An Army of Normal Folks - You Can't Stand On A Trophy

Episode Date: April 12, 2024

For our "Shop Talk" series, Coach Bill Courtney talks about Bill Clinton, standing on trophies, and life's true foundations.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello everybody, welcome to Shop Talk. This is Shop Talk number six and today we're going to be talking about foundations. I was once described to be by a football coach and I want to share that with you and I think you'll get something from it. It's pretty interesting stuff and it had a profound effect on the way I viewed a foundation. First though, I want to let you know we've been chosen as a nominee for the Weeby Awards. What is it, Webby? First though, I want to let you know, we've been chosen as a nominee for the Webby Awards, which means that we're now competing for the Internet's two most coveted awards, the Webby Award and the Webby People's Voice Award.

The category that we've been nominated for is public service and activism. And just like the Anthem Award that we won, thanks to you guys, we're going up against Kevin Bacon again and some other cool folks. Judges are voting on the Webby Award won, but normal folks get to vote for the People's Choice Award and that's really what I'm most interested in.

So hopefully the Army and normal folks, you guys will actually take the time to vote and win. So if you'd be open to voting for our movement together, visit webbyawards.com. That's W-E-B-B-Y-A-W-A-R-D-S.com. Click on Go Vote on the homepage. Search for an Army of Normal Folks. Select us, sign up and vote. If you'd be open to share it on social media and share it with friends, that'd be awesome too.

Just be a nice little thing for people to continue to learn and recognize the Army of Normal Folks. continue to learn and recognize the Army of Normal folks and get more people listening because remember the more folks the more impact. I'll be right back after these brief messages from our sponsors to talk about Foundation and Shop Talk number six. My name is Johnny B. Goode, and I'm the host of the new podcast, Creating a Con, the story of VidCon. Over this nine-part series, I'll explore the life and crimes of my best friend, Ray Tripani.

I always wanted to be a criminal. If someone's like, oh, what's your best way of making money? I'm like, oh, we should start some sort of scheme. You see, Ray has this unique ability to find loopholes and exploit them. They collected $30 million. There were headlines about it. His company, Sentra Tech, was one of the hottest

crypto startups in 2017. It was going to change the world, until it didn't. I came into my office, opened my email, and the subject heading was FBI request. It was only a matter of time before the truth came out. You can only fake it till you make it for so long before they find out that your Harvard degree is not so crimson. How could you sit there and do something that your Harvard degree is not so crimson.

How could you sit there and do something that you know will objectively cause more harm in the world? Listen to Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal, with more entrepreneurs, more

trailblazers, more live events, more Martha, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Walter Isaacson about the geniuses who changed the world. Encore Jane about creating a billion dollar startup. Dr. Aliza Pressman about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant about the authenticity in the world of food writing.

Be sure to tune in to season two of the Martha Stewart podcast. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The big take from Bloomberg News brings you what's shaping the world's economies with the smartest and best informed business reporters around the world. Western nations like the U.S. and Europe. Mexico will likely have its first female president. And then you have China.

And help you understand what's happening, what it means, and why it matters. He'll get his yo-yos to Europe in time. But the longer this drags on, the more worried he's getting. They knew that they needed to do this as fast as they possibly could to get a drug on the market as fast as they could. I'm David Duret. I'm Sarah Holder. I'm Solea Mosin.

We cover the stories behind what's moving money in markets. Basically everyone was expecting, if not a calamity, certainly a recession. But the problem is that that paperwork, as our reporting showed, is fake. To someone who's covering the market, I'm often very worried about an imminent collapse. I'm thinking about it quite often. Listen to the big take on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. podcast. Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney back with Shop Talk Number Six Foundation. I don't know if you remember one time when Bill Clinton had his butt in a ringer and

he was being asked questions and he said, well, that depends on what the definition of is is. Some people my age may remember that comment and thinking how absurd it was. Doesn't really have anything to do with my talk today, but in the same vein, I want to talk about what the definition is of definition. There's a bunch of different subcategories, but this is a definition according to Webster of definition one is a statement expressing the essential nature of something the essential nature of something the other one is clarity of visual presentation and the other one is is right here is I'm reading from my

phone everybody is the statement or meaning of a word group of words or symbol okay so that's what the definition of definition is in other words it's the essence of what something is. When you define it, that is your essence. That is the essence of our current society and culture, there's this ever-growing want, need, and desire for instant gratification. You see it on social media, you see it on all these YouTube things and Instagram things and listen, I use social media so I'm not like this big social media's evil guy. I think there's a lot of good that can come from it in the right hands. Also think people who are too young to be using it should not be using it and I think as parents and adults we should do a really good job of thinking about

what's available to our kids. Nevertheless, we constantly see this desire for public gratification. I remember when I would ask for something, my mom would say, put it on your Christmas list, put it on your birthday list, or, you know, save a little each week until you can save up enough money and get it. And you know, as such, and I think most of you will remember comments like those as such, we were once trained that things worth having were worth waiting for, and things worth having were worth earning. Now with social media and news and the onslaught of stuff in the world, people see much more readily today what others have than they have at any other time in human history.

And they desire it, and they desire it quickly and now. And oftentimes, the desires are not necessarily tangible assets, many times they are cars and houses and things like that, but also popularity, being known, being liked, being famous, being revered. So when you combine this growing societal desire for immediacy and immediacy of recognition in some way or another, I think we're dangerously close to changing who we are as people. So why did I get the definition of definition? Is because remember, it's the essence of something. In other words, your definition is essence of who you are. What defines you? What is the essence of who you are. What defines you? What is the essence of

who you are? So I want you to imagine in your mind's eye a Super Bowl trophy or World Series trophy or an award in your business or in your community or a plaque or something that gets you that that recognition that it seems like it's so pervasive in our society today that we're all looking for and we're looking for so quickly once you think about that trophy or plaque and I'm gonna sit it over here in the corner and I'm gonna ask you to stand on it for five minutes. If you can stand on it for five minutes, I'll give you $150,000. You will not be able to do it.

I want you to think about a basketball or a football. If I ask you to stand in the corner for five minutes on a basketball or stand on a football, a fully inflated basketball, a fully inflated football for five minutes, I'd give you a bunch of money, you should try, but you would fall flat on your face. A brick of hundreds that is about an inch and a half tall is $50,000 wrapped from a bank. If I stacked those bricks up about two feet tall, that would be close to a million dollars. And if I said, look, I'm gonna stack these hundreds up,

and if you can stand on them for five minutes, you can have them all. You might try, but those hundred dollar bills are gonna buckle, that thing doesn't, it's gonna fall out from under you. See, you can't stand on money. You can't stand on awards and accolades. You can't stand on the things you achieve in sports

or in music or in the world. You can't stand on all of those things that we continue to push out to social media that seem to more and more be what we're looking to define us. Because if the essence, the definition of you, if your essence is awards and money and accolades and fame, and that is your foundation because that is what defines you that is your essence you will both literally and metaphorically fall on your ass as that foundation that you're trying to build crumbles beneath you because you can't stand on trophies, footballs, basketballs, money. You just can't do it.

Conversely, if you build a foundation, if your essence, if the definition of who you are is character, commitment, integrity, discipline, someone who respects the dignity of hard work, understands the value of grace and forgiveness. If what defines you are core values and tenets that your grandmother probably taught you at a kitchen table one day, if that is what defines you, if that is your essence, that provides a proper foundation that you can then stand on and then, after taking the time and putting in the work and not getting this immediate reward satisfaction thing, but putting in the time and the effort and the work

to build that proper foundation for your life, then win rewards and accolades and money and whatever else you seek in your life comes, you can hold them all in your arms perfectly because you have something to stand on in order to support those riches and rewards. I just feel like as I look in culture today, I'm seeing it backwards.

We're wanting those things that immediate gratification things as if that's what's going to define us and be our foundation for our lives and we will crumble under the weight of it. All you have to do is look in the news cycle and you can see many people whose massive fortunes and wealth and fame have crumbled and they are either dead or in jail and there's others right now that are facing jail time or death as a result of their immediate gratification that they sought by the definition of their essence was awards accolades fame and money and they never spent the time to build the proper foundation to handle it when it came to them. Football coach once told me that. Maybe not in the same words I did but basically said,

you know, you can get all the trophies and you get your name in the paper and everything else. But if that's what you're basing who you are on, you will fail. Build a foundation so then you can properly receive those accolades and then you can be healthy with them, which is basically what I'm saying to you. Build the proper foundation. Understand what defines you. Be willing to put in the time and the work. Be willing to save for that thing you want.

Be willing to put what you need on your Christmas list metaphorically in order to build the foundation so that when you chase your dreams and your goals and the accolades and the money and all that you seek comes to you have a proper foundation to hold it so it doesn't crumble around you and those you love. This is Shop Talk, I'm Bill Courtney. Think about building the proper foundation before you go chase your dreams. We'll see you next week. I'm Johnny B. Goode, the host of the podcast,

Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin. This podcast dives deep into the story of Ray Chiappani and his company, Centratec. I'll explore how 320-somethings built a company out of lies, deceit, and greed. I'll explore how 320-somethings built a company out of lies, deceit and greed. I've been saying since a very young age that I was going to be a millionaire. If someone's like, oh, what's your best way of making money? I'm like, oh, we should start some sort of scheme. Listen to Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple

podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal with more entrepreneurs, more live events and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin about the secrets behind my skincare. Encore Jane about creating a billion dollar startup. Walter Isaacson about the geniuses who changed the world. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast

on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The big take from Bloomberg News brings you what's shaping the world's economies with the smartest and best informed business reporters around the world. We cover the stories behind what's moving money in markets and help you understand what's happening,

what it means and why it matters every afternoon. I'm Sarah Holder. I'm Saleh Emosen. And I'm David Gura. Listen to the big take on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.