Episode Transcript
[00:00:15] Hello and welcome to Imagine the Possibilities. My name is Skip Pogue. This is season two, Episode two, and it's titled it's the Little Things that Matter. We're going to be talking about things that make us happy, make us feel special, and bring an enhanced level of joy to our lives.
[00:00:36] Now, in order to understand and celebrate the little things, we've got to be focused on the present.
[00:00:45] We can't be looking in the future, looking at what happened yesterday in the past. We've got to be living in the here and now, in the moment. To really pay attention and get the joy from the little thing. We need to use our abilities to focus on the little things in life. By doing that, we'll see the inspiration and motivation in the small things as they happen. That alone will make an amazing difference in the joy we feel. I truly believe that little things matter the most. These small acts or moments, in many cases contribute more to our overall happiness than many of the grand gestures that we experience. Okay, let's talk about the little things as they relate to our relationship with our spouse or significant other. Saying I love you is. Is probably the most important thing that we can do, and it's a little thing, but a missed opportunity to say I love you is a missed opportunity. I think everybody probably does what I do, which is I get up in the morning when I see my wife, first thing I say is, I love you. And she says it back to me and it makes us both feel good. The last thing at night, when we're going to bed, I tell her, I love you. She says, I love you. And we're going to sleep that night more comfortable because we know each other. One loves the other one, which, which is great, fantastic. But we miss those opportunities sometimes through the day or the weekend or whatever. We may see our spouse and we're thinking about it, but maybe we've been conditioned not to say it. You know, it's 11:00 in the morning or whatever, or there's no specific time, don't say it. I tell my wife that all the time. Just say I love you. And they don't even have to say it back. Just they know. And you have joy from saying it. They have joy from hearing it. You, you can also thank your wife, your spouse, thank her for the things or him for the things they've done something they did special. Acknowledge that, appreciate what they do. You know, if they're raising your kids, appreciate what they do, whatever it is, make sure that they know you appreciate the time and effort they took to do that. Something I do, and probably a lot of people that are listening. This though, is I tell my wife she's the best. I just say, brenda, you're the best, honey, and I love you. Nothing wrong with it, just a little thing. I also tell her how much I appreciate her support because I probably wouldn't be doing this podcast if she hadn't supported me in my effort to get to the point of doing it. So that's a cool thing. You know, there's other things. Just a touch, just a gentle touch as you walk by, a kiss or a hug, holding hands. I enjoy that. My wife does too. You know, if you're walking in a restaurant or something, hold hands and doesn't cost anything. It's just a little thing. But just that touch, just feeling each other's hands will make a difference. It'll increase the joy of that day for you. If there's something you enjoy, chances are your spouse will enjoy it too. So make the effort to, whatever it is, to engage your spouse in it. The truth is that I would never have had all the success that I had in my professional life if it wasn't for Brenda's encouragement. This podcast most likely would never happen. It wouldn't exist today if it had not been for her and the positive affirmations she gave me while I was working through my self doubt. And if you've listened to several podcasts, I addressed that. And if you've listened to them, you'll know what I'm talking about. Let me give you a real life example of a little thing that I did yesterday. I was working on the notes in my storyboard for this podcast and I decided I wanted a chai latte. So I went and fixed me one, went in the kitchen, did everything to put one together, and I fixed two. Actually fixed one for me and one for Brenda. But she hadn't asked for it. She didn't know I was doing that. She didn't know I was fixing mine. But I walked in the room and I set it on her table and she smiled a beautiful smile and she thanked me and said those three words, I love you. Just that simple thing brought so much joy. I did the work, but the reward was the joy I felt because I did it. You know, it wasn't a grand gesture, it was just a gesture. But because I did it and it made her happy, I felt just as much joy as she felt. So it's the little thing now.
[00:05:21] I fixed the chai latte, Now I'm back Right. I'm at my desk and I'm thinking about little things you can do for your better half. And I'd ask you to do the same thing, think about little things. Doesn't have to be something big, doesn't have to spend a lot of money, any of that kind of stuff. Even I hate to say people say, don't buy grocery store flowers, but if your grocery store happens to have roses, and you know your wife likes red roses or yellow roses or whatever color, if they have one, just buy a single rose, take it home and give her that. You know, it's really simple and it will make a world of difference and it will. All these things will build your relationship, make it stronger. My wife and I, Brenda and I have been married. Next month we'll have been married for 59 years. And I won't say we haven't. We've had some up and downs. I don't think anybody's been together for 59 years, hasn't had them. But most of them were things that because of the things we did for each other and the strength of our relationship, we were able to just push through them. And we'll continue that until the day we leave this planet. So it's important. The little things are really important. How about we take a few minutes and talk about the little things that we can do to bring joy to others. And in doing that, we'll feel the joy ourselves. You know, little simple things. Maybe holding the door open for someone. I know when somebody holds the door open for me, I feel joy simply acknowledging a person. You're walking down the sidewalk and you see somebody walking toward you and just say, hey, I hope you're having a great day. Or, or in my case, hey, hello. I hope you're having a super day and you can ask people. And I do that a lot.
[00:07:06] That's just been one of my things that I believe everybody should have a super day. Or we could pay it forward. Think about that.
[00:07:14] I talked in one of the podcasts a bit about being in a drive through line and paying for the person's meal behind me. There's nothing wrong with that. There's hundreds of little things we can do for others.
[00:07:25] I'd like each of you to just think about that for a few minutes. Just after you're done listening to this, just stop and think about what can I do for other people, friends, acquaintances, or people I don't even know, what can I do that will bring them joy? Because just you doing something that brings another person joy Will give you joy in your heart. What about your kids or your nieces or nephews? You know, the little people in your life, the first thing that they need to know is how you feel about them. Words like, I love you, I'm proud of you, or you did good, or you're good at what you do. Just words of encouragement, Words that let them know that you're there for them. One of the things you can do if you need to run an errand or errands, if your children, one or both of them, even if I depend on how many you have, ask them to go with you while you run your errand. Take them and while you're out, take them to the ice cream shop, just you and them. Sit down, get an ice cream cone, both of you, and just sit and talk about things. Now, there's something that's really important when you talk to your kids, that is to pay attention. Listen to them. If you read stories to them and they talk while you're reading the story, pay attention, Listen to what they're saying because it's important to them. And it's another one of those little things. Okay, I've been talking about little things as they relate to relationships and the people you care about. But much of what I've talked about can be used with other family members, friends, people you work with.
[00:09:01] It's easily transferable. How's that? It'll work with virtually anybody. I need to switch gears. I want us to think about the little things that make us happy. We need to pay attention to what's going on around us. We need to look at what's happening now, the moment we're in. Think about that. I want to start off with an example that always brings me calmness. We had about 6 inches of snow a few days ago. It started and snowed through the night. I got up the next morning and I did all my usual things. Shaved, brushed my teeth, combed my hair and everything and got dressed this particular morning. I normally fix a cup of coffee or tea every morning, but this particular morning, I didn't want coffee or tea. I wanted to go outside. So I got my heavy coat out, got a hat, had my shoes on, and I walked outside. Now, I don't know if everybody experiences snow the same way I do, but when I walked out on my deck, it was so quiet I could. I believe I could almost hear a snowflake hitting the snow that was on the ground. And it was beautiful. It was a pretty heavy snow and just. It was amazing. There was A stillness and a calmness came over me.
[00:10:11] It's like everything had stopped. There was no noise, no sounds or anything. It was just really calm.
[00:10:18] It's like everything was right with the world. I felt the presence of God in my soul. It was that kind of experience.
[00:10:26] It was an awesome feeling, but it was truly a little thing. It was simply a snowfall. Now, I stayed outside for probably 15 or 20 minutes and just enjoyed it. Just looked around, watched the snow. And then I started getting a little cold, so I decided I was gonna come in. I took my coat, hat off and my shoes, because standing around in snow, they'd gotten a little bit wet. Went in the kitchen and I fixed myself a cup of coffee. Came in and sat at my desk. And I was thinking about a lot of different things. And I was gonna do some work on this podcast, but I didn't turn my computer on. I just sat here and I had a quiet conversation with Jesus. And during that conversation, I expressed the gratitude I had for what I just enjoyed, what I just experienced. Think about these things. Pay attention about something to think about. How about the sun warming us? The beauty of the clouds as they move across the sky? The smell of a steak on the grill. A young fawn in a field beside your house. An eagle in flight. A hawk sitting on a tree waiting for their next meal to show up. The sounds of nature all around us. The sound and feel of the wind blowing leaves around in your yard.
[00:11:46] Your cat jumping up on you so that you can hold them and make them feel safe.
[00:11:52] Your son telling you that he loves you.
[00:11:55] Your daughter sending you a text message in the middle of the night telling you she loves you.
[00:12:02] A friend who calls you just because he's been thinking about you.
[00:12:07] Someone that wishes you well and tells you that they're going to pray for you.
[00:12:13] A stranger who would soon become a friend scoots over at the table you're on. Because you all are having a conversation about God and he wants to join in.
[00:12:24] The owner of a restaurant pulls up a chair and visits with you. Now, over the years, he has become a really good friend. And he just wants to acknowledge that friendship, that's all little things.
[00:12:36] A beautiful sunset, a wondrous sunrise. A lot of times where I live, I get to see both of them in a single day. I get up before the sun rises and go to bed after it sets. So some days I'm fixing a cup of coffee and I look out the window and I can see the sun starting to crack the horizon. I walk out on the patio and watch it come up for 10 or 15 minutes. Maybe drink coffee while I'm doing it. And it's beautiful. That evening I'll go out on the deck and watch the sunset. And it's beautiful. So I get to see them both. How about rain? Just a gentle spring rain or a summer shower or whatever. Maybe it's fairly clear sky and starts raining and you get to see a rainbow. Because it takes a little rain to make a rainbow. Maybe you're lucky and you get to see a double rainbow.
[00:13:27] How about a shared life with a friend?
[00:13:30] How about when you see the joy in a child's face?
[00:13:35] You want an example of a child? You can be Mr. Muscle man, maybe, you know, got biker gear on and everything. But I would almost guarantee you that if a small child come to you with one of those little small portable phones and he handed you the phone, you'd take it from him and answer that call. Why the little things?
[00:14:01] You would get involved in it. Because it is just joy. It's pure joy about a walk in nature.
[00:14:08] How about this? You come home, key in the front door, open it, walk in. And from the back of the house, here comes your dog. And he is overjoyed to see you. He jumps up on you.
[00:14:22] He wants that attention. He wants to let you know he loves you and he hopes you love him. That's cool.
[00:14:29] If you have a friend you haven't talked to in a long time, call him. It'll make both your days. And it's a little thing.
[00:14:36] Tell your kids or grandkids bedtime stories. They'll like it. So will you.
[00:14:42] Just think about all these things. There's hundreds, probably thousands of things we've already missed because we weren't focused on little things. And that's the important piece of all this.
[00:14:55] If we'll pay attention and be in the present, in the moment, we can allow ourselves the opportunity to see and feel little things as we move forward in our life. Here's something I'd like you to do. And it won't take you long. Each day I want you to do it for seven days. But if you journal already, it'll be relatively easy for you. If you don't, you can just take a piece of paper or you can do it on your phone. If you got. I got yellow notes on my phone. I can do it on yellow notes or you can just record it, do a voice recording on your phone. But what I'd like you to do is for one week each day at the end of the Day before you go to sleep, I would like you to write down three little things that you actually paid attention to. And in addition to writing down what the little things were, write down how it made you feel.
[00:15:54] And the only reason I want you to do this is it's simply a bit of positive reinforcement for you to let you know, hey, you are paying attention and you're getting a joy, a reward from paying attention to the little things in life. So just do it for a week. You can do it forever if you want to, but just do it for a week because you will realize that there was 21 things in a week that brought you joy, that made you happy, that made you feel better about your life, the world, people. So do it for a week and then think about it. I want to share a couple things that are business related because little things are important in business. The first one, I had just bought a smartphone. I had it a couple days and it was a Samsung, Android, Android and quit working.
[00:16:47] Couldn't make calls, couldn't get calls, wouldn't do much anything. And I didn't know what happened to it. I thought it was defective or something. So I was driving around and wound up at the Verizon store and the same young lady that sold it to me saw me when I walked in. And she came over and wanted to know if she could help me. And I said, sure. And I told her, I said, I showed her my phone and I said, it won't make calls or receive calls or anything. And she said, can I have it? And I said, yeah. I said, it doesn't work. And she took it, punched a few buttons on it and handed it back. And she said, it's working now. I must have had a really dumb expression on my face. She fixed it in 10 seconds. And I'd fiddle around with it until I got aggravated. And she was just, boop, it's done. And I said, I don't understand. She said, you put it in airplane mode. And then she went on to explain what airplane mode was. And I thought, well, it's good to know because I've got a trip coming up that I'm going to have to put it in airplane mode. But she went a step further. She told me, she said, that's not unusual to happen. A lot of people buy new phones, new smartphones. They never had one before, get their phone stuck in airplane mode and they don't know what they did, so they don't know how to get it out of there. And I said, well, I appreciate that. I said, I don't feel quite as dumb right now. She said, no, you're not dumb. That's fact. Just happens. She said, now you know. And I thanked her. But she not only fixed my phone, she fixed me with a little thing. Just telling me that. I don't know if that's true or not, but I felt better. I said, yeah, it must be true. I'm a technical guy. It had to be true, right?
[00:18:24] The second one had to do with. I spent 12 weeks in Washington, D.C.
[00:18:30] putting in a help desk for one of our customers.
[00:18:34] And I stayed in a nice hotel from a nice hotel chain who happened to be a frequent sleeper. So I had their concierge award card or whatever it was. But anyway, the first week I check in, I go up my room and I drink Diet Pepsi. So I wanted Diet Pepsi. So I noticed when I went to my room, there was a sign that said vending machines on every even number floor. And I said, okay. So I got everything put away and I went back, I got everything put away and I went back to the elevator and rode up to the next floor, walked down, I saw the vending machine, walked down, it's out of order. I think, well, I'll go up two floors. So I go get the elevator, go up two floors, walk back to the vending machine. It's out of order. So my definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. So I decided I was going to the lobby, I wasn't going to keep doing this.
[00:19:34] So I went down the lobby and told the girl what I'd done and everything. And she said, well, she explained they were changing vending services. So I said, well, I need a Diet Coke. I mean, I need a Diet Pepsi. And she said, you can go over to the bar. I go over to the bar, and that's where I said, coke. I go over to the bar and they've got Cokes instead of Pepsi. So I buy two of them, cost five bucks, take them back to the room, drink one of them, put the other one in the refrigerator and go to work. I come in about 7 o'clock and decide I'm going to walk out, find a nice restaurant to eat at, which I do. And as I'm coming back from the restaurant toward the hotel, I see this drugstore and it's got a sign, Pepsi products, $2.79 for a 12 pack. So I go in and sure enough, they got a pallet full of Diet Pepsi. So I buy a 12 pack, walk back up to the hotel, Go in, go up to my room, put them in the refrigerator. I'm set for the rest of the week. So I check out that Friday and the manager's waiting for me and he asked me about my stay and I said it was okay. And he said, okay? And I said, yeah. And he said, wasn't great or fantastic or excellent or anything? I said, no, it's okay. And he said, did we do something wrong? And I said, no. He said, well, I don't understand the okay. And I said, well, it's simple. I stay in this hotel chain for a specific reason and that's the amenities and stuff you have. So with everything that went on, you met requirements. Met requirements is okay. It's good, it's not great, it's not excellent. I could tell I had set him off on a mission. So when I check in the next Monday, he's there, welcomes me to the hotel, make sure my room's taken care of and everything.
[00:21:11] So that week he did that. Next week when I check in, he gives me a suite. He said, I want to upgrade you to suite.
[00:21:18] I was going into work at 7:00 in the morning, coming home at 7:00 in the evening, going to dinner, doing some email and then going to bed. So being in a suite was not a big deal. It had a great big TV and everything, but I never even turned the TV on. So he asked me the question. This went on for 12 weeks. On the Thursday before I was leaving that Friday forever, he stopped me as I was coming in from work and he said, can we have a talk? And I said, yes. We sat down and we started talking about it. And he said, I don't understand what I could have done any different. I upgraded you. And he actually did it twice. I upgraded you to suites. I said that was nice, but I said I couldn't use the suite. All I really needed was what I had was a room with a refrigerator, a bed and Internet connection. That was it. And I said I had that. So I said it wasn't a big deal to me. I couldn't take full advantage of it. So we kept talking and he said, I don't understand. I said, well, I told you something. Probably the second or third week. I said, I know I told you by the third week, but I think I told you the second week. And I said it had to do with your vending machines being out of service and the fact that I drank Diet Pepsi's and I had found them at the drugstore on the corner. And every Monday evening I bought a 12 pack of Diet Pepsi's for $2.79. I said, looking at what I've spent, I'm probably going to be somewhere between $11,000 and $12,000 that I've spent here in the hotel in the last three months. And I said, for $2.79, after I told you about that, you could have went down to the drugstore. You knew when I checked in. I said, you could have went down Monday mornings at 9 o'clock, picked up a 12 pack of diet Pepsi, put them in my room in the refrigerator, and had the receptionist when I checked in tell me, hey, Mr. Pogue, we've got your room ready, so you can go right to it. You don't have to wait. And by the way, we put you a 12 pack of diet Pepsi's in your refrigerator so you don't have to worry about that. I said, now, I don't know if you got a petty cash thing or anything, but I said if you did, all you had to do was spend $2.79 every week to do that. And I said, when you asked me about it, I would have told you it was great. You exceeded my expectations. Not only that, because it's a little thing, but not only that. I said, I do customer service training for our company. And I could have used you as a great example of that little thing you do kind of out of the way, but it's a little thing that you do that makes your customer feel like they're really important. So enough about that. But that is, both of those are important from a business perspective. Like I said, I spent a lot of money and he could have really made my. He could have exceeded my wildest expectation by spending that, by doing that. So remember that when it comes to businesses or doing business with people, it may not be some big deal. I don't know how many. You know, I'm retired. But if you're still working in a work environment, if you're a manager, little things that you do for employees, if you're a salesman, little things that you do to close the deal. So just think about it. It's important.
[00:24:32] I think I know, and hopefully you do too, a bit more about how we go about seeing the little things that are going on around us all the time. I feel that if we use our power to focus while we're living in the moment, the here and now, that we will gain much more joy from than we ever have before. So that's it. Time to wrap this thing up. I want to thank each of you for listening to this podcast. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart. If you've listened to all of them, I appreciate it. If this is the first one you've listened to, I appreciate it. I want to help people. Want to help each of you. My need to help people is the driving force behind me doing this podcast and the website. That's why I did it, that's why I want to do it. And I want to continue because I simply want to help people. Hopefully, somewhere in each of my podcasts, you found a nugget or two that will help you in your personal, professional or spiritual life. I ask that you please continue to join me in imagining the possibility. We're going to work toward personal, professional and spiritual growth. And we can accomplish. We, you and I can accomplish remarkable things as we share support for each other. I wish you much success in your life. Always remember that your future belongs to you. Stay humble, be kind, love deeply, and laugh often. I hope that you have a super day, and I pray that God blesses you in a super way.
[00:26:10] Thanks again and God bless.
