Derate The Hate

Send Wilk a text with your feedback!Welcome back my friends for episode 21 of our Derate the Hate podcast. Wilk here from WilksWorld.com for another edition of our podcast looking to Better the World One Attitude at a Time! I'll ask again, what have you done today to make the world a better place? What have you done today to make your life a better life?This week 2 things happened in my personal life that really hit home for me because it reiterated the idea that life is way too short to be unhappy, way too short for DRAMA. I don't necessarily want to say that losers are always looking for drama, though that may be the case, but those that are always looking to instigate drama tend to spend an awful lot of time losing. If you don't want to be a loser, and you want to win the hearts and minds of those with whom you disagree, you must go #NoDrama for the win!This week's feel good story starts on one side of the country but involves the other side of our country. How's that you say. A man in New Jersey with aspirations of someday living in California spends time watching San Diego beach cameras on the web. One night, or early morning something special caught his attention. Two men in a mini-van were cleaning the beach and it struck him as something out of the ordinary. He made contact with a local news organization out of San Diego to find out more and thank these guys for what they were doing. It turns out these are 2 homeless men that live in this mini-van with their dog and they clean up after all the beach goers and partiers because they want it to stay beautiful and it's the right thing to do. You can see more about this uplifting story and these 2 extraordinary gentleman, David Hendon and Marc Gervais here.With that I'm going to wrap it up and back on out of here for this week and say, be kind to one another, be grateful for everything you've got, and remember that it is ultimately up to you to make each and every day the day that you want it to be!Please follow us on Facebook, The world is a better place if we are better people. That begins with each of us as individuals. Be kind to one another. Be grateful for all you’ve got. Make every day the day that you want it to be! Please follow The Derate The Hate podcast on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter(X) , YouTube Subscribe to us wherever you enjoy your audio or from our site. Please leave us a rating and feedback on Apple podcasts or other platforms. You can share your thoughts or request Wilk for a speaking engagement on our contact page: DerateTheHate.com/Contact The Derate The Hate podcast is proudly produced in collaboration with Braver Angels — America’s largest grassroots, cross-partisan organization working toward civic renewal and bridging partisan divides. Learn more: BraverAngels.org Welcome to the Derate The Hate Podcast! *The views expressed by Wilk, his guest hosts &/or guests on the Derate The Hate podcast are their own and should not be attributed to any organization they may otherwise be affiliated with.

Send Wilk a text with your feedback!Welcome back my friends! Wilk here from WilksWorld.com with our 20th episode of the Derate the Hate podcast. Wow, I can't believe we've got 20 episodes in the box now and I cannot thank all the listeners enough for all the support. If you have not done so, please subscribe wherever you get your audio, leave us a review or rating and share us with your friends. If you'd like to contact Wilk, look for us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. I'm pretty responsive and look forward to hearing from you!OK, Episode 20, Diversity, of Thoughts and Ideas. So often we hear people talking about diversity and how we need diversity, but it's not the diversity that really matters that they are looking for. Like I talked about in Episode 18, people are always trying to divide us up in to boxes with neat little labels thinking that is diversity, but no, that is not the diversity that really matters. It does not matter what color your skin is, or what sex or place of origin you belong to makes for real diversity. None of that should matter, and to most people these days, it really doesn't. The only diversity that really matters is the diversity of thoughts and ideas.So naturally, one needs to ask themselves why is diversity of thoughts and ideas a big deal? We live in what could be described as the most polarized times in most people living today's lifetime. How did we get here and why? We have gotten to this point because people fear what they don't know. People have become vulnerable and fear ideas that do not coincide with their own and it has lead to much civil unrest, lost relationships and strife among family members. We must get back to the ability to disagree agreeably or we are doomed as a society.What have you done today to make the world a better place? What have you done today to make your life a better life? If you are unable to disagree agreeably with others, and cannot see that diversity of thoughts and ideas is far more important than the diversity those who wish to divide us in to little labeled boxes strive for, you're doing neither.The world is a better place if we are better people. That begins with each of us as individuals. Be kind to one another. Be grateful for all you’ve got. Make every day the day that you want it to be! Please follow The Derate The Hate podcast on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter(X) , YouTube Subscribe to us wherever you enjoy your audio or from our site. Please leave us a rating and feedback on Apple podcasts or other platforms. You can share your thoughts or request Wilk for a speaking engagement on our contact page: DerateTheHate.com/Contact The Derate The Hate podcast is proudly produced in collaboration with Braver Angels — America’s largest grassroots, cross-partisan organization working toward civic renewal and bridging partisan divides. Learn more: BraverAngels.org Welcome to the Derate The Hate Podcast! *The views expressed by Wilk, his guest hosts &/or guests on the Derate The Hate podcast are their own and should not be attributed to any organization they may otherwise be affiliated with.

Send Wilk a text with your feedback!Welcome back my friends for episode 19 of our Derate the Hate podcast. Wilk here again from WilksWorld.com and the week I am talking about what I believe to be the #RealHateSpeech and that is Political Theater.We are living through some of the most politically polarized times in the last 155 years, and I believe that is strongly in part due to the rhetoric spewed by our political class and the main stream media. I call this #PoliticalTheater, The #RealHateSpeech and I believe it's done by design. Instead of trying to unite us on what we all have in common, and the greatness within our country, much of what is spread by the political mouthpieces and their cronies in the main stream media is meant to divide, confuse, and whip people into an emotional frenzy.The Derate The Hate podcast is not meant to be political, and I will always do my best to keep particulars of specific political issues out of here. I reserve my opinions on those types of things for my blog WilksOpinion.com, but I believe that this divisive rhetoric and these demagogic tactics often transcend party lines and it can often be very damaging to our relationships and our country as a whole. This podcast's mission is truly to "Better the World, One Attitude at a Time", and with that said, I hope the point I am trying to make with this episode hits home for someone, or a bunch of someones... Do not let those within the political class and media manipulate your emotions and drive a wedge between you and those you care about like your friends, family and neighbors. This has become an all too often occurrence in these polarized times.In this weeks feel good story, I talk about a gentleman by the name of Brady Libby who was visiting friends at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. He is being awarded the New Hampshire Hero Award for saving Andy Copanas from drowning. Apparently Copanas got in over his head and began struggling when it caught the attention of Libby. His bravery and quick action saved a life proving that "not all heroes wear capes. The world is a better place if we are better people. That begins with each of us as individuals. Be kind to one another. Be grateful for all you’ve got. Make every day the day that you want it to be! Please follow The Derate The Hate podcast on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter(X) , YouTube Subscribe to us wherever you enjoy your audio or from our site. Please leave us a rating and feedback on Apple podcasts or other platforms. You can share your thoughts or request Wilk for a speaking engagement on our contact page: DerateTheHate.com/Contact The Derate The Hate podcast is proudly produced in collaboration with Braver Angels — America’s largest grassroots, cross-partisan organization working toward civic renewal and bridging partisan divides. Learn more: BraverAngels.org Welcome to the Derate The Hate Podcast! *The views expressed by Wilk, his guest hosts &/or guests on the Derate The Hate podcast are their own and should not be attributed to any organization they may otherwise be affiliated with.

Send Wilk a text with your feedback!Welcome back my friends! Wilk here again for episode 18 of the Derate the Hate podcast and this one was inspired by a meme that I recently saw that said something to the effect of: "The divide in this country is not based on race, class, gender or orientation, but it is divided between the wise and the foolish. The foolish are just always looking to divide us up by race, class, gender and orientation", or something like that.I'm calling this episode, Labels, Get out of the Box! There is very little that drives me more crazy than those who are constantly trying to divide everyone up in to little categories, put everyone in a box and then label it, whatever... I am very much my own person and live by a moral compass and set of rules that years of lessons &/or mistakes and the resulting wisdom has set for me. I don't need some politician and their cronies in the media to define who I am, how I should act, what I should think or what have you. Too often nowadays the powers that be are stringently trying to divide us into groups so they can retain power by pandering to whatever "Box" they think will best suit their needs at the time.Get out of the box! Shed whatever label it is that has been placed upon you by someone who has as little regard for you as the junk in their garage. Ignore the blatant attempts at pandering and be your own person. Literally, it's time to think outside the box and remember, it's up to you to make your life the life you want it to be. What have YOU done today to make the world a better place? What have YOU done today to make YOUR life a better life? Someone pandering to you because they have put you in a box with a pretty little label is not going to do it so it's up to you!In this week's feel good story, I came across a neat little outfit in Burlington, VT that is helping to feed those in need in a different way. You may have heard about the Free Little Libraries where folks put up a little stand in their yards and people drop off books and pick up books as they'd like to for free. Well, in Burlington a group called the One Good Deed Fund has set up multiple sites throughout the county where people can get or drop of food 24 The world is a better place if we are better people. That begins with each of us as individuals. Be kind to one another. Be grateful for all you’ve got. Make every day the day that you want it to be! Please follow The Derate The Hate podcast on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter(X) , YouTube Subscribe to us wherever you enjoy your audio or from our site. Please leave us a rating and feedback on Apple podcasts or other platforms. You can share your thoughts or request Wilk for a speaking engagement on our contact page: DerateTheHate.com/Contact The Derate The Hate podcast is proudly produced in collaboration with Braver Angels — America’s largest grassroots, cross-partisan organization working toward civic renewal and bridging partisan divides. Learn more: BraverAngels.org Welcome to the Derate The Hate Podcast! *The views expressed by Wilk, his guest hosts &/or guests on the Derate The Hate podcast are their own and should not be attributed to any organization they may otherwise be affiliated with.

Send Wilk a text with your feedback!Welcome back my friends, Wilk here from Wilksworld.com and in episode 17 I am discussing the sadness that is the way that some people are treating others in and on social media sites.We all know the kind, those #KeyboardWarriors that we all know about, those that say the most vile and savage things to people they know they will never meet. It is my opinion that most of these members of what I call the Basement Dwelling Bedwetter Brigade are unfortunately unable, or have traditionally in most cases been those that were likely picked on and bullied most of their lives and were never really able to stick up for or never had the courage to stand up for themselves.The dumpster fire known as social media has given these #keyboardwarriors a forum to take their  swing, get a punch in because they've never been able to do it in real life and what better time to do it than when your "opponent" is someone who you'll never have to really interact with in real life, right? These folks are in fact hurting and miserable people that want everyone else to be as miserable as they are, so what do hurt people do, they hurt people.In this weeks feel good story I talk about a gentleman out of Alabama by the name of Rodney Smith that started a movement called the 50 Yard Challenge where he inspires and encourages youngsters from ages 7 to 17 to go out and mow 50 lawns for free as part of this challenge. Rodney has inspired upwards of 1000 young people to start this challenge and he has personally traveled to around 25 states to give those who have completed the challenge a special gift. This is a special man making special things happen, way to go Rodney! (Read more here)As always, please subscribe to the Derate The Hate podcast wherever you get your audio, leave us a review from a desktop or laptop computer, share us with your friends any way you can and above all, when you get back out there, be kind to one another, be grateful for everything you've got, and make each and every day the day that you want it to be...The world is a better place if we are better people. That begins with each of us as individuals. Be kind to one another. Be grateful for all you’ve got. Make every day the day that you want it to be! Please follow The Derate The Hate podcast on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter(X) , YouTube Subscribe to us wherever you enjoy your audio or from our site. Please leave us a rating and feedback on Apple podcasts or other platforms. You can share your thoughts or request Wilk for a speaking engagement on our contact page: DerateTheHate.com/Contact The Derate The Hate podcast is proudly produced in collaboration with Braver Angels — America’s largest grassroots, cross-partisan organization working toward civic renewal and bridging partisan divides. Learn more: BraverAngels.org Welcome to the Derate The Hate Podcast! *The views expressed by Wilk, his guest hosts &/or guests on the Derate The Hate podcast are their own and should not be attributed to any organization they may otherwise be affiliated with.

Send Wilk a text with your feedback!Welcome back my friends! Wilk here again from WilksWorld.com with Episode 16 of our #DerateTheHate podcast talking about not only making good memories, but more importantly, sharing those good times in life on Facebook so when they pop up as memories one, two or several years down the road, you have something good to look back on instead of all the negativity.We may be living through some of the most turbulent times in human history, and my beautiful wife made a fantastic point the other day in a post on Facebook. As anyone who is a regular listener knows, or who has read some of my blog at WilksOpinion.com, I oftentimes refer to social media as a dumpster fire of Hate, Lies and Misinformation. My wife's post  from the other day speaks for itself and read as follows:"My little guy!...where does the time go?  I love these memories and posts that remind me of times years ago and looking back on them.He is now 11 and, right now, is with his scout patrol working on balloon rockets in the park. While I sit here and watch the young man I’m raising, and watching other families playing with their children, I can’t help but be thankful for theses little reminders that pop up every day.  There is a reason I don’t post anything about our current state of affairs, political and/or virus related.  I see my own relatives and friends going fist for fist arguing about who is right or wrong and why. I frankly can’t stand it and I don’t even look at their posts anymore.  A year from now, two years, five..I want to see memories with my children, my husband and my family. I look forward to these memories and posts year to year!   Are you looking forward to yours?"With that I'm going to say, when you can get back out among each other, be kind to one another, be grateful for everything you've got, and make each and every day the day that you want it to be! We'll catch you next week...The world is a better place if we are better people. That begins with each of us as individuals. Be kind to one another. Be grateful for all you’ve got. Make every day the day that you want it to be! Please follow The Derate The Hate podcast on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter(X) , YouTube Subscribe to us wherever you enjoy your audio or from our site. Please leave us a rating and feedback on Apple podcasts or other platforms. You can share your thoughts or request Wilk for a speaking engagement on our contact page: DerateTheHate.com/Contact The Derate The Hate podcast is proudly produced in collaboration with Braver Angels — America’s largest grassroots, cross-partisan organization working toward civic renewal and bridging partisan divides. Learn more: BraverAngels.org Welcome to the Derate The Hate Podcast! *The views expressed by Wilk, his guest hosts &/or guests on the Derate The Hate podcast are their own and should not be attributed to any organization they may otherwise be affiliated with.

Send Wilk a text with your feedback!Welcome back my friends to the Derate the Hate Podcast! I am Wilk from WilksWorld.com and this is Episode 15, which is actually the 4th and final episode in a series we are doing on the book by Dr. Stephen Covey, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People".In Episodes 12, 13 and 14, I went through Habits one through five, so if you missed those episodes, please step back and check those out. In this episode, I finish this series by discussing Habit 6, "Synergize" and Habit 7, "Sharpen the Saw".Habits 1 through 3 are really interpersonal habits that one must work on within themselves to truly be fulfilled and effective. Habits 3 through 6 are outward habits are then what it takes to become effectively interdependent with others.Habit 6, synergize, depends highly upon and works in complete conjunction with habits 4 and 5. To properly synergize, one must "Think Win Win" and "Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood". Synergize is the art of coming up with a common solution that is not a compromise, but a solution that is better than the sum of it's parts.Habit 7 is then "Sharpening the Saw". There are 4 dimensions to one's being. 1.) Mental 2.) Physical 3.) Social and 4.) Spiritual... All are different but vitally important. Sharpening the saw is basically working on and "exercising" each of these dimensions on a regular basis in order to stay "sharp". Dr. Covey does a great job of emphasizing the importance of "Sharpening the Saw".In this week's feel good story, I talk about a young man, a Boy scout, in East Liverpool, OH that stopped to help a deputy that was trying to remove a fallen tree from a roadway. As this Boy Scout Justin Tatsch said, "Boy Scouts should do good deeds daily".That will wrap up episode 15 of the Derate the Hate podcast. As you are able, or when you are out among each other, please be kind to one another, be grateful for everything you've goThe world is a better place if we are better people. That begins with each of us as individuals. Be kind to one another. Be grateful for all you’ve got. Make every day the day that you want it to be! Please follow The Derate The Hate podcast on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter(X) , YouTube Subscribe to us wherever you enjoy your audio or from our site. Please leave us a rating and feedback on Apple podcasts or other platforms. You can share your thoughts or request Wilk for a speaking engagement on our contact page: DerateTheHate.com/Contact The Derate The Hate podcast is proudly produced in collaboration with Braver Angels — America’s largest grassroots, cross-partisan organization working toward civic renewal and bridging partisan divides. Learn more: BraverAngels.org Welcome to the Derate The Hate Podcast! *The views expressed by Wilk, his guest hosts &/or guests on the Derate The Hate podcast are their own and should not be attributed to any organization they may otherwise be affiliated with.

Send Wilk a text with your feedback!Welcome back my friends for episode 14 of the Derate the Hate podcast which is actually part 3 of a mini-series I am doing on Dr. Stephen Covey's, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". In part three, I go in to habits 4 & 5 which are "think win, win" and "seek first to understand, then to be understood".Habits 4 & 5 go very much hand and hand, and a perfect example of a complete failure of these 2 habits is the current political climate. A win, win mentality, Habit 4,  is the concept that 2 parties in a negotiation look for some type of common ground in which both parties come out the winner or a 3rd option known as "win, win or no deal" is the result. Dr. Covey does a much better job of giving an in-depth explanation of the concept, or habit of win, win, but it is essential in successful negotiations if both parties are to come out of a negotiation feeling satisfied and accomplished.Habit 5, "seek first to understand, then to be understood" goes very much hand in hand, and is essential in accomplishing the win, win in a negotiation. Imagine going in to each negotiation and saying to the other party, "let's see if we can come to a win,win result in our negotiations, does that sound ok with you?", (they would likely say yes), then you'd say, "I would like you to start, and I want to be totally clear on your position before I begin, would that be OK?". Can you imagine how much differently the negotiations may go?I've said if before and I'll say it again, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" is a life changing book and a must read for everyone who wants to better their life. Next week we will continue and conclude our mini-series when I discuss habits 6 & 7. For this week's feel good story, we have to go way back in the waThe world is a better place if we are better people. That begins with each of us as individuals. Be kind to one another. Be grateful for all you’ve got. Make every day the day that you want it to be! Please follow The Derate The Hate podcast on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter(X) , YouTube Subscribe to us wherever you enjoy your audio or from our site. Please leave us a rating and feedback on Apple podcasts or other platforms. You can share your thoughts or request Wilk for a speaking engagement on our contact page: DerateTheHate.com/Contact The Derate The Hate podcast is proudly produced in collaboration with Braver Angels — America’s largest grassroots, cross-partisan organization working toward civic renewal and bridging partisan divides. Learn more: BraverAngels.org Welcome to the Derate The Hate Podcast! *The views expressed by Wilk, his guest hosts &/or guests on the Derate The Hate podcast are their own and should not be attributed to any organization they may otherwise be affiliated with.

Send Wilk a text with your feedback!Welcome back my friends! In this episode of the Derate the Hate podcast, the 2nd in a mini-series on the book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Dr. Stephen Covey, I am giving a brief overview of habits 1 and 2. I am Wilk from WilksWorld.com, and as I've stated on more than plenty of occasions, my life would not be what it is without this book by Dr. Covey.In Episode 12 I talked about the first habit, being proactive, and gaining the understanding that we as individuals have the power to react to the circumstances in our life. We are responsible, "able" to choose how we "respond" to the things we face in life and it is up to us, as individuals to make the best of the situations we are presented with.In this episode, we briefly venture in to habits 2 and 3 of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" Habit 2 can be thought of as the Leadership habit, "Begin with the End in Mind". I talk about a visualization exercise that Dr. Covey uses when explaining habit 2. Habit 2 involves developing a mission statement, a personal value system for your life by which you will live today with the ultimate goal of excellent things. Leadership and management are very different things, and beyond of the scope of this single podcast, but Dr. Covey does a fantastic job of differentiating the 2 in his book.Habit 3 is then the management habit. "Put First Things First". Imagine a square, separated into 4 quadrants, the top left being urgent and important, the top right being important but not urgent, the bottom left being urgent but not important and finally the bottom right being not urgent and not important. By gaining an understanding of this graphic, you begin to understand that quadrant one isThe world is a better place if we are better people. That begins with each of us as individuals. Be kind to one another. Be grateful for all you’ve got. Make every day the day that you want it to be! Please follow The Derate The Hate podcast on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter(X) , YouTube Subscribe to us wherever you enjoy your audio or from our site. Please leave us a rating and feedback on Apple podcasts or other platforms. You can share your thoughts or request Wilk for a speaking engagement on our contact page: DerateTheHate.com/Contact The Derate The Hate podcast is proudly produced in collaboration with Braver Angels — America’s largest grassroots, cross-partisan organization working toward civic renewal and bridging partisan divides. Learn more: BraverAngels.org Welcome to the Derate The Hate Podcast! *The views expressed by Wilk, his guest hosts &/or guests on the Derate The Hate podcast are their own and should not be attributed to any organization they may otherwise be affiliated with.

Send Wilk a text with your feedback!Welcome back my friends for Episode 12 of the Derate the Hate podcast. Episode 12 will be the start of a series of episodes dedicated to the book by Dr. Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I am Wilk from WilksWorld.com, and every thing I do with this podcast is done with the intention of Bettering the World, One Attitude at a Time. Bettering the world begins with bettering one's self, and I truly would not be who I am or have the life I do without having read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.In this episode, I discuss the first of the seven habits, Be Proactive. Being proactive comes with maturity and the ability to be responsible. Dr. Covey explains "responsible" in a bit of a different way than most people think of the definition, he breaks it down in to two parts. Being able to effectively choose your response to whatever life throws at you. Once you become "able" to "respond" effectively in a mature way, you are on your way to being proactive and making mature, value based decisions.Like much of what I talk about in the Derate The Hate podcast, being able to make mature, value based logical decisions works out far better in most all scenarios than emotion based reactions. One's life is largely based on the actions and decisions they make, not the actions of others as some would have you believe. When someone is constantly told they are a victim or somehow oppressed, they begin to feel powerless and fall in to a toxic cycle of not trying, or ignoring opportunities to better their lot in life. Being proactive is taking back the power, coming to the realization that being able to choose how to responThe world is a better place if we are better people. That begins with each of us as individuals. Be kind to one another. Be grateful for all you’ve got. Make every day the day that you want it to be! Please follow The Derate The Hate podcast on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter(X) , YouTube Subscribe to us wherever you enjoy your audio or from our site. Please leave us a rating and feedback on Apple podcasts or other platforms. You can share your thoughts or request Wilk for a speaking engagement on our contact page: DerateTheHate.com/Contact The Derate The Hate podcast is proudly produced in collaboration with Braver Angels — America’s largest grassroots, cross-partisan organization working toward civic renewal and bridging partisan divides. Learn more: BraverAngels.org Welcome to the Derate The Hate Podcast! *The views expressed by Wilk, his guest hosts &/or guests on the Derate The Hate podcast are their own and should not be attributed to any organization they may otherwise be affiliated with.