Unlocking Human Connection in the Digital Age: Insights from Robin Nathaniel
Russell welcomes social media strategist and TEDx speaker Robin Nathaniel.
See the full interview at https://youtu.be/edHZvzIGu3o
Robin shares his journey from hip-hop artist to public speaker, emphasizing the power of forging intentional human connections online. He elaborates on his experiences as a father, husband, and author, highlighting the importance of sharing one’s personal story to create impactful connections. Robin also discusses his guiding principles—Connect, Create, Contribute—and how these can be applied to lead a fulfilling life. Additionally, he offers practical advice on becoming a TEDx speaker and recommends essential reading material to help find purpose and drive meaningful human interactions.
00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:15 Robin's Background and Career
00:56 The Impact of Social Media
01:35 Journey as a TEDx Speaker
04:21 Moving from New York to Atlanta
06:03 The Power of Sharing Personal Stories
07:11 Book Insights and Frameworks
08:39 Personal Philosophy: Connect, Create, Contribute
13:17 Spiritual Journey and Family
16:09 Recommended Reading and Daily Habits
19:34 Closing Thoughts and Practical Advice
#RobinNathaniel #Socialmediastrategy #Personalgrowth #Musicindustry #Authenticconnection #TEDxspeaker #Creatingconnections #Digitalcommunication #Resilience #SocialMediaSYNC #Publicspeaking #Inspiration #Careertransition #Storytelling #Intentionalcommunication #ConnectCreateContribute #Humanconnection #Socialmediaexpert #Author #Mindfulcommunication #Socialmediatips #Thoughtleadership #Professionaldevelopment #Entrepreneurship #thescienceofself
Transcript
Hello listeners and welcome back to The Science of Self, where
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:you improve your life from the inside out.
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:We have another guest with us today.
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:I'm excited to introduce
to you, Robin, Nathaniel.
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:Tell us about you.
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:Introduce yourself and let
our listeners get to know you.
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:Robin Nathaniel: Russell,
thank you so much.
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:Really excited to be on the show.
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:Really I start off by
saying I'm a two time dad.
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:Like, that's my, like, my crowning
achievement is being a two time dad.
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:One of the most rewarding exper
experiences in my life is being a dad.
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:I have a 15-year-old and a 6-year-old
at the time of recording this, and
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:also, uh, uh, a loyal and dedicated
husband I am a social media strategist.
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:I have a specific focus around human
connection online, and sometimes those
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:two concepts kind of clash when you think
about social media and human connection,
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:but that's a large part of my work.
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:That's what my book is about, and
giving folks the tools and frameworks
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:to really build those authentic and
intentional human connections online.
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:So I started my career back in
the early two thousands when
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:social media was brand new.
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:and now to see where we are today.
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:We're, right now we have 5.3
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:billion active users on social media.
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:So essentially a huge percentage
of the world's population
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:is active on social media.
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:So where many companies, brands,
coaches, strategists, might look
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:at it as just an opportunity to
get some kind of financial return.
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:I look at it as an opportunity to
build intentional human connections,
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:So I really am focused in on this
work because I see so much value
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:in it, and a lot of it has to do
with my journey as a TEDx speaker.
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:Having to kind of unpack some of my
dirty laundry, if you will, and sharing
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:it publicly with the world kind of
gave me a new perspective on how we
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:can leverage the power of social media.
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:Russell Newton: when you call yourself
a TEDx speaker, what does that mean?
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:Other than you've done a presentation,
um, you've made a speech, but
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:what is actually a TEDx speaker?
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:What is the organization,
um, what does it take?
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:To call yourself a TEDx speaker.
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:Robin Nathaniel: So TEDx is
the local chapters of ted.
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:So TED is a organization that is about
sharing ideas, you know, worldwide.
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:when they started, more people
wanted to organize TED events.
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:So they created this division
of ted, essentially called TEDx.
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:And honestly, in, in, you know,
in the world today, TEDx is
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:just as influential as ted.
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:They are aligned, it's a part of the, the
company, but they're operated by local
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:managers license managers, if you will.
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:So what does it take to let,
to, to become a TEDx speaker is
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:pretty much getting selected.
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:And then landing the talk.
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:So I come from the a,
a musical background.
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:For many years I did hip hop music and
I, I found that it wasn't necessarily
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:about me getting on stage and like
performing as much as me getting on
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:stages to share messages, to share ideas,
to help people, to influence people.
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:And when I found public speaking,
I knew that I wanted to land.
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:I.
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:A TEDx talk and in the speaking
world, many would refer to TEDx as
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:the Super Bowl of public speaking.
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:So landing a TED TEDx talk helps
you to open doors in other areas
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:and for me to impact more people.
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:I went to my first ever concert,
which was a Wu-Tang Clan concert.
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:I was 15 years old.
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:You had to be 21 to get in the club.
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:So somehow I had gotten my 15-year-old
self into this club to see Wu-Tang
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:Clans first ever club tour.
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:And I was Russell, I must have
been 10 feet from the stage.
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:And it blew my mind.
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:On the way back home, I set a couple
of rhymes in the car to my friends.
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:They did the, the, the classic.
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:Oh, he said, oh my gosh.
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:Right?
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:And it gave me the confidence.
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:And from there I went all in on my career.
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:Russell Newton: How do you
compare New York to Atlanta?
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:That's a tough question.
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:I know, but what was your, when you
moved down from New York, uh, to Atlanta,
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:I'm just wondering if you had the same
mindset that I did coming from Chicago.
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:Robin Nathaniel: I have two kids,
a wife, you know, we, we were
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:pandemic transplants Russell.
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:So we, we as we used the pandemic as
an escape hatch to get our kids outta
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:New York City for a brighter future.
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:So when I arrived down here, I had kind
of had that mentality of like, woo, we
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:made it out of that, you know, that mess.
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:And to give you a little more
context, when we were in New York
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:City, we were in Forest Hills,
Queens, very close to Corona, Queens.
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:This is the epicenter of the pandemic.
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:So there were literally.
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:Um, trailers, truck trailers, with bodies
in them, three blocks from my house.
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:So we were in this space of
like, is it the end of the world?
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:Like, like what do we, how
do we keep our kids safe?
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:So I think when I got down
here, I just felt a, a sense
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:of safety, a sense of peace.
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:And even today, I joke with my friends.
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:I have a friend who sent me a text
that he's coming down from New
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:York to visit, and I'm like, well,
I won't be coming to visit you.
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:So you, you could come down.
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:I don't, I don't need a 24 hour bodega.
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:I don't need, you know, I don't
need any of the lights, I don't
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:need the Empire State Building.
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:All I need is my backyard.
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:We literally, Russell have like
rabbits and deers like walking
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:through our backyard in these suburbs.
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:It's like fricking Disneyland.
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:Like, I'm like, I'm, I'm at
peace and I have no need to,
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:to go back to, um, to New York.
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:Russell Newton: expand a little bit on,
on why you contacted me, why you wanted
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:to be on this podcast in particular, and,
and what that brings to our listeners.
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:Robin Nathaniel: I, I mentioned
earlier, like sharing my dirty
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:laundry on the TEDx stage, and
that's something that do before.
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:Russell.
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:I, I didn't share all of what I call
the muddle my boots because didn't
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:wanna mess up anybody's carpet, right?
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:I don't want to come into
your world and bring my mess.
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:But what I realized in my journey
is that the more of my mess that I
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:share, the more people that I impact.
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:So for example my parents
were immigrants, right?
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:So we grew I grew up in New York City,
clueless to my socioeconomic status.
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:I was just a little kid living in.
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:One of the roughest times in New
York City in the mid eighties.
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:So when I share you know, my background
with folks and the things that I've
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:been through, it always starts a
conversation that, or often I should
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:say, starts a conversation that leads
to a season of their life that they
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:can relate to my story, and that's why
I wanted to be a part of this podcast.
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:Russell Newton: Do you wanna give
us a, a little more about your book?
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:Robin Nathaniel: I'll quickly
break down the framework for you.
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:So, so S is for simple.
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:Often online people wanna show up, and
this is in the conference room too.
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:Wherever people are doing business or
or operating, even in the church, right?
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:It may be even in your community, people
complicate messages that sound smart.
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:So it's like, you know,
whatever they need to do.
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:It could be a simple dish, but they'll
break it down very complicated to
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:show that they have more information.
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:My challenge to that is that you simplify
your message and make it easier for
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:people to receive the message, then
they're more likely to hold the message
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:and hopefully put it into action.
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:So s is for simple.
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:Why might be my favorite one.
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:Why is yield to your intentions?
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:Right?
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:Oftentimes on social media, folks
are what they hear from the gurus,
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:they're going according to what advice
they're getting online as opposed
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:to creating their own experience.
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:So I would challenge folks where if people
are saying, you gotta make videos, you
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:gotta make videos, but you're really
good at writing, it's okay to just
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:write, you know, just, you know, go on
a platform that appreciates writing.
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:For example, LinkedIn is great
for writing x Twitter, blue sky.
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:These are great platforms for writing
or even create your own personal
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:blog on a, a platform like substack.
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:Russell Newton: Robin, part of
your material said you live by the
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:motto, it talks about living by the
motto, connect, create, contribute.
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:Can you break that down into a personal
application, what that means, um,
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:how it can apply to our listeners?
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:Robin Nathaniel: So that came to mind
for me while I was making a sandwich.
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:So I'm in my kitchen making a sandwich,
and at the time I was processing
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:the, the loss of my older brother,
Kevin, Nathaniel Gar rest his soul.
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:He passed away in 2021 Russell,
and when he passed away.
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:Russell Newton: My condolences.
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:Robin Nathaniel: sir.
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:It hit me like a ton of bricks, you
know, and I've, I, I lost another
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:brother in the early two thousands, and
I also lost my mom in the mid nineties.
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:Nothing hit like this.
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:It was, when I describe it to people.
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:It felt like my organs had been removed
from my body, and I was literally
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:just walking around hollow at the
time I was working in a school.
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:And I remember walking through the
hallways of the school and I could
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:almost hear the voices of the kids
being turned down a couple of notches
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:and all I could just hear and feel
was my body moving it was empty.
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:So I'm, I'm at making
a sandwich during this
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:And then it just hit me and I, and I
told myself, I'm not making a sandwich.
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:I'm creating, I'm not having a cup
of coffee with my wife after this.
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:I'm connecting.
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:I'm not going to work
when I leave the house.
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:contributing.
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:And those three Cs, when I re revisited
this idea of doing an audit of my
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:time, I changed it from being just
an a time audit to a joy audit.
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:How much, how many hours of my life
are committed to these three things?
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:And if they're parts of my life that
I can't somehow connect to these three
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:concepts, then something gotta go.
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:So if I'm not creating, if I'm
not connecting, and if I'm not
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:contributing, I can't do it.
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:And that's like my non-negotiable.
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:Now,
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:So whatever I'm doing, if I
want to, I can just have a
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:conversation with a higher power.
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:And that could be connection as well.
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:It could also be giving gratitude
out loud to the universe or
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:to, you know, whoever it is.
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:So that's connecting.
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:Like, you know what, I'm just so thankful
for this opportunity to be here with
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:Russell having this conversation.
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:I could be running that in my
head if we had a sound issue
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:and you needed to get offline.
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:So there are ways to
get creative around it.
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:I think going back to intention, if
we're intentional about it, then we can.
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:it all connect.
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:But if we're just living life haplessly,
just kind of like going through the
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:motions, then you know, I think we're
missing out in a huge opportunity
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:in the time that we have here.
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:Russell Newton: correct me if I'm
wrong, if you don't know your inner.
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:Purpose, your why If I dunno my deeper
purpose, then I don't know what to create.
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:I might not know how to connect or
what the point of contributing is.
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:Tie those together for
us on a day-to-day basis.
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:On a personal level, if you can.
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:Robin Nathaniel: I'll start by saying,
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:Russell Newton: I,
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:Robin Nathaniel: that those concepts in
my interviews and when I go around on,
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:on this podcast tour, they rarely get
brought together in the same segment.
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:So I'm excited about that
because, you know, the,
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:Russell Newton: okay, great.
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:Robin Nathaniel: turn, I, I, I really
look at my work as like a big whiteboard
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:with just a bunch of diagrams overlapping.
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:It's quite mad scientist the
way I think about it, but I'm
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:super passionate about it.
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:So I'll start by saying that it's
hard for most folks to really
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:identify what their purpose is.
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:You know, I've been trying to
figure that out for years, and
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:I still am a work in progress.
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:I, I, I believe that.
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:My North Star is making sure that my
children and my wife and the people
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:that I love see me pursue something that
I'm passionate about that will serve
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:people, benefit people, and that I'm
maniacally obsessed with it working.
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:So I could impact people
in a positive way.
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:Russell Newton: If I can infer
something from a 45 minute conversation.
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:So far, I think the religion plays
a, a large part in your life.
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:Were you brought up in church?
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:Do you, you, I assume you're
still active in a church.
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:Can you share some of that
or are we off bound here?
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:Robin Nathaniel: started off in the
Catholic church when I was probably
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:in the first grade because my parents
wanted to get me and my brother
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:into a private school, my brother
Kevin, that I spoke about earlier.
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:So we went to a, uh, a private
Catholic school for a couple of years.
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:Then my mother and father split up
and fast forward, my father remarried,
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:uh, my stepmom, who I affectionately
referred to as mommy, my mother, uh,
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:who raised me from the time I was in
the sixth grade right up until today.
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:She just turned 90 years
old a couple of days ago.
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:So love her.
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:Grateful for her.
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:She took me to church early and
she had me singing in the choir.
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:She had me going to Sunday school.
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:She had me going to revival.
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:If folks don't know what revival like.
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:Russell Newton: No, not anymore.
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:Robin Nathaniel: It's like,
it's like night Church.
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:And I'll share a quick story.
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:This is a a church where people will
catch the Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit.
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:And we were at revival in
line one time waiting to get
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:touched by this visiting pastor.
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:And when the visiting pastor touched
her head, Russell, you would fall on the
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:floor and essentially have a seizure.
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:And I was like in line
with my dad and my cousin.
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:They were behind me.
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:Before I know it, I look around,
my cousin went to sit down.
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:So I'm getting closer in the line.
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:I'm probably about four
or five people away.
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:I turn around.
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:My dad went to go sit down and now I'm
like two, two, maybe one more person up.
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:And I had to take the longest
walk of shame that I was afraid to
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:allow this pastor to touch my head.
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:So that's my early
experiences with church.
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:As I grew older, I.
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:I realized that many, especially
in the Christian faith, there were
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:a lot of barriers in terms of an
inclusive environment at church.
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:And that always kind of
made me a little icky.
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:Like I, I love church.
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:I, I love God.
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:I, I believe in Jesus, all of the
things, but I didn't like that part
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:that we would hit people with the
whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute,
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:you're not us, you're going to hell.
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:And I was like, I don't wanna, I
don't wanna be a part of that, right?
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:So I kind of disconnected from
the Christian faith for many years
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:and just focus on my spirituality.
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:And then as I got older and had a
family, I wanted my kids to have
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:a good experience with church.
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:So I researched churches that had good
youth programs and we found the church
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:that we love and, and my wife who.
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:disconnected from her
faith for many years.
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:Came back to her faith.
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:She's actually volunteering at the church.
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:My son is going on a retreat to Daytona
with a, with a like a thousand high school
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:church fanatics, you know, and my daughter
also at six loves her church experience.
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:Russell Newton: If you could give our
listeners, a handful of books that they,
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:that it would be your top recommended
reading books are there, do you have
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:three or four on the top of your head that
you would strongly recommend that most
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:anybody should read and be familiar with?
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:Robin Nathaniel: I would say Rick Warren's
book, A Purpose-Driven Life was huge for
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:me because at the stage and season of life
that I was in, I was reaching for purpose.
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:And my wife, she has this amazing quote,
it's this again, simplicity, right?
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:S is for simple.
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:It's the, it's super simple, but
it like, it kind of like my, my
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:journey to like, identify my purpose.
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:And she said.
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:B she said, I'm sorry.
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:She said, do what you are, what you are.
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:So at the time I was like having this
huge transition in my career and trying
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:to identify purpose, and she helped me
with that, that quote, do what you are.
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:Rick Warren's book would be one, and
I'm, I'm kind of a marketing geek,
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:so most of the stuff that I read
is like nonfiction marketing books.
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:Seth Golden, this is
marketing is one of my faves.
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:It's something that I refer back to
Tribes by Seth Golden is another go-to,
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:and most recently I've been reading.
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:Day Trading Attention by Gary Vanerchuk.
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:Those are the ones that I'm reading right
now, but I think Rick Warren's book for
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:PO Folks who are seeking some Purpose,
or even if you've read it before and
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:you wanna revisit it with maybe some of
the frameworks that I talked about in
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:mind, I think it, it could be fun too.
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:Russell Newton: What would you list
as some of the fundamental habits on a
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:day-to-day basis that keep you centered?
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:Robin Nathaniel: So the first
thing that came to mind on this
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:one, Russell, is connect, right?
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:So I wanna make sure I connect with.
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:People who are important in my life.
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:So one practice that I put into place
is making sure that I connect with the
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:people that I love every day, whether
they live close or they live far away.
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:Sometimes it's my son.
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:Sometimes I'll just call my son who
might be at home playing video games.
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:I'm like, Hey, just checking in on you.
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:You know, want to see did you eat,
you know, but specifically, if you
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:have elderly family members, grandma,
great grandma, elderly parents, check
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:in on them daily because you have
no idea how far that goes for them.
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:It's, it's a big deal for them
that you're calling consistently
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:and also it will feed your soul.
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:So that's the first thing.
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:another thing I try to do daily is
like at least walk at the minimum.
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:Make sure I have one of those smart
watches that I'm documenting my steps.
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:Try to get to 10,000 steps a
day and make sure that I move.
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:And then the last thing me that
I really try to be intentional
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:about is making sure that I am.
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:Mindful on how I'm using my time online.
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:So this trick that I have is when I
open up my phone and I go to like,
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:get into the internet or go into
social media, go in with intention
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:saying I want to have one takeaway.
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:And after I get that takeaway,
I'm shutting this puppy down.
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:Russell Newton: I'm sure I missed a
question that you would like to have
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:been asked or possibly a, a point of
information that I, that we didn't get to.
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:So, however you wanna close out the
podcast episode for us, feel free
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:to to venture as far as you'd like.
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:Robin Nathaniel: Yeah.
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:So I said, um, earlier that in the
sync method Y was probably my favorite.
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:And the reason is, is because I find it to
be most practical of all of the pillars.
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:So for example, if you go to Walmart
or Target, wherever you shop, if you
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:shop at one of those stores and you go
through the checkout line, you, you're
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:not going through the automatic one.
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:You're going, you want to like let
a human take care of you, right?
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:And.
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:If you think about it, you have the
opportunity to be intentional to leave
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:some kind of an impact on the cashier.
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:It could be knowing she, she might seem
frustrated with the, the guest before you,
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:or you could just see a blank stare where
she hasn't given anybody eye contact in
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:the two people that were in front of you.
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:You can intentionally say
something to leave her with some
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:kind of positive impact or value.
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:It could be as something as
simple as, Hey, thank you so much.
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:I appreciate it.
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:You have a blessed day.
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:People don't get that, and I, and
I think that what I would leave
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:your audience with, no matter who
the person is, no matter where,
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:what arena of life you're in, your
professional arena, your personal arena.
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:Look at every interaction as an
opportunity to leave the person that
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:you connect with better off than
they were before your conversation.
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:And that, I think, will help you,
you know, get the most out of life.