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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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#44) Handling Anger

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Hello, and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Today I'm going to talk to you about anger, and I'll be honest. This is a difficult topic for me -- probably one of my biggest struggles in my life. I haven't quite figured it all out, but I can relate what I've learned so far. My biggest problem is that I'm naturally a kind-hearted person. I usually try to avoid conflict. I'm always smiling. I'm listening to people, and talking with them. I'm cracking all kinds of funny jokes, and I make people laugh -- almost to an annoying degree. And people tell me frequently that I'm the happiest person they've ever seen. It would surprise people to know that in actuality, I get angry all the time, and often it's at the littlest things. And I'm not exactly sure why this is the case. One thing I do know ... all that smiling, laughing, and cracking jokes isn't a facade. That is the real me. That is, I'm not hiding anyth
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#43) Are You Worthy?

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Hello, and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Yes, I know. It's been quite some time since I've posted a video -- I'll explain what's been going on in my world, but first, I want to talk about ... you. In these videos, I tend to use the words "we" and "us" a lot. This is intentional, because I like to remind you AND me that WE are in this together. It's not just YOU being a better person, but rather, ME as well. But for the first video of this year, I'm going to concentrate on YOU. I'm going to ask some questions, and I'd like for you to consider your answers. And I'm going to ask at the end: "Are you worthy?" Though, I should probably clarify first that my good friend Barth will not be making an appearance today, <Barth appears on camera, but then becomes disappointed.> Maybe he'll come back later. We'll see. But one thing I've learned last year is that not everyone wants t
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