There is a good chance that your partner is not a lot taller or shorter than you are. People seem to be attracted to people who are of a similar height but it is not for the reasons you might think. This episode begins with a fascinating explanation of how height is involved in mate selection. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3408829/Size-DOES-matter-Choosingpartners-similar-height-genes-researchers-say.html)
Despite the emphasis on eating natural, healthy and organic foods, we still eat a lot of processed foods. In fact, some of the bestselling foods are things like Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Cool Whip, frozen dinners and Twinkies. Food writer Carolyn Wyman, author of Better than Homemade: Amazing Foods that Changed the Way We Eat (https://amzn.to/2FNzyGv) joins me to explains some of the really interesting stories behind some of the most popular food products today.
Ever had trouble getting a refund from a retailer even though you know you were entitled to it? There is something you can tell that retailer that may very well get them to reconsider? (https://www.wisebread.com/6-awesome-credit-card-tricks-that-will-save-you-money)
What does it take to be the best in whatever you want to do? Perhaps it would help to look at elite athletes and see what it is they do to get to the top of their game. Alan Stein, author of the book Raise Your Game: High Performance Secrets from the Best of the Best (https://amzn.to/2AWJiL9) has worked with the very best basketball players and explains how anyone can transfer what those athletes do to improve their performance in any field.
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This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Today, on something you should know why you were attracted to people who are pretty much ass tall ass, you
fascinating stories of sometimes conic foods like tat.
He's velveeta cool whip and kraft, macaroni and cheese that was actually invented by a salesman for a macaroni company. He found out that he could unload a lot more macaroni if he attacked little packet of dry kraft cheese to the craft got wind that he was doing it and hired him to do it for us plus how to get a refund when a retailer doesn't want to cooperate and by being the best at anything, requires self awareness. One of the most important things you can do to improve self awareness is to ask those that know you the best, and I know that sounds counter intuitive, to be self aware, you're going to ask other people where we can sometimes get caught. Is we don't see our own blind spots all this today on something you should know.
How your ideas don't have to wait now they have everything they need to come to life Del tech.
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Great ideas can happen right now find
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Slash, welcome to now.
something. You should now fascinating and tell the world's top experts and practical advice. You can use your life today, something you should make her brother s,
Past month in during the holidays, I received a lot of emails from people from literally
all over the world, and it is one of the best things about doing. This. Podcast is realising how many people it reaches, and everywhere it reaches emails.
people who say that they find a particular segment. Interesting are helpful or useful, and even
Well, who complain about something they heard. I appreciate that they took the time to write. If you have a question:
or a comment or when a country
me for any reason, my
EL addresses mike at something you should know dot net first up today,
when you choose a romantic partner, you probably
think a lot of things go into making that choice, not the least of which might be fate. But apparently
It's also your genes. What strange
that one of the genes that's involved in choosing a romantic partner is the same one that determines your own height. Consequently, we
to be attracted to people who are assessed
or height to conduct a study.
Searchers analyze, thirteen thousand and sixty eight heterosexual couples, and while the research is fairly complicated, the report concluded that mate selection driven by one's height is more than just a chance event. Your genes clearly play a role and it gets
stranger
even though we are inclined to pick some one of a similar height when
we don't, we tend to be happier in fact
According to research in south korea, the greater the height difference, the happy
The woman was in that,
something you should know
every time,
You walk into the grocery store. You come face to face with thousands of products just sitting on the shelf
new ones as well as old, familiar favorites. What you probably don't think about is that every
One of those products has said
detail, often a fascinating story of how that product
got to be sitting on that shelf and how
often ends up in your kitchen.
Carolyn wyman is a food writer who is written. Some really interesting books and articles on things like the history,
spam and yellow and chocolate chip cookies in one of her book
so called better than homemade amazing foods that change the way we eat. I carolyn
he wrote this book about these iconic foods that we see every day, because, as I understand it, you really think it's important for people to know. I guess you would call it their their food heritage, yes, and also, I think it sort of like a corrected, maybe an injustice that in the world, which is that kids grow up, knowing more probably in learning more in school, about like greek mythology than they do about yeah the the rice krispies that are on their table every day. You know that snap, crackle and pop and green giant- and these figures are really and in these products that are really
more a part of their lives and a much more a part of our own, like american mythology, will some of the foods that you talk about some of these iconic foods that have been in our kitchens four years of kind of, I guess, b
politically incorrect
in the sense that you know they're, not organic they're, not all necessarily healthy, and yet they are
big part of our lives since then
say that you know we're all eating whole foods, and you know creating a you, know: organic meals from scratch and all that are, but really the best
selling products in america are still. You know things like hamburger, helper and cheese, whiz and and kraft, macaroni and cheese. I mean these are not
for all things. There really still doing quite well
well. So many of the food you talk about. I just can't wait to hear the story, so so, let's dive in what are some of your favorite foods that have goods
worries. Behind them and hawaiian punch is what is an example. I mean here's a product that I mean it really was developed like in the twenties, but then and as a syrup, you know as a as a punch, flavored syrup and they called it hawaiian punch, but it really came onto it's own in the fifties, because hawaiian things were very popular like it was Elvis's blue hawaii.
trader, vic's and south pacific and all that, but it started to do well. The company hired a and an ad agency to create a new ad campaign using a hawaiian guy, and we created the famous punchy. You know the the guy who kind of has an anger problem that was in the early
sixties. They paid the ad company, but then they kind of ran out of money to actually run the ad, so they could only afford a flat on the tonight show with jack Paar. You know late night dirt cheap for a national ad, but it was a totally inappropriate audience for what was basically kind of a kid's drink. But jack Paar saw that ad with this this guy- and it seems so outrageous- this guy, just like you, know, whopping all walloping these tourists and that it he he actually jack Paar. Actually, like said, I want to see that ad again, I mean that wouldn't happen today, but so he rewritten
the ad for free and it became like the talk of the town, and you know it a dislike like took off. You know those old commercials from the fifties and Sixtys or on youtube. You can see him in the guy. You know he's
walking around fruit juicy fruit, juicy hawaiian punch and talks,
some tourists and says hey. I would
like a nice hawaiian punch and they just smacks a guy right in the face. I mean it's, so it's so offensive by today's
anders, but
As you say, you know a god, jack pars attention which got the nations attention and launched a brand,
so tell a story about sweden low in there somewhere. We get so many stories to tell your butt
the story of how sweden low came to be is pretty interesting. Nineteen, forty five,
this guy then eyes and that he ran out like a diner across the street from a year, a ship building facility
and with the war when the war ended. His cafeteria just like business, went to nothing. So he started a a tea, bagging business and I wasn't doing so great either so his wife, remembering like the sugar bowls they used to have on the tables the open sugar bowls and what a mess that was said. Well, why don't you take this idea of bagging and do and apply it to sugar, so he thought that was a great idea. We went to a shirt
the company who promptly like ripped his eye idea off so he had no product for me it was, and the guy looks like it's about his fourth food business. Now he starts bagging other things like he had those instant sea monkeys. He he he did soy sauce, packets
and his son went to Cornell was a chemist, and his son is the one that came up with the idea of an artificial sweetener was like in the late fifties. Dieting was really big and at that point the only kind of like a
official sweeteners were like in pill form or liquid. They were, they were really like medicine, so they put put this in packets and really kind of transform this product that used to be sort of like a medicine into a food product. And finally,
He had a success. I have you ever wondered why the packets are pink. It's because mostly women die, at least in those days until I was sort of pink for women,
and die, and actually in researching that one product I got to take advantage of my very expensive english literature degree, because the musical staff and the name Sweden low, comes from actually a tennyson com, and I have actually a song was based on a tennyson poem called the princess in theirs that phrase. Sweden lows in there are not possible out of here
on four as sweet and low calorie product talk about frozen food and how that came to be well. People tried to three vessels for a long time
but then in have a really good technique. In the end, they never really tasted that good when they were cook. But there was a guy on nuclear plants. Bird's eye
was kind of renaissance man, but one point he was basically an art arctic explorer
I went to labrador in nineteen twelve any
noticed how like, in those extreme low temperatures like that fish and and meat that was, it would freeze immediately. You know in those temperatures and would be really would taste and have almost the exact same texture as fresh when it was defrost it, and so he had the idea that maybe it was the speed of the freezing that had been the problem before she came back to new york and he tried to replica
Is that a really fast way of freezing food? And it was it- wasn't an easy road? It took years and really what one of his big breaks was, and he had a processing plant in massachusetts, and he didn't just do visuals. He was trying all sorts of key goose and and pull
and also to think and Margaret post who we will later no from poster cereal and e F hutton. Her husband, who we know as being a big investment
they were married and they were on a ship off of massachusetts. The chef on this ship serve them goose and they knew
well, it was delicious and they knew it was out of season, and so they asked him how he could have. You know had such a delicious gluten that he said it was frozen. It was from MR birdseye while they became interested in his company and they bought it or partnered with him and so
how he he got financed, but it it's, though, was really hard because for the food had such a bad reputation from these earlier versions, it really wasn't until we're award.
Who, when the metal for her hands with so scarce, that people really want you no kind of turned to frozen through, then they got to try the new fast for some time and were able to see that it really tasted a lot better. And you know the thing is a lot of people kind of you know, put down processed foods and you know froze and vegetables versus fresh. But the fact is that the americans,
Consumption of vegetable double between nineteen, twenty and nineteen eighty, and it was largely because these processed forms of vegetables made them
much more available year round, and I imagine that
from that involve the tv dinner, the frozen meal which our
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the tv dinner that was the first,
frozen meal at that came in that silver aluminum tray with a little compartments
If they weren't all that tasty, they took like an hour to heat up in the oven. So you know. Actually, during that time, you could make a real meal, but people ate tv dinners. Where did they come from
he beginners war, started by the swans and company in in the early fifties, and it
and how many originally was a turkey processor like the the country's largest processor, turkeys and nineteen fifty one it was a particularly warm november, and so fewer people around the country had turkey
dinner's for thanksgiving. As a result, the company had a whole lot of turkey's. I didn't know what to do with. They had a salesman who
travel, the country a lie was on planes lack, so he was familiar with the airplane food which, when the little compartments
and he also like everyone else, then was aware of this new television that had just debuted and was really you know. Everybody was totally fascinated with any sort of took those too
isn't put them together, along with the problem of all this extra turkey, and so they decided to freeze some of. Is turkey and put it in these visas
dave and call them tv dinners to sort of link the idea of a miracle heat meat meal with the miracle of television that started in the very first term tv dinner
Boxes actually showed is the edges war like that that television set and on the screen with featured a meal
and so they actually never really intended for people to eat the meals in front of the tv that wasn't intention. But that actually is what happened because a lot of the most popular programmes, one it won, t be started or
the only programmes really were on around dinner time and honestly,
mean the tv dinner really with the beginning of the end for americans off
sitting down eating the same meal together because, as you know, at the beginning of the idea of it, well I don't have it. You know I can go to soccer practice in these eat my own thing and
Also, some of the impact maybe are not so positive, but tournament.
hard to imagine anyone who hasn't had craft, macaroni and cheese from the blue box and eat
you say that actually economists use the sale,
kraft, macaroni and cheese as an economic indicator, because it's cheap, it's always been a budget food and it's nothing too scientific. It's just the if they're sell, if their sales go up the ideas and probably people aren't buying. You know expensive meat and and stuff like that, and that product was actually invented by a salesman, a for a macaroni
anthony and ST louis, and he was he found out that he could kind of unload a lot more of his macaroni if he attached little packets of dried kraft, cheese to them and craft got window that he was doing this and and hired him and said, do it for us and it was first put out in nineteen thirty seven and it's actually even more popular in canada than it is here, and one neat story that I heard about is in nineteen. Ninety eight, the company kraft, canada, put out a search for the canada's biggest kraft dinner fan and they found a just cash on bachelor, who said he ate up to eight hundred boxes a year and just
It was understandably disappointed when he found out that the top prize he got was only three hundred and sixty five boxes or one one a day. One process food that people have joked.
For a long time and ridiculed and
called that you know the ultimate processed food with no nutritional value is the twinkie and
It's been very popular in
still see it at the store? People still must buy them so
the story of the twinkie. It actually was the result of plant manager for bathing company. Basically, they they were making sponge cake for strawberry season
they had these pans to make them, but they only use those pens. You know a couple a month, a year less and he was just trying to like be efficient and come up with some other way. You could make use of those pans. The crema inside actually originally banana flavored, but then a during the war
there was a banana shortage and turned into an hour one process. Food must was really of food. So much something you cook with is is pam the cooking spray that you spray on the bottom of a pan. How did that come to be
yeah. Well, actually I heard a couple of stories about it. It pan with him.
and to buy a guy named arthur meyerhoff. He was a chicago, add executive and this sort of its side project that he wanted. He heard about
guy that has figured out how to like suspend oil in water and therefore you
make it a lot less calorie,
build and also fat filled, and he got he actually get some guys to figure out.
To make it come out of a aerosol, can spread. I had heard a story that basically the name pam came from arthur meyerhoff
product of arthur meyerhoff, and I thought wow, that's a great story. I did talk to his daughter though, and she wasn't sure that was true. She thought it might have been inspired by spam, the name spam or that it was a food name and kind of a for a modern product, but
one of the problems he had selling this particularly on was the grocers were putting it
then the aisle would the insecticide and the hare sprang because it was an aerosol net so once he was able to get it into the cooking out, he did much better and
cooking light magazine named it, the the the number two number two out of ten greatest food products, the inventions of the twentieth century, just after a boneless chicken breasts and for good reason. Because really you know you can save a ton of calories and fat if you use that
that of like crisco or something to butter. A pan one process prodigal actually to processed products that people and make fun of.
is cheese wares and velvet had they been around for a long time and people,
one of them because they are not really cheese, pure cheese, that I think the label says you know cheese, food or cheese product, but it's not just cheese.
but yet it still around and people still buy it delving and cases a short of thee,
according to the end of the whole craft cheese empire, which started
many years earlier and basically the eye
idea, is currently idea
in all great processed food, you know yet a natural product in it in its natural state is, you know, smelly, is spoils quickly,
it's hard to deal with, and you know not not palatable to a lot of people and you sort of payment. I mean these. These food processors have teamed our food, just as surely as the the cowboys you know, came the west
and she fell visa and then, after a cheese was, are just basically you no kind of refinements of that original idea. That craft had the pasteurized it extended shelf
I make it a little more bland. Little more. You make him uniform so that every single piece, unlike naturally age, cheese,
every single spoonful of cheese ways basically takes the same and now she's with specifically arm
what is bad for you or is not, it doesn't have as many ben and greens as people think I mean it actually, in the eighties, the company had an ad campaign kind of to emphasize the all the real cheese and cheeses that are actually inches with an a
group in dc science via the the center for science in the public interest, exactly they, you know, came out against that that campaign and said it was, but the the ftc defended cheese, whiz and said now it has more than fifty percent real cheese in there until you
you know, there's nothing wrong with that add camping, so work is cool whip because
it's not whipped cream, but
used as whipped cream, but it's
What what is it? It's? A dessert topping so
what is it and where did it come from coal web? I think it's why the quintessential you know, process who disorder
from defies all logic in terms of all laws of like food safety, because you can defrost it eat it. Put it back in the fridge, then put it back in the freezer and keep refreezing it almost indefinitely. I mean that's like not not normal tree, you know, and it keeps for a week, so you don't have to whip it like a you know, are making whip cream,
for by hand is pretty labour intensive, but there's no cream in it. Actually, there
are some milk salad there. I don't think they wore a
killing, but now there are. I mentioned
the beginning of our conversation here that you know every one of those products on the store shelf. Has
story, and often a personal,
there's a person or people behind it that that fought to get that product on the shelf and you
about sanko. You know the first real big popular decaffeinated coffee in the orange can
and that has a pretty interesting story behind that product was actually invented by the then french food marchen named lewd with failure, because his dad had been a coffee taster, an he blamed his job as a coffee taster for his dead early death. He thought it was because of the caffeine summit having that he had eaten. So he want
to come up with a coffee that didn't have caffeine and the one the way he finally figured it out was by accident. Like many great inventions, he was having a shipment of coffee shipped to some one of his stores in a ship, and the ship got an a in a storm. It flooded and the beans got wet and he found out that having the beans, moist was the,
secret to extracting the caffeine. Oh and another thing is the word: thangka actually comes from the french term and sans caffeine or without caffeine, but still you know the vestige of that
that product that remains in, like all those gonna restaurant and you see they are
you know, rim on the coffee pot and that's the decaf and that's a vestige of thank- is original aren t
if the packet. While I appreciate you sharing some of these stories with me in the audience
because so many of these foods have had an impact on our life have been a part of our life. For so long, and it's just in
thing due to hear the stories
Carolyn wyman women's been my guest. The book is better than homemade amazed.
Foods that change the way we eat and there's a link to her book at amazon in the show notes. Thank you carolyn
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to be the best at anything. A lot of people of tackle that question
in different ways you know what is a peak performer, what do the truly
hop. One per cent of people do differently. Frankly, I think talent, apt,
food and desire have a lot to do with it, but of course, in any field or any sport or any activity, a lot of people have talent
attitude and desire? Still some of the
produce better results than others, and just just a statistically only if
people can be in the top. One percent
stein has looked at this through the lens of basketball. He's looked closely at what
makes elite basketball players so great. What
do what do they do differently? How do they think
translated this into advice, we can all learn from
As the author of the book raise your game, high performance secrets from the best of the best hey alan welcome
hey thanks so much for having me, I'm excited to be here, so
splain how you approach this topic? Why you looked at basketball players and why you think
we can all learn something from the.
world of basketball. I was very fortunate to observe
the best players in the world from two distinct vantage points
from the washington DC area and I was able to work it to high school
here that produce
the combined twelve to fifteen players that are currently in the nba and I get
those kids when they were fourteen fifteen years old that so I got to
meet them and see their mindsets and rituals and habits and routines before they. They made it big ass. It was kind of the before
picture and then also had an opportunity to do some work with nike
jordan brand with usa, basketball and I got to work events and observe closely the best players in the game from Leubronn to Kogi, distaff, curry,
and I got to see what made them great after they had already become great, so I've seen the before and the after picture,
what it takes to ascend to the highest level and be an upper,
per centre and that's what I've been able to draw on so that
stan experience,
He's been invaluable,
kay so so what does it take? I mean when the dust all settles. What's the take away that these elite athletes do that, maybe I can do
be better at what I do. First and foremost, is you can't get bored with the basics,
that whatever it is that you're trying to excel in any area of your life there going to be some basic fund.
No principles and said
Oh geez, that are required to be successful in those things are very very basic, however,
they're, very rarely easy to do an ally
people fall into the trap of thinking that base.
quick and easy are synonymous and they're. Not I mean what it takes.
Be good in anything, is usually very basic, based
his eyes away
example. Okay, so for a basket
player us and sets an easy visualization would be that their footwork, the fundamentals of the game,
you know when a player improves their footwork, that they improve everything,
in the game and
in passing, rebounding defending so being able to stick to the boy.
Six and make sure that every single time you practice or work out your
working on those basic fundamentals of movement and footwork. It allows you to do
everything else at a higher level,
We're gonna talk about relationships, and this could be a relationship with your significant other could be with your children could be with a friend or per worker. I believe the
basic fundamental we have is the ability to actively listen. Is the two really listen to
connect and listen to learn, not do,
what most people do, which is, listen and simply wait for their turn to talk, and you know, as as an expert pod
It toes mean you. You clearly understand the the value and actively listening, that's where the gold is, but that's something that needs to be practised routinely. So if you want to get better at basketball practice, your
work. If you want to improve your relationships, practice the skill of active listening and we could die,
to anything else any other area, and we could figure out you and I could figure out what are the basic components of that thing that we're trying to improve and let's not get bored with those.
its work on those in work on our craft every day and one
besides the basic skills. Is there like a top five list of things you need to nail every day
I tell you what a for a top five list, probably number one tooth
in four would be emotional intelligence. You're, a cue you know, we,
We tend to live in an outcome based world. That's always ever since were little has talked about the importance of I q, academic and books smarts in book knowledge, and I don't see anything
two to degrade or diminish that, but as far as
successful in any other area of your life eat, you tend to have more of an influence, and these are
things from humility, compassion, self awareness I mean all of these different internal traits- are things that we
could all be working on a very regular basis because that you get more bang for your buck
you improve your emotional intelligence, its incredibly
subtle, because now you can use that in any area of your life
your relationships? They help you personally to help you professionally. So in investment
in your ability to have an emotional intelligence, and it's very similar with leadership I mean when you
work on the skills that it takes to become a better, more influential and impact for leader that help
in every area of your life, I can speak from first hand, knowledge. It helps me as a business owner, helps me as a speaker it and
and it absolutely helps me as a father of three children
How do I improve my emotional intelligence? It all starts with self awareness,
and what kind of funny- and I say, tongue in cheek here- is one of the most important things
due to improve self awareness? Is to ask those that no you the best-
and I know that sounds kind of counter intuitive- that to be self aware. You're gonna ask other people, but where we can
sometimes get caught is weak
see your own blind spots and clearly we dont know what we don't know. So we need to be able to ask them
was that no us best so not going in
in the opinion of some one walking on the street. I mask
friends and colleagues and family members that really know me well- and I want to get this type of feedback,
I want to see if how
evaluate myself matches how
evaluate me just so I can see-
those things are in alignment to see how accurate I am I'll use. Listening,
example. Since I've already brought it up, I might think that I'm a great listener, but if you
in three or four other people who were in my inner circle, disagree and don't think I'm a good listener.
Then I'm probably not
matter, what I think, if the people that no me best have a different vantage point, then there's some type of disconnect. So I believe self awareness is
foundation to which the entire houses built and having that awareness of knowing what you're good at verses. What you're? Not what you like verses, what you
Oh, it's a combination of your your dreams in your hopes in your aspirations, but it's also,
fears and your in securities and its its understanding
your own moods and your own work styles and personality styles, but it's also knowing those of those around you in that perfect storm. How it all comes together is
is your self awareness, which is the foundation of your emotional intelligence or there
an assumption that you make another people have written about. You know what can we learn from elite athletes to apply to our own lives and
is an assumption that you're making that that
These things are transferable and I
problem with that to some degree, because it isn't?
just the skills that you have to learn. I
do exactly what lebron james does every day.
Every night eat. The same thing do the same thing practice the same thing: I'm never going
him. I'm never going to
for the lakers
point is that there is
thing unique in these individuals that
Nobody else has that you can't. You can't
it's late, that you can't transfer that into try to do. That is going to be very frustrating and you are a hundred per cent correct.
now. Keep in mind, though, that
the domain of his excellence and expertise. It relies heavily on the physical much more
so than other areas of life that they clearly
in the brown passes, the eyeball test. The moment you see him in a split second, you realise that he was born with physical tools that ninety nine
point nine. Nine nine percent of the human population has never and will never be born with. So in that instance, you're. One hundred per cent correct. You could have followed the exact same training program, exact same diet,
exact same everything as lebrun since birth, and you are both the same age
and you would still end up with very different results. Your hundred percent right on that, however, we look
this more from a macro level of if you look at his mouth,
sets in his rituals and his routines. If you look at the fact that he embraces the that the process that he masters the basics and the fundamentals before trying to level up that he's
bracing change that he doesn't run from change. He embraces change. If you look at those traits, you absolutely could apply any
those traits to whatever it is that you were trying to be great at and you'd see a great result now, of course, no outcome, as promised
I could never tell you that, hey, if you do this this in this your guaranteed with this result, because there is no guarantee outside of death- that I know of what your greatly increased
your chance of being quote unquote, six
ass. If you follow those same principle, so there is, there is definitely a difference there and same thing, I'm not imply.
if you did everything, Jeff Bezos has done that you'd be the
the man in the world and own amazon. But if it's, if you'd, follow the the general template,
these principles and rituals inhabits you'd, be in credit,
the successful but
also has to be in the case of sports figures, basketball players, a love of the game,
an amazing ability to play it, a desire to play it and
the case of Jeff Bezos immediately alive,
his success? I'm sure is his intelligence, and but it's also timing in luck in knowing the right people and being at the right place at the right time.
All of those things are a big piece of this puzzle. Don't you think, o absolutely without question, but that's that's pretty critical to the outcome of of what's in there
taking place if you're familiar- and I don't know if you're listeners are familiar with Malcolm Gladwell book outliers all has to come together
the perfect storm and when you create the perfect storm, the reserve,
is the beatles or is Steve jobs. So yes, if we're gonna, compare outcomes and say ok for mike to have the same out
is Jeff basis or lebron James then. Yes, all of those other things have to be in place, but I try not to compare outcomes. I try to live in the process. So if the goal is for you to be the best, they can
you are capable of being in whatever it is that you are trying to be the best at than you
to follow those same rituals
genes and so forth, and you'll you'll get as close
being able to maximize that is possible now, whether or not you turn into lebron James or Jeff, Bezos also has to do with those other factors and yet
I'm not discarding talent, talent
a lot to do with it. So yeah all of these different factors they matter, but the big differences we dont control
of those and what I talk to people about controlling the controllable which, if you really break it down, is effort and attitude,
those the only two things. We have a hundred percent control over a hundred percent of the time and if you hold yourself
audible to your own effort and attitude and you develop the habits and the routines
and live in the process, then you will become
as good as your capable of becoming in whatever it is that you're trying to do
you know. I always wonder, though, how often do people choose the wrong thing to be good at that? You know if
braun james, had chosen, teach
or even a hockey
He probably wouldn't be as great a teacher
a hockey player as he is a basket.
player. And I wonder how often do people, perhaps
choose the wrong thing: to try to get really good at
oh yeah, you're, so insightful, and that's one hundred percent on and in what people.
To do, and this is what, because I've done, a lot of work with young kids and young players- and I say this to my own children- what we all
to do. Is you find what it is? You love what it is you
passionate about fine,
It is you're good at and a lot of that good will come from some of the natural talent in innate abilities, as well as skill acquisition, but then you find where those
two things intersect, what you love with, what
good at find where they intersect in that's the spot, that your strength zone- that's where you need to be put
most of your eggs in that basket and if you're lucky, that's vocational, they what you
do when you're older now as we get older, that can change, we might find
something else that we love or we might develop new skills that were good at or uncover a hidden talent that we didn't know we had, but it's important.
that, where those two things intersect, that's what will be best at
one of the things. I've always wondered is when you're the best when euro abroad or you're venus, Sir Serena, or your your
really
better than anybody else it something at what point do you say? I'm gonna stop
to be better and now I'm just maintaining, or am I always trying to beat the record from the elite high performers that
I've been around and Leubronn is one of them. Kobe bryant was another there's something in
internal wiring that they never. That, like the word, maintain and cruise control, is just not part of their vernacular that that even when it gets to the poor,
where they are clearly better than all of their peers and in all of the record books in every one else, there still trying to
better. They have almost is in safety.
My desire and relentlessness to continue to get better
it's why a guy like that can win the championship.
for the champagnes even dry. There already thinking about how to when the next one- and I do I think-
that's in their wiring in
and sometimes I believe, that's a gift and cursed. I think that internal drive is the reason they are the best of the best. But I know for me
sitting in the cheap seats. That would all
be as much of a prison that you never even get a chance to to smell the roses. If you will and be thankful for what you ve accomplished, because you're always thinking about what's next, and how can I be
I one five. How do I went six, but I think that's part of their make up, but those guys, yet they don't put on the cruise control-
and it's interesting, because
no matter who you are and will just keep using sports, because it's one that that a lot of people can you no reference. I mean Lebron. James is the best player in the game right now and of course, there is always the
scutcheon though, but wait a second you're, not the best of all time. Michael Jordan was better than you, so, no matter what
I does- and he is apt
lily: phenomenal he's a once in a generation athlete and he
crushing it, and yet he still can't escape that shadow where someone else thinks he was better and so those guys I don't I
think they ever acknowledge fully in their heart. I know the bronze
add that he believes he's the best, but I don't think they acknowledge fully that unequivocally they are the best at what they do, but those guys have those insecurity that they always have to prove themselves. We ve talked about things
like emotional intelligence and in a practising the basics cut consists.
gently and all of that, but but what about
as a champion- do differently on a more tat
nickel level as they apply.
The day and me what what is it that goes on in their head differently as to how they
tackle their task at hand,
we might learn from will. As I mentioned.
they. They know that they only control their attitude and they control their effort, but we,
mix, attitude and effort together, you have severe influence over other things. Like you, you influence your your enthusiasm for something
You have heavy influence over your preparation, so
They try to mixed those things together and taken
of as much stuff is they can so there
there, you know,
religious about their morning in their evening, routine about priming themselves for high performance at the beginning of every day,
and this not just athletes. This is any one the performs at a high level so that they know that the vast majority of stuff that's going to
during the day is outside of their control and depending on what they do, but could be utter chaos from so
the sun down when they try to take care of as much stuff as they can can
well like a morning and evening routine, and they also realize- and this is one of the most important keys for high performers- that they have to fill their bucket first before they can pour into anything else.
whether they are pouring into others as a leader or their pouring into their business or their pouring into their family. They know that taking care of themselves. First is
an act of selfishness, so they make,
the day they eat well and that they get exercise and they make sure the day their constantly growing mentally and emotionally. So they read and they they listen a pod like this. They they make sure they get adequate sleep like they do all of the things that allow them to perform at the
level because they know that, if their bucket his empty, they have none
two porridge anyone or anything else and words
Drifting is in our society. I think lots of people get that confused because they think it
you're taking time for yourselves that that's being selfish, and it's really not not. If you look on the big level
picture that is being done in an act of service of others. We brought up Leubronn if leubronn shows up to the lakers practice tomorrow,
didn't get any sleep, he was out all night partying and he didn't need any breakfast and he didn't do any of his his warm up, that's
Surely a very selfish at because he's
owing to lessen the lakers chance of winning and of being successful because he made the choice not to take care of himself. That is incredibly selfish as a teammates,
whereas if he does all of those things- and he puts himself in position to be the best he can be, then the layers
better chance of being the best they can be so high performers. They make sure that they take care of what they can control and they take
care of themselves. So listening to this, what's the toe in the water first step here? What what? What do people need to either start thinking about or start doing, that gets them on the the bus? There's something I call a performance gap.
and it's the gap between what we know in what we do and all of us have performance gaps so that the key is fine,
finding the area of your life that you would like to improve performance in and figure out. Where is your perfect?
this gap. What is something that you know but you're not doing if you ask most
people there, something to this pod gas to write down the healthiest foods they know of. They could do that. If you ask them how much sleep they get every night, they could tell you that in a split second, and if you ask them just the kind of a child,
a weekly work out program you not trained for the olympics are submitting it to men's and women's health, but you know just to be,
human being. What did you do each week? They could write that down, but then, if you
them three binary questions are those the food you eat. Yes or no,
Is that the amount of sleep you get regularly yes or no
those the work out. You do consistently yes or no you'll find out if they have a performance gap, because
the answer is no its not from lack of.
Will. They know what to eat, how much to sleep in and what to do for work out there just not doing it and that's the gap that we want to try to narrow. So the very first
is figuring out where your most pressing and applicable performance gaps are in those are what we need to focus on closing free, improve your performance in that specific area will
I appreciate the insight. Your your experience with those athletes gives you a unique person
dave, and I appreciate you sharing that with this
stein has been. My guess is book is called for
your game, high performance secrets from the best of the best and you can find
linked to that book at amazon in the show notes thanks Alan. You
man. Thank you so much
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today. I might carruthers thanks for listening to something
you should know
conventions with with Joe and his good friend oji. Not only has great financial insight lay back back with to to the pen's owe so much survey I wanted to know. Was it really cheaper to brown bag it every day, or was it cheaper to go through these school lunch? The most expensive sandwich of all forty six percent increase is the first time a sandwich has ever touched five bucks before anybody gags on at them. It's a great sandwich find out more by searching the stacking benjamin's podcast wherever you listen,
Transcript generated on 2023-09-21.