Always Be Better

Hello, and welcome to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. After a three-month break, I'm back and ready to put together 20 more videos this year. You may notice a little bit of an upgrade from last time. I have a new microphone, and for the first time ever, I'm mastering the recording, so hopefully you can enjoy listening to my voice a little better. Also -- what about that new theme song? I'm showing off some new tricks I've learned over 2021. I hope you like the new improvements, and yes -- I know, it could always be better, but we're getting there. So, I welcome you to join me, now, as we look back to 2021 -- the first year of this series -- 30 videos. I've covered topics on logic, science, the mind, our autopilots, an introduction to the 7 Habits, religion, and even debt. I've shared a few of my favorite books, and a couple of times I just talked. And that was just the beginning. For those of you seeing this for the first time, this series: ...

Hello and welcome to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Today, this is the last video of the year, so I'm going to try to do this without any script. Well, I have this wish list that I want to read to you at the end, but other than, no script. We'll see what happens. And, for those of you who haven't seen any of my videos yet: what I've done this year is I've produced this series of videos that starts to lay down a foundation where we can all become better people. It's a totally new thing I'm trying, and so far it's been a blast. And now I'm going to finish out the year with a total of 30 videos. (That's kind of a lot.) So, I just want to talk with you guys.  I think something that captures what I want to say was something that happened to me earlier today. I was here working. I work from home, and it was a pretty stressful day. I was trying to get this code to work, but it just kept breaking. And it was also kind of warm outside, an...

Hello and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Today, we're going to learn how to use other people's autopilots. You're probably wondering what that means. Before we start, make sure that you've already watched my first two videos on this subject, so you can learn what an autopilot is, and how you can use your own effectively. And then you can come back here to continue. The Human Autopilot? How to Use Out Autopilot I'll give you five seconds to comply. Okay, let me show you how this works. Hey -- what's happening over at the piano? Cut to an empty piano where Jonathan appears out of nowhere. He starts practicing. What's happening in here? He's practicing the piano. He's programming his autopilot. He's doing kind of good, isn't he? Well, what would happen if I did this? I reach over Jonathan and start flapping his arms. He hits notes randomly and out of control. Okay, I'm going to let go now! Watch what happens!...

  Hello, and welcome back to Always Be Better with Mel Windham. Today we're going to be talking about logic puzzles. If you've been following along, I've been teaching fundamental concepts of logic. And I suggest if you haven't already, take a look -- here is the series so far in logic. Or, if you feel adventurous you can go ahead and keep watching and see what you already know about logic. Well let's hop right in. Who's ready for some logic puzzles? The logic puzzle demo is very visual, so watching the video is strongly recommended. What follows is a summary of the principles taught during the video. We can go to  https://logic.puzzlebaron.com  to play random logic grid puzzles. We can then choose a grid size: 3 x 4 means 3 characteristics and 4 items. And then choose a difficulty level: Easy / Moderate / Challenging In each puzzle we try to match up each of the characteristics with the correct items. The Story can provide an overview, but they are not necessar...

Hello, and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Today I'm going to tell you a true story from my own life -- a success story -- my own fifteen minutes of fame -- one of my fondest memories that I've told very few people. This happened back in the summer of 1986 when I was a teenager attending the Governor's Honors Program in Valdosta, Georgia. That was six weeks of intense instruction, projects, and lots of fun. Only the best of the best were chosen from all over the state, and I was one of them. I wrote about it in my daily journal, capturing much of what occurred. And reading it, I've noticed two things. #1) This experience changed my life. My attitude as a whole after the experience was entirely different and full of much more direction. And #2) 90% of what I wrote during the Program concerned my interactions with the people -- the friends I met -- the girls I chased. So yes. While I learned things, I also lived it up. People who know me i...

Hello and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. You may have noticed that I've been taking a little break. I just have a lot going on -- the music business is picking up again, and I must reassess my expectations. So, I've decided to slow down this video series -- just a little -- and give you a total of 30 videos this year instead of 36. I'm hoping this will result in better quality videos as well in the long run. We'll eventually get through everything I've planned. Today we will continue on with the 7 Habits track. If you would like to watch these videos from the beginning, you can start here , but today's concept is a good standalone one. Introduction to P/PC Balance Throughout his whole book, Stephen Covey refers to something called the P and PC Balance. But what does that mean? It's all about effectiveness. Covey explains with an Aesop's fable of the Golden Egg. In this story, a man is about to lose his farm but one day h...

Hello and welcome back to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham. Today we're going to talk about our own personal autopilot. Before we begin, make sure that you've first watched this video where I introduced the concept. Once you learn what the autopilot is, you can return to this video to learn how to use it. Okay -- let's jump right in. #1) Program Our Autopilot First, we will learn how to program our autopilot. [Mel appears at the piano] Okay, here we are, back at the piano again, and this time I remembered my tux! So, let me show you. I'm currently practicing Chopin's 8th Etude, and I've broken it up into two stages. Stage 1 is Wrist Training and Memorization. So, I've taken the notes of the etude, and I've written them in blocks. Here's the first block. [Mel play first block.] My next block. Now let me just play the blocks for you so you can hear what it sounds like. [Mel plays a few measures of blocks.] Okay. Now, I will also play this...