Everybody, it's Bill Courtney. Welcome to shop Talk number fifty five. Welcome into the shop, Welcome in Alex.
Thank you Bill.
How was a dentist?
My teeth are still here?
Are they clean?
I mean the problem is how much I like cigars, tea and coffee. Yeah, I'm never going to have great teeth. It's kind of a lost.
Costs dmy cavities. No. Oh, well do you get the gold star today? Yeah. We're going to talk about a letter that was sent to us by a listener, which thank you, And the title of shop Talk number fifty five is we are not what we do, we are who we are. Right after these brief messages from our general sponsors, all right, everybody, listener and Army member Andrew Maui spelled m aue and we think it's Maui, but we're going to go with Maui like Hawaii Andrew Mauie.
I'm going to read the really thoughtful letter he sent us and then comment on it for shop Talk fifty five. Hey there, what you're building with the Army and normal folks is more than a podcast. It's a movement of everyday people realizing they're equipped to make a real difference. I'm honored to be even a small part of that. Andrew,
We're honored to have you. I'd love to offer an idea that I could believe, that I believe could spark meaningful conversation on a shop Talk episode, Andrew, here you go. The concept we are not what we do. We are who we are. So often people define themselves by their job title or by the skills they've learned. I'm a welder, I'm a nurse, I'm a single mom, I'm a retired vet. With those things may describe what we do, they don't
capture the fullness of who we are. And when we lose a job, transition out of a role, or face the season of change, that fragile sense of identity can crumble. But what if we help people see that their true value comes from not what they do, but from the core of who they are, That their character, faith, compassion, wisdom, and even their ability to listen or love deeply, that
these are just as critical as any learned skill. I believe that as each person in the Army begins to understand their identity and their gifting, not just their abilities, but the things they were uniquely designed to offer. We become more resilient, more united, and a more powerful force for good. When we stop seeing ours is just tools and a system and start seeing ourselves as career carriers of purpose. Everything changes. We lead with authenticity, We serve
without burnout. We show up not just to check a box, but to bring light into the world around us. I believe this message will resonate with your listeners and strengthen the movement you've already begun. Thanks for all you do to shine a light on the value of normal folks. You're changing more lives than you know. Gratefully. Andrew Mawley, who is the director of something called Reciprocal Aid Network for Crisis and Hazards, which I assume you need to look in to find out what that is. Alex.
I know he and I have been talking about a little bit.
Well what is it.
You're gonna put me on the spot and butcher this all right? So he is a first responder responding natural disasters. Sorry, Andrew, I know I'm gonna butcher this lightly. But the problem when a lot of these disasters happen, like say, church volunteers show up and unfortunately they're forced to turn them
away because they don't have the right certifications. So it's actually a really cool idea of a nonprofit to train volunteers like in advance of these disasters so that they can then respond a lot of it's like logistics, I'll.
Train big Awl with his barbecue cooker. Yeah, so that he could actually show up and not get turned away and have to park it twenty yards away or whatever he does.
Yeah, I mean all as example, he would convince them through barbecue to let him through.
That's true.
Not ever, not everyone's going to be a persuade for some of his big out there.
So Andrew, thanks, I do have some comment. First of all, really deep thoughts, really good thoughts. And I do have a couple of comments, which is really what you said in the middle of this, which is people often defind themselves by their job title or by the skills they burned. I'm a welder, I'm a nurse, I'm a single mom. I'll keep adding, I'm a stay at home mom, I'm a retired vet, I'm a salesperson, I'm a podcast host, I'm a football coach.
Or as a rich to oust the founder family would say, people say, I'm just a garbage man, you're just in there.
That's really a good point. I'm a ditch digger. I'm just a ditch digger. I'm just a podcast producer. Oh that's what you would say, right. But the point is it's really well taken Andrew that too often we define ourselves by what we do and not who we are, and fundamentally who we are needs to be. I'm a person who is a welder, or I'm a welder for a living, but I'm a father and a husband, and
I volunteer at my church or synagogue or whatever. And I know it's a little bit of semantics with regard to that, But the most important thing that Andrew said, I think is if you look at it through those that loans. What happens when you lose your job, what happens when you retire, what happens to stay at home mom, when the kids go off to college and the nest becomes empty. If you are defined by what you do when the seasons of life change, then you have lost
your identity. Conversely, if you identify yourself as much more meaningful and deep things than what you do for a living or what you do with your days, then when the seasons of life change, you're fundamentally equipped to handle that change. So here's my story. If I gave you a million dollars and ten thousand dollars bricks and stock
them up, they'd be about four feet high. If I said, I want you to stand on that million dollars, and if you can stand on it for three minutes without a collapsing under you, you can get the million dollars. You may try, but there's no way you can stand on that. The national trophy if we take the the whoever wins the national championship in football this year and say, listen, next year, you're gonna win the national championship again, guaranteed.
If you can just stand on this trophy for three minutes, or stand on this football for three minutes. You might try. You might balance yourself for a minute, but eventually it's gonna break or topple out from under you and you're gonna fall. Same thing if I put a plaque on an edge. So the idea here is maybe.
Before you move on. A listener emailed us exactly on that topic the other day. It's what you bring this up because you briefly went through that riff in the Marko Artcruise episode here and see what this guy I've been meeting incorporate this at some point.
Well, I guess we're about to do it. Yeah. During one of your recent part this is.
From ug Hobson, Doug Hobson.
During one of your recent podcast episodes, you mentioned standing on a stack of bills that would equal million dollars. That brought back a great memory for me. When I was in my late twenties. My manager at the time shared a note attached tier you're mentioning that triggered my
idea for a shop talk. I've carried this paper photo I couldn't attach and my wallet for thirty plus years, and when people are throwing figures of millions, bans and treions around, I pulled this out and schooled them in the differences in each of the years we got it up here. Okay, a million dollars tightly bound thousand dollar bills would produce a stack four inches high. A billion dollars tightly bound and thousand dollar bills would produce a
stack about three feet high. A trillion dollars tightly bound one thousand dollars bills to produce a stack nearly sixty three miles high. That's crazy. Yeah, okay, thank you, Doug, sixty three miles Yeah. But here's the deal. If you tried to stand on those metaphorically, well literally, if you try to stand on the trophies, the money, whatever, it's going to collapse. So the point is, you cannot stand
on accolades, you stand out, stand on fortune. You cannot stand on fame because both literally and metaphorically, if that is the foundation that you choose to stand on, eventually it will collapse and you will fall flat on your That's just the truth. Likewise, if you stand on or identified by what you do for a living, just like fame, fortune and accolades, if that is the foundation of who you are, eventually it will collapse and you will find
yourself on your ass. Conversely, if we define ourselves by commitment, character, integrity, the dignity of hard work, service, grace, working on building a legacy, finding ways to engage in our community. If we define ourselves by those things and that's the foundation of who we are, then as a season of life changes, and as our jobs change, or as our station and life changes, or when we lose our money or make more money or we gain fame or lose fame, or
gain fortune or lose fortune, or any of it. If you build your foundation on those core values and tenants, then you're able to handle a change in the season of life, a change in your financial situation, both positive and negative, a change in how your views by society, both positive and negative. So the whole point is when you build a proper foundation on the right things, then you aren't defined by what you do, what you have,
or what others say about you. And when you do that and you serve to be a member of the army and normal folks, you have a proper foundation to find success for you and for those who seek to serve. So, Andrew, your points are well taken. I think it's I think it's a great, great shop talk topic, and I appreciate you sending it our way. Alex, you got anything Dad.
A negative example? That's interesting. A couple of years ago, I read this article on Michael Jordan. So when you retired, he basically said, like I've lost all meeting in life.
There you go.
I mean, I mean, I couldn't believe that he said it out loud. I mean, it's one thing to think in your head. But he was actually like I.
Because he was defined by basketball and a pair of tennishes. Yeah, and for him to have feel like he's lost all meaning in life when he was married, he had children, and he had all the money in the world and he was still empty and hopeless. Just's because his foundation was built on something that's gonna It's going to go away eventually for all of us.
It also reminds me that's great Jackie Robinson quote. A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives. So if you define yourself in terms of your impact on other lives is what success is.
And that's from Jackie Robinson, who could have found himself by a lot.
Or David Brooks writes about this and he calls him the eulogy virtues. So when you get to the eulogy at your funeral, no one's like, man, that guy was so rich at what a great guy he really was rich? I mean, it's what do you actually want to be praised for at your eulogy.
Actually, Bill Prest was a really good friend of mine and he died some years ago and his son in law actually gave the eulogy, and he is the one where I heard the quote by Albert Pike that said, what you do for yourself and this life dies with you. What you do for another last forever and remains immortal, which is interesting because Bill Breasted own a business and had lots of cess in his life. But you're right, that's not what they talked about. They talked about a service.
So there it is. We are not what we do, and by proxy, we are not what we've earned, and we are not the fame, and we are not the fortune that we build. We are not what we do. We are who we are, and we are who we are by virtue of the foundation and the basic fundamentals and tenets that we build our foundation with so that we can handle success, failures, and changes in the seasons of life. That is shop Talk number fifty five. If
you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review it. Join the army at normal folks dot us subscribed of the podcast and consider becoming a premium member there.
And we should also add, as we mentioned last week, you do any cool acts for others mention on social attack us, we'll share it with all those things.
And if you have any good ideas for shop Talk, as you see email us. If we think we have something to offer, we'll talk about it. If not, we'll definitely respond to either way. That's shop talk number fifty five.
We should tell them how to email you bill it normal folks dot us.
They'll normal folks dot us. All right, we're leaving the shop. Take it easy.