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#50) Circle of Influence

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Hello, and welcome to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. It's been a while, but I'm back. My 50th topic will be on our Circles of Influence, by far one of my favorite items from the 7 Habits, and the source of much of my success. Think back to the last few weeks -- a major election here in the US. When the results were announced, half of us were ecstatic, and the other half of us were shocked and depressed. We knew it was coming -- it would only be a matter of which candidate would win. Now that it's all over, do you remember what came next? If you're anything like me, your life probably continued on as it had been before. I had a day of reaction, and then ... well ... I had work to do, and it was time to get busy again. Because when it comes down to it, each of us really can't do anything about these types of big items. There is certainly a lot we can worry about. Nuclear war, poverty, foreign threats, stock market crashes, immigration concerns, elect...
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#49) Flipping Pennies

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[Note about this transcript -- it is approximately the same as what is said in the video -- the same material is covered, though the video might be more fun to watch.] [Mel starts at the white board, writing notes as he goes along.] Hello, and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Today we're going to do something fun ... an experiment. But first, during this exciting election year, let's consider a claim from the 2020 election. From 1980 to 2016 (10 elections), there were 19 counties that successfully voted for the candidate who won the presidency. That is, they all voted for Reagan in the 80s, then Bush Senior, Clinton, W Bush, Obama, and finally Trump in 2016. An amazing feat. These are called bellwether counties, because they seem to "predict" the national outcome. Perhaps they are purple and more sensitive to the overall national trends -- nobody quite knows what makes these counties so special. They're just really good at picking t...
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#48) A Walk in the Park

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TRANSCRIPT (Note: In prior episodes, I've spent way too much time getting the words here to match exactly what's on the video, but it's not really worth it. So, this is an approximate transcript. I strive to deliver the same message, whether you watch the video or read these words ... I would only suggest not doing both at the same time.) Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Today I'm at C. G. Hill Park on this beautiful cold President's Day, just a couple of miles away from home. Hey, want to see something cool? Come over this way. [Head over front of a big tree.] This large poplar tree has a hole so big, you can hide things in it. Let's see what this sign says. Older than Columbus. Got struck by lightning. You can hide cows in there. It's called the Loving Tree. Cool. Hey, camera lady -- wanna try out this tree? Picture by Michael C. Wilcox  HMdb.org [Cut to the big hole in the tree.] Here it is...
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#47) Visiting Wieners and Losers

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Following is the transcript for the above video. As this installment relies heavily on visual hijinks, I highly recommend watching instead of reading. But for those of you who prefer the written word ... here you go ... [Episode starts in the usual Mel's Desk setting.] Hello and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Today I have a treat. We're going to check out a local small business called Wieners and Losers, something you've got to see to believe. We're going to talk with the owner and get a small tour. And as usual, you'll never know what's going to happen. I'd say more, but why talk when we can hurry up and get there? [Mel gets up and walks away from the camera. He's wearing sweats below his nice shirt. He turns to the camera.] Wait a minute -- I can't go looking like this. [His clothes magically change to a Wieners and Losers shirt.] Well, that's more like it! Okay. Let's go. [He runs out the door. He gets in m...
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#46) Fifteen More Minutes of Fame

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Hello, and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. In this installment, I will continue my Fifteen Minutes of Fame story where I literally had fifteen minutes of fans surrounding me, asking for autographs, and all that good stuff. If you haven't seen it, I strongly recommend giving it a view. If you skip this first story, you might not get the full effect of the follow up I'm about to deliver. I'll give you 5 seconds to think about it. Here's some random whole-scale mood music while we wait. <5 seconds of random whole-scale mood music> Okay, here we go -- for those of you who have already watched, here's a quick summary. I went to the Georgia Governor's Honors Program. Mr. H told me I was the worst composer to ever grace the program. I proceeded to compose a violin/piano Fantasy, which received the ONLY standing ovation in all recitals of the whole six week program. Then Mr. H stopped my piece from being played in the Honors Recit...
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#45) Introducing Win/Win

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Hello, and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Do you ever get frustrated at work? Not getting paid enough? Other people getting promoted or winning awards, but not you? No bonuses for all your hard work? Nobody listening to you and sometimes even telling you to shut up? Customers treating you poorly? If so, then you might just be interested to learn about Win/Win: a paradigm of success. You can probably guess what it means: in a nutshell, this means: "I Win, and You Win." The best way to fully understand what this means is to first learn what it isn't. This is exactly how Stephen Covey teaches this concept in his 7 Habits . And I'll do the same here: I'll teach you four alternative paradigms and then we'll come back to Win/Win at the end. Win/Lose The first paradigm is Win/Lose. This is the most prevalent paradigm in our society. "I Win, and You Lose." Think of any athletic event. One team is going to win, and the other te...
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