Stuff I Learned Yesterday

I loved driver’s ed. What’s not to love, right? Every kid dreams of one day getting behind the wheel and experiencing 4 wheels of freedom. I took drivers ed my sophomore year of high school and I was paired with a guy named Wayne. Wayne was a senior. While I was taking the class so that I could learn how to drive, Wayne was taking the class so that he could get a reduced rate on his insurance. He’d already been driving for a couple of years and didn’t need near the instruction of myself, or anyone else in the class really. This worked out in my favor. On some days in drivers ed we studied state laws, sat through lectures, watched odd and slightly gruesome safety videos, or took tests. On other days we got behind the wheel and drove around town. Of course, my favorite days were the ones when I got to drive, but I really liked the entire class. I did really well on the tests. As far as I can recall, I only ever missed one test question the entire duration of the class. I still remember the question

A couple of years ago I found myself overwhelmed by my schedule. Between work, family, church, my social life, and everything else I found it hard to keep up. I got stressed out and started becoming irritable. I was exhausted. I was talking with a friend about how my schedule was too crowded and I was having a hard time cutting things out so that it could be more manageable. This friend used the phrase plate size to describe a person’s schedule. He also talked about how everyone has their own plate size, some people can handle a lot and some people can’t handle as much. Listen to this episode or read more... The post 108- Something Will Fall Off appeared first on Golden Spiral Media- Entertainment Podcasts, Technology Podcasts & More.

Fatherhood is awesome. Sure, there are moments where it can be difficult and frustrating and scary, but those times are far eclipsed by the moments of joy, fun, enthusiasm, and bonding. One of my favorite things to do is spend time with my kids one-on-one. During these one-on-one times they get my full attention, and I get theirs. Sometimes I’ll take a Saturday morning and take one of my kids to breakfast or lunch. My son, Colby, likes to go to a local restaurant called Colby’s grill. Not only does it share his name, it has great food. My daughter likes to go to a local spot called Around the Corner Restaurant. It’s exactly what you think of when you imagine a small town diner. It’s homey and delicious. Recently, Colby and I have been taking walks together in the evenings. It’s the perfect time of day for a walk as we’ve just finished eating dinner, Bernard is out in the flowerbeds gathering pollen, and the air is cooling more each moment as the sun is dipping lower into the horizon. We step out the

Today’s podcast is all about keeping it real. I’m going to keep it real, and I hope you do to. Okay, let’s start with a test. When I said that today’s episode title was called “The Flowers and the Birds” and then told you about Bernard the bumblebee, did you think that this would be another episode about my flowers? C’mon, be honest. Well, it’s not. Instead, it’s about stress. Stress comes packaged in a lot of different varieties. For example, it comes by being unhappy with a job or relationship. It comes at the loss of income or sudden unexpected expense. It comes with unwanted health news. It even comes with good things like a new job, planning a wedding, the arrival of a baby, or planning a family vacation. The truth is, we can pretty much point a finger at anything and there’s probably a way that it could bring stress into our lives. I wise woman once told me not to worry about the things we can control because we can control them and therefore need not worry about them. That person also told

Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, the first time I saw Forrest Gump I hated it so much I almost walked out of the theater, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I’m pleased to bring you another installment of the Friday Forum. If you have a website that looks like it’s from 1995 or even 2005, you probably realize that your website could use a facelift. You can hire someone like Golden Spiral Media to redesign your website for you and you’ll be glad you did. But if you’re the type that likes to do that sort of thing yourself, we recommend Elegant Themes. The folks at Elegant Themes make world class WordPress template and you can get all of their stuff for the price you’ll pay for a single theme elsewhere. Visit www.goldenspiralmedia.com/elegant and get your website looking good today. Friday Forum Today is the Friday Forum!! In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share contributions from Mik

When I was 9 my parents divorced. A few months later we moved to a small town of about 800 or so people. About a year after that we moved to a house on 5 acres about 2 miles outside of town. Our house was just off of historic Route 66 on the top of a hill. In the winter time we’d occasionally get enough snow to go sledding. There were plenty of kids nearby and we would sled down the snow covered dirt road behind our house. After a couple of years, some of the other kids moved away and new folks moved in. A husband and wife named Mark and Donna moved into one of the houses. The house was nestled at an angle from the dirt road in front of it. The back of the house came right up to a thick grove but the rest of the property was wide open. The property was guarded by a white wooden rail fence with two open spaces to accommodate the circle drive. It had a large front yard with two aged elm trees in the middle of the drive. On the east side of the house was small barn that had been used as a horse pen b

At the ripe old age of 35 I think I know enough about life to know that I’m not fully in control. I am supposedly in control of my thoughts, actions, re-actions, and decisions. But the big question then becomes, why, when I look at my own life, could I not have accurately predicted any of it? Read more and listen to this episode... The post 103- What’s Coming Around The Bend? appeared first on Golden Spiral Media- Entertainment Podcasts, Technology Podcasts & More.

I’ve been called a lot of things in my life: liar, trickster, talented, mean, ornery, arrogant, funny, rude, wise. I’ve also had many titles: manager, director, owner, father, husband, friend, worship leader, student, podcaster. However, over the last few months I’ve been called a couple of things that I didn’t necessarily expect: teacher and storyteller. Teacher is not necessarily a word that has never been associated to my name before. I’ve done things like Bible classes at church, teach podcasting courses, and when I was in high school, I even had thoughts of becoming a teacher one day. However, teacher is not a word that would come to mind immediately if I were asked to describe myself. The word storyteller is a word that I would never have associated with my name. In fact, it never had been associated with me until I started this podcast. Since I began this podcast on March 17, I’ve been called a storyteller at least a dozen times, if not twice that. A few weeks ago we were having dinner with Clin

We eat a Taco Bell a lot. It’s not my favorite place to eat by a long shot, but the rest of my family really loves it. It’s also cheap. A few weeks ago my son and I were out running some errands and we decided to stop in to Taco Bell for lunch. We went inside and there was only one person in line ahead of us. Instead of the line advancing quickly, it. was. slow. The problem was with the cashier. It was clear that she was new. Maybe it was even her first day. The guy in front of me ordered something, and she couldn’t figure out how to put it into the register. She called the manager. The manager came right away and helped her put in the item to the register. She thanked the manager and he walked back to the kitchen area. The customer then ordered something else, and once again, she needed help. She once again called for the manager. The manager came up right away and helped her. She fumbled around with all the buttons on the register but the manager very patiently helped guide her to the right se

Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, my favorite number is 38, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I’m pleased to bring you another installment of the Friday Forum. Today’s featured client is Jim Cumbee. Jim has over 25 years of experience buying and selling small business and uses that experience along with the knowledge he gained while getting his MBA from Harvard to each episode of his weekly podcast, Entrepreneur’s M & A Journal. Each week Jim interviews entrepreneur’s who have built their business up and sold it to a third party. They discuss the challenges and rewards of selling a business, provide unique insight to the listeners, and help educate those who are looking at a merger or acquisition. You can check out Entrepreneur’s M & A Journal at www.tnvalleygroup.com. Friday Forum Today is the Friday Forum!! In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a contribution from Do

There is so much happening all around us every day. I regularly receive comments like, “I could never do that show because I don’t really learn that much.” Or, “I don’t know how you come up with so much stuff to talk about.” Honestly, it is a real challenge on some days, and other days, it just flows out and I’ll have ideas for 2 or 3 episodes all at once. If you’re someone that thinks they aren’t learning anything, I’d like to challenge that. Maybe you aren’t the type to be able to put your life lessons into a story like I do. Maybe the stuff you’re learning doesn’t seem as inspiring, or important, or life changing as my stuff. I don’t know about that. Don’t sell yourself short. What I’ve learned is that because I have put myself in a situation where I MUST come up with stuff to share with you, I’m a lot more aware of stuff around me. Literally everywhere I go, every conversation I have is now viewed through the lens of “what am I learning from this.” That’s not a bad thing. Because I’m more focused

When I was in college I wanted to be a rock star. I was in a band and we were good. We toured around Oklahoma and Texas sometimes playing five shows a week. We had t-shirts, stickers, and two full length CDs. It was a lot of fun, even more work and yes, it got crazy every now and then. I would do it all over again given the chance. Well, I wouldn’t do it again now, but if I had to re-live my younger years I totally would. Read More... The post 98- Living Your Own Life appeared first on Golden Spiral Media- Entertainment Podcasts, Technology Podcasts & More.

A couple of weeks ago my family had dinner with a friend and his family. This is a friend that I worked with at my previous job. I hadn’t spoken with him since I’d left nearly 15 months prior. It was great to see him again. We talked about some of the current geeky movies, our thoughts on the upcoming FOX series, Gotham, and some of the creative projects he was working on on his own time. Of course, it was only a matter of time before the conversation turned to the stuff happening at my former job. Since the time that left, the company hired a new president. They were without a president when I left. When the previous president left, I started reporting to the director of operations. He was and is a great guy, but he didn’t have a lot of knowledge about what my department did. Remember what I told you about my last review back in episode 64? Here’s a recap: At one point I was asked to make a list of ideas [by the previous president]. The ideas could be anything. They wanted ideas on how we could i

Well as I said in the intro, today’s episode is about something that we can never get enough of. Can you guess what it is? No, it’s not bacon, but that’s a good guess. Let me give you a clue. Here’s one way it is defined by Merriam-Webster: knowledge that is gained by having many experiences in life Another definition is: the natural ability to understand things that most other people cannot understand Have you guessed it yet? Here’s a final definition: knowledge of what is proper or reasonable : good sense or judgment By now I’m sure you’ve guessed that today’s topic is wisdom. As I said, we can never get enough of it. Where does wisdom come from? That is, how do we gain wisdom? Does gaining wisdom even matter? Is wisdom the same as knowledge? First off, wisdom and knowledge aren’t the same thing. A wise person once told me that wisdom is the the ability to know how to properly apply knowledge. That is to say, we can have all the knowledge in the world, but if we don’t know what to do with i

Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, I prefer Captain Picard over Captain Kirk , and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I’m pleased to bring you another installment of the Friday Forum. You know what I love? T-shirts. I don’t know who invented them, but I know who has a nearly perfect supply of them: Think Geek. Look, the truth is, when you step out of your house, you need to let the world know that you are a proud geek. One way to do that is to adorn your torso with a Think Geek t-shirt proclaiming your geeky one-uppey of all things Star Wars, Firefly, Iron Man, Lego, Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, Star Trek, classic video games, and other pop culture spoils. Get your 100% cotton geek uniform by visiting www.goldenspiralmedia.com/thinkgeek today! Friday Forum Today is the Friday Forum!! In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a contribution from Angela. You can participate in Friday Forum

I don’t know how many episodes I’ve done on perspective but it’s at least 3. I talk about it frequently because I believe that perspective is vital. Perspective changes everything and it’s almost always mental. I don’t know anyone who is successful in the things that matter that doesn’t have a positive perspective. When I worked at my previous job I had about a 40 minute drive each way to work. If you’re like me, the drive just turns into a blur after a while. I’d pass by the same stuff every day and really not pay any attention to the things and buildings I drove by. Sure, I noticed a few things, but you miss a lot of stuff when you’re passing it by at 70 miles an hour and trying to keep your eyes on the road. One thing that I had noticed was that there were a few American flags along the way. There was a flag at a school, a church, a car repair shop, and at the entrance to a housing addition. There was a small cemetery on the side of the road that I drove past every day. However, one day I noticed

I didn’t learn about the 80/20 principle yesterday, I learned about it a long time ago. But I was recently reminded just how helpful and real this principle still is. It’s just as true now as it was when I first learned about it. The 80/20 principle suggests that 80% of your output comes from only 20% of your effort. To put it in business terms, 80% of your profit comes from the top 20% of your customers. And to apply it to productivity, 80% of your output comes from 20% of your time or effort. Let’s shift from productivity to real life for a moment and then we will link real life back to productivity. Here we go. Read More... The post 93- Applying the 80/20 Principle appeared first on Golden Spiral Media- Entertainment Podcasts, Technology Podcasts & More.

Doorbell, dorknell, Darlene, four-eyes, big ears, dumbo, are those your girlfriend’s glasses, hey Larry Darrell and Darrell, where’s your other brother. Those are just a few of the things kids said to me growing up. I’m sure you can make your own list too. This teasing reality is part of growing up for most kids. Just because it’s normal doesn’t mean it’s easy. Sticks and stones do break bones and words hurt in deep ways too. I’ve always been insecure. It has come a long way over the last 15 years, but it some situations, it’s still very real. As a teenager I struggled with the fact that I was so skinny. I wasn’t very muscular or athletic, I was scrawny. I remember someone once told me that fat would turn into muscle and peanut butter would make you fat. So one day I went to the store and bought a jar of peanut butter and ate on it all day just to try and put on some weight that would maybe turn to muscle. Even throughout my college years I couldn’t seem to put on weight. At the age of 22 I weighed

We went to church fairly regularly when I was a young kid. My parents divorced when I was 9, and we really didn’t go much at all after that. My grandparents went every time the doors were open, so if we stayed the weekend with them, we went to church. Their denomination was the Assemblies of God. The youth program at the Assemblies of God is called Royal Rangers, and it was awesome. For the boys, it was a lot like Boy Scouts. The girls were called Missionettes. They may have been like Girl Scouts, but I really have no idea. As I said, I was pretty young, so I didn’t get to do as much as the older groups did, but we did get to go camping. It was awesome. We’d go out to a campground that was nothing but a blank canvas of earth. We’d set up tents, make a campfire, and cook our food over the fire. We all had mess kits to eat with and I felt like a kid from a century before while we were out there. Partially because I enjoyed the Royal Rangers so much, I wanted to join the Boy Scouts. I wasn’t old e

Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, I once had someone mistake me for her dead son, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I’m pleased to bring you another installment of the Friday Forum. Are you a podcaster or have you ever thought about starting your own podcast? If so, I want to invite you to Podcast Movement. Taking place in Dallas on August 16 & 17, Podcast Movement will be an incredible opportunity for you to network with and learn from some of the best podcasters and teachers. There will be over 40 breakout sessions that will be broken down by beginner sessions and advanced sessions. Featured speakers included Chris Brogan, Cliff Ravenscraft, Jamie Tardie, Rob Cesternino, John Lee Dumas, Cynthia Sanchez, and MANY more. I will be there leading an advanced session on audio editing, and Derek will be there too. If you want to take advantage of early bird pricing, act right now as early bird p