An Army of Normal Folks - We Are Not What We Do
Episode Date: June 6, 2025For Shop Talk, Coach Bill reflects on Army member Andrew Maue's email. Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
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Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney. Welcome to Shop Talk number 55. Welcome into the shop.
Welcome in Alex. Thank you Bill. How is the dentist? My teeth are still here. Are they
clean? I mean the problem is how much I like cigars, tea and coffee. I'm never going to
have gray teeth. It's kind of a lost cause.
Do you have any cavities?
No.
Oh, well, you get the gold star today.
Yeah.
We're going to talk about a letter
that was sent to us by a listener, which thank you.
And the title of Shop Talk number 55 is,
we are not what we do, we are who we are. Right after these
brief messages from our generous sponsors.
Camp Shane, one of America's longest running weight loss camps for kids, promised extraordinary
results. Campers who began the summer in heavy bodies were often unrecognizable when they left.
In a society obsessed with being thin, it seemed like a miracle solution. But
behind Camp Shane's facade of happy, transformed children was a dark
underworld of sinister secrets. Kids were being pushed to their physical and
emotional limits as the family that owned Shane turned a blind eye.
Nothing about that camp was right. It was really actually like a horror movie.
In this eight-episode series, we're unpacking and investigating stories of
mistreatment and re-examining the culture of fatphobia that enabled a
flawed system to continue for so long. You can listen to all episodes of Camp Shame
one week early and totally ad-free
on iHeart True Crime Plus.
So don't wait.
Head to Apple Podcasts and subscribe today.
A lot of times the big economic forces
we hear about on the news
show up in our lives in small ways.
Three or four days a week I would buy two cups of banana pudding but the price
has gone up so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action and that's just
one of the things we'll be covering on everybody's business from Bloomberg
Business Week. I'm Max Chafkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek Smith. Every Friday we will
be diving into the biggest stories in business,
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and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull, we'll take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms,
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I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing.
So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your
podcasts.
A murder happens.
The case goes cold.
Then, over 100 years later, we take a second look.
I'm Paul Holes, a retired cold case investigator.
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On our podcast, Buried Bones, we reexamine historical true crime cases.
Using modern forensic techniques, we dig into what the original investigators may have missed.
Growing up on a farm when I heard a gunshot, I did not immediately think murder.
Unless this person went out to shoot squirrels,
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These cases may be old,
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I know this chauffeur is not of concern.
You know, it's like, well, he's the last one
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So how did they eliminate him?
Join us as we take you back to the cold cases that haunt us to this day.
New episodes every Wednesday on the Exactly Right Network.
Listen to Barry Bones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
Open AI is a financial abomination, a thing that should not be an aberration, a
symbol of rot at the heart of Silicon Valley.
And I'm going to tell you why on my show Better Offline, the rudest show in the tech industry,
where we're breaking down why open AI along with other AI companies are dead set on lying
to your boss that they can take your job.
I'm also going to be talking with the greatest minds in the industry about all the other
ways the rich and powerful are ruining the computer.
Listen to Better Offline on the iHot Radio app, Apple podcasts, wherever you happen to
get your podcasts.
Dan Flores The American West with Dan Flores is the latest
show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network, hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores,
and brought to you by Velvet Buck.
This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else.
Each episode, I'll be diving into some
of the lesser known histories of the West.
I'll then be joined in conversation by guests
such as Western historian, Dr. Randall Williams
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Steven Ronella.
I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say
when cave people were here.
And I'll say, it seems like the ice age people
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So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West and come
to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today.
Listen to The American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts.
All right, everybody. Listener and Army member Andrew Maui, spelled M-A-U-E,
and we think it's Maui, but we're going to go with Maui like Hawaii. Andrew Maui,
going to read the the really thoughtful letter he sent us and then comment on it
for Shop Talk 55. Hey there! What you're building with Army of Normal Folks is
more than a podcast, it's a movement of everyday people realizing they're
equipped to make a real difference.
I'm honored to be even a small part of that.
Andrew, we're honored to have you.
I'd love to offer an idea that I believe could spark meaningful conversation on a shop talk
episode.
Andrew, here you go.
The concept.
We are not what we do. We are who we are.
So often people define themselves by their job title or by the skills they've learned. I'm a welder. I'm a nurse.
I'm a single mom. I'm a retired vet.
With those things may describe what we do. They don't capture the fullness of who we are.
what we do, they don't capture the fullness of who we are. And when we lose a job, transition out of a role, or face a season of change, that fragile sense of identity can crumble.
But what if we help people see that their true value comes from not what they do, but
from the core of who they are? That their character, faith, compassion, wisdom, and even their ability to listen or love deeply,
that these are just as critical as any learned skill.
I believe that as each person in the army
begins to understand their identity and their gifting,
not just their abilities, but the things they were uniquely designed to offer,
we become more resilient, more united,
and a more powerful force for good.
When we stop seeing ourselves as just tools in a system and start seeing ourselves as
career carriers of purpose, everything changes.
We lead with authenticity, we serve without burnout, we show up not just to check a box,
but to bring light into the world around us
I believe this message will resonate with your listeners and strengthen the movement. You've already begun
Thanks for all you do to shine a light on the value of normal folks. You're changing more lives than you know gratefully
Andrew Maui who is the director of something called reciprocalciprocal Aid Network for Crisis and Hazards,
which I assume you need to look in
to find out what that is, Alex.
I know, he and I have been talking about it a little bit.
Well, what is it?
You're gonna put me on the spot and butcher this.
All right, so he is a first responder,
responding to natural disasters.
Sorry, Andrew, I know I'm gonna bush with this slightly.
But the problem with a lot of these disasters happen,
like say church volunteers show up,
and unfortunately they're forced to turn them away
because they don't have the right certifications.
So it's actually a really cool idea of a nonprofit
to train volunteers in advance of these disasters
so that they can then respond.
A lot of it's like logistics.
So like train Big Al with his barbecue cooker.
Yeah.
So that he can actually show up, not get turned away and have to park it 20 yards away or
whatever he does.
Yeah.
I mean, Al is example.
He would convince them through barbecue to let him through.
That's true.
Not everyone's going to be as persuasive as this big out there.
So Andrew, thanks. I do have some comments.
First of all, really deep thoughts, really good thoughts.
And I do have a couple of comments, which is really what you said in the middle of this,
which is people often define themselves by their job title or by the skills they've earned.
I'm a welder. I'm a nurse, I'm a single mom,
I'll keep adding, I'm a stay at home mom,
I'm a retired vet, I'm a salesperson,
I'm a podcast host, I'm a football coach.
Or as Rich DeVos, the founder of Anway would say,
people say, I'm just a garbage man
and put the word just in there.
That's really a good point.
I'm a ditch digger.
I'm just a ditch digger.
I'm just a podcast producer.
Oh, that's what you would say, right?
But the point is, it's really well taken, Andrew,
that too often we define ourselves by what we do
and not who we are.
And fundamentally who we are needs to be, I'm a person who is a welder.
Or I'm a welder for a living, but I'm a father and a husband, and I volunteer at my church or synagogue or whatever. And I
know it's a little bit of semantics with regard to that but the most important
thing that Andrew said I think is if you look at it through those that lens what
happens when you lose your job? What happens when you retire?
What happens to stay at home mom
when the kids go off to college and the nest becomes empty?
If you are defined by what you do
when the seasons of life change,
then you have lost your identity.
Conversely, if you identify yourself
as much more meaningful and deep things
than what you do for a living
or what you do with your days,
then when the seasons of life change,
you're fundamentally equipped to handle that change.
So here's my story.
If I gave you a million dollars and $ thousand dollar bricks and stacked them up, they'd be about four feet high.
If I said I want you to stand on that million dollars and if you can stand on it for three minutes without it collapsing under you, you can get the million dollars.
You may try, but there's no way you can stand on that. The national trophy, if we take the
whoever wins the national championship in football this year and say listen
next year you're gonna win the national championship again guaranteed if you
can just stand on this trophy for three minutes or stand on this football for
three minutes. You might try, you might bounce yourself for a minute,
but eventually it's going to break or topple out from under
you and you're going to fall. Same thing if I put a plaque on
an edge. So the idea here is maybe before you move on a
listener emailed us exactly on that topic the other day. It's
funny you bring this up because you briefly went through that riff
in the Markle Arkoosh episode.
Here and see what this guy,
I've been meaning to incorporate this at some point.
Well, I guess we're about to do it.
Yeah, we're here.
During one of your recent, this is from.
Doug Hobson.
Doug Hobson.
During one of your recent podcast episodes,
you mentioned standing on a stack
of bills that would equal a million dollars. That brought back a great memory for me. When
I was in my late 20s, my manager at the time shared a note attached here. You're mentioning
that triggered my idea for a shop talk. I've carried this paper photo I couldn't attach
in my wallet for 30 plus years. And when people are throwing
figures of millions, billions and trillions around, I pull this out and school them in
the in the differences in each of these. We got it up here. Okay, a million dollars tightly
bound thousand dollar bills would produce a stack four inches high. A billion dollars
tightly bound and thousand dollar bills would produce a stack about three inches high. A billion dollars tightly bound and thousand dollar bills
would produce a stack about three feet high.
A trillion dollars tightly bound and thousand dollars bills
would produce a stack nearly 63 miles high.
That's crazy.
Yeah.
Okay.
Thank you, Doug.
63 miles.
Yeah.
But here's the deal.
If you tried to stand on those metaphorically
Well, literally if you tried to stand on the trophies the money whatever it's gonna collapse
so the point is
You cannot stand on accolades you stand out stand on fortune
You cannot stand on fame because both literally and metaphorically, if that is the foundation that you choose to stand on, eventually it will collapse and you'll fall flat on your ass.
That's just the truth. on or identified by what you do for a living just like fame fortune and
accolades if that is the foundation of who you are eventually it will collapse
and you'll find yourself on your ass conversely if we define ourselves by
commitment character integrity the dignity of hard work service grace
working on building a legacy, finding
ways to engage in our community.
If we define ourselves by those things, and that's the foundation of who we are, then
as a season of life changes, and as our jobs change, or as our station in life changes, or when we lose our money or make more money,
or we gain fame or lose fame, or gain fortune or lose fortune or any of it. If you build
your foundation on those core values and tenets, then you're able to handle a change in the
season of life, a change in your financial situation, both positive and negative, a change in the season of life, a change in your financial situation, both positive and
negative, a change in how you're viewed by society, both positive and negative. So the
whole point is when you build a proper foundation on the right things, then you aren't defined
by what you do, what you have, or what others say about you. And
when you do that and you serve to be a member of the Army of Normal Folks, you
have a proper foundation to find success for you and for those you seek to serve.
So Andrew, your points are well taken. I think it's a
it's a great, great shop talk topic and I appreciate you
sending it our way. Alex, you got anything to add?
A negative example that's interesting. A couple years ago,
I read this article on Michael Jordan. So when he retired, he
basically said like, I've lost all meaning in life. There you
go. I mean, I couldn't believe that he said it out loud. I mean, I've lost all meaning in life. There you go.
I mean, I couldn't believe that he said it out loud.
I mean, it's one thing to think in your head,
but he was actually like, I...
Because he was defined by basketball
and a pair of tennis shoes.
Yeah.
And for him to have felt like he's lost all meaning
in life when he was married, he had children
and he had all the money in the world
and he was still empty and hopeless.
It's because his foundation was built on something that's going to go away eventually for all
of us.
It also reminds me of this great Jackie Robinson quote, a life is not important except in the
impact it has on other lives.
So if you define yourself in terms of your impact on other lives is what success is.
And that's from Jackie Robinson,
who could have defuncted himself by a lot.
Or David Brooks writes about this
and he calls him the eulogy of virtues.
So when you get to the eulogy of your funeral,
no one's like, man, that guy was so rich.
What a great guy.
He really was rich.
I mean, it's, what do you actually want to be praised for
at your eulogy?
Actually, Bill Prest was a really good friend of mine and
He died some years ago and his son-in-law actually gave the eulogy and he is the one where I heard the quote by Albert Pike
That said what you do for yourself in this life dies with you what you do for another
Lasts forever and remains immortal
with you what you do for another last forever and remains immortal which is interesting because Bill Breasted owned a business and had lots of success in his
life but you're right that's not what they talked about they talked about a
service so so there it is we are not what we do and by proxy we are not what
we've earned and we are not the fame and we are not the fortune that we build we
are not what we do we are who we are and we are who we are by virtue
of the foundation and the basic fundamentals and tenets that we build
our foundation with so that we can handle success, failures and changes in
the seasons of life. That is Shop Talk number 55 55 if you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review it
join the army at normal folks dot us subscribe to the podcast and
Consider becoming a premium member there and we should also add as we mentioned last week you do any cool acts for others
Mention on social tag us. We'll share it. Yeah all those things and if you have any good ideas for shop talk as you see
Email us
If we think we have something to offer we'll talk about it
If not, we'll definitely respond either way that shop talk number 55
We should tell them how to email you bill at normal folks dot us. They'll let normal folks dot us
All right. We're leaving the shop. Take it easy. Bell ringing Music
Camp Shane, one of America's longest running weight loss camps for kids,
promised extraordinary results.
But there were some dark truths behind Camp Shane's facade of happy, transformed children.
Nothing about that camp was right. It was really actually like a horror movie.
Enter Camp Shame, an eight-part series
examining the rise and fall of Camp Shane
and the culture that fueled its decades-long success.
You can listen to all episodes of Camp Shame one week early
and totally ad-free on iHeart True Crime Plus.
So don't wait.
Head to Apple Podcasts and subscribe today.
A lot of times, big economic forces
show up in our lives in small ways.
Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding,
but the price has gone up, so now I only buy one.
Small but important ways,
from tech billionaires to the bond market
to, yeah, banana pudding.
If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it. I'm Max Chaston.
And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Open AI is a financial abomination, a thing that should not be, an aberration, a symbol
of rot at the heart of Silicon Valley. And I'm gonna tell you why on my show Better Offline, the rudest show in the tech industry,
where we're breaking down why open AI along with other AI companies are dead set on lying to your boss that they can take your job.
I'm also going to be talking with the greatest minds in the industry about all the other ways the rich and powerful are ruining the computer.
Listen to Better Offline on the iHot Radioio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you happen to
get your podcasts.
I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your
gun?
Sometimes the answer is yes.
But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.
This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated.
I get right back there and it's bad.
Listen to Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Why is a soap opera western like Yellowstone so wildly successful. The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat
Eater podcast network.
So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West
and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience
the region today.
Listen to The American West with Dan Flores on the iHeart radio app,
Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast.