The Ultimate Relationship Hack

 Discover the key to stronger, healthier relationships by living out the Golden Rule—treating others (and yourself!) with kindness, grace, and love. This episode dives into practical ways to walk in love daily, serve others, and shift your focus outward for a more fulfilling life. Plus, hear inspiring real-life stories, a corny joke break, and a weekly challenge to spread kindness. Don't miss the top 3 motivational podcasts of the week, featuring wisdom from Terry Savelle Foy, Zig Ziglar, and Joel Osteen. 

Terri Savelle: Your 2025 Fail-proof Plan

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/terri-savelle-foy-podcast-audio/id274538089?i=1000688498897

Zig Ziglar: The Resilient Mind

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-resilient-mind/id1562025210?i=1000634283692

Joel Osteen:  Having Realistic Expectations in Relationships

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/joel-osteen-podcast/id137254859?i=1000685433226

Transcript

[00:00:00] Hey, Hey, Hey, last week's challenge recap, write down 10 things that you're grateful for and review the list in the morning and before you go to bed. This truly is one of the greatest daily habits you can have for long term happiness when you focus on taking what you have and making it enough, it is a beautiful, beautiful place. Hey, welcome, welcome, welcome. Let's get going to this week's podcast and share some incredible things with you. So grateful and thankful that you can join us. As always, just thank you for being a part of our community. We're all just trying to get better together.

I know we can do it. So many good things going on out there this week. I'm excited to share the ultimate relationship hack. It is a living out. The golden rule daily in every relationship in your life, truly treating others the way you would like to be treated. Also offering grace and forgiveness when people fail or make [00:01:00] mistakes.

I love the quote. I saw that stated in a world where you can be anything. Choose to be kind. If you lead yourself with kindness and love and reflect that to others and relationships you have, that will lead to very healthy relationships in your life. Remember the number one person you want to offer the golden rule to is yourself.

Always yourself, allow yourself to fail, make mistakes, never be your worst critic. Love yourself first. You cannot give what you do not have. You cannot give a lot of love if you don't have it in you. Love yourself first and then pour out that love to others. Always remember when you walk in love. There is no room for judgment, hate, anger, comparison, strife, envy, or jealousy.

When love enters the room, negativity must leave. Always remember this [00:02:00] simple truth. You will never experience a life filled with happiness, victory, joy, and peace unless it is first, rooted, and foremost in love. Two things you can do to work on walking in love daily. Serving others, the greatest among you is the greatest servant of all.

That's what Jesus said. I believe it a hundred percent volunteering and helping others will bless you in ways you cannot even imagine. I would challenge you to find a place to serve regularly and start enjoying all the benefits of helping others. The second thing you could do would be to shift your focus outward.

People who are focused on helping others are rarely depressed. When you focus on giving your time and focus off of yourself and onto others, that shift alone can transform your life. I recently came across a beautiful story expressing the [00:03:00] golden rule of living that we are talking about. It talks about a heart transplant girl misses father daughter dance until hospital came to the rescue a 10 year old girl waiting for a heart transplant missed out on her school's father daughter dance.

So the staff recreated the magic in a hospital. Ava Cooper. was born in 2014 with several heart defects and had her first open heart surgery when she was six days old. Later, a sinus infection escalated pushing her into heart failure and she was put on the transplant list. Recently, she has spent more than 200 days at the Cleveland Clinic.

Children's Hospital in Ohio waiting for a donor heart. Every February, Ava would look forward to attending a beloved father daughter dance at school, but missed it this year. So on February 12th, the hospital decorated a room and turned it into a dance hall. [00:04:00] Kershaw's in hand, her dad, Sean, was waiting for Ava outside her room to take her to the ball.

Caregivers, who have been more like family, greeted her with a round of applause as she entered the Valentine decorated space. She and her father danced to a curated playlist as her favorite songs put together by one of the music therapists. It was an unforgettable experience, says the dad. We can't thank Ava's care team and everyone involved enough for making this such a special dance.

I am grateful to be a girl, dad, he said. It means a lot. Being inspired to always be better. What a great story and what a great thing for the hospital to do to recognize that need for that little girl to have her daddy daughter dance night. And they created it right in the hospital for her. That's the golden rule.

Two quick examples I recently saw, unfortunately, of not living out the golden rule. And I got [00:05:00] to tell you, it really, really made my heart sad. I was in a grocery store the other day. And there was a dad there and I know we've all had stressful times. I know that happens as a father. I have two kids, a boy and a girl.

But it was just sad to see. This girl was just going about her business, probably 11, 12 years old. And the dad just started yelling at her in the self checkout area. Just, you know, you're always in people's way. Why do you always do that? I can't believe you're doing that. That is so dumb. What is going on?

And just watching it from a distance, it literally broke my heart. And I know we've all had stressful times, especially if you have kids, but my goodness, please remember the power of your words. Please remember just treating people the way you want to be treated.


it really shook me to my core. I don't like seeing that, that little 11, 12 year old girl, man, she walked out of that grocery store, head held low shoulders down, just like she was a complete failure. And it made me feel really, really bad. So please think about all the words that you say and just know the power that they have behind them.

I was [00:06:00] also walking by a couple, they're probably 30 years old. They didn't know I was even there. And I overheard the lady quickly just say, you know, I feel like I'm in grammar school getting a lecture and the guy just kept going on and on and on. And you could see the body language once again with the lady.


And it just made you feel so sad thinking, man, I just want to make sure that at least with my family and friends, I'm always giving him words of life and I'm always treating him with the golden rule and no, none of us are perfect. There's no doubt. And I've had times too, where I've definitely not been the way I should be, but boy, when you see it from a distance, and I think if either one of those people could have seen the way that the situation was going down, they probably would change it.


Because it was kind of sad. You just want to lift people up. You don't want to bring people down. So, all right, y'all enough of that stuff. It's time for a corny joke break. My wife asked me the other day where I got so much candy from. I said, [00:07:00] I always have a few Twix up my sleeve. AHHHHH! Alright y'all, that just happened.

Alright, so let's keep going. John Gordon. I put out a great quote this week I ran across and it says There's nothing more powerful than a humble person with a warrior spirit who is driven by a bigger purpose. Remember your why this week, let it fuel you to keep going no matter what. he has daily quotes too. So if you get a chance, go to John Gordon, J O N G O R D O N com and subscribe to his daily motivational tip and, and statements and quotes there. They're awesome. I think he has over 33 books.

His big book was energy bus. Very motivational. I listened to John Gordon's podcast. Fantastic. And boy, when I read that quote, that sums it all up for me. I think the coolest thing is when you have somebody that has that warrior spirit, you can just kind of feel it and see it. But they're very humble. They're not like you know, loud and out there. They're just [00:08:00] simply very focused.


They know why they're doing what they're doing and it keeps them focused and keeps them going. For me, my why would be my wife of 35 years, love her endlessly. She's amazing. She's actually the executive producer on this podcast. She's the reason that we're able to do this podcast because there's no way I could have figured all this out.


Then also my daughter, she's 21 and then she has a 20 month old daughter, Athena Rose, who's our granddaughter. She's absolutely amazing. And then I have a son who's going to be a police officer. Her name is Brady and he's 20 years old and those are my why's. So when I'm having downtimes or something might be a little bit challenging, they're the reason that fuel me to just keep going and constantly keep going.

All right, y'all. And now it's time to recap my top three podcasts of the week. Number one, Terry Savelle discusses your 2025 fail proof plan. Terry is an expert at casting vision and goal setting. She talks about how [00:09:00] pilots use a specific checklist before they take off. She talked about us having a checklist for a great year and a great life.

Just like the pilots, they have to go through something to make sure all systems are a go. We should also have something like that for us in our life and making sure we're checking off all the boxes of what we need to do to be successful. She included the checklist in her show notes. So remember, once again, this podcast will be attached in our show notes.

So if you go to it, you can get that list for free. Number one, she says hide. And what she means by that, get alone and think about what specifically do you want to achieve this year? Alone time to think is priceless to your success. Number two, highlight the memorable times that you had everything that you were thankful for from last year.

And just sit down and really look at those, everything you have to be grateful for and thankful for and review that. Always keep gratitude at the center of what you do. Being grateful is so powerful [00:10:00] to God. Number three, hone in on a theme. Maybe you have a single word for the year. Mine is passionate for this year.

I want to bring passion and I want to bring energy to everything I do. A lot of times I talk to my employees and stuff about BTE. Bring the energy . When you enter a room, everything should change for the better. Some people can brighten up any room by leaving it. And you don't want to be that person.-

You want to be the person that when you walk in the room, people, man, they feel better and always remember, be a thermostat, do not be a thermometer. And what I mean by that is a thermometer. You can just set it down in any room. And if the room temperature is 70 degrees, the thermometer is going to go to 70 degrees, but a thermostat is somebody that brings and determines the temperature of the room.

And what I mean by that is you might walk into a room or an area. A lot of people are being negative and other things. You don't have to be a part of that. You don't have to go to that level. [00:11:00] You can bring the positivity. You can change the temperature of that room. Be a thermostat, not a thermometer. 

. The goal is bringing energy to everything that I do. Make a list of all the words that come up for you on like maybe a word of the year. Then define it and apply it to everything in your life this year. And number four, honor God's word. Find scriptures that speak to you and stand on them.


First Corinthians two nine, what no one has ever saw or heard is the very thing that you have prepared for us. Beautiful scripture from God to us. Number five, happy new year. So what you do is you imagine that it's the end of the year. And it's New Year's Eve 2025. And you're just thinking about all the great things that you've achieved.

So you're kind of creating that vision in your mind. Everything that you wanted to happen is happening. So very good stuff. Terry Savelle is Definitely the best I've ever seen on [00:12:00] the planet at vision and goal setting. And remember that podcast is attached in the podcast notes. Number two was the power of attitude by Zig Ziglar next to Jesus and my dad, Zig Ziglar has had the most influence on my life. Zig Ziglar's an amazing motivational speaker. He was really big the eighties, late eighties, nineties 2000s . And it's said that he literally impacted more than 250 million people w hile he was on the earth, he died at 88, I believe about 10 years ago.

But if you go to Zig Ziglar. com, you can get all sorts of great resources. His programs are absolutely amazing. But in this podcast episode, he talks to a lady that was very upset with her job and she thought that nobody at the job was nice and that the work she had was terrible.

And so Zig Ziglar worked with her letting her. Look at all the good things that was going on at the job and by focusing on the positives, it changed everything for her. [00:13:00] He tells an amazing story as well of a family that was told that their son was abnormal and should be committed for life to center.

But the family would not accept that diagnosis. And it talks about how the family did all these different things to help their son and their son ended up being perfectly healthy and fine. It took a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of work. But the sun did turn out good. And I promise you, if you listen to the story, I really mean this.

It's probably one of the most powerful stories I've ever heard in my life about overcoming a challenge. So please check it out. Once again, it will be connected in our show notes. And then the third Podcast. My favorite one of the week was by Joel Osteen having realistic expectations in relationships.

He reminds us to not live with expectations that no one will ever let me down. Don't make people feel like they have to perform perfectly f or you to be happy, no way. I'm going to focus on the positive things in people in my life. [00:14:00] My wife and I have been together 35 years, and one of our secrets is that we just focus on the positives in each other, overlooking the faults and mistakes that one makes that you love is the best way to live.

You should be the biggest encourager and fan of the one that you love. Focus on the good things about them, focus on the good in others. This episode is packed full of great ways to have an incredible relationship. It will bring all the relationships in your life to the next level. All right, y'all.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for tuning in. I want to close out by telling you what I completely Believe, from my heart to yours, your best days are ahead of you. You are a masterpiece and you are loved and you're appreciated. You make a difference in the world and we're all better having you share what you have and only you have to offer to the world.

Have a magnificent week and [00:15:00] until next time, God bless, but hold on, I do have a weekly challenge. All right, here we go. One small random act of kindness for someone else. So this week just pick a time when you can do one small random act of kindness for somebody else. Maybe it's paying for someone's coffee, letting someone ahead of you on the freeway.

Maybe it's a special text to somebody that you love. Share your acts of kindness at gpgxfreedom at gmail. com. We'll share with the group to inspire each other. Remember, iron sharpens irons. All right, y'all. So for the last time, and I promise this time, I want to wish you a magnificent week and until next time, God bless and have a great, great, great week, all gas, no breaks.

Let's get out there. Let's go, let's get it done and make it happen. Appreciate each and every one of you.