IFYL2GO: Self Checkout Debacle; How to Call in Sick

In this episode we discuss:

Plant massage.

Close your eyes to focus.

Sports vs Games.

And many more topics.

For more information, and to sign up for our private coaching, visit tesh.com

Our Hosts:
John Tesh: Instagram: @johntesh_ifyl facebook.com/JohnTesh
Gib Gerard: Instagram: @GibGerard facebook.com/GibGerard X: @GibGerard

Transcript

Unknown: 0:07

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the podcast. I'm Gib Gerard, here with another one of my favorites, if I'll to-go editions of the show. That's where we take pieces, where we take content, where we take topics from our radio show, we grab them, pull them out of the show, put them here for you to put in your pocket, and take it with you wherever you go. It's ifyl intelligence for your life to go if yl to go. So, here without further ado, is me and John Tesh. All right, Gib, it's time for a green thumb tip. Oh, I love these. No, you take good care of all your house plants, but if you want to make them healthier, give them a little plant massage. You just run your fingers lightly over their leaves. According to the journal Plant Biology, a light touch mimics what's called quote mechanical stress, which is the interactions plants normally have with wind and rain and animals and other plants, it activates natural defense mechanisms in the plant within minutes. It makes plants stronger and better able to fend off things. So, give a little plant massage. I, so I mean, look, so the theory is right that the plants are used to things bumping into them, wind hitting them, right? We put them in a house where they're in a hermetically sealed environment, they're not getting all of that. I respect that, as it's like your fat dog, right? Fat dog supposed to be out there running. If he's not running, he gets fat. Yeah, so I have kids, and I would say my kids bump into my house plants as much as my 14 year old is she's, you know, super clumsy, and she's bumping and falling on on house plants all the time. My house plants are still dying. Do I have to be? I guess what I have to do is have to be more intentional and less just allowing the the environment, the harsh environment that is a house with three kids to to hit the plants, I mean, maybe you should do the exact opposite, you know, and just, you know, put barb wire around your plants, right? And maybe like hire a robot to come and massage them, I don't know, figures. Roomba has got a model, Gib. I think we can all agree that the self-checkout is one of your.. oh, I mean, I absolutely look, I will die on this hill. I hate self-checking for every reason that you can think of, because you think you should get paid for it, right? I think if you're gonna have me do a job, make me fill out a W-2 and give me the employee discount. A lot of people report that they're afraid they're gonna be put in jail if they forget to scan something. Sure, customers miss having the human interaction. Lot of stores are now pulling them down, saying that they're, they're losing double, that it's double the amount of theft with these things. Of course, of course, it is. Look, some of it's intentional, some of it is, you, you, you get away with what you can get away with. That's how society is. We have.. there's.. I'm not stealing from the self-checkout. I don't like the self-checking, but I'm not stealing from it, but then there's the inadvertent stuff, it's you, you put in the code for the regular limes, but you actually put in organic key limes that are, you know, twice as much money, and every time you do that, they, and you didn't do it on purpose, and the store starts to lose money, so stuff like that keeps happening, and then on top of that, it's never a smooth experience. There's always some kind of problem, and then the person has to come over, they're all mad because they got nine different checkout places they got to deal with. They put in their code and like, all right, there you go, go ahead. I hate it. I just want to sit in the aisle, have somebody else scan the stuff who's making that you're paying with the margins from the food that I'm buying from the grocery store, and I just want to sit there, read People magazine, and find out all the stuff that's going on in the world while I'm waiting for somebody else to do this for me, because I'm paying for it. That is what I want. I hate the self checkout. I will die on this hill. I told you it was gonna be a big thing. All right, folks, so if you're sick and you want to call in sick to work, please do that. Yes, absolutely. Don't come in and just like, I mean, they used to, people used to do it all the time back when I was coming into work. You just make everybody sick. But now we do. If you want to call on sick when you're not sick, I have some information for you. A market research company surveyed 1000s of 1000s of employees to find the perfect time to let your boss know you're not coming in. Could be mental health stuff. It's

Tuesday at 6: 4:24

38am Okay, calling it bright and early on on Tuesday makes your reasoning seem more legitimate, because if you do it on Monday or Friday, right? Yeah, yeah, if you're on Monday or Friday, they think you're taking a three day weekend, right? Everybody calls in sick on the Monday, you know? Everyone wants to call in sick on Monday. Everyone wants to call in sick on Friday, and head out earlier. I get that. This is, look, I agree with you. If you are sick, take your sick days, don't waste them on this stuff. If you need a mental health day, start calling your boss at 638 on Tuesday. Be like, I can't,

6: 4:55

38am I'm not going to make it in today. I feel really sick, because again, you'll trick him into. Thinking that you're being honest, and if you keep doing it over and over and over again, and eventually your boss calls you on it, just tell them you heard it on the John Tesh Radio. Please don't do that, it's too late. I got this thing going on now, Gib, where I feel like I'm catching everything that we do on the radio show. Okay, now I've caught this tip of the tongue syndrome. Oh, yeah, yeah, I thought I was just losing my mind, but I have tip of the tongue syndrome, you know. You is a word on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't get it. Well, if you want to fix that, experts say from San Francisco State, they say just sit up straight and see what happens. Oh, they found that going from a slumped or slouched position to a good posture boosted recall and memory up to 87% of people study because it stimulates the brain to produce energizing beta waves. When you sit up straight, okay? Look, sit up straight produces beta waves. The scientists have done the research, but one thing that I.. so just remember that, right? That's keep that in your pocket when somebody asks you about it, but if you guys want a rule of thumb for all of the stuff that we have talked about on the show, all of the, all of the stories we've reported on, all

of the studies, it's this: 6:08

act as if, act as if all the time. If you have a big presentation at work, stand like Superman or Supergirl before you walk in, do the thing, do the put your arms on your hips, and stand there like you are, you're the hero, and your confidence will be boosted. You will be more authoritative when you walk in to give a presentation. It works if you are struggling with your performance at work in general. Show up early, put on better clothes than you're wearing today, and sit up straight. Your brain will start to react, it's called enclosed cognition or enclothed embodiment. We report on it all the time in every area, that's the rule of thumb takeaway. Yes, sitting up straight, it improves your breath and your mental, it improves your brain, your brain's beta waves. We got it, we know the science behind it. But if you want a thing that you can just hold on to, go through your life acting as if it will improve every aspect of your life. Amen. So this next tip, I actually saw this next tip in practice. I was watching the NBA Finals, and I saw Victor Webbe Miana from this, from a from the San Antonio Spurs, right? And seven foot four, right? And and he actually did the announcer said he does this all the time before he shoots a free throw, he closes his eyes and does it every single time. I've never seen a player maze before. There you, it's usually they have that, that ritual of dribbling the ball like 100 times or whatever. So, according to British researchers, if you're in a brain fog and you can't quickly think quickly or clearly, you're supposed to close your eyes for 30 seconds. The researchers found by taking a break from visual distractions, you will sharpen your focus by a full 25% Oh yeah, because closing your eyes activates a brain region called the basal ganglia. It plays a part in learning, cognition, and emotion. Take that time, take that time, take a deep breath. If you need to, if you need to build that focus, close your eyes, don't allow any distractions to take place. This, I think, you know, this is different, but it feels like the same thing of when you are driving, trying to find an address, so you turn the radio down. Yeah, oh yeah, I always do, because it's just what you're doing is you're reducing the amount of stimuli in your brain, so that your brain can catch up and focus on the thing it needs to focus on. By the way, you should also visualize being successful, whatever it is that you're doing, that if you, if you pair the closing of the eyes, which then will activate your brain's focus with visualizing being successful at whatever task you're about to do the research shows you're gonna crush it. Yeah, I love it. All right, from our dating and relationship files, even if you're not dating, listen to this. If you run into a female friend, okay, we want you to give her the compliment women like the most. It is, wow, you look happy. Oh yeah, that's according to a national survey of women. There's a reason women like it so much. Psychologists say it's because happiness is something almost all of us are striving for. So, when somebody recognizes that you found it, it's more readily accepted rather than shrugged off like a typical compliment, like, well, compliment, like, you look great. Yeah, this is great. You look so happy. You look so. it shows that you're seeing something more than just than just the physical appearance. Our goal, I mean, you know, by the way, makeup is meant to mimic good circulation and happiness. That's why that's where rouge comes from. It's rosy cheeks, because you have circulation in your face, which means that you are pleasantly, you're in a pleasant mood. All of this stuff that we do as a society to fit into standards of beauty is about looking happy. So, you've just cut out the middle man and said you look happy. Don't do what my cousin did to me this morning or this afternoon, which is looked at me and said you look tired and. Abella did that, she did that. You know, that's like the number one thing you should. I bust people, yeah. Don't say you look tired, only people think that you're, did they're being concerned. Yeah, no, it's not. Doesn't feel like concerning. Where is she? She's gone. She's visit, yeah. Okay, she's still alive, but she's gone for long. Love you, Nina Bella. All right, Gib, once and for all. Okay, so this has been a debate that's been ignited again in our family, because Prima Gip married my daughter, his sister. He married, I officiated the wedding, I didn't marry her. All got it, oops, all right. Anyway, but, but the groom, whom we like, he loves golf, Russell loves hockey. Yeah, but he loves golf, and so likes hitting things with sticks, apparently. Yeah, pool, he likes that too. So, is golf a sport or a game? What about bowling? What about archery? What about pool? So, the Las Vegas Review Journal created a way to end all arguments about which sports are sports and which are really just games. Gonna love this kid if you can smoke while you're doing it, it's a game, not a sport. So, I love it. I love this as a good rule of thumb, but I would push back, because you know, at a time when tobacco use in our country was very high, there are pictures of, you know, Joe Namath on the sidelines of an NFL game with a cigarette hanging. Our soccer team that's from Iran that smoked twice late. We know that soccer, baseball, football are sports, not games, and yet there have been periods in our history where the players are actively smoking in the game, so I like it, but I don't love it. I, you know, golfers out there are gonna say it, the amount of coordination that it requires, the amount of it when you walk a course and you don't take the cart, it is good exercise, it's a sport. Okay, fine, but you know, bowling, bowling feels like we're pushing it. Bowling feels like, what are we doing here, guys? And then look, we've reported how much, how many calories you burn playing chess, which is a lot. So you know the smoking thing, I like it, I don't love it. Okay, here's another one of those pieces that you know it, we're giving our again to the point where we've been doing this for 25 years now. Yep, and, and more often than not, we'll do a piece, and it's like, oh, when I do this, or I took that, or that happened to me. Here it is. If your spouse is spending a long time in the bathroom, it may not be because they're not feeling well, they just want some alone time. 100% half of all people surveyed, they said they admitted to hiding out in the bathroom when they want some peace and quiet. This comes from a recent one poll survey of 2000 adults. I spend time in the car. I have an office that's outside of my house, like it's on my property, it's, you know, in my backyard tonight, but I'll go out there, even if I don't have stuff to do, and just sit there, yeah, stare at the stare at the wall, have like work up on my computer, just just take a second, yeah, I'll sit in the driveway on and finish what I'm, what I'm doing, or answer a text, I think I built this habit in the bathroom as a kid, where it was like one of the only places where I wouldn't get bothered, and so I kind of created it, and now I've spent like 20 years trying to break the habit of being in the bathroom for too long. Your 14 year old actually caught that, she caught it 100% and I think it's for this exact reason. I think she just likes that nobody bothers her for a little while as she's in there. So that's the key. If you want to break this habit in your spouse, bother them while they're in the bathroom and give them another spot where they can be alone. That's the key, Gip. I think recently we were talking about the number one word that I don't like, which is when somebody texts me, I'll ask them if they'll do something, and they go, 'Sure, because it, because if you read it the wrong way, or you're thinking it the wrong way, your looks like this person hates me, and now I hate them. I think you read too much into it, but go ahead. Always, so sure is the number one word you can text somebody to cause anxiety, that's according to the latest Pew Research number one. Sure, I think, look, we have this is the rule of thumb that we have sort of adopted on this show, and that is, whatever it is that you're writing when you're sending somebody a text, a business email, read it in the worst, most sarcastic, passive-aggressive voice you can, because if, because that's the worst it can be received, right? So know that people who are in a bad mood, and by the way, Key and Peele did a great sketch about this, where two guys are getting ready to go out and meet up for drinks, and one of them is saying things casually and kindly, and the other one is interpreting them as passive aggressive barbs, and when they finally show up at the bar, they're very happy, like it goes away anyway. Point being, we have a tendency to do that, to read things that we're receiving in the worst possible light as a defense mechanism, and so you should do sure thing. Can't wait, I'll get right on top of that. Spend the little bit of extra time it takes to put a little bit, a few more words in there that change. The tone, and make it more positive. You're not saving that much time by writing "sure" instead of "I will handle that right away. You're not saving that much time. You might as well spend the extra little bit of time to put the extra words in there and risk the clarity of your intention. I usually use "on it. On it, on it. Yeah, it's positive, it's proactive. Love it. I'm never really on it. No, you're still just hanging out by the pool, but yeah, but you're so at this, this wedding recently, Gib, we had so many friends here, and Greg Evangan, who's a good friend, who was from my two dads, oh yeah, BJ and the bear, and he's fantastic, he was with your mom, my wife, when I met her, yes, I love you, yeah, 36 years ago, and so, anyway, he's a good friend, and he was a good musician, and he was talking to me about this app that's out there, Suno, which you could just like put down a couple of notes, and it turns it into like a hit song, and I'm thinking, Greg, don't do this, no, you have the talent, please don't do it, you guys, no, no, it just gets, and anyway, so a lot of people are doing this now, they're using AI to make music, so because of that, Spotify is now rolling out quote verified by Spotify badges for songs, which helps listeners discern between authentic human artists and AI-generated ones. I think, look, I think there's first of all, I think there is something about hearing the pain of an artist and what it takes to give birth to the art, and also the emotion that they have to connect to, to make something that resonates with the human soul, that is more than just the technical creation of music that we respond to, right? When, when you hear, when you hear Adele singing, there is some pain in the voice that you, that you, that speaks to your soul, and I think the more pervasive this AI stuff becomes in terms of creating art, the more we need to protect ourselves, so that we are speaking human to human. Now, there is a place for AI art. If you, if you want to write a song, you're not a songwriter, but you have an idea for how you want to impress your girlfriend on for your upcoming anniversary, or whatever proposal, or whatever. Yeah, use the AI to help put you put together the song, so that you can look cool in that moment. But let's not start putting it out there and be like, oh, I wrote the prompt that created this song, I'm an artist, you're not an artist, you didn't study the way Lady Gaga studied. I love it. That's it for the show today. Thank you guys so much for listening. If you like the show, please rate, comment, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. It helps us out a lot when you do that. We also try to respond to every mention the show, every DM about the show. You can tell us what you think about it, because ultimately we do the show for you guys. So, thank you so much for listening. Thank.