Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - We Gave Commencement Speeches at Our Old College | Ear Biscuits Ep. 382

Episode Date: May 22, 2023

That’s right! Rhett and Link were both invited to give separate commencement speeches at their old NC State stomping grounds in the engineering departments – and they’re seeing each other’s speeches for the very first time in this episode. NOTE: Speech footage/audio was provided to us. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/EAR and get on your way to being your best self. Start making your financial dreams a reality with Chime. Get started at chime.com/ear. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is mythical. Your teen requested a ride, but this time, not from you. It's through their Uber Teen account. It's an Uber account that allows your teen to request a ride under your supervision with live trip tracking and highly rated drivers. Add your teen to your Uber account today. account today. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time.

I'm Link. And I'm Rhett. This week at the Roundtable of Dim Lighting, we are going to be watching and listening to our respective commencement speeches that we just gave at North Carolina State University, our alma mater. We each gave the commencement speech for our respective engineering department. Me, the civil, which actually they're calling it civil construction and environmental engineering, CCEE now, and you the Industrial Engineering Department.

Which is now called Industrial Systems Engineering. Oh, they've added things. They're changing stuff. They're expanding. Thanks to us, I'm sure. We purposely, we've been very excited about this. It's been, I don't know, almost a week since we got back, but we've been very purposefully,

we knew nothing about this going in, about the other guy's address, because we were waiting until this moment. And I can't tell you how many times during our time in Raleigh, they were like, it became this thing amongst everybody who was there, and they knew, oh, well, Rhett can't see Link's speech, and Link can't see Rhett's speech, and they're going to talk about it on a podcast. We're not at the same time. I could have.

We could have attended each other's. We decided not to to preserve this moment. And also because I just thought it would be better if you weren't there. I don't know how you felt about me being there for you, but I didn't want to be a distraction to the crowd, but I didn't want to be a distraction to the crowd, and I didn't want to be a distraction to you, but I felt like you might, I don't know, I just didn't, I didn't want you to be there.

And I'll get into reasons why. Okay, interesting. I am very excited about this, because this entire thing is such an interesting experiment that I realized on the flight back, you know, I leaned over and I was like, this is, it's kind of a wild preposition here that, or proposition, I think is the right word. the right word. We were both given the same very unique assignment to give a speech in front of a very specific group of people that were very similar. In terms of like an experiment with like a control group, you know, a group of graduating engineers that went through school

at the same time. The only difference is one's civil and the other's industrial engineering. But we're given the exact same assignment. Yeah. What do we do with that? Completely independently. You know, because we didn't really trade notes and talk about what our approaches were. We didn't just not trade notes.

We didn't speak at all about these. The only inkling that I have is I saw you making notes on the plane, and I saw one word like, saw one word. I saw one word, which I'm not going to tell you what that word was, because when I saw that one word, I was like, hold on, I think we may have approached this in a similar way. That was the only thing. I saw one word, and I was like, wow, that word is in mine.

And then the only other thing. There's no way we approached it in a similar way. Oh, no, no, no, no. But there's no way. No, no, approaching it. I's no way we approach it in a similar way. Oh, no, no, no, no. But there's no way. No, no, approaching it. I know you didn't approach it in a similar way. I'm saying that, I'm saying thematically, I wondered, are we talking about things, similar themes? And then the other thing was when I arrived later to the McKimmon Center, which is where they do, I mean, boy, it is like a graduation factory in there.

I mean, it was just this giant convention center, which I don't, I guess we had been in like one time before for graduation. I just, I can't remember where that graduation was. But the only thing I ever saw in the McKimmon Center was it like a does God exist debate. Oh, yeah. Was that a William Lane Craig thing? Yeah, I believe so. But then I walked by while you were up there. I walked down the hall, and I looked in,

and I just saw you standing over the podium with your hands on the podium, kind of like with a twinkle in your eye. And I couldn't hear anything you said, but I was like, there he is. He's doing it. I'll find out later. And here we are a week after said event, and I'm finally going to get to see what you did. I don't think I would ever watch mine back if it wasn't for this. So I'm glad we're doing this because, you know, there's just never a time to sit down and watch a speech and know that I'll be like,

I don't know, I might not feel good about it. I might be super critical of it. When it's done live, it's made for that room and the people who were watching when it was live streamed, but now to watch it back, it's a different vibe. And it's not one that I wanted to sign up for, except in this context. I think there's a, maybe there's a different vibe. And it's not one that I wanted to sign up for, except in this context. I think there's a, maybe there's a lot to learn after we watch both of these things.

So, who's are we gonna watch first? How are we gonna do this? Well, I know mine's shorter than yours. I also know how long yours was, because I- Jenna told you that mine was over 20 minutes. Yeah. And she told me that yours was like 16 minutes. Yeah.

And they were supposed to be 10 minutes. But it was interesting when I... That was a question... I doubled up. A question I asked you on the plane. I did not understand the assignment. I asked you, I was like, so how, about how long? Because they told us about 10 minutes is what they said.

And so I asked you how long yours was. And you said, I knew if I plan for 10 minutes, I'm going to go 15, whatever, right? That's just what happens. But when you said 10 minutes,

I was like, okay, so he's going to go, he's going to go 25. That's what I, that's what I thought. That's what I thought in my heart of hearts, but you went 22,

20, 22. It's like a sitcom. And maybe you can compare it to a sitcom in other ways once you watch it. Let's do mine second. I just feel like I got, I just feel like it's it's longer

and it's so if people get, if mine's too long and then they can't, if they just can't stay through mine, then I don't want them to miss yours. Well, and let's establish something. Let's establish something.

If they can't hang on. We'll give you our perspective on this. This is not a competition, okay? Even though you people cannot help but make everything a competition and a comparison. It's human nature. We get it. But that is not what we are doing today. We're not seeing who did a better job.

It wasn't about that. It's about an exploration of how... I mean, we may think it, but... We explore things in our own way, and we do things differently. We approach these things, like you said, similar assignment in particular ways. And most of the time in life,

even if we're doing something individually, if it involves a large enough audience, there is some consultation. In the way that you would consult your best friend, but also in the way that you would consult your business partner and your sort of public figure partner. So this is kind of an unusual thing

that we have no idea. And there's no advising that went into it in any way. And I didn't, the only, and really this was a function of time, as with all things in our lives, this snuck up on us. And so I was, one week before the commencement, I had not written anything, which is a little unusual for me, but actually pretty typical of our lives right now. But that weekend before is when I kind of created my outline.

And then over the next couple of days, I would kind of reconfigure my outline. And I made a decision, unlike when we did our commencement speech back in for high school, for our high school, 12, 10 years, however long ago that was. Which we did as a duo.

And one of the reasons we did this was because it was a duo, but also it was a little bit more typical of all the commencement speeches that we watched in preparation was people basically go according to a script. And so I made the decision to not go according to a script, go according to an outline and kind of know what I was going to say,

but specific phrasing. There was no notes besides outline, an outline that I would return to to make sure that I'm hitting the points I wanted. So that was my approach going in was I'm not going to do a scripted thing. The weekend before, the commencement address was on a Friday. So the weekend before, I was on like a weekend away with Christy. We were having a romantic getaway.

And by the time Sunday rolled around, I actually wasn't coming back until Tuesday. So I had Monday. Monday was when we were coming back. Sunday is when it hit me, like, all the nerves associated with this thing. And I became very distracted to the point where I apologized. We were there with, like, a couple other friends. And I was like, listen, guys, I didn't want to bring up my work, but like I just want to let you know that today I've been hit like with a ton of bricks of preoccupation with the fact that I'm giving this commencement address

and I don't know what I'm going to say yet. The only thing that I did know, the only work that I had done was like mental work. I had done visualization work. Picturing the crowd naked. It's like picturing the free throws going through the basket kind of a thing. That's important. Like knowing how I wanted to come across and kind of boiling that down to, well, I want to be me.

Like I want to have some fun with it. I want to be helpful to the graduates. I want to connect. And I want to be, I want to seem comfortable up there, and I don't want any notes. Don't want any notes. You don't want anybody to give you notes? I don't want to have anything. I don't want to have anything written down.

This is what I thought. I want to go up there and just know what I want to say, and I just want to say it, and I never want to look down at notes. I want to make eye contact with the graduates. I want to connect with them, and I want it to be kind of down to earth, like a fireside chat. If it feels like a podcast a little bit, I think I would be fine with airing on that side of it. I think I would be fine with erring on that side of it. And then as I started planning what I was gonna say, I actually have my notebook. I was writing it in notes and then the night before,

you were out to dinner with your dad for his birthday because it was perfect, you were in town. And then me and Jenna went out and got something to eat. And then afterward, I was like, I was kind of telling Jenna what I just told you, that I was thinking, like, I don't, I haven't written anything down. Now I just have my phone,

and I feel like I'm going to have to look at my notes. So now I'm going to be looking at a phone. Yeah. And it's going to seem like I'm up there giving a speech, but also, like, checking my texts. That's not a good look. So I need note cards. Note cards? Like a game show host. That's what I thought. So I'm like, let's go to a drugstore and buy some note cards, and I'm gonna go back to my room and write note cards. This is like the night of!

In my hotel room. And so we go to the... there's a Target on Hillsborough Street now. This is fascinating. night of in my hotel room. And so we go to the, there's a Target on Hillsborough Street now. This is fascinating. There's a Target. Hillsborough Street, what a comeback. I go in there, I'm looking at the note cards, and then I look over, and I was like, you know what, note cards, you're like, you're juggling things, you get them out of order, what am I gonna do?

And I'm like, this is what I'm gonna do, a spiral-bound college rule notebook, because tomorrow morning, you know what I'm gonna do, a spiral bound college rule notebook because tomorrow morning, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna rule college with my commencement address. So very quickly you went from I'm gonna have no notes to I'm going to have a notebook. Oh, and I'm gonna fill it full. Which is an interesting evolution. I mean, look at this. Don't read the words, but just one page, two page,

three page. Well, yeah, that's about, we're well above 10 minutes at this point. There's no fifth page. But I'm like, I'm not going to get this out of order because it's spiral bound. And look, I've circled or squared some things. I've double underlined some things. So I'm going to make eye contact with the graduates as much as possible, but if I need to look down, I can just look at my squares. And I'm just, cause you know what? I was like, I'm not gonna compare myself to Rhett. I mean, I feel like you're better at this type of thing than

me. I mean, it just like being able execute, getting up there and giving a speech. It's just, it fits your vibe and you have more experience doing things that are, if not that, closer to it. Like emceeing events and like having a logical exposition of points that you want to take people through. This is not the world that my brain lives in. Right. And I was like, you know what? One of my values is just doing my thing. So it's not productive for me to try to do what I thought would be your thing.

So that was part of my mindset. And I got to say, I was freaking out that weekend before. And then once I started figuring out what I exactly wanted to say, I started to feel better. I started to get excited about the content of what exactly wanted to say, I started to feel better. I started to get excited about the content of what I wanted to say. And then I knew, well, I'm not going to, there's other things I knew that I don't want to give away my approach, but I had some things that I was going to do that I thought would help me in my approach.

And I can point some of that stuff out. So then I started to feel better. I would say that like by the night before when I was writing in this notebook, I was actually feeling pretty decent. You know, I wasn't freaking out anymore. It was, for me, I'm not afraid of public speaking. I'm afraid of trying to public speak and making a complete fool out of myself because it implodes because I just don't have it together.

Or I, you know, something weird happens. You know how things happen to me. It's like anything could happen. That's true. happen to me. It's like anything could happen. And that's true. So, but once I, and not knowing, like knowing I need to prepare, but not being prepared yet. Oh, I hate that feeling. Like, that's why I've never been a procrastinator because it would drive me nuts. So beforehand, I felt pretty good. Um, and then that morning I was feeling, I was feeling, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being like, I've just got this in the bag.

Maybe I felt like a good solid 7. And for a few days there, I was living on like a 2. It wasn't good. How did you feel? I mean, what's the emotional arc of your preparation if you put it on the scale of 1 to 10? Well, there's a nagging. Until you know what you're going to say,

there's a nagging thing underneath your conscious experience that manifests itself as anxiety that you keep finding over the weeks leading up to it. And I'm like, and I just tell myself, I'm like, this is not a big deal. Like, this is not a big deal because whatever I bring to this group is going to be more than what they're expecting at their civil engineering graduation. Let's just be honest about it, right? Because this isn't like the whole school where they like bring,

that's where they bring in some like celebrity from the alumni or whatever. For the civil engineering, for the departmental, the departmental graduation, that's what they did this year. The departmental graduation, sometimes, I don't even know if it has a guest speaker sometimes but so I was kind of

minimizing it in my own in my mind thinking that like as a technique I'm gonna be doing something that's unexpected just by being there

to to try to give a talk that is yes I mean my focus was to be connecting but obviously it's like

I'm coming in there my reputation being that I am an entertainer. Right. And so, well, this better be funny. It better be entertaining, right? So that kind of was in my mind. He better not implode was what I added to that. But the way that we work, which I guess is pretty typical of, like, you know, creators, but it's not typical of, like if you were a stand-up comedian

or an actor, a traditional person, traditional talent, you would get someone to write your, you would probably get somebody to write it for you or to write it with you. That's what they all do. And every time they show up to do something, but like I, we didn't consult with anybody. I went through the outline with jesse one time just so that somebody could hear what i was going to say but we operate kind of in a little bit of a bubble and so i think that as the day was approaching there was a little bit there was anxiety of like this makes sense in my mind but like i haven't run any of these jokes by anybody, and, like, I was going to go pretty joke. Not, I mean, not joke joke, but, like, there's a number of things

that I'm going to say that I am intending to be funny, and I'm also because I'm going according to an outline, I also know I'm going to be presented with opportunities for new jokes to come to life in the moment because I'm not going according to a script. And when you throw out two jokes a minute in 16 minutes or whatever, are they all gonna land and what happens if they don't land?

I'm also thinking, I haven't done this in a very long time. Maybe over the course of our life I've got experience kind of getting up in front of people, but not recently by myself. Me and you get up and do things together, but I was surprised with how, as it got closer, I was like, I don't know if I'm ready for primetime. Rusty. So I was thinking the anxiety was increasing, and also the rationalization process of minimizing if it was a big deal or not to try to cope. That was what was happening.

Minimizing, blaming, and denial. But as it was getting closer and closer, I was like, I feel good about this. I don't feel great because I don't think I have a right to feel great about this because this is the first time I've done this ever, really. And the last thing I'll say because I want to get to them is I was like, how many times have the two of us found ourselves in situations where we are bringing something that no one is asking for. We do it all the damn time. All the time.

We have a lifetime... That's great. ...of bringing things... Usually. So like... To have lowered expectations, to surprise people. No, it's not always great. It's not, yeah, that's what I said.

Because... Usually, but not always. If you're a stand-up comedian... Are you hedging now? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because the last thing I'll say before we watch mine is what you said to me. You said one thing to me.

But where my mind was... Well, if you're a stand-up comedian and you show up at a comedy club, you are walking into an environment where the people are there to laugh. Now, that doesn't mean you won't bomb, and that doesn't mean I've never done stand-up comedy. I don't want to.

I'm sure it's very, very difficult. But the number of times that we've shown up in a space where no one was expecting for anyone to try to make them laugh at all, and then there's an adjustment period where they're like, oh, this guy's trying to be funny. Well, maybe I should start trying to think that. Like a college church service or a rehearsal we do. Or a rehearsal dinner. Yeah. Or, yeah, things of that nature. But weird...

A funeral. Weird professional situation. I've worked a funeral in my day. So I was thinking that. A lot more than you, actually. And then on the day of, you went first, which... I was a bit envious of the fact

that you got to go at like 11 a.m. and I got to go at 1.30. So I had to sit there. I had to eat lunch. I had to see you come back in. Yeah. The one thing that you told me was is essentially, I don't want to give the exact words because that was what you said about yours

and we're going to watch your second. But you basically encouraged me to temper my expectations about the responsiveness of the crowd, which was consistent with what I was thinking, which is these are engineers and their family going to an engineering graduation. They're all there thinking about this transition in their lives and the life of the person they're there to support.

And it's kind of serious. It's kind of serious. They're wearing robes. Everyone's robed. And hatted. And it's a serious atmosphere, and then bringing something that will have serious points but is not serious in tone throughout.

I was like, I don't know how this is going to go. And when you said that, it was like, okay, all right. I will be prepared for a number of these things to not land, and they won't be responsive. But I'm going to stay the course regardless. Got to stay the course. Yep. You're welcome.

All right, let's give a plug for our My Hair song before we get into this. Every year we release a vinyl on the Mythical Society. This year, it's a remake of the My Hair Goes song. The world is right again, because I'm singing My Hair Goes Up. We switched parts, you know? And if you want this, what do they need to join?

You can be signed up by quarterly or annual third degree Mythical Society membership by June 30th. And this is your last window. This is your last window of time to be able to get this, right? You want to maintain that collection or start that collection. It's a good looking album. Mythicalsociety.com. Mythicalsociety.com. Your mom hates it when you leave six half full glasses on your nightstand.

It's a good thing mom lives on the other side of the country. And it's an even better thing that you can get six IKEA 365 Plus glasses for just $9.99. So go ahead. You can afford to hoard because IKEA is priced for student life. Shop everything you need for back-to-school at IKEA today. Alright, so they recorded... I'm almost as nervous... IKEA Today. All right. So they recorded. I'm almost as nervous as I was before I actually did it. I feel a little bit nervous.

Okay, here it is. So we got yours up here, and we're going to try not to talk over it. So we will be pausing it. Well, I've already started playing it. We will be pausing it so that we can talk so that you can hear it and then hear us talk about it separately.

Okay. So we'll start with This is Jackie, the head of the department who is introducing me. We have one more speaker for today and I think the bar is set really high by these two.

Oh, you already have two speakers? The valedictorian. It's my pleasure to introduce Rhett McLaughlin, our graduation speaker. Rhett grew up in Harnett County and graduated from this department, magna cum laude, with a degree in civil engineering in 2000. Nice. Started down the path of an engineer working for Black & Veatch, and then later on felt called to join his best friend from childhood,

who also is a graduate of this college, to enter a brand-new industry that was just developing at the time, which was internet entertainment. Okay. Is she stealing your thunder a little bit now? And so he and his friend, Link Neal, I didn't expect this.

And they started a YouTube video series called Good Mythical Morning that my youngest son was a big fan of, I have to say. Was. My credibility with my kids She said was. I'm used to that.

I told him who I was getting to meet today. But that show has had 8 billion views. Billion. Is that true? Imagine that. 8 billion views. Sounds, doesn't sound true. And it has 18.1 million current subscribers.

Is that true? I think so. That is not the only thing he's done with his engineering degree. He and Link also run a media company. I like how I'm being mentioned multiple times. This is good. Video and podcast shows for other people as well. Just to set your expectations.

I think I heard it said this morning that they've got about 150 employees working for their company. So maybe you can correct me if I'm wrong, Rhett. But they also, if that weren't enough, they're best-selling authors. She's laying it on thick. They have two books that have made the New York Times best-sellers list. The first one, Rhett and Link's Book of Mythicality, A Field Guide to Curiosity and Creativity. You didn't get an intro like this?

Talks about everything they learned here. Julie gave me the intro I wanted. I'll say that. And all the favorite classes and professors. The expectations are going up and up and up the more that, you know, Jackie's talking. The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek is a fiction book that reached number 13. I like how we're going to get to watch this person.

And we're so grateful to you for sharing your thoughts and wisdom with the class of 2023. Here we go. Clap, clap, clap, golf claps, golf claps. How many people are in the audience, do you think? Over 500. There he is. You wearing jeans? No.

Man, he's tall. Not really built for podiums. Tall joke. I'm surprised that made it past your fact checker. We made all that up. Okay, so see, that was... So you've taken the mic off the stand. Unplanned joke.

So you had a tall joke, which was planned. Well, I was watching people at the podium, and I was like, I'm gonna be real big for that. I gotta have something. You gotta have a tall joke, and then you're gonna have a bio joke. Okay, and you're grabbing the mic. So power move right at the top. So you asked if I was wearing jeans. I will, this is the only thing I'm going to say.

I don't want to talk about your clothes. This is the only thing I'm going to say about the way I look because you're Mr. Average Size, Mr. I don't want to, let's talk about the speech, man. No, I'm self- You look great. No, I'm self-conscious about what I wore because I've outgrown all of the suits that I have here.

So literally the day before we went, I had to go to Pasadena and just walk around until I found someplace that had something big enough for me. And I found the Banana Republic, and the only jacket they had in the entire store that would fit me was a white linen jacket in those pants. You could go straight to Key West. And so I was like... And Jessie saw it, she was like, was a white linen jacket in those pants. You could go straight to QS. And so I was like, and Jessie saw it, she was like, I think I would probably go with something a little more structured,

but that was all I had. So just, you know, I was feeling a little bit, I was like, I'm wearing a linen jacket. I don't feel like this is appropriate for graduation, but that was just where my mind was. And the only other thing I'll say about my look is that I have two choices about how I'm going to wear my hair to some kind of event like this. It's either down or up. And I was like, if it's down, I'm going to be touching my hair to get it out of the way, which I hate watching people touch their hair to get out of the way, and I do it all the

time, and I hate the fact that I have to do it. So now my only recourse is a man bun, which is immediately something I don't want to have in front of this group. So I was going up with a low level of confidence. Let me just say that. This is the first time I've addressed a crowd of mixed company with this haircut, and it took some adjusting. Mixed company. Yeah.

Play. Play. And it took some adjusting. Mixed company. Yeah. Play. I don't really feel qualified to be here. I haven't done a lot of engineering over the past 20 years.

I have eaten a lot of weird stuff with my best friend on the Internet. Apparently that's good enough. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Thanks for mentioning. You may have noticed something lately as you are in the midst of this transition from whatever you're doing now to whatever you're about to do. A lot of people are doing some pretty impressive things from what I just heard. But you probably noticed that the older people in your life are giving you lots of unsolicited advice. We cannot help it.

It is built into our DNA. We see somebody going through something that is a lot like something that we went through in the past, and we cannot resist to force-feed you our nuggets of wisdom. We got lots of nuggets of wisdom, and we love it when you're trapped in a room and we have a microphone and a podium. It doesn't get any better than this for us. Now, the laughter is muffled because, let's just say... They're not mic'd. The crowd is not mic'd.

The crowd is not mic'd. So... They were laughing. I heard them laugh there. You can hear them. I didn't hear them laugh earlier, but I did hear them laugh right there. But you see, also look at... Yes. So this is Anna here, the valedictorian.

Okay. She'll laugh at the smart jokes. And then there's another very smart person. All these, the ones on the stage, and this will come in with a joke later. Don't spoil it. The smartest kids, or at least the ones who applied themselves the most and got the best grades, are on the stage, whereas all the rest of the ones are in the crowd. So I'm looking at both the students who just finished undergrad

plus the ones that finished their master's degree plus the ones that finished their PhD because they combined everybody and then all their families on the other side. So I'm looking over here to the left because that's where all the students are. Yeah, for me too. And I am including myself in older people. I'm 45, guys. Uh students are. Yeah, for me too. And I am including myself in older people. I'm 45, guys. Uh-oh. Yeah, I've got this weird haircut. What's wrong with the back of his hair? What's he doing with that? Oh no, you're making fun of their accents. It's a man bun.

Yeah. Rat. Okay, I have a secret though from all us older people and that is we don't have any idea what we're doing we are making it up as we go the only thing that we've gotten better at is appearing like we've got it together okay i like this do not trust us oh Don't trust old people. You see, that's a secret that we are not willing to share with each other or you on a regular basis, and it gives you permission to not listen to anything I'm going to say, okay?

But I would like you to act like you are listening, because that would help me with my performance and confidence. Oh. Yes. I would like you to close your eyes. Oh, you just said to look at you. It's going to be a little awkward. I hate it when people who are speaking to groups

ask the group to close their eyes. But I'm doing it. Her eyes aren't closed yet. Close your eyes. And I'm going to ask you a series of questions. I'm not going to come out there. It makes me feel awkward when people do this. It makes me feel vulnerable.

Because I feel like maybe the speaker is going to come out there. It makes me feel awkward when people do this. It makes me feel vulnerable, because I feel like maybe the speaker's gonna come out and pop me in the face. I'm not gonna come out and punch anybody in the face. Why would you even think that? Why would you even ask that? I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna ask you to do a little thought experiment with me. You asked him to close their eyes.

That's bold. I want you to imagine yourself in the future, 10 years in the future. The year is 2033. I'm no longer an engineer, but I can still do math. I'm going to ask you a series of questions about what your life is going to be like, and I want you to do your best to actually make a specific decision, a prediction as to how things are going to be. And I want you to be bold. I want you to pick the thing that you want to happen,

the ideal answer, okay? Keep it realistic now. I mean, let's be grounded. You're not going to be one of the first or the first ever civil engineer to win a Nobel Prize. No one's ever done it. You're probably not going to do it. So keep it grounded.

Keep it realistic. Ten years from now, you wake up. You're strolling the stage. I like it. Are you in your parents' house? No shame. No shame in that if you are.

Are you in your own place? Oh, look at you. Okay. The cameraman's got his eyes closed. There's someone next to you in bed. Yes, there are still beds in 2033. Yeah, catch up, man. Who is this in bed with you?

And there's a guy with a hard hat on the stage. So all the construction graduates wear hard hats, so he was the only one that made it to that part, but there's like 50 of them in there. So if you're a construction... Instead of a graduation cap. So I just reminded a little bit, because you missed another little joke.

Okay, you've got to get all your jokes, but since you did pause, man, big move here. You're like, what was the rationale? Okay, I know the rationale. You're getting them to close their eyes. This is a good bit, but it also is pertinent. It's getting them in the mind frame of themselves. Well, this is my whole point, as you will see.

My whole point was about... But don't give me the... I want to get the point. No, I'm saying this sets the stage for my whole talk. Oh, yeah, I'm assuming so. I mean, I'm assuming they opened their eyes at some point. Yeah. Next to you in bed. Yes, there are still beds in 2033. Who is this in bed with you?

Is it a dog? Is it a cat? Are you one of those people? It's not a snake, is it? Listen, don't be one of the people that has a snake or a reptile in the bed. It's weird. It's probably unsafe.

Is it a person? Is it a person? Okay, you's weird. It's probably unsafe. Is it a person? Is it a person? Okay, all right, you got a person. Is this person someone that you know right now? Is this person someone you would like to know? They don't look quite as good in the morning, do they? Time to go to work. Okay, what's your job?

Where are you going? Are you going to a job that is somehow related to what you just studied? You going to an office? Do you have your own office? Oh. Is this job in a field that you did not study for? You're working inside.

You're working outside. Are you having fun? Okay, you can open your eyes. I didn't come to punch you in the face. I saw the way you looked at me. Now you're going behind the podium again. Okay, notes. If you had asked me to do this particular exercise in the year 2000

when I was sitting where you're sitting right now, I would have gotten a lot wrong. I would have gotten one thing right. I was engaged to my wife at the time, and we're still married. Hold your applause. She looks great in the morning. I think she might be watching the live stream. She looks great in the morning. I think she might be watching the live stream. She looks great in the morning.

But I would have gotten everything else wrong, including my job, because as was mentioned earlier, I got a job in an industry that did not yet exist. If you had told me in the year 2000 that in the year 2010, I would be a YouTuber, I would have been like okay i guess i'm going to be making personalized tubes for people okay i mean we got catheters oxygen things yeah people like them different different colors it's pretty wild that's not what it is, by the way. You'll see.

And the reason that I was able to get a job in an industry that didn't yet exist is because things changed so much just during the time that I was in college. But when I got to NC State, I did not have a computer, a cell phone, or an email address. I got my first ever email address when I showed up here. That's true. And when I graduated, I had multiple email addresses. A cell phone, a personal computer. Stop bragging. And those changes that were happening to all of us at the time ended up creating this opportunity that I couldn't anticipate.

And think about how much more things have changed for y'all since you started school. I mean, we talked about COVID a lot. Yeah. And you had to be in school during it, but it didn't just make it, it didn't make this specific time just different for you. It's made the world different. We live differently. We work differently.

We think differently because of that. Some other things have happened. Like we're kind of sort of involved in a war right now where there's a legitimate possibility that someone might detonate a nuclear bomb. Like that kind of happened. Oh, and by the way, apparently there's aliens now. Why are you trying to scare them?

That happened while you were in school. We got aliens. People started talking about it. Like they're having Senate hearings about it. And maybe the most important thing, the most significant thing that you're probably already tired of people talking about is the revolution in AI that has been happening over the time that you've been in school. But you're tired of hearing people talk about it, but you're the first graduating class that is being deployed into the next step in your life in the midst of a world where there's been an absolute revolution in this, and now it's readily available to the public, and it's already changing the way people are working, the way people are

learning in very significant ways. I often wonder if I could still do engineering. I knew you were going to talk about it. You know, if this tube thing doesn't work out. And I had a little chat with my friend GPT out of curiosity. Okay. And I entered a series. I was like, you know, first of all, I was just, no offense, guys.

I was in the easy one. I was in water resources. This is the easy one, right? Okay, that's a joke for just them. Oh, they loved it. Right. Right, I mean, you know, rain, pipes, tubes, really. There you go.

And I was like, what if I had to design a parking lot right now to park 300 cars and I needed an adequate drainage system and an adequate retention pond. Could I do that? Well, yes. Apparently in 12 minutes a little one-on-one time with ChatGPT, I was able

to do that. And not just that, I was able to have it generate Python code for me that could create a visualization of this parking lot with the locations of the drains. Really? 12 minutes. You gonna show that? That was a little concerning. Now I will say that it repeatedly said, you know you really should be working

with a professional engineer. Really? So the robot overlords believe that your job is necessary, at least for now. But what is the significance of the fact that... Is this the mythical parking lot? Do I think this means that your education is useless? Parents, no. But do I think there is a significance to the fact that

this advanced language model that is getting better by the second already knows everything that I've forgotten about engineering I think there is some significance to that but I'm not going to say well it's you're not going to have jobs no there's going to need to be a human element in all this. But as it relates to that thought exercise, it has made your future incredibly unpredictable. And what does that mean for you? Well, unfortunately, you're humans, and we don't like unpredictability. In fact, we take a lot of comfort in orienting our present in order to increase the probability of some future desired outcome. In some ways, that's what school is, right? You're doing things now. You're making good

decisions. Some of you better than others. To orient the present towards a future desired outcome. And what happens when humans arrive to the future, when they arrive at that outcome? Usually it's one of two things, right? First thing that happens quite often is you arrive at some point in the future and you do not get the thing that you wanted and you are disappointed. You're kind of a downer, right? And then sometimes you arrive at that point in the future

and you get the thing that you wanted and you are disappointed. It's funny how that works. And it's so common. It's so common for people to arrive at points in the future and be disappointed regardless of whether things go right or wrong that we've come up with all kinds of cliches and advice that you've heard before that's the good news well the bad news is you're going to be disappointed in your future thank you good night had to think the good news news is, we've all been here before,

and there's actually a lot of wisdom that has been dispensed that you already have, you already know. You've heard these things before, right? Give it to us. Focus on the journey, not the destination. I like that. That sounds good.

Live in the present, not the future or the past. I love that. Don't spend so much time and energy thinking about what you want. Be grateful for what you have now. Have an attitude of gratitude. Get it on a bumper sticker, t-shirt maybe, tank top, yes. I like that. That's all great. It's all great. We all agree, but we have a really difficult time It's all great. We all agree. But we have a really difficult time believing it and feeling it. You know, if when I was sitting where you're sitting and if you had told me this, I would be like, yes, I agree with all this. Everything you're saying is right. You got to. It's about the journey, not the destination. You got to have an attitude of gratitude, but I would go on over the next 20 years to continue to attach myself to future desired outcomes and to arrive at those things. And let me tell you,

this whole tube thing has gone pretty well. People are really into the tubes. I got a lot to be grateful for, but I have still arrived at these points in my life and experience mixed in with contentment, this disappointment. So what would I say to myself, knowing that you, probably like me, would agree with these ideas, but might have a difficult time really making it a part of the way you navigate life? Well, I had another chat with my friend GPT. Oh! I entered everything that I have said thus far

into the prompt and asked it to give me a compelling, dramatic ending for a group of graduates. Oh, so you cheated. This is what they said. As you stand on the precipice of a new chapter in your life, dear graduate,

remember to seek the nourishment of happiness within the fertile soil of personal growth and the present moment. Though the allure of future achievements may beckon, entwining your contentment too tightly with their attainment can leave you adrift. It's natural to dream, but let your heart remain rooted in the here and now, for it is within this balance that you will truly flourish as you embark on life's grand odyssey. Y'all gonna clap for a computer? Oh. Okay, listen.

I was not that impressed with what ChatGPT had to say. I didn't find it all that compelling. And you know why? And maybe you agree. Y'all gonna clap for a computer? Is that i knew that that perspective did not come from human experience it came from human mimicry it didn't come from

someone that can experience disappointment it came from something that has learned how to talk like someone who can experience disappointment. And so instead of leaving you with that, I'll leave you with this. You are going to experience disappointment at various stages in your life. You're going to get to something. Like I said, whether it goes right, whether it goes wrong, you're going to get there and you're going to be disappointed. And when you feel that disappointment, realize that it's a gift. The disappointment is a gift that you can take and use it to chip away at your attachment, your very human attachment to specific desired outcomes. And never stop chipping away at that attachment. You'll probably never completely sever it,

but you got to keep trying. And also, if your computer becomes sentient, starts doing weird things, take your disappointment and sever the power cord. Okay? Thank you. Yes. That was better than ChatGPT.

If it wasn't, that would've been a bit of a weird ending. You thought I was just gonna end with a ChatGPT ending? No, but I think they did, because they were like, oh, should we clap? Y'all gonna clap for a computer? Put that on the tank top. That was good. I think that, you know, I can see so much of you in it,

and I feel like you gave them yourself, which I think was great, and the fact that you're sharing that, hey, you kind of, you got what you wanted, yet you still encountered disappointment. I think that's a sobering reality for these graduates. So what did they say afterward? So afterward, we went to a reception with parents and students. with parents and students. And, I mean, lots of people came up and had lots of kind things to say about it.

I mean, for me, it really was this like, what would I have? One girl came up and she said... I'm paraphrasing here, but essentially she said something like, you actually said something that made me think. Right. It meant something to me, and I'm going to take that with me. And that was the only thing I was actually trying to do.

Yeah. Was be like, you're in this point in your life and the person gives a commencement speech and it's in the middle of a blur of events over the course of a couple of weeks and you don't remember any of it, right? I don't remember mine at all. And so I'm like, I'm going to try to be funny enough so that they'll perk up and listen. And then is there one thing that is true that I can communicate that would, hadn't been impactful to me?

And so that was the strategy. And the fact that she said, she essentially confirmed, like, I got what you were trying to say. And then a lot of the parents came up and were to be like, what you said was so true. I'm so disappointed. So true. Not in you, but in life.

And did people quote the, like when you talked about the water, like cutting on the water major? People loved that. People loved that. A heyday with that. People loved that. I have a version of that. Jenna, you said that you had a good view of the faculty at that moment. Oh, yes.

Yeah. The faculty, there was a lot of laughing and then looking to someone and pointing that I'm assuming was like a jab at like possibly that whoever followed that water degree. Yeah, the faculty got a big kick out of it. I mean, the reason I said that is because I literally switched to it because the other concentration in structural engineering was too difficult for me. The last thing I say, we got gotta get to yours, is... I forgot what I was gonna say. I had one other thing. Oh, oh, oh. I, at times, felt, and I didn't anticipate this,

but again, I don't do this often at all, but there was a couple of moments, and then I feel it again while watching this, is just like, I seem like a preacher. I thought the same thing for me! Oh, and I watch a lot of preachers. I did not, well, you know, when you were making a point about the preacher part for me, and I think I was, because I felt it for myself,

and I think mine was really obvious. Yours was not obvious, but I pick up on it. You know, it's like we've seen so many preachers that you fall into this speaking technique. Many of the cues that, many of the things that we've learned subconsciously that we just absorbed over the years is from watching like pastors speak.

And they're always trying to motivate you. And they're always making an illustration. They're always telling a personal story. And so, so much of our training came through that. And so it's hard to avoid. But just like holding a microphone and walking around and like being a little bit dressed up and like this looks like a church live stream feed. You know what I mean?

And so I definitely felt that. Now, I'm doing this talk at NC State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. These kids have probably been to church quite a bit, so maybe it's more effective. But I didn't particularly like that, but I also don't know how to not do it. I think my favorite part was the whole closed eyes bit.

You know, it's like... Okay. Why does that make you laugh? Because that was early. What was favorite? Why did you like it? Because it was... I felt like it was a bit of a risk.

You're like, you're putting people, you know, it's like, you're getting people to close their eyes. I like the fact that you implicated that. Maybe you were thinking you could punch somebody in the face. It's like, oh, I've got them in a weak spot. I love that. But then it was participatory, and you kind of guided them through like an exercise of visualization.

I think that that will stick with a lot of people. And then the fact that then you tied it to, I mean, you'll see in mine, but like there's some uncanny moments there in the application of that. But I think that that was, I, even when it's not good news, this is a sobering reality that can still be good news of like hacking away at your attachments to something that you're visualizing that just may not turn out, or even if it does, it's not going to be everything you thought it would be. So, I mean, without going full Buddhist...

It was very Buddhist. I felt like that was... I felt like that was very... I think that was very helpful and very memorable. Our commencement 10 years ago was pretty Christian. I think there was a Bible verse. I went more Buddhist, but without saying that that's what I was doing. DQ presents...

Picture this. Picture the Reese's Extreme Blizzard back for a limited time. Reese's peanut butter cups and Reese's Pieces blended together with world-famous soft serve in one Blizzard treat. It's a dream treat for Choco peanut butter lovers. Wait, are you dreaming? Well, check. Are there any dinosaurs around?

Are you riding a unicorn? Are you back in high school? No? Then, oh yeah, this Reese's Extreme Blizzard is real. Hurry into DQ today. DQ, happy tastes good. Wherever you're going, you better believe American Express will be right there with you. Heading for adventure? We'll help you breeze through security. Meeting friends a world away? You can use your travel credit. Squeezing every drop out of the last day? How about a 4 p.m. late checkout? Just need a nice place to settle in?

Enjoy your room upgrade. Wherever you go, we'll go together. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card. Terms apply. Okay. See, I'm glad we did yours first

because now mine's longer, and here we go. You know, it's like, should we make it a part two? You can make it your own part two. No, keep it all together. You can pause it, and this is a good place to take a breather

if you're not ready for a second commencement address. But, I mean, or maybe we just don't watch mine. No, yes, we're going to watch yours. Now that, you know, like, you have so much composure. Are you saying that you didn't? I don't know. I don't know how much composure I have. You're being too nervous. Okay, yeah, yeah, Let's just play it. Let's just play it. You get to see the graduates in my shop. So you have to see the full bio of our commencement speaker on the back.

I will not read to you the full bio of Mr. Link Neal. Yeah, you can read it yourself. Is it okay if I call you Link? That's my line. Well, I'm going to do it anyway, so. I didn't say no. Link is a graduate of industrial engineering from NC State. Link did work as an engineer at IBM before he went on to a career in entertainment.

Yes. Rhett McLaughlin, began a company and are well known for their social media presence across YouTube and many other elements, including books that they have written, podcasts that they have, etc. If I were to ask our graduates today whether they've seen one of the episodes or videos from Rhett and Link, I'm pretty sure that they would all say yes. And those of you who haven't, I encourage you to check it out later. There's almost about as many people in the audience, maybe 500. It may seem interesting to you

that we've invited someone in the entertainment industry from YouTube to speak to engineers today. But I will tell you that I know Link is still an industrial engineer down to his soul and his career is an example of how flexible the industrial engineering degree is. Now if you know if you've watched much of the the work by Rhett and Link

you will sometimes see that they are self-deprecating so he says don't expect too much and so I'll leave you with that. And please join me in welcoming our She gave you the self-deprecating. I told her to say that. Oh, oh. I said lower the bar. Don't expect too much. I said lower the bar.

That's what you want somebody to say. Yeah. Now there's a picture of you up there on the screen. Yeah, there is. I didn't get that. Notebook. Okay. Yeah, there is. I didn't get that notebook. Okay. Congratulations, guys.

Man, look at you. Honestly, you don't look nearly as scared as I thought you should. You should be happy, but you should be scared, not because of your future, but because I'm giving you a commencement address. Anything can happen. Anything. I don't know what's gonna happen.

Exactly. Strong start. You see that? Yeah. So similarities here. Yeah, not unexpectedly, your mic grab was a little bit more aggressive than mine. Yeah, I was surprised. But also, I mean, same thought. Same thought.

You were like, I'm not going to get up there and stay behind the podium. Yeah. But, I mean, immediately, you did the walk before the talk. You came to the edge of stage before you even said a word. I mean, I like it. I like it. It feels powerful. I like your pinstripe suit.

Can't really tell that it's pinstripe on this. Thank you for pointing that out. It was a good start. Yeah, I snatched that thing. That was just pure energy. It was just coming out of everywhere. energy that I it was just coming out of everywhere

but I do want to give you a gift I want to give you a gift of the tale of Elkhound Snowman oh my gosh once upon a time in the pandemic it was a middle-aged man

with glasses graying, poofy hair and a successful internet show who wanted to be a DJ. Did I get a chuckle from the camera person? Who wanted to be a DJ. They did a snort laugh.

He liked playing music for his friends. And then one day he took a big step. He decided to buy a DJ deck. I'm talking about one of those boxes with the big circles on it and all the buttons. Did he know what those buttons did? Of course not. But he did know the one thing that you all know about a DJ, and that's this. You're not really a DJ until you play the gig in public. Say what you want. If you haven't played a gig, you ain't no DJ. Okay, let's pause at this point.

First of all, there was no cameraman. I looked over at the camera and it wasn't anybody there. So who's snorting? I don't know, there was no cameraman. I looked over at the camera, and it wasn't anybody there. So who's snorting? I don't know. Somebody near the camera. Oh, somebody near the camera. Okay, so this is unexpected. I would not have been able to predict that this would start with a tale of Elkown Snuggle Baby.

So it's hard to see their faces because I'm only seeing the backs of their heads at this point. So at this point in your story, what are you getting from them? Very little. And that's why when I walked back to the podium, I was like, he wanted to be a DJ. And then I was like, I looked down at my notes, and I was on page four. And so I'm like turning my spiral bound notebook back, and I'm saying-

Page four of four. Yeah, and I'm like, he wanted to be, flip the page, still not the right page. Get back to page one. Flip a DJ. And then I got it how I wanted it, and then I'm like, thinking, oh, this crowd is stiff. Now, I'm actually hearing some laughter, because the onboard mic is actually helping my cause a little bit. I'm hearing responsiveness. I just want, I was kind of trying to get in your head at this point.

Oh, why I'm telling responsiveness. I just want, I was kind of trying to get in your head at this point. Oh, why I'm telling this story? No, when you're telling the story, is it kind of like, like, are you, where's your, where's your head at? I'm like, okay, I've, I got to stick to the game. This is, I'm telling this story. I decided if I can get in story mode, that will help me. Yeah. If I, because I experienced it. And then I just, and I feel like I can tell a story.

So I'm going to lean on that, and I'm going to have the key moments of the story written down. When I tell a story here, I might write down a key point or two. So it made me feel a little more comfortable. But then that was met with kind of like some shock. It was just like people, they didn't know what to do, it was just like, I don't, like, people, they didn't know what to do with it. They didn't expect it. Right.

And I guess I did, the thing that I did on purpose was deciding to tell this story that would just surprise, this is not what anybody expected. Yeah. Okay, so, and I thought it set up what I wanted to say. So, I mean, you be the judge of that. Long pause. So he decided to take another big step.

He decided to make an announcement. And he said, I'm going to play my first ever DJ gig at Mythicon. Now, for those of you who don't know, which I'm sure is the minority, Mythicon is a convention full of supportive fans of, let's just say, this aspiring DJ's day job. Okay. So making that your first gig, it kind of mitigates the risk a little bit, right? These are supported fans of this guy. But still, it's over a thousand people.

I mean, that's quite a premier gig, you know? Maybe you should have thought about starting a little smaller, but it was too late. He had made that announcement. At this point, this is no longer just some fun little hobby. This is getting real, guys. Real scary. Really scary. Okay. I'm not gonna keep pausing it.

No, you can pause it. Why? But I'm just putting myself in the shoes of a student who doesn't know who you are. Yeah. And it's like I'm processing so many things, and all of a sudden, there's this man up there. They did seem like they were processing a lot. And he's saying things like, really scary. Right, right. I made up my mind. I was like, really scary.

Right, right, I made up my mind, I was like, I'm gonna be me. Yeah. And you're gonna have to reckon with it. Yeah. Mission accomplished. But he knew the most important thing about being a DJ was picking out a DJ name. Every good DJ has a good DJ name. He wanted to

pick out something that was unforgettable, yet kind of hard to remember. He wanted to pick out a DJ name that when you said it out loud, you couldn't keep a straight face. out loud, you couldn't keep a straight face. And he came up with elk hound snuggle baby. I for one think it was a good choice. But let's

test it out. We're going to wake up a little bit. Being a little too serious, I would like to count to three, and then in unison, I would like all of us to say, El Pound Snuggle Baby. Crowd interaction.

I'm going to count to three. Please cooperate. On my count of three, we're going to say, El Pound Snuggle Baby. One, two, three. El Pound Snuggle Baby. He was right. we're going to say, Al Connors, don't go there. One, two, three. Al Connors, don't go there. He was right.

He smiled. So we had that figured out. And then he knew, well, he needed a look. Every good DJ has a signature look. Sometimes they have a costume. Some DJs are doing the helmet thing. So, ES,

as I sometimes call him, decided that he was going to drape a fake sheep's wool fabric over his bare shoulders and chest to look kind of like a Viking tunic.

And then he had an enormous headpiece made that emanated from his head region, and it was two huge, let me do this, two huge elk antlers spreading about two feet above his head and about five feet across. across. He looked pretty vicious. But also a little bit smug. So he had the name, he had the signature look,

and then the night of his set finally arrived. See, I'm seeing why it took me 22 minutes. The story is pretty detailed. I am talking three times as slow. I'm talking on one-third speed.

That always happens when you speak, though. When I get up there, I'm speaking way too slow. Right. Yeah, it's usually like if you plan for 10, it's going to be. I got to speak faster next time I give this exact speech. Right, because you'll do this again. All right.

That's my main critique of myself is I'm speaking too damn slow. I'm losing my energy. I'm losing my vibe. But now I'm at the gig. I'm not done with the story. Oh, I know. I'm familiar with the story. Right, right, right, right. Okay. He kicked things off with 24 karat magic. Bruno Mars. Peaky fingers to the moon.

You're really getting this person next to the camera. He sprinkled in some 21-savage. Don't say that. Some Megan Thee Stallion. Don't say the other thing. Some Megan Thee Stallion. Yoddy, yoddy, yoddy. Now you're connecting with the kids. Yeah, connecting with the kids.

The crowd was loving it, y'all. He seamlessly transitioned from Toto's Africa into Snoop Dogg's Drop It Like it's hot. Do do do do do Snoop. I guess I'm stirring. Do do do do do Dogg.

It was going great. Until it wasn't. He pushed the wrong button or something. Maybe he forgot how the buttons worked. Maybe he... Nobody knows what happened. I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what happened. But it was pretty clear that he was unable to play his next song. In fact, he was unable to play any song, which, as it turns out, is pretty important for a DJ.

At this point, he took another big step. He grabbed the microphone. And he made an announcement. He said, I would play another song. But I can't figure out how. So I'm just gonna leave now." And he did. We walked upstate, which wasn't easy with the... We never heard from him again.

Actually, Elkhound Snuggle Baby did live to DJ another day. Even though I think what happened was most accurately described as an implosion. He did live another day. do i know that because i will stand before you today an outtown snuggle base i bet you didn't see that coming right I bet you didn't see that coming. Right. Maybe you did see it coming. Because you got a college degree. Oh, that's good. See, it was me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And it was a little bit, for a second there, they may have thought you were talking about like a historical figure. they may have thought you were talking about like a historical figure. What do you think you were getting from the parents? I was not, I made up my mind. I was like, I'm not going to look at the parents or the grandparents or the siblings. Right.

I'm only going to look at the graduates. That's my best chance of getting through this. That's who I want to connect with. And yeah, I think when I got the applause, it was like, I think the parental applause was, his story is over. I'm supposed to applaud now. But the joke was... I'm just getting started. No, no, that wasn't a joke. That wasn't a joke. No, the story was over, but the joke was that I knew that I telegraphed that it was me.

Yeah, yeah, I enjoy that joke. Once you got into the... And that was my time, by the way. I think that... And hold on, I have an application to this story. Right, but my observation at this point is when you get into the specific musical references and the little call-outs and stuff like that, you can see their hats start moving a whole lot more, right? Because now...

There's murmurs. I think that there is a sort of a realization of like, this guy is telling this story in this fashion. Yeah. And I think that there is a, there's sort of a realization of like, this is gonna be interesting. I told him anything could happen.

And so I think that at this point, you're getting people to be like, all right, okay. Where is this going? I do feel like I was winning him over a little bit. But now I got to lay some pipe. Is that the right? No. I got to actually say something substantial.

Yeah, right. Which is the part where I was like, oh, I need notes. Yeah, go back to the notes. Here we go. So what am I saying? Yep. Why am I gifting you with this tale of Elkhound's snuggle baby? Well, isn't it pretty clear?

Now that you have your industrial engineering degree, drop everything and pursue a career in professional DJing. Oh, that's your thank you, good night? Yeah. Okay. We both had that. Thank you, good night. You thought I was going to say become a YouTuber.

That would be dumb. Don't do that. Well, when I share my experience as Elkhound's noble baby, including the implosion, I will say that, honestly, I don't regret a second of it. You know, every single part of it. I don't regret a second of it. I learned to relish in it. And there's just something deeply satisfying about identifying passion and then going after it.

Even if the path to get there is really unclear, even if the results are anything but guaranteed, that can be deeply rewarding. Now, I want to go into dad mode with you guys, okay? So today I'm here with you, sir. I want to give you some advice that maybe you can use that will help you out as you enter the rest of your life. And so I have a general guiding principle that when I look back over the course of my career, and I'm not just talking about my VJ career,

I see a pattern of whenever there were crucial junctures in my life when I was making big decisions or small decisions that I didn't realize would have ripple effects throughout my entire life. There's one common principle that was there. And I'm going to share it with you. Maybe you're going to take it or leave it. Maybe it could be of help to you. I'll say that this guiding principle is the reason that Elkhound's Snuggle Baby does exist. Maybe more importantly, I would say this principle is the reason that Good Mythical Morning, our daily talk show, exists. I would say that without enacting this principle,

without enacting this principle, Rhett and Link as a comedic duo, I don't think would exist. And I definitely wouldn't be up here talking to you guys about my DJ emotions if this principle wasn't in place. All right, you ready for it? You don't have to write anything down.

I'm going to tweet it out later. So people can pick it up. Did you do that? No. I don't like to tweet. Err on the side of action instead of certainty. Err on the side of action instead of

certainty. If you think about certainty as this idea of being 100% confident about something before you go into it, 100% confident, this sets up this idea that can become a trap. When you find yourself making a waiting decision or figuring out what direction that you want to go in life today, this year, or next, whatever the case may be, you could be lulled into this belief that I'm not going to move forward until I know this is the right choice. That the sign is blinking and saying this way, do this, you got this, just go for it, It's automatic. Not a sliver of a doubt.

I'm saying err on the side of action because the concept of being 100% confident can be paralyzing. The bigger the decision that you're making, the harder it is to feel like you're making the right one. And the unknown can be really scary. the right one. And the unknown can be really scary. Scarier than a man wearing a headpiece of Elgate that's five feet wide. You know what I'm saying? Vicious. Anybody else know?

Throwback to a joke nobody liked. If you keep waiting for 100% certainty, you might be involved into a position where you're not listening to your heart and following your heart. You might be involved into a position where you're not taking any action at all. Okay. So by no means am I saying you should just make frivolous decisions and just go, go, go. You should use every resource at your disposal to make the wisest decision possible, but when it comes down to making these decisions and find a piece about it or confirmation about it, whatever words you want to use, at a certain point, I wanna encourage you, when it comes down to it, to err on the side of action,

taking those big steps instead of certain. Take a direction and go. You know, I don't like to call them dead ends, I like to call them cul-de-sacs. I made that up. Hey, that was good. That was, it It was getting kind of dry. I was getting kind of preachy.

So I hit him with a cul-de-sac. So you took the theme of uncertainty as well, but you took a different, you know, it's a different aspect of uncertainty. Right. That's the word that I saw on your notes on your phone. Yeah. It of uncertainty. Right. And then... That's the word that I saw on your notes, on your phone. Yeah. It was uncertainty. I was like, oh, I'm talking about uncertainty.

What is he talking about? I know. And now listen to this, because even though my speech could have been done a lot earlier, or even right here, I'm still not done, y'all. You're still going. I'm going into the third act. Right. And this is where it gets a little uncanny in terms of some parallels.

22 years ago, I was sitting pretty long. I remember that feeling. You're at such a special point in your life. There's a few times where an inflection point is so palpable. You know, do you feel like your life is, you're on the precipice of the rest of your life? There's a few times that you're going to feel this way again. And, you know, like I said, you should be scared a little bit. I'm a little bit.

I could feel that my life was out there, but I couldn't see it. I couldn't see it. Knowing what it is now, there's no way I could have seen it. That doesn't mean the plans weren't falling into place. As Julie mentioned, when I was sitting where you are, I had some plans. I accepted a job at IBM working in their industrial engineering department, just down the road in RTP. Within a few months, I would be neck deep in conveyor belts and process optimization of computer part refurbishment. Spreadsheets.

It was pretty sexy. Pretty sexy? Yeah. Say that word. Efficiency. I like this yeah what did you say what rod give me another one Uh-oh. What rod? What'd you say? What rod?

Give me another one. Optimization. Sounds nice. Give me another one. Come on. Modern. Modern. Modern. Speak up.

Oh, no you didn't. This is so fantastic. I was in it, y'all. I was in it. This is a good moment. You're really tapping into this stuff. This is my water resources moment. They identify themselves in this way, and they will for the rest of their lives.

I came up with this. This was the last thing I came up with. I was like, Christy told me, you've got to connect with your engineering. And so I was like, oh, I'm going to do it with this. I'm going to make all the industrial engineering work sexy. Yeah, that's a good call. And then so the main thing that I got was people coming up to me, professors especially, talking about, I love the stochastic one. Stochastic fantastic.

Can I use that? What is it? Stochastic? Yeah, I don't even know what that is. I don't even know if I'm saying it right. Stochastic. We don't do anything stochastic in Civil Engineering. It's got an I in it, but I don't think so. Yeah, it's stochastic. Fantastic.

At one point I didn't know what it was. My apologies for no longer knowing. But yeah, I mean, and if my speech wasn't the next day, I would've continued to add things and I would've had like a 45 minute speech. Yep. Right. I don't regret a minute of it. My experience as an industrial engineer is always a part of who I am and it's a big part of how my brain works. And so, yeah, I'm still an industrial engineer. Yes. I was also already married when I was sitting where you are.

Christie, my wife and I, have been married here. She graduated from Meredith College. By a show of hands, is anybody here willing to admit to being in a relationship with somebody from Meredith? Nobody? Come on, now I'm the neutral. Damn, when I was here, it was like fish in a barrel over there. Come on, you missed your opportunity.

Meredith is an all-girls school. Did you say fish in a barrel? Yeah. But I didn't say shooting fish in a barrel. Are the women the fish? Is that the analogy? I guess so, yeah. I mean, it's nothing but women over there.

Yeah, well, fish in a barrel. We'll just keep going. I love my Christy. We've been married a year. You know, I had this job. That's pretty much all I knew when I was sitting in your seat, but if you fast forward two years from this spot,

and a lot had changed already that I couldn't anticipate. We already had our first daughter, Lily. I had already completely changed my career path. I had left industrial engineering, and I was working for a non-profit as a speaker, a teacher, a trainer, a video maker, a comedian. I used the term really loosely. So yeah, I couldn't have imagined that.

And that was only two years down the road. You took the non-profit, right? We talked about this before, but the simplified story, we skip over the Campus Crusade stuff because it's hard to explain to people. You have to justify it. What's the simplest way to explain it that doesn't start to distract from the point I'm actually trying to make? It wasn't trying to gloss over something for what it was. It was trying to gloss over it for just the sake of pacing,

which I did not have a great sense of anyway. Yeah, but it's funny. Everybody was with me at this point, though. Once I start talking sexy, everybody's perking back up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You reeled them back in. Yeah, I reeled them back in because I had to. And then I look at, okay, four years down the road from when I was seated, you got, you reeled him back in. Yeah, I reeled him back in because I had to. And then I look at, okay, four years down the road

from when I was seated where you are, that's how long it would be before the invention that defined my career completely and changed the trajectory of my entire life was even invented. change the trajectory of my entire life was even invented. I remember in 2005-ish, early 2006, I was asking the question, well, why do we need a YouTube when we've got our videos on a website?

Well, the answer was somebody took one of our videos off of our website and put it on this thing called YouTube and it got more views in a day than it got on our website in the past year. So I'm like, maybe I need to look into this YouTube factor a little bit. I could have used your tube joke here. Yeah, but we didn't straight notes, so. No, I should've used it.

And if we both had the same joke, that would've been. That would've been awesome. Next time. Totally different crowd. Next time. I mean, there was no business model there. There was no career associated with it. But we took a step.

We couldn't see the writing on the wall, but we said that I think somebody's building a wall. Maybe one day we can write on it. I made that up. I guess is how we go. You gotta build the wall joke. Yeah. But he's riding on the wall.

I was waiting for someone to build it so I could ride on it. You know, I'm a graffiti artist. With you, man. You knew Trump was coming along. You're going to write on that wall. It's tough to write on, though. It goes just like slats, you know? That was totally off the cuff.

You didn't exist when I was sitting where you are. Wrap it up, son. So, if you feel like you have no clue what your future looks like, oh, you're right. I mean, don't freak out. None of us do. We're all making this up. Look at everybody else. We're all making this up, right?

Let's go. Right? So maybe your career doesn't exist yet either. Maybe you need to invent your career. Maybe you need to invent your career. Maybe you need to buy your time so that you can say yes to the right opportunities whenever that comes about. It took me a long time to discover who I am.

But I'm no longer going through puberty. I don't know why I said that. I'm glad I going through puberty. I don't know why I said that. I'm glad I got through this now. Was that planned? No. It took me a long time to discover who I am, but I am no longer going through puberty. Wow.

I don't know. No, yeah, okay. It's true. I don't know, I don't know. It, yeah, okay. It's true. I don't know. I don't know. It's true. Yeah, I did want to clear it. I said I'm glad I could clear that out.

And you did have a late puberty. I did. Yeah. In the meantime, I would say don't sit on your hands too long or they may never wake up. I want to encourage you to follow your heart. I want to encourage you to, like I said, err on the side of action instead of certainty. And I want to lead you as any globally known,

you as any globally known accomplished DJ would with a song. This is from Tom Petty. You're going to play the song? No. It's time to move on. It's time to get going. What lies ahead I have no way of knowing. But under my feet, baby, the grass is growing. It's time to move on. It's time to get going. It's time to move on. It's time to get going. It's time to move on. It's time to get gone. It's time to move on. It's time to get gone.

It's time to move on. Really, that fade out? It's time to drop it like it's hot. Wow, what did she, oh, I wanted to see what she said. She dropped it like it's hot, I think. Wow. You know what? They're not going to forget that, Link.

Yeah, you know, under my feet, baby, the grass is growing. It's time to move on. You know, it's like air on the side of action instead of certainty. I think, you know. Drop it like it's hot. I think you set out to be yourself. Check. And I do feel good about that.

I feel like I went big and I went for it and I was like, I'm not going to. They rattled me at the beginning and that's, you know, not their fault. But when I watch it back, I'm like, I'm not going to, they rattled me at the beginning, and that's, you know, not their fault. But when I watch it back, I'm like, yeah, I need to talk a lot faster, but I'm glad I, I think it's the first time that I kind of brought myself to it, to something like this. You know? A speech, I'll say. Right, right. And I think if you were to, I mean, for me, the most important thing is like,

I mean, obviously, we're trying to do it to be entertaining and to like, you know, because we're entertainers, which you definitely did. But ultimately, the most important thing is do they walk away with something that actually means that they understand and motivates them in some way. Like that's what you're after when you give a talk. My point was basically like go for it. You know, it's like it's not, you know, it's like. Your point was just do it. It was like. Just do it. go for it. You know, it's like, it's not, you know, it's like. Your point was just do it.

It was like. Just do it. Go for it. It was like Nike's slogan. Yeah. Which is important. And also, I think that probably, just because of the way people's personalities map

to certain professions, I would think that there's a lot of perfectionists in the crowd because industrial engineers are naturally drawn to process and optimization. And people who are drawn to that also have a tendency to have a difficult time moving forward if they don't feel completely confident and secure. So I think that you kind of broke them down with the popular references, got them on your side, and then gave them something that was very applicable to them, including very personalized insider jokes.

Sexy stuff. Sexy stuff. And I didn't want to tell a... I wanted to tell a story that was unexpected, but that was also not a story of success, but a story of failure. You know, it's like, I think that's more my sweet spot anyway. But I thought it was like, you know, I don't regret a second of it.

I think it was great. So... I think... Based on those two performances, I'm expecting a call. We're going to have to go on the circuit. To come back and do the whole school. PNC Arena.

It's Coliseum, baby. Yeah. Yeah. And we're going to, but we'll have to do it together. Yeah. So we'll have to figure that out. Yeah. I think you can mention songs and then I'll start singing them.

Yeah, I think you can mention songs and then I'll start singing. I will basically be the DJ hype man for your composed speech. And that would be a good one-two punch. I think that's what we'll do. Well, we got at least a year to plan it. We don't know when we'll be asked. We were honored to get the invitation. And I'm so, I mean, it was like, you know, even if you're tempted to say no,

I was very tempted to say no because I was like, oh, you got to figure this out. And it's, you know, and it's going to make me anxious. And it, yeah, it takes time too. And it's, but it's just like, I was pretty worked up about it, you know? So it was, but I was pretty worked up about it. But I was very glad I did it. And I just want to give a shout out to Julie, Wanda, Karen. Thank you all for having me, for being such great hosts and being supportive and believing in me. Yeah, and thank you to Jackie and Amy in the civil department, to Jerome, the associate dean over there at the engineering school. Jerome, thank you. to Jackie and Amy in the civil department, to Jerome, the associate

dean over there at the engineering school. Jerome! Thank you. Who was a key part of this. And we won't talk about it, but we got another tour. An even better tour, now that it was both of us. Yeah, of the engineering schools. And it's just, I mean,

it's cool to see what's going on there. It kind of makes me want to, like, you know, it makes me want to do a little engineering. I'm not going to. I'm just going to use ChatGPT. But, like, it kind of, like, when I see the cool stuff, it makes me kind of want to figure it out and do it again. Yeah. But, yeah, it was a good weekend. It was a good weekend just, like, being back there.

It was very formative for me. I felt like it was a milestone. I felt like there was a certain level of like, oh, I put my... you know, I was nervous about it and I was like, I don't want to do this. Mm-hmm. And so for me, it gave me a... I just felt like, you know, it was quite a milestone for both of us. Yeah. To be able to do that. Do the high school, do the college commencement address. We have no business doing these things, but at the same time,

it's a great privilege and it's just a cool milestone. And I think I've had momentum on the back side of it. A little more confidence from being a goofball. You gonna speak somewhere now? Yeah, I think I'm gonna start speaking about my DJing, but not DJing. Not DJing, but talking about DJing. Just talking about it.

Maybe that's your application. What's your next outcome? I gotta get back on the horse. I gotta get back on the horse. Get those antlers back on. But my wreck is you know, err on the side of action over certainty.

What did you, yeah. Oh, that's your rec. Yeah, my rec is my point. Well, let us know what you think. Let us know what, how, were you moved? How do you, were you going to take this advice and dominate the next stage of your life with it? Are you going to start a new career in an industry that does not yet exist? Let us know.

Hashtag Ear Biscuits. Or call us. 1-888-EAR-PON-1. Speak at you next week. Okay. Hey, gang. I'm listening exactly one month late to the episode about Link's ski trip. And I just want to say thank you for making great content and being amazing friends who can talk about each other's pitfalls and good qualities all the same. And it really makes me think about and be thankful for the friendships that I have and feel like I can do that with and also think about areas where I need to improve on. So thank you guys. Love you so much.

Keep making the cut that you're making.