Ready to spice up your food palette? We kick off the episode by teleporting your taste buds to the vibrant flavors of Cajun and Creole cuisine, courtesy of a Zatarain's frozen meal. As I (the host) savor this satisfying delight, we journey through the rich history of these culinary styles and share why hydration plays a crucial role in your daily life.
As we glide into the holiday spirit, we unravel the psychology behind gift-giving during celebratory occasions such as Christmas, Diwali, and Hanukkah. What's the story behind your generosity? We shine a spotlight on the interplay between gratitude and giving, nudging you to acknowledge the smallest acts of kindness that often go unnoticed. For the volunteers among us, we delve into recognizing and thanking you for your contributions, whether big or small.
We round off the episode by expressing our gratitude to you, our listeners. Your engagement and feedback are what keep us going, so don't hesitate to drop us an email with your suggestions for future topics. As we look forward to 2024, we promise an hour of captivating content per episode, designed to inspire and arouse your curiosity. So, join us as we continue to explore various facets of life, culture, and more in our upcoming episodes!
Ready to spice up your food palette? We kick off the episode by teleporting your taste buds to the vibrant flavors of Cajun and Creole cuisine, courtesy of a Zatarain's frozen meal. As I (the host) savor this satisfying delight, we journey through the rich history of these culinary styles and share why hydration plays a crucial role in your daily life.
As we glide into the holiday spirit, we unravel the psychology behind gift-giving during celebratory occasions such as Christmas, Diwali, and Hanukkah. What's the story behind your generosity? We shine a spotlight on the interplay between gratitude and giving, nudging you to acknowledge the smallest acts of kindness that often go unnoticed. For the volunteers among us, we delve into recognizing and thanking you for your contributions, whether big or small.
We round off the episode by expressing our gratitude to you, our listeners. Your engagement and feedback are what keep us going, so don't hesitate to drop us an email with your suggestions for future topics. As we look forward to 2024, we promise an hour of captivating content per episode, designed to inspire and arouse your curiosity. So, join us as we continue to explore various facets of life, culture, and more in our upcoming episodes!
Welcome to help yourself. Food and philosophy with Brian and Nick. What's eating Brian?
Speaker 2:And I'm Brian.
Speaker 3:I got in a hurry.
Speaker 2:I was like I.
Speaker 1:Changed one little bit of inflection. I just totally go off the rails. All right, no way.
Speaker 2:We'll fix it in post.
Speaker 1:There's it's too. It's too far gone. This, yeah, it's off the rails. It's a crazy train. Well, what I was gonna say after you said and I'm Brian it's the most taxing cinnavise time of the year.
Speaker 2:Wow, singing, singing on the podcast. I don't know if we've ever sung before on the podcast. That sounded like singing, that they came out. You're like thanks a lot. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:I thought I thought you were like gonna quit cringe and In squee and fix that in post. You get auto-tuned it.
Speaker 3:Which you mean, brian?
Speaker 2:What am I eating? Well, I had for lunch a. So, in going back to my Cajun, roots are not really Cajun. I always say Cajun, I always say Cajun, but my actually my background is not Cajun. It's from Louisiana but not Cajun. I did not know this. But Cajuns, or people that came from the north Through, like Canada. They came from Canada and came all the way down to like, where Louisiana is. Those were Cajuns, right, but other people, like the people that were my ancestors, came from France or Belgium, you know which were where my family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, creole, and I believe so. I think, anyway, they came in through the port. You know, they came by ship into the Gulf and came in through New Orleans and so, anyway, my, I'll just say my, my French background, my Louisiana French background. Let's say that okay.
Speaker 3:Cajun Canadian.
Speaker 2:And this is obviously probably the most removed from that as possible. So it's basically very loosely, but Zatarain's Zatarain's frozen foods, that's how you pronounce. I thought it was Zatarin.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I don't know. That would mean that the A or the I is not pronounced or it could be Zatarin.
Speaker 2:This is a terrain that's, I don't know.
Speaker 3:You're hurting my brain.
Speaker 2:Sorry, okay. So this says it's been a tradition since 1889. So they've been making frozen food since 1889. So I trust in that.
Speaker 3:So anyway.
Speaker 2:I got this frozen meal, did it in my hotbox, that's. That's almost as big take that's Norma specifically for Norma, if she's listening my hotbox. I found out that another toast master has two other hotboxes and she does not call them hotboxes. She calls them by the real name, which are actual name hot, logic. I think it's called anyway, okay hot logic, something like that. So anyway, I put this in there. This is blackened chicken with with yellow rice and it has.
Speaker 1:That is so ethnically.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So but it was good. It was a good meal. It was actually pretty feeling filling and it it did have about 520 calories in it, so it's a good, a Good meal, and again it was. It was filling enough. I don't think it was like a Huge, gigantic meal, but it was good enough to Quell the hunger. Had a little bit of spiciness to it, but not a lot, though Just a tiny bit, and it was not any of the things that I always say. So it wasn't like vegan gluten-free. It basically had all the stuff in it.
Speaker 1:So if you have any allergies.
Speaker 2:This is probably not your your meal of choice. I did buy another. However, you say that name Zadarain.
Speaker 3:Zadarain, whatever it's fine.
Speaker 2:Um, I did buy another one of those, so I would be trying another one of those meals also. Um, at some point. Just, I do like the little logo. Can you see the little logo? I like logos. Logos are like for me a recent fascination, because if you start, it's one of those things that you don't really look at Like nobody, you sort of gloss over it because it's just on the packaging. And how often do you just like pick up a packaging and like really study the logo and so you see the guy on there?
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's like a guy.
Speaker 2:It's a silhouette of a guy playing a I wouldn't say trumpet, but it's not. I think it's like a clarinet or something.
Speaker 1:It might be a clarinet.
Speaker 2:It's really thin and it has a bell shaped end to it Based on my my children's uh marching band. That's either a tenor saxophone or it's a clarinet, but I don't know anything else. That's that shaped. It could be like a maybe the.
Speaker 1:Which of those is probably most associated to the region, I would say musical tastes of the region.
Speaker 2:What's a brass? It's a really brassy, brassy instruments like they have, like tubas and trumpets and Stuff like that. When I mean think of, think of somebody.
Speaker 1:Playing the Saints school marching band.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Think about somebody playing that when they're playing that on a super brassy, bright, brassy instruments, right? So I'm thinking that's maybe a tenor saxophone, but if anybody works for the zattery zatarine is uh Company we have listeners who work for that company, but you've yet to pronounce it properly, so they don't know who you're talking about. If, if there's anybody out there who listen? Who listens who?
Speaker 1:has connections there.
Speaker 2:If they can tell us what instrument the guy is Playing, then that would be awesome. But anyway, good, it was a good meal and I would. I would probably have some more of these at some point with my special way of heating them up. Um, brian's beverage corner. Hydration is important, according to my most important toast master's friend. So I have water and I also I'm gonna drink. I think I drank one of these a little while ago in the podcast, um, but this one's a different flavor. So palm, the you know the company that does like the pomegranate stuff, so you do like pure pomegranate juice and okay, yeah, not palm like pa, yeah, p o m.
Speaker 2:So this is pomegranate honey green tea and it's in a little looks like a snowman, but it's in a little bottle and yeah, what we're gonna ask uh, what's the sugar? Yeah, that's a good question. The sugar is 32 grams of sugar with 26 grams of added sugar, so I might as well drink a coke at that point, you know like, or some soft drink at least, I guess You're getting some benefit of having how much is your sprite? You just hold up a sprite. How much is the spray having it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it has 38, all of which. No, oh Wait, how does that work? It says including 38 grams of added sugar, 76 percent. What's the 76 percent 76 percent of your of your sugar intake of daily, daily, yeah so this one's 52 percent so again how many I guess it's oh gosh, it's small 12. That's 12 ounces, so it's the same as it can yeah it looks smaller than it can, but it's what like 33 percent less than a sprite About that.
Speaker 2:But, and I would think, theoretically, you're getting some benefit because this has Green tea in it, although it's not actual green tea, because it's made from green tea extract.
Speaker 1:So, well, in pomegranate, like yeah, pomegranate green tea is like good about antioxidants, so but I wonder how much of that is counteracted by the oxidative of sugar. Well, the first three. Does it balance out or does it? Is it a?
Speaker 2:negative. First three the first three ingredients are green tea, which they say in parentheses is water, and green tea extract. So it's not even really brewed tea, it's like they took an extract to make the flavoring. Then the next two ingredients are sugar and honey, and then after that is pomegranate juice concentrate, pomegranate fruit extract and natural flavors. So I don't know if the sugar offsets the potential health benefit of getting just you know, I don't know, but anyway I'm going to be sipping on it anyway. Uh, not for health benefits, just because maybe, hopefully, it'll taste good. Which all that sugar in it? It probably will. So so, yeah, that's where I'm, that's where I'm at with Brian's beverage corner today. What about you? What are you and drinking?
Speaker 1:I'm eating an eclectic mix of meats and cheeses and crackers. It's a charcuterie, oh nice. I had saw my. My boss hosted a gathering the other day and insisted, insisted, that he not have any leftovers. We Each took a little bit home with us. So I'm enjoying. That. That's part of most of what I brought back, as well as charcuterie Supplemented with those leftovers. Yeah, it's like good ol pepperoni, um Some salted cashews and blueberries and grapes and apple slices. Like lots of just Grazing semi healthy food.
Speaker 3:Nice.
Speaker 2:There was also sausage and olives, and yeah, for some reason grazing to me always feels healthier, even if the food is not as healthy. Like, for some reason it feels like if you're having a little, you got a little plate and you put a little bit on it and you have it and you just have a couple bites here and then you have more bites. It always feels healthier. But I think many times it's not because you're eating more decadent foods that you wouldn't, you know.
Speaker 3:Like you might not eat it.
Speaker 2:You might not sit down and have a charcuterie board by yourself for dinner. Right, yeah, so they're gonna put some pretty decadent things on there that are like sort of strong flavors and things like that.
Speaker 1:And yeah you know, I bet, in terms of calories In, taking in is probably less or fewer. Fewer calories, yeah, fewer calories, because you're gonna get full faster, right, like you're. With each bite, you're giving your Digestive system time to say, hey, I'm full, yeah.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:In theory. I think I tested that there at all.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately, I think many times when we have charcuterie it's like or at least in when I do it's it's you're having that and then you're like it's an appetizer and then you're gonna have a whole meal.
Speaker 1:You know, it's so like right, you know you haven't given your body time between the appetizer and the whole meal to say like hey, I'm a fool now.
Speaker 2:Either that or you're just saying, no, I'm having, I'm gonna have this meal you know, you're like I mean. Yeah, you're like I'm still, I'm sort of full, but I'm the food coming out, so I'm gonna eat it. You know, yeah, exactly, it's like shut up stomach.
Speaker 1:When's the?
Speaker 2:last time I've listened to you anyway right In terms of beverages.
Speaker 1:I have Water on Glaw. Yeah, I'm grateful for that.
Speaker 2:In the straw list straw list, straw list bottle because, as everyone knows, in our last episode, I, you made the commitment straw Yep and I flew it flown it into the trash can yep angrily.
Speaker 1:Yes, and there was, there was a, the satisfaction of a sound right. So getting into my Beverage is I also yeah aforementioned sprite. Yeah everyone, here's your ASMR moment or listening or nails on the chalkboard, I have no idea. Oh.
Speaker 2:Wow, that was loud.
Speaker 1:Satisfying, yes, man.
Speaker 2:Marshall's gonna be so mad at you.
Speaker 1:It's much better than the actual taste like Satisfaction has been had.
Speaker 2:Marshall listens on his headphones while he's jogging, so he's gonna be really mad at you, oh.
Speaker 1:Why are you in the bushes?
Speaker 2:It's like he's gonna, like he's gonna yank his earful ear. Is the earbuds out and throw them like.
Speaker 1:No idea that Marshall's, you know, suffers from Soda PTSD.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if he does or not, but I'm just saying, if you've got earbuds in, that's gonna be like right up in there. So oh really, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:I Should have. Maybe I shouldn't have put it right up on the mic.
Speaker 2:Well, we can apologize in advance to Marshall for that and anybody else out there who does have any kind of Misophonia or anything like that. So, but you know, it is the gift that keeps on giving, you know. So sure, just Just like our podcast.
Speaker 1:We in our previous episode we were very generous with our time. We were audience will be very generous with their attention.
Speaker 2:Please, please.
Speaker 2:Listen all the way to the end there's, there's gonna be a word special, special material. The end, the ends of our podcast are always where the best stuff is, you know, right in the closing. Yeah, there you go With the meandering Right, right? Well, if you haven't already figured that out, our we're trying to continue from our last episode, since it is the season of giving. To some extent, most of the world, or a large portion of the world, celebrates Christmas. Yeah, there's also a lot of different, different other holidays around this time of year, and many of them are seemingly centered around Giving in some way in the end of the year.
Speaker 1:Right it's yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, and as you mentioned to, there's also tax considerations, which I'm sure everybody tunes in this podcast to listen to tax considerations regarding their giving.
Speaker 1:So we did have, was that it? It's so taxing right. Oh gosh episode we did.
Speaker 2:That one, that was a long episode.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you get to go in your fair tax, so that was a.
Speaker 2:Episode that was like an hour that's. I think that was our longest episode ever. I would commend you if you listen to that whole thing. An hour and 40 minutes, Probably the closest that Nick and I have come to fighting on air, you know so.
Speaker 1:Genuinely, genuinely.
Speaker 2:We? Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1:No, it's all. It was all Scripting not scripted, but yeah, but it was part of the.
Speaker 2:I can't remember it was something about that. I can't remember, man, I Do remember we this is go ahead.
Speaker 2:I was gonna. I said do remember, we did do a podcast about gift giving, episode all the way back. Oh, if you want to hear whether or not we've improved or Whether or not there's anything different with us since we've been doing this podcast three years now, go back to episode number four, which was all the way back in December of 2020. So it would have been, as of release of this podcast, over three years ago and I.
Speaker 2:Do hear somewhat of a difference. I'm not saying we improved per se, but what I'm saying is quality.
Speaker 2:At least we are quality to prove, mainly due to technology, not because we learned how to speak any better, but but if you do want to go back and listen to that, we have a long discussion about Giving gifts and how the process of giving gifts and things like that. So, anyway, we thought it would be a good tie-in for this episode, but even though we're gonna be talking on a slightly different aspect of gift giving in this, you know, in this episode. So yeah. How do you want to start us out, nick?
Speaker 1:Hmm, well, how about the holidays?
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm and and then not just quote Christmas, right, I think, I think it's a Diwali has the gifts giving component to their lights, that it's a India. There's, yeah, lights called Diwali and gifts are exchanged. Off the top of my head, there's Hanukkah to give gifts. Mm-hmm, of course, christmas, like I don't. Just it seems it's a thing humans do, yeah, at this time of year, maybe for different reasons, but maybe it has to do with the weather, like I don't know if this I'm not agrarian or agricultural at all, but I, I imagine in the colder months is when you sow the seeds so that in spring the things bloom, blossom and produce yeah kind of giving that sacrifice to the earth and gratitude for the earth produced, but then Hoping to also reap next year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2:I think that that's sort of sort of Builds on what we were talking about in the last episode about Having a mindset, certain mindset we talked about in the last episode, carol DeWeck's book of mindset, and that Growth versus fixed or abundance versus scarcity mindset and I think a lot of giving At least I feel like some. Some of the conclusion is that a lot of giving comes back to that is do you have, you know which of those mindsets do you have? And, and in Even let's talk about Thanksgiving, you know giving?
Speaker 2:You're sharing a feast and doing all the things that you do during Thanksgiving Is really into mindset of yeah, it's, it's, it does talk about the hey, we're gonna eat, we're gonna feast on all this food because we know the next year we're gonna have more. We know that they're, that the, the land is gonna provide for us and that we're gonna have more, so we're gonna we have. We have the luxury of feasting on all this food.
Speaker 1:We don't have to stock it up for the winter per se, and Because we're gonna have more news here, and then there's the just on the nose Thing of giving yeah, thanks right right, thanksgiving, kind of be generous with your gratitude. That's something we didn't talk about last episode. It's like you can be generous with a lot of things. Time, yeah, I think that's an under. I think that's a. It's an underappreciated, or something that I've learned also put it this way something that I've learned in the last little while dealing with non-profit organizations and volunteer organizations where people are always volunteering, is that you?
Speaker 2:I feel like you have to have a Tremendous amount of genuine progress, and I think that's a really good thing to do. I think that's a really good thing to do. I feel like you have to have a tremendous amount of genuine praise, and I say genuine in there. I try to emphasize that because People are gonna know if you're just faking like people know say hey, thanks, yeah thanks.
Speaker 2:A lot like you know, people know it's like you really do have to Really genuinely feel thankful that these people are volunteering their time or giving their money or doing these things, and Then express that, and I feel like what I didn't realize at the beginning of dealing with an organization like that is how much you actually need to over emphasize that, because people, people do want to feel like they're heard and that they're seen and that they're noticed and that their efforts are noticed and that even their donations are noticed, if it's just a financial donation, and so I I typically will thank everyone all the time for everything, and and and I'm not doing it in a disingenuous way, I'm actually doing it on Somewhat, I don't want to say selfishly, but when I'm thanking someone, it's reminding me of that fact, it's reminding me of, wow, this person did this thing, and I have to, didn't have to yeah, and I have to get myself in that mindset like they could have done nothing and they did this, whether it's that that's a small thing or a big thing.
Speaker 2:And so I do genuinely step back and say, oh gosh, I really appreciate this, and it's not just a pat thing at the end of an email or a text message or something else or a conversation, it's genuinely. In fact, we just had an event for all of the Not every single parent, but all of the Parents who really gave a significant amount of time, effort and energy to our marching band season in the fall. We had a party. That was. It was, I would say it was a little bit exclusive, like it was. You'd really had to have given time and we gave little mock awards and things like that, but it really was a Show up. You don't have to do anything. You've already volunteered all your time. We're gonna provide you with a little bit of an event that you can just come and enjoy and you aren't expect nothing is expected of you because you've already given so much.
Speaker 2:And so we had a little thank you event at the end of the season and Everyone seemed to like that and I feel like that's sort of what you have to do sometimes is just, you know, express that in a very straightforward way is if, if you're, if you are, if you don't know by now, then we are very thankful for everything that you guys did, and so it's a.
Speaker 2:It was an interesting learning thing for me, because I don't do it for the thanks, and so, you know, going back to what I think you said this in the last episode is, you know, viewing the lens, viewing the world through the lens of your own thing, is like I just go into volunteering because I'm like well, there's a space open, I'm going to volunteer for it and I'm going to do the job, but I don't expect anything in return for that. But then I had to realize that other people, they need to know that. You know that some people have the feeling of like I at least need to like I thank you some kind of gratitude for that, and so, again, it was a learning curve for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, there's a lot that I'd like to comment on, I guess briefly, with some of what you're saying. It reminds me of times I've thanked someone and they'll say, oh, you would have done the same for me, and I'm like I don't say so.
Speaker 1:But I'm like no, I don't hate doing that, and I wouldn't even do it for my mother, so the fact that you did it is why I'm so thankful, right, it's like my expectations of someone doing that for me are very low, right. So when someone does it, even if they think it was very small, it was big to me, you know, yeah, and now I'm forgetting the other things that came to mind with what you were saying. I think.
Speaker 2:Well, we were talking about gift giving and I feel like that party, to some extent, that we just did was a gift to you know even though it's an event, it was a gift that we were giving to them, and people were actually.
Speaker 2:The funniest thing about it was these are all people who are the type of people who join in. They just look for something to do. They're like hey, I know there's a lot of jobs, I'm just going to find something to do and I'm going to do it because they're just volunteers by nature. So these are all the top notch, you know, people that really just make the whole organization work because they're there to serve, right.
Speaker 2:And when we told them we were going to be having a party and that they didn't have to do anything, they kept asking us yeah, but are you sure, Can I do something? Can I bring something? Can I do? And we're like no, the whole point of this party is to have something where you don't have to do something. That's the whole point of it. We did have a chili cookoff, so we're like, if you want to cook chili, feel free, but it is not by any means required. Like we'll have plenty of chili, you don't have to cook any if you don't want to. And it's just, even when the people started showing up for the party, the first thing they would ask you oh hey, how are you doing? Is there anything I can do to help?
Speaker 2:And so it was a really funny thing, because you're trying to give someone a gift without anything in return and their mindset of a volunteer in that way is like oh, I'm going to, I want to try to help in some way, you know.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and with thank you for that, like all that's right on and it helped remind me of some of things I was wanting to share is come back to that scarcity or abundance mindset, like giving thanks right, showing genuine appreciation, being generous with your praise is free, I mean yeah, like technically quote talk is cheap, right, but there's basically no limit to the amount of things that you can give.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:So long as quoting myself here. If you don't feel it, don't say it. You mentioned something along those lines. That has to be genuine.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right, and so if you don't actually kind of recognize the benefit that somebody created for you, or if you focus on owing them thanks, then you're probably not going to feel that gratitude. Yeah, and I think you know we've also talked about how giving should be with no strings attached and things, but at the same time, like if I give you a gift and you don't thank me for it, I'm going to wonder if it was a good gift.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:And I think even if we give, there's always kind of, the gift has a purpose, right. The gift is to be of service, right? Even with the band boosters thing you were talking about, that the parents give their time to produce an outcome. They want to produce a benefit for the band boosters club.
Speaker 3:If you don't thank them.
Speaker 1:You don't pay them by virtue of them being volunteers, right? And you don't thank them. They're going to wonder if their efforts are doing any good. They haven't, right? Yeah, so volunteers are paid in, thanks.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:And I've said this before in the pod, probably more than once, I don't know when Maroche episodes, because it's always been off hand but in my view, even people who are paid are also volunteers. Anybody you work with, whether it's from authority or authenticity or for a paycheck or whatever, they still have to be paid in thanks, because if they don't feel like they're doing any good, they won't have that workplace satisfaction, they'll go somewhere else.
Speaker 1:If you're not grateful. It's going to be an unpleasant work environment and they'll go find some other place to work that's more satisfying right. Living wage is easier and easier to come by on the planet than it ever has been in the history of mankind, so more and more people do what they do at their pleasure, and the best way to make sure that they have that satisfaction is knowing that what they're doing is a value.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you do that very easily through, thanks.
Speaker 2:It's interesting because the excuse me one of the articles that I pulled up was it's entitled why A Grateful Brain Is a Giving One, so it's talking exactly. We're talking about gratitude and says the neural.
Speaker 1:It's kind of making a loop, yeah.
Speaker 2:And the subtext on that title is the neural connection between gratitude and altruism is very deep, suggests new research, and one of the paragraphs in there as you were talking, I was reviewing it, and so this says there is a much older, pre-self-help conception of gratitude as an emotion with moral motivations.
Speaker 2:To first century philosopher, cicero, gratitude was a matter of religious obligation, quote to the immortal gods.
Speaker 2:But modern psychologists such as Michael McCullough and colleagues have systematized it in this way Gratitude is a moral barometer, an acknowledgement that one has been the beneficiary of another person's moral actions.
Speaker 2:They go on to argue that gratitude is also a moral reinforcer, meaning that you'll see a quote, unquote thanks from others as a reward that will lead you to give more in the future. So they're basically saying exactly what you're saying is hey, if you're somebody, even if you've got a team of people that you work with that are being paid for their time, right, yeah, they, you still want them to perform at their top level. Well, one of the ways to get them to perform at their top level is to be grateful for them, to say, hey, grateful for you guys as a team. You guys are doing a great job. I really appreciate all the hard work that you guys put into all of this stuff, and even though they're being paid for their time, everyone wants every person on their team to operate at their highest capacity. Not meaning run them into the ground, but you want them to thrive, and I feel like that's part of it.
Speaker 1:And I think there's that. So what I'm hearing and some of that is, there's this idea of when you give, you're giving back.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:And that's where there's like this positive feedback loop of generosity and giving and gratitude.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:There's also you know the phrase, that's not as I haven't heard it nearly as often as I once did, maybe in the 90s or so, but there's pay it forward. There's a movie called Pay it Forward, but it has Kevin Spacey, so people don't like to talk about movies that Kevin Spacey and them anymore.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But there's still that idea, and I think the idea is probably and I think the other kind of talking about quote, pay it forward. Right, that's a phrase that we use to talk about basically giving back or giving quote forward where somebody does a favor for you. You know, person A does something for you, but there's no way for you to pay them back.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Or for whatever reason. Well then, pay it forward and help person C and just make kind of a longer, wider chain of, you know, generosity giving and gratitude across the human species, as opposed to just within a smaller circle of two people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the drive through, that's the drive through a project or whatever. Not necessarily a project, but you know.
Speaker 1:Pay for the person behind you. Right, exactly, you know whatever the bill is, and then Right. Yeah, I think, at least in my general area of the country. I feel like that was a fad, like that seems to have.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:I don't know if it's because of, like, the different pay apps and, by and large, people just roll up to the window and yeah.
Speaker 3:They paid before they tried to do that with me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would have already paid, because I usually, if I go to Starbucks or something, I do it on the app and it's prepaid, and then I just pick it up at the drive through or wherever. Yeah, yeah, also, I think that not well, not to get too off. But I think that has to do with social media too, because, like, certain things come in and out because it's like, oh, okay, they go viral on social media and then they go, okay, yeah, that's now we know about that.
Speaker 2:It's been done. That was sort of cool, and let's move on to the next thing you know, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And this is a bit of a tangent to our end of year giving generosity concept. But something else that hit me playing with these words. So you know there's paying forward right.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:And basically talking about paying and thanks. The other non-monetary kind of payment that we can give is at least in the American language is pay attention.
Speaker 3:I don't know?
Speaker 1:You know, one of the few things I remember from French class and when I was in high school is when you want to say the same thing in French, here it's literally translated to just give attention. But here in America, right, we call it because at least the way our teacher described it to us is that we're so financially focused and payment focused and economy focused and whatnot that we say pay attention.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like your owed attention or it's deserved kind of thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And even with that context, though that's something, that's another thing that we have in abundance and we squander it, give it away for free on things like social media, video games and commercials or whatever we're addicted to, but what everyone's addicted to, what everyone craves, is receiving attention Right, and we have that in ample supply.
Speaker 1:So rather than staring into Facebook ad or a mobile game, we could be making eye contact with the person who's just next door or just downstairs, or turning our cameras on in a Zoom call and looking at the camera, right, like just giving attention, which is its own kind of thanks. Right, it's a way of showing appreciation and respect and care.
Speaker 2:It's interesting a story that my wife used to work for a company and it's sort of this story sort of illustrates what you're talking about that you know this kind of thing is free and important is they had this thing that was.
Speaker 2:It was a larger company and they had this heart and soul awards that they used to give every year.
Speaker 2:And when she first started there, she worked for this company for 13 years and when she first started there, they you know, they used to give a little gift or like some kind of monetary compensation, like a bonus or something If you got, if you won this award.
Speaker 2:She won the award one year and then the CEO would come down and like talk to you and like, you know this small group of people and shake your hand and say, hey, you guys are like the heart and soul of this company and you know, because you've been wrecking, you're being recognized for your efforts, and then they slowly back that off. So at one point it was just this no monetary compensation. The CEO would come down and like say hi and shake your hand, and then at some point you just won the award and the CEO didn't even come down and say anything to you and she was always like, so bewildered by that. Because how much does it cost the company to have the CEO come down for one hour and talk to the people who you're rewarding for being the heart and soul of the company? It costs them nothing, right, no it?
Speaker 1:cost them something. Well, my point is average CEO salary.
Speaker 2:Divide that by the number of hours in a year, Of course, but my point is, my point is my point is them coming down, that's already in the budget, but him coming down and shaking your hand can go a long way into doing exactly what I just said that you'll see a thanks from others as a reward that will lead you to give more in the future. So just by coming down and doing that, you might be inspiring the next leadership of this company. That takes it to the next level, which means that you, as a CEO, look better.
Speaker 1:In my defense you said it costs nothing. So I was challenging that If you had asked what are the benefits they're losing from the CEO not doing that, anymore.
Speaker 3:I was like.
Speaker 1:Oh well, absolutely everything. You're saying that you're getting more engagement out of people. Maybe I should have said what? What extra does it cost?
Speaker 2:them Like how much more, how much extra does it cost them? Maybe that's what I should have said Does it?
Speaker 1:cost them anything extra.
Speaker 2:No, it doesn't cost them anything extra. It costs them one hour of the CEO's time to come into the building, and it's not like the CEO is in France and they have to fly him in, like the CEO is in the same building.
Speaker 1:So even then, I think, like you're saying, though, focusing on those benefits, right, the cost, yeah it's, it's minuscule, it's small or it's already paid, depending on how you put it. But then, yeah, there's all these benefits. Just next year there'll be more people who want that same award. They're telling themselves I'm going to be the employee of the year this year. Now, even if they don't make it, you get your underperforming people performing. You're performing people overperforming and in a way that they feel good about right, because you're not running them into the ground.
Speaker 1:They're just engaged.
Speaker 2:I think that.
Speaker 1:I think that it's a small price to pay right.
Speaker 2:I think that who's dialed that in locally is Dave Ramsey and those of you out there. Dave Ramsey is local to us, since we're here in Nashville, but he does a lot of events that are to give thanks back to his loyal employees, his employees that have been there forever and even just all of his employees. I know there's a thing every year that he does where, at least I remember I don't know if he's been doing it for consistently, but for many years they would just buy out Costco and only employees would be able to, and each employee got a thousand dollar gift card and they can just go buy stuff at Costco.
Speaker 2:And that is now, how much could that have cost Pretty penny, right, that's actually a hard cost, unlike what I was just saying. But again, if you're talking about perks and benefits and other things, and the reason why they got that is a thank you for being part of this organization and continuing to move it forward A thousand dollars is not that much to spend per employee, you know so interesting yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's definitely an example, especially if that's towards the end of the year, like that'd be an example of end of year generosity.
Speaker 2:And I think it is. I think it was near Christmas time, like it was holiday time.
Speaker 1:So they go to Costco, do basically a shopping spree for Christmas or the holiday feast, food for the big family gathering. If you've got a big family gathering, you've got any big food items. Yeah, costco is a great place to get those.
Speaker 2:Well, what's interesting to me is that it's like the warehouse grocery store you know, yeah, and I think what's interesting to me is that.
Speaker 3:So, whatever, your equivalent is in your area.
Speaker 2:It was almost an expectation you were going to be spending that money, because he's given you that card when you're standing in Costco saying, okay, go, you've got an hour before the store opens, go shop, you know. And? Or however long they gave him. And so I think that's an interesting thing, because it wasn't like he was giving you a gift card when you're sitting at your desk at your office and you're like, okay, cool, I'll spend this at some time. It was like a tangible thing that happened right then that you're like and this also, by the way, him being a big budget person, this isn't hitting my budget, this is outside of my budget, it doesn't affect my budget at all, because somebody just handed me this and said go spend it. And I'd be interested to know if anybody saved any of that money and used it over the year, or if they just said, yeah, I'm going to use this for my Christmas gifts, or whatever they did, because I'm sure it wasn't required that you spend it all while you were in there that day, but Sure, anyway.
Speaker 1:Even if they spent it in a way, they had presumably across one or two bank accounts, right A thousand dollars anyway. So whatever they spent at Costco their own money they didn't have to spend. So now they have a thousand dollars that they had budgeted, whatever they spent at Costco or for Christmas or whatever that they can then spend or save as they see fit.
Speaker 2:Well, so Go ahead. I was just going to say there's another article that I have that talks about the benefits of giving, and so the other one was being a grateful brain, but this one is health benefits of giving, and it has Looks like four different things. It says so. One of them is greater self-esteem and satisfaction with life. Second is a lower risk of depression. Third is better physical health. And fourth is a longer life. And this fourth one we can go back to those other ones too, but this one hit me because I have had some heart issues, as everyone knows.
Speaker 2:I think I don't know if I've said it on the podcast before, but anyway they did a study of 200. Excuse me of adults with heart disease who had spent up to 200 hours helping others in the previous year, and those people that spent the 200 hours I don't know what the how they did the study or anything said those people that spent the 200 hours in the previous years were less likely to have a heart attack or die in the following two years. And then it did say, however, those who spent more than 200 hours didn't get the same benefit, which might be because giving more time made people more stressed or tired. And it says other researchers have found that volunteering one or two hours a week offers maximum benefits. So that would be around two hours a week, would be around 200 hours per year. Interesting.
Speaker 1:So there's kind of like you can give too little and you can give too much. Right Sort of a middle ground bullseye aspect of it.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Aspect to it. Well, I think the other kind of like end of year giving that comes up, would be Maybe it's another fad, I don't know. It's been around a few years.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:So it was the giving Tuesday.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:We went from Black Friday that evolved into Cyber Monday, and now charities are adding to the chain with their giving Tuesday.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, we're getting last minute end of year donations to charities in before the end of the year so you might be able to adjust your tax bracket or get some other tax benefits that I am not an expert on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think it's interesting.
Speaker 2:I would like to know. I don't know the answer to this, but I would like to know how many people give for that sole purpose. No-transcript Sure.
Speaker 1:I feel like, yeah, it's a nudge right. It's somebody who is kind of thinking about it like, oh, there's tax benefits too. I'm sold now. Right, it's the last straw that was needed to budge people.
Speaker 2:Well, and I think the reason why I would want to know that is just because my inclination and this is going back to my Not to get too much into this subject, but it's going back to the episode that it is taxing episode is Because the premise of the fair tax, or one of the premises, is that very few people give just for the purposes of giving a tax break At least that's not their only purpose. For doing so. They feel like, yeah, I'm going to get this fringe benefit. I think I would say, if I had to guess, that more wealthy people are doing that type of tax planning. At least in my experience dealing with people on the financial side, people that are very wealthy have a tax person that's helping them throughout the year. It's not just somebody that prepares their taxes in February or March. This is somebody who's consulting with them over the previous year in anticipation of filing their taxes the following year.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And not many people have that. First of all, most people don't itemize their deductions anyway. Oh gosh, this is getting to be the most boring podcast ever, but most people don't.
Speaker 1:Oh no, not yet.
Speaker 2:You're like oh no, we've been here before. No, but most people don't itemize which. That's how you're going to get that right off, and then most people aren't giving enough for it to really make a huge difference anyway.
Speaker 1:But I think that's where some of the giving does come in the roundabout sort of way or incidental way, isn't?
Speaker 3:it.
Speaker 1:Those people who don't make enough to justify having a tax professional and who don't make enough to justify really paying close attention to their tax profile and bracket and all that. They see all the advertisements of tax-free weekend or the CLE advertisements for reducer taxes. Give now. And they just sort of take it on faith that, oh, I won't have to pay as much in taxes. Give to charity. And then every year they learn the same lesson like, oh yeah, I didn't give enough, I'm better off just taking the standard deduction.
Speaker 3:But they still gave, right, they still gave more than they would have otherwise given.
Speaker 1:That's why they're not paying that tax, because they were told that they might have to pay less on their taxes.
Speaker 2:Well, the question that I always ask, on more of a philosophical level since this is food and philosophy with Brian and Nick is-.
Speaker 1:Which eatin' Brian? Oh sorry.
Speaker 2:If Right, all of a sudden we're back at the beginning. If we Mike, the question I always ask is if we took that away, like if tomorrow we the tax code, like we didn't get what I want, you know, we just left the tax code as it is but we just said, yeah, there's no more write offs for charitable giving. What does that do? I think that people would stop giving to charities and I think no, I think absolutely not. I think people would still give. I think people are generous at heart. I think people want to give. People want to in our area. People want to support their causes, and the way they do that is say, hey, I've got extra money and I want this cause to be fought for. You know, or I want this cause to be defended or I want this cause to be promoted.
Speaker 1:I don't think anyone's arguing that giving to charity would just stop.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think, and I personally hold, that I think giving would change.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:If right, either you know, some charities would win, some charities, many charities, would lose.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like there's plenty of charities who get more per year in donations when they advertise. So to speak about giving Tuesday and create the demand or the interest to give more, and so maybe, yeah, they won't stop getting donations, but they might get fewer donations.
Speaker 2:Well, and I guess to get us back on track a little bit in terms of the giving part, is, you know, going back to this, knowing that you're going to get health benefits and knowing, based on our conversation we had in the last episode, about your mindset when you're making these gifts or when you're being generous. Right, I feel like that's the more important part than anything else is, because the tax stuff I mean that it's there, but the I think the giving Tuesday thing, it puts people in a mindset, it puts people in a sort of like. What I said is, when I say thank you to people that have volunteered for organizations that I deal with, I'm saying that to remind myself a little bit and to get myself in a better mindset, to say, oh, remember, you always have to be gracious, you always have to express gratitude, and you all, because these people are giving you know and create that cycle that we just talked about. So so I think you know.
Speaker 2:I think, that's what, for lack of a better term like look at the, look at the. You know the Christmas spirit, you know get in the Christmas spirit and I know in America we have a very commercial sense of Christmas to some extent. But I think that it is a time when you step back and you know you don't think about yourself as much, you think about other people and you think about what you're going to give get for giving to other people, and so it was with what you're saying reminds me of and how to win friends and influence people.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Whereas a whole, I don't know. It felt like maybe at least a whole page, not two or three pages.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So in that book, devoted to reprinting something you know, like an advertisement by a department store that was, you know, the company just encouraging people to remember the reason for the season and how? You know, yes, this, all the shopping, is stressful for you and it's also stressful for our cashiers. Right, and in the spirit of giving like, if you've got any smiles to spare, please consider sharing a few with cashiers. You know that there's a lot of stress, there's a lot of hubbub and a lot of stressed people for them to interact with, and you can give them a great gift if you just toss a smile their way.
Speaker 1:Or a merry Christmas, you know, yeah, and the character phrasing greatly of course it was much better written by some VP of PR at that time, it was still a good. It's a good thought, it's a good sentiment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I mean sort of going back to that, the giving. It's an interesting thing that you touched on. There is like we're talking about giving and sometimes we're talking about giving gifts, and also we were talking about things that you can give that are, in essence, a gift, but they don't cost anything. They're not, you know, like you said, a nice. I tend to try to be like that with service people throughout the year and I find that I get an interesting reaction. Is just making eye contact, just not being on your phone, not like being present in the moment? So I mean, that's a you know sort of loaded term or whatever, but you know it is self-help and self-help circles. It's like be present with that person for a second, I think.
Speaker 2:I think making a connection with people never goes out of style and it can be a tiny, tiny connection and a tiny tiny interaction with someone that makes them feel slightly better for that day or that makes them feel like that they haven't gone through the day and nobody's noticed them. I mean it's, and a lot of times in servers, cashiers and things like that, it's like, yeah, here's my stuff, here's my money. Like, yeah, just move it along, give me my stuff here's, I'll pay for it. I want to go like and I feel like probably that's a bunch of people throughout the day that are just hey, this is a transaction, I'm not here to make friends with you, I'm not here to be pleasant, I'm here to buy this stuff and your job is to sell it to me. And that's my interaction with you.
Speaker 2:And I found that, like I said, just making eye contact with someone and asking them how their day is going. I mean, I know cashiers are stuff A lot of times are required to say how your day is going or they're trying to make conversation. But if you just stop for a second and say, how are you, how are you, is it busy today? How have you been, you know, and the some of the reaction that you get is sort of like wow, yeah, it's been okay, like I mean, I feel like they are a little bit taken aback by that, because I don't think everyone asks those questions, but it's a little thing you can do.
Speaker 1:I'd like to break the script. You know, if they cashier asks me how are you doing, you know it's just part of a. How are you doing?
Speaker 2:They were. They were making fun of me. I was going to say that, oh go ahead, let me finish.
Speaker 1:I'm going to do a quick I might. I might look at their name tag and you're like I'd be doing a lot better if my name were Bryce and it just sort of you know, breaks the script.
Speaker 2:But go ahead I was going to say they were making fun of me at the at one of my offices the other day because we were. We were talking about how everybody enters the office, like when, when people come in, what do they do? And like so one of the partners there, he comes in, he's very boisterous, he's like just a, he's just like hey guys, how's everyone doing? You know, just like over the top, you know everyone, exactly yeah.
Speaker 2:He's like it's going to be a good Tuesday, let's go. You know, like, like that you can hear him throughout the entire office, you know, and, and we all love him for it. But the thing is, you know, then they then I was like, well, wait. So if he's like, what do I, what am I like? And they're like, oh, you come in and you're like, hey, how are you doing? No, but really, how are you doing? No, but how are you doing? Are you doing okay? Is everything okay? Are you good? You good? Everything good, like, and that's total.
Speaker 2:it is totally me, I go to each person and I'm like no, but really, how are you doing today? Like guys are you? I mean, is it good, are you not good? You know?
Speaker 1:it's like it takes you 56 minutes to get to your desk because of a lot of times it does, a lot of times it does.
Speaker 2:but I'm like, literally I do. I do it to remind myself, to slow down a little bit. You know, like to like I don't. I feel weird walking into someone's office, even if I have something that I need to talk to them about, because I'm a nine, I I want to like come in and I don't want to just be like, hey, yeah, so on that case that you're working on, I want to know we need to.
Speaker 2:I emailed you about it. I just want to go straight into it. I feel awkward doing that. So then I have this like how are you doing today? What's going on? How was your weekend? Is everything good with you? Okay, good. And then you know, let them talk for a second, and then then I go into like, hey, the reason I came in here is because I need to talk about X, y or Z, and I don't know, maybe that just maybe that's for me, maybe that's selfish reasons, because I need to make myself feel better, but I'm hoping that it makes them feel better too at some point that they're like that I do actually care, like I'm not doing that.
Speaker 1:And again, it has to be genuinely yeah, I think if you feel it when you say it, you're fine, it's it's asking. My computer is glitching weird.
Speaker 2:Oh, no, well, you're fine on my end. I can hear you.
Speaker 1:Okay, good Cause, like screens are shifting. Like someone's hacking me or something Like in the movies. Yeah, I'm losing video. Oh, yeah, you're slowing down a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're glitchy a little bit on my end, but I can still hear you. Everything looks fine.
Speaker 3:So I don't know, maybe we'll wrap it up for you soon.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I might all that's distractions Maybe lose my point, oh. But yeah, I've definitely worked with people where it's like they. I've interacted with them enough such that when they come to me and say, hey, how are you doing, I'm like good, what do you need? You know, like like it's. Thank you for asking, but I know you're here for something, let's just get to it.
Speaker 3:You know yeah.
Speaker 1:Cause it's like how's it going? How's it going, oh, good, good. Oh hey, by the way, could you do this for me, like it's yeah, and I think that yeah.
Speaker 2:Probably good though. Well, I can see that that would be. But the thing is, I think people know that you know.
Speaker 2:I think people know if you're coming in and like, oh, how are you doing, like they, they know if you're, and especially people you're around very often it might not be like that for a cashier or something like that, but for somebody who you're around all the time, you know. No, but I'm, I really am like I do care, you know, but obviously we're at work, so we're doing work, but at the same time I do care about how are your weekend was and I do care about those things. So anyway, yeah Well, I think I think we might have covered it. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?
Speaker 1:Um no, you've been very generous, Thank you.
Speaker 2:Well, I will say that on an ending closing note. I think tomorrow I think tomorrow is our three year anniversary of this podcast.
Speaker 1:If I'm not correct, if I'm not mistaken, this recording, or you're you're saying, from our published date uh, from a published date First.
Speaker 2:Actually, I take it back. The first episode was published November 5th 2020. So we passed. We passed our three year.
Speaker 2:We missed our birthday, I know exactly. So we've been doing this three years and I just want to say thank you, nick, for being part of this with me, thank you for always being willing to record and being a good member to have a conversation with, and and for everything else. Just, I think it's cool that we've we've gone this whole time and, um, you know, we always still seem to have something to talk about and have it hang out, you know, and things like that.
Speaker 1:So so, yeah, Thank you for asking me way back when and thank you for putting me on the spot to thank you back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, Exactly yeah no, it's, it's.
Speaker 1:It has been a lot of fun and I fully believe it'll continue to be a lot of fun. Yeah, man.
Speaker 2:We just, I think we're into my life, I think we're currently at 82 episodes published, so that's a good, that's a good amount of time talking, so that's good, all right. Well, and also thanks to the audience for out there. You listen, uh, even if it's not on a regular basis. If you listen, uh, we appreciate it, we appreciate you. And also, if you want to email us too, you can. You know, definitely email us. You'll hear that in the outro, but, um, email us and tell us how we're doing. You know, email us and give us suggested topics. We're what we'd, we'd be more than happy to run with suggested topics and things like that, uh, that you want to hear us spout about, because, um, we can't guarantee, like the? Uh, the quality of the conversation. We can, we can only guarantee the quantity, which is about an hour per episode.
Speaker 1:Thank you for the gift of your attention.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly, all right. See you guys all in 2024. I mean here, you'll listen to us in 2024. All right, geez.