Doing What Works Doing What Works

When someone I admire started a podcast and admitted how much he had to learn, I guessed he wasn’t alone. We tap our producer, Darrell Anderson, for suggestions in this edition of Doing What Works. Darrell hosts a farm show that airs on 240 radio stations across the country, and he’s known for his impeccable editing. Even if you aren’t in the broadcasting (or podcasting!) business, you want to sound your best -- and we can help.

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Joshua Turek recently started the Turek Books Podcast.

The Secret Life of the Unborn Child inspired me to have Darrell read to Katie before she was even born.

Why you might have had difficulty hearing what people were saying if you say Oppenheimer in a theater.

Rick Rubin suggests riding the wave when inspiration hits; Chris Shea compares it to a dye lot.   Anne Lamott suggests you ask yourself, “Why am I talking?”

Life is difficult, and life is scary. We’ll give you a break from that in this edition of Doing What Works.  

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A new way to breathe.

Raise your hand as high as you can.

Jerry Seinfeld practices Transcendental Meditation.

A bicep curl for your brain.

Will you heal faster with a better view from your hospital room?

You’re friends with people whose lives, while different, are on par with yours. You drift out of touch. Decades later and after only a few clicks, you learn they’ve eclipsed you in almost every way. Now what? We tackle that juicy proposition in this edition of Doing What Works.

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Comparison is the thief of joy.

Jealousy is “hostility toward a rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage,” while envy is “painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage.”

If you’re anything like Katie and me you have a low-grade, background anxiety about death. In this edition of Doing What Works we share what helps us in case it helps you. Bonus feature? Never, ever do what Darrell did as a kid. You’ll be sorry!

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Jerry Weintraub said death keeps the rope taut.

In Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie suggested asking a little bird on your shoulder if today is the day you will die.

Barbara Sher said the passage of time drives you crazy when you know you aren’t using it right.  

Elizabeth Gilbert says you can tell who’s living for others by the anguished look on the faces of the others.

It might be helpful when you’re struggling to think, “This is the curriculum.”

Betty White wasn’t afraid to die.

You don’t know what’s going to make you happy until you try it. The job or the relationship that looks good on paper may not feel so great at, say, ten o’clock on a Tuesday. That’s one reason to say yes to more things, so you can get a better feel for more things. Saying yes is a habit and a mindset. If you practice saying yes to smaller things with low stakes, you might find yourself more willing to take bigger risks. That’s what we hope to inspire in this edition of Doing What Works.

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Irresistible author Adam Alter [http://adamalterauthor.com/] was one of Katie’s professors at NYU Stern and “say yes” was his advice.

“I wish I might go back and do the little things you asked me to” is from a poem by Alice E. Chase [https://www.scrapbook.com/poems/doc/860.html] entitled “To My Grown-Up Son.”

Saying “yes” (and “yes, and”) is a rule of improv [https://medium.com/the-improv-blog/the-first-rule-of-improv-is-yes-and-30e5954240d6].

“If you can’t imagine any other explanation for a set of facts, it might be because you are bad at imagining things.” That’s from Dilbert creator Scott Adams [https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays].

“Marriage is a big bet. It’s the only bet of its kind, one in which you say, ‘This feels right; I think I’ll change everything.’” That’s from Jerry Seinfeld [https://www.today.com/popculture/seinfeld-turns-25-read-jerrys-best-real-life-lines-1D79884423].