Man Overseas Q&A, Dealing with Rejection, Evil Reveals Itself

Merry Christmas! In this 10th and probably last solo episode of 2024, I start by talking about business & politics, since the two intersect in ways we often overlook.

I also discuss losing 7 years’ worth of readers & listeners during my eight-month hiatus. There were lessons learned from that experience.

The value of prayer & meditation in managing your thoughts and emotions is understated. I share how they’ve helped me to navigate a rollercoaster year.

And to wrap things up, I answer some of the “fun” questions I’ve asked my past guests—turning the tables on myself for a change.

Other topics covered in this episode include:

• Axios survey: Dems more likely to reduce family time over politics
• How prejudice ends when meaningful interaction begins
• Daryl Davis convincing Ku Klux Klan members to leave through interaction
• Challenges of questioning long-held beliefs and changing one’s worldview
• Government Gangsters by Kash Pramod Patel
• FBI’s political targeting & historical parallels
• Dangers of prosecuting political opponents with every change in power
• What happens when geniuses start reading Omnibus Continuing Resolution bills
• Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
• Inflation Reduction Act
• Political strategies to mitigate the impact of inflation
• The middle-class was a top concern for the Biden administration
• Societal acceptance of violence & normalization of extreme actions
• Historical atrocities shaping modern understanding of evil
• Inability of people to understand societal issues without firsthand experience
• Why values & prior experience should guide your response in critical moments
• My last article about journeying into language learning
• Starting language learning at a young age
• Using criticism & boos as motivation
• The opposite of love is not hate
• Dealing with rejection after losing a deal you expected to close
• The importance of knowing who your competitors are
• Processing emotions instead of suppressing them when faced with rejection
• The importance of being objective after a failure/rejection
• How to get candid feedback after a deal falls through
• Getting attached to something you really want to happen
• “Finding more cheese” after failure
• Negative vs positive feedback
• Controlling your thoughts & emotions
• Transcendental Meditation (TM)
• Massive benefit to prayer that nobody talks about
• Training the mind through prayer & meditation
• Trying to get famous
• Growing my audience
• Benefits of having a virtual assistant (VA)
• Plans to hold a retreat overseas with my coaching group
• The need for young people to seek constructive criticism
• The value of studying yourself
• Encouraging feedback in various aspects of life
• Reintroducing oral exams to improve real-world skills
• Dealing with blind spots in awareness
• Developing your personality through self-awareness
• How changing personal habits can lead to personality changes
• The impact of habits like writing on personal-development
• Answering fun questions that I used to ask on the podcast
• Why my girl refers to my tennis shoes as “Amazon shoes”

Books mentioned:

• Government Gangsters by Kash Pramod Patel
• Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson