Podcasts about s o

I always enjoy having the opportunity to speak with business professionals and leaders. Fidel Guzman not only is such a professional, but he also works in the corporate training arena teaching his company's employees and leaders about leadership and continuous improvement. Fidel comes by his talents honestly. He grew up in an environment where he needed to learn and grow. He secured a Bachelor's degree and an MBA both from Northeastern Illinois University where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. Fidel started out wanting to be a kindergarten teacher, but he ended up taking a different road. He went to work for a company where he helped people progress within various industries. The company he worked for was bought by ION Group in Chicago, IL. Fidel flourished and became the Manager of Internal Training for the company. Mr. Guzman is quite adaptable and can train people within the organization even though they may well have their own expertise in different industries. Fidel and I talk about everything from leadership, the future of corporate training and we even take time to explore how AI is and will become more a part of his work and the work we all do. When not working Fidel has various outside activities. His most loved efforts go, of course, into being part of a family. He also serves as Vice President of Education for Toastmasters International. He loves to be involved in Mixed Martial Arts. He keeps quite busy at a variety of activities and clearly loves the challenges he gets to address along the way. About the Guest: Fidel Guzman is a dynamic and enthusiastic Learning & Develoment professional with a proven track record in instructional design, project management, and training development. With a Master of Business Administration from Northeastern Illinois University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude, Fidel has consistently demonstrated his commitment to excellence and continuous improvement. His extensive experience spans various industries, including finance, telecommunications, and fitness, showcasing his versatility and adaptability. Currently serving as the Manager of Internal Training at ION Group in Chicago, IL. Fidel and his small but mighty team facilitate onboarding programs and training initiatives for over 13,000 employees globally. He has experience developing comprehensive new hire onboarding curricula and career progression pathways for multiple departments, ensuring effective and innovative learning solutions. Fidel's leadership extends beyond his professional role, as he actively participates in numerous company committees focused on community volunteer events, work-life balance education, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Fidel's passion for personal and professional development is evident in his certifications, including “Creating a Coaching Culture” from SHRM and “Coaching Skills for Leaders and Managers” from PMI. Fluent in both Spanish and English, he leverages his bilingual skills to connect with a diverse audience. Outside of his professional endeavors, Fidel enjoys podcasting, judo, triathlons, hiking, and poetry, reflecting his well-rounded and adventurous spirit. In addition to his professional achievements, Fidel has a strong commitment to volunteerism and community involvement. He is serving as the Vice President of Education for Toastmasters International and has been an MMA class instructor and coordinator at St. Bruno Elementary. His dedication to helping others is further demonstrated through his role as an academic tutor at Berwyn Public Library. Ways to connect with Fidel: (1) Fidel Guzman, MBA | LinkedIn New Podcast- The Hero in the Mirror on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/44xD76FcF5YFMNyuigFmBm?si=2so3OWJdQby6F91ZaY1AUg The Hero in the Mirror also on Youtube: (3) HerointheMirror - YouTube About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Greetings, everyone. I am Michael Hingson, and you are listening to unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet, and today we get to do the unexpected. And of course, what the unexpected is is anything that doesn't have anything to do with inclusion or diversity. So that's most things you know, in a lot of ways. Anyway, our guest today is Fidel, and am I pronouncing it right? Guzman, yes, you got it. Oh, my goodness. Comes from listening to Guzman's who play baseball. Okay, I'll take that. That's a way. So Fidel reached out to me some time ago. We're going to be doing some speaking to his company ion. But in the meanwhile, I also convinced him that he had to come on unstoppable mindset and talk with us, tell us about himself, tell us a lot about what he does and why he does it, and help to contribute to our general theme, which is that we're all more unstoppable than we think we are, and we usually underrate ourselves. So we we try to improve by discovering that more people are unstoppable than we think they are, and that we thought they were. So that works out. Well, Fidel has a degree in business. He has a Masters of Business Administration. You graduated sigma cum laude, which is pretty cool. And I did cum laude, but I didn't get to do sigma or Magna, but that's okay, but that's okay anyway. Fidel, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're here.   Fidel Guzman ** 02:56 Michael, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.   Michael Hingson ** 03:00 Well, my pleasure, and I'm looking forward to to chatting and talking about some businessy things and anything else that you want to talk about. So let's start this way. It's always fun to do this. Why don't we start by you telling us kind of, maybe, about the early Fidel growing up and some of that stuff, and what got you started down the road of life as it were.   Fidel Guzman ** 03:20 Yeah, yeah, that's all right, yeah, let's let's go back. Let's go back to where it all started,   Michael Hingson ** 03:25 long time ago,   Fidel Guzman ** 03:30 definitely. So I'm born and raised in Los Angeles, Compton, Huntington Park area. I come from Mexican parents. They they they came here to the United States to give their their family a better future. Some first generation Mexican American, very proud. So actually, we do have a little diversity in here on this call. Oh, good. There we go. Yeah. So first generation Mexican American, my family traveled a lot when I was young. My dad's a truck driver, so wherever there was work, he would take us along. So we grew up and raised Los Angeles. I was seven or eight, then we ended up going to Mexico for a couple years, in Dallas, then St Louis, and then we ended up here in Chicago, here in the Midwest. Wow. Winter, the winters here were a bit surprising and tough. When I was in elementary school, I remember the first snow that I saw. It was, it was beautiful. After two weeks, I was like, All right, when is it? When is it gonna go away? And I was in for the the rude awakening that it's gonna it's gonna stick around for, for a few months or so, yeah, but I've had, you know, since then here, here in Chicago, we started to grow our roots. And I have five brothers and a sister. So I have a big family, a big Hispanic family, and I went to high school. My freshman year, I went to Lane Tech. Tech for all my folks who are familiar with the Chicagoland area. And then I ended up going to transferring over to Morton West in Berwyn. After I graduated high school, I went to Northeastern Illinois University, my alma mater, I got my undergrad in business management and marketing, and also got my Masters in Business Administration. So I am a proud double alumni from Northeastern Illinois University, and I really owe this, this community of Northeastern Illinois University, a lot with respect to the great teachers that they have there, the community that they try to build, and the friends and that I made along the way, as well as the education, of course, that helped, really helped me expand my career opportunities. After I graduated from Northeastern Illinois University with my undergrad, I started my first real corporate role inside of backstop solutions. And backstop solutions was a still, you know, it was a great company to be a part of lots of mentors. If I can, actually, I would like to give a quick shout out to a few mentors that I had along the way, such as Deanne Falk, Richard fu our CEO, our legacy CEO, Clint Coghill, Sarah Schroeder, and the current head of learning and development under ion. Alexander Lloyd and I really want to thank them for all their mentorship and leadership, because it's really helped me get and grow to the person that I am today. So with that, yeah, I am the manager of internal training at ion. We came I came in via an acquisition, when backstop was acquired, and throughout that period, like I was, I had some some free time, so to say, and ended up getting my Masters in Business Administration.   Michael Hingson ** 06:48 And so along the way, did you get yourself married and all that? Oh, my   Fidel Guzman ** 06:52 wife is going to kill me. Yes. Along the way, sorry about that. No, yeah, yeah, of course, yeah. Can't forget, can't forget about those significant others. But yes, I am married. My wife has a master's in occupational therapy, so she's in the medical field, and I'm in, like, the business learning and development side of things, so our conversations are pretty interesting, as well as our perspectives on things. I also have a daughter. She's 16, going on 17 people are usually very surprised when I tell them the age of my daughter, but had her early when I was in my early 20s, so young dad and she was a blessing. I wouldn't, wouldn't have it any other way.   Michael Hingson ** 07:33 That's that is great. Why did you decide to go into business and study business in college.   Fidel Guzman ** 07:42 So interestingly enough, when I got into college, I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher. I wanted to be cool Mr. Guzman, because I also really I love kids. I love working with kids. I was also a mixed martial arts program coordinator and instructor at an elementary school on the south side of Chicago for three years, and that was during my undergrad. And I taught all grades kindergarten through eighth grade, some of the basics in boxing, wrestling, jiu jitsu and kickboxing, so a bit of both. But as I was going through through my clinicals, as I was going through the the Yeah, the education aspect of it, I ended up wanting to switch majors. So I was like, I was like, hey, there's probably a lot more opportunity, a lot more opportunity for growth inside of the business segment. So I ended up switching my majors to business management, marketing, and somehow learning just found its way back into my life. So a lot of the stuff that I learned from some of those, those preliminary courses in in education. I mean, still, still resonate to this day, right? Understand your audience. Understand which students are visual learners, which ones are experiential learners. Which one need more repetitive exercise to to drill something in? So, yeah, the universe did not, did not lead me too far away from, from from teaching and being an instructor, and here I am. I know   Michael Hingson ** 09:08 that feeling well. So a couple things. First of all, I was born in Chicago, but we moved to California when I was five, but in Chicago, you start kindergarten at the age of four. So I went for a year to a special kindergarten class that my parents and others advocated for, for premature, blind kids, because there were a whole bunch in the Chicago area during the whole baby boomer area, a number of children were born prematurely and given a pure oxygen environment, which caused them to lose their eyesight. And so the bottom line is that happened to me among others. And so I went to the Perry school. I don't even know if it's around anymore. Somebody told me it wasn't around anymore, but that's where I went to school. And went there for a year of kindergarten, learned braille and other things. And then we moved to California. So I always wanted to be a teacher as well, and I came at teaching from a different standpoint, as you did. That is to say, Well, I wanted to be a teacher. My first job out of college wasn't directly teaching, except I ended up having to write training materials and do other things like that, and then I ended up going into sales, and what I learned is that the best sales people are really teachers. They're counselors. They guide and they help people, especially when you're dealing with major account sales, they help people look at products. They teach about what their product does and the really good sales people are brave enough to admit when their product might not be the best fit for someone, because it's also all about building trust. And good teachers are concerned about building trust as well. Of course.   Fidel Guzman ** 10:57 Yeah, one of my teachers when I was close to graduating, you know, one of the things that you know this teacher, Dr funk, if I remember correctly, he instilled in us, if you're able to synthesize what you learned and explain it to a five year old, you've done a good job. Like you, you you yourself understand that particular concept or that particular topic. And I really took that to heart. So now, you know, and a lot of these roles, if, from the the main instructor, I want and need to be able to explain it, you know, to my kid, to explain it in in simple terms. And, of course, you know, expand on it if needed. But, but   Michael Hingson ** 11:40 it ultimately comes down to you can provide all the information you want, but they have to teach themselves, really, and they're not going to do that, and they're not going to listen to you if they don't trust you. So trust is a vital part of what we do,   Fidel Guzman ** 11:56 exactly spot on,   Michael Hingson ** 11:58 and I have found that that developing that trust is so extremely important. I learned a lot about trust from working with guide dogs, right from the very first guide dog that I obtained back in 1964 when I was 14. It was all about building a team and I and although I didn't know how to really externally, say it necessarily, until many years later, internally, I understood that my job was to build a relationship and that I was going to be the team leader, and needed to be able to gain trust, as well as trust my teammate in in what we did. So worked out pretty well, though. So, you know, I was that was pretty cool. So what does ion do? What is ion?   Fidel Guzman ** 12:49 Yeah, I yeah for sure. So ion is a essentially, you can, you can think of it as a software company for the investment community. We provide a number of different platforms for them to streamline their processes and track information, or be end users of that of data.   Michael Hingson ** 13:07 So people buy your software and do what   Fidel Guzman ** 13:11 they can either leverage the data that's being provided to them, or they can include data within specific platforms.   Michael Hingson ** 13:20 Are you starting to see that this whole concept of so called AI is valuable in what you do, or, as I am working with that yet,   Fidel Guzman ** 13:30 yes, definitely, we are big on streamlining processes and making sure that we're maximizing the best use of everyone's time, and AI really has a really important component in that. So for for learning and development, one of the ways that we're using AI is for content creation, so whether it's just creating a simple outline for a course or starting to use that to create slides, but there, we're also taking a look at the way AI can be used on a regular basis to provide feedback for reps like let's say someone finishes a demo. If they want to do some self reflection, they can leverage AI to get some feedback on what worked well what didn't. Was there enough engagement? How was my use of technology, so on and so forth. So not only is AI being used from, you know, creating content, but also as, like a ad hoc instructor and and way to generate feedback,   Michael Hingson ** 14:31 well, and it offers so much versatility, you can really have it go many different ways. So it is very possible it can be an instructor, as you say, an ad hoc instructor, but it really can present its information in a good teaching way too. So you can have conversations with it. You can do the same sorts of things that you would do with a teacher. I think that AI clearly, is here to stay, but I think. Think over time, AI is going to evolve a lot. I am not of the opinion that AI will replace people for a variety of reasons, but I think that it's here and it's up to us to be smart as to how we use it.   Fidel Guzman ** 15:14 Definitely. I think one of the the tips that we always give people is AI does a really great job of a number of different things, but it's always going to need that human touch at the end of at the end of the day. So don't just take don't just take some content that AI has created and take it to heart. Make sure to review it. Make sure to put that personal touch on there and have it speak your language. Have it really resonate with the audience as well, especially that, oh, go ahead. Or also just on Super mechanical, super scripted,   Michael Hingson ** 15:49 well, and I think as AI grows, it's going to try to emulate, or we're going to use it to try to emulate people more and more, but it still isn't going to get to the point where it truly is me or you, and we do have to put our mark on it. I've used it to help create several articles, and what I've done when I do that is I'll tell it what I want it to write about, and let it do it, and it comes up with some pretty good ideas that I incorporate into the article, that I create, between what it provides and what I add to the mix. And it really should be that way. Exactly what I've really found interesting is the number of people like in classrooms, who say teachers, who say, you know, it's really harder and harder and harder to tell when a student uses AI to write a paper or if the student is doing it themselves. And the first time I heard that, immediately, my idea of what to do was something like this, let the student use AI if they want to, let the have ai do the whole paper. What you ought to do is to have one day after all the students turn their papers in, where you bring each student up to the front of the class and say, defend your paper. Now you have one minute if they don't really know, yeah. I mean, if they don't know what's going on, then they're not going to be able to do very well, and they fail.   Fidel Guzman ** 17:19 Yes, I am a big proponent of comprehensive exercises and also public speaking. How well? How well can you articulate the thought that you gave in that paper? Right? Some of those different talking points, right? Can you convey the same message in front of the classroom?   Michael Hingson ** 17:38 Yeah, and, and, you can tell if a person is just not necessarily a great public speaker, they're nervous, as opposed to whether they know the subject. And those, in a sense, are two different things. But you can use the fact that students are at the front of the classroom to help make them better speakers, too, which is a good thing.   Fidel Guzman ** 17:59 Yeah, no, yeah. I agree with you. If they are using AI, just, you know, turn around a paper, have them present in front of the classroom. Yeah, let's, let's talk a bit more about your paper, yeah, and, and really have it be an interactive exercise. I think that's really where the end goal is going to be, now that AI has really taken over the way the classroom dynamic has changed. So having more of those interactive exercises, really taking a look at comprehension, whether somebody really understands that topic, and giving giving students and an audience an opportunity to discuss, how do we how do we create a hive mind mentality around this particular topic, especially in a classroom, right whether, whether that's in a school setting, in academia, or whether that's in a corporate setting, inside of an office.   Michael Hingson ** 18:54 Several months ago, we had a guest on unstoppable mindset, who's an executive leadership coach in Northern California who was a major proponent of AI. And when he worked with companies, and especially with presidents and leaders who were stuck on how we evolve and how we grow, he would bring AI into all those meetings, and one day he was dealing with one such situation where he told the president, you got to use you ought to use AI to get some great ideas. The President took that to heart, called his senior leadership staff in and said, take the rest of this day and create ideas about how you think we ought to do things better, and so on, and use AI to do it. And when everyone came in the next day, they had a lot of innovative and creative ideas, and all loved the fact that he encouraged them to use AI. And that led to. Us having a discussion about, is AI going to really take over the jobs that people do? And both of us agreed, no, AI won't. Ai can't replace anyone. We can fire somebody and then put AI in their place, which doesn't really work well. But what is a better thing is let ai do what it does well. So example that he gave was say, you have autonomous vehicles. As autonomous vehicles become more and more prevalent, like trucks that are delivering supplies, like shipping vehicles and so on, let the autonomous vehicle drive, but the driver needs to still be in the cabin and needs to be behind the wheel, even though they're not doing anything, because they are going to let the autonomous vehicle do what it can do. But you can give those people other assignments to do for the company that will keep them busy and do things that otherwise might not be done quite as efficiently. So the bottom line is, you keep people busy, you use the autonomous vehicle, and it's a win win situation all the way around.   Fidel Guzman ** 21:08 Yeah, great. I I've heard something very similar to that, and maybe if I can, if I can synthesize this, it's going to be that we want to remove manual task out of people's times, and we want them to focus on more higher value add activities. Do   Michael Hingson ** 21:29 you think that's fair? I think that's true. Isaac Asimov, years ago, the science fiction writer, wrote a really wonderful science fiction story about a young man who lived in a society where everyone had a particular job to do, and you were matched with your talents. And so there you you're you take a test when you're, like, eight years old and or or even younger, and that starts you down the road of what it is you're supposed to do for the whole country. And then you take another test several years later, and that locks you into what you're trained to do. So you always do the same task, but you do it well, because that's what you're trained to do. Well, this kid was in the whole process taking his tests, and he just wasn't comfortable with what was going on. And eventually he ran away. And what, you know, he he took the last test, apparently they looked at him kind of funny when they looked at the results and he didn't like what was going on. And he just left. He said, I'm not going to do this. I don't, I don't. I don't want to be an engineer. I don't want to do whatever it is that they want. And they eventually caught up with him, and they caught him, and they said, Why'd you run away? And he told them, and then said, No, you don't understand what just happened. Some people in society are the people who create the tests, create the processes, and don't get trained to do a specific thing, because they're the innovators and the inventors that keep society going, and you're one of those kids, and this was like, what, 50 years ago that he wrote that? So it's, it is, it is really interesting, but, but very true and, and the reality is, we can be as creative as we choose to be, and some people are more creative than others, but there are always tasks that we can find for anyone to do, and that will make them very happy,   23:40 absolutely, definitely.   Michael Hingson ** 23:42 So it works out. You know, it does work out really well. Well, a question for you. You have a leadership philosophy, needless to say, and you lead a lot in instructional design, what, what are the core principles, or what are the things that kind of make up how you teach leadership, and what it is that you teach people to do, and how do you go about team development?   Fidel Guzman ** 24:13 Yeah, I think some of the core principles that I that I really focus on with learning and development and instructional design. Number one, it has to be collaboration. It really does take a community to put some some really good training sessions and training opportunities in place, and it's really leveraging all the expertise from different subject matter experts. Give them a chance to share their perspectives and their insights on certain things, but also, really, just to enhance, you know, the the use of these training programs, because people are more keen to listen to like, oh yeah, this guy's a subject matter he's an expert in this particular. Their space and for them to to hop on. So I think that collaboration aspect is, you know, getting the Lean In from managers like, hey, this training is important. Your employees are going to benefit from this training, whether it's just for to develop their their education, to develop their career, whatever that may look like. But I want to say one of the, the first guiding principles is going to have to be collaboration. The second one is going to have to be most likely continuous improvement. As we start to roll out a lot of these different training sessions, whether it's public speaking, whether it's product training, whether it's industry training, if we roll it out, we keep our ear to the ground and make sure that we're receptive to the feedback. We take a look at what works well, what doesn't work well, what needs to be tailored. How can we, how can we also manage this across different time zones? So ion is super global company, I want to say, over 13,000 employees in over 13 plus countries. So also managing what those training programs look like for everyone, for everyone, across the board. So besides the collaboration, besides the continuous improvements or the I like to also say that the Kaizen, the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen, right, making those small improvements, the last one I want to say is going to be innovation. How can we incorporate, right? We were talking about AI. How can we incorporate some of these ladies, latest tech trends into what our training delivery looks like, whether it's something as simple as, how do we include more polls throughout a lecture to keep people engaged and participate? How do we include knowledge checks at the end of every session to make sure that people are walking away with some of the key takeaways. So, yeah, collaboration, continuous improvement and innovation. Yeah, how do we stay innovative and stay creative? I think having having some fun, staying creative along the way Definitely, definitely resonates with your audience as you're trying to do different things and trying to keep things as engaging and and fun as possible.   Michael Hingson ** 27:06 What do you say to someone who says, Look, I've really learned all I need to learn. I'm not really interested in learning anything new. That is, I know, isn't that? Yeah, but you hear it a lot, I'm sure, or too much. I   Fidel Guzman ** 27:22 think some people get comfortable right, like, Hey, I'm comfortable with what I know. And learning does require a certain level of mental energy, and it also requires a certain level of you being willing to take on a new challenge, to take on and learn something new. So to them, I would genuinely ask, what's your interest? How can we supplement what this interest looks like? You know, what are your interests in other avenues? And I think that will plant a seed to let them know that learning and development should be something learning, right? Just learning in general, it should be something that you should do throughout your life. I recently started a podcast called the hero in the mirror, and I wanted to take a moment and actually, thank you, Michael. I don't know if you remember our initial conversation. But we were talking, we were talking about, you had asked me, What ideas do you have? What are you working on? Are you working on, any books, any podcasts? And I had mentioned, I was like, Hey, I actually have an idea for a podcast. And you pause for a moment, and you were like, what's stopping it? Yeah, and it was, it was kind of like, it kind of took me back. I'm like, What? What is stopping me? Right? And sometimes, and in coaching, we call it interference, like you're you probably have a fear of failure. You have a fear that something's not going to go right, or this task seems enormous, that you don't know where to start. Yeah, so making small, small mental changes, making small steps, I think, definitely add up. Since then, Michael, I've had I've had three episodes. I've had some great guests hop on and share their story of resilience and triumph. And as I'm starting to do more episodes, I'm I'm hearing stories of people willing to have that, that mindset of, I want to continue to learn, I want to continue to expand on the person that I am and make myself well rounded in these different, different areas. So So, long story short, if somebody says I don't, I don't need to learn anything, there's always room for growth. There's always room for interest, what, what interests you, and how? And how can we follow that interest and and supplement it with some some training content.   Michael Hingson ** 29:49 I know, for me, I'm extremely comfortable with what I know, and I'm extremely comfortable with what I've learned, but I'm also very uncomfortable in knowing there's a lot of stuff I don't know and that i. Still need to learn. So I love to learn right from the very beginning, when I first discovered the internet, I regarded it and still do, no matter what there is with the dark web and everything else, I think the internet is a treasure trove of information, and it's so fun to discover new things online. And there's so many ways to go. We've got so many places where we can go get books that we never had access to before all of us. There's so many places where we can go to learn about organizations, about people. They're just so many wonderful things, and it's only one way, because I also think there is a lot to be said for real personal interactions, but I think the internet is a wonderful treasure trove that gives us the opportunity to learn a whole lot that we don't necessarily know about, subjects that we don't know anything about.   Fidel Guzman ** 30:55 The Internet is a double sided sword. It is. You can find information that will support right? Maybe you know an opinion that you have on the other side of that, you can find lots of information that does not support independent opinion that you have. And also it's a rabbit hole. Soon as you start going out that rabbit hole. But the one thing I do appreciate from the internet is the channels of communication that it's built. Yeah, and I'm appreciative of being able to have connected with you on LinkedIn, and that's turned out to us having this podcast here today.   Michael Hingson ** 31:34 I think that for me, I'm not as interested on going online and in finding something to change an opinion as much as I am finding something that will tell me about something that I didn't know as much about. Now I might change my opinion from what I thought it might be, but I I really love to try to really get as much as possible into dealing with facts or substance to teach me things, and then I'll form my own opinion from that. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. Of course,   Fidel Guzman ** 32:11 gets a good grounding of all the all the materials, synthesize it yourself.   Michael Hingson ** 32:19 Yeah, I think we should do that. I think we have to be the one to synthesize whatever it is we're dealing with. That's That's our responsibility, and that should always be the way it is, which is, and I don't want to get political or anything, but which is one of the reasons that I say any politician who says, Trust me will be the first person I won't trust until I verify. I am a firm believer in trust, but verify. I don't care who it is. I think it's so important that we really take the time every single person needs to take the time to study what's going on, and and, and really look at all sides of something. I think that's important. I listen to newscasts regularly, and I like to listen to newscasts from all sides. Some I find why I don't want to listen to them very much, because of what they do or don't do, but I still think that it's important to really understand all sides of a subject.   Fidel Guzman ** 33:29 Absolutely, I totally agree with you.   Michael Hingson ** 33:32 So you know, I think it is kind of neat to to have that opportunity, and I think we learn so much when we take the time to really study. I'm amazed. I was at a restaurant once, and my wife and I were there. We were talking about newspapers and what we get from newspapers or online, and our waitress came up and Karen said, so do you read the newspaper? And this woman's 30 years old, and she says, No, I don't. I don't have time, you know. And how little she learns, because she doesn't really seek information, which is too bad.   Fidel Guzman ** 34:07 Yep, you people have to be receptive. People have to be receptive to to gaining new bits of information. And sometimes people are just happy knowing like you, like you mentioned earlier, just happy knowing what they're what they know, just comfortable in in their own space, until some more power to that, more more power to them, more power to them,   Michael Hingson ** 34:31 until something happens to disrupt the happiness and surprises them, because they really didn't learn enough to know that that was a possibility. Yep, I never thought I would be doing a podcast, but when the pandemic occurred, I started to learn about it, and learned all the value of it. Now, I had been at our campus radio station at UC Irvine for six years, and I was program director one year, so I understood radio, and when I started learning about podcasts. They went, this is really pretty cool, and I had never thought about it, and had never been interviewed on a podcast, but I realized I know what I can can do with this, and I know that I can sound intelligent on the air. And so I started to learn about it, and here we are now, just today, actually, we published online and in YouTube episode 324 of unstoppable mindset since August of 2021 Congratulations, Michael. Well, thank you. It's a lot of fun. We actually went to two episodes a week in August of 2022 Oh, wow, because we had such a huge backlog. Yeah, and I don't mind having a huge backlog, but it was growing way too much. So we went to two episodes a week, and and it's a lot of fun to to do it. And as and as I love to tell people, for me, the most important thing is I get to learn from every single person who comes on the podcast. It's so neat to be able to do that, of course. So it works out really well. Well for you, what kind of challenges have you faced? What have you done to overcome challenges, and what are some of the biggest challenges you faced, and how you did you deal with them?   Fidel Guzman ** 36:17 Okay, yeah, that's great. That's some of the questions I use on on my podcast, here in the mirror. So I'm on the I'm on the other side of that chair today. Yes, no, it's good. It's good. It's a good question. So I want to say, you know, there are, there are three main, three main challenges that really stand out for me. One I'm very vocal about, and that is my speech impediment, my stuttering problem. It was really bad when I was little kid. I had a speech pathologist. Even now, talking to you on this podcast, I have to be very conscious with what I'm saying. Some of the listeners might might have caught it in the beginning when I get too excited about a particular topic, or if I haven't formulated my thought yet, but the speech impediments is something that has really made public speaking a passion for me. It was hard for me to have a voice when I was a little kid, I used to try to raise my hand and answer a question when I was in elementary school, and the teacher would be like, All right, next one like you had, you had your turn. And so I, you know, I've struggled, you know, to have a voice. I struggled with just completing sentences, and the way that I overcame that is through a speech pathologist that really gave me the confidence to believe in myself. I remember one exercise she gave me one day is she grabbed me from my classroom. She would pick me up from my classroom every Tuesday and Thursday, and she picked me up one day, and I was kind of down in the dumps. I didn't really like going to the class. We weren't really advancing much. And she's like, Hey, we're going to try something different tonight. Different today. She's like, today I'm going to have the order of pizza. And I was still a little little fat kid, like fourth or fifth grade, so I was like, oh, yeah, I'm all for it. What's going on here? And she was like, but the catch is, you need to order this pizza without stuttering. And you know, right away, kind of my heart dropped. And she's like, okay, like, don't, don't worry, we're gonna practice exactly what you want to order. And she's like, What do you want? And I'm like, Well, I want a large pepperoni pizza with an RC, a two liter RC Cola delivered to McPherson Elementary. And she's like, okay. She's like, write it down. I'm like, Alright, great to like, write it down again. I must have written it like, 10 times. She's like, No, now practice it. So about 15 minutes of doing that, she was like, All right, I think you're ready. She hands me the phone and, you know, I pick it up. My heart's in my throat, and I'm just like, like, I'm like, hi, you know, I want to order a large pepperoni pizza with a two liter RC Cola delivered to McPherson elementary for Fidel Guzman, and I was just astonished. I hung up the phone. I was happy for two reasons. Number one, I was going to get some pizza. Number two, I was able to say it a complete, full sentence without stuttering. And she she really believed in me and instilled in me that confidence that I could overcome this. But it wasn't an overnight success. It still required me go going to the speech pathologist, you know, throughout my elementary school, throughout all those years, and even as an adult, continuing to practice and hone that in in high school, doing presentations, in college, doing presentations. So right now, I am the VP of education for our America's Toastmasters Club, and this is one story i i always tell people, and they're like, No, you don't stutter. I'm like, if I get too excited, I'll lower my words. But that was that was one challenge, that was one challenge, and it's. Is it's still something I have to be very conscious of. And I've caught myself a couple times earlier in this podcast where I kind of mumble a little bit or get caught up in a particular word. But besides that one, I want to say that the second one was more of my in college. In college, I struggled paying for school. I mentioned I'm first generation Mexican American, and I was one, one of the first, first of my brothers to attend college full time. And I did all I could to make ends meet, two, three jobs, just paying for tuition. Financial aid was great, you know, it really helped me with a portion of that, but a lot of it really ended up, you know, being due onto me. And then I had my daughter, and it was just a struggle. I was like, How can I be a dad? How can I be a student? How can I work on my career? And I had gone to a financial aid workshop, and the one thing that stood out in this workshop was when they were talking about scholarships granted in high school when you're about to graduate, they talk to you about it, but it doesn't. It doesn't really materialize until you're until you receive that bill. Yeah, you're just like, hey, here's, here's a $2,000 bill for this college class. And you're like, oh, man, this is, this is not, this is not cheap. It's pretty expensive. And the one thing you know that stood out was, you know, let the scholarships, and they started talking about scholarship applications, and I found that there were a couple common denominators with the scholarships. Number one, they wanted two letters of two letters of recommendation. Number two, they want an essay. What are you going to do with your degree? How are you going to make a positive impact in the community? And number three, sometimes, typically an interview. And so I ran with it. I was like, they want two letter, letters of recommendation. They want one essay. They want an interview. No problem. And I made that my part time job. On the weekends, I would just apply, apply, apply. And I started getting some small wins. I started getting a $250 scholarship here, a $500 scholarship there, $1,000 scholarship, you know, here, and all of it started to add up, and it started to gain momentum. And I was lucky enough to get, get, get accepted for a number of different scholarships and complete my my college education, and even, you know, be strong willed enough to go back and do it again and try to try to get my masters. So those were two, two big ones, but I'll pause here and see if you have any questions around those two challenges for me. Michael, no,   Michael Hingson ** 42:41 but I I really admire what you did. You You made a choice and you followed it through. And I think that's of course, the whole issue is that we have to make choices and we need to follow through. And if we find that, we need to refine our decisions. We do that. I know when I was a student and a program director at the university radio station, I wanted everyone to listen to themselves. I thought it was a great idea to have everyone listen to themselves on the air. And the way you do it is you record it and you give it to them. And I didn't anticipate how hard that was going to be, because for me, I was used to doing it for myself, yeah, but I I didn't realize how much resistance I was going to get from literally everyone at the radio station, they were not interested in and I'm thrilled about doing it at all. What I and the engineer at the station did eventually was to put a cassette recorder in a locked cupboard, and whenever the microphone was activated, the recorder would go on. So, you know, you didn't have to hear the music. You just wanted to hear yourself talk. And we, we really took a major step and said, You have to listen to these recordings. We gave each person a cassette. We expect you to listen to these recordings and improve accordingly. What I didn't say much was, I know what it's like. I'm my own worst critic, and I have to listen to it, so you guys do now. I've changed that, and I'll get to it in a second, but we pushed everyone to do it, and it wasn't long, not only before we started seeing improvement, but before the people themselves started recognizing that they were really getting comfortable listening to themselves and that they were taking this to heart, and by the end of the year, we had people who were loving it and wanting their cassette every day or every week, and also a. Some of them went into broadcasting. For me, what I learned, and it took many years before I learned it is I'm not my own worst critic. I shouldn't be negative, as I said earlier, I'm the only one who can really teach me. I'm my own best teacher. And I think when you make that mind shift from being your own worst critic to your own best teacher, it really puts things in a much more positive light. And I've said that before on the podcast, and I will continue to say it, because I think it's a very important   Fidel Guzman ** 45:29 concept. We actually have a similar exercise for our America's Toastmasters Club, where we'll we'll record some speeches, and we'll have people listen back to their recorded speech. And a lot of people say like, man, it's cringe to hear yourself on the on the other side, on the other side of those iPhones, but it is a very useful exercise. You get a better understanding of your your filler words, your eyes, your arms, your vocal variety, your body language. And if you're looking to be a great, I don't want to say public speaker, but if you're just looking just to speak better in general, even when it's an on a presentation, on a call, or if you have to give up a toast at a wedding or a quinceanera, for you to be able to, yeah, critique yourself and gather feedback from your from your own recording   Michael Hingson ** 46:23 well. And the reality is, the more of it you do, and the more you listen to it, having been up there in front giving the speech, you also see how people react. And if you continue to observe and listen to the recordings as you go forward, you will improve, yeah, for sure, which is which is really important. And one of the things that I try to do regularly now is to record talks. When I go and give a speech somewhere, I will record it so that I can listen to it and I enjoy it, because I discover Did I really say that I shouldn't have said it quite that way, but I'll do better next time. But listening to it helps such a tremendous amount,   Fidel Guzman ** 47:13 especially with those filler words. So when you really listen to the recording, you'll be like, Man, I use a lot of likes or SOS or ands or buts, and if you want to speak eloquently, it is, I mean, like anything, you just gotta practice it. You gotta practice it, and you have to be receptive to that, the feedback. And you have to also celebrate the small wins. One thing I am a big proponent on is celebrate the small wins. Yeah. So if you are able to do your your first speech at a Toastmasters clubs like we, we give you tons of accolades, because it is not an easy fit, an easy feat. If you're able to do the second one, even better. You're, you're progressing, and you're, you know, you're increasing your understanding of some of the fundamentals of public speaking. Yeah, so you're preaching to the choir here.   Michael Hingson ** 48:05 Yeah, no, I understand. Oh yeah, it's good, but it is really important to do, and it's fun to do. If you decide to make it fun, and if you decide that you want to become a better communicator there. There are lots of us and all that sort of stuff that people do. I've heard some people say that's really not such a bad thing. Well, I've got to say that I've never really been used to having a lot of us. And you know, there's a guy out here who I don't think he's alive anymore. He used to be a sports announcer out here. His name was Jim Healy, and you may have heard him when, well, out here in Los Angeles, anyway, he was on K lac, and he had somebody, well, he had a recording of somebody, one of the sports jocks, and he announced that he was going to play this recording, and what you're going to hear is this guy in 60 seconds say, you know, 48 times, that's and he did what's amazing, that   Fidel Guzman ** 49:17 when you when you get to Some of those, it's like, what do they say? Nails on a chalkboard? You're like, Oh, yeah. Like, what are you trying to say? Just, just say it. To say, to say the damn thing.   Michael Hingson ** 49:30 Yeah, talk a little bit slower and just say it.   Fidel Guzman ** 49:33 One thing that I'm trying to be conscious, more conscious of is pauses, like those deliberate pauses, those deliberate pauses to collect your thoughts, like I often need, just to collect myself, but also to build suspense the message and the message that you're trying to give, especially when you're in front of a group of people, in front of an audience, and you're pausing there, they're just like, oh, what? So what is he? What is he gonna say next? What's up? What's going on with this pause? So it's also you have this arsenal of tools when it comes to to public speaking and to engage with an audience and to keep them, to keep them interested in what your next thought is going to be. What What am I going to say next? How am I going to, you know, align this topic to something else that I want to discuss.   Michael Hingson ** 50:24 I love, yeah, I've discovered the value of pauses. You can make a pause last too long, and one of the things you learn is how long to make a pause. But I love pauses. They really do add a lot of value. There they get. Well, you talk a lot about continuous improvement, and clearly you you really love the whole concept. What's an example of a project where you instituted continuous improvement, and how do you make that happen? Thanks, Michael.   Fidel Guzman ** 50:56 Let's pause again. Yeah, right. I know. Yeah. All right. Michaels, Michaels, throw me. Well, not much of a curveball, but yeah, no, that's good. So I know continuous improvement. And one project that I worked on, I want to say one that comes to mind is last year I hosted a series of product boot camps. And what these product boot camps really were, were product training and networking opportunities within ion. I had just gone through the acquisition of backstop into the into the ion family, and I saw a need. I saw a need there for some product training. And what I did is I started to coordinate with subject matter experts, hence the collaboration and community principles that I have with learning and development. And started to piece together a boot camp. So a series of training sessions, and we discussed location, we discussed different components that we can include on there. We discussed remote hybrid in person, what some of those options were, and we had about, I want to say, five or six of these boot camps in 2024 and what I noticed is that for each of the boot camps we would tailor it a little bit, because each of these different products that were under specific umbrellas were for certain audiences, you know, for certain segments of the business. So we had to, I had a template, but we had to tweak that template a little bit. Who do we want to come in here? Who do we want to come in for this particular topic? When do we take breaks? If it's in person, you know? Do we take longer breaks if it's in person? How do we include some interactive components to it? How do we test people's knowledge, whether it's through live polls, whether it's using an LMS platform to do knowledge checks? How do we create a certificate based program around this? And for each of those, it was a learning experience. It was a learning experience because we, every subject matter expert, is different, right? You're building different relationships with different people, and even their style of talking or their style of teaching on a particular topic is going to be different. So those continuous improvements throughout each of those boot camps really started to to resonate and just to showcase themselves. And for each of those, we had a similar template for all of them, but we made minor tweaks to make sure that it was as engaging and and thoughtful as possible.   Michael Hingson ** 53:36 Wow. Well, that's pretty cool. Um, and I think that the very fact that you would make the tweaks and you recognize the need to do that was pretty insightful, of course, because for me, I know when I speak, some people early on told me you should write a talk and you should, you should just give that talk. I tried that once. I didn't like what I sounded like when I read a talk, and I haven't done it since. And I also realized that I do better, and sometimes it isn't necessarily a lot, but when I customize every talk so I love to go early and try to hear speakers who speak before me, or get a chance to meet people at an event, because I will learn things invariably that I will put into the talk. And sometimes I'm tweaking talks up to and including the start of the talk, and sometimes I will tweak a talk when I'm speaking and I'm getting the impression just from all the fidgeting, that maybe I'm not getting through to these people, or I'm not really doing this in the best way possible. And I will change until I get what I expect to be the audience. Reaction, because I know what an audience is like when they're fully engaged, and I also know that not every audience is the same, so I hear what you're saying. I think it's important to do that.   Fidel Guzman ** 55:13 Yeah, for you to be able to do that on the fly, kudos, kudos to that. But yeah, we you got to be able to understand that audience, understand that audience, understand what's what's going on, the dynamic of that, of that situation. So you're, you're a veteran at at this, so no surprise there.   Michael Hingson ** 55:31 Well, that's a lot of fun. Well, what do you do when you're not working you, I know you're involved in various activities and so on. So what do you do when you're, yeah, not an eye on writing, doing, training, stuff and all that.   Fidel Guzman ** 55:45 A number of different hobbies. My wife calls me the Energizer Bunny, because I'm always running around doing something, but some of my main things is right now judo. I did wrestling in high school, and I did mixed martial arts when I was getting my undergrad. And I love martial arts. I think iron sharpens iron. It's good to be around a good group of, good group of people, people who are who are like minded, people who are looking to continue to develop themselves. And yeah, if you're in a room full of tough guys, you have no other choice than to start to be a tough guy yourself. So I love martial arts. I did a couple Judo tournaments, judo and jujitsu tournaments last year, where I placed. And let's see, besides that, triathlons, I love to run, I love to bike, I love to swim. I did my first triathlon last year. I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a phenomenal experience. I mean, it's two three hours of non stop movement, but it was, it was great just to be part of that, of a huge event like that, besides the martial arts and the constant running and swimming and biking, the last thing I want to say is writing and poetry. I have started to compile all all my poems. Hopefully, in the next year or so, I'll, I'll launch a small book of poems. And, yeah, I'll keep you, I'll keep you posted on that. But I do, I do like to write on the sign, you know, hopefully a book of poems. And, you know, since since having my daughter, I've always liked children's books. I would, I would love it if I could launch my my own series of children books, and I'm working on a couple templates with that. So, yeah, stay staying busy, staying busy, physically active, but also mentally   Michael Hingson ** 57:40 active. So you haven't written any books yet. I have a   Fidel Guzman ** 57:44 couple ideas, a couple ideas of what, what kids books want to do, but you don't have any books published yet? No, none yet. None yet. Well, we're anxious to see that happen. You got, you got it, you're gonna, you're gonna light that fire. You're gonna light that fire as well. No, and again, right? I do appreciate you for for really, really motivating me to start my own podcast, because you had really said, like, what's stopping you? Like, like me, I'm stopping myself, you know. But even yet, yeah, even like, you know, being an author, I know that you're an author, you know, I would love to have a conversation offline with you. You know what that publishing experience was like, because I think that's my biggest interference right now with that, is like, I don't know where to start with the publishing. I know I can self publish. I know I can go through publishers and like, the internet, like we said, a double sided sword, yeah, you have information that tells you you should just self publish, and then you have other bits of information. Was like, You should go through a publishing company and just like, where do I Where do I choose? But I think that's why having mentors, you know, and getting to network with people who are experienced, such as yourself, and these different avenues of public speaking and being a keynote speaker and having a podcast, being a podcast host and being an author. I think, I think it's great, and you are definitely an inspiration to me. Michael, well, thank you.   Michael Hingson ** 59:11 You're familiar with Jackson Hewitt, the accounting and tax company. You got it? Okay? So I can't remember whether it was night, whether it was 2016 or 2017 but I got invited to go speak at one of their events, and I did. And while I was there, I met a woman, and I didn't know what she did, and she she, she worked at a Jackson Hewitt, and I just happened to say, what do you own of a firm? Because most of the people there were supposed to be company owners. And she said, No, maybe someday. And I said, why not? You ought to own a company. You ought to you ought to become a company owner. You'll go further Anyway, last year, she sent me an email, and she said, I've never forgotten that, and I think it was like a year later, or two years later, she's. After I and she met, she said, I got my first company, and I now own 10 branches. Wow. Back, I said, that's pretty cool. Oh,   Fidel Guzman ** 1:00:09 Michael, Michael, you are just making ripples in the universe. Just ripples doing something. Yeah, that's good. I don't want to get too religious, but you're doing God's work, man, well,   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:18 I hope so. You know, expect Hill. Hill. Guy, guide, or she'll guide, yeah, but so what do you think is the future of work, of workplace training and learning?   Fidel Guzman ** 1:00:30 Yeah, I think we, we touched a little bit upon this. But you know, AI, you know, definitely, how can we leverage AI for content creation, creating outlines and also using it as feedback. But I also want to to bring back the the in person training. I know we've all gotten very comfortable with, you know, doing stuff remote, but similar to the example that we talked about earlier, where that teacher was like, oh, all these, all these kids are using AI for these papers, and how do I really test their comprehension? That's, that's something you know, that in person activity, yeah, I think definitely has a tremendous amount of value, not just for the instructor, but for the end learner. Yeah. So I think, I think a mixture of like, okay, great, you know, how can we use AI to create content? How can we use it to provide, you know, feedback for people to continue to improve on certain areas. But how can we bring back that in person component?   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:38 Well, see, oh, go ahead,   Fidel Guzman ** 1:01:39 yeah, to, to to unify. It was probably that pause, that to to unify, to unify a vision, you know, a vision of of continuous improvement. You know that to unify, that vision of what a team might be aiming for, yeah. So, yeah. So, I think, I think, you know, long story short, it's going to be, you know, leveraging a bit of AI and still bringing back that, that in person aspect. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:05 you know, I I've done virtual presentations as well as, of course, lots of in person presentations. I much prefer in person to virtual but my main reason for that is that I can tell what the audience is feeling. I get a lot more information if I'm doing an in person talk than I would get if I'm just doing a virtual talk. Now I've done it long enough that I mostly can do pretty well at a virtual talk, but it's still not the same, yeah, and I still don't get exactly the same information, but I can do virtual talks, and I do and it, and it's fun and and I can play games with it, because I can always turn my video off and really drive people crazy. But you know what? What advice would you give to an aspiring leader who wants to to evolve and make make changes to their organization or to themselves and so on.   Fidel Guzman ** 1:03:06 So advice I would give for aspiring leaders. I think the the main one that I really focus on is opportunities and challenges. Be ready to embrace any opportunities that come your way, but just know that each of those opportunities, it's going to come with its own set of challenges, and be prepared for both, and be okay with dealing both at the same time. And you know last, but you know not least, is that there are there are lots of stories of triumph, and to really curate yours. What does your story of triumph look like? What is your passion and how does, how does all of that connect?   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:53 And it may be evolving, and it may be different in five years than it is today, but both memories are important, yeah, which is cool. Well, Fidel, we've been doing Can you believe we've been doing   Fidel Guzman ** 1:04:08 this for over an hour? Time flies and you're having fun,   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:12 absolutely. And I really appreciate you being here and being a part of this, and I really appreciate all of you who have been listening to us and watching us. We're really excited that you're here. I hope that this has been valuable for you as well, and that you've learned something. Fidel, if people want to reach out to you, how can they do that? I   Fidel Guzman ** 1:04:31 want to say LinkedIn, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn. What's your LinkedIn identifier? You can find me as Fidel Guzman, comma, MBA, and I'll also give you a link so you can, you can accompany it alongside this episode, yeah, but feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. That's going to be the easiest way to get in touch with me. And I'll also have some links if you want to check out my podcast. And hopefully I'll have, I'll have that book of poems out, yeah, soon.   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:59 Well, that will be. Good. Well, thank you again and again. Thank you, all of you. If you'd like to reach out to Fidel, I'm sure he would appreciate it. I would, and you're welcome to reach out to me.

S/O to Will Ryan stepping in this week. The fellas start the show recapping July 4th. Plenty of glizzy talk. Reese talks about Christian's football tourney in Canton and the state of little league football. You know they had to recap the Puff Verdict, and NBA free agency talk As always, the culture from a Midwest point of view #WWTB

Every 3 Episodes I will hop on and share something random, in true Natalie fashion. This is like my little blog, I share things I love and light up about. I share about my personal life and journey too.Books Im loving: (S/O to my bookclubs)Highcliffe HouseMiss Adeline's MatchGreat Big Beautiful LifeSo you're in love now whatTress of the Emerald SeaThe Blue CastleLakeshire ParkThe HousemaidMarry Him: the case for settling for mr good enoughThe Women

No spoilers today--listen in for an important episode child of God. S/O to the Queens!www.growinggodsqueens.org

Episódio 104º Comportamento Cristão. Esse é o nosso assunto nesse episódio. O cristianismo puro e simples, como apresentado em obras como "Cristianismo Puro e Simples" de C.S. Lewis, enfatiza a fé em Deus, a vida de Jesus Cristo e a salvação pela graça divina. O comportamento cristão, em essência, é orientado pelos ensinamentos de Jesus, pela lei moral e pela busca de virtudes. Acompanhe conosco com suas dúvidas e curiosidades. Te aguardamos na mesa desse sábado. Você é nosso convidado pra lá de especial! Não se esqueça de compartilhar esse episódio com seus amigos! ESSE PODCAST É UM PROJETO DA IPB RIO PRETO: INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/ipriopreto/ SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/ipriopreto/sets/calvinamente MESA COMPOSTA POR: 🎙️Reverendo Robson Odirlei Ferreira https://www.instagram.com/robson.odirlei.ferreira/ 🎙️Felipe Carvalho https://www.instagram.com/felipe_clk/ CÂMERAS - ÁUDIO - POSTAGENS 🎬 Fábio Vizintim https://www.instagram.com/web_site_on/ 🎬 Gustavo Fávero https://www.instagram.com/dr.gustavofavero/ LOCALIZAÇÃO DA NOSSA IGREJA Rua Prudente de Moraes 2664, Boa Vista. Caminho para chegar à igreja: https://bit.ly/49C3SPC Secretaria: +55 (17) 32141410 WhatsApp: https://wa.me/5517996127769 Contatos: https://bit.ly/3QWf9TJ HORÁRIOS DE CULTOS: AOS DOMINGOS - Culto da manhã: 9h - Escola Bíblica Dominical: 10h - Culto da noite: 19h ÀS QUARTAS - Culto de Oração: 20h

Episódio 106 A diversidade de versões da Bíblia reflete a história de diferentes traduções, revisões e escolhas interpretativas ao longo dos séculos. A igreja católica e as igrejas protestantes, por exemplo, possuem diferentes cânones bíblicos, o que influencia a seleção dos livros a serem traduzidos e incluídos. Além disso, diferentes grupos religiosos e estudiosos priorizam diferentes aspectos da tradução, como a precisão textual, a clareza da linguagem ou a interpretação teológica. Que tal tirarmos algumas dúvidas com relação a esse assunto e desmistificar algumas opiniões equivocadas? ESSE PODCAST É UM PROJETO DA IPB RIO PRETO: INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/ipriopreto/ SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/ipriopreto/sets/calvinamente MESA COMPOSTA POR: 🎙️Reverendo Robson Odirlei Ferreira https://www.instagram.com/robson.odirlei.ferreira/ 🎙️Reverendo Vinícius Lacerda https://www.instagram.com/_vinicius.lacerda_/ 🎙️Felipe Carvalho https://www.instagram.com/felipe_clk/ 🎙️Tor Torres https://www.instagram.com/tortorres.pg/ 🎙️Eduardo Roberto Conceição https://www.instagram.com/edusemisul/ CÂMERAS - ÁUDIO - POSTAGENS 🎬 Fábio Vizintim https://www.instagram.com/web_site_on/ 🎬 Gustavo Fávero https://www.instagram.com/dr.gustavofavero/ LOCALIZAÇÃO DA NOSSA IGREJA Rua Prudente de Moraes 2664, Boa Vista. Caminho para chegar à igreja: https://bit.ly/49C3SPC Secretaria: +55 (17) 32141410 WhatsApp: https://wa.me/5517996127769 Contatos: https://bit.ly/3QWf9TJ HORÁRIOS DE CULTOS: AOS DOMINGOS - Culto da manhã: 9h - Escola Bíblica Dominical: 10h - Culto da noite: 19h ÀS QUARTAS - Culto de Oração: 20h

I⁠ ⁠Distante de casa, há tristes privações. II.⁠ ⁠Distante de casa, a rebeldia torna-se evidente. III.⁠ ⁠Distante de casa, enfrentam-se as consequências da ruptura.

I. Deus governa sobre impérios e autoridades II. Deus envia socorro nas provações III. Deus está conosco quando os ventos são contrários

Episódio 105 A Fé que nos Transforma, como título refere-se a um conceito central na obra de C.S. Lewis, especialmente em "Cristianismo Puro e Simples". A fé, para Lewis, não é apenas um reconhecimento intelectual, mas uma força transformadora que molda a vida de quem a pratica. Ela é uma confiança viva e ousada na graça de Deus, que leva a pessoa a agir, a mudar e a viver em conformidade com os ensinamentos de Cristo. O livro explora temas como a existência de Deus, a natureza de Jesus Cristo, a Bíblia, a salvação, a oração, o sofrimento e a vida eterna, com argumentos lógicos e reflexões profundas. Lewis desafia o ceticismo e o relativismo, mostrando como a fé cristã é racional e relevante para a vida moderna. Como já dissemos, você é nosso convidado pra lá de especial! Não se esqueça de compartilhar esse episódio com seus amigos! ESSE PODCAST É UM PROJETO DA IPB RIO PRETO: INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/ipriopreto/ SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/ipriopreto/sets/calvinamente MESA COMPOSTA POR: 🎙️Reverendo Robson Odirlei Ferreira https://www.instagram.com/robson.odirlei.ferreira/ 🎙️Felipe Carvalho https://www.instagram.com/felipe_clk/ 🎙️Tor Torres https://www.instagram.com/tortorres.pg/ CÂMERAS - ÁUDIO - POSTAGENS 🎬 Fábio Vizintim https://www.instagram.com/web_site_on/ 🎬 Gustavo Fávero https://www.instagram.com/dr.gustavofavero/ LOCALIZAÇÃO DA NOSSA IGREJA Rua Prudente de Moraes 2664, Boa Vista. Caminho para chegar à igreja: https://bit.ly/49C3SPC Secretaria: +55 (17) 32141410 WhatsApp: https://wa.me/5517996127769 Contatos: https://bit.ly/3QWf9TJ HORÁRIOS DE CULTOS: AOS DOMINGOS - Culto da manhã: 9h - Escola Bíblica Dominical: 10h - Culto da noite: 19h ÀS QUARTAS - Culto de Oração: 20h

Quase crente [At 26.27-28] by IPB Rio Preto

I. Um coração missionário confronta com apelo evangelístico II. Um coração missionário deseja a salvação de almas e ora por isso III. Um coração missionário conduz a um bom testemunho

John Marvin grew up in Kansas as a member of a family with significant medical experience. John's father, for example, was a family physician in a small Western Kansas town. John describes some about his life and how his thoughts and attitudes were greatly influenced by his father. Late in his high school career John told his dad that he did not want to grow up to be a doctor because, as he put it, he didn't want to work as hard as his father worked. John will explain that to us. As he also put it, his comment came from a young naïve boy.   In college John settled on securing a marketing degree. After college he ended up going deeply into marketing and eventually he entered the optical industry specializing in optometry.   John and I have some wonderful discussions about self growth, leadership and how to help people and companies grow. I got, and I think you will get, many great ideas from John's experiences and that we all will be the better for what John has to say and teach us.       About the Guest:   John D. Marvin is an entrepreneur and dynamic leader with a proven track record of success in healthcare, wellness, and the eyecare industry. As President and CEO of Texas State Optical (TSO), he has transformed the organization into one of the largest and most respected networks of independent optometrists in the United States, generating upwards of $110 million in annual revenue. With over two decades of experience at TSO, John has cultivated a member-owned cooperative that empowers optometrists to operate independently while benefiting from robust centralized support. His leadership has been pivotal in fostering a culture of innovation, professional growth, and exceptional patient care. John's career spans over 40 years, during which he has held executive roles across various industries, including marketing, consulting, and healthcare. His entrepreneurial spirit is evident in his strategic leadership during TSO's transition from a retail chain to a cooperative network in 2001. Under his guidance, TSO shifted its focus from product-driven services to comprehensive medical eyecare, reinforcing its reputation as a patient-centered organization. Beyond TSO, John serves as President of Texas Eyecare Partners and Health and Wellness Consulting. As a lifelong advocate of personal growth, John has studied the transformative power of mindset and the “inner game” of success. His insights into leadership, achievement, and business management have made him a sought-after speaker and certified John Maxwell Professional Coach. John passionately shares his experiences to inspire others to unlock their potential, offering actionable strategies to overcome challenges and drive meaningful change. John's dedication to education and collaboration is evident in his efforts to support emerging professionals in the field of optometry. He has fostered strong relationships with the University of Houston's College of Optometry and the Texas Optometric Association, contributing to scholarships, professional development programs, and initiatives that promote medical optometry. Through his vision and unwavering commitment to excellence, John D. Marvin exemplifies the principles of leadership, empowerment, and innovation, making a lasting impact on the eyecare industry and beyond. Ways to connect John:   https://www.facebook.com/jdmarvin  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdmarvin/  https://www.instagram.com/jdmarvin/ https://tso.com/   About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, hello, everyone. Once again, wherever you happen to be, I'm your host on unstoppable mindset, Mike Hingson, or you can call me Mike, whichever you prefer. And our guest today is John D Marvin. John is an entrepreneur. Has been an entrepreneur for quite a while, and he has been involved in a number of different kind of endeavors over his life. And he's worked, worked in the eye care industry a bunch, and is now in charge of Texas State Optical. We're going to learn more about that and and all the other things I don't know whether I care, does me a whole lot of good directly, but it's fun to talk about anyway. No, no doubt. So John, I want to really welcome you. I'm glad we finally made this work. I'm glad we got a chance to connect. So welcome to unstoppable mindset.   John D Marvin ** 02:13 Well, thank you, Mike. It's a real pleasure to be here.   Michael Hingson ** 02:15 Well, I'm glad that we we get a chance to really talk. We haven't really done too many podcasts on eye care and optical stuff, so I'm glad to be able to do it. But I'd like to start, as I'd love to do so often, tell us about kind of the early John growing up, and go from there.   John D Marvin ** 02:33 Okay, I was born and raised in Kansas. I that that's northern Texas, right? That's northern Texas. That's right, yeah, I actually grew up in western Kansas. I was born in Kansas City, but I grew up in western Kansas, and my father is a family physician, and had the kind of stereotypical country doctor practice small town, 2000 people, and my mother was his office manager for a number of years. And so it was a kind of a family business. And I have three siblings, sisters, and so we grew up in a small Mayberry type town, and it was great riding bicycles till the street lights came on at night, and catching fireflies and all that kind of good stuff. And then I decided to go to school. I chose to go to school in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and graduated, it's an emphasis in marketing and marketing and business administration, and ended up in the ad agency business for a little bit of a time, and just kind of really decided that wasn't for me, and ended up from there going into pharmaceutical sales. And really enjoyed that, and enjoyed the the outside sales aspects of it and calling on doctors. And my territory was western Kansas, so I used to say, and still refer to it as my territory looked like my high school football schedule. So we would go to these small towns. And of course, most everyone out there knew my father, and so the typical problem of trying to get past the front desk was made a little easier because people knew my family, and from that, I ended up taking an administrative, marketing administrators position with a group of surgeons in in Wichita, and that led to introduction and eating some ophthalmologists in Houston. Them and followed a job opportunity I had with them and came to Houston in 1989 I've been here ever since, but it was after four years of working with them, I ended up going out on my own and started my own business, which was Marketing Management Group, which did consumer research, and then we would develop marketing strategies based on that. And one of my clients, early clients, was Texas State Optical. And because of my background in eye care, both in Wichita, Kansas and in Houston, I had a better I got some insight into the consumer. And so the work I did with Texas State Optical was a lot we did a lot of work, and did several studies with them, and that kind of introduced me to the whole group of franchisees that made up the Texas State Optical organization. Subsequently, I helped them organize, the franchisees organize, and in the late 90s, 1999 I was hired by the franchisees to put together a Franchise Association, and through that, ultimately help them acquire the company, purchase it, and from that during that process, was asked if I would be willing to come on board as the new president of the company once they purchased it. And that was in 2001 and I've been president ever since. So here you go. It kind of takes you from Small Town Living to big city operations and a network of about 100 optometry offices.   Michael Hingson ** 06:47 So what exactly is Texas State Optical? Or maybe first, what was it and how is it morphed over time?   John D Marvin ** 06:56 Well, originally it was founded by four brothers in 1936 in Southeast Texas, little town called Beaumont, and famous for a lot of things in that part of the state. One of them is Janis Joplin, the others, Big Bopper and George Jones and but it also was the birthplace of Texas State Optical. And they grew a network of privately owned they owned them all over 300 locations throughout Texas, Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas, Louisiana and and then in the early 70s, they sold it to a pharmaceutical company, ironically, the same one that I had worked for when I was calling on western Kansas. But when they sold it, it got converted to a traditional franchise model, and it stayed that way until the franchisees purchased it in 2001 when we I was involved, and we turned it into a brand license business, taking that iconic license that had been around Texas optical since the 30s, 1930s and and then turning around and licensing the use of that brand to young optometrist who wanted to own their own practice, but saw the use of that brand as kind of instant credibility, because a lot of people were familiar with that brand.   Michael Hingson ** 08:40 So what does it provide? What did one of the organization provide under the brand? Well,   John D Marvin ** 08:46 we use the use of the brand, and so you got immediate notoriety in terms of just people's awareness of it, but also we put together kind of a la carte menu of optional services and support and resources that licensees could either take advantage of or not, and it was a really hands off model. We didn't have any, and still don't have any operational control over the way business was done. We We influenced that through best practices and sharing of information, but certainly we didn't require have any requirements of the way that they would operate. Reality is most private practice optometrists operate pretty well, and so we were there to kind of coach and help, but mainly it was them using our brand name, which had a really strong consumer value to it.   Michael Hingson ** 09:44 And so what kind of changes when the franchisees all joined together and bought the company and so on? How have you and they changed it over the years.   John D Marvin ** 09:59 I. I think the biggest change from 1999 to 2001 when they bought it, and to this day, has been the culture of the company. And that is, you know, it's something of a franchise opportunity, yeah, and a lot of your listeners probably either own franchises. Thought about franchises, and you know, it might you and I spent the next year trying to decide we were going to own a franchise. And we'd go out and do all sorts of research, and we'd look into this one and that one, and what kind of industry we want, and we'd finally select one that we were really impressed with. Thought about for great opportunity. We'd pay our $50,000 franchise fee, and about the second or third day of owning that franchise, we would decide that these people don't know anything about this business that we're in, and there's just this inherent adversarial relationship that exists between a franchisee and a franchisor. Some for good reason, some just because of the independent, entrepreneurial nature of a franchisee. Well, when the franchisees owned the company, they owned the franchise, or that adversarial dynamic kind of left. And so now there's nobody to kind of blame except yourself, and people are inclined not to do that as much. And so there was a greater tendency to kind of work together, work through things, come up with solutions to problems or resources that were needed. And it just created a much more homogeneous type of culture, and to the point where our annual meeting we host every year is referred to as our family reunion. And so we gather everyone together. It's really an atmosphere of all of us being as one family, sharing the same kind of core values, and all out to do the same thing, and that is just provide great quality eye care for our communities. And so that, that is a big change. Of course, there's always the things like collective purchasing, education and training. The main difference in those areas are engagement. When you are asked by a franchisor to engage in certain activities, there's that inherent reluctance to do that in our organization. There's an inherent acceptance of it because it comes from a colleague, it comes from others and doctors are more leading doctors than they are being led by some set of suits someplace in the Northeast.   Michael Hingson ** 12:50 Yeah, and that is such an extremely important thing to be able to really make it a family, a disciplined family, but still a family nevertheless, which is kind of cool. I'm curious about something being blind, and having been blind my whole life, and involved with blindness consumer organizations, one of the things that we have found often is that most people in the eye care industry, primarily in the ophthalmological industry, which is kind of a little bit more relevant to us, but tend not to really have a lot of knowledge about blindness and blind people. And so, for example, there are so many stories of a person going into the office of an ophthalmologist, for example, maybe they're losing their eyesight, but the ophthalmologist examines them and for whatever reason, will say things like, you're going blind. I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do, and walk out and never provide any other kinds of resources or knowledge to help the person who's losing eyesight. I don't know whether you see that, given where you are or what your thoughts are on that, but I'd be interested to get your thoughts because it seems to me that there's a lot of opportunity to do significant education about blindness and low vision to recognize that the reality is, blindness isn't the problem. It's people's attitudes traditionally that are the problem.   John D Marvin ** 14:28 That's an excellent point. Mike, I you know my first thoughts are the profession of optometry is really involved in preventing right blindness, and so it's kind of one of the few areas of healthcare that is more prevention oriented than other areas. Most areas are treatment oriented. In other words, you become sick. And then we treat you right, and the profession of optometry is all about we talk to people all the time about protecting your vision and preventing problems from happening. Now, as we see patients that end up either through glaucoma or some form of pathology, retinal issues, start to lose their vision. There comes a point early in that process where they are, frankly, they are outside of the scope of care that an optometrist can provide. So they end up being referred to an ophthalmologist. That being said, there are several optometrists across the country that have decided to devote themselves to low vision, and that's kind of a form of blind and what I would call blindness care, and where it's not complete, there is some level of vision there, but it needs a lot of enhancement, either through equipment or through other types of therapeutics practices. And there are optometrists who say, I'm not going to sell glasses. I'm not going to focus on contacts. I'm going to just provide a low vision clinic. And they're not not there's not a large number of them, but there are some, and what I've experienced in that is it does take a particular type of practitioner to be successful with that. And when I say successful, I mean, to be able to establish the type of patient doctor relationship that actually produces some really positive outcomes and helps people better manage their loss of vision, either whether that's progressive and eventually will become complete, or whether It's stalled at a point where they just cannot function without special aid, like I said, equipment, or some type of therapeutics. And there's just not a lot of people go into Optometry for the refractive side of things, and and so there's, there's not that motivation, really, to learn much about it. We do as an organization. We're very involved with prevent blindness as a national organization, and we'd also have some involvement with low vision clinics that are in the Houston Medical Center. But outside of that, you're right. There's not a whole lot of folks that understand it, probably, or maybe it's just they don't have the patience for it, because it does require a different kind of patient care approach, even   Michael Hingson ** 17:55 so what I wonder is, if there is an opportunity, maybe to provide additional education, so that if your your franchisees, for example, encounter a person who's losing eyesight and they and they realize that that they can help refer them to sources or resources that can assist because part of the problem is that, typically in society, blindness is viewed as such a horrible, devastating thing. And I understand that eyesight is a very wonderful thing, and people want to have it, but the reality is for a variety of reasons that doesn't work for everyone. The problem is that we have so much fear of blindness that we don't tend to deal with and I just wonder if there might be a way to provide some sort of a system or program that would help teach your people that blindness isn't really the end of the world, which is not to say, don't try to prevent it if you can, but when you can't, you can also be an additional source. To say, here are places where you can go, or here are some things that you can learn.   John D Marvin ** 19:16 Well, I do think that it's important, and I'm aware of many, keeping in mind that our members who own locations that use our brand are independent, we have provided them local organizations, clinics, things like that, which help them in referring people that need that kind of help and in education, I think also an important factor is that it's not just the patient that can use that it's the patient's family, because it, while it's perceived as something that you know you. I know that people value their sight, and the thought of losing it and becoming blind is is frightening the individual, but it also is frightening and disruptive to family, who father, mother, wife, husband, son or daughter, to deal with the changes in lifestyle that are required to accommodate that. Loss of vision is significant. You mentioned you've been blind since birth, and that's certainly one group of people, but there's an awful lot of people that end up experiencing blindness when they're in their 30s or 40s, after they've had a large portion of their life with vision. And it's, I don't want to say it's easier by any means. I first of all, I have no right in even suggesting that, but it's a different experience, for sure, not ever having had vision, versus having had it for a number of years and then losing it. And sometimes it might be as scary and frightening for the family around that person as it is the patient themselves. And so we do place a high value on getting people the kind of help and resources they need to better adjust to those changes.   Michael Hingson ** 21:28 Well, when I was born, I actually became blind because of what we now call retinopathy or prematurity, which originally was retro enterofibroplasia, which is harder to spell, but I love the term anyway. At about four months of age, it was discovered that I was blind, and the doctors told my parents they ought to just send me off to a home, because no blind child could ever grow up to be a contributor to society, and all I would do would be a drain on the family and then later on society. And my parents were very unusual in taking the stand that, no, you're wrong. He can grow up to do whatever he wants, and we're going to give him that opportunity. And that was, and really to a very large degree today, still is, a very unusual attitude to take, because we fear blindness so much, and while I appreciate the reality of eyesight is very important for most people, what I would love to see are ways to create more of an understanding so that People understand that blindness isn't the end of the world, and that's what what we see all too often in society in general, which is unfortunate, and you're right. I don't know whether it's easier if you're blind from the outset or become blind later in life. I know any number of people who became blind later in life, who went to programs where philosophically, they were taught blindness was not a problem, and they learned that they could continue to be contributors to society, and they tend to intend to Do that, as opposed to many others from both camps and from birth or not who never understand. Blindness isn't going to be the end of the road if people let it be. So it's it's just one of those conundrums that we end up having to deal with on a regular basis.   John D Marvin ** 23:38 The name of your podcast dealing with mindset, right? A lot of it is exactly that. And if you're find yourself in a you know, the child who's born blind can either have a support system and family and parents that impact his his or her mindset in a way that creates the expectation and understanding that it it doesn't have to be limiting. And same goes with someone who's blind later in life, right? It's a matter of how you look at and decide for yourself. I mean, we all know people that, whether it's a loss of a one of the most five senses, the important senses, sight or hearing, so forth, there is a natural mind. There's one set of mind people that have a mindset that, oh, poor you. Now you've got insurmountable challenges in your life, and this is going to be difficult the rest of your life. And then the other mindset that many parents have recognizing their opportunity they have with their child is to say, yes, that's you. But that doesn't have to define you, that doesn't limit you. You can overcome those things and and I think that that is even in our business, where you have someone who comes into the office and through some type of diagnostic testing, it's determined that they are losing their sight, and that the natural outcome of this progression of pathology will be the total loss of sight. We have the opportunity there, at that point, to affect their mindset, yeah, and to either tell them this is a circumstance that will not limit you or define you, and here are some resources and education materials and opportunities in that area that can help you better understand what you're living with and how that you can overcome that, just from the census standpoint, because It doesn't have to be something you have to overcome in life, per se. It just has to be an accommodation you make, because you can't see when other people can right. And it is all about mindset.   Michael Hingson ** 26:13 It is all about mindset. No doubt about it, you're absolutely correct in that regard. And it is, it is something that we'll all be dealing with for a while, but hopefully over time, the mindset of people will change to recognize that there are always alternatives. Being a Star Trek fan, I love Spock and Kirk who are always talking about there are always options, and there are always ways to get around doing things or to accomplish things that you might not think about, but you have to be multi dimensional in your thought process.   John D Marvin ** 26:52 Well, the other exciting aspect of all of this is the the fact that those with growth mindsets are working diligently on technologies that can actually supplant the deficiency and come up with ways to correct blindness. And so there we may even, in our lifetime, live to a point where the pathological condition that you were born with doesn't have to be permanent. It can be reversed using technology that provides you with as good, if not better, vision than people who weren't born in that same situation.   Michael Hingson ** 27:33 Yeah, the only people who never will come out of it are politicians, because they take dumb pills when they become politicians. So we can pick up them.   John D Marvin ** 27:40 Well, listen, just you could be blind and still be able to see, right? Yeah, that   Michael Hingson ** 27:47 leaves them out. Yeah. No, I understand. I understand they're fun to pick on. But you what? What really made you decide to go into the eye care industry, into that, that whole environment, what, what attracted you to it, or was it just sort of so natural? Well, obviously, that's a mindset. Yeah,   John D Marvin ** 28:10 there's a couple of things. Think the thing that attracted me to kind of eye care in general, and put ophthalmology and Optometry in the same bucket for this. What attracted me to was this whole area of health care that I kind of grew up in with my father and family practice in a small town. Because, you know, my family practice in the 60s and 70s was a whole different discipline than it is today. Oh, I know, you know, especially in a small town where the closest specialist, if you would, is 90 miles away. And so my father had to be what we call today, functionally, you know, a functional medicine, meaning that he had to be able to kind of treat the whole person. I mean, he used to be very proud of the fact that a large percentage of the kids that were in the school that I grew up in, he delivered and so, you know, there was no obstetrician in this small town. So if a woman became pregnant, then he provided her prenatal care. He gave, he delivered the child, and then he gave the provided the pediatric care afterwards. And so having that sense of kind of the global care of of someone kind of gave me a real appreciation for the kind of the system, the the systemic aspects of health. And when I was given an opportunity to get into the eye care business. Because I saw it more as getting into the healthcare business, and even though it was very narrow, defined in eye care, it gave me a connection. And I I'm a big believer that you start down a path and you follow it. And what maybe forest and trees and gardens, they may turn into desert or mountains or valleys or otherwise. So when I started, I really didn't know necessarily where it would go. And I guess you could even back it up and say that my whole entry into the pharmaceutical industry kind of started me down that path and and then that led to being in the practitioner side, which ultimately led to going from ophthalmology into Optometry. I frankly think that all of that background best prepared me to do what I'm doing today, and understanding the whole system of eye care, not just refractions and glasses and contacts, right?   Michael Hingson ** 31:11 Well, you know, and you started out in in the whole marketing world, as opposed to going off and becoming a doctor directly, which which gave you a different perspective. So it really makes sense as to what you're saying and it but you've had exposure to both sides, and that has to really help you in terms of doing the job that you've chosen to do.   John D Marvin ** 31:38 Yeah, I think you're right. I remember having the discussion with my father because as I was like a junior in high school and, and as most juniors you know, you start thinking about what you're going to do when you graduate high school and, and I was graduating high school at a time that I had a draft number given to me, there was a war over in Vietnam that was still going on, and so I, you know, there for a period of time, I didn't know whether I would even have a choice. Yeah, it turns out by the time I actually that last year between junior and senior, the war had really started to wind down. And while I got a draft number, it was very high, and the likelihood of me actually being drafted into service was very low. And so I made some decisions about what I was going to do post high school, and I remember having the discussion with my father about would he be disappointed if I decided I didn't want to be a physician? And he assured me that he wouldn't be disappointed, but he was curious as to why I was not interested in doing that, and I told him, I said, just to be candid, I don't know if I want to work as hard as you do, because at that time, I had spent many Christmases with him, not at home, even though, our town, I mean, you could almost walk to the hospital. Our Town was small enough that, but he was taking care of people in the hospital on Christmas Day or delivering a baby on Christmas Day, and he just, you know, it was clear that in that profession, the way he practiced it in those days was that the patients came first, and the family understood that. And we were all in the doctor business to in that respect, and this whole concept of work life balance was, you know, no one looked at things like that. I mean, everyone understood that this was a commitment that had been made, and it involved the entire family. So I told him, I said, I don't know if I'm willing to do that or not. And so I thought at that time, I decided that I was going to pursue a career in theology, and so that determined where I went to school. And about after my first year in school, I the university I had chosen, their whole theological department was more pastoral, and I wasn't interested in that. I was more evangelical. I was more interested in being an evangelist and and so I not having that in front of me. I decided that it switched to a marketing degree. And it turns out that to be a pretty good evangelist, you got to be a little bit of a marketing person yourself. Anyway, true. So, so I ended up going down that path.   Michael Hingson ** 34:53 Well, I would say if you had chosen the pastoral approach, you would have been working just. Just hard as a doctor. Oh, very much. So, yeah, but I guess I would also ask this whole issue of not working as hard given what you do today, how's that working out for you? Well,   John D Marvin ** 35:14 those were words of a very naive young guy. Yeah, because I didn't take I didn't understand the fact that if you're going to accomplish anything, it's going to require hard work, and you need a family that understands what your what your passion is, and what you've decided to do, and because it is, I mean, no one builds a career by themselves. They they build a career with the involvement and support of other people, and if, if they, if those beliefs aren't aligned, then you're going to end up in conflict and be constantly be torn between what it is you believe you're wanting to do with your life, versus your obligations, your other obligations. And put it   Michael Hingson ** 36:04 that way, well, you've been involved in the whole mindset and activity of being a business leader for a long time. What kind of key lessons have you learned along the way about personal growth?   John D Marvin ** 36:21 I think the thank you for that question. I think the one thing that I have learned, that I've tried to pass on to people is start, begin we I think that we naturally have this reluctance to take risk, because we don't want to fail at anything and and so we kind of take the approach that, well, if I want to pursue something, whether it be personal development or growth or even some profession, I need to know everything there is to know about it before I start it. And that is just not true. The only way you learn is by starting I have a friend and acquaintance who his career and his profession is leading people on climbs of Mount Everest. So that's his job. If you want to climb Mount Everest, I can hook you up with a guy that will help you do it. And it's a fascinating profession that he's in. And I asked him one time, how do you learn how to climb mountains. You know, how do you learn this? He said the only way to learn how to climb mountains is by climbing   Michael Hingson ** 37:46 mountains. I was gonna say, to do it, yes. And   John D Marvin ** 37:49 so I think the number one thing is to start. And if you're committed to it and you start, you'll figure it out. The rest of it, because there are no failures, there's maybe a setback or two, but as long as you keep focused on where you want to be and moving forward and getting better and learning, you'll figure things out. And I think so personal growth is really a decision and a commitment to continual learning, continual improvement and and you're never too late to get started. It's never too late, even if you're at 80 some years of age and maybe limited health wise, you can still start because there's so much, there's so many different resources today that are available to people. I mean, I got an iPad Mike, that's, I bet you I've got three 400 books on it. And, you know, used to be you couldn't have three or 400 books without a library in your house. Now you can have one iPad on a memory card. And I was just, I had a doctor's appointment earlier today, and while I was waiting in the reception, I pulled out my phone and I started reading a book that I'm reading, you know, and I had, didn't have to carry the book The lot of people do, lot of people have, but I was able to do that. And then there's what's available in terms of resources, of books to read are just unlimited. So I think that there's, there's all sorts of opportunities, just a matter of getting started and doing it. Second is consistency. Everybody can start. Few people can be consistent, or few people are consistent. We all know the classic, never if you're if you're someone who goes to a gym and works out, you know. Avoid that gem the first month of the year in January, because it is overrun with people who are starting their new year, and then by February, you also know that you're back to normal, because most people don't stay consistent. So starting and then becoming consistent are the two things that are probably most important, that I've learned   Michael Hingson ** 40:25 well, and that kind of leads to something I was thinking about, and that is the connection between mindset and long term achievement. Because it would seem to me that, as you point out with the gym, the people who create the mindset that I'm going to do this and really decide that that's what they're going to do, are more likely to have analyzed it and made that decision intelligently and then we'll stick with it, than people who just go off and say, I'm going to do it, but really haven't established A mindset, right?   John D Marvin ** 40:59 That's exactly true. And you know, people tend to focus on volume as opposed to continuity. And what I mean by that is people go to the gym and they they put all this intensity into the first day they haven't worked out in weeks or months, or even maybe a few years, and then the next day they're so sore they can't get out of bed and they can't so they decide they're going to take the next day off rest, and then that turns into a week off. And I'm a student of John Maxwell, the author, and he talks about what he calls the rule of five, and he illustrates it by saying that if you have a tree in your backyard that you're wanting to take out, you can take an ax and you can go out there and you can swing that Ax five times, and put down the ax and come back tomorrow morning, hit it five times. Come back tomorrow morning, hit it five times. And over a period of time, that tree will come down, or you can go out there and just try to chop and chop and chop, and that tree will defeat you, because you will run out of energy and you'll be too tired to finish it, but if you'll just be consistent over a time with the rule of five, and he talks about it in any profession, if you want to get good at it, figure out what are the five things you need to do every single day to grow in that direction and to accomplish what you need to accomplish. And so I think that you're right that over a period of time, long term success is not done through intensity. It's done through consistency. And he also says, you know, you're never going to change anything in your life until you change what you do daily? And that is very, very true.   Michael Hingson ** 43:09 I know I haven't really been the greatest at doing a lot of exercising and so on, and a lot of walking, and especially here in the winter, it gets really cold, and so I tend not to do it. But what I figured out, actually, a couple of years ago was we have a wonderful, great room with an island in the middle of it, and I will just put on a book and listen to it and do laps around the bar, and I'll get up to 10 and 15,000 steps a day just walking around the bar. Now it's not going uphill and downhill, but still a lot of good exercise. And I find that not only does that work, but I enjoy it, because I get to read at the same time or do other things. Of course, my dog probably thinks I'm nuts, and my cat, my cat avoids me. But by the same token, you know, it is exercise, and I found that I have no problem really doing that every day, absolutely.   John D Marvin ** 44:12 And you know, we we live in a gym, yeah, and whether it's your room, your great room with an island, or whether it's a backyard or your neighborhood, we lived in a gym. I think that was illustrated in one of the Rocky movies really well when he was held up in northern Russia and just worked out using the materials that were with him. And so there really is no excuse to doing something, and doing something is better than doing nothing at all, and doing something every day will deliver unbelievable results over time.   Michael Hingson ** 44:59 It's a. All about establishing the mindset. Yes, it is. Well, you know, you've done this work for a long time. What kind of advice would you give to people starting out to help them get the mindset and achieve what they want to do with their goals?   John D Marvin ** 45:19 Well, first of all, I think developing and writing a personal growth plan, and I mean writing, setting down and starting, for instance, I made a decision several years ago that I wanted to get better at communication. So that was a decision. And the side of all the things that I wanted to try to commit to developing or growing in or learning, I picked communication. Why did you want as one of it? Because I felt like it was extremely important that you never accomplish, or I didn't believe that I was going to accomplish what I wanted to in life without the ability to communicate well with others, whether that be my spouse or whether it be the people I work with the customers I serve. I wanted to be good at communicating. I wanted to become good at that. I also had a friend tell me one time said, you know, if you will read five books on any subject, you'll know more about that subject than 99% of the people. And so I decided, Okay, I'm going to find five books on communication, and I'm going to commit myself to reading those over the course of the next year. And I just, you know, went out and started trying to determine what are really good books about communication. Some of them I kind of knew, like How to Win Friends and Influence People. That was one that I knew. Okay, I'm going to put that one on the list. Now I need four more, and one of them I knew that John Maxwell had written. So I you know, everybody communicates, but few people connect, and I said, Okay, I'm going to be another one. So I just kind of put together my little library of five books, and I started so I had developed very narrow and limited, but I had developed my own personal growth plan as relates to communication. So as I would tell my grandson, or I would tell a friend, if you want to start on developing a mindset and developing personal growth, sit down and make a plan for what you're going to do. And it's interesting, because if you'll ask people, tell me about your and I do this with people who work for me, and when I'm hiring, tell me about your personal growth plan. What is your personal growth plan? And you know, most people don't even know what I'm talking about, so they start making stuff up, and it becomes real obvious that they don't have one. From my employees, I require that as a part of their job and their annual performance review, we go over their personal growth plan. I want them to become more valuable over the course of this next year, because to themselves, because if they do, then they become more valuable to the company, right? And so I would instruct somebody to sit down and start and make a plan and identify something you want to be better at and and start growing in those areas that that described as starting with communication, has grown now to seven different areas in my life, and I've got at least five, in some cases, more books in each of those areas. And so I've got a very busy personal growth plan that I I work on each year.   Michael Hingson ** 49:12 Do you find that, as you read books on these subjects, as you're dealing with your personal growth, that in reality, you know a lot of the stuff already, at least to a degree. But by the same token, reading what others have written tends to drive the point home a whole lot more. And I ask that from the standpoint of common sense.   John D Marvin ** 49:40 Well, I think so. I mean how to win, which   Michael Hingson ** 49:42 doesn't mean that you don't learn things from the books, but, but a lot of it is, is stuff that you Intuit   John D Marvin ** 49:50 Yeah, I think that you know, a great example that comes to mind is How to Win Friends And yes, people that book, if you read it, it's like, well, yeah, naturally. Of course, but if you read it and you focus, you know, if you read it with the attitude, I want to learn something from this, then you begin to internalize what you're reading. And as you internalize it, you develop more cognitive, a cognitive awareness of it. And what I find super interesting is that book is on my list every year, so I commit myself to read that book every year. So now you know, this year will be probably my 15th, 16th time reading it. What I find fascinating is, I'll read the same chapter I've read, and I'll learn something new, something new, yeah, each time. Because, much like the saying about you can't step in the same stream twice, because it's not the same stream and you're not the same person. Same goes with reading material. You can read that book a second time, and you'll get something out of it, because you're not the same person that you were the first time you read it. And as you mature in your understanding, you get more knowledge out of the reading. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 51:17 Which? Which makes perfect sense, which also says a lot about the quality of the author. But you're right. You will always, if you look for new things to learn, you'll find new things to learn absolutely, which is what makes it so cool. And I I tell people all the time, and I'm not sure they always understand it. If I'm not learning at least as much as anybody else by being involved in this podcast, then I'm not doing my job. Because I believe every episode gives me as much, if not more, of an opportunity to learn as guests or all the people who listen, which is why I think it's so much fun, because I think that learning is as fun as it gets.   John D Marvin ** 52:05 It is, I mean, you're absolutely right, you know, they also, there's a you never learn anything quite as well as when you have to teach it, yeah, you know. And in a way, by hosting a podcast, your your preparation for it, you're setting down, your concentration on it forces you to absorb from every interview that you do, and you can't help but walk away with being different than it was when you sat down to start it. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 52:42 one of my favorite books is a science fiction book written by Robert Heinlein. It's called the Moon is a Harsh Mistress. And I don't know whether you read my science fiction. I   John D Marvin ** 52:52 don't, but that sounds interesting. So   Michael Hingson ** 52:54 the basic premise is, it takes place in 2075 there's a hint, and it's all about the moon, which is being controlled by the lunar authority on earth. And it really parallels the American Revolution. The difference is that a computer on the moon, as they put it, wakes up and helps in doing the revolution that eventually gets Moon free from the earth, but one of the major characters is Professor Bernardo dela Paz, who is a teacher. And one of the things that the that the storyteller describes on a regular basis is how Professor dela Paz can teach on basically any subject, as long as he stays at least one lesson ahead of the people who he's teaching, which often does. So he teaches so many different things, but all he does is works to stay just a little bit ahead of the people that he's teaching, so that he can go back and teach it, and of course, as as you and I would say when he's teaching it, he also learns a whole lot more. But I think it's such a clever book.   John D Marvin ** 54:11 It sounds like it science fiction, but if I if that, when that strikes me that'll be one I put down to read.   Michael Hingson ** 54:23 I think it's the I believe it's high lines better. His best book. A lot of people talk about another one called Stranger in a Strange Land, which is about Mars and the earth. But I think that the Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Was his best book, most imaginative book, which is kind of fun, yeah, but you know, it's, it's, it's just one of those things that I've just it's always stuck with me that dela Paz did that well. So over the time, being the president and CEO of Texas State Optical, i. Uhm, how has that shaped or changed your your views on leadership? Because I'm sure you've, you've had lots to do and lots to think about. I'm sure it's had an effect on you.   John D Marvin ** 55:12 Yeah, I, I think the biggest impact has been it's, it's of what it's required of me in in developing my leadership abilities and deep and making those abilities effective towards an outcome. And let me try to shed on that I mentioned earlier. I'm a student of Maxwell, and Maxwell has a definition of leadership is influence, and and he said leadership is is influence. It's nothing more than that. And, and so at first I didn't know what that meant. And then, as he goes on to explain, and it makes sense, oftentimes, you will, the leadership is not a matter of title. It's not a matter of position. Leadership is influence and the ability to influence. And you can walk into a room and you will observe the group, and in one corner, maybe somebody that is obviously the focus of the attention of the others, and that person is exerting leadership influence. They may not be the may not have title, and they may not be in any position of authority over the others, but the others will follow that person, because that person has influence on them. And so I've in my understanding of that, and then trying to live that I've seen that develop in my own ability. And then I have to sit down and say, okay, if I'm going to be a leader of my team, my executives that will report to me, how am I going to provide that influence. And so you begin to break that down and try to figure out because everyone's different. I mean, I I have four people that report to me, each one of them, I will have to affect and influence those people differently. And it starts with understanding them. And so what it's done is it's helped me to really understand that principle that offered by Maxwell, and then how to incorporate that into my life, so that I feel now confident in my ability to be a leader of any group or situation I find myself in, and I've just agreed to accept a new responsibility in a trade association, and I have confidence that I can provide a strong level of leadership, not because I'm the smartest person in the room, but because I have the ability of providing influence over that organization or in that group through better understanding of others that I Have a position over, so to speak. But you know, it's like the best arenas to develop leadership is a volunteer organization, because that's the only way you're going to get anything done, is to have influence, because these people don't have to do anything that you say. And so oftentimes, if you have the authority, you misuse it, and you provide nothing in the way of leadership to a group. That happens all the time.   Michael Hingson ** 59:13 I think that too many, and I use the term in quotes, leaders, think that the whole idea is that they're the boss. Well, bosses are not necessarily leaders, and you're right. Leaders are not necessarily bosses. Directly. It is all about influence. And unfortunately, all too often, the people who have influence may not be the designated leader, but then the leaders or bosses get jealous of those people, which is also extremely unfortunate they don't get it.   John D Marvin ** 59:45 It's a it can be threatening if you're a boss and you've got people that are supposed to report to you and they're listening or being influenced by someone else who may not be. Intentionally trying to subvert the boss. It's just they, they're more effective in that and so that's threatening. And so oftentimes, given that authority, they misuse it. And   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:15 the good leaders, however, when they see that happening, will try to go and understand from in part, the person who's the real influencer, what it is that they need to improve on to be able to be more effective. But that happens so rarely, by comparison to the number of people who are out there.   John D Marvin ** 1:00:38 Yeah, it's too often politics, and I don't mean that in the government sense, but corporate politics determines positions of authority, and you end up with a bunch of very ill equipped people with an awful lot of leadership responsibilities, but lacking in any kind of real leadership skill,   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:02 yeah, which is something that we need to devote more time to teaching, but people also need to be willing to learn it, and that gets to be a challenge. Well, I have to tell you, this has been fun, and I know you have other things to do in the course of the day and enjoying the weather down there, so I want to let you go, but I really have enjoyed having you on and I've enjoyed all the different insights that you've brought. So I really appreciate you being here to do all of that. So maybe we'll have it again. That would be kind of fun.   John D Marvin ** 1:01:41 Well, my I've thoroughly enjoyed this as I mean, you make it so easy to visit. You're You're a tremendous host and good interviewer, good questions. You threw a couple at me there that I had to really stop and think about. And so anytime you'd be willing to have me back. I'd love to join you again sometime.   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:02 Well, I want to thank you, and I want to thank all of you for listening and watching us today. We really appreciate you being here. I'd love to hear your thoughts on today and what we've talked about. You're welcome to email me. It's easy. It's Michael, M, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I, at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I V, e.com, or go to our podcast page, which is at www dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, and Michael hingson is spelled M, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, S O, n.com/podcast, if you know anyone else who you think ought to be a guest on our podcast, love to hear from you. We're always looking for more people to chat with. And in part, my motivation is I want to learn too. But the more people who come on, the more people we get to learn about who themselves are unstoppable. So please don't hesitate to refer people to it. And you know, John, you as well. We really value that wherever you listening, give us a five star rating. We value that. We appreciate your ratings and and love them. But once again, John, I want to thank you. This has been absolutely fun, and I'm glad you came   John D Marvin ** 1:03:13 well. Thank you. Thank you very much.   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:20 you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

A HUGE thanks to everyone for the support over the past few years! We got updates from some former guests

Denkey and Celentano keep FC Cincinnati at the top of the MLS in 4 pt week. Ball control an issue? Obi stays long term✍️Miles makes prelim USMNT roster

Guests are way back. In this episode, I sit down with my best—Chase Lambin is a former professional baseball player who spent 15 years chasing the Big League dream, and now coaches in the Texas Rangers organization.Chase gives us an inside peak at life in professional baseball, including stories I've never heard before. His Tracy McGrady story alone makes this episode worth tuning in.We get into my favorite part of having a buddy who coaches future Major Leaguers—the emotional aspect of players getting called up to the Big Leagues. For me, seeing a text vid of a call-up is like looking into my stocking on Christmas morning. If you're not still doing that, might be time to upgrade your S/O (but that's for a future solo ep).Chase tells the story of their most recent call-up, Blaine Crim, who, incidentally, is my new favorite player.Funny how you get older and pull for the 27-year old call-up you have some Kevin Bacon connection to. But when you were 9, you'd have used that rookie's baseball card in your tire spokes. Well, I'm older now, and would sooner use a Topps Justin Verlander to give my 4-year old's balance bike the vroom sound.We also discuss Chase's approach to parenting, coaching and maintaining perspective. He shares insights from his book The Hitters Handbook, and reflects on lessons learned from coaches and teammates throughout his career.Re baseball, we cover everything from 12-year old travel ball to Corey Seager riling up the Rangers in the playoffs because he got excited about a homerun (which he doesn't do often).There's a reason Chase & I have remained the best of buds since we met in 1994. Episodes where I have him on keep getting better!But yeah, that's not the reason.I'll just tell you that having a 'bestie' you've known since 9th grade, and getting to broadcast some our conversations with you beautiful MFs, is one of my great joys in life. At least in part, because you've told me you enjoy them too.

こんにちは。姿勢治療家（R）仲野孝明です。 この番組では、体の姿勢と生きる姿勢、より豊かに人生を生きるための姿勢力について話をさせていただいてます。 今回は、姿勢治療家(R)が考える健康の要素、6ヘルス（構造・睡眠・食・運動・精神・呼吸）の中の構造 今回はリスナーさんに感想いただいておりますので、紹介させていただきます。 健康力チェックへ感想いただきましたので紹介いたします。 （40歳男性、健康力44点） ポッドキャストを通勤の車などでよく聴いています。腰痛持ちですので色々参考にしてます。車の座席サポーターを買いました。紹介された本を読んでみたり、いつも楽しみにしています。ありがとうございます。 （京都在住　S・Oさん女性） 姿勢や体についてラジオへの質問 以前、突然腰が痛くなり、立ったり歩いたり座ることさえ辛い時期がありました。整形外科に行き、レントゲンを撮り検査はしましたが、骨には以上がなくそのままその時は注射をしてもらって帰りました。次の日は呼吸するだけでも腰のあたりが痛くひどい状態でしたが、ストレッチと安静でなんとか治りました。原因は座りすぎと重いものをもったことが原因だとは思います。そういう場合は整体にまず行ったほうがいいのでしょうか？何かアドバイスがあればよろしくお願いします。 ラジオへの感想 私は仕事柄ヨガのインストラクターです。しかし、姿勢についてはまだまだ勉強中であり、学ぶ必要があると思ってるいる中、ポッドキャストで、『姿勢』と検索。すると仲野さんの『第448回の肩甲骨の痛み』のポッドキャストを聴き、大変驚き、『わかりやすい！』『たしかに！鎖骨からだ！』と頭の中のモヤモヤが整理され始めました。これまで私は運動を自分自身の直感や感覚である程度の範囲で、『これ以上やったら怪我する』『この動きはこれくらい』というのを繰り返してきました。しかし私はこれをどう言葉で説明して良いのかわからず悩んでおりましたが、仲野さんの言葉がとてもわかりやすく非常に勉強になると思い、こちらに感想を送らせてもらいました。 話があっちこっちにいってますが、いつか東京に行った際は、仲野さんの整体にいって健康能力テストを受けたいと思っております。こんなに素晴らしい内容をポッドキャストでありがとうございます！！ 整形外科を骨や筋肉の損傷がないと確認できたあとは １）歩くこと ２）30分以上同じ姿勢でいないこと。 ３）痛みを無視せずに、何かの警告と捉えること。 関連ブログ：仕事中に腰痛になってしまった時に、するべき３つのこと。 https://takaakinakano.com/sisei_work/ 体を見直す時間は、人生を見直す時間です。 ■Youtube｜姿勢治療家の「姿勢の医学」チャンネル 正しい姿勢と正しいカラダの使い方配信中 https://www.youtube.com/user/nakanoseitai ■twitter｜勢治療家仲野孝明公式 https://twitter.com/sisei_nakano ■有料動画講座｜いつでもどこでも学べる姿勢 一般社団法人 日本姿勢構造機構 https://shiseikk.jp/vimeo/ ■メルマガ登録｜仲野孝明メールマガジン ６ヘルスを軸にした日々の気づきコラム配信中。 http://takaakinakano.com/mail-register/ ■オンラインSHOP｜姿勢治療家印のグッズ販売 自分が使いたい商品をつくっちゃいました https://shop.senakano.jp/ ■公式ページ｜姿勢治療家仲野孝明 http://takaakinakano.com/ ■仲野整體東京青山｜姿勢治療家HEADOFFICE 治療のご相談はこちら https://senakano.jp/  

Jesus came from God and a woman. And what a woman she was! To celebrate mother's day, this episode focuses on Christ's entry into the world through one of the most amazing mothers to ever walk the earth. & special S/O to our moms, Natalie and Lorraine, for bringing us into the world :")) we love ya

Episódio 101º Futebol Americano. Que tal um bate-papo com uma atleta de Flag Football? @riopretoweilersfa Recebemos nossa convidada para explicar um pouco desse esporte e falar desse mundo pouco explorado entre nós brasileiros. Como já dissemos, você é nosso convidado pra lá de especial! Participe conosco desse episódio histórico e inédito. Não se esqueça de compartilhar esse episódio com seus amigos! ESSE PODCAST É UM PROJETO DA IPB RIO PRETO: INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/ipriopreto/ LOCALIZAÇÃO DA NOSSA IGREJA Rua Prudente de Moraes 2664, Boa Vista. Caminho para chegar à igreja: https://bit.ly/49C3SPC Secretaria: +55 (17) 32141410 WhatsApp: https://wa.me/5517996127769 Contatos: https://bit.ly/3QWf9TJ HORÁRIOS DE CULTOS: AOS DOMINGOS - Culto da manhã: 9h - Escola Bíblica Dominical: 10h - Culto da noite: 19h ÀS QUARTAS - Culto de Oração: 20h

I. Os mentirosos se unem e se organizam para acusar o justo II. Os mentirosos bajulam as autoridades III. Os mentirosos partem para o ataque e faltam com a verdade descaradamente

I. Paulo não teme o tribunal dos homens II. Paulo não negocia sua consciência III. Paulo compartilha sua vida e sua fé

This episode of Damn Internet, You Scary! is a full-blown ride. Guest: Devonte West https://www.instagram.com/_devontewest/ Devonte West joins Tahir Moore and Patrick Cloud for an unhinged convo that covers: Snail trail face masks

Author and liver of life absolutely describes our guest this episode, Pat Backley. As Pat says, she was an English woman until the age of 59 when she decided to become a Kiwi and moved full time to New Zealand. Pat grew up in a poor household, but she will tell you that she never regrets not having as much money as many of the people around her. However it happened, Pat grew up with a various curious oriented mind and a desire to explore the world.   During her life which today spans 73 years, Pat has held a number of jobs. She also has been married twice, but clearly really is not bitter over being divorced from both husbands, although the 2nd one simply wasn't ready to be as adventurous as Pat and live in New Zealand.   Pat wrote her first book at the age of 70. Over the past three years she has written eight books and has a number of future books inside her. As with other authors I have met over the years, Pat's characters essentially write their stories. Pat has plans and ideas, but the characters take over and create the stories.   I find Pat to be extremely articulate and personable to converse with. I think you too will enjoy her and what she has to say. So, sit back, or walk or do whatever you are doing, but get ready to hear a most enjoyable and thought-provoking conversation.       About the Guest:   Pat Backley is an English woman who, at the age of 59 , decided to become a Kiwi and she now lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Passionate about people and travelling the world, she has spent the last 73 years living a colourful and interesting life and her books reflect these passions.   She published her first book DAISY in late 2020, just before her 70th birthday, and now says that she intends to write till she dies!   She has published eight books and contributed to several anthologies, as well as writing articles and short stories for various magazines and has several more books in the pipeline.   Ways to connect Pat:   www.patbackley.com I am on Facebook and Instagram @patbackleyauthor. Also on X (Twitter) @Pat Backley Books. And LinkedIn @Pat Backley   About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   ichael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:20 Well, hi everyone, and I want to welcome you to another edition of unstoppable mindset. And today we are going to chat with Pat Backley. Pat is a British woman, as she will tell you, but at the age of 59 which has now been some what, 1314, years ago, 13 years ago, she decided to become a kiwi and moved to New Zealand. We'll have to find out what brought that about. I've been to New Zealand. It's a fun place. I'd love to go back. But anyway, and of late, certainly much later in her life, Pat decided to become an author. She wrote her first book at the age of 70, and that is another fascinating story, I am sure. So we will delve into all of that, and we're going to grill Pat until she's tired of us. Pat, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Pat Backley ** 02:20 Thank you so much, Michael, I can assure you, I won't be tired of being grilled by you. I'm I'm thrilled to be here. Thank you. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 02:29 we're really glad that you're here. What time is it in New Zealand right now? It's 10 o'clock   02:33 in the morning. Yeah, it's about what I thought.   Michael Hingson ** 02:38 So you're 21 hours ahead of us. Yeah, yes.   Pat Backley ** 02:42 And I have to say, I have to say that tomorrow is looking very good. You'll be glad to know, Oh, good.   Michael Hingson ** 02:49 Should be good. It Well, I'm glad to hear that it's going to look good, and it's actually going to warm up a little bit. Here. We're only getting up to about 65 Fahrenheit, so that's what about 17 Celsius or so. But tomorrow it's supposed to start getting a little bit warmer. We're approaching our winter as you approach your summer, which is kind of interesting.   Pat Backley ** 03:14 Yes, very interesting. When I first moved to New Zealand, that was one of the things I found very strange to have Christmas in the sunshine, because obviously I was, I was born with Christmas in the cook.   Michael Hingson ** 03:29 Yeah. Well, and you could have moved to Australia, where they use kangaroos to pull Santa slay.   Pat Backley ** 03:38 I could have done. I could have done. But Australia didn't have the same appeal for me as No, I   Michael Hingson ** 03:43 like New Zealand. I haven't been to Australia. I'd like to go, but I really enjoyed being in New Zealand. I've been to both the North and the South Island. I spent almost three weeks there, back in 2003 and gave something like 17 or 18 speaking opportunities in 15 days. And I only had one day that I had mostly off and that we spent. What is the the town on the South Island, the the tourist town, oh, Queenstown. Queenstown. Yeah, and so but that only lasted until about six that evening, and then I had to go off and speak again. But it was a lot of fun.   Pat Backley ** 04:28 You must have been exhausted because it's quite a lot of distance. I was I'm what I'm about to say is going to sound ridiculous now, because I've just been to America, and I know about your distances I was going to say, because you have a lot of driving distance between the towns you would have had to speak at. But then, as I was about to verbalize it, I thought, Pat, that's stupid. In America, the distances are far greater   Michael Hingson ** 04:51 well, and also a number of airplane flights between the North and the South Island to make it go faster as well.   Pat Backley ** 04:57 Yes, absolutely, yes. So. It was fun. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 05:01 why don't we start by you telling us a little bit kind of about the early Pat growing up and all that. We'll start with that. Okay,   Pat Backley ** 05:08 well, I, I was born in 1951 so it was just after the war, and England was still suffering from the effects of the war. You know, there was a lot of it was a bit of a gray place, so my parents couldn't afford to buy their own home, so I lived with my parent, my paternal grandparents, for the first three and a half years of my life. And of course, I had a lovely time because I had four adults doting on me. Then we moved out to the country. We were given a council house, which is like a state house. I'm not sure what they called in in the in America, you know, where the government provides them, right? Which, at that time was very acceptable, because there wasn't much housing, because it had all been bombed out, because we lived in London. So, so I grew up in the country. I didn't realize we were poor until I was 11, and went to secondary school, and suddenly I was the because I was quite bright, I was put in a grammar stream class, so I was suddenly with all these rich kids. One girl was driven to school in a chauffeur driven rolls, Royce and I lived in the little government house opposite the school, so everyone knew I was poor. So yeah, it was, it was tough. I would say it was tough my teenage years, but I   Michael Hingson ** 06:26 did, they teach you a lot about that. Oh, yeah,   Pat Backley ** 06:28 I got, I got, I mean, these days they would call it bullying, bullying. I just, I just, it was just, what my luck you know that I remember one time, and I actually did write about this in my memoirs, because it's still in my head after 60 odd years, one time I was the only kid in the class that went home for school lunches, and one because mum couldn't afford to pay for school lunches, so I used to go home because we lived just opposite. And I remember one day I came back to school and it was raining, so all the kids were back in the classroom early, and the teacher wasn't there yet. And there was this one girl whose name will live in my memory forever. She's etched on my soul, Angela Barrett. And she was standing at the front of the class, pretending to be the teacher, writing on the blackboard, and then wiping it off with this black cloth. And then she said, this is all this rag is fit for. And it was actually my school raincoat, which until then I'd been very proud of, but it was second hand, it'd be my cousins. And I can remember that afternoon thinking, I don't want to be here anymore. I hate it here. Everyone hates me. And I went home and I told mom, and I cried, and she said, Look, love, just because they've got more money than you doesn't make them any better people. And at 11, I could not see that at all like that. I just thought, why don't you just get more money? Why don't you buy me a nicer and go blah, blah, blah. But now in hindsight, I just think she that was the wisest thing she could say, because the time I rebelled, it made me realize that actually it's not an equal playing field in the world. You know, you're going to have people that are on this side and down at the bottom and up at the top, and you just have to grit your teeth and fight your way through it,   Michael Hingson ** 08:13 yeah, and, and the reality is, there are only so many things that you can truly control, and what you what you can control is how you dealt with that situation and situations like that. Yes, that's   Pat Backley ** 08:25 right. Um, and then I think I was a, I was definitely a product of the 60s. You know, we had all the lovely pop music and the short skirts and burning out bras and all that sort of stuff. But when I was just two weeks after my 20th birthday, I got married for the first time, which was ridiculous in hindsight, but at the time, you think you know everything when you're that age, don't you? My parents begged me not to marry him, but of course, I knew best, so that marriage lasted 14 years, and he wasn't always very kind. So then I left, then I was on my own for a beer. Then I had a living boyfriend, and I was desperate to have a child, Michael, but I'm not. I'm I'm old fashioned. I only would have a child if I had a husband. And so I didn't. I got married again when I was 41 and we had a child. I had a child when I was 43 my daughter, and that was that I thought life was going to be great. And then 26 years later, he decided he didn't love me anymore, didn't want to live in New Zealand anymore, and that was that so. So I kind of found myself living in New Zealand on my own, having we emigrated here together just before my 59th birthday. But anyway, I've picked up the pieces. It's been six years now, and because of COVID and because of him leaving me, that's how my life changed, really. And your daughter, my and my beloved daughter, my only child, yes, she's 30 now, and she is the love of my life. Yes, and I'm sorry. I've just realized I probably. Probably haven't answered your question very well. You must always pull me back, because I tend to get very excited and passionate and you know, don't necessarily toe the line with question answering. So forgive me, not   Michael Hingson ** 10:11 a problem. That's why this is a conversation and not a big deal. So is your daughter in New Zealand? She   Pat Backley ** 10:20 is now. When her dad she she was 16 when we came to New Zealand, so she did her last bit of school here, then she went to university in Auckland, and then she decided she wanted to do her master's degree back in London. So she went back to London, and then she got a job there, and she was away for five and a half years, which nearly broke my heart, but she's home now. She's been back four years, and she's got a lovely Kiwi boyfriend, and she's here to stay, so I'm   Michael Hingson ** 10:49 thrilled. What did she get? Her degree in art history. Ah, now, do you? Did you go to college? No, sadly,   Pat Backley ** 10:57 I because we were poor, I just had to leave school at 16, and so now I never went to college. I would have loved to, I would have liked to have been a teacher, but, you know, it wasn't to be and and I've had a great life, regardless of that.   Michael Hingson ** 11:13 So did you during all your married life and then the time in between and so on. What kind of work did you   Pat Backley ** 11:20 do? Well, I started work. I started work in the bank when I was 16. Barclays Bank was a really good place to work, so I spent 10 years working there. Then I lived for two years in the Fiji Islands and just did voluntary work back to the UK. My first husband and I started a furniture business, and then when I left him. Obviously I needed a job, because I didn't claim anything in the divorce. And so I got a job with bernardo's, the children's charity, as a general fundraiser. And that was great, because I just traveled all around the south of England supporting all the fundraising groups and things which I loved. And then I moved on to after a few years, I moved on to cancer research, um, again, as a fundraiser, but this time, setting up all their charity shops in the south, and that was a wonderful thing as well, because during the course of both those jobs, I met so many interesting people. You know, now that I'm an old gray haired lady, well, not actually Gray, because I color it, but now that I'm an old gray head lady. I feel very bad that the 35 year old me went to my new job with with Barnardos and sat there looking at these hundreds of gray head old ladies. And I thought, Oh, I'm too young to deal with all these old people. What on earth am I going to talk to them about? And of course, within a couple of days, I've realized that all these gray head old people were fabulous, that most of them had had really interesting, fascinating lives, and that I could learn an awful lot from them. So now the old gray head me looks back and feels very guilty at how I was at that age. But I guess that's what happens when you're young. You just think anyone over the age of 50 is is past it, don't you really well, but   Michael Hingson ** 13:03 you did learn a lot, I bet, from them, which is, oh, wow,   Pat Backley ** 13:07 oh, I learned so much, and I had so much fun, so much fun. Yeah, in fact, when I got married for the second time, a whole bunch of those ladies and a few of the men came to my, like, hen party the night before I got married, we went to the local, very smart hotel and had cocktails, and I just smiled to myself, thinking, oh, and I thought you were all so boring at the beginning, and actually, you're fabulous. So, yeah. So then, then my then I, then I stopped working, had my daughter, and I desperately didn't want to go back to my well paid job with cancer research. I wanted to be home with my baby because I was 43 I'd lost two children in the year before, with miscarriages, and so I stayed at home for four months, and then my husband said, oh, we need more money. You need to get a job. So I ended up doing having other people's children at my house, looking after them so doing like child minding. And that was when I look back. I don't know how I managed, because sometimes I had five under four year olds running around the house, which was quite a challenge. But we survived. I did that, I think, for seven years altogether, and oh, and in between that time, we came and lived in New Zealand for a year because my husband was a teacher, and he got a year's teaching exchange. So we basically swapped lives with a New Zealand teacher. He and his family moved into our house in England, and we moved into their house here in New Zealand. So for a whole year, we lived like a proper Kiwi family, which was wonderful. Lucy was only two, so it was the ideal time to do it. And I just, I just fell in love with New Zealand and desperately wanted to emigrate there. And then it took me 14 years to persuade him to get back here eventually. And in hindsight, I've probably pushed it too much, because. After he left, he said, I didn't like living in New Zealand. I didn't ever really settle there. So I have to hold up my hand and say, probably I persuaded him to do something that he really didn't want to do. But anyway, it's easy to be wise in hindsight, isn't it, as always, yeah. And then so we went back after our year here, we went back to the UK and we set up a business training and assessing construction workers, because the government realized, the UK government realized that, because they'd stopped formal apprenticeships some 20 odd years earlier, that there were now hundreds of 1000s of men working on construction sites who had all the necessary skills, but no paper qualifications. And so they wanted to redress that, but they realized that these men would not be willing to go back to college for three years to learn, learn their trade that they could already do. So they started this fast track program, and we used to go onto sites. We obviously, I had to get lots of qualifications and things to do it, trainers and assessors, qualifications. But then we used to go on two sites and watch the men working ask them loads of questions. We obviously had trade specific instructor assessors, and they could get that qualification that they would have taken three years to get going to college, they could then get in in a matter of six months or so, just by being observed doing their job. So it was a really, really good system, and it was very rewarding for me personally, because I used to go onto the sites and do the initial talks and whatever. And I've always liked men. I've always enjoyed their company, so I could cope with all the banter, you know, all the right, darling, what you're going to do after work, that kind of thing. I enjoyed all that. The bit I hated was wearing a hard hat, because they're very unflattering and they squash your hair do. But the most rewarding thing for me, we did that, that business for 20 years. The most rewarding thing was when a guy who I'd met on site who didn't even want to do it because he felt inadequate, which I later discovered was because he couldn't read or write, but he'd hidden it from all his colleagues. The most satisfying thing was once he'd passed, which obviously he sailed through. I sent him his certificate in the post, and the next day he phoned me, and he said, Pat. Thank you so much for that certificate. He said, it's the only thing I've ever had in my whole life that says I'm good at anything. He said, My wife is framing it and putting it on the living room wall. And that just made me cry, because I thought, this is, this is a man who's 45 who's gone through his whole life thinking he's stupid, and suddenly, just that one action can give him something to be proud of. So that was, I loved doing that, and we made that's how we made our money. For a few years, it was incredibly successful, and then it tailed off, and that's when we immigrated to New Zealand, and since I've been here, I've just basically been having a lovely time, doing a bit of voluntary work, lots of socializing and becoming an author. So   Michael Hingson ** 18:10 what, what attracted you to New Zealand? Why did you fall in love so much with New Zealand? Do you think   Pat Backley ** 18:19 it's a it's a hard question to answer. Michael, it was something deep inside me after I'd been here for a year, or when I'd been here probably only for a few weeks, I got this real feeling deep inside, inside me that I needed to be here. I just think sometimes places in the world draw you in for whatever reason. Who knows? You don't know if it's because perhaps you've got some association with it through an ancestor or I don't know, but I felt very, very drawn to New Zealand, and once we went back to the UK, we were back there for 14 years. Whenever I spoke to friends from New Zealand, whenever they'd phone me, I would end up in tears for hours. I want to go back to New Zealand. So it was a need rather than a desire, almost. And it's not something I've ever regretted. Even after he even after he abandoned me, we were back in England when he announced he didn't want to be married anymore, and he never came back to New Zealand. I just had to come back alone. Even then my friends in England were saying to me, oh, Pat, just stay in England. You know, we're all here. We'll, you know, we'll all be here for you. And I said, No, no, home is just New Zealand, even though I knew I was coming back all alone because Lucy was still living in London, I had, I've got no family here, so, but there was something that pulled me back.   Michael Hingson ** 19:45 I understand that I really enjoyed New Zealand a lot. And if there's when people ask me a place in the world that I regard as my favorite place to visit, New Zealand always comes out first, but I enjoy. Way wherever I go. I actually took my first trip to London in late October of this year. I was only there for a couple of days, but it was to do a speech. And, you know, it was pretty similar to being here. It just wasn't the same feeling as as being in New Zealand, which I had the opportunity to do, as I said before, for a little over three weeks. So it was really a lot of fun and and the the environment is just so different.   Pat Backley ** 20:28 Yes, I think New Zealand, I think one of the, I mean, obviously it's an incredibly beautiful country, but I think one of the main differences is that we, we've got a land mass pretty similar to the UK, but we we've only got like 5 million people, and the UK has got more than 70 million. And I think that's the thing. You know, the more people you try to cram into a small space, the more the social problems are, are enlarged, don't they? You know, we have exactly the same social problems here that are anywhere else in the world, but because our population is relatively small, it's not such a such such a huge feature of life, I think, yeah. Mm,   Michael Hingson ** 21:10 well, I haven't explained to everyone listening that Pat and I met through the RV Book Festival, virtual book festival, which both of us being authors, we spoke at and participated in, gosh, a little over a month ago now. Mm,   Pat Backley ** 21:28 yes, time flies, doesn't it does. It does.   Michael Hingson ** 21:32 And one of the things that I said, as I usually do when I get a chance to meet with people, is we'd love to have you all come on the podcast. And Pat is the second of the three people who were there. And so I'm glad that that that we got to do this. But let's talk about you being an author. So you started being an author. What, just three years ago or four years ago? Yes, yes. What? Yeah. Go ahead. Oh,   22:01 no, sorry, you carry on. Well, so   Michael Hingson ** 22:03 what just caused you to decide that you're going to try to write a book?   Pat Backley ** 22:09 Okay? Well, when I was a little girl, I had a massive list of things I wanted to be when I was growing up, I wanted to be a nurse, a missionary, a writer, a teacher, a ballerina. They were all my that was my list. So when I was about eight, I edited my first magazine. Is I have one limited copy of it. It was a limited, very limited edition. It only lasted one, one time. But so I guess probably I've always had that desire deep inside me, but because of circumstances, and not coming from, you know, a very privileged background, it meant that I didn't have the opportunity. But in the days when we used to write letters, I always love to write long, long letters to all my friends, my family. And when I lived in Fiji for two years, I wrote, there was no other way of communicating with my parents. They had no telephone. So for two years, I wrote them letters and when my when, when they died, and I had to clear out their house, I found this enormous pile of blue Air Mail, letters that I'd written to my parents over a two year period. They'd kept every single one. So I think I'd always loved writing, but it never occurred to me that I would ever have the chance to write a book. And then we get to COVID, and we, here in New Zealand, went into lockdown on the day of my 69th birthday. It was a beautifully sunny day, and I was all alone because Lucy was in England, and I made myself chocolate brownies, stuck a candle in it, sat in the garden and cried because my marriage was over. My daughter was gone. We had COVID. There were, you know, there were lots of things to cry about. And I then spent the next three weeks lying on my sofa watching rubbish on Netflix, eating too much chocolate, drinking too much red wine. And then I thought to myself, Pat, this is ridiculous. This could go on for a few more weeks, because at the time, we thought COVID was going to be quite short lived, didn't we, and I thought, why don't you do something practical? Why don't you write a book? So I just got out some paper and pen and started writing, and stayed up, probably mostly day and night, for two weeks, and then within two weeks, my first book, Daisy was done, and that was that really the rest is history. Since then I have so I published it self. Published it just before my 70th birthday, and in the three years since then, I've written and published eight more. Contributed to five anthologies, written a little Yes, so yeah, written articles for magazines and been interviewed by lovely people like you, and the rest is history. Are you alright? Have I sent you to sleep? Talking?   Michael Hingson ** 24:58 No, I. Well, I'm just listening. I didn't know whether you were done. You know, it's, it's fascinating to to listen to the story and to hear you talk about what, what brought you to it, what made you decide what kind of books to write. I   Pat Backley ** 25:18 don't think I really did decide, um, my daughter for my birth, for the previous Christmas, had sent me a very dry little textbook, which she knew I love, called, I can't think exactly what it's called, something like the history of architecture, of council houses in the UK, something very boring like that. And it was, it was basically a textbook, because I love architecture as well. It was basically a textbook with just a few pictures in so I'd kind of put it on my coffee table, but not but ignored it. You know how you do when there's books? You know, you should, you kind of don't get around to it. So at the beginning of COVID, I picked it up one day, or a couple of days before I started writing, I picked it up, and within five minutes, I was enthralled. I got out post it notes. I'd stuck those all over little bits and written quotes, and I think that was kind of an inspiration. So I expected the book to be more about, have more of a theme of architecture. And in fact, the book doesn't. There is one guy who becomes an architect in it towards the end. But I think that kind of just just pushed something in my head into gear, because I firmly believe Michael. I mean, they always say that everyone has a book inside them, and I, when I do my talks now, I'm often photographed at a very funny stage where I'm going like this, because I'm just saying how somebody's it feels as though somebody's taken off the top of my head, and 70 years worth of words are just flying out. Because I find writing incredibly easy. The first book Daisy wrote itself pretty much, you know, I just kind of had an idea and and I wrote down a few things about possible people, and then they just wrote their own story, really, which I'm, you know, I know, as an author, you will understand that. And I would say, for all my other books, I've had an idea, but they've kind of, they've kind of written themselves, themselves   Michael Hingson ** 27:17 as well. Yeah. Well, you know, you talk about textbooks. I've been an advocate for some time about the concept that people should rewrite textbooks or make textbooks different than they are, and technical manuals, the same way, as you said, they're very boring and and they don't need to be in textbooks could draw people in a lot more than they than they do. For example, my master's degree is in physics, and when you're looking at a physics textbook, there are lots of mathematical equations and so on, and that's fine, but think of how much more interesting the book might be, and think of how much more you might draw the interest of people to the science by including in the book some stories about the the author. Their their, I don't want to necessarily say adventures, but their experience is why they became a physicist, why they do what they do, and bringing some humanity to the textbook, I think would make a significant difference to textbooks in general, but we don't see that, because people just want to get the facts out there.   Pat Backley ** 28:32 I couldn't agree more. I absolutely, totally agree. When I was at school, I hated doing research because it was boring. You had to learn the names of all the kings of England, and King, you know, Henry, the eighth wives, and when their heads got chopped off and all that stuff. And apart from the really scandalous bits, I wasn't really interested. But now I absolutely adore research. I discovered that my first book, Daisy is is a historical fiction, and so I had to do lots of research to make sure it was accurate, because you you know, if you write something in a book and it's not right, people are going to pick holes in it. I mean, they're going to pick holes in your work anyway, so you don't want to give them extra ammunition, right? But I discovered that I absolutely loved doing research. And of course, these days it's so easy because you just click a button on your computer and you can find out what cold scuttles were used in 1871 whereas in my youth, we had to trudge to the library get out all the encyclopedias. And so because of I've discovered that love of research, all my all my novels, are now historical because it's almost it gives me an excuse to go researching and finding out stuff. So it's opened up a whole new world to me, Michael and I just realized now that that expression education is wasted on the young is so true, because now in my seven. Is I am so open to learning new things, whereas in my teens, I was bored to death and just wanted to go home and play.   Michael Hingson ** 30:09 So what was Daisy about? Oh, well,   Pat Backley ** 30:11 Daisy, I'll just, I'll just read you a little bit on the back to give you an idea. Um, Daisy is a gentle family saga spanning almost 100 years, from 1887 to 1974 It is set in Alabama, Harlem and London, and incorporate some of the evils of society, poverty, racism and snobbery, as well as some of the greatest that life has to offer, family, friendship and love and a couple of quotes, being born poor was a scar that never faded, and she had never experienced racial hatred first hand, so had no real idea of how it could erode a person's whole life. So basically, it's just a story of a young woman born in the slums of London and a young man born into an affluent lifestyle on an Alabama plantation in 1871 and how their lives interwove, they never got together, but, you know, or all their extended people did, so it's right, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 31:14 right. Well, the thing about about that kind of a story is, again, it draws you in. I I would would say something slightly different. Being poor is a scar that that never fades. On the other hand, being poor also gave you, or would give Daisy the life that she had, which was, was so I would suspect so very invaluable to her overall life experiences.   Pat Backley ** 31:50 Yes, absolutely yes. And her life changes quite dramatically midway because of the people she meets. Yeah, it's I, it was in, it's interesting, because sometimes I reread it and I just think, Wow, this is quite a good story. And I then I feel bad for thinking that about my own writing, but I've written the second Daisy, which is obviously the follow up. And then I thought, actually I and then I wrote a little travel book and my life story and whatever. And then I thought, Oh, I really miss doing research. Perhaps I could write about my own family, my own ancestors. So I then wrote the ancestors series. I've done three in it, and wrote about my paternal grandparents, my maternal grandparents and my own parents. I've just published that book about them that was glorious, but very emotive, because obviously I knew certain bits about them. But delving back further and further into the family histories, you discover lots of things and very emotional to write, yeah, particularly one about my parents, because your parents are just your mom and dad, aren't they? You kind of don't think of them really, as people in their own right, but when you start writing their life story, you're living life through their shoes and and it, yeah, it made me very emotional. I cried every day writing my parents story, but now I'm really glad I did it, because it's kind of honored, honored their lives, and also it means they'll never die their even their photographs are on the cover. And my daughter said that she cried all the way reading it, and she said, Mom, it was wonderful, because I hardly knew them. You know, they died when she was quite young. Yeah, she's but now I understand, yeah, so because she's had, you know, she's had a reasonably nice upbringing. She hasn't had the upbringing that they had, or even I had. So, yeah, I think I try. I've become a bit I've become a bit of a pain now, because everyone I meet, I say, like last week, I did a talk at the local genealogy society, and I said to them, please write your story down or record it some way. Because once you die, your story dies with you, no one knows your life as well as you do. So, yeah, yeah. But I just love research. So now I'm thinking, oh, what else can I write about and do some research? I write about people. Michael, people are my passion. I love people and and ordinary people. I don't need to write about, you know, worthy things people, right?   Michael Hingson ** 34:24 But the other part about it is that you got, as you write about your parents, I'll bet you got to know them better, too, and it helps you understand the kind of life you had and they had. And I still bet overall, you could talk about wealth and all that, but you wouldn't trade your life for anything because it made you who you are today. Abs,   Pat Backley ** 34:49 you're absolutely right, and yes, you're right. Writing about their stories and all that they went through, it was Yeah. Just made me really, really realize that they were even. Special people than I knew they were. But no, I wouldn't trade anything. I mean, I had a wonderfully happy childhood, if you put aside that silly bit of bully in that, you know, I tend to know for the years. But, yeah, we I, I because I didn't know, really, that I got snippets of there being other kind of lives like, you know, I had rich friends who had lots of clothes, traveling all the time and stuff, but basically, my life was just my little nuclear family. In our little we had a little two bedroom house for six of us, and that was my life. We were very happy. There were very rarely raised voices, and that's why I didn't cope very well in my first marriage, when my husband, my first husband, suddenly showed me that he had a rather violent temper because I didn't know how to handle it, because I had never experienced that before in my whole life. So I in that way, I wasn't prepared. But yeah, I will always be grateful to my parents, because with very little, they gave us all a very happy childhood.   Michael Hingson ** 36:05 Well, so you started writing at the age of 70. Do you wish that you had started writing earlier? Or did you think about that? I   Pat Backley ** 36:17 think about it. I don't really, because I think I had to live through everything I've lived through get to the point now of being able to write in the way I do. And also, yeah, no, I don't really. I mean, the only thing I think is, oh, I hope I don't die before I before I get everything written, I want to write. That's my only thing. But no, I I've learned, Michael, not to regret anything in life, because if you do, the only person it hurts is yourself. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 36:47 because you are who you are, because of your life   Pat Backley ** 36:51 exactly, and you would understand that better than most. I mean, you cope so well with with being blind, which is absolutely remarkable, because most of us, if we suddenly can't see and need to wear a stronger pair of glasses, we just go down, you know, go down into a depressive state. So you're a wonderful beacon of hope. I think for an awful lot of people, of course,   Michael Hingson ** 37:15 the issue, and using that as an example, the issue is that you don't know anything about being blind or blindness, and people generally don't, and they make a lot of assumptions that are not necessarily true, but it is again, the lives that they live, and the reality is there's nothing wrong with being blind. We live in a world where most people are light dependent, that is, they can see. But the reality is, of course, in the perspective I try to oftentimes nowadays, to convey to people, is light dependence is just as much a disability as being light independent or blind, because as soon as the lights go out, you lose power, and if you don't have an immediate light source. You're in a world of hurt. And we really should think of disability as a characteristic that everyone has, except it manifests itself differently for different people. But unfortunately, people aren't ready to do that. And the reasons for bringing up the concept in that way is that I think that because disability is really a characteristic everyone has, it is also a way to help level the playing field. And that's something that is so hard to get people to do, because they really think, well, you're blind, you're not as good as I   Pat Backley ** 38:37 Oh, wow. Very profound. I love talking to you. Michael, this is fascinating stuff. Fascinating. I had, I had a little niece. Sadly, she died when she was 14. She had a dreadful genetic disease called battens, but she went blind for the last couple of years. It broke my heart. It broke my heart, but she seemed to just deal with it somehow. You know, it's, I guess we all get the strengths we need at the times we need them. Do you think   Michael Hingson ** 39:04 I think, I think that's true, or we can if, long as we accept it. But the reality is that, of course, she lost her her eyesight, but if she developed an attitude that I have other things that are available to me, so I'm going to be fine, then she would be fine. Yes,   Pat Backley ** 39:23 yeah, yeah. I mean, sadly, she lost all her faculties. She couldn't talk. She so everything went but, but it was when her eyes went and she was still able to understand, that was the hardest thing. So I remember years ago when I worked in Barclays Bank, when I was quite in my 20s, and we were, I worked in a big branch at the time, and we had a blind telephonist, because in those days, back in the 60s, I think it was kind of what they did. It was when there were all those great big telephonic boards, you know, press all the buttons. And we had a guy called Peter, and he had. His dog was called penny, and our branch was on the corner of this huge, wide road in a place called Kingston, just outside London. And to cross the road, there were like six lanes of traffic, and it was really, really dangerous. And we would come out of work in the afternoon, and we'd all be standing there hesitant to cross the road, and Peter would suddenly just march across the road with Penny, and we'd all be standing there in awe. And one day I crossed with I've got brave, and I crossed over with him, and we got to the other side, and I said, Peter, how can you do that? He said, Oh, well. He said, It's always useful being blind, because traffic feels sorry for you, so they all kind of slow down anyway. He said, But, but. He said, But Penny leads me. He said, she just, she just, she just knows it's fine, so she just the dog just, just takes me over. I was fascinated, but he had just recently married about two years earlier he'd been, he'd been fully sighted till he was 11, and then he and some friends were messing about on the railway lines, and he fell over and bashed his head, and he went blind. So he had been sighted and but now he he was married, he had a little baby, and I said, Oh, Peter, can you actually see your baby, or do you just kind of have to feel the outline? He said, Oh no. He said, I got a tiny, tiny bit of vision. He said, so I can see the shape of the baby. And I just always remember thinking you're so brave. That was, that was what I thought. I just felt he was so brave. Well, just remember   Michael Hingson ** 41:27 the dictionary, you know? Well, just remember the dictionary defines to see is to perceive. It doesn't necessarily need to be with the eyes and and there's so many other senses that give us this a lot of information as well. For me, I don't want my dog to decide when we cross the street in general, unless the dog refuses to go because there's a hybrid car or something coming that I don't hear. But it's my job to know when to go and and I know how to do that, and so I can listen for the traffic flow and and, and go accordingly. And at the same time, if I then tell the dog to go forward and the dog won't go my immediate assumption is there's a reason for that, and and, and usually there is because the dog and I have developed that kind of a relationship where the dog knows it's my job to tell the dog where to go, and it's the dog's job to make sure that we get there safely. It's a very close knit team. It's as close knit of a team as you can imagine, and it's what it's really all about. So the dog and I each do our jobs, and when we do them correctly together, what a wonderful world. It becomes   Pat Backley ** 42:47 fabulous. And it obviously works because you're still standing, you're still here,   Michael Hingson ** 42:54 and my and my dog is over here, breathing very deeply, asleep. Oh, so you you stick with historical fiction. Have you ever thought of writing other kinds of books, like adventures or novels or that are not historic in nature, fantasy or any of those? I   Pat Backley ** 43:17 don't think I've got the right brain set to do fantasy or horror or crime. I, I I'm writing historical because I've discovered a great love for it, but I've also, I also have a great love for travel. So I wrote a little travel book, and I've just done a big trip, so I'm going to write another travel book, because that's another great love I wrote. I wrote my memoirs, which was very satisfying, you know, to write my own story down so it's there forever, if you like. And I also wrote a little book called The abandoned wives handbook, which I didn't want to write. I just kept putting it off. And then one day, I woke up at three in the morning and this voice saying to me, Pat, you have to write this book to help other people. So I just wrote this. I cried all the time. Writing it, as you've probably deduced, I'm a great crier. I think crying is is the best way of getting stress out of your system, out of my system. So I wrote this book. It's just a tiny little book that you can pop into a handbag called the abandoned wives handbook. And I've just made it like a little dictionary. I call it a dictionary of distress, and it's just to I'll just just briefly read you the backseat and understand the pain of abandonment is huge. The partner you loved and cherished for so many years has decided you are no longer required past your sell by date of no use to them anymore, so tossed out like a piece of garbage, abandoned with barely a backward glance, in an attempt to keep this a gentle, light hearted read, each chapter is divided into letters of the alphabet, rather like a dictionary of distress, something you can dip into at any time. I am not an expert, merely someone who has survived one of life's great traumas and has come through. Is a stronger, more resilient person, so I didn't want to write it. I hated doing it. I've, I published it, and it's, ironically, one of my best selling books people buy   Michael Hingson ** 45:13 all the time. Do you publish your own books, or do you have a publisher? I   Pat Backley ** 45:17 have, I have done till this point, Michael, but simply because I'm feeling I'm too old to hang around waiting to get noticed. But I have just written, I have just finished another book, which I I just feel might be slightly more commercial, so I may try seeing if I can get an agent for that. But I will probably only try one or two, and then if they say no, I'll just give up and self publish. The only thing against self publishing for me now is that it because I want to do it properly. You know, I pay an editor, I pay a cover designer, I pay a formatter. It becomes quite expensive to pay people. So that's my that's my only downside. But I do like to be totally in control. You know, I can choose my own covers. I can choose when it's published. I can choose what the content is. And if you go with a traditional publisher, you often lose the ability to have the same control   Michael Hingson ** 46:11 well, or you you negotiate, but, but, yeah, I understand what you're saying. I also have to say I understand fully this whole concept of abandonment. When my seventh guide dog Africa retired, and she retired because she wasn't seeing well and she was slowing down, so I knew it was time to get a new guide dog. So it was February 9 of 2018, and we lived here, and her puppy raiser, the people who raised her, they call them, I think, in New Zealand, puppy walkers, but they live about 140 miles south, or about 120 miles in a town called Carlsbad. And they came and I, and I said that they could have Africa, and the only reason I gave her up was because we already had my wife's service dog and a cat, and I was going to get another dog, and Karen wasn't really going to be able to handle taking care of two dogs and a cat when I traveled to speak, so we agreed that Africa could go live with the bill And Peggy, and they came and picked her up, and she walked out the door without a backward glance. I was abandoned.   47:26 Oh, that's awful,   Michael Hingson ** 47:28 yeah. Well, we actually, we went. We went down and visited her several times. She was just excited. No, she's, she was a great dog. And, yes, yeah, you know. And they got to have her for two years before she passed. But she was, she was a good dog and and she had a good life. And I can't complain a bit, but it's fun to tease about how obviously we have abandoning issues here. Yes, yeah.   Pat Backley ** 47:53 And I think that's the secret in life, Michael, to always find something to be happy about and smile about, because life can be very tough, can't it? I mean, you know, it's, yeah, life is tough. And so I think if we don't find, try and seek a little joy, we might as well all give up, you know, yeah, yeah. And   Michael Hingson ** 48:14 there's no need to do that. I mean, God put us on this earth to live an adventure. And life is an adventure,   48:21 absolutely,   Michael Hingson ** 48:22 no matter what we do. Yes,   48:25 absolutely. Well, how do you   Michael Hingson ** 48:26 develop your characters? I mean, you're writing historical fiction, so you're you're using history and and periods of time as the the setting for your books, but you're creating your own characters primarily, I gather,   Pat Backley ** 48:39 yes, yes. To be honest, in my head, when I start writing, I almost have an exact picture of my characters. I know exactly what they look like. I mean, if I was to, if I was to suddenly get a film offer, I could easily say how these people should look, because I they're real for for example, a few months after I oh no, maybe a year or so after I published Daisy, I was talking to my daughter one day, and I just said, Oh, do you remember when Theo did whatever? And she looked me straight in the eye, and she said, Mum, I don't know your characters as well as you do. And I just, we both burst out laughing, because to me, they're real people. You know, I I can picture them. I know exactly what they look like. And I think even when I start a new book in my head, I already know what my characters look like. They may not as the plot goes on, behave in the way I want them to, but I know how I know who they are. I know how they how they look. Yeah, they're going   Michael Hingson ** 49:43 to write the book and they're going to tell you what you need to do. Yeah, totally. But you use, but you use, I assume, real places in your books. I always   Pat Backley ** 49:51 use real places, always Yeah, and always places I know, because I think you can write more authentically then, like in days. I wrote about Harlem and Alabama and New York and London, or not New York in that one, but London and because I know all those places, I've been there and you know, they're, they're familiar to me, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 50:13 yeah. So you, you, you let them do what they do, and out comes the book.   Pat Backley ** 50:21 Absolutely, that's right, yes, yeah, have you   Michael Hingson ** 50:25 written any yet in New Zealand?   Pat Backley ** 50:29 You mean, based in New Zealand? The funny thing is, Michael, being an immigrant is and I have spoken to lots of other immigrants about this. In fact, I co authored a book in lockdown called the warrior women project, a sisterhood of immigrant women, which is based in the States. And all the other women are are living in the States, except me, and I caught up with them when I came over to the states. Couple of months ago, we had a reunion, met for the first time, which was wonderful, but we all said, once you are an immigrant, you never truly belong anywhere. You know, when I go, I always feel a little bit of an outsider here. I've been here 14 years now, and that's nobody's that's nothing anybody does. That's just my feeling deep inside. I go back to England, and I feel like an outsider. I used to live in Fiji when I was in my 20s, and then I had a house there. Until my divorce, I go back there, and I've got a lot of extended friend family there, I go back there, and I always feel like an a bit of an outsider. So I think that's the price you pay for wanting a life less ordinary. You know, you somehow become like a little bit of a floating person. And I don't to answer your question, I don't really feel qualified to write about New Zealand. Obviously, I talk about it in my travel book and I talk about different places, but to base the whole story here, I don't feel qualified. There are enough fabulous New Zealand authors who are doing that already, who've been born here, who understand the country, who, you know, who, yeah, they're   Michael Hingson ** 52:07 just at the same time you wrote Daisy, which took place in part in Alabama. How much time did you spend, you know? So it may be, it may be something in the future where a character will pop out and say, I want to be in New Zealand, but that's something to look at.   Pat Backley ** 52:23 Yes, I love it when somebody like you calls me out on my own, my own things, because you're absolutely right. I That's That was a silly argument to say. I don't know it enough. So thank you for that. You've made me rethink. That's good.   Michael Hingson ** 52:37 Well, so I gather that when you're writing, you think you have the plot planned out, or you you try to have the plot planned out, but it doesn't necessarily go the way you plan it. Does it?   Pat Backley ** 52:49 No, not at all. I mean, I know roughly what I want to say. I think what I'm definitely, definitely know what I want to do is get certain little messages across. And that doesn't matter what my characters do, because I can weave that in, like in Daisy. I wanted to get across that slavery was dreadful, and racism is dreadful, and the way black people were treated when they went to England in the 1950s was dreadful. So I managed to we, and that's and that's snobbishness and stuff is dreadful. So I managed to always weave those kind of themes into my books. And apparently, it has been said by reviewers that I do it so well that people it just makes people think about what that how they think how Yeah, so, so those main themes, if you like, I managed to weave into my stories, regardless of how badly my characters behave.   Michael Hingson ** 53:45 So when you're writing, are you pretty disciplined? Do you have certain times that you write, or do you just sit down and write till you're ready to stop for the day? Or what I   Pat Backley ** 53:56 am very non disciplined, undisciplined, whatever the term is supposed to be. I have great intentions. I think, right, I'm going to spend tomorrow writing. I'll be at my desk by eight o'clock, and I'll sit little five. And then at nine o'clock, I get up to go make a cup of coffee. And at 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock, I'm out weeding the garden, and then I might come back in and do a little bit, and then I go off and do something else. So I am dreadfully undisciplined, but I work really well to deadlines. Just before I went away on my big trip in September, I was part way through a book, probably a third way through writing a new book, and I woke up one day and I thought, right, I'm going to get that book finished before I go. I had three weeks left. In that three weeks, I had masses of appointments. I had to sort out my wardrobe, which, as a woman, is a huge problem, one that you've probably never had, but you know, you have to decide what goes with what and how many dresses you should take, and it's a huge issue for a lot of women. So I had a lot of jobs to do in that three. Weeks instead of which, I decided to set myself as self imposed time to get the book finished. Crazy. Just, I mean, why? Why? Why crazy?   Michael Hingson ** 55:09 And did you the day   Pat Backley ** 55:11 before? There you are. I was so proud of myself because I just that was it. I decided I and what I did to make myself accountable, I actually put a post on Facebook and Instagram saying, why, and all these little yellow post it notes, and I'd written on their pack suitcase, Do this, do this, do this. And so I just said to everyone that I'd given myself this self pointed deadline so I had made myself publicly accountable. If I hadn't done that, I probably wouldn't have finished it, but I find, for me, that's the best way of disciplining myself is to have a deadline with everything in life, really, yeah. But the   Michael Hingson ** 55:49 other part about it is, even when you're as you would put it, being undisciplined, your brain is still working on the book, and the characters are are mulling things over, so it does pop out. Oh, totally,   Pat Backley ** 56:00 totally. And I end up with lots of little scrappy notes all over the house, you know, where I've just grabbed a piece of paper and written down something. And then, of course, I have to gather them all together. And when I was in the States recently, I spent two months, and I've got scrap I was doing a lot of research, and I've got scrappy notes everywhere. So I've now got to try and pull those all together while my brain still remembers what they were meant to be, you know, like lady in red dress in New Orleans. Well, what does that really mean? So, right? I'm, I'm my own worst enemy in many ways, but,   Michael Hingson ** 56:37 but she thought, and so you went through it exactly, exactly, yeah, that's okay. Where did you travel in September?   Pat Backley ** 56:45 I went to Atlanta first to meet up with these warrior women, which was truly fabulous. Then I went to New Orleans, and my friend who lives in Alabama, picked me up, and we went to New Orleans, and then we drove back to Alabama. She lives in Huntsville. So I was there for a week and was doing lots of research, because Daisy is partly based right and then we then she drove me back to Nashville, and I flew to New York, where I was meeting some friends from New Zealand who lived there six months of the year. So I spent six days there and went to Harlem for more research and stuff like that, and then flew to Canada, to Toronto, where two friends, a lady I'd met when we had our daughters together, and her daughter, they now live in France. They flew from France, met me in Toronto, we hired the biggest SUV I've ever seen in my life, and we drove across Canada for three weeks, which was such fun, such fun. And then I came home. So I've got millions of scrappy notes that I need to pull together to write a travel book and to use as inspiration for my novels.   Michael Hingson ** 58:01 So you so you're going to write another travel book? I   58:05 am going to write another travel book. Yeah, yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 58:09 And the the abandoned wives handbook, that's kind of a self help book. That's a self help book, yes, yeah. Just you think you'll write another one of   Pat Backley ** 58:17 those? No, no, I'm done with that one's enough of those, huh? Yeah, that's right. I'm not an expert, Michael and the I just, I just, but the funny thing is, when I do talks, I always talk about all my books. And a few weeks ago, I was talking at this very smart meeting of ex business people, both ladies and gentlemen, and they were all over 60. Um, so quite a conservative audience. And at the end, or towards the end, I just mentioned this abandoned Wise Book, I tend to skim over it. I don't really, I don't really talk about it too much unless the audience is particularly relevant. But I just said to them, oh, and this is my little book. And someone said, Oh, could you read us an excerpt from it? So I said, Okay, I'll just open the book at random. And I opened the book and the title, what you won't be able to see here, the title of that chapter was K for kill. And I thought, no, no, I don't want to read about kill front of this audience. So I just made a joke of it and and I'll just read it to you, because it will make you laugh, as I have said previously under Section indecisive. You may, in your darkest moments, think about hurting him. This is not really a great idea, as you would undoubtedly be caught and end up in prison. Yeah, you so, you know, I and then I went on a bit more, but, you know, it's some yeah and no, I'm done with that book. I've, I've done my bit for humanity with that. It seems to be helping a lot of people. So that's that's enough.   Michael Hingson ** 59:45 Yeah, I would never make a good criminal, because I know I'd be caught and and I don't know how to keep from getting caught, and frankly, don't care about trying to get worry about getting caught or not getting caught. It's easier just not to be a criminal. So it works out fine. So. Yes,   1:00:00 exactly. Yeah, me too. Me too. So much   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:02 easier. So much easier. Absolutely, absolutely yes. Well, if people want to reach out to you and maybe learn a little bit more about you or meet you, how do they do that? Okay,   Pat Backley ** 1:00:12 well, my website is just patch back league com, so it's very easy. Um, I'm Can you spell that please? Yes, yes, of course, P, A, T, B, A, C, K, L, E, y.com.com, yeah, and I'm on all the channels, as you know, Facebook and Instagram and x and LinkedIn and stuff as Pat Backley author or pat Backley books. And my books are all available from Amazon, all the online retailers, Barnes and Noble stuff like that, as ebooks or paperbacks, or if someone desperately wanted a signed copy, I'm very happy to send them a signed copy, and you can get them from you can request them from libraries.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:59 Have you? Have you thought about making any of them an audio format?   Pat Backley ** 1:01:05 I have someone's. A few people have suggested that this year, when I've been doing talks, they've come up to me afterwards, and yes, I think I'm going to, as long as it's not too costly, because at the moment, my budget is extremely limited, but I'm going to do them myself, because everyone feels that my books will be come come across better in my own voice so well,   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:25 and you read well. So I think that makes a lot of sense to consider.   Pat Backley ** 1:01:29 Thank you, Michael, that's very kind of you. Well, Pat,   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:33 this has been fun, and I've enjoyed it. I've learned a lot of things as well, and I'm and I'm glad that we've had this chance. We need to do it again. When are you going to start a podcast?   Pat Backley ** 1:01:47 Well, funny, you should say that I've decided I'm going to I'm going to just dip my toes in very gently. I'm going to start it in the new year, and I'm going to call it and this makes everyone who knows me laugh. I'm going to call it just 10 minutes with Pat Backley. And everyone has said, Oh, don't be ridiculous. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:05 I agree, 10   Pat Backley ** 1:02:06 minutes, but I thought it's a way of just gently edging in. And then if people enjoy listening to me, they might want to listen for longer after a while. But I thought initially, just 10 minutes, little snippets, if they like what they hear, they might come back.   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:21 They'll come back. Oh, I don't think there would be a problem. Well, if you, if you ever need a guest to come and spend at least 10 minutes, just let me know. I   Pat Backley ** 1:02:30 certainly shall. I have absolutely loved talking to you. Michael, thank you so much for inviting me as well. This is a very joyful morning. I've really loved it. Thank you. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:39 this has been fun, and I want to thank all of you for listening. I hope you've enjoyed it and reach out to Pat. I'm sure she would love to communicate with you, and maybe in some way, you'll end up in a book, which is always a nice, good thing to think about as well. I'd love to hear what you think about our podcast today. So please feel free to email me. Michael, h, i, m, I, C H, A, E, L, H i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I b, e.com, or go to our podcast page, which is at w, w, w, dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, and Michael hingson is spelled M, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, S O n.com/podcast, wherever You're listening. We would really appreciate it if you would give us a five star rating. And we we value that. We value your thoughts and input. Pat for you and all of you listening. If you know an

S/O to Big Daddy Dents for the Blood Orange Bubbles - Rhinegeist Brewery See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to Show Me The Money Club live show with Sergio and Chris Tuesdays 6pm est/3pm pst.

The newest installment to my colors mix series. With all the mixes I do, I sometimes feel like I hold Rhéa hostage all by herself and she's forced to listen to too many of my live mixing. As a solution, she'd been wanting to invite some close friends over that she could host as I shot an episode and we agreed on a 2000s R&B as the soundtrack to the day. I wanted to tap into some nostalgic songs for us Millennials (a la 106 & Park, Cita's World, MTV Jams etc). S/O to all our friends that pulled up and vibed with us on this episode. This one features Faith Evans, Monica, Donnell Jones, Craig David, Backyard Band, Beyoncé & more. Press play and enjoy! YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0oQZKOplNU&t=3647s #mix #rnb #2000srnb #rhythmandblues Tracklist: I'm Sprung - T-Pain Slow Down - Bobby Valentino Where I Wanna Be - Donell Jones Anything - Jaheim + Next Dangerously in Love 2 - Beyoncé Teach U A Lesson - Robin Thicke Let's Get Married - Jagged Edge How You Gonna Act Like That - Jagged Edge Separated - Avant Say Goodbye - Chris Brown Say Yes - Floetry You Complete Me - Keyshia Cole Wetter - Twista + Erika Shevon Until The End Of Time - Justin Timberlake + Beyoncé Burn - Usher Come With Me - Sammie Chopped N Skrewed - T-Pain + Ludacris Twinz (Deep Cover 2018) (Flexican Edit) - Big Pun + Fat Joe Promise - Ciara Suffocate - J. Holiday Emotional Rollercoaster - Vivian Green Charlene - Anthony Hamilton Differences - Ginuwine One Wish - Ray J Since You've Been Gone - Day26 The Business - Yung Berg + Casha Ice Box - Omarion Say It - Ne-Yo I Don't Wanna - Aaliyah Thank God I Found You - Mariah Carey Shake It Off - Mariah Carey So Lonely (One & Only, Pt. II) - Mariah Carey + Twista We Belong Together - Mariah Carey Don't Forget About Us - Mariah Carey Fly Like A Bird - Mariah Carey Free - Mr. Carmack Touch My Body - Mariah Carey Always Be My Baby - Mariah Carey Young Love - Chris Brown 7 Days - Craig David Suga Suga - Baby Bash One Call Away - Chingy + Jason Weaver Call on Me - Janet Jackson All I Have (feat. LL Cool J) - Jennifer Lopez + LL Cool J So Gone - Monica I Love You - Faith Evans Lost Without You - Robin Thicke Valentine - Lloyd T-Shirt - Shontelle T-Shirt On - Backyard Band No Ordinary Love (Cover) - Rare Essence (Ms. Kim) + Sade It's Love - Jill Scott Bag Lady (Bo "Locals Only" Blend) - Erykah Badu + Dom Kennedy I Wish - Carl Thomas Can't Believe It - T-Pain + Lil Wayne Girlfriend - B2K Knock Knock - Monica Come Back In One Piece - Aaliyah + DMX Down Ass Bitch - Ja Rule + Charlie Baltimore 21 Questions - 50 Cent + Nate Dogg Irreplaceable - Beyoncé Like This And Like That - Monica

On this episode of New Faces, the guys show off the new studio (S/O ​⁠) as they discuss Playboi Carti's newest album and legacy, Carti vs Uzi, Ye's most recent antics, LeBron vs SAS, and Brandan's Sciatica problems

On this weeks KPK episode we decided to switch things up a little and have ourselves a discussion episode around the topic of kpop and creating parasocial relationships with their fans. S/O to the person who posted this question on Reddit the other day because I think its definitely an interesting topic to talk about when it comes to being a kpop fan. Don't forget to let us know what your thoughts are on this topic as well!Come Join the Discord!https://linktr.ee/kpopkimchi101?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=e6bef5ad-34ee-46a0-8d35-df5b7df11528Not What You Came For Season 7 Playlisthttps://open.spotify.com/playlist/04wACAkV3lupLb5tT3F2og?si=Rd56WsOlSbOBOqPEC-y4-w&pi=u-wIuawm-YRd6eEvergreen Terrace- No Donnie, These Men Are Nihilisthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wGY1i3Qx40Sleigh Bells- Badlyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVMTUlxRc1M Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tobin & Leroy is back well Tobin is on vacation but Leroy, Marcos, Jfig are here to recap all that went on in sports this weekend. TH Miami Heat snap their 10 game losing streak with a 122-105 win over the Charlotte Hornets. Andrew Wiggins scored 42 points as the Heat now get ready to face Jimmy Butler and the Golden State Warriors with everyone wondering what reaction he will het from the fans and from the Miami Heat? The Panthers bounce back from a loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday with a 4-3 S/O win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Cats are off the next 4 days until they face the Utah Hockey Club at home on Friday. The NCAA tournament is now down to the sweet 16 after these weekends game. We had a great time watching the games especially at the Hard Rick where WQAM was at the Seminole Hard Rock for Buckets & Bets.

Welcome to the final of the Different Animals Podcast and this week we talk about Nosferatu, What We Do in the Shadows, Wolf Man, Presence, The Cabin in the Woods, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Mob Psycho, MK1, Death Stranding, Baldur's Gate III, Companion, Captain America, some old favorites, Super Bowl LIX, and looking back as we close the show. This podcast is available on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts and wherever else you catch your podcasts. You can catch us on IG and Twitter @DifAnimalsPod or email us directly at DifferentAnimalsPodcast@gmail.com with any feedback or suggestions. S/O to @Creative.Collin on IG for the dope Artwork. S/O to @EdERuger and @PhilliePhr3sh for the dope theme. Enjoy, and we'll see you in a week. PEACE! This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Nous sommes le 27 Décembre 1831, à Plymouth, au S-O de l'Angleterre. Ce jour-là, le Beagle, vaisseau de Sa Majesté Guillaume IV, commandé par le Capitaine Robert Fitz-Roy, largue les amarres et quitte le port avec pour objectif de cartographier l'Amérique Latine. A son bord, un jeune naturaliste de 22 ans, formé à l'Université de Cambridge dont l'ambition est de tout observer lors de ce voyage qui va l'emmener jusqu'aux îles Galapagos. Son rôle est d'étudier la faune, la flore et la géologie des lieux rencontrés. Il entame ses premières observations dès l'escale au Cap Vert mais ce n'est qu'arrivé en Amérique Latine, en juillet, qu'il entreprend de longues expéditions à terre, tandis. Brésil, Uruguay, Argentine, la Terre de Feu, le Détroit de Magellan, le Chili, puis, sur le retour, Tahiti, la Nouvelle-Zélande, l'Australie… Prévue initialement pour deux ans, l'expédition dure finalement presque cinq, pour une arrivée en Angleterre le 2 octobre 1836. Une expédition qui va bouleverser notre perception du vivant. Partons sur les traces de Charles Darwin, à bord du Beagle, en route vers les Galapagos. Avec nous : Raymond Reding, chirurgien, consultant à Hôpital universitaire des Enfants reine Fabiola. Membre de l'Académie royale de Médecine de Belgique. Sujets traités : Charles Darwin, naturaliste, Guillaume IV,Cambridge, Galapagos, Beagle, Merci pour votre écoute Un Jour dans l'Histoire, c'est également en direct tous les jours de la semaine de 13h15 à 14h30 sur www.rtbf.be/lapremiere Retrouvez tous les épisodes d'Un Jour dans l'Histoire sur notre plateforme Auvio.be :https://auvio.rtbf.be/emission/5936 Intéressés par l'histoire ? Vous pourriez également aimer nos autres podcasts : L'Histoire Continue: https://audmns.com/kSbpELwL'heure H : https://audmns.com/YagLLiKEt sa version à écouter en famille : La Mini Heure H https://audmns.com/YagLLiKAinsi que nos séries historiques :Chili, le Pays de mes Histoires : https://audmns.com/XHbnevhD-Day : https://audmns.com/JWRdPYIJoséphine Baker : https://audmns.com/wCfhoEwLa folle histoire de l'aviation : https://audmns.com/xAWjyWCLes Jeux Olympiques, l'étonnant miroir de notre Histoire : https://audmns.com/ZEIihzZMarguerite, la Voix d'une Résistante : https://audmns.com/zFDehnENapoléon, le crépuscule de l'Aigle : https://audmns.com/DcdnIUnUn Jour dans le Sport : https://audmns.com/xXlkHMHSous le sable des Pyramides : https://audmns.com/rXfVppvN'oubliez pas de vous y abonner pour ne rien manquer.Et si vous avez apprécié ce podcast, n'hésitez pas à nous donner des étoiles ou des commentaires, cela nous aide à le faire connaître plus largement.

Dam Internet, You Scary! hosts Patrick Cloud and Tahir Moore break down the disturbing but interesting stories on the internet! Guest: Dia La Ren Nash https://www.instagram.com/dialarennash/ S/O to our Sponsors Mando As a special offer for listeners, new customers get $5 off a Starter Pack with our exclusive code. That equates to over 40% off your Starter Pack Use code DIYS at https://www.ShopMando.com. Factor Eat smart with Factor. Get started at https://www.factormeals.com/diys50off and use code diys50off to get 50% off your first box plus free shipping. 00:00:00 | Intro 00:00:16 | Grill Culture and Shiny Smiles 00:00:52 | Guest Introduction: A Special Return 00:02:11 | Gapped Teeth with Diamonds: A Bold Fashion Statement 00:03:37 | Monopoly vs. Jenga: The Party Games Debate 00:07:06 | Drunken Mishaps and Wild Party Stories 00:09:05 | The Almost-Kidnapping Incident: A Tale of Survival 00:16:12 | Underwater Party Submarine: Would You Risk It? 00:29:07 | The Ethics of Sushi Underwater: Food Karma 00:39:03 | Social Anxiety and Going Out Alone 00:42:15 | Voodoo Dolls, Explosives, and Rat Poison: A Missouri Mystery 00:48:08 | Swallowed by a Whale: A Survivor's Tale In this hilarious and thought-provoking episode of Damn Internet, You Scary!, Tahir Moore and Patrick Cloud are joined by a special guest for a wild conversation. From grill culture and diamond gapped teeth to the bizarre ethics of eating sushi underwater, this episode dives deep into the unexpected. Highlights include a near-kidnapping survival story, an explosive Missouri mystery with voodoo dolls and rat poison, and the ultimate tale of a man swallowed by a whale and living to tell about it. The crew also debates the best party games, explores the anxiety of going out alone, and examines the absurdity of an underwater party submarine. Whether you're here for the laughs or the crazy stories, this episode is packed with entertainment, social commentary, and jaw-dropping moments you won't want to miss. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share your favorite moments! Join our Patreon now!!  https://www.patreon.com/DamInternetYouScary

This week we recap our recent guys' cruise on Allure of The Seas. Hear about how we spent our time on the ship and our expereinces with the different food and entertainment options! S/O to all the awesome crew we had on our sailing!Ready to book a cruise with Cruise Conversations?⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Fill out our form or send us a text at (704) 313-8556 for latest pricing!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Have a question or topic suggestions for a future episode? DM us on Instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CruiseConversations⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or send us an email at cruiseconversations@gmail.com.Follow along on social media!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tik Tok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Cris Edwards is a person who experiences a disability known as Misophonia. What is it? Cris is best at explaining. However, in part, this condition causes people who have it to react to sounds and other stimuli most of us take for granted and can ignore. As with many of our guests, I met Cris through our own Sheldon Lewis. By the way, because of Sheldon, Cris and his nonprofit use accessiBe. However, I get ahead of myself.   Cris went through school and, in fact life with manifestations of Misophonia. As he tells us, he also has ADHD. Many people with misophonia do exhibit other conditions as well. As Cris explains, until fairly recently this condition was not even recognized nor taken seriously. Cris tells us how he lived his life with this condition and how today he is dealing with it somewhat better than before.   In 2021 Cris founded soQuiet, a 501C3 corporation to help those with Misophonia. We will get to learn how even AI today is helping people deal with this issue.   Cris and I talk a lot about not only Misophonia, but how people can better exercise their minds to learn how better to conduct introspection and exercise their brains to better take care of their whole world. I hope you like what Cris has to say. Lots to think about here.       About the Guest:   Cris Edwards, MFA CPS, is the founder of soQuiet, a 501[c]3 tax-exempt nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free and accessible advocacy, resources, and support for all people whose lives are affected by misophonia, a multi-sensory sensitivity disorder.    Cris has struggled with what we now know as misophonia for over 40 years, since way back in the early 1980s, decades before there was any recognition, or even a name, for this condition. Years later, when connecting the dots in his life looking backwards, Cris can see just how much misophonia had an impact on his life, from affecting his schooling to causing barriers to employment and more.    Cris was able to complete college and grad school, earning a Master of Fine Arts in Directing. But, he always also wanted to help people to live better lives with a disorder like misophonia.   During the COVID pandemic, since there was no live theatre happening for an unknown amount of time, Cris decided to start a nonprofit which focused on misophonia and that worked to be accessible to all and to approach advocacy from the viewpoint of someone with lived experience of struggling with misophonia. soQuiet was born and has grown quickly in the four-ish years of its existence.   soQuiet has provided many "firsts" to the misophonia community, sometimes called the misosphere. Cris and the soQuiet team launched the first misophonia student research grant program, the first comprehensive peer support program for misophonia, and has mailed thousands of free misophonia information cards to six continents at no charge, among many other successes.   Cris is also active in the recovery community having gotten sober in 2017. He is a Certified Peer Specialist [CPS] as well as an occasional theatre director and designer. Cris lives with his wife, Michelle, and two cats in St. Louis, Missouri.     Ways to connect with Cris:   Website: soQuiet.org On all major social sites [Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.] under the username: soquietorg   About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:35 We appreciate it. Today we are going to have the opportunity to chat with Cris Edwards and Cris, among other things, has formed a nonprofit called so quiet. And I think there's a fascinating story behind that. And basically he deals with a lot of people who happen to have something called misophonia, which I'm not overly familiar with, and I'll bet most of you aren't, but Cris, clearly, because he found it so quiet, is an expert. And so there you are, Cris. Now you're stuck with it. Well, I want to know now. There you go, Cris. Cris is in St Louis, Missouri. We're out here in California, so we're little ways apart. But isn't science a wonderful thing? But Chris, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. I really appreciate you being here, and we're looking forward to having a great chat. Thank you so much, Michael, it's a pleasure to be here. I met Cris through Sheldon Lewis at accessibe. Now you all have heard of Sheldon before. He's nonprofit partner manager at accessibe, and worked with a lot of organizations like Cris' and he said, Cris, you ought to go on this here podcast. And Chris, I guess, decided that we were probably worth going on. So here we are. Well, why don't we start Chris, why don't you tell us a little bit about kind of the early Chris growing up and some of that stuff.   Cris Edwards ** 02:59 Absolutely. Thank you. Well, I just turned 50 last week, so I don't feel like I'm 50, but yeah, I was born in 1974 I grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and, you know, I A lot of times we can connect the dots looking backwards, but at the time, in the 70s and the 80s, there really wasn't as much awareness and cognizance and attention paid to things like neurodiversity and invisible disabilities and different disorders and things. There was a whole different social viewpoint to that. But yeah, growing up, I always had noticed a few things I felt a little different from other people, but I did well. As far as the classes, I was capable of doing everything quite well, but was always distracted, and oftentimes found myself responding to things in a way that was different than the way other people responded to the sensory input around them. So we'll get more into how I realized that that is a thing later, but managed to go through school.   Michael Hingson ** 04:10 What's that? Is that sort of like ADHD? Well, that's a good point.   Cris Edwards ** 04:14 I actually do have ADHD, but that is that is a separate disorder from misophonia. Yeah. What's interesting? Thank you for asking that misophonia often co occurs with other conditions like that, other mental health conditions like ADHD, OCD. There's not one of those that sticks out. Misophonia is considered a separate unique condition disorder. It can occur on its own, but we know through research that it's it commonly co occurs with other things. So as I got older,   Michael Hingson ** 04:43 what's that I say? Anyway, go ahead. Anyway. Yeah. So   Cris Edwards ** 04:48 I actually, you know, I got through school, actually ended up going to college and went to grad school. I studied theater and got a master's of fine arts and directing. But where'd you go? Well, for undergraduate school, I. Went to a little University called Tarleton State University. It's about an hour west of Fort Worth Texas. It's actually an agricultural college that happened to have a theater department that was pretty good. And then I went to Texas Tech out in the desert of Lubbock for grad school. But I had always, you know, early on, I can remember as far back as fourth grade, or maybe even earlier than that. Nobody has any record of this. We're just going off of my my flawed memory. I remember that the sensory input I got around me, I felt like I responded to differently than other people. For example, if I was in a class, I can remember trying to listen to a teacher teach, or trying to take a test, and if there were particular things going on in the classroom, I could not focus on the lesson, and I could not focus on the test or whatever, because I was so distracted, like by particular motions or particular sounds. And I learned later on, much later in my adult life that they had created a term for this. It wasn't just that I was particular about sounds, that it's an actual disorder called misophonia. And so when I found out the word probably around 2007 I found out that this particular term was created in 2001 so nobody had any concept of of this existence while I was in school. But in general, misophonia is a largely auditory but in fact, multi sensory aversion disorder. If you ever hear of somebody who says something like, I can't if you don't stop smacking your chewing gum, I'm gonna have to leave like it makes me anxious and frustrated more than is normal. Nobody likes the sound of smacking gum, but if it gets to a point where you literally cannot be around that sound, and it gives you this very accentuated irritation, frustration, like a need to just get away from that sound in a way that isn't normal. That's that's kind of a hallmark of misophonia. Misophonia can also have a visual element. So seeing somebody doing something, like, if I see somebody chewing gum, but I can't hear them, that actually brings about that same reaction. And it's not a volunteer, it's not a voluntary reaction. There's also a similar kind of sibling disorder called miso Kinesia, and it is when people have a similar response, again, an involuntary physiological response to visual motions. So if I was in class looking back and somebody was shaking their feet or twirling their hair, which are very normal things for people to do when they're anxious. Taking a test, I couldn't concentrate that motion, just my brain focuses on that motion immediately, and I can't, I literally cannot focus on anything else, and it makes me very upset. So that's that's kind of a misophonia in a nutshell. You know, I if I was in a class and somebody had a bag of chips, the crinkling plastic and the sound of somebody eating chips would would affect me in a way that is very abnormal. So that was misophonia. And when I found out that this word existed, it explained a lot of the issues that I had growing up. You know, I know that that those my inability to to participate fully in classes affected my grades and so forth, and so since then, kind of during the pandemic, when everything was shut down. I had been working in the theater industry here in St Louis, and there was no theater happening for a couple of years. We didn't know for how long, so I decided to do something that was different than I started this organization to help people understand this really difficult to understand, sensory disorder, and there's been a lot of research happening on it, we know that it's actually very prevalent in society. There's been a number of prevalent studies that show that misophonia is actually quite common. As many as one in five people have the symptoms, and roughly about 5% of the population has it to a degree to where it impacts their life, to it from a moderate to severe amount. And so it can be disabling. I've worked with people who isolate themselves. And, you know, there's sounds and and visual things in the world that they they try to avoid, and and we end up avoiding things as a way of coping becomes very isolating. So we've worked with people who, even though they live in the same house as a parent, that maybe is activates that for them, they don't talk to their to their family, because it's so uncomfortable the sound of a person's voice. Or the way that they move is so uncomfortable that they stay in their room and and just text their family that's in the same house, it can be very isolating and frustrating. So I kind of went on a bunch of different tangents there answering your question, but hopefully that makes some sense, and I'm happy to explain any of it more. So   Michael Hingson ** 10:17 what did you do as you were growing up and so on, to to deal with. I mean, you obviously did something that allowed you to be successful at going to school, whether your grades were affected or or not. You still did make it through and all that. What did you do to to deal with all of it? That's a great question of understanding yet, of what it really was to have misophonia. Fantastic   Cris Edwards ** 10:40 question. Yeah, looking back, there were things that I would try to do, but I didn't have the awareness and I didn't have the words to explain to other people what I was dealing with. Because if I just tell people, if they don't know what it is, I can't the sound of the crinkling chip bag is driving me so crazy, it sounds crazy before we knew what it was, but, you know, a lot of it was just suffering and silence. I know it affected my mental health. It's sort of like I could try to compare it to if you're having an anxiety attack or even a panic attack, but you try to hide it, and that, you know an anxiety attack or something is not something you can control. They just come on sometimes. And if you were to try to hide that and and quell it so that people don't notice what you're going through, that's a little like what it's like to sort of suffer in silence and act like everything is normal, when internally, I'm just like wanting to leave the situation, because it's such an uncomfortable feeling being around totally normal sounds that are not a threat in any way.   Michael Hingson ** 11:52 So you kind of just did suffer in silence. And yeah, I guess the best thing to say is coped, if you will, coped,   Cris Edwards ** 11:59 and I would do things improvisationally to try to help. Looking back, I probably could have, if I'd thought about it, carried foam earplugs with me, which I do now, and worn those in class to kind of filter out some sounds. But I was talking to some other people recently who have misophonia in one of our peer support groups. And I would do little things like I would try to if you could rest your elbows on on your school desk, and put your hand your put your chin in your the palm of your hands together, you can kind of secretly put your fingers in your ears in that pose, but look like you're still paying attention. Yeah. So I would do things like that to where it looks like I'm still participating, but I'm actually blocking out some of the sound by secretly putting my fingers in my ears to get to the class and just little things like that I would do to try to get by. But   Michael Hingson ** 12:53 as you matured and got older and so on, did any of the symptoms mitigate or go away, or is it still as prevalent for you as it ever was? That's   Cris Edwards ** 13:04 a great question. My own experience has been a little bit of both. We don't have any research. We just have anecdotal stories on whether misophonia gets better with age or gets worse with age or not any different and people tell you different things. I think mine's been a little bit of both, in that there were things that didn't that used to not activate that misophonic reaction, that that anxiety and frustration and and panic that it brings about that do now. So for one example, is not everybody. It has that misophonic reaction activated by Pet Sounds. And that was never a problem for me until maybe about 10 years ago, where some noises that animals make would bring about that reaction. For example, we were talking about our cats right at the before we started recording today, and one of my cats is what I call a loud bather. You know, when she's bathing herself, the that very accentuated licking sound causes that, that involuntary reaction. So I, I have to kind of put her in the other room and she doesn't understand it. But so that's something that I have acquired. I've, actually acquired new we call them triggers. I try to avoid calling them triggers, because I think that term is kind of overused, so it doesn't even have any meaning anymore, but, but at the same time, you know, with with age and with introspection, I've learned coping skills. I've learned to deal with this. It is a part of my life, just like anybody with any kind of disability does their best to to accept some of the things that are going to be more difficult or different for us, and work on coping with the things that we can and changing the things we can through advocacy or accommodations or whatever. And so in a way, I've gotten better at dealing with it. I. Communicate about it very much more effectively now that I know the term for this thing, and you can Google it, and there is a definition, and there is research on it which didn't exist at all when I was a child, so I've gotten better at coping with it, even though I think my actual experience of it maybe has gotten a little bit worse. So who knows.   Michael Hingson ** 15:21 Yeah, it's yeah, it's something that only time is going to really give you the opportunity to do exactly how it goes and so on. But what did you do after college? So what did college lead you to?   Cris Edwards ** 15:34 Well, that's a great question. I was always active in the theater, but the theater industry is kind of difficult. It's a lot of with a normal job, typically you have some job security, so maybe you work there and you know that next month you'll still have your job unless things go wrong in theater. A lot of times you're hired on by production. So you might work for a month or two on a particular production of a particular play, and then when that's done, you're back to looking for work again. And so for for job security, I sort of went, after grad school, into the tech industry, and so I worked for a number of small tech startups in the early 2000s I worked at Apple for a while and did kind of a mishmash of things that had some benefits and some job security that the theater world didn't have, and and I worked in the theater more as kind of a after school extracurricular kind of capacity. So, yeah, it looking back, I did that, but it was still a struggle. I didn't know the word for this thing, and I knew that either other people were much better at dealing with being bothered by these sounds, or other people were not as bothered by sounds and and visual stimuli as I was. And so the 20 years ago, the idea of an open office. Was a big thing in startups, you know, you have just a big open office where everybody works, and that is a nightmare for people with misophonia and miso keynesia. And so I just struggled. It was just suffering in silence, like I said, doing my best to block out sounds when I needed or put up Visual barriers in the offices I worked in to to block out visual movements that might be very distracting and and uncomfortable, but I probably around 2007 I found out that there's a word for this thing and and slowly, over the years, I realized that it's a it's not just a made up term that somebody on the internet came up with. It's an actual medical term that was invented by audiologists and and there was a research beginning on it roughly 10 years ago. So yeah, when I look back, I just kind of had a mishmash of things that I have done professionally since then. And I started this organization because I I wanted people to know that they can ask for accommodations, that they can talk about this with the confidence that it is a real thing, but it is supported by science, and there are ways of getting through life with it. There's actually an entire department at Duke University dedicated to studying misophonia as the Duke center for misophonia and emotion regulation. So all those kind of things help validate that this is a just a strange, sensory based disorder. Not to get too long winded about it, at the beginning, I had mentioned that we could oftentimes connect the dots looking backwards. And, you know, I'm pretty open about sort of my experiences with things, just because I want other people to realize that they're not alone and that there are certain pitfalls that can happen and and it's not unusual. So when I look back, you know, in in my college years, I found that, as a lot of college students do, alcohol was something that helped me be more social with misophonia and my ADD and I'm kind of an introvert anyway, even though I can play an extrovert on TV, I was, I was, I was kind of a hermit in college and and theater is a very social right industry, and so people bugged me a lot about it, and I found that alcohol helped calm my senses, that I could be around other people and be in misophonically triggering situations, which I didn't know about at the time, and be more social. And so over the years, the alcohol became a crutch, and it became a much bigger problem than than my misophonia was, and I didn't realize it at the time, so that sort of took over my life, and I got sober about seven years ago, and really had to assess how I can get by in life with my sensory issues and needs without numbing my senses and causing a lot of problems in my life. If that that caused so I say that just so people know, because I hear other people who sort of self medicate, it's a understandable thing to do, but it really had a huge impact on my life. And I think there are better ways of dealing with invisible conditions than self medicating. So I just want people to know that that is also a part of my story that happened over the years, and I don't think it's unusual.   Michael Hingson ** 20:28 Well, tell me a little bit more about, well, about all of that, in terms of dealing with it and so on, and what, what you've evolved into doing.   Cris Edwards ** 20:37 It's a great question. So I, I guess since getting sober is a lot of things have happened. The pandemic happened, and, you know, I think I've, I've thrived. A lot of people find it interesting to know that, for example, I got married, and I know that's not really a big deal. That's a very common thing that a lot of people do, but it's important for a big deal for you. Well, it's a big deal for me, sure, but when we work with parents who have children with misophonia and other conditions, they really worry about their children, like, what kind of future will they have? You know, are they going to struggle with finding employment and finding friends and being in relationships and and doing typical things? And so when I they find out not that I was trying to be encouraging everything, but when they find out that I actually did get through grad school and got a master's degree, and I have gotten married with this misophonia, they're relieved to hear that it's possible to do fairly typical things. It may not be as easy. So yeah, that's that's kind of what I've done since getting so bright. I finally got married at the age of 45 we moved to St Louis, where my wife has a very good job in the library system, and started a very successful nonprofit, and have remained very active in the recovery community. All of these things are things that I've worked hard to do and and I wouldn't have been able to do if I was still sort of stuck in my self pity, self misery, self medicating phase of my life. I'm glad that's over with, but yeah, I feel like I'm playing catch up on life the last few years. But   Michael Hingson ** 22:23 on the other hand, you're doing that, and part of it is, and is that you're, you've, you've discovered a lot about you, and yeah, you you had alcohol and so on, but you've gotten over that, and you've made some mental commitments that certainly have to be helping with you being able to address the issue of misophonia?   Cris Edwards ** 22:42 Yeah, that's true. I would, I would think that pretty much anybody who has any kind of disorder or condition or disease that impacts your life, especially if it's disabling in any way you know, or affects your ability to do typical things in a typical way that that your average person would. You know, you have to do a lot of introspection. You have to be really creative with coping in life and coming up with unique solutions to get by. And that requires a certain amount of resourcefulness and and introspection and and intelligence. And so, you know, I I've been very fortunate to meet some wonderful people with misophonia. Through the misophonia community that is actually huge. People are finding out that they are a part of it, and they didn't even know it every day, and they're contacting us. And just wonderful people who are bright and talented, and I'm glad to be a part of this unique community that we find ourselves in. I think it's a big part of it too, just the validation that we get and the ability to share our experiences and our frustrations and successes and stuff. Yeah, yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 23:56 Well, introspection is very important. Not nearly enough. Do we use it? And do we teach children in each other to use the whole concept of introspection to deal with things I wrote a book was published in August of 2024 called Live like a guide dog, true stories from a blind man and his dogs about being brave, overcoming adversity and walking in faith, and one of the main things that we talked about right from the beginning of the book, it's the book is all about helping people learn to control fear, rather than letting fear blind you or overwhelm you when something unexpected happens. And as you may know about, my story, having been in the World Trade Center and confronted by the horrific things that happened on September 11, I didn't negatively react, because I knew what to do. I had developed, although I didn't realize it at the time, a mindset, because I had focused on learning what to do in the case of an emergency. I knew what the evacuation procedures were. I knew why they were, what they were, and where to go, and the various options and so on. So I was. Prepared, although never expected to have to use it, but a lot of that also came from thinking about myself and how I would react in different situations, and not becoming paranoid over but rather really stopping and thinking at night when I had time, well, how would you react if this happened in this way? Or how would you react? Or what will you do with all the knowledge that you've gained? And I developed a mindset that said, You know what to do in the case of an emergency, and when the emergency occurred, the mindset kicked in. And again, a lot of that has to do with introspection. I think we don't spend nearly enough time in our own minds, thinking about ourselves and dealing with the things that that we face. One of the lessons that I've been teaching people for a while, and that comes out of the World Trade Center, is, don't worry about what you can't control. Focus on what you can and the rest will take care of itself. And there's so much that we worry about we don't have any control over, but we still worry about it, and all that does is engender more fear in our lives and makes us more uncomfortable, whereas if we would just worry about the things that we truly can worry about and not worry about the rest of it, which we can learn to do, we're much better for it. And in your case, it's the same sort of thing. You've got misophonia, okay? But at the same time, look at what you've done and how far you've come in terms of just mentally developing and preparing yourself because of the whole issue with alcohol and everything else, yeah, and you have grown, and that has to help in how you deal with misophonia.   Cris Edwards ** 26:47 Absolutely you said it exceptionally well. And you know, anecdotally, sometimes people say that when you develop, you know, substance use problem of any kind, you kind of stop growing spiritually and growing emotionally, and I think that was true for me. So when I got sober around the age of 42 I had to catch up with being an adult. And one of those was introspection, like you said, it's, it's a lifelong thing. And I think Aristotle, or one of those, said that the, you know, the self examines life is its own reward. And through recovery programs, I'm very active in AA and and they focus on why, why you do the things you do. What is your what is your thinking problem that turned into a drinking problem? And that's just pure introspection, like you said. And I'm grateful to to have learned those skills of picking apart, why I do things, and how can I get through life better in a in a more earnest and and kind and forgiving way than I had been. And, yeah, I interestingly, I mean, you talked about faith and that sort of thing. I don't come from a particularly religious background. My family was fairly non religious, which was unusual back in the 70s in the south in Texas. So I didn't really have that background. But, you know, I even today, I consider myself fairly agnostic, but there's not a day that goes by that I don't fall back on the advice of the Serenity Prayer, which I didn't learn until I got into AA. What wonderful advice. I sort of came to that same conclusion through the Stoic philosophers, but they're teaching the same universal truth, which is exactly what you said. If there's something that I'm really stressed about and having a problem with, if I can ask myself, Do I have any control over the outcome of this, and if the answer is no, I need to work on forgetting it. I'm just my worrying isn't solving any problems. It's just making me suffer, but I can't do anything about it, and that's a hard thing to do, and it takes daily vigilance, but you're absolutely correct. And   Michael Hingson ** 28:56 the other part of it is, even if the answer is no, introspection helps you. Then think about, well, why have I been worrying about it? Then, I mean, maybe something else that's pertinent that made you start to worry about it 100% and it might very well be that there you'll discover there is something about which you you do have some control regarding whatever it is, but if you don't take the time and well, it's not just taking the time to be introspective, it's also making the life choice to say, I'm going to think about this and I'm going to find the solution that works for me, and make that commitment. And that's got to be part of what you do, because it isn't just, oh, I'm going to think about this. Well, that's not enough. You also do have to decide, I'm going to deal with it. I'm going to find out what is going on, and then I can move forward. And I will move forward   Cris Edwards ** 29:56 Absolutely, yeah. How you deal. If that powerlessness or inability to have any control is is you're right, the next step, and it's difficult. There's, there's so many things I I have no control over. Actually, most things in the universe I am powerless to influence. I can't change the weather. I can't move the planets any differently, you know, and so, not yet. Anyway, not yet, no. But same with situations. I mean, there's just some things that I that affect me that I don't really have the power to influence in any way. And so yeah, how you deal with that and not let let that fear, that worry, that angst, control your life, which it has done before for I think a lot of us, is a challenge.   Michael Hingson ** 30:37 Well, what made you finally decide to start so quiet and form an organization to deal with misophonia. I know you mentioned the pandemic, but started, What? What? What happened?   Cris Edwards ** 30:47 That's a great question. At the time, I could sort of see that there, I just had a hunch that misophonia was probably not the rare condition that it was considered and like, you know, six or seven years ago, it was thought to be a very rare disorder or a rare thing to experience, and I had a hunch that that wasn't the case. And I also saw that there was a lot of advocacy and awareness and support that needed to happen based off of the input I was receiving from other people with misophonia that nobody was doing there at the time, was one other nonprofit organization dedicated to the misophonia world, and I just wasn't really happy with what they were doing. And what they were doing was not much. They weren't really doing anything from the viewpoint of lived experience. Nobody on their board had misophonia. They were all sort of veteran clinicians, and they weren't doing all of the things that came to my mind as what needed to be done to spread awareness and to further research and on and on. And so I thought, well, I guess it's up to me, as Bob Dylan says, nobody else is doing it, so I have the opportunity to see if maybe it's something I can impact. And have been very fortunate to have some really notable wonderful people sign on early to our board and to sign on to volunteer and to help fund some of our our programs, like our student research grants, is are something that we we give out to graduate students who are interested in researching misophonia for a thesis project or a doctoral dissertation. We can give them some funding to undertake a small study. And we were fortunate enough to find some, some families who had a child with misophonia who wanted to fund that kind of research program. So we've been fortunate. We've We've done some very successful things. Not, not to pat myself on the back too much, because we've had a lot of help, but, but we, based on my experiences in the recovery community, I became a certified peer specialist, which is a something that the state of Missouri certifies after some training. And we started the first peer support program, comprehensive peer support program for misophonia in the world. And so we're training people to be facilitators of peer support groups for misophonia, and just a lot of things that didn't exist that I thought would be nice to have happen, or other people told me that they would like to see as resources for people with misophonia. And so we just try to do the things that people say they want that don't exist.   Michael Hingson ** 33:32 Well, you got to start somewhere. Needless to say, of course, that's right. And and make it work. What's a really great success story that you can point to with so client that's that's really made a difference?   Cris Edwards ** 33:47 Oh, that's a great question. We've got a kind of a weird mishmash of things that we do. We've sort of focused more on the research aspect of it, not only with our research grants, which have been, I think we've given out probably 10 of those in the last few years. But we also have some other research and support based things we just launched, actually kind of relaunched a project that we took on a couple of years ago, where it's just, it's misophoniaproviders.com it's a free website, an online directory of clinicians like psychologists or audiologists who know what misophonia is and and know how to work with clients who have misophonia. And we're working on training for clinicians so that they can get up to speed on it. There aren't really any proven treatments yet for misophonia, but there are ways of working with people who have misophonia, so that you can help them cope and get by and and maybe even test for other conditions and weed those out. And so there's ways of doing that. So we just, we launched a free online directory for for such clinicians in the last month, and we're working on the training for that. And that's really Phil. A huge niche. We decided to focus on that because misophonia is not well known, and we just heard so many people contacting us saying, I went to my doctor or I went to my counselor and said, Hey, I think I have this misophonia. And the counselor or doctor had no idea what it was. They'd never heard of it. They don't know how to work with it. They don't know what to do. And we heard that so much that we just realized that that is a huge bottleneck. If we take the prevalence studies I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, that 5% of the population roughly has misophonia to a moderate or advanced impacting what experience like they have in a way that impacts their life in some way, either they're avoiding situations, or it's affecting their job or their schooling or their relationships. That's still millions of Americans. And if millions of Americans are experiencing this, even at 5% and I can think of maybe 30 clinicians in the entire country that I would feel confident enough telling somebody to go to. That's a huge problem, if only 30 people are handling millions of of of sufferers or people who experience it. So we want to try to tackle that and really make it so that that we're training clinicians on misophonia. It is hard to understand. It's a strange thing for people to get their head wrapped around all of its idiosyncrasies, but I would like to say, hopefully in a year, that there's at least one or two clinicians in every state of the US that can see misophonic clients. Because currently that's not the case. So I think that that seems to be going really well. It's a huge project, but it's, it's really just to try to solve that problem that we hear so much about, and it is heartbreaking. If, if you talk to your trusted clinician about something and you know more about it than they do, that's kind of frustrating.   Michael Hingson ** 36:58 Well, one of the things that that I'm sort of curious about in our modern world there where things continue to get better and so on. Are we seeing yet, any kind of advances, medically speaking and scientifically speaking, to help misophonia, or is it still too new?   Cris Edwards ** 37:15 That's a great question. Yeah, we've been really fortunate. About four years ago, there was a family in the Chicago area that has a daughter with misophonia, and they started what's called the misophonia Research Fund. This is a private fund, family, family funded fund that has provided the money necessary for some very great studies. The the number of studies on misophonia in the last, let's say, three to four years has really ramped up. Researchers find it fascinating because it's so strange, like misophonia doesn't really align with any known conditions or disorders that we understand better, like OCD or ADHD, not that we understand those fully, but it's just it's an anomaly, and people want to learn about it because it's so strange, as far from a medical standpoint, I mean, and fascinating. And so there's been a lot of research on it. And of course, people are struggling every day with it, and would really like to see some kind of treatment in the near future. So there's a number of universities and labs around the world who have been studying this diligently, like at Duke at Baylor Oxford University has has some going on, among others. And yeah, they're coming at this from a variety of aspects. Some of the more recent work from Duke and from Oxford, aren't really, let's say, aren't really treating misophonia itself, but are working on using known practices to help cope with it better, so things like cognitive behavioral therapy, which is a well established psychological practice which covers a lot of different methods, has been shown to be fairly effective at helping people cope better and handle those triggering situations better in life. So there's some of that. Now we have some studies on the brain activity of people with misophonia and and there's about three or four of them that show that the way a person's brain responds with misophonia is different than how somebody who doesn't have it would respond to the same sounds. And so researchers are looking at those different brain areas that are activated in somebody with misophonia when they hear a particular sound and seeing if there's anything that we know of that can affect that. So, long story short, there's a few studies happening now on using existing medications that are on the market to maybe treat misophonia. We don't have the results of those that may not prove to be successful at all, but I. There's one in New York at Mount Sinai testing a very well established medication named called propranolol. That's a beta blocker that's been around for years, that's very affordable. There's some speculation that that might help affect the parts of the brain that misophonia uses, and again, I feel like I'm maybe I've had too much coffee. I feel like I'm being long winded. So I apologize. But as a third part of that, we're also seeing some interest on the technological front for assistive devices. One of the things that I think is really fascinating that has just started is there's a a lab, I think it's an academic lab in Washington state that developed an AI algorithm that is a context aware noise canceling algorithm. I was wondering about that. Yeah, so a lot of people with misophonia now use off the shelf noise canceling headphones. And noise canceling headphones aren't smart. They just knock out a particular frequency and that's it. This is a whole different ball game and and I, the people who have seen the prototypes of it, call it miraculous for misophonia. And the AI wasn't even developed for misophonia. It was developed for audio editing, a completely different use, but if you train this particular noise canceling AI on a type of sound, it learns what that type of sound is, and it can completely remove that sound in a noise canceling function, but not affect any other sounds. So for example, if somebody with misophonia was triggered by bird singing, that's not a real common one, but that, I'll use that as an example. It's a great example, though, yeah, you can train it with the types of bird noise that a particular find, a person finds aversive, and the AI learns what those are, and within the context of its input, can just completely remove those sounds, not based on frequency, but the actual sound itself, actual sound, yeah, and not affect the voices, not affect any other ambient noises at all. And if it works, as people say, that's going to be a wonderful assistive device for people to misophonia. It could be life changing.   Michael Hingson ** 42:07 That'll be a major game changer, because that deals with the basic sound absolutely and you could be in a classroom and not worry about the kids chewing gum   Cris Edwards ** 42:15 precisely. Yep, be cool. So there's a lot of work on, a lot of interest in treatments and stuff, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 42:22 well, and that's why I asked. It just seems like it would make sense, and I'm glad there's enough of an awareness about it now that people are, in fact, doing more research regarding it. Yeah, I'm assuming that misophonia would be considered a disability,   Cris Edwards ** 42:41 absolutely. Yeah. One of the things that we started off that there was a big, important part of so quiet early days that nobody was really tackling was that misophonia can be a disability. It affected my life. It still affects my life every day in in all kinds of ways which I can go into. But you know, not for everybody. Some people have symptoms of it, and it's not not affecting their life. They're not avoiding things, or it's not impacting their relationships or their their life activities. But when I looked at the, say, the ADA definition of what a disability is. It's pretty broad, and I say what you will about the ADA, it's got plenty of things to criticize, but I think the definition that it uses to determine what is a disability is is pretty open, yeah. And so I appreciate that, and my experience with misophonia absolutely fits that. Misophonia has affected my social life, my schooling, my work. I've quit jobs because my misophonia. When I look back, there's been a couple of jobs that I just walked out of because something was so disturbing to me and my sensory aversion that I've actually left jobs, which I'm not encouraging anybody do that, but you know, it's impacted my life a lot,   Michael Hingson ** 44:01 but you know a lot more now too, I do, yeah, and so that I would think can help make it more possible for you not to quit a job, or that you can change the circumstances so you can perform a job. Yeah,   Cris Edwards ** 44:16 it's very I'm glad you said that. It's very validating to even have the most basic of affirming information. So the fact that it was given a name, this amorphous thing that was hard to explain and hard to describe, now has a has a name, I can tell people Google misophonia, and that will explain things very well. We have a consensus definition. A bunch of researchers about three years ago published in an academic journal just sort of a consensus definition on what we mean when we say misophonia, what this thing is as we understand it. So that helps probably one of our most low tech but popular programs or initiatives was so quiet. Is our free information cards, and these are just business cards, really. They're double sided business cards that say I have misophonia. Here's a brief description of what it is. You're not doing anything wrong, but that that sound is going to be very disturbing to me while I'm around. Would you mind not doing that? Like yeah, thank you for your help. And we printed those because a misophonic reaction is so physiologically uncomfortable, a lot of people feel very irate or frustrated or uncomfortable, or it's impossible to communicate about it in a way that's kind and and helpful when you're having that reaction. And so the cards we send for free to people all over the world. We've sent out 1000s and 1000s of these. The cards do the talking for you when you can't, and you can hand them out to people and help them learn about it. And those have been incredibly popular. But just having tools like that, I use the cards sometimes. If I'm talking to somebody new about it, a stranger or somebody at a that I've never met at a meeting or whatever, I can say, hey, you know, when you get home, you can look more, look up more about this particular thing. But here's what it's called. This is what I experience, and that's why I have the no chewing gum rule at this meeting. You know? But the cards are low tech. They're cheap, but hugely popular. We love sending them out. We sent them to every continent except Antarctica, and just, it's been very helpful in communicating about   Michael Hingson ** 46:23 this. Well, you'll really have arrived when you get to Antarctica. Then, you   Cris Edwards ** 46:28 know, we've reached out to people in Antarctica to see if they know anyone with misophonia. So we're working on that. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 46:33 so low population continent, but still, right? But, you know, it's, it is still definitely an issue that needs to be addressed in so many ways, and it's so exciting that you're doing it. And I go back to the thing that you said earlier about the AI solution. You know, we keep hearing about AI and all the horrible things about it, but the reality is, it is like anything else. It's how we use it, and I think that's a very intriguing process that you're using AI to to deal with sound somebody once told me about the whole issue with noise canceling, and it was some time ago, so it's evolved a lot, but they actually had a house, and they had noise canceling processes around the house. So even in the city, you didn't hear all the city sounds until you got outside and away from the noise canceling And now, of course, it's a whole lot different, because you can do so much more about what you want to filter out.   Cris Edwards ** 47:40 Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely true. And even very low tech solutions, I realized early on, and looking back, I can again, I can put the pieces together, but I like having a little bit of white noise around. So I have box fans around the house, and I leave the exhaust fan in the bathroom in the kitchen on, because it helps muffle things. And that little bit of white noise I find very helpful in in a low tech   Michael Hingson ** 48:07 way, it's not ocean sounds. I   Cris Edwards ** 48:11 actually like ocean sounds. Now, the interesting thing about misophonia is that every person with misophonia has kind of a different involuntary set of sounds that affect them. There's some ones that are fairly common, like eating sounds or poop slurping or whatever, very common. But not everybody with misophonia is triggered by those. And so I actually love the sound of Yeah, ocean waves, cats purring. I find those very relaxing. But not everybody does. Some people hate white noise. I whatever.   Michael Hingson ** 48:43 I like silence, and so, yeah, I like the sound of the ocean and so on. But I also enjoy just sometimes not having anything on. And that's that's just me. But I believe when you're going back to being introspective, when you're really thinking and looking at things internally. It's nice to just be quiet and not have other things that distract you, because then you can really focus on what you need to do and listen to your own inner voice that you might not hear otherwise, absolutely.   Cris Edwards ** 49:16 And one other thing is kind of hard to understand about misophonia is that complete silence is not always preferable. If you're in a completely quiet room, then every little noise is more noticeable, and that could be our problem. So we often joke about there's sort of a middle, middle ground of noise. If we go to a restaurant, you know, finding where the optimal place to sit in a restaurant where you're not likely to be to be a heavier misophonia activated is sort of a mathematical challenge, but a medium busy restaurant is ideal. It's too quiet, then you can hear everybody eating. If it's too noisy, it's overwhelming. There's kind of a general we look for medium busy restaurants as the ideal, because the noise and Chatter is just vague enough to cover up sounds and. That be, I don't know, it's kind of funny   Michael Hingson ** 50:02 today i i don't seem to have any luck at finding very quiet restaurants any rush.   Cris Edwards ** 50:07 That's true. But, um, you know, it's, as everybody who probably listens to your your program knows, it takes a lot of just reconfiguring plans all the time. It's a lot of improvising on the fly to suit our needs. And it's very common for me to go grocery shopping, and then if there's somebody popping their gum that you can hear all over the store, I have to leave, and I'll just have to come back later and finish my grocery shopping. It's just constantly rerouting and re orchestrating what I have planned to fit around the world, and the input that it provides is it's kind of a challenge. I   Michael Hingson ** 50:44 guess I'm weird. I've never really learned to pop gum. I can chew it. I've never been a major gum chewer, but I've never really learned to pop it so I don't make noise like other people did. And in fact, in reality, I didn't learn to blow bubbles with bubble gum until, gosh, it must have been like about 2004 well, 2005 or 2006 I just never learned, but I finally did learn, and that's interesting,   Cris Edwards ** 51:11 yeah, sometimes, like I I'll run into people in public, and I wonder if they have misophonia, whether they realize it or not. This is a strange anecdote, but when my wife were moving from we were moving from Denver to St Louis, and we stopped at a Denny's in the in the middle of Kansas somewhere, and we sat next to this older gentleman who was sitting by himself, and he didn't make any noise when he ate the silver word, never touched the plate. He chewed quietly. He didn't make a single noise. And we both noticed that, and we thought, I wonder if he has misophonia, and he's accommodating for himself, whether he realizes that there's a word for it, and it's a thing like he's being very conscientiously trying not to make any noise when he's eating. It's fascinating   Michael Hingson ** 51:56 for me. I just never learned it. I mean, so I don't think it was an avoidance issue. I just never learned how to do it. And as I say, I finally learned how to blow bubble gum because somebody finally described the process in a way that I was able to emulate it and blow bubbles. But no one had ever described it to be and so having not seen other people do it and see how they do it, it was it was fun. I'm glad I can now blow bubbles, but, yeah,   Cris Edwards ** 52:23 it's that's a that's a skill. One other thing that's interesting that you kind of reminded me of is when we have conditions or disorders like misophonia or miso Kinesia or other sensory aversion or sensory sensitivities, we can oftentimes end up in kind of a accommodations stalemate, where we have conflicting needs. So a lot of people who have, say anxiety disorders or PTSD or anxiety, and a lot of times people with autism, they like to make noises and and do what they call stimming, which is kind of self soothing, repetitive movements, popping bubble wrap is very soothing to them. But for somebody with misophonia like those are the things that we want to avoid. And so sometimes what might make one person comfortable and that they need to be doing for their own serenity is going to be very aversive to people with sensory disorders. And so in a classroom or work environment, sometimes we get these conflicts of needs. It's tough to navigate,   Michael Hingson ** 53:30 yeah, how do you how do you deal with that? I mean, I guess you have the cards that you mentioned. You know, in general, I guess that's kind of the sort of thing that you have to do is to recognize you have to deal with people who aren't necessarily sensitive to what you're wanting to deal with. Yeah,   Cris Edwards ** 53:48 in some of those instances, one of the things we do a lot is right writing advocacy letters from a lived experience standpoint on what misophonia is to help people get accommodations if they need them, and they're usually very simple, no cost or low cost things that people can can ask for at their work or in their their school. But a lot of times, you know that that gives us an impetus to ask for either remote learning, maybe for somebody with misophonia, that's a lot more common now, having a private workspace that's honestly an office, but is is quieter and and that way both people can can have what they need. And yeah, we try to come up with creative solutions to help everybody with accommodations. What   Michael Hingson ** 54:34 would you tell someone today that you encounter who kind of feels helpless and hopeless because they have a condition like misophonia?   Cris Edwards ** 54:41 That's a great question. I think one of the big reasons I started a nonprofit was strictly to help with that people with misophonia, or really, you know, any kind of similar condition or disorder can could kind of start feeling hopeless. Misophonia can be very isolating, like. I said, people avoid interacting with the public or their families or the world at large as a way of of coping. And it can seem like the world in its current state, is not made for people like us. The world is a noisy place. Yeah, we're we're in a society. And so it can, it can start. You can kind of get down in a in a hopelessness pit, as I call it, kind of a depression hole, thinking, well, am I cut out for the world? You know, what kind of job am I going to have? I have to work with other people. I have to go to school with other people. I actually like talking to other people. I just can't I sort of compare it sometimes to an allergy, so a person with, say, a peanut allergy might actually like peanuts. They just can't have them. And so I try to tell people that all hope is not lost, even though we don't have a proven treatment yet, we should in the future, things are getting better. We have a lot of things now that we didn't have when I was growing up, as far as information and support and a community that all understands this and those things can be wonderful. We have peer support meetings and just to hear, hear somebody say, you know, I've never met another person before today who had misophonia, and knowing that this thing that I have had such a hard time explaining to my family, that you all get it, you all know what it's like, and when nobody else in my life truly gets it, that's That's amazing. All hope is not lost. And one day at a time, we can kind of get through. And it's a challenge, as it is with any disability to get get through, hour by hour, but over over time. You know, I, I feel like my life is going well, even with my invisible disabilities or invisible disorders. Just takes a little extra work, a little more creativity, little more understanding from other people, so on, so forth. But   Michael Hingson ** 56:55 you synthesize that and you understand it, which is important. So you've, you've had that blessing, and I'm glad that you're able to pass that on to other people being being curious and nosy. As I mentioned earlier, we got introduced to Sheldon. How did you guys meet?   Cris Edwards ** 57:09 That's a great question. You know, I was for a completely unrelated reason. I was looking at business websites. I for our website, or so quiet website I wanted to put together terms and conditions. Now, geeky people know that pretty much any website you visit for a business organization, there's some page on their website that is the terms and conditions for using a website. Most people don't venture into those because they're just legalese, but they exist. So I was looking at some examples. What's that? But they exist. They exist. Yeah, for legal aficionados, but I was looking, I think you, if I remember correctly, and don't quote me on this, I think it was the Dr Bronner's soap page had this little accessibility button in the lower right corner of every page of their site. And I was like thinking, what is that? So I clicked on it, and I brought up this really cool, robust menu of accessibility options for visual impairments, ADHD, you know, helping you focus on things, just any kind of thing you can imagine, as far as ways that you can change a website to make it more accessible was on there, and that blew my mind. And of course, running a nonprofit with a very popular website that's based around particularly sensory disabilities, I had to reach out and and I found out that it was the access be plugin, it's very easy to install on our website. And so I reached out, and they put me in touch with Sheldon, who who helped us get on board and add it to our website, and has been really very helpful and a good advocate for people like us, and it's been working for you? Yeah, yeah. I'm I'm really delighted to have that on our website and be able to offer that to everybody who visits us.   Michael Hingson ** 59:01 Well, that's cool. I'm glad that it's working well and that it's helping people be able to interact more with the site. And you're right. It's got a lot of different profiles. And the neat thing about accessibe is it continues to grow and expand, and so much more than it used to be. And then we'll continue to do that, which is another example of AI. It's not kind of everything as perfectly as one would like, but there are other alternatives that accessibe has for websites that are more complex, but still, the fact that you're able to make it work, and it's enhancing your website that's as good as it gets. Yeah,   Cris Edwards ** 59:36 and I think, if I remember correctly again, I'm kind of new to accessibe, but I think part of the AI is that it generates image descriptions kind of magically, which blows my mind. Some are   Michael Hingson ** 59:47 more accurate than others, maybe so, but that's okay. But you know what? They're getting better all the time. That's the real issue. And so images that may not be described with. The AI technology and described well today might very well be much more accurately described in six months. That's the neat thing about accessibe. It is so scalable, it is and it makes it possible when, when any improvements are made to accessibe, it improves every site that uses   Cris Edwards ** 1:00:20 automatically. Cool, yeah, yeah. And I just, while we were talking, I think I'll reach out to Sheldon, because I just had an idea for a feature that I don't think is on there that I could recommend, and that is white noise and brown noise as an option, a little player. We added a brown noise player to our website, but if that was a part of the accessibility options to have kind of a white noise or, ah, I think I'll recommend that to Sheldon. We'll see what happens.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:43 Make sense? See what happens. Yeah. Well, if people are speaking of reaching out, want to reach out to you and learn more about so quiet and so on. How do they do that? That's   Cris Edwards ** 1:00:52 a great question. You can visit our website. It's just so quiet.org. You can find us on pretty much every social media platform. We have the same handle for everyone. It's so quiet org. Or you can email me at hello at so quiet.org   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:08 There you go. Well, people will reach out. It is easy, likewise, and I think that's so cool. Well, I want to thank you for being here. This has been very informative and a lot of fun, and I've learned a lot, I love to say that if I'm not learning at least as much as anybody else who listens to the podcast, I'm not doing my job right. Yeah, I really enjoyed learning and really valued the time we got to spend. So you are always welcome to come back any old time you want, if you got other things to chat about. Have you written any books yet? No, to work. Get to work.   Cris Edwards ** 1:01:41 I'm thinking about that. You know, there's actually only been one book on misophonia published by a major publisher, in other words, that wasn't self published, and that came out last year by Dr Jane Gregory. She's a great collaborator of ours, but maybe I will write a book, but I'll tell you, Michael, it's it's been wonderful. I thank you so much for having me on your on your podcast and for doing what you do, it's been a delight to learn your story as well and learn about, you, know, your experiences and and we talked a little bit about philosophy and self reflection, and that's it's just been wonderful being on here. So thank you so   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:13 much. Well, this has been fun, and I hope that all of you listening out there have enjoyed this. I'd love to hear from you. Love to hear your thoughts. Love to hear what you like, maybe what you didn't, but I hope you liked it all you can reach me easily enough. It's Michael M, I C, H, A, E, L, H i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I b, e.com, or go to our podcast page, which is w, w, w, dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, and Michael hingson is spelled M, I C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, S O n.com/podcast, and wherever you're watching or listening, please give us a five star rating. We love getting ratings, and we appreciate the high ratings that that you give us and then and any input that you have. And Chris for you and anyone out there who is encountering the podcast. If you know of anyone else who ought to be a guest, please let me know we are always looking for more people to come on uns

Timestamps:  Yappin' about ‘tailbones and having a tail' (1:06) S/O to booty pads everywhere (5:56) Southern Charm recap (7:57) Paige Desorbo's clears things up in the comments (11:08) Reading our family's birthcarts (15:56) Justin Baldoni launches website (17:13) Early adaptors (18:49) 'Smallville' actor arrested for DUI (20:45) Dwyane Wade reveals shocking diagnosis (24:42) Side tangent about misinformation (26:17) This A-list actress doesn't talk to Reese Witherspoon (30:36) Timothee Chalamet at University of Minnesota (32:50) Girl Scout Cookie Season (34:33) Girl Scout Cookie misnomers (38:13) Girl Scout Cookie sales forecasting (41:04) KB's a hustler bc of her tail (42:57) THANK U FOR FOLLOWING/RATING & REVIEWING!! Make sure to follow us on Instagram & Tik Tok KB's personal IG: Cunningham_gram  & don't forget to follow our youtube channel   _____________________________________________________

Rodrigo is a boulder & lead climber from team Brazil. He actually started climbing fairly recently in 2018, but since then has been a 2x south american cup winner and is working his way up the ranks on the world cup circuit! In this episode, we talk about what makes training and climbing in Brazil difficult, how he feels like a “weaker” climber due to starting out as a chubbier kid, and mindset tips he uses while competing.Guest links:Rodrigo's InstagramReference links:Brazilian Hold Brand - CruxNight Moves - Outdoor Brazilian ClimbingThank you Mad Rock for sponsoring this episode! Use code 'notrealclimber' for 10% off your ENTIRE order, even if you're a returning customer! https://madrock.com/Learn more about the podcast at www.thatsnotrealclimbingpodcast.comFollow on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/thatsnotrealclimbingpodcastJoin the FREE community in Discord! https://discord.gg/QTa668g8zpJoin Patreon for a welcome gift, deleted scenes, and question priority: www.patreon.com/thatsnotrealclimbingpodcastTimestamps of discussion topics0:00 - Intro1:28 - Mad Rock Shoutout!!2:29 - Starting climbing only 8 years ago!7:24 - How to mentally recover from knee injury10:38 - The importance of hold and movement exposure13:57 - Living in Australia16:38 - Competing in Prague with a knee brace21:45 - The difficulties of climbing hard in South America25:31 - Brazil climber funding30:19 - Climbing scene in Brazil36:15 - Thoughts on the upcoming 2025 Brazil WC39:27 - Mindset and overcoming being a "weaker" climber48:43 - Once a fat kid, always a fat kid51:47 - Discord Q: Top 3 slab tips56:13 - Discord Q: Thoughts on limiting country participation? Does it actually help smaller nations?1:02:20 - Discord Q: Outdoor climbing projects in Brazil?1:05:19 - S/O to South American climbers and where to find Rodrigo

Timestamps:  Yappin' about ‘our facials from Groupon' (0:17) Grammy's fashion takes (1:55) Sabrina Carpenter's Grammy performances (5:03) Doechii slays the Grammy's (6:04) Shakira IS a Grammy winner (7:15) ‘DENIAL IS A RIVER' ON BROADWAY (8:24) Beyoncé wins Country Album of the Year (9:21) Chappell Roan rides the Grammy's pink pony (10:54) Teddy Swims is NOT Jelly Roll (13:32) Benson Boone and his bulge perform at the Grammy's (15:41) Best New Artist winner (17:14) In Jack Antonoff we stan (19:30) Quincy Jones honored (21:45) Bruno Mars and Gaga win (22:29) S/O to Southwest Airlines (24:06) Who are the 13,000 Grammy voters (24:48) Charlie XCX performs with Julia Fox (25:35) Kendrick Lamar wins Record of the Year (25:56) Alicia Keys accepts award (26:52) Beyoncé wins Album of the Year for first time (28:50) Taylor Swift snubbed by the Grammy's (30:08) THANK U FOR FOLLOWING/RATING & REVIEWING!! Make sure to follow us on Instagram & Tik Tok KB's personal IG: Cunningham_gram  & don't forget to follow our youtube channel   ____________________________________________________

#766 - S.O.S - O socorro vem do alto - Pr. Felipe Nascimento by Igreja do Amor

This episode I want you to meet Acen Kevin from Northern Uganda. Acen is unstoppable and remarkable in many ways. She grew up an orphan in Uganda and experienced many hardships and challenges working to seek an education. She discovered the power of community and persevered with the help and support of others. She secured a degree in Accounting and Finance and works in that field part time.   In 2021, Acen founded Itinga Charity Education Foundation, (ICEF) to sponsor and help children with disabilities and other disadvantaged children to get some of the breaks she received when seeking an education. She will tell us some of the stories of students who began with little or no hope and whose families also had no faith that their children could ever be successful. However, with the help of ICEF many children already have experienced life-changing attitudes and are getting the education they deserve. Wait until you hear the story about the blind magistrate who received assistance from ICEF and who now is well respected and has not lost a case.   It is always so rewarding to be able to talk with someone like Acen Kevin who just doesn't talk a good line, but who also proves daily that she lives and walks the walk she wishes for others to do.       About the Guest:   Acen Kevin is the Founder and Executive Director of Itinga Charity Education Foundation (ICEF), a non-profit NGO based in Uganda. With a strong commitment to advancing the education of disadvantaged children and youth in Northern Uganda, Acen has established ICEF to provide scholarships, grants, and essential educational resources to schools and children in need.   A dedicated disability inclusion advocate, Acen's work with ICEF focuses on empowering blind children through education. By championing inclusive education, Her non profit NGO is working in Partnership with Imara-Uganda Education Fund UK  to fund the  construction of an inclusive secondary school in Northern Uganda that is already providing  inclusive education to both abled and disabled students, fostering a supportive and accessible learning environment for all.   In addition to her impactful work in the non-profit sector, Acen Kevin is also a finance and accounting professional, holding a degree in Accounting and Finance from Metropolitan International University (MIU). Her diverse skill set includes proficiency in computerized accounting tools such as QuickBooks and Excel, as well as experience in financial reporting, budgeting, and internal controls.   Outside of her role at ICEF, Acen is a talented filmmaker and actress in Uganda, using her creative talents to raise awareness and advocate for social change. She is a line producer of  CLUBFOOT movie that is creating awareness  and  remedies to clubfoot. Disability through clubfoot can  only be avoided at early childhood. Acen also  featured on  the Wave movie and  TV series Senkyu boss among others.   Acen Kevin is a selfless philanthropist who continues to make a positive impact in her community and beyond.   Ways to connect with Nick:   REACH OUT TO ITINGA CHARITY EDUCATION FOUNDATION (ICEF) ON THE WEBSITE  https://icef-itinga.org   LINKEDIN  https://www.linkedin.com/in/acen-kevin-daniela-336386281?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app   FACEBOOK  https://www.facebook.com/Itinga.org   WHATSAPP   +256 705 100 34 For inquiries or collaboration opportunities, please contact Acen Kevin  (Daniela) at: Telephone: +256 772 003 460. Email: kevin.abtmail@gmail.com, kevin@icef-itinga.org     About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Hi and welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're back with us again, and today we get to meet with Acen Kevin Danila. And it's actually Acen Kevin, and Danila is her middle name. She is the founder of ICEF, a charity in northern Uganda that helps children, disadvantaged children specifically. And I'm fascinated to hear about that and to learn more about what the charity does and and so on. But we're going to start by welcoming Acen to the podcast and learn a little bit about her. So Acen, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. Thank you for taking the time.   Acen Kevin ** 02:05 Thank you so much, Michael. Thank you so much. And thanks for giving me the opportunity being the unstoppable mindset podcast. It's a great pleasure.   Michael Hingson ** 02:20 Well, why don't we start by you telling us a little bit about you growing up and kind of the early Acen, if you will. Okay?   Acen Kevin ** 02:31 My story growing up has not been easy in terms of education. I struggled so much through education being unopened, I really did not have anybody to support me through education, but like the sales goes that people are stronger when you're together. So I had really so many people who supported me through education. I was sponsored by five different individuals, people, including an organization in Mara Uganda education. So you can imagine that it has really been a struggle, and that is one of the reason why I decided to give back to the community to see that children who were in the situation that I was, or even was, children that are traveling through education, they can get education. So life has not been really so easy as far as education is concerned. For me,   Michael Hingson ** 03:47 one of the things that you do with the foundation, and we'll get to the foundation, but you do a lot of work with children with disabilities. Did you or do you have a disability?   Acen Kevin ** 03:57 No, no, I don't have any disability at all. Okay, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 04:04 but that's just one of the areas that you decided that you wanted to work with. So did you? You went to you went to school, and you said education was hard, I assume, because just the normal pressures of being an orphan and and just having to do all the things that you had to do growing up, right? Yes, so   Acen Kevin ** 04:24 I really decided to support disability inclusions, support inclusive education, to sponsor children and youth who are blind and those with low vision, not because I have any disability, but because in my community, I see two sides. I see those ones who are empowered, and those one who I educated, and they have the skills they do better. Lacher than the somebody who is blind and is not empowered. Normally, they turn into begging on streets, and they say, they say to start to look at them like a burden in the society. So I, through my charity, and it is what we are doing now, we want to empower them so that they can reach their full potentials, they can be able to earn a living through the skills they get through education. And I am inspired by the blind people who are educated and they are empowered. One of them is the majesty grade one judge who is also from my community is a lawyer. Sorry, it is that is the inspiration I am inspired by people like you. So I want really many people with the disability to get because chance education, yeah, thank you.   Michael Hingson ** 06:05 So did you? Did you go to college? Yes,   Acen Kevin ** 06:10 yes, I have a degree in accounting and finance. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 06:14 that's a little bit different from starting a charity or a foundation, it would seem, but you you got your degree in finance and accounting. Did you do anything directly with that? Did you have any earlier jobs in accounting and finance, or did you decide immediately that you wanted to start the foundation,   Acen Kevin ** 06:37 um, with my career in a degree in accounting and finance. I do practice that as well. Even in the NGO, it really helped me to do good accounting taxation. So I still use the same skill to run the strategy, and I practice that before. Yes, accounting and finance. So it has really helped, helped me, yes. So   Michael Hingson ** 07:07 tell us a little bit about if you would the foundation, the name of it, and where the name came from, and how you started it. Yes.   Acen Kevin ** 07:18 Eating a charity. Education Foundation is a non profit organization that advanced education of disadvantaged children in northern Uganda through provision of scholarships, materials, school supplies and facilities for education. The word eating is the local law language, which means you lift me. So it symbolizes lifting up children out of poverty through education. So eating means you lift me.   Michael Hingson ** 07:53 Atinga means you lift me. Okay, I understand that, which is a very clever name and very accurate.   Acen Kevin ** 08:04 We focus mainly on disability inclusion and empowering the blind and youth to reach their full potentials.   Michael Hingson ** 08:11 When did you start the foundation?   Acen Kevin ** 08:15 The foundations, uh, started in 2021   Michael Hingson ** 08:19 so it's fairly new. So it's been, sorry I say it's fairly new. It's been around three years. Yes,   Acen Kevin ** 08:26 yes, for three years, yes, but we're already making great impact.   Michael Hingson ** 08:32 Well, tell me a little bit about that. Tell me if you could about maybe some of the the people you've helped some of their stories, a little bit, if you would,   Acen Kevin ** 08:43 the children that we are supporting,   Michael Hingson ** 08:45 yeah, a little bit about them, kind of what successes you have.   Acen Kevin ** 08:51 Okay, so, as I said earlier on, that the organization sponsor children through Award Scholarship for education. So the children that we are having and our scholarship programs are children that are really needy, and they are coming from very poor background, so we provide them with full scholarship, and they we educate them right from primary level, secondary level, up to university, then terza institution and vocational depending on the capability of the child. But those children, they are these families that stand out. They they all have different, different stories. Like, for example, we have two families that has many children. They have many children with who are blind. There's one family that have seven children, and of the seven. Children. Four were born completely blind. So in 2019 we started sponsoring one of them. Then this year, we got a sponsor who offered to sponsor a child and is sponsoring one. So so far in that family, we are helping two children, and they it is hard. Life is hard for them, as they are facing farmers and having to take care of the poor, totally blind children and then the rest the seven children all in the family. We also have similar family. There's a family we are supporting now, one girl who is studying in the new school that we have the inclusive schools, and Mary Goretti is the akulo. Akulo comes from a family of nine. There are nine children, but out of the nine, four were born blind, and she she did not really get a chance to study in an inclusive school during our primary. So one of our brother, the elder brother, who is also blind, dropped out of school already, and even her, she had already dropped out of school when our organization was told about her, so we had to pick her, and now she's studying well and learning braille, and she's already in senior one this year. We have met different children with different who are from very poor background. We have one boy that we have been sponsoring. He's already now in senior two. We started sponsoring him right from primary five. He comes from a child headed family. The first time I went to that family was in 2020, 2021, when we started the charity, I shed tears because we could see the grave of the Mother, the Father. And there are these three young boys. They have to take care of themselves. They have to farm to eat. So it's really, it's really very difficult for them, and it makes my I feel happy now to see that the boy we talk is doing well and he studies so he can bless the family in future so many of those children who have the potentials. So in our charity, we are not always sponsoring, the children who are blind, others with low vision. We sponsor all categories of children. However, we have inclusion. So we include everybody. We have those ones who are learn that we are sponsoring. We have those one with without any physical challenge that we are also sponsoring.   Michael Hingson ** 13:05 Now, when you say you're sponsoring, you you actually have to contribute to or pay for their education. There isn't public funding available for that. Or how does the process work? When   Acen Kevin ** 13:16 we say we are sponsoring, normally, we we don't really have, like, funding grade available. So we keep on donations that come the general donation. And then we also have sponsor child program where we have an individual people, ah, saying that I want to sponsor a child, and we have them sponsoring each children and our charity. So what is the audience not available? We keep on fund raising. We keep on looking for donation for that. And beside the scholarship program, we also provide materials for education, materials like the Braille machines, the Braille papers to inclusive schools for the blind, and we also provide textbooks to other schools that are not inclusive school. So we provide all those materials which are needed for education,   Michael Hingson ** 14:20 and that's because the traditional schools really don't have the resources to get those materials themselves.   Acen Kevin ** 14:26 Yes, yes.   Michael Hingson ** 14:30 So itinga does that. It provides those materials and gives the support to essentially make for more of an equal education for children with disabilities and others who need your support.   Acen Kevin ** 14:48 Yes, yes, we we do that. We do that. We make sure. Because, like, say, for one example, in Laos, up region. Where our office is located, you find that there's only one two schools which are giving inclusive education to the blind, and those schools you may go there, they have only two brains that are being shared by teachers and children. So we try to support such schools. Then still in Uganda, you will be surprised if you come here that we still have children that study under the tree, that write down on the on the floor. They write down without men, without books. So we also give school supplies when everybody children facili also give like this, provide this, provide computer so that is under materials for education.   Michael Hingson ** 15:54 So I don't know whether this is an easy question to answer. So what does it cost to sponsor a child, maybe for a year in school?   Acen Kevin ** 16:05 What it cost to sponsor a child for a year in school? Um, now it depends, but normally when the we are to Award Scholarship, we normally start from primary school. So that's you. You really say it's a hard question, because it varies. First of all, it depends on the school where the child is going, because every school has different fee structures. And then it also depends on the on the level, level of education of that child, if the child is in secondary school, like in Saint Mary's already right now, those who are sponsoring the child there, I it cost, ah, around that is six, 606 188,000 to sponsor a Child per town, so in a year, it's about two two millions Uganda shilling. And that can be how much in   Acen Kevin ** 17:08 ah, that can be around 600 pounds sports a child in a secondary school. So the lower level pays also lower the higher levels pays. So space.   Michael Hingson ** 17:23 Do you get a lot of resistance from the schools when you talk about, say, bringing a child with a disability into the school? Do they do they welcome? Or is there more resistance because they feel that that kind of a child is not going to be able to get the same level of education or be able to learn as well, or is it pretty welcoming?   Acen Kevin ** 17:49 It's not welcoming, not also the welcoming to children with disability, that is the path, and that is why I'm calling this other school, that inclusive school. So they are few schools that do that. So if you take a child when I was still volunteering with the Mara Uganda education plan as an administrator, before even a teenage charity, we had this one girl that had multiple disability and we took her to a school that was an inclusive so the girl was really performing poorly. Sometimes would even get 05 out of 100 because if she's seated outside under the tree, no one would bother if the bell rings, the rest are running to class. No one will care. But for the inclusive school, they have a system where a student, student, like a student, can help the fellow students. Somebody knows that, okay, he cannot see so I can help him if he's moving in a new environment. You cannot maybe climb here. It is not very accessible. Someone can help you push your wheelchair. So it is really hard. It's not really welcoming. If they allow you to study there, then sometime a child go there just to pass and they get a lot of, I don't know, people that discriminate, like, what are you studying for? You can't be anything you know people can discourage and you find that says children are not really happy, but when they are in a inclusive school, they are happy, and they really fit to the environment. They feel important, and they are able to study in that friendly environment and become very, very powerful people in the society.   Michael Hingson ** 19:55 Okay, I understand what, what made you. Decide to focus so much attention on disadvantaged children or children with disabilities, that had to be a a pretty challenging decision to make, knowing what you would have to face to make it, make it real. So what   Acen Kevin ** 20:17 made me to do that, or what made us to say that the charity should focus in disability inclusions and empowering, especially children who are who are blind and low vision, is because in my society, in my my my community, as I said earlier on, you would see the different in those one who managed to get education and those one who did not. It really hit me hard always when I moved in my town on the street of Kampala and I find somebody who is blind is begging on the street. No, somebody who is having a disability is begging. No. And for them, I feel like the person with disability should even be empowered more than somebody without disability, because if I don't have the disability, I can be able to at least do other things, and you know, but I you really need education, like the blind need education, because right now they are, they Are those assistive technology that help help them to do other things that they it would be hard to do so if you're not educated, it can really be very hard. So I believe that every child has deserved the right to really have education, irrespective of whether your ability, everybody should have education.   Michael Hingson ** 22:10 What kind of successes have you experienced so far, you said that you've sponsored children of all ages. So have you had any who were old enough that they've now finished school and gotten jobs or anything like that? Or do you have any examples of children who you have been able to sponsor, who've been able to show that they can learn like anyone else and become more accepted in their in their schools.   Acen Kevin ** 22:43 Yes, we have those children that already making us feel happy for what we are doing, because we really see how the charity is making an impact, is bringing changes to the life of children eating our charity, Education Foundation, is working in partnership with the Mara Uganda education plan. So a Mara Uganda education plan has been in Uganda, uh, working in Uganda for the last 10 years, since 211 and when we started the partnership in 2021, they entrusted the children that were already their scholarship to our charity. So those ones that were entrusted to us, they already we have those one that already completed their studies. We have been those ones who are already right now. They are teachers, they are midwife. We have been the one who already completed their diploma in clinical medicine, TiVo engineering we are having those one who have completed already like then we have the students after already doing their degree in education like they want to become teachers. So ready. The charity is changing life. And you see that the children who are from a very poor school in the village, because when we take you to sponsor education, we bring you to a school that provide quality education. So there's life change. Children that we took from primary, they already in secondary school, and they're performing extremely well. And with the children with disability for the last three years that we have worked, we have seen changes in them, like there's one girl joy. Joy is completely blind. When she first joined, she was not very confident, but now she's the one who represent all the blind children and low vision and our charity. She has been representing even other NGO outside. She has traveled outside the country to advocate people, people who are who are blind. So it's really very impressive to see our children, even when they are still standing. You see already the life change. You see a child that came when did not even know English at all, even the interview for scholarship we might have done in the local language, but now they speak English, so there's really a life change. And then with children with disability, one big thing that I also see even their families, their families that already they are they were not having support. They were not having love for such children. Some had already been locked then in the house like the people don't know that there's a child with disability in that family, but the moment we get that child and start sponsoring it, change the attitude of parents toward them. They start to say, okay, because they see how now the child is doing well, is being taken care of, so they also start now to support the love increase have seen. So the mindsets of parents are also changing to see them there. And normally we have programs that parents with children with disability meet together. So you find that they start to they start to see, okay, you are seeing you. Somebody who is blind is already a teacher in the school, is a social worker, is a lawyer. So it also gave them, because if somebody has been in the parents who has been deep in rural village, first of all, you started when some, some people even ask us, now, you want to sponsor this one? Don't you think, why don't you take my child? This one, who can see, hm, I've ever been asked that one, I think two parents did that. There's one who said, You take this one and they leave this one, but after they see how these children are catching up, you know? So it's motivating not only to the to the parents and also even the children. The children get to their mind, get to change. They get to know that they are value in the community. Yes, they can become anything they want, if they study, if they are empowered, so they really strive. But I'm so happy to see how this is making a big impact.   Michael Hingson ** 28:06 Well, I can, I can hear it in your voice. I mean, you're, you're clearly very happy and very proud of of the work that you're doing, and absolutely and you're obviously changing attitudes, which is important because we all face that, we face these attitudes, that we're less than other people, and it's so hard to get people to understand that, in fact, we're just as capable as anyone else.   Acen Kevin ** 28:35 Yes, yes, that much I've experienced it. That's very true. Very, very true.   Michael Hingson ** 28:46 So tell me a little bit more about the whole idea of inclusive secondary school project in northern Uganda, and what that is, and how you're involved with that.   Acen Kevin ** 29:02 Oh, yes, the inclusive secondary school in my in the there, there used to be no secondary school which is inclusive. There was no inclusive secondary school in the region, in the whole of Lao sub region in northern Uganda, where our office is created, there were no inclusive secondary school. There were only two inclusive primary school, and in those schools, children were dropping out of school every year, because when you complete your primary then you have nowhere to go. Reason being, the few inclusive schools that we have in Uganda, whole school for the blind, the inclusive school that provide the school that provide inclusive education to the blind, they are far, very, very far from us. And. You don't expect a parents who who is traveling and does not even have a smartphone to coordinate, to even get just admission to go to such school, live a long transport to go to a school which is verified another district in another sub region. Maybe take a child Kampala so shall parents would just giving give it up. And you find that every year these children are dropping out of school, ah, they start going back in the village. And we couldn't imagine it, because for me it's terrible if I imagine somebody who is lying and has no support, no love, no education, no skills to earn a living, I think life can really be very tough for them. So in last year, 2023, eating a charity, Education Foundation and a Mara Uganda education plan took action. We had to say, No, the charity, our charity, is very, very small, but for the love we have for the children, for the heart we have for charity who are like, what can we do? Should we get already exhibit school and we provide them with Braille equipment to support the student? What can we do? Will we manage to build but we started it with faith last year, and so far, we have finished page one of the construction project, which are eight classroom, eight classrooms, administrative offices and the reception. So right now, as I talk, I'm so happy to announce that the school pioneers already with senior one class, and the construction is still going on, but already senior one class is already starting. So next year we shall be having senior this one in senior two, while we had with senior one, then it will continue in senior four, the pioneers will be the first to see the final unit exams. So the school is called Saint Mary's Goretti Secondary School meta. It provide inclusive education to the blind, to those students with low vision. We have a student with celebral palsy. We having students who are learning we are having so it is providing inclusive education to both able and student with disability. And it is amazing. I don't know if you have seen my recent post on LinkedIn, we made a video clip showing how the students are studying together the inclusive classroom. It's amazing. They are studying together in one classroom, and everything is moving fine because they have special needs teachers around, and even those who are not specially teachers, they are learning now to to handle the students. So I'm really so so happy about this school and the initiative already the school, the school is providing not only education, even jobs, teachers who had completed school, they especially teachers, they were able to get jobs in the school The community around now that the construction is also ongoing, and we believe that this is a legacy. We believe that this school will continue for for many years, will be there for many years, to provide inclusive education to the children. I'm happy that the community has embraced it. The community is so happy about the school, Saint Mary's Gore to second with school. I'm being invited in local FM radio stations in northern Uganda many times to talk about the school, so that those those parents who have children with the disability who are not yet aware that already there's an inclusive second school they can to create awareness about the school. I'm happy that even those one who are working with government, they're already advocating they will be having some. Port. And just last town, Uganda Bible Society, they donated to the school the Braille the Braille Bible. We having other po that are donating to us, like the Braille machines. So school has started, and we are really so, so happy about that, and I would like to thank also our partner, Uganda education plan for allowing to support though we call upon everyone who would like to support us so that we can finish we complete the facilities of the school support may not only did the construction, but also equipment. We need those assistive devices. First of all, we have a few brails, and next year, we are expecting other lots of students. So it's impressive, and I'm so joyous every time I just two days ago, a parent who has a child with cerebral palsy, was giving me, telling me how she really struggled to look for schools. She even wanted to leave her job so that she can at least create something, a room to train the so that they see how to train those one their children with disability, because she looked for school, inclusive school, everywhere, she was even trying to call Education Board to ask, Where can I find the inclusive school? So in Uganda, the challenge we are having the secondary school which are inclusive are very, very few. It is more of primary when the child is still young. Yes, you can manage with your child with cerebral palsy, you can manage, but when the child now reach all ordinary level and advanced level, it is hard to find such a school. So this school is really a dream come true for me, for my community. Yes, have   Michael Hingson ** 37:10 any of the students, the older students in the school, gone on to get jobs? Sorry, have you had any any of the students who have been in in the inclusion environment or who have attended classes, have they graduated and gone on and gotten jobs yet? Or have you had that level of success?   Acen Kevin ** 37:35 Okay, yes, yes, I've had the level of success before. That is one of the motivation for like, for example, this where we have constructed this inclusive school, Saint Mary's, goreti. It's actually at next to the primaries to today, inclusive primary school, all net adults that has been providing inclusive education to to the blind for many years. So many students, many people who studied from net adults and go to opportunity, especially those one who are being sponsored by NGO or hard parents that could afford to take them far to study in an inclusive school, maybe in like in Kampala in iganga, they made it. They made it. And one of the all beings of that school, the old boy of Netta girls primary school made it. He studied law, yeah, he studied law from bucharebe, and he's, he's completely blind, but he was appointed as a grade one chief magistrate, so it's the court judge. Wow, very good. And he has never lost the case. In fact, when he was appointed, even up to now, he has inspired so many people, so many journalists interviewed him, and he can do, he is doing his work, which is really a great inspiration to all the those one who are applying and to all of us who are supporting disability inclusions and inclusive education. Uh huh. So we have. I've seen so many. I've seen those one who managed to become teachers. I've seen the those ones who are social workers, very many, and I'm the another example. If you Michael, I've seen your biography. Yes. So thank you. You all inspire us. Well   Michael Hingson ** 39:55 have so you talked about the the young man who became. A magistrate. How about girls? Have any girls gone on to get jobs yet?   Acen Kevin ** 40:06 Correct? Any   Michael Hingson ** 40:07 girls or women gone on to get jobs after going to the schools? Yes,   Acen Kevin ** 40:13 yes. I've seen many girls who become like they are doing managerial questions with NGOs, they are working. That's why I'm saying others are social workers. I've seen others who are teachers, and they are completely they're completely blind, and those one who are advocating, they're working with the organization for for disability to advocate for the rest get education,   Michael Hingson ** 40:46 but you do work with children other than children who are blind. It's not just blind children you work with. Yes, uh huh. Okay. Well, tell me, what has all of this taught you? I mean, this was a major I call it an adventure, but it was a major step to start this foundation and to do the work that you're doing. What have you learned from it?   Acen Kevin ** 41:12 What I've learned from it? Think I've learned that. I've learnt that everybody, like every child, can really do something like what I've learnt is I've seen, if I've seen how education can empower somebody to become great, because I've seen the children becoming sure having talent like recently, we have been we are performing in Paralympic blind football. So you can see the talent that children with disability have. Some of them are debaters or the two poems I've seen them watch. I've seen them play keyboard, play keyboard, become musicians. So it's really inspiring. I've learned a lot. I've learned that what I've learned working with children with disability, doing the work that we are doing with the charity. So I've learned that if we together, if we empowered and embraced accessibility, disability inclusions and inclusive education, we will create equitable society. And I've also learned that children or people with disability can do anything as long as they are empowered. So we would like to empower them to reach their full potential,   Michael Hingson ** 43:13 certainly a pretty important lesson to learn, and I'm glad you have and that you're able to pass that on to to other people? What would you give? What kind of advice would you give to young people who are looking to starting to think about making a difference in their own community? What kind of advice would you want to give them, and when they don't know where to start and so on.   Acen Kevin ** 43:45 Yes, I would advise them to first collaborate with like minded people, like minded people, and then they should also know charity, it really has a lot to do with the heart. So they should try to discover, is it really what they want? Because if you have a mind for business, and then you come with the charity, it may not work well for you. So do you have the heart to give back to the community, so I would advise that they should volunteer with maybe other angel PRI and learnt what happens with the charitable organization. How then if they can also do charity work? So there you keep learning. I, for one, I did not just wake up and start a with eating a charity. I also volunteer with the organization, and in my heart, I really wanted to. I. Really wanted to give back to the community. I wanted to at least sponsor one or two children, and I was praying that God, if you can give me a good job with good salary so that I can do that. But it so happened that I got the favor and the way out to operate, to to have the charity funded, which now it's now making me to more than I could imagine. I wouldn't have been able to sponsor many children that we are we are sponsoring now through the charity without just alone as an individual. So it really has got something to do with the heart. What is your heart? You have the you really, is it what you want to do? Because if you have a business mind, don't try it. So yes, those are the advice I can give to those who want to start the charity. It   Michael Hingson ** 45:59 is good to explore, which is something that you did. You volunteered. You, you thought about it before you really jumped in and started your own foundation. But you also clearly do work in business, because you have an accounting and finance degree. So do you actually have a full time accounting and finance job as well as doing the foundation,   Acen Kevin ** 46:24 no, both are part time accounting and finance doing part time. Then also in the organization, it is I get time to so that I can get time to work, and also my skills in accounting and finance. It has helped me to to run the charity, because we are able to comply to have the annual audited report done, to not have issues with taxations because of the skills. Uh, huh,   Michael Hingson ** 47:00 yes. Well, you, you have, you have been traveling on a pretty interesting and exciting journey. Can you maybe give me some stories, a personal story for you about what you've done and and about this journey that you're on and and how it's changed your life.   Acen Kevin ** 47:21 So my my personal journey, and how my, the life has changed. Um, it's about education, really. I think my mind is stuck to education, because, as I said, as I said it earlier on, I struggle so much through education, having being sponsored by many people because I was coming to my father died when I was young, And I could not manage really go through with education. I have personally dropped out of school at one time, so I understand how it feels for somebody to drop out of school. I've been out of school, so that's really my personal journey, and right now, having achieved what I wanted to achieve, like to have my degree, it's really great. It has changed my life, and I want every, every one that we support, that are struggling, the children, to also experience this life change. And I'm happy for those who already experiencing the life change.   Michael Hingson ** 48:55 Yes, which is great. What are your plans going forward? What do you see is coming next?   Acen Kevin ** 49:04 My plan going forward, I would really want to continue advocating on disability inclusions for accessibility, to make sure that everyone is treated equal, irrespective or regardless of your abilities. So I I see myself, or I see eating a child education foundation, together with the marriage Uganda Education Fund and other partners that will come on board. We see ourselves pushing higher and higher i i come from a community where very many people are illiterate. They want to see that many people have education. They are, they are. Able to, you know, to earn a living by themselves, to support others. So yes, and we also hope to complete the construction of Saint Mary's Goretti, so that we have also this, the inclusive school going that can help the children from all level to a level, senior one to senior six. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 50:31 let me ask you this, if I might um, what? What would you like? What would you like the people who are listening to our podcast today. What would you like them to learn? And what kind of message do you want them to take away from this?   Acen Kevin ** 50:48 Yes, to those who are watching us, to those who are listening to the podcast right now. I I would like them to to know that every child, irregardless of their ability, they have the potential to learn. When they are empowered, they can learn so I call upon all of them. I call upon everybody who is listening to to us right now that they should contact eating a church Education Foundation, or a marriage a Mara Uganda education plan. How there's our website on the bio below, you can support us by through donation, we call upon other organization to partner with us, because together, we can achieve together we can create a critical society. Together we can support disability inclusions. Let's support disability inclusion. Let's support the children. So yes, that is what I would like them to do to help us and the child. We also have a child program.   Michael Hingson ** 52:15 Well, if people want to reach out, how do they do that? When   Acen Kevin ** 52:20 people want to reach out to us, they can reach out on our website, www.icef-itinga.org It is down in in our bio. Then you can also reach out to us through LinkedIn. You can find us on Facebook. You can find us on Tiktok. You just have to type on Instagram. Also you just type eating charity, Education Foundation. Then you can reach out to us. You will be able to find our office address there. You will be able to find our telephone contacts, yes, feel free to visit us. Feel free to support. I call upon your support for our charity mission together, let us support disability inclusions so   Michael Hingson ** 53:15 people can email you. I know it's in your biography they can reach you. At, Kevin, k, e, v, I N, at, I C, E, F, dash, I T, I N, G, A, dot, O, R, G, and so I hope people will reach out to you, and   Acen Kevin ** 53:37 I look forward to that right   Michael Hingson ** 53:39 now. I hope that they will support and I hope that they will also take the message back to their communities, because clearly you are setting a very positive example that people should follow. And I and I'm glad that we did have the opportunity to finally get together and do this today. Um, it's been a while in coming. You're 10 hours ahead of us, so that makes it kind of fun to be able to schedule a time. But we did make it work, didn't we?   Acen Kevin ** 54:10 Yes, yes, we did. Thank you so much for the opportunity, for giving me this great opportunity to speak to the whole world about what we are doing at English and Education Foundation to tell them that, yes, we are supporting children who are blind, the dose with low vision, yes, and we are having the construction of an inclusive school going on. Lira,   Michael Hingson ** 54:39 well, I appreciate you saying that and that you took the time to come on and and be with us today, and I want to thank all of you for listening and watching us on YouTube or wherever you're seeing our podcast or hearing our podcast, mostly hearing, I'd love to hear from you if you have ideas for guests and attend you as well, if you know anyone. Else who ought to be a guest on unstoppable mindset. Please let us know I am easily reachable at Michael M, I C, H, A, E, L, H i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I, B, e.com, you can also go to our podcast page, which is w, w, w, dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, and Michael Hinkson is m, I C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, S O n.com/podcast, so we appreciate your listening and whoever you are, wherever you may be, please give us a five star rating on the podcast. What we do here is try to show people who are unstoppable and and we want everyone to realize that they can be more unstoppable than they think they can. And I think that Acen, Kevin is definitely showing that, and I hope that you'll all take that very much to heart. So give us a five star rating. We appreciate it. And again Acen, one last time, I'd like to thank you for being here with us and taking your time this afternoon.   Acen Kevin ** 56:03 You're welcome. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure. It's been a pleasure being the podcast.   **Michael Hingson ** 56:13   You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Welcome to Episode 174 of the Different Animals Podcast and this week we talk about a health scare, Juror #2, A Better Man, Pokemon TCG, Mufasa, Baby Girl, Sing Sing, The Franchise, Wicked, some rewatches, Yakuza 2, Astro Bot, Atlus Games, a brief overview of 2024, and we finish with a big announcement. This podcast is available on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts and wherever else you catch your podcasts. You can catch us on IG and Twitter @DifAnimalsPod or email us directly at DifferentAnimalsPodcast@gmail.com with any feedback or suggestions. S/O to @Creative.Collin on IG for the dope Artwork. S/O to @EdERuger and @PhilliePhr3sh for the dope theme. Enjoy, and we'll see you in a week. PEACE! This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Timestamps:  Yappin' about ‘gaslighting, giggling and intros' (0:08) S/O to Cozy Earth we ♥️ u (0:33) Rhode Beauty is for us! (1:32) Quince cashmere is here & the jeans slay (3:18) This sh8t is Bananas -recipe on IG (5:22) Our ‘alleged' Billy Ray Cryus takes (7:10) Bill Gate's BIGGEST regrt (12:40) Mariah Carey dating Anderson .Paak? (15:15) Sundance Film Festival ft JLo & a housewive (17:28) Media literacy x scammer txts (19:40) Crowd vs bull fight (20:28) A$AP Rocky trail plea update (21:52) Taylor Swift's gift to the Mahones (24:00) Taylor Swift support Tbaby at AFC Championship (25:00) Southern Hospitality we were wrong (28:14) Maddie Reese we r rootin' for u (29:38) Did Emmy take the money from the dresses? (31:14) Southern Hospitality's rooted in Southern Charm (34:07) A brief RHONY thought (34:40) RHOSLC reunion ep 1 recap (35:07) Peacocks Traitors (37:49) Dog in hat (41:32) Sabrina Carpenter on Hannah Montana (42:43) THANK U FOR FOLLOWING/RATING & REVIEWING!! Make sure to follow us on Instagram & Tik Tok KB's personal IG: Cunningham_gram  & don't forget to follow our youtube channel   ______________________________________________________

Dam Internet, You Scary! hosts Patrick Cloud and Tahir Moore break down the disturbing but interesting stories on the internet! Guests: Quin Walters https://www.instagram.com/quinwalters Mark JP Hood https:/www.instagram.com/markjphood  S/O to our Sponsors Prize Picks Download the app today and use code DIYS to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup! Blue Chew https://www.bluechew.com Promo DIYS  Join our Patreon now!!   https://www.patreon.com/daminternetyouscary

Akeem Shannon approached me a few months ago about being a guest on Unstoppable Mindset. His email subject line included mentioning his road to being a contestant on Shark Tank. I had a feeling that he had an interesting story to tell and I was right. Akeem grew up in St. Louis where he attended a Catholic high school on scholarship. Well, actually he lost the scholarship, but with the help of his mother he got it back.   Akeem's problem was that he didn't really learn from his first scholarship Debacle. After high school he enrolled at Howard University, yes on scholarship. After two semesters he again lost a scholarship due to his own lack of enthusiasm. This time he was too embarrassed to tell his parents until, that is, he couldn't hide the scholarship loss anymore.   Akeem was always good at sales and so he went to work selling and, I might add, successfully. However, what he wasn't recognizing was that he was experiencing severe depression. Eventually this caught up with him and with the help of a therapist he began to move to a better life place. You will hear his story told in a very personal and articulate way.   Skipping ahead, Akeem invented a cell phone accessory called the Flipstik.  As he tried to grow his company and secure a place for his product he eventually got the opportunity to pitch on Shark Tank. I will leave it to him to tell the story.   I can hardly wait to see what next adventure Akeem will undertake. Clearly he speaks well and plans to tell his story to the world. We get to be among the first to experience his style, persevering manner and his unstoppable mindset.       About the Guest:   Akeem Shannon's journey is a testament to resilience and unwavering determination. Raised in St. Louis by artistic and entrepreneurial parents, Akeem initially faced academic challenges during his Chemical Engineering studies at Howard University, losing his scholarship due to poor performance. However, he rebounded by excelling in sales at Fortune 500 companies and a FinTech firm, saving over $90,000 in five years. Despite success, Akeem felt unfulfilled and sought a greater purpose. Inspired by "The Alchemist," he stumbled upon a transformative idea after learning about NASA's gecko-inspired adhesive from his uncle—an idea that birthed Flipstik, a groundbreaking phone accessory. His entrepreneurial journey saw him navigate Kickstarter, a missed chance at Shark Tank, and a serendipitous encounter with Sean Diddy Combs, ultimately landing him a spot on the show in 2020. Despite initial setbacks, Akeem's resilience paid off with Flipstik's exponential growth, achieving a 1000% surge in 2022, securing nationwide distribution in major retailers like Target, BestBuy, AT&T, and more. Beyond business success, Akeem remains dedicated to fostering inclusivity in entrepreneurship, mentoring through various organizations and partnering with The Brookings Institute to address venture capital disparities. His inspiring story is showcased at the Smithsonian Museum and recognized by INC Magazine. Akeem Shannon epitomizes the spirit of perseverance, innovation, and a commitment to empowering others.   Ways to connect with Akeem:   On Tiktok, Youtube, Instagram: @akeemshannon and @getflipstik   Listeners can reach Akeem by texting the word CONNECT to 314-789-9005 Akeem Shannon Founder, CEO | Flipstik Inc. Book a Meeting     About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:20 well and a gracious Hello to everyone. Wherever you happen to be, I am your host, Mike Hinkson, and you are listening and watching unstoppable mindset, the podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet, and we love the unexpected. That's what we get to talk about more than anything else. As I love to say, unexpected is anything that doesn't directly deal with inclusion or diversity, and that's what we do. So here we are, and I get to talk today with a man who I've learned to admire a lot. He is an entrepreneur by any standard. He doesn't let things knock him down and slow him down. His name is Akeem Shannon, and Akeem is a person who's developed a very interesting product that we're going to talk about a little bit. But more than talking about the product, we're going to talk about how he got to the product, what he does with it, where he's going in the future, and any other unexpected things that come along that that I'm not thinking of. So Akeem Welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're here.   Akeem Shannon ** 02:33 Hey, Michael, thanks for having me on. I'm excited to be here. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 02:38 cool. Well, why don't we start, if we can by you telling us a little bit about kind of the early Akeem growing up and all that sort of stuff.   Akeem Shannon ** 02:49 Yeah, so, you know, I grew up the middle of the country, Saint Louis, Missouri, you know, grew up in a Christian home, you know, typical midwesterner type of vibe. And, you know, I remember I went off to college, excuse me, went off to high school, and I went off to a Catholic school because our local public school was terrible, and I got a scholarship, and I get a scholarship to go to high school, and I lose the scholarship. This is like sophomore year, and my parents could not afford to send me to this Catholic school without the scholarship. And so I had to beg and plead with the admissions director Miss Givens to convince her to kind of, you know, move some numbers around in the computer so that I wouldn't lose my scholarship. And she was like, Akeem, if I do this, you better get your grades up and and that I did, and so I went on to earn a full scholarship to go to Howard University in Washington, DC, to study chemical engineering. So did you lose the   Michael Hingson ** 03:49 scholarship in high school because of grades?   Akeem Shannon ** 03:52 Oh, yeah, my grades   Michael Hingson ** 03:55 were my homework. You weren't sick into it?   Akeem Shannon ** 03:58 No, not at all. And, you know, there was really no reason for I just, I just didn't want to do the work. Didn't turn assignments in, you know? And so my dad told me when I went off to college, he's like, don't pull the same crap you pulled in high school, or you're gonna be right here at home. And I was like, that's never gonna happen, you know, I'm gonna it'll be fine. And so I go off to college. Now I gotta, you know, I picked my grades up. I was, you know, I got a scholar full scholarship for college, chemical engineering, Howard University. But here's the thing, I hated chemistry. The only reason I was in chemical engineering is because I read an article that said, oh, you know, chemical engineering is going to be the highest paid career of the next decade. So it's like, Okay, I'll do that. Get to college. Don't like chemistry, not going to class, not turning assignments, and two semesters in academic probation.   Michael Hingson ** 04:57 Oh, boy, no. What year was? What year was?   Akeem Shannon ** 05:01 Us this, oh man, this is 2011 Okay, great. Okay, so it's 2000   Michael Hingson ** 05:08 academic probation.   Akeem Shannon ** 05:11 Oh man, and I did everything I could to hide the fact that I was on academic probation for my parents, because I had convinced myself I was dulu, convinced myself that I was going to be able to somehow figure it out and talk my way in to keep my scholarship, just like I had done in high school. So I went back up to the school my third semester, even though I knew I was on probation. They're like, No Hakeem, you're not just on probation. You've lost your scholarship, you're done. You got no money here. You got to pay full price if you want to stay. And man, and my parents didn't know a thing because I hid my school grades from them. I made sure my teachers couldn't email them. I was sneaky, and I didn't I just couldn't face the failure. You know, I couldn't face that I had lost this scholarship. And so I go back up to the school, and I literally squatted in the dorm for a whole semester. I wasn't even supposed to be in the dorm. Hadn't paid. No one at the school knew that I had lost my scholarship, and then I was not going to class, and I literally just sat in the room, and I didn't know at the time, but I was facing severe depression and severe anxiety, staying up all night, sleeping all day. It was a very difficult time. And eventually, you know, the semester's coming to the end, I gotta tell my parents, the school's like, you're not we're not letting you in this dorm room next semester, just so you know. And I had to call him as right before Christmas, called my parents and was like, I can't come back next semester. I haven't been to class all semester. Hardest phone call ever had to make.   Michael Hingson ** 06:50 So So is it safe to say you didn't learn from your first mistake and you repeated it? Or what do you think now?   Akeem Shannon ** 07:01 Well, you know, yeah, you're absolutely right. And you know what it was, I got away with very little pain. You know, the first time around, I lost it, but I just, I went to the missions director, and she just fixed it for me, so I didn't face any consequences, other than my parents were upset for a week, but since I got my scholarship, you know, they didn't have too much to be upset about. So, yeah, I mean, I didn't learn my lesson the first time, so I had to learn it again, and the second time, it was a much harder lesson. So   Michael Hingson ** 07:35 what did your parents say when you told them around Christmas, ooh, well,   Akeem Shannon ** 07:39 on the phone, they were nice because I think they were afraid that I was suicidal or something, because they were real nice on the phone, but when I got back home, oh, they let me have it. They were pissed, but they were mostly disappointed because I didn't even ask for help. I didn't call to ask them to make a phone call. They were like, we could have tried to talk to admissions. We could have tried to get you other scholarship. We could have, we knew some people that worked at the university. They're like, we could have done so many things, and you didn't ask anyone for help, and you just, you just were on your own. And you know, growing up an only child, I didn't I never wanted to disappoint my parents, and so I felt like a total disappointment and failure, and so I hid that failure, and I had to learn through that experience that that was not, that was not the right move to make.   Michael Hingson ** 08:31 Yeah, and it's, it's tough. I mean, pride is something that we all have. But you, you also said that you didn't realize that you were in a Great Depression, right?   Akeem Shannon ** 08:46 Yes, like, you know, I didn't necessarily have the words for it at the time. Yeah, you know, it's 2011 it wasn't quite as trendy as it is now to, like, focus on mental health. So I didn't know what was wrong with me. I just knew that I was, you know, not in it. And I just remember like I was in a it was like I was in a daze, because I felt so bad every single day, um, but I didn't tell anybody, and I didn't want anyone to know. So when I walked out the door my dorm room, I put on a big smile, act like nothing was wrong, like I've been in class, I didn't say anything to anyone. And so I think the fact that I bottled it up and didn't let anyone in it made it, you know, 100 times worse than if I had to ask for some help. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 09:36 so you came home in Christmas 2011 and Santa probably put coal in your stocking or something like that.   09:46 I didn't get nothing. You didn't. He didn't even   Michael Hingson ** 09:48 give you coal, huh? Oh my gosh, Boy, you really were I   Akeem Shannon ** 09:52 got told to, oh, get a job.   Michael Hingson ** 09:56 You were on the naughty list all the way around.   Akeem Shannon ** 09:59 I. Was on big naughty list. So what did you do? So, you know, I came home, my parents are like, Look, you need to get back in school and you need to get a job. And so I enrolled in community college, and I got a job, and I started working in a retail store, retail cell phone shop, Sprint, which is now T Mobile. And so I start, I always loved phones, right? I was a big tech nerd, and so now I was working a shop. I was gonna get a brand new, nice, high end phone for the first time in my life. So I was like, Okay, it's not so bad. And I started doing sales, and I was really good at it. And I had always been the kid that, you know, sold all the stuff to win the competition at school, like so I knew I had that talent, but being in the workplace and really being able to exercise that capability, you know, it was the first for me. And so I start doing really well. I get promoted, becoming what they call the key holder, which is like a manager, and things are going pretty well, but I'm still living at home. You know, I'm probably making a little bit of money, but I had made myself this promise when I got home, I said, by the time my friends graduate high school, I want to be making as much as the average college graduate. And I think at the time, was about 4035, $40,000 and I wasn't quite there yet. It was like, at $38,000 so I'm like, I got some ways to go. And then comes an opportunity from a former manager of mine who said, Hey, I'm at Verizon in a call center, and I'm a manager. We're paying these people crazy money, and if you come here, you'll make two, maybe three times what you're making now, say, what? So I quit my job against my parents advice, because they're like you, you've already failed. You can't quit a job that you you getting promoted at. You can't do that. I said, No, I gotta go. And so I go work in for Verizon, the call centers on the best decisions I ever made, because I instantly doubled the amount of money I was making, and all of a sudden I'm making big, big commission checks. And not only am I making the big commission checks, but it turns out they had this big contest that they were going to have called Verizon rock star. And this contest was a pitch competition to pitch Verizon's family and services. Who could pitch it the best. And so I entered the competition, and I win in my in my small group, I win at the conference level, the regional level, and I get to the finals, and they fly all the finalists down to Miami, Florida, to the Fountain Blue hotel, the most fabulous hotels in all of Miami Beach. And they have all this signage everywhere. It says rock star. Verizon logos are everywhere, and they have this brilliant concept where they would have all the Verizon employees who were there to watch all these executives, they would have to get autographs from the people competing in the competition. So people are running up to me in the hotel, asking me for my autograph. There's signs that say Verizon, rock star. So all the guests at the hotel, think of a celebrity, and I would go on to win this entire competition. And when I tell you, Michael, it was like I finally felt I've recovered. This was about three years after leaving school, and for the first time, I felt comfortable enough to call up my high school friends and tell them, hey, you know, I'm not in school anymore. I had to drop out. I lost my scholarship. But look at me now. Look what I've accomplished, and it would it really showed, showed me that you know is when you fail, as long as you don't give up, you have the opportunity to level up, and I felt like I had actually leveled up. It was feeling really confident and on a high at that point in my life.   Michael Hingson ** 13:47 So where was your depression in all this by the time that three years in the contest was over?   Akeem Shannon ** 13:56 So, you know, at the time, I thought it had disappeared, right? I wasn't feeling anything. I was feeling great. I felt like I recovered. I'm like, Oh, I'm doing great. It's all good now. But it wasn't true. See this, this was in summertime. I want to say 2014 I was in summertime. Then comes Thanksgiving. Mom was out of town. Had Thanksgiving with my dad, and then I was house sitting for my own about an hour and a half away from where I live, and so I'm in the house all alone, not in my own home, Thanksgiving night, and I'm watching a movie, and Liam Neeson comes on, and he's like, you know, when you die, It's not your life that flashes before your eyes, but it's remembering all the regrets that you have, and this overwhelming sense of anxiety just cuts into my gut, and I have this massive panic attack, and I get really tight. My stomach starts to get shredded, and I'm. Starting to freak out, because I haven't felt this way ever. It was the worst, most excruciating stomach pain I ever felt, and I didn't know exactly what's happened. I didn't even call it anxiety when it first started, but it went on for one hour, two hours, three hours, and eventually I'm like, I think maybe I'm having anxiety. And so eventually, you know, I'm trying to go to sleep, and I just as I was having trouble falling asleep, I told myself, I used to have zero sympathy for people who committed suicide. I used to think, How could someone commit suicide? How could they do that to their family? But in this moment, it feeling, this feeling, I was like, You know what? I've only this has been going on for three hours. If this was going on for three years, 30 years, I may kill myself too, because this is, this is hard. So I wake up the next morning and I'm like, I'm fine. I'm like, wow, that was weird. You know, won't be watching anymore Liam Neeson movies and tell you that much. And I think I'm okay in about 30 seconds after I wake up, boom, it hits me again, massive anxiety, and it goes on the next day and the next day, every single day, gut wrenching pain in my stomach all day long. This goes on for a week. Eventually I can't sleep anymore. I remember I probably stayed up four or five days straight, no sleep, not one hour, not 30 minutes, 10 nothing. And I was just I was I was terrified, because I had never even, even when I lost my scholarship, I had never experienced something like this. And I didn't know what it was. I was financially stable. I was feeling good about my life. I didn't know what was wrong. I knew I was just in the night, and I go to work, and my boss, who, who was a a friend of mine, but at this point, was like, King, you know, you're not hitting your numbers. You're the rock star. Like, what's going on? You're you're off. And I said, Dude, I just have not been feeling good. I've been sleeping. He's like, You need to go see my therapist. And he had just went through a mental episode of his own, and I had never seen a therapist. And you know, if you grow up in a black family in America, most black families like you don't need a therapist. You go to church. If they don't say, go to church, listen this man up. You know you'll be fine. You don't need a therapist. And so, you know, I had, I was just like, I don't know, Curtis, you know, he's like, No, you need to go see a therapist. So he gives me a number, call her up a go see her. And I talked to him like, oh, you know, I just think I'm stressed at work. I just need some time off and I'll be fine. You know, if you write me a note, I'll register for family medical leave, and I'll be fine, just work stress. And at the very end, I'm like, and by the way, you know I'm I think I'm gay and but no one knows, but it's not really a big deal. That's not why I'm here. It's really the work is the problem. And she's like, okay, so I leave anxiety every single day. Curtis again, is like a king. You need to go back to the therapist. You are not okay. And so I go back and I see her again. Curtis, my boss, had written me a note saying, No, you gotta go. You're not. You can't your head's not in the game. And so I go see the therapist again, and she's like, so do you want to talk for real this time?   Michael Hingson ** 18:20 Nothing like somebody who talks directly to you and doesn't doesn't, uh, mince words.   Akeem Shannon ** 18:26 Oh, not at all. And she was a, she was a older Christian woman, and that scared me, because I'm, you know, I grew up, grandfather was a Christian minister. Grew up in a Christian family. I'm like, if I tell this woman I'm gay, she's probably going to say, I can't even be in I can't even come see her anymore. And so I talked to her again, and she's like, she's like, you know, there was something you talked about at the end of our last session, and you blew over it like it didn't even matter. And so I talked to her, and really just poured my heart. I was like, Yeah, I've been dealing with this my entire life. Up, you know, I figured I'm already black in America. I don't want to be gay too. I don't need a secondary burden. And she's like, You got to be who you are, and your brain and your body is telling you that if you don't, it's shutting you down as you can, as you've clearly witnessed. And so you know, having her be so accepting of me and telling me that it's okay to be just who I am, and I always had this big fear that if I came out to people, that people wouldn't like me. And I'm a salesperson, right? I'm a top salesperson, so I need people to like me. And, you know, I always just had this big fear that people would treat me differently, and the fact that she treated me the same and treated me kindly and with compassion, it gave me hope that, you know, maybe I've been wrong about this. And so I decided that day I'm going to come up to my parents. That's the first step. It's been 22 years. I can't wait any longer, and so I had to go in order to, in order to get when you're in a union shop, and in order to, in order to get full pay when you're on. Medical leave you have to get, if to go to a hospital, you gotta get a doctor's certified note that's just a therapist if it's a mental health issue. So I go to the the mental hospital, they check me in and and I tell them, hey, look, I think this is my problem. Then come out to my parents today. By the way, it's my dad's birthday. Probably going to be a show, but it's been too long, and I gotta get it off my chest. And I remember the nurse, and she's writing me all these prescriptions, one for the anxiety, one for the depression, one to remove stabilizers. She's like, I don't know if it's a good idea for you to tell your dad that today, on his birthday, can't you just wait until tomorrow? And I said, No, I cannot. Don't put off tomorrow what you can do today. And so I went home terrified my father's birthday, we're having cake and ice cream. And I remember, right before I worked up the courage to say something, my dad was watching James Corden on TV and and he's like, you know, I think James Gordon is really funny. I like carpool karaoke. He's like, but I don't understand something. Why does he act so gay? He's married. And I'm like, Oh God, this is gonna be a disaster. My parents are gonna disown me. This is gonna be terrible. But eventually I muster up the courage. I said, Guys, you remember I when I called you from from college and had a very difficult conversation, and they're like, yeah, it was like, this is going to be another one of those conversations. And so I tell them, and my mom was crying, my dad's got the look of disappointment on his face, and even though I could tell like it was going to be a long road, and it was a long road. The first thing my dad said was, I always told your mother you were probably gay, and Lily's like, I just don't understand why you decided to go tell a therapist before you told us.   Michael Hingson ** 21:59 There you go. And   Akeem Shannon ** 22:00 and, you know, for someone from his generation, that was about as accepting of a moment as I could have wished for. And over the course of the next few years, we built a much stronger relationship and become closer than ever. And it was just another one of those things where here I was hadn't learned this lesson of don't go it alone. Don't bottle up your emotions. It doesn't work that way. Your body will shut you down when you put all of that stress, that emotional stress, on your body and you you block your creativity and your capability, your body just gives up your brain, your heart says enough is enough, and so once again, I was surprised by the the the accepting this, and not just my parents, but when I told my friends, when I told acquaintances, when I told people in the workplace, it just lifted a burden, and it opened up my mind to be able To focus on other things, because I had spent so many years using half of my energy to pretend to be someone I wasn't, so that I so that people wouldn't know the truth. Did   Michael Hingson ** 23:10 you know you were gay? Or did it take you a long time to really figure that out?   Akeem Shannon ** 23:15 Oh no, I knew. I knew from when I was like eighth grade, but I buried it deep. I said, No, I'm not going to do that. I because I grew up knowing, thinking that you know you're going to hell if you're gay, yeah, point blank, period, it's the most evil thing you can be. And ultimately, that upbringing, combined with that breakthrough would lead me to the spiritual awakening that I needed to ultimately break through from, from, from all of those drugs and move stabilizers and stuff that they had prescribed me.   Michael Hingson ** 23:49 So now at this time, you were still working at Verizon,   23:53 correct, uh huh.   Michael Hingson ** 23:56 All right. And so what year was this? Now, when all this happened? So I   Akeem Shannon ** 24:01 want to say this is 20. We're now moving into 2015 Okay, that's next year, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 24:07 okay, so I kind of wanted to go through all of this, because I know where we're headed with it, but I think this is very important for people to hear what what did you then do?   Akeem Shannon ** 24:20 So, you know, here I was, I had come back to work, but I'm on these, all these different pills, and I'm feeling better, but I'm also feeling kind of numb. It's not I'm not having anxiety and depression, but I'm not having excitement and elation either, right? It's just very even toned, and I didn't quite pick up on it right away, but I remember one time I forgot to take my medicine, particularly one of the mood stabilizers, before I went to work, and I started having massive anxiety at work, and I do it back home, and then I took it, and that's when I first started to realize. Just like, Oh my gosh. I think my body is become dependent on these drugs, on the drugs, yeah, in order to stabilize my mood and then not have these feelings. Because here I am addressing a lot of concerns, but I'm still not in a good place. And so, you know, fast forward a couple months, and it's the end of the fiscal year, and they have a big award ceremony for the people who are, like, the top 1% of the company. And I was one of them. And, you know, typically we get to go on a big trip and very lavish, but since our division was going to be sold off to another company, we've stayed. We just got a check. And so they come around with a big check. I want to say it was like $15,000 it's a huge check. And they come to my desk, got the confetti cannon. People are cheering. They give me the check done. And this girl was sitting beside me, Brittany. And now Brittany was always a problem. Okay? She was always tattletale, you know, always causing me issues. And Brittany looks at me with an attitude, and she goes, hmm, you don't look like somebody that just got $15,000 you not even smiling. And at first I was like, Brittany, don't talk to me. But then I was like, Oh, wait, I think Brittany is right. Something's still wrong. How is it that this has happened to me four years ago, I was broke, and now I'm getting a $15,000 check and I'm not even smiling. Something's wrong. And that night, I was like, I gotta stop taking these drugs, and I'm not having you know, listen, people who are prescribed medicine by the doctor, I'm not saying they shouldn't take it, but I knew that for me, I was running away from these emotions that I needed to have, and I was slowly overcoming a lot of the things that were causing the emotions. But as long as I was taking the drugs, I couldn't have any additional breakthroughs of what it was that was, was, was was causing me this discomfort inside. I had basically turned down my alarm system that was really awakening to the fact that something was wrong. And so I quit cold turkey, which I do not advise. And when I tell you that so much anxiety and depression flood in. Oh, my gosh. It was horrible. And I was like, Oh, this is, this is what happens when people stop taking drugs. It's hard. And man, that night was just one of the it was this one of the scariest nights of my life. But it ended up also being the most profound, because that night I was in so much agony, I was like, I need something. I'm not gonna take these drugs, but I need something. So I called my buddy up. I said, Yo, bro, let me get a joint. I need some weed or something. Like, I'm freaking out over here. And I was like, the worst thing I could do, because then the weed cause you to have even more anxiety. And so I'm sitting there that night and I'm just freaking out, and I'm just having this crisis, like, what am I doing with my life? What's happening? You know, our division is getting ready to shut down, and I end up having this profound spiritual experience where my uncle would give me a book about angels. I hadn't read the book, but I read the back cover, and it talked about how angels weren't these floating people in the sky with wings, but instead, they were signs from God, from the universe, and they could be as simple as a song on the radio. Are your lights flickering? It could be just something to show you what it is you need to do next and that night and all that anxiety as I'm pacing around my apartment, every light in my entire apartment shuts off, pitch black. I'm looking around. I'm like, did the power guard? I look out the window, everyone else's power is on. I see my PlayStation, its little light is on. I go to the switch, I flick it off, it's now off, but it was on. Then I flick it back on, all the lights come back on. I freak out. And I'm like, what is happening? And that night, I ended up having this spiritual moment where I felt like for the first time, I heard God's voice speaking to me, and that voice said to me, you hate me because you think I hate you, but you never asked me what I think, and it lifted this burden that was still there from childhood, that, yes, I had come out, and I was moving through life, and people were accepting me, but I still felt deep inside like, well, they say God hates me, and I don't like that. And in that moment, I think finally, that burden fully lifted off of me, and it allowed me to not just just be free of that, but it then gave me the capability to go in and really search my spirituality. So I start reading, reading all these books, and I start hearing about the the law. Of attraction. I never heard of this thing, law of attraction before. And hear about an abundance mindset, and I start learning about meditation and what meditation can do for you. And I tried all these things because I was coming off of being dependent on all these mood stabilizers and lithium and all this stuff. And so I needed something else to replace it, and it came for me from doing meditation, practicing yoga, going for walks with my dog, and man, it just opened my eyes. I start reading books like Think and Grow Rich, and all of a sudden, like I'm realizing not only was I bothered by the fact that I wasn't being true to myself and my sexuality, but I wasn't being true to myself in terms of my dreams and aspirations, because I wanted to be more than a salesperson, and being a salesperson was no longer enough for me. And so it was with that feeling and emotion that I quit Verizon before we merged into the new company, and I decided to go and start a business, but I was terrified. I was terrified I want to start a cooking business. I invested a little bit of my savings into it. I saved up quite a bit of money over the years and but I just wasn't there yet. Mentally, I was not prepared to truly believe in myself. And so after about six months of doing some part time work on a political campaign. This is 2016 doing some part time work on a political campaign, I get a phone call from square the people that make cash app, they're like, Hey, we're opening up an office. You're a top salesperson. Come work for us. And I'd always wanted to work for a tech company, and so I, instead of pursuing my dreams and my career, I got I was afraid. And so I said, No, let me go do what's safe. And I went to work for square. But it was one of the best decisions I ever made, because I got to work with entrepreneurs every day, and every time I would work with an entrepreneur and see what they were able to accomplish more and more. It gave me the confidence in myself that I could do it, and I got to be a part of an organization that really treated employees well and showed me what it was like to grow and scale a business. But ultimately, that same feeling came back of I'm not satisfied in my life, that anxiety starts to creep in, that depression starts to seep in. I'm not satisfied with where I'm at anymore, and ultimately I end up quitting again. So this is now the third job of quit. I end up quitting again, and I'm like, I'm going to start a business. And luckily, that time I quit, my boss gave me a book called The Alchemist, and that book would go on to change my life.   Michael Hingson ** 32:42 Tell us about that.   Akeem Shannon ** 32:45 So, you know, I so I get this book The Alchemist, and I said it changed my life. But the truth is that when he gave it to me, I'm like, huh, Tom doesn't know he's talking about I'm not reading this book. I just threw it down. I was not. Had no intentions to read it, just like I didn't read the book about the angels. I wasn't going to read this book either, and as time goes on, this book starts creeping into my life. My mom sent me a video. She didn't know I had quit this job. I stopped telling my parents, because they would freak out every time I quit. So she sent me an article, excuse me, a YouTube video of Oprah. And Oprah's interviewing super music producer Pharrell. And she's like, Pharrell, you know you you just wrote Happy. It's number one on the billboards. You've helped so many artists become number one Billboard chart toppers. Can you just tell our audience about one book, The One book that changed your life? And he's like, Oprah, the one book that changed my life, was the alchemist. And I was like, oh, that's the book Tom gave me. I should read the book. I grab the book, I open it up, I'm like, Oh, I'll read it tomorrow. So I don't read the book. Then a couple weeks later, it's at the top of the Amazon charts. Then a couple weeks later it's at the top of New York Times bestseller list. Now this is a 3040, year old book, like, why are people still talking about this book? Now you thought you would have thought, with all those signs, I would have realized probably should read this book. I hadn't read it. So then I ended up moving to a new apartment. I had stuff everywhere, boxes everywhere, and my buddy was helping me move. And on my kitchen island, through all the junk, I see a book. Now, my boss had given me this copy of the alchemist. It was hard back, beautiful textures. Had illustrations inside. It was a had a sleeve on it's like a limited edition book. Was really nice. The book on my counter was not that okay. It was tattered. It was paperback. It was it had a $2.99 discount sticker on it, but it was the alchemist. And I look at it, and I start freaking out, and I had that same feeling I had that night when I stopped taking the drugs, and I had this spiritual experience. And I'm like nervous, because how. In the world of this book get in my apartment. It's not the book my boss gave me. Have I owned this book my entire life? How long has this book been with me? And I didn't know it. I had never heard of this book before, and I was so shocked by the fact that this book was in my house that I sat down and read it, cover to cover. And the alchemist, for those who don't know, is about a boy who has a dream about a treasure in Egypt, and he decides to pursue that dream. And early on in his journey, he meets a wise man that tells him that if he just follows the omens or the signs, that he will find his treasure. And I realized, as I read the book, I'm like, oh, not only is this book about omens and science, to follow your dreams, the book itself was an omen and sign for me to follow my dreams. And after I read this book, my mindset was fixated on me finding what I was truly passionate about and the ideas and the people that would lead me to live the life and to become the person that I always wanted to be. And it was with that mindset I get a phone call from my uncle, who's an engineer at NASA. He's telling me about a project he's working on for the Space Launch System, and he was going to use this adhesive that NASA had invented back in the 70s that was based off the feet of geckos to do his project. And since I had just moved and mounted my TV on the wall, I kept thinking, if I just had this adhesive, I could have saved myself a lot of time and energy by sticking my TV on the wall. And while I never stuck a TV to the wall, we did figure out a way to stick a tiny TV, a cell phone to a wall, and that's where the idea for the flip stick was born, a little device that goes on the back of your phone that allows you to mount your phone to a wall like a TV, but also allows you to mount it to be able to take selfies, to take pictures, to make Tiktok videos, all completely hands free with a washable, reusable, non toxic adhesive, and that journey of flip stick, just, man, that's what. It really got crazy.   Michael Hingson ** 37:09 So what basically happened you, you created it, and that's pretty cool, but you have to do something with   Akeem Shannon ** 37:20 it. Listen, that is so powerful, Michael, because so many people have ideas, right? How many of us have set in front of the TV we see something pop on? We said, Oh, I had that idea, but I'm a believer that ideas flow through the universe, and it's touching. A lot of people are having the same idea at the same time, but only one or two will actually act on it. And because I had read the Alchemist and I had realized, like, you gotta take action when you see the signs, I took it. So I start doing research, I start I create a prototype, I send it off to China. I'm like, Okay, I should probably get a patent. I need trademarks. I get on YouTube, I figure out how to do a patent, how to do a trademark, I get everything registered, and I didn't want to spend my own money on getting it produced, so I went to Kickstarter. Kickstarter is a pre order platform, and I actually set up pre orders for the product, made a video and a web page, and I ended up getting $15,000 in pre orders to start this business. And from there, I wish I could tell you things took off, but that's not what happened. If you haven't gotten ahead of how my story goes, that's not what happened. Instead, what happens is, after the $15,000 I get no sales zero. Okay, I created a website I would get one or two sales a month, and my product's only 10 bucks. So as you can imagine, I'm bleeding through my savings, but I had to rely on what I had already learned, right? I didn't really know Facebook marketing rep very well. You know, I couldn't do ads. I wasn't a social media star, but what I did know was in person sales. So I meet a couple of guys. They say, Hey, if you want help, we'll help you. And we decide to break into a festival and walk around and just pitch people this little idea called a flip stick. And that first day, we made 100 bucks, and the second day we went back again we made 130 bucks. And then we're like, we gotta find another festival, but this time we'll actually pay to be at the festival. That next festival, we made like, 400 then 500 then I was like, Okay, well, how do we have a festival every day where I can sell in person? The answer was the mall. Now, this is 2018 no one would advise you to go and set up a booth in the mall, but it's all I knew, and so I had to lean into what my expertise was. Since I didn't have a lot of funding, I didn't have a lot of connections. I just had to rely on my own understanding. You know, I wish I could say I just went in like a bull in a china shop to the mall, but I didn't. I had a panic attack, and I was terrified because the mall rent was they quoted me $7,000 and I've only made like, six. 16 grand in the lifetime of the business, and they wanted seven grand for two months. And I literally, Michael had to have my mom walk with me into the office at the mall to sign the lease paperwork, and she talked them in to to give it to me for only $5,000 she's like my son has a business, and he wants to do this, but he's afraid to do this because it's so expensive, and if you give him a discount, I promise he'll pay you. I felt like a little kid, but you know what? I needed it because I was so afraid to take that next step is a big step is a big risk and a big investment that had to be made. And I'm so grateful that my parents, and particularly my mother, was like, Look, you can do this, and you gotta go for it. You just have to do it, and you can't let fear stop you from chasing after your dreams. And that's exactly what they talked about in the alchemist there were so many times where the boy got stuck and wasn't moving forward, and he had to face his fears, to take the next step and go further. And I was at one of those points in my life, and man, I'm so glad my mom did that, because in the first in those two months that we were at the mall, made $30,000.02 months brand new business, a $10 item. So   Michael Hingson ** 41:24 why, why did that happen? What? What was it about the flip stick that made so many people buy it? Or what? What did you do that made so many people feel that they should buy it?   Akeem Shannon ** 41:36 I was desperate. I just I had to make it work. I had no choice. So when I got into the mall, you know, I come in, I owe 2500 bucks to the mall right right away. So I got to make this money back that I've put on my credit card. And so literally, every single person that walked by, have you heard about flip stick? Have you heard about flip stick? And I would show them. I put it on their phone, I'd stick it to a wall, I'd show what it could do, and I just lean on what I knew, right? I asked questions, right? I uncovered problems that they had, and then I presented the flip stick as a solution to those problems. And so I said, Hey, do you take pictures? You know, sometimes we have to ask someone to take a picture on vacation. Well, when you go on your vacation, you're in Europe. You don't want somebody running away with your phone and stealing your phone. You need a flip stick. You can stick it to the wall, take the picture of you and your family yourself. So I kept coming up with all these solutions for people after I got them to stop and listen for a second, and slowly but surely, they started buying. And the thing is, some people bought it because they really love the flip stick. But to be honest, a lot of them bought it because they admired that I was out here hustling, trying to make something happen, and they just wanted to be a part of the story. They're like, I don't even want the flip stick, but I want to see you succeed. You're working really hard, and I want to help you. So I'll take five of them, I'm going to make them stocking stuffers. And you know, it was, it was just, man, it was just so much love and support from people who just wanted to see me succeed.   Michael Hingson ** 43:11 So in two months, you made $30,000 and that's pretty cool, but still, that's not a lot as far as growing a company. So what did you then do? So   Akeem Shannon ** 43:22 then I had to figure out what was next, right and right. I knew I could only I was working 12 hour days at the mall, right? $15,000 a month. Ain't bad, but I can't do that forever. Those are our long, hard hours. Yeah, so I decided I want to be on Shark Tank. I'm like, I need an investor. I need someone to come in and really turn this into a company. So I apply to be I go to Vegas to CES Consumer Electronics Show. Apply to be on Shark Tank. I get through the first round, 40,000 people apply for Shark Tank every year. And I got past the first round to the second to the third, to the fourth. It gets down from 40,000 people down to the final 200 and they're going to select 120 people out of the final 200 to actually film. And I just knew I'm like, I've been following the omens. I've been listening to the signs. I've I they love my pitch. I'm going to be on Shark Tank. This is 2019 I just knew it. I felt so confident, and they called me, and they're like a king, you're not going to be on Shark Tank. Why? And I was oh, I was so sad. I remember exactly where I was. I was on the sidewalk. I can point you to the square. I was hurt because I put all my eggs in one basket and I didn't know what to do next. But just like in the past, when I faced objection and failure, I knew I couldn't give up, so I gave myself a week to cry and to be upset, and then I said, I gotta find someone else. If I can't have a shark as my celebrity investor, I'll find someone else. And it and it just so happened that's a long story. I'm really shorting it down, but it. Through a series of events, I end up uncovering that there is an event called the revolt, the revolt Summit. And this was event that was being thrown by billionaire rapper Sean Diddy Combs. And it was an event for people who are interested in getting into the music industry, but they were going to have a pitch competition for businesses. So I say, Great, I'll go. I'll pitch my business and I'll get an investment. So I buy the tickets, get the airline tickets, rental car, all that stuff. It was in Atlanta, and I find out the pitch competitions closed, but the tickets are refundable, so your boy had to figure something out. Turns out there was a music competition. And I said, Well, you know, I don't want a record deal, but I took music appreciation, you know, I was in jazz lab band. I'll just write a rap and pitch my business in the rap. Now, you know, I don't think you would get an A if you told your teacher, that's your business plan, but it was all I had. It's what I went and did. And to be honest, I didn't tell anyone about the plan, because I understand that if I told someone, it sounds ridiculous and it sounds far fetched, but I believed in myself, and I my mentality at that time, my mindset, I was meditating. I was believing in law of attraction. I said, I'm going to make this happen for me. I meant to be here. There's all the signs of pointing that I need to go here. So I write the rap, I go to Atlanta, I do the rap. They love it. I get to the top five people. I'm going to be able to get on stage in front of DJ, Khaled, in front of Diddy and all these music producers. And I get disqualified from the competition because they say you're not a real rapper, a king. You don't want a record deal. You want a business deal. I said, What's the difference? They they thought, they thought there was a difference. They disagreed. So they're like, you're not going to get on stage, you're not going to be able to rap in front of the celebrities. You're done. But my mindset was one that says, No, I'm not done. I'm here for a reason, and I'm gonna make it happen. So during the comedy show, which was right before the final music competition, I stand up, I hold my products up in the air, and the comedian looks at me, and he must have sensed the desperation in my my persona, because he's like, man, bro, what are you trying to sell me? And I go full pitch mode. I tell him what it does, where he can stick it, how he can take Tiktok videos and and watch TV. And he starts making jokes, and he's making very lewd jokes about where you can stick the flip stick. And the crowd is laughing, and the whole show ends up do well, because now everyone wants to come to the stage and talk about their business. And eventually he invites me. This is DC young flies the comedian. He's a pretty large comedian, and he invites me on stage, and he lets me do my rap during his set. And the crowd goes nuts. And the same woman who disqualified me from the music competition, Whis me up, takes me backstage. I get to meet Danny and DJ Khaled, and I'm meeting the CEO of all the companies and the sponsor executives AT and T was the sponsor I make a phone accessory. This amazing experience happens. And ultimately, they would invite me out to Los Angeles. They buy a ton of flip sticks to give away. And in LA I did the same thing again, but this time it was Snoop Dogg on the stage, and Snoop Dogg ends up loving the flip stick. And between Snoop Dogg and Diddy and revolt Summit, they they call a few people, and a producer from Shark Tank calls me up and says, Hey, we want you on the show. And that's how I was able to get on Shark Tank. And that was a transformative moment for our business, and it was what really propelled us to seven figures and beyond.   Michael Hingson ** 48:57 So you went on Shark Tank, you made your presentation, and did any of them go along and decide that they would would invest or consider investing?   Akeem Shannon ** 49:09 So actually, we got two offers, one from Mr. Wonderful right out the gate. There you go. It wasn't actually a Sharky offer. I thought he was going to hit me with, you know, I want 89% of your company, and I won 75 cents, royalty in perpetuity, forever throughout the universe. But he actually gave me exactly what I asked for. But I went to the shark tank for Lori, that's who I wanted, and I was committed to it. And eventually Mr. Wonderful realized that he got very upset, and he was like, when mister wonderful gives you an offer, you take it. Now I'm out. So then I had to go with Lori, and luckily, she realized that I really wanted to work with her. I had read her book prior to going. I knew exactly the language in which to speak with her, and and she ended up giving me an offer on the show. It was, it was 20, it was $100,000 For 25% of my business, $400,000 valuation on my business. And, you know, I left the Shark Tank, I was so excited and just knew the future was bright. And as we you know, this is 2020 now it's pandemic time. If I hadn't gone on Shark Tank, I probably would have went out of business in 2020 because we couldn't be in the mall. You know, online wasn't working, but luckily, we were on Shark Tank and and, and as it was leading up to getting on air, I realized that the deal had changed, and the deal that I was offering the tank was not going to be the deal that I was going to be able to close. And even as much as I wanted to work with Lori, it no longer felt like the right move to make. And I lean back on my gut feelings and the feelings that have in the in the past when I had made decisions about my business that were mistakes, and I felt that same way. And so I listened to that gut feeling and said, You know what, Lori, you know, I'm a big fan, and I wanted to work with you, but I just don't think this is the deal I want to take. And she was okay with it, and we both decided not to move forward. But when we aired on Shark Tank, I didn't have any money. I needed to produce product, and just the timing of everything was magical, because I just entered into a pitch competition, won the pitch competition, but hadn't received the money yet, so I had to call up the people and be like, Hey, I didn't tell you this, but I don't be a shark tank in 10 days. I need the money now. And they wired it to me, and I got ready for shark tank, and we bought all this inventory. I get a warehouse. I set everything up. We have a watch party, and it's 2020 it's like November, let's say November 7. And if you remember 20/21 week of November, it was election week, yeah. And they pre empted the episode by two hours. They pushed it back to do election coverage. And I'm like, Oh, I don't care who the President is going to be. No one knew who the President was yet. I said, I just want my episode on Shark Tank there. And so they pushed it back by two hours, and I was nervous, but I said, it's going to be okay. Everything's going to work out. I know the omens. I know I didn't read the alchemist for nothing. There's no way that I got on Shark Tank and the universe that God is going to take this away from me. No way. So the episode comes on and they say, right before the episode, hey, if there's an announcement and we find out there's some big news, we're going to preempt Shark Tank. Episode comes on. Everything's going smoothly. All the people are going through. Turns out I'm the last person on the episode. It comes out the same rap I did for Diddy. They had me do on Shark Tank. So I come out, I'm rapping. Everyone's excited. People are cheering. You know, we're just so excited. I'm on national television. I was a college dropout a few years ago. Now I'm on national television, and right as I get into the meat of my pitch, about two minutes in, We interrupt this regularly scheduled programming to bring a message from Joe Biden, art sank to the floor. I couldn't believe that. I was devastated. It was the hardest night of my life. So what happened? Cuz after all of this work and all of this effort, it felt like it got taken away from me. It was so unfair. But what would end up happening is I kept that mindset, it's not over. This is not the end. I can make something of this. And for the first time in the history of Shark Tank, they re aired an episode I called the produce, the executive producer. I said, this wasn't fair. He said, Hey, you are you signed a waiver that says you knew this could happen. I said, I know, but it's just not fair. And he decided to re air the episode. And so not only did we air the first time, and people bought flip sticks the first time because they wanted to know what happened. How did he get why did he get cut off, but then they bought it the second time, and in that first airing, even though it got preempted, people only saw the first, you know, 120 seconds of my pitch. We still sold more in the next 24 hours that we had sold in the past two and a half years, and it just changed the trajectory of the entire business. And I'll fast forward a little bit through this just so we can, you know, get to any other things you want to talk about, but we would end up going on to get into Target and Best Buy AT and T T Mobile. I would raise capital from investors, raise over seven figures from investors. They would help propel the business even further. We get on the Today Show QVC, home shopping network was always a dream of mine to get on. I thought that dream was going to be dead because I didn't close my deal with Lori, who's the queen of QVC. But even still, I get on QVC multiple times. We're doing six figure sales in eight minutes. I mean, it was just this incredible journey of explosive growth. Got us this award from Inc five, Inc Magazine, we were one of the top 50 fastest growing consumer product brands through 2022 we got that award last year. And man, you know, it is just been an absolute whirlwind of an experience, and one that I wouldn't trade for the world.   Michael Hingson ** 55:23 What a cool story. And I think one of the questions that I would ask is, okay with all of that, you've had several challenges, some you created yourself as you look back on it, yeah, you know. You know, I can agree with me, what have you learned? Definitely. What have you learned?   Akeem Shannon ** 55:46 Well, number one, look, never give up. Some things don't work out right. And if, and if you go after what everything you got, and it doesn't work out, it wasn't for you, but it doesn't mean give up, continue to pursue your dreams and your passions keep going, because as long as when you fail, you don't give up, you have the opportunity to level up. And as I continue to level up, that became more ingrained inside of me. Number two is Don't bottle it up like look, we're humans. We have emotions. We have anxieties and depressions. It's just human nature. You don't have to run from it or hide from it or pretend that it doesn't exist. Embrace it and understand that these are all seasons. Once you conquer one thing and you think you're okay, something else will come along, and you will continue to evolve, continue to evolve over the course of your life, you're never going to stop learning. So you're always going to face these walls. I learned something from a motivational speaker who I love, Jim Rohn, and he talked about how that imagine being a farmer, and you just got flopped on this planet. It's the beginning of spring. You plant all these crops, they grow. You're making all this money. Everything is roses. It's summertime, it's fall, you're harvesting. It's amazing. And then winter hits. This the first winter you've ever experienced, and it's horrible. Nothing grows grounds frozen solid. You're not making any money. You think you're going to starve to death. Oh, he's like but here's the thing, every farmer knows, that after winter comes spring, spring. And so many of us move through our lives thinking that the winter is the end. We're going to be in winter for the rest of our lives, and the sad truth is, a lot of us spend our entire lives in that winter. And I learned, and I want everyone to understand that, look, winter will come after fall. It will happen. But after winter comes spring, if you choose for it to be. And so every time I hit a winter now, I hit a spring, and I get prepared for the next chapter of my life and understand, hey, this is just a season, and it's a roller coaster ride. It's up, it is down, but the momentum that got me to the bottom of the hill will carry me back up to the top of the next   Michael Hingson ** 58:24 so what do your parents think about all this?   Akeem Shannon ** 58:28 Oh, man, let me so. So, you know, even up until a couple years ago, my mom's like, well, when are you going to go back to school? So I remember this is, this is summer last year, and I say, hey mom, we we need to go back up. We need to go to Washington, DC, in in June for something. And she's like, well, what's going on? I said, we gotta go. I was like, I'm getting the I got something going on, event, a gala in DC. And in summer of last year I go back up to Washington, DC, which is where Howard University is, right. I get there, I'm walking back on my old campus, where I had the biggest failure of my life, something that I thought I could never recover from. But this time I was in Washington, DC because the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History had heard my story and saw my product, and they were running an exhibit on the history of cell phones, and they wanted to put my story and my product in that exhibit, and I got to take my mother into the halls of the Smithsonian and we're Sitting next to the woman that created text messages. Okay? And we're sitting next to the man who runs Qualcomm makes all the chips in every cell phone you've ever bought. And then there's me, and I'm like, I think I'm at the wrong table, but to see the beaming smile. On my mom's face, she wouldn't stop talking to people. I'm like, Mom, you have got to stop talking to these folks. Okay, everybody. Don't want to talk to you. But man, the pride that she had on her face, it was, it was, it was a miracle, because how is it that, you know, 15 years, 15 some odd years, you know, coming up 14 years after this massive failure in this city that meant so much to me, here I am back again, and I'm on top of the world. It was incredible, and it was just so special. I gotta take my mother and my father and they got to see their son back in this city, where they had to come and pick up all his stuff and take all of his stuff from college, leaving in shame, and here we were back again, but this time, you know, we're sitting with some titans of industry and me, because people just happen to like my story, and they thought for the kids that came to see this exhibit, Everyone's not going to be the inventor, right? Or the inventor of a cell phone screen or radio towers or radio signals. Everyone's not going to be that. But a flip stick, you could do that. That's That's you, that's possible. And so they put my story in here with all these incredible individuals, and it was just it, man. It made me feel really good, and it made my parents so proud.   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:27 Well, um, that's pretty cool. So your dad got over all his disappointments as well,   Akeem Shannon ** 1:01:34 you know, he did. And I remember, this was a few years later, you know, he told me that night, when I came out to him, that they were disappointed. And that cut me so deep. And I remember years later, maybe like three or four years I told him I wasn't feeling good one day, and I said, Are you disappointed in me? And he's like, why would you think I was disappointed in you? And I was like, because you told me, yeah, you said disappointed. And he's like, I'm going to disappoint it. I said, Well, that's what she said. And he's like, son, I'm not disappointing you. I'm proud of you. This was, this was right, as I had started my business, you know, flip stick, you know, we hadn't been on Shark Tank or any of that stuff yet. He was actually working for me for free in the mall. On my day off, my parents would rotate between giving me and my two employees a day off in the mall because we were working such long hours, and they worked for free. And I just asked him if he was disappointed. He was like, of course, I'm not disappointed. And, you know, I think sometimes for parents, they don't realize their kids absorb everything, and we hear everything, and we take everything so personally and they, you know, as a parent, I think you assume like, of course, my kid knows I love him. I sacrificed everything for them to be here. But you know, we are,

Welcome to Episode 173 of the Different Animals Podcast and this week we talk about Interstellar, My Neighbor Totoro, children's basketball, the greatest fantasy football comeback of all time, Die Hard, Final Fantasy, and Bill Belichick headed to UNC. This podcast is available on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts and wherever else you catch your podcasts. You can catch us on IG and Twitter @DifAnimalsPod or email us directly at DifferentAnimalsPodcast@gmail.com with any feedback or suggestions. S/O to @Creative.Collin on IG for the dope Artwork. S/O to @EdERuger and @PhilliePhr3sh for the dope theme. Enjoy, and we'll see you in a week. PEACE! This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

“Brain health”, you say? Yes absolutely. Flor Pedrola, a brain health expert and coach joins us this time on Unstoppable Mindset. As she says in her biography, “I was a recent economist ready to carve out a well thought out and planned future for myself and suddenly, starting in 1989, fate plunged me into worlds totally unknown to me”. First her father was diagnosed with ALS and passed 18 months after receiving his diagnosis.. Then her son was diagnosed with ADHD. As with any analytical person, Flor began studying the brain. As she will explain, she made contacts and found a doctor who was taking a novel physical approach to study the brain.   While she still has a day job with a technology company, Flor sometime ago started her own brain health coaching business. As she describes, she has client,s both adults and youth, with whom she works to help them better understand their lives and possibly their brain health situations.   As I discover, Flor works with many people simply who feel stressed or out of sorts in some way. She uses her skills to help people better understand their bodies, their brains and how to improve quality of life for both. Flor gives us good ideas of what we all can do to keep a healthy brain active and engaged. I think you will appreciate her sound advice.       About the Guest:   I was a recent economist ready to carve out a well thought out and planned future for myself and suddenly, starting in 1989, fate plunged me into worlds totally unknown to me. First into neurology and neurodegenerative diseases, and soon after into the world of neurosciences and so-called mental disorders.  All my knowledge, abilities and illusions were of no use in my new reality and I made one of the best decisions of my life: to embark on a long and exciting path of exploration, learning and discoveries about the brain that captivated me. I want to be able to reach as many people as possible, and to help build a society, a world that, thanks to the great advances in technology, becomes familiar with the brain. Many medical professions have been able to see the organs they were treating for years, such as orthopedic surgeons who, thanks to X-rays, could identify the problem, the breakage, and prescribe the appropriate treatment. Nowadays it is possible to 'see' the brain, to study and understand it much better, and to diagnose much more accurately 'mental' diseases and disorders. And the best thing is that also thanks to technology and the information it has provided in recent years, it is possible to a large extent to prevent the damage that a brain can suffer, and which is likely to affect for the rest of your life. And I also wish you fall in love with your brain and understand that taking care of it is a must so it can take care of you. You will not regret it.   Ways to connect with Flor:   My web: www.brainttitude.com (in spanish for the moment)   UDEMY COURSES (in english) Upgrade your focus and attention levels (Upgrade your Focus and Attention Levels – Brainttitude) Neuroscience for parents: a new look on ADHD (Neurosciences for Parents: a new look on ADHD – Brainttitude)   LINKEDIN PROFILE: Flor Pedrola | LinkedIn   coaching program subscribepage.io/9tXFtN What is your brain type? https://bit.ly/3VKE3Zg       About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Hi, everyone. I am your host, Mike hingson, and welcome to another edition of unstoppable mindset. Oh, I'm talking so well today, unstoppable mindset today, we are going transcontinental again. We're going to be chatting with FlorPedrola, that's my English pronunciation of petrola and flora is in Madrid, Spain. I have been to Madrid, but it's been a long time. Anyway. She has an interesting story to tell. I was reading her biography, and she starts out her biography by saying something to the effect of, I was a recent economist ready to carve out a career, when suddenly, in 1989 fate bunched me into worlds totally unknown to me. Wow. What a way to attract someone's attention, mine specifically, and yours now too, and I am sure that Flor is going to tell us all about that. But first, hi floor, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad you're here.   Flor Pedrola ** 02:29 Thank you very much, Michael, I am thrilled to be with you, and thank you very much for inviting me to your podcast. I really believe that the work that you are doing is fantastic, and I am accepting this with joy. And really I'm super happy. I just would like to say that even though my English seems to be fluent, sometime I make some mistakes. So I hope that you will excuse me well, we all   Michael Hingson ** 03:01 make mistakes. Sometimes we we sometimes let our our tongues get ahead of our words and our brain. So I wouldn't worry about it a bit. You're doing fine. Well, why don't we start with you telling us a little bit if you would, about the early Flor, growing up and so on, if you would where and where you grew up and a little bit about you as a child. That's always kind of fun to start the process.   Flor Pedrola ** 03:27 All right, let's go. So my name is Flor pedrola. I was born in Madrid in Spain. My father was Spanish, and my mother is French. I was raised always in the two cultures. And I remember when I was a child asking my mother, but Mom, what is better being French or being Spanish? And she always answered, saying, everything is okay. It's just about being different, but you are lucky enough to have two cultures, and this is going to be fantastic for you. So I am the oldest of three daughters, the two the two that follow me are Paloma and Elena, and we have been living in Madrid all our lives. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 04:26 you stay in one spot, huh?   Flor Pedrola ** 04:30 Yes, yes. And that was not my. My initial thought I wanted to go to France and study education. But unfortunately, as I was making some money doing babysitting, I had to travel to Malaga, which is in south of Spain. We went by car, and we had an accident in the car with the car, and one of the children died. So. So that made me so sad, and it really destroyed all the plans that I, that I had. I didn't know what to what to do. So as I was studying in the in at the French school, kind of economics, the beginning of economics, she proposed me to continue and make the career of economics in Madrid, which I did. This is why I am an economist, not just because I wanted to do it, but because it was like, Okay, this could be a nice solution. And I became an economist. Well, I started to work. I started to work in a American company, and I got married and and, yes, life, life made me some surprises.   Michael Hingson ** 05:56 How? So what? Kind of surprises?   Flor Pedrola ** 06:02 Yeah, as I was mentioning in my biography, I had to be confronted to a world that I was completely unfamiliar with, and this is the world of brain health. Now,   Michael Hingson ** 06:20 why did that happen?   Flor Pedrola ** 06:24 So the first time I had to know about brain health was in 88 when my father was diagnosed with ALS. This is a Neurotrophic lateral disease, and this is a motor neurone disease, right? I remember attending New congresses about this illness, and I remember doctors saying that there was hope and that some helpful treatments would be discovered in a five years time period. I remember, but my father died 18 months after being correctly diagnosed. So I was wondering, what health is, is this brain disease, and why is this happening, and what is the motor neuron disease, right? So I was kind of surprised, because it was so unknown for me, I decided, with my mom and my sister to create an association that is called Adela, but we did not continue with it after some years, because it was too much suffering. You know, it had been such a painful period that we decided just to create, to put the basis and that, and then let others to continue with it. But in 1995 my second child was born, and in 1998 he was diagnosed by a neurologist as an ADHD child. So for the ones that are not familiar with ADHD, it corresponds to attention deficit and hyperactive disorder. And I remember when we went to visit the doctor, he said that that was a very clear diagnosis, even though my son was only three years old, and while we were leaving the office, he told us, be prepared. And I thought, what again, we come back to Brain matters, right? I am not a doctor. I am not a nurse. I we did not, did not have any family related to this career, you know, and and I had no clue what he was talking about. So my son was at a nursery when he was diagnosed, and then he entered school. And then problems arrived, very annoying problems where he was suffering a lot. He had the behavioral issues, difficult relationships with his friends, and very bad results the teacher when he was six, the teacher told us, you know, your boy is really suffering, maybe you should investigate a little bit more of about what you could do with him. And I had no clue. I really did not have no clue. We did not want to give him any medicine for him to stay quiet in the class, because that was one of the main concerns of the teacher, you know. But at the end, we had to give him some. Um, some retelling so he could concentrate while he was studying, but the side effects were really annoying. He could not sleep, and he was really losing weight, so it has been a tough period, but I really did not know how to help him. But what happened? And, you know, God always put the right people at the right place in the right moment. So I was compacted by a person who was living in Australia, because my job at the company was about leadership. I am an executive coach, so I was relating to executive coaching and facilitation training, mentoring, meaning taking care of the people. So she contacted me because of my leadership competencies, and we decided to explore and see how we could collaborate. She even came to Madrid. She was living in Australia, in Sydney, and I was part, at that time, of different groups. I was mentoring executive woman, and I was part of a book jury also, so I invited her to make her presentation about a very interesting program that was about neuro leadership. And I said, Well, this is very helpful for the leaders and for my actual job, but maybe this could also help my son. So I asked her, What else can I do to learn about this? And she said, why don't you come to Australia? Because we are organizing some courses there, and maybe, if you meet some different people, maybe they can give you some light. So I ended up in Australia. Sometimes I think, why? What the hell? How come I did that? Because that was absolutely not part of my plan. But I went to Australia, I attended her neuro leadership training, and that was the moment where I met people absolutely extraordinary, and one of them was commenting about Doctor Daniel Amen, who is living in the US, and he's a psychiatrist and radiology expert, and he uses spec, spec scans to help deliver accurate the diagnosis to his patients and to find the best customized treatments. So I started to be in very interested in all the work that he was doing, and he also created some, let's say, brain health learning for people that were not in the medical sector, right? So I decided to study with him, and this is how I became a brain health coach and a licensed trainer for not only help my people at the company, but also my son. So 10 years later, here I am coaching people with a neuroscience based approach, and I have now my own program, but maybe we will be talking about this later. This is not the point now. So   Michael Hingson ** 13:47 you left being an economist and working in the economic field to become a brain health coach, yeah, and that's what you do, full time,   Flor Pedrola ** 14:01 not exactly full time, because I'm still working in the company, and now that many things are changing. Now I am doing more customer support task, even though I still coach some people. But yes, I am developing more and more in my private side everything that is related to coaching and helping people to thrive by being aware about the importance of the brain and taking control of their lives by improving few habits that can help them to be Much more happy.   Michael Hingson ** 14:39 So you said you still work for a company. Is that company in economics? Or what company do you work for? It's a technology company. It's a technology company. And what do you do with for them?   Flor Pedrola ** 14:53 I have been working with them since 1986 so I have been doing so many things. Things I was I was system engineer, I was in sales, I was in market development, and then I moved to kind of HR. And this is where, since 2008 after taking a manager role, I decided to devote only to helping people thrive within their careers, because I really have a servant leadership mindset. And this is what I love, this is what I enjoy, and it is fantastic to help others   Michael Hingson ** 15:40 so you are are working some in the technology field, but you're also now doing a lot more in your own private industry, if you will, dealing with with Brain Health and and I can appreciate that. So what, what do you do these days in terms of brain health? So what do you do on, on, on your your side job, if you will.   Flor Pedrola ** 16:11 So first of all, I used all the information that I, that I got from Doctor Amon to help my son, because one of the things that I discovered is that there is no one single type of ADHD, which in Spain 30 years ago, it seemed that nobody knew, right, yeah, and it is so important to Know that there are seven different types of ADHD, and this means that the treatment has to be also different. And for me, that was an eye opening. The other main lesson that I got from Dr Amon is that there is no mental health as such. Mental health does not exist, if you allow me to say um, behaviors, thoughts, emotions, are so much related with the structure of the brain that it is, at least for me, much more interesting to see how the brain functions, and then to discover how this apply to the way we live, right? So based on those two things, what I do now is to offer coaching programs. I have two different programs. One is for young people from 20 to 30 years old when they are finishing their studies at the university and starting their first job. So I can help them to get to know themselves better under a brain perspective, to observe themselves and to discover what are their big let's say capacities or strengths, always based on on brain assessments that that I used to and And then I have another program for adults. This is a program that is already packed five sessions, where first we talk about values, purpose and objectives, and then we do some brain assessments, and then I do the proper coaching, but once we know what is the identity of the person.   Michael Hingson ** 18:46 So you're talking about the people you work with are people who have ADHD,   Flor Pedrola ** 18:52 not specifically, you know, there are so many weaknesses as we could say under a corporate wording, people with anxiety, with depression, some some people that consider that they are not able to perform the way they wish. And what we see together is what is going on on their brains, if there is something that is missing and we try to develop some new habits that can help them. So I wanted to mention also that the approach that I take is anthropological perspective, because every human being is made out of four dimensions. The first one is the biological let's say the one that we can measure in some way, and it is related to brain health, physical health, the nutrition, the excess. Exercise, sleep, any type of infections that they may have, allergies, injuries, toxins. So sometimes people are not aware of bad habits that they are having, and they that it that is preventing their prefrontal cortex to work optimally. Then we have the psychological dimension, which is related to the self talk, or the self concept that they have about themselves. It's about discovering if they have past emotional trauma, and it is also related to the sense of worth, or the sense of power and control that they might think they have, then we have the social dimension, which is related to the quality of their environment. Is so important to be surrounded by the appropriate people, you know, the friends, the ones that will be cheering you up when you want to continue in your journey. It's about stress. It's about how they leave their work, or even even what happened at school. You know, because sometimes people, they still remember some traumatic experiences in school. And finally, it's the spiritual dimension which is related to the sense of meaning and purpose, and responding to the question, why my life is does matter, right? So this is very important, because, for example, for any people that has some brain disorder like ADHD, it can, it could be very difficult to make the brain to develop as it should at the path that the school is requiring, right because, in fact, ADHD is characterized by some brain areas that are less developed that the average, let's say so those brain areas, they will be developed in the future, but In the school period, it is difficult for the children to follow the instructions as as they are requested. So maybe when you are 12 years old, your brain is eight years old, and when you are 16, you are 14. So it really needs some time to develop because for whatever reason, those neurons or those connections were not created as they should be. So from a four, four dimensions perspective, you see that your child cannot follow the rhythm that is requested, but you can help him so much with the other dimensions, because you can, for example, develop their curiosity. My son is passionate about art, and he used to go by himself when he was very young to the museums. You know, he loved to go to museums. He loved to see things and to make connections of colors, of structures, of movements, of textures. He developed a lot of information that was stored in his brain, even though it not it was not used, let's say, but this information was stored and it has been used later. You know, he can refer to all the things that he was learning, and also regarding the sense of purpose. It's very difficult to talk about the sense of purpose with with young children, but sometimes you can teach them about values, about you know, for example, for me, it's very important to be grateful. And yes, it is. It is key to understand that maybe something in one of your dimensions is not working as it should. And let me put that in brackets, but you can help the person from other dimensions, and this is so relieving for them. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 24:29 so you said, you've said a number of interesting things here. One thing that I had never known before is that there are seven different kinds of ADHD, yes, did Dr Amen discover that, or did other people discover that? Do you know anything about how that happened, how that was learned, and what they are?   Flor Pedrola ** 24:54 Well, Dr Amen uses spec scans. This is a very specific type. Type of scan that are used for the brain. And what these scans measure is the blood flow, meaning he sees in real time if the blood flow is enough or if it is too low or too high. So let me explain the importance of the blood flow is that this is what transports the nutrients for the neurons, right the glucose and the oxygen. So what happens is that if there is not enough blood flow, the neurons are not receiving what they need for work, and they do not function. And each area of the brain has its own, let's say, task to perform. So what he has been able to see is, what are the different areas of the brain, what that can be affected by an ADHD child? And for many other symptoms, you know, it's not only about ADHD. He's a psychiatrist, and he sees a lot of conditions. It's just that I am much more focusing on this, because this is what matters to me. But what he sees, and after doing more than 200,000 sped scans, he has a lot of studies where he can share what he has discovered, and he insists so much on differentiating the type of disorder because each of them requires a different Treatment.   Michael Hingson ** 26:37 Yeah. And so because he has done physical scans. And I think that's the interesting part about it, is that that he has taken the approach of truly looking physically at the brain and doing the spectral scans that have been used to make his determination. So that's certainly, I would think a major advance. What so like in the case of your son, he, he's, I assume he scanned your son's brain? No,   Flor Pedrola ** 27:11 we could not do it. But okay, as we had so many studies published by Dr Amen, I was able to to study, and I am part of the team of brain health coaches. So we share a lot of information, and anytime that I need something, I just look for it. But yes, I would like to just take what you just mentioned. One of the sentences Dr Raymond used to is that when he discovered the possibility of using technology and doing these spec scans. He said, you know, a traumatologist can see if the bone is broken right, and a cardiologist can see what is happening to the heart, but psychiatrist, we never knew what was happening in the brain, and now we can, yeah, and   Michael Hingson ** 27:58 that's why I mentioned that it was a physical situation, because he's doing something that the most people haven't done but but the other question that comes up is, so he does a scan, or let's talk about your son, what then is done as a result of the scan to address The issue? Well,   Flor Pedrola ** 28:20 what he does is to make some tests and interviews, and the scan is like giving light to the situation.   Michael Hingson ** 28:31 Okay, so by you discover, you discover what kind of ADHD someone has, let's say your son. That's fine. But then, obviously, what you want to do is to mitigate or eliminate it. And how do you do that? Well,   Flor Pedrola ** 28:49 basically, basically at the time I knew about Doctor Amon, I started to change his nutrition, for example, because sugar is very, very bad for ADHD children. I mean, it's bad for the population, but for the ADHD children, is really horrible. So it's about lowering excitement, and it's about taking some other type of it's not medicine, but supplements. And those supplements, you can find them anywhere, you know. So, for example, he's taking l theanine and GABA and vitamin b6 and also, in the case of my son, sports were super important. So what he did, and he managed to succeed in his university degree, was that he was waking up very early. He used to go to swim one hour at the university, and then he was attending class. Us, and he didn't need any specific medication for that. And by the time he had exams he took, he used to take one pill of Ritalin, and then he stopped taking it, so he has been using it for the very specific moment that he knew he needed some concentration and being quiet, but since quite a few years, he's not taking any medicine, just sports, good nutrition, sleep and, of course, purpose, self talk and good friends, you know you you have to take care of the four dimensions, not just the biological one.   Michael Hingson ** 30:51 Well, the the other question, though, is given what doctor Amon has done in terms of being able to diagnose ADHD and brain health through physical analyzes. Are there other kinds of physical treatments that can be incorporated, or have we not progressed to the point of being able to do this yet? Are there physical kinds of things that can be done to using your description, improve blood flow and so on to those appropriate parts of the brain. Or are we still not really in a position to be able to do that kind of thing?   Flor Pedrola ** 31:30 Well, the main, the main tool to increase blood flow is exercise, you know.   Michael Hingson ** 31:37 But there's not a a physical kind of thing. We don't know why blood flow to a particular part of the brain necessarily is not what it should be. We haven't analyzed, or we haven't figured that part out yet, or what? Oh yes,   Flor Pedrola ** 31:51 there are many things that can they can disturb, let's say brain flow. Brain blood flow. Excuse me, smoking.   Michael Hingson ** 32:03 Well, we're talking about like your your son and people who just are diagnosed, even at an early age with ADHD there, there have to be reasons that the blood isn't flowing appropriately to the brain. Physically speaking, right? And so   Flor Pedrola ** 32:26 neurotransmitters, yeah, many things, many things. Each is different, and we   Michael Hingson ** 32:31 don't yet know how to physically reverse that in the brain.   Flor Pedrola ** 32:40 Well, you are asking me something that maybe it is too medical for me. You know, I am okay, do not go. But I can tell you that before the child is born, there are some internal processes within the brain that my condition, the fact that the structure of the brain is not as it should be, right and and this is going to impact all I mean, this is one of the main reasons why there are brain disorders.   Michael Hingson ** 33:16 And my point is, though, we don't yet have the technology or the tools, or maybe the knowledge to reverse those processes or those physical situations. I mean, yeah, there are things that we can do, like with drugs and so on, as you talked about, but yes, we don't, we don't physically know yet how to really go in after birth or whatever and reverse those, those situations, is that what I'm hearing, I   Flor Pedrola ** 33:47 cannot tell you, because this is, this is not my okay. I am, I am not a medical specialist, you know? But that is a I know that AI is doing incredible things. For example, creating algorithms that are trying to detect some illnesses in the brain of a child before he's born and try to correct that. But I have not heard anything about brain I mean blood flow, but more about other other Yeah, other things, yes, and,   Michael Hingson ** 34:29 and. So the the point is that the that this is still a relatively new area, and Dr Amon is clearly a pioneer, if you will, in in that so there's a lot of work to be done, but it's fascinating to hear that he took the leap to say, why don't we understand the brain physically like we understand other parts of the body? And so. He developed the whole scan process to begin that process and go down that road, which I think is exciting, absolutely.   Flor Pedrola ** 35:08 And I can tell you that even though I, I think my my clients, they don't have the possibility to do the scans because we are in Spain, or because there is no possibility for them to travel around the world. One of the things through the brain assessments that I offer to them, one of the things that they say is, wow, now I see how my brain functions, and I can understand my behaviors, and I know that the way I behave is not my fault. This is so important, you know, because sometimes we behave in a way that we do not understand, that we do not know why this is happening, and this is because there is a physical interference somewhere in your brain. And once you identify it, and you see that there is this structure, physical structure that is not working, the correspondent behavior is also derailing, right? And I think first of all, my family, for example, when my son was behaving the way he was doing, they used to tell me, Oh, you're not raising your child appropriately. And I was saying, Oh, my God, what can I do? Yeah, but the fact is that this is because they did not see what was happening in the brain. For example, if you see a child with a cast in his leg, you cannot ask him to run right, because you know that he cannot do it. But when there is a brain disorder happening, even though you ask the child to perform some task and he does not, he does not do it, then you will put an etiquette instead of thinking that he's not doing it because he cannot do it. So that was such an eye opening, and I think that doctor Amon has helped so many people, not only the ones that were affected, but also the environment that has to become much more empathetic, right,   Michael Hingson ** 37:32 right? Yeah, absolutely, and it's it's interesting to hear about the advances. Let me ask you this, brain health, clearly, is very important, and with the work of people like Dr Amen, it's gone to a whole new level. How do you believe that brain health? How do you believe that brain health and disability or relates to disability in the workplace? Okay, so disability, whether it's a mental or physical or or dumb people, is another story, but that we will worry about that today. But yes,   Flor Pedrola ** 38:20 so I would say, from a physical perspective in the workplace, I think companies now are more and more prepared to assist their employees and to help them to perform the best they can. You know, because one thing that is clear, at least from my point of view, is that diversity, diversity is only positive. So I I remember people that were blind, that that used to have first date their talk with them at the office and using a specific keyboard to work. And this is going to evolve, and I think that at some point I hope this will become transparent. You know, it should not be something to discuss people with. I don't know we had also some paralytic people and trisomic people. And no problem, it can, it can happen, and those people are clever, and they can bring a lot of things, and mainly, mainly, I would say, they are much more resilient that the people that didn't did not have to fight so hard to find their place in the work environment. Yeah. So from the psychological perspective or the mental perspective, disabilities can come either because you are, for example, ADHD, but, but, you know, add the HD when you are a child, can be a big problem. But when you are an adult, and if you have been working on it. One of the main characteristics of an ADHD person is that they are super creative. Their imagination is always running all over the places, and again, they can bring so much different perspective in the work environment. And then you can be like, I don't know Asperger, but Asperger, we had so many famous people. You know, Anthony Hopkins is Asperger. I saw it some, some weeks ago. I don't know, Michael Phelps, he was ADHD, and he was a champion with a lot of gold metal, you know? So, yes, it is a difference. And this was so helpful, because I come back to what my mom says, you know, it's not, it's not that French is better than being Spanish, or Spanish being better than being French is just different. And let's, let's work together.   Michael Hingson ** 41:34 Yeah, and I think that it like anything else that we deal with is appropriate to discuss and understand, although from an employer and employee relationship, what people should not do is look down on people who are different than they are, and we See that all too often, which is extremely unfortunate, but I think it's important that people really do develop a good understanding of of different people. And as you said, diversity and accommodating difference is a very positive thing. We should do that we should accept that not everyone is exactly the same, and so   Flor Pedrola ** 42:26 everybody is unique.   Michael Hingson ** 42:29 Everybody is unique. And so it's important that we that we deal with that, and that we recognize that. But so many people don't, and they regard people who are different than they are as less than they are. And that's too bad. And I know that as the world has progressed, as knowledge has progressed, we now hear a whole lot more about ADHD than we did 20, 3040, years ago, and I'm sure that Dr Amon has contributed to that, and people like you are contributing to that, because you help coach. People. Tell me a little bit more about your coaching business and what you do. So when people come to you, who comes to you, and then what do you do?   Flor Pedrola ** 43:16 So in the adult area, yeah. Let's stick with that, yeah, mainly my clients are people that are very much stressed. I mean, this is the word they use, okay? They see, they say that I am very stressed. I am losing control of my life. Maybe I am. I see that I am not enjoying what I am doing. I am I have too much anxiety. I cannot sleep properly. And it's like they they lost the their way, you know, in different in different aspects. So what I do is my first session, we talk about, what are the values that they really that attract them, not the ones that they consider they have? Because I think it is much more important to see, okay, you are attracted by by this value, so your heart is connected to this. How can you put it in practice? How can you show them? How you can you develop them? Because we are a single unit, and your heart needs to be connected to the brain too, right, right? Um, so once they know their values, then we discuss about their objectives. And again, I always go to the four dimensions, because I want them to see if there is one of them who might be less developed. Because the main purpose is to be to be balanced. In all areas of your life, because this is the best way to surpass any challenge that you will that you will meet, because everybody has challenges to to work with, right? So once we know the objectives that they have, we try to find the purpose, and this is kind of the first conversation that we have all together. Then in the second session, I discuss with them the results of two tests that I send them. So one is about what type of brain they have, because Dr Amen has made a classification of 16 types of brain. So I send them the link to Dr Amen website. They can, they can do the test they see what is the type of brain and and there are some advices that they can perform to help themselves based in more in the biological aspect. So mainly it's about nutrition and sleep and, you know, physical aspects. And then I also send them another assessment, which is about the brain areas, the prefrontal cortex, the cingulate charis, the basal ganglia and the emotional brain. So once we have the results, we look at them, we discuss about them, we try to see connected with the objectives and the purpose that they declared in the previous session, what can be done and what they have to focus on. And then in the three last sessions, we really tackle to the update the objectives that they declare to have within, let's say, mid term. So normally I ask them to do focus on either one year or 18 months, and we look at what they can do based on their purpose, their objectives, and their brain type and how their brain areas work. And It is incredible how many things they discover about themselves, how they regain control of the things that they want to do, how they gain clarity about what they want to achieve in all the areas of their life, and they are much happier if, if I may say, right? And to my surprise, they because I really thought that five sessions was was okay. But 80% of them, they always ask, okay, can we have another session in three months? You know? It's just like to kind of reconnect with you and see if everything is okay. And what do I need to redirect if I forgot some some of the new habits that they have to take, because the brain is very clever, you know? And as he consumes up to 35% of all the energy that the body intakes. Um, it is not enough for the brain. If the brain could have more energy, he would take it. So instead of having more because the rest of the body is saying, No way we keep the rest what the brain does is to automatize a lot of aspects of our lives. You know, we have 1000s of thoughts during the day, but we don't think about them. We just perform. And many thing should become to the to the awareness level again, so they can, so they can discuss and think about this. This is what I am doing, really, and that this is beneficial for me or not. You know, starting with the food, for example.   Michael Hingson ** 49:16 So you have people who come to you who may not physically have any issue like ADHD, but they, they feel there is something wrong, and you, you help them by talking about the brain, and you help them looking into themselves and learn about themselves and hopefully become better As a result. Yes,   Flor Pedrola ** 49:40 absolutely, absolutely. I have been doing so many years executive coaching, and I was missing something in my practice, you know. And when I discover this methodology, I was so happy, because for me. But that was the missing point.   Michael Hingson ** 50:03 Yeah, what so carrying that on? What kind of habits should people adopt or bring into their lives to be able to keep their brains functioning at peak capacity?   Flor Pedrola ** 50:21 Well, now I think that everybody talks about the three main aspects about this, and this is, of course, nutrition, because this is the energy that gets into the body and makes it function, right, not only physically, but also mentally um, sleep is key, absolutely key. Because, you know, while we sleep, the brain is much more active than when we are awake, because it has to store all the memories that you have been creating during the day, and it's also washing itself and recovering the pieces that maybe are not going so well. And anyone can can testify. You know one, if you do not sleep properly when you wake up, you have like a cloud in your head, and you are not able to think as as you should. You cannot be as active or proactive as you would like. So nutrition, sleep, exercise, vanishing all the toxins that you can mold is super bad for the brain. And I think that people already know, you know, in my when I look at Instagram, you have so many people, health coaches, life coaches, all doctors, physicians, functional doctors. Everybody is talking about those three things, but I think that the main, the main, key thing that is needed is the will, because you cannot change. You cannot improve if you don't want to so hopefully people realize that something is not good or is not going as good as they wish or as they planned, and this is why they come to me or to other specialists or other coaches to See what they can improve. But there is no transformation if there is no will for that. Yeah, and there in in the in the brain aspect, one thing that also helped a lot to my son was neurofeedback. I don't know if you have heard about it, it's the they put some stuff in your in your head, and these are like electrical signs that keep the brain awake. So one of the things in ADHD is that some connections are lost, and the person looks at the other screen, and the brain is monetized with with a computer, and they see what are the connections that are not working, so they stimulate them. And we have been doing this for two years, and it helped a lot. And I know that this is not only used neurofeedback is not only used for people having brain disorders, but also for people that are doing sports, you know, and at work too. So it's helping in a lot of disciplines. And another thing that helped so much my son was sophology. Have you heard about it? No, okay, so sophology is like a guided meditation.   54:10 Ah, okay,   Flor Pedrola ** 54:14 so the person that was taking care of my son first explored who he was, and then design meditations specifically for him. And that was also amazing. It worked so well, for example, doing visualizations for the exams because my son was terrified by doing exams, and he failed so many times, and he he didn't know how to overcome this problem. And one of my sisters talked to me about a sophologist, and I said, Okay, let's try. You know, we have been trying. So many things, and that worked beautifully. I remember one of the most important exams he had to do before entering at the university was in a building 60 kilometers away from our house, and the sophologist managed to make a visualization for him, and we went to the place he could, he could enter into the building, see the classes. So he got already a lot of information that was taking out anxiety from him. And he passed and he could go to university, I can tell you, he called me by by telephone. I was at the office, and he called me, he said, Mom, I have a future. You know, that was for him, like the big, big pain he could not overcome and fight.   Michael Hingson ** 56:00 I assume there are, there are people who face cognitive challenges at at work, or they they discover that they're starting to experience those what are some early preventative measures, very quickly, if you will, that that people can incorporate if they think that they're discovering cognitive issues at work.   Flor Pedrola ** 56:23 Okay, I would say that the social environment is very important. Okay. Why do I say that? For example, an HD, ADHD child that is living in the countryside who can run and and make a lot of physical movements and don't doesn't have to be seated quiet. He might go through ADHD in a much more healthy way, if I may say so for adults, for example, when there is something that is not going properly, if, if the if the social environment that you have around is a supportive one, and they can make you aware of of this. This is fantastic. Okay, it's all about first awareness, either by yourself, either by the people who loves you, and then communication, it's important to talk about it. If it is a biological problem, like any brain disorders, there will be the need from the work environment to adapt to it. And and I think that many companies, as we were talking about before, are really conscious about it, and they are doing a lot of investments and effort to include these type of profiles.   Michael Hingson ** 57:57 Yeah, let me ask you this, because we're going to have to wrap this up soon. Anyway, if somebody feels they're having some cognitive issues, developing and so on, what kind of message do you have for them? What message do you have for everyone, but especially those who may think that they're facing cognitive kinds of things, I   Flor Pedrola ** 58:18 would always look for a functional doctor, meaning a person who does not look only to what you say that is happening to you, because many times there is some other sources, right? So young people. I have some students that I am taking care of. And some of them, they come and say, Oh, I have such a headache, yes, but maybe the headache is because you are not eating properly, or because you did not rest properly, or because, you know, there are many other things that can happen. So for me, it is so important to go to somebody who has a holistic view of yourself, your habits, the way you live, what you do, and then probably they can direct this person to a specialist, you know, but not decided that, because You have this cognitive impairment during one week that something is terribly wrong and that you have to take this specific medicine, I rather prefer to suggest the person to go to, somebody who can have a general view of who you are, and then try to detect where you have to go.   Michael Hingson ** 59:40 And I think if I were to add to that, the most important thing that I think people should do and can do is to constantly be aware of themselves, and don't be afraid to if you find that something is different than what you expect, doing something about it. Yeah. Yeah,   Flor Pedrola ** 1:00:00 this is what I said, awareness and communication. Yeah. My my grandfather, who was French, he was a veterinarian, and I remember him telling us to all the grandsons and granddaughters, you have to observe yourself. You need to know yourself. You know, observe yourself, always. And yes, awareness,   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:24 it's, it's the most important thing that we can do. And there's no excuse to say, I don't have time. Of course you do, because you are still going to be, ultimately your own if you, if you really work at it. Your own best advocate of what's going on with you, and it's important that you really do deal with that and address it. And if it means going to see a doctor or someone else, then do that well. Flor, I want to thank you for being with us today and talking to us about brain health and and your your coaching world, and what you do if people want to reach out to you and learn more and maybe engage your services. How do they do that?   Flor Pedrola ** 1:01:12 Well, they can go, I mean, the web page is in Spanish, but they can write to me at info, the at braintitude with two t.com's   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:27 spell braintitude Then B, R, A, I, N, yes,   Flor Pedrola ** 1:01:30 double, t, e, t, u, d, e, okay. And I have sent you also the brain type test from Doctor Amen, if anyone wants to just enter into the into the in   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:45 the show notes, right? Yes, and see   Flor Pedrola ** 1:01:47 it, yes, of course.   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:50 Well, I hope people will reach out. It's an important topic. It is something that is absolutely worth everyone thinking about. And so I want to thank you for taking the time to help raise awareness about it, and I'm excited by the work of Dr Amen and the work that will continue to come. And as you said, AI is going to make a big difference. AI has helped in so many ways and being used in a very powerful and positive way. So thank you for being here, and I want to thank all of you for listening. Love to hear your thoughts. Please shoot me an email. Send an email to Michael H, I m, I C, H, A, E, L, H i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I b, e.com, or go to our podcast page, which is w, w, w, dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, Michael hingson is spelled M, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, S O n.com/podcast, wherever you're listening, please give us a five star rating. We really value your reviews and your input, so please do that. We would appreciate it a great deal. If you know anyone else who ought to be a guest and floor as well for you, if you know anyone who we ought to have on as a guest to talk about issues, please let us know. Feel free to provide an introduction. We will respond. And we love to hear from people, and we love to to get people on who want to talk about issues that we all should hear about. So thank you all again for listening and Flor I want to once more. Thank you for being here with us today.   Flor Pedrola ** 1:03:25 Thank you, Michael. Thank you very much. It was a pleasure to talk to   **Michael Hingson ** 1:03:34 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Welcome to Episode 172 of the Different Animals Podcast and this week we talk about Moana 2, Wicked, Hello Neighbor 2, Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight, Yakuza 2, Hadestown, Arcane S2, Only the Brave, Astro's Playroom, and lastly our year end music recaps. This podcast is available on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts and wherever else you catch your podcasts. You can catch us on IG and Twitter @DifAnimalsPod or email us directly at DifferentAnimalsPodcast@gmail.com with any feedback or suggestions. S/O to @Creative.Collin on IG for the dope Artwork. S/O to @EdERuger and @PhilliePhr3sh for the dope theme. Enjoy, and we'll see you in a week. PEACE! This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Welcome to Episode 171 of the Different Animals Podcast and this week we talk about Gladiator 1&2, Wicked, Paul v Tyson, The Penguin, Heretic, Yakuza 1&2, A Real Pain, The Irishman, Tropico 6, PS Portal news, and Kendrick Lamar's surprise album "GNX" This podcast is available on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts and wherever else you catch your podcasts. You can catch us on IG and Twitter @DifAnimalsPod or email us directly at DifferentAnimalsPodcast@gmail.com with any feedback or suggestions. S/O to @Creative.Collin on IG for the dope Artwork. S/O to @EdERuger and @PhilliePhr3sh for the dope theme. Enjoy, and we'll see you in a week. PEACE! This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

S/O to our Brother @TravDave We wish him well as he focuses on taking over the streets on DJ Side!! This week we catch up after missing last week. We talk Durk, Thug, Local food spots and Politics as Usual. As always a look at the Culture from a Midwest POV!!!!

S/O to Ben for being a good sport! BEN FOR PRESIDENT See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dam Internet, You Scary! hosts Patrick Cloud and Tahir Moore break down the disturbing but interesting stories on the internet! Guest: Michael Turner https://www.instagram.com/turnercomedy/ S/O to our Sponsors #sponsored  Blue Chew https://www.bluechew.com Promo Code: DIYS Hello Fresh For FREE breakfast for life go to https://www.HelloFresh.com/freediys. One free breakfast item per box while subscription is active. Mando Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with  @shop.mando and get $5 off off your Starter Pack (that's over 40% off) with promo code DIYS at https://www. shopmando.com #mandopod Join our Patreon now!!  https://www.patreon.com/DamInternetYouScary