known to us. The truth is, even when I think I’m in control or know the future or have security, those are just false realities. They can be gone in a moment. Read More…
105- Friday Forum
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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, the first time I saw Forrest Gump I hated it so much I almost walked out of the theater, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I’m pleased to bring you another installment of the Friday Forum.
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Friday Forum
Today is the Friday Forum!! In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share contributions from Mike, Brett, and Angela. You can participate in Friday Forum by visiting our Feedback Page or calling our voice feedback line at 304-837-2278. Read More…
104- A Saint, a Friend, and a Vet
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When I was 9 my parents divorced. A few months later we moved to a small town of about 800 or so people. About a year after that we moved to a house on 5 acres about 2 miles outside of town. Our house was just off of historic Route 66 on the top of a hill. In the winter time we’d occasionally get enough snow to go sledding. There were plenty of kids nearby and we would sled down the snow covered dirt road behind our house.
After a couple of years, some of the other kids moved away and new folks moved in. A husband and wife named Mark and Donna moved into one of the houses. The house was nestled at an angle from the dirt road in front of it. The back of the house came right up to a thick grove but the rest of the property was wide open. The property was guarded by a white wooden rail fence with two open spaces to accommodate the circle drive. It had a large front yard with two aged elm trees in the middle of the drive. On the east side of the house was small barn that had been used as a horse pen by the previous owners and the horse pen opened up to a large field that the horses had called home.
Mark and Donna didn’t have horses, but they did have some large animals. They had two saint bernards, BeBe and CeCe.
Mark and Donna were a young couple, probably in their early 30’s. They had no kids. They were younger than my parents, and obviously older than me and my brothers. Mark was an active and athletic guy and they had a basketball goal. We had one too, but we spent a lot of time shooting hoops with Mark at his house.
Mark had a cool style about him. He was very encouraging and seemed to always be on the lookout to impart some wisdom. For example, one day while we were playing basketball, my brother lost control of the ball and it damaged his garage door. Mark said it was okay. Afterall, it was an accident, and just part of playing the game. A few weeks later my brother was horsing around and damaged Mark’s gutter. Mark got mad. He pointed out that damaging his stuff was fine when it wasn’t intentional or negligent, but damaging things out of foolishness was not acceptable. It was a good lesson for all of us to learn. Read More…
103- What’s Coming Around The Bend?
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At the ripe old age of 35 I think I know enough about life to know that I’m not fully in control. I am supposedly in control of my thoughts, actions, re-actions, and decisions. But the big question then becomes, why, when I look at my own life, could I not have accurately predicted any of it? Read more and listen to this episode…
102- A Teacher and a Storyteller
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I’ve been called a lot of things in my life: liar, trickster, talented, mean, ornery, arrogant, funny, rude, wise. I’ve also had many titles: manager, director, owner, father, husband, friend, worship leader, student, podcaster. However, over the last few months I’ve been called a couple of things that I didn’t necessarily expect: teacher and storyteller.
Teacher is not necessarily a word that has never been associated to my name before. I’ve done things like Bible classes at church, teach podcasting courses, and when I was in high school, I even had thoughts of becoming a teacher one day. However, teacher is not a word that would come to mind immediately if I were asked to describe myself.
The word storyteller is a word that I would never have associated with my name. In fact, it never had been associated with me until I started this podcast. Since I began this podcast on March 17, I’ve been called a storyteller at least a dozen times, if not twice that.
A few weeks ago we were having dinner with Clint my partner in crime for The Fringe Podcast and Almost Human Podcast, and his wife Mandy, who will soon be hosting this podcast alongside me and Derek. One of the many things we talked about that night was this podcast.
I mentioned that the word storyteller was starting to be applied to me and this podcast and that I thought it was odd. I mean, I very purposefully set out to teach lessons through stories with this podcast, so it does seem fitting, but still, odd. Why does it seem odd? Because I never really considered myself a storyteller, that’s why. Sure, I could define a storyteller by simply applying the term to anyone who tells stories. And suppose that if I did that, it wouldn’t be inaccurate. But I think of a storyteller as something greater than that. I think a storyteller is someone who has the ability to capture the attention of an audience and take them on a lyrical journey. I definitely don’t put myself in that category.
Still, I’ve been pondering these words and what they mean to me and how they manifest themselves in my life. I love these words, and I love that some think they are appropriate words to describe me. Read More…
101- Got to Admit It’s Getting Better
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We eat a Taco Bell a lot. It’s not my favorite place to eat by a long shot, but the rest of my family really loves it. It’s also cheap. A few weeks ago my son and I were out running some errands and we decided to stop in to Taco Bell for lunch. We went inside and there was only one person in line ahead of us.
Instead of the line advancing quickly, it. was. slow. The problem was with the cashier. It was clear that she was new. Maybe it was even her first day. The guy in front of me ordered something, and she couldn’t figure out how to put it into the register. She called the manager. The manager came right away and helped her put in the item to the register. She thanked the manager and he walked back to the kitchen area. The customer then ordered something else, and once again, she needed help. She once again called for the manager.
The manager came up right away and helped her. She fumbled around with all the buttons on the register but the manager very patiently helped guide her to the right sequence of buttons. She thanked him and he stepped back. This time he didn’t go back to the kitchen, he simply stepped back a few feet. It was far enough to make her feel like she was running the register on her own, but not so far that the customers didn’t feel like he was abandoning them. Read More…
100- Friday Forum
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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, my favorite number is 38, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I’m pleased to bring you another installment of the Friday Forum.
Today’s featured client is Jim Cumbee. Jim has over 25 years of experience buying and selling small business and uses that experience along with the knowledge he gained while getting his MBA from Harvard to each episode of his weekly podcast, Entrepreneur’s M & A Journal. Each week Jim interviews entrepreneur’s who have built their business up and sold it to a third party. They discuss the challenges and rewards of selling a business, provide unique insight to the listeners, and help educate those who are looking at a merger or acquisition. You can check out Entrepreneur’s M & A Journal at www.tnvalleygroup.com.
Friday Forum
Today is the Friday Forum!! In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a contribution from Don. You can participate in Friday Forum by visiting our Feedback Page or calling our voice feedback line at 304-837-2278. Read More…
099- Milestone Eve
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There is so much happening all around us every day. I regularly receive comments like, “I could never do that show because I don’t really learn that much.” Or, “I don’t know how you come up with so much stuff to talk about.” Honestly, it is a real challenge on some days, and other days, it just flows out and I’ll have ideas for 2 or 3 episodes all at once.
If you’re someone that thinks they aren’t learning anything, I’d like to challenge that. Maybe you aren’t the type to be able to put your life lessons into a story like I do. Maybe the stuff you’re learning doesn’t seem as inspiring, or important, or life changing as my stuff. I don’t know about that. Don’t sell yourself short.
What I’ve learned is that because I have put myself in a situation where I MUST come up with stuff to share with you, I’m a lot more aware of stuff around me. Literally everywhere I go, every conversation I have is now viewed through the lens of “what am I learning from this.” That’s not a bad thing.
Because I’m more focused on what I’m learning, I’m growing more and noticing more things that need attention in my life. I’m noticing others more. I mean, I’m seeing the needs of others, learning more by observation, and listening more.
So that’s my challenge to you. Maybe blogging is not your thing. Maybe podcasting is not your thing. That’s okay. Have you ever considered journaling? Grab a cheap notebook the next time you’re at the store and take a few minutes at the start or end of your day to reflect, meditate, and write down your thoughts. You’ll start noticing stuff you never realized that you noticed. You’ll grow at a faster pace because you’re more aware of stuff. And over time, you’ll see the growth rings of your life imprinted on those pages. Read More…
98- Living Your Own Life
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When I was in college I wanted to be a rock star. I was in a band and we were good. We toured around Oklahoma and Texas sometimes playing five shows a week. We had t-shirts, stickers, and two full length CDs. It was a lot of fun, even more work and yes, it got crazy every now and then.
I would do it all over again given the chance. Well, I wouldn’t do it again now, but if I had to re-live my younger years I totally would. Read More…
97- Not the Droids You’re Looking For
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A couple of weeks ago my family had dinner with a friend and his family. This is a friend that I worked with at my previous job. I hadn’t spoken with him since I’d left nearly 15 months prior. It was great to see him again. We talked about some of the current geeky movies, our thoughts on the upcoming FOX series, Gotham, and some of the creative projects he was working on on his own time.
Of course, it was only a matter of time before the conversation turned to the stuff happening at my former job.
Since the time that left, the company hired a new president. They were without a president when I left. When the previous president left, I started reporting to the director of operations. He was and is a great guy, but he didn’t have a lot of knowledge about what my department did. Remember what I told you about my last review back in episode 64? Here’s a recap:
At one point I was asked to make a list of ideas [by the previous president]. The ideas could be anything. They wanted ideas on how we could increase sales, improve efficiencies, serve our in-store customers better, serve our on-line customer better, improve the functionality of our website, do a better job with our marketing, you name it.
I was heading out on a business trip about that time so I spent that trip coming up with idea after idea. I wrote them all down in a notebook that I kept with me. By the time I returned I had over 100 ideas. I presented the ideas to the leadership of the company. The next year I was asked the same question. I thought it was odd because nearly none of my ideas had even been explored. I came up with a few more ideas, refined the first list of ideas, and presented another list of over 100 ideas.
A few months later I was given my annual review. One area that was specifically addressed was an area called creativity and ideas. On a scale of 0 to 5, I was given a score of 1. I was told that I had very few creative ideas and almost never shared ideas.
At one point in the conversation, my friend asked me if I remembered the list of ideas. He was one of about half a dozen people that had been given a copy of the list. Read More…