The Troubadour Podcast

Send us a textOn this mini episode I read the classic Ogden Nash Christmas poem about the mischievous Jabez Dawes. Don't be an uncivil mean little brute like boy Dawes!

Send us a textWe all know that person. That person, who, no matter what you do, they just will not stop smiling!Brad Beck is one of those people. He's a career salesman, and he's made a mantra out of optimism. In fact he changed his title from "National Sales Manager" to Director of YES! And that really speaks to the soul of Brad Beck.Brad and I are not psychologists any more than we are literature experts. We're salesmen. We may not have all the theory, but Brad has spent a great career as a full time salesman, and he'll tell you that no character trait is more important to a salesperson than optimism.In fact, he believes it's the most important traits in humans. This is where we have a great conversation about optimism, what it is, how to use it, but most importantly, when you should be negative. We discussed the value of negative emotions and the danger of being overly optimistic.This was a fun one for me and I hope you enjoy it too!

Send us a textFeminists today are attacking one of my favorite songs. They are also making up nonsensical words like "rapey."In this conversation my friend Amy Chou and I converse with both the song Baby it's Cold Outside and the classic poem by William Blake "The Garden of Love."Feminists should stay away from this one.

Send us a textPoem: "Gunga Din" By Rudyard KiplingGunga Din is a "blackfaced crewman" who brings water to British troops in "Injia" If any of those words seemed racist and offend you, by god you had better run for the hills! That is only the beginning. Just Google these two words "Racist Poetry," And Gunga DIn is one of the top poems selected by El Google.If words can "trigger" someone and make them uncomfortable or even violent, then almost all of the words in literature and poetry must be condemned. This is a poem that may trigger some people. It may make you uncomfortable. But progress by its nature requires discomfort. We cannot grow our muscles by sitting in a locked room staring at a wall and protecting our arms "The metal is too harsh!"In this story, a soldier tells the tale of a water bearer he met in India, while the British soldiers were battling some native savages. Go on the journey of discovery with this soldier as he begins to question his own assumptions. Perhaps, you will question yours too.

Send us a textToday my friend Chase Abendschein and I talk about the poem The Road Not Taken, which is one of those poems that people who know a little bit about poetry love to school others on. "ACTUALLY that poems is about..." Chase is a salesmen, like a super salesman. He works in global enterprise sales, meaning he sells to major major corporations. But he loves this poem and he enjoys poetry. He's not trained in it, as I'm not trained in it. So we go off on some ridiculous tangents that I hope you'll enjoy.The HighlightsBelly ScratchersBilly Goats, Beers, and kissing babes at the tops of mountainsFree will and DeterminismChris Farley and Patrick Stewart (?) on SNLAnton Chigurh and Twoface from "No Country For Old Men," and "The Dark Knight"Bananas and strippersThe narrative voice of Robert FrostThe life choices we make and how to feel good about themBill Bradley and Bill Braskey (SNL again...)And throughout we are conversing with the verse by Robert Frost.Lots of fun and ridiculousness peppered with deep insights about an iconic poem.Enjoy!

Send us a textToday's poem is Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress. In the midst of these sexual allegations and confessions we should as men and women take a step back and remember that words must serve as the basis of seduction. Not Power, Cars, Cash, Clothes and Casa. Men should use words to persuade a woman to sleep with them. The best purveyor of words are the poets. How, then, do great poets go about trying to get laid.Listen in.

Send us a textWe all know the story "The Emperor's New Clothes." It's meant to illustrate the vanity of human desires and the problem with excessive pride. In our daily lives we may experience a moment when we realize our boss or, heaven forbid, we are not wearing any clothes. We believe something that isn't real. We believe the idea for a new business marketing plan is great, but it's really a waste of time. We believe that perfect couple is perfect, merely from a social media post. We know the truth. But no one wants to admit it. Children will. Children can be uncomfortably truthful (the younger the more so). Why does it take a child to point out how obviously nude the emperor is? And how can we nurture that independent thinking, truthfulness, and connection to reality as a child matures and becomes more socialized?That's the subject of our conversation today. Jesse McCarthy, author of the upcoming book Montessori Education, is an expert in child development. He received his B.A. in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and his Montessori teacher's diploma for 3- to 6-year-olds from the Montessori Institute of San Diego (MISD). Jesse has worked with thousands of children, teachers, and parents through the years, as an elementary & junior-high school teacher, as a Head of School overseeing programs for infants to 8th graders, and as an executive helping to lead a group of over a dozen Montessori schools.Listen in as we converse with the verse in this (my favorite so far) podcast episode: The Emperor's New Clothes.

Send us a textHow will you be remembered? Men like Paul Revere and Gary Vaynerchuk understand the importance of legacy, because they understand the power of TIME. Time will take us all eventually. By experiencing the ravishes of time, as one would experience a war, we can better come to order our daily lives, now. But first you must answer the question. Are you pursuing a legacy or prestige?

Send us a textHave you ever believed yourself to be SOOOO right only to find out you were SOOOO wrong. Then you're a cookie thief.Sean Doherty is worried about Cookie Thieves and you should be too! Sean's the Business Development manager for a major fashion brand in Hong Kong (68).Listen to a modern poem about how oblivious we can be about how wrong we are. And then listen as Sean and I converse with the verse.

Send us a textWhy does the best selling book on how to build wealth have numerous poems in it?Wherever you start in life, you have the power to program your subconscious mind, according to Hill. But what he doesn't explain is how you can do that.In this episode, I converse with the verse by Walter Winkle "If you Think You Are Beaten," which is included in chapter 3 of Hill's book. And I explain HOW you can program your own subconscious mind through auto-suggestion.