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SPEAKER 02 :
welcome to the good news with angie austin now with the good news here’s angie
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey there, friend. Angie Austin and Jim Stovall with the good news. Today we are talking about his winner’s wisdom column titled Profound and Practical. Hey, Jim.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hey, it is great to talk with you, as always.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, I see that you received an email from someone. Normally they write to me when they listen to my show, but she found out how to contact you, which I thought was pretty cool. And she said she likes your books and listening to you on my show. And she thinks her son is turning into… the kid from your first book, your first movie, I should say. And so what did she mean as Jason Stevens as the kid’s name in The Ultimate Gift? What did she mean by that?
SPEAKER 04 :
Jason Stevens is the grandson of a billionaire, and he is entitled, spoiled, and just a regular brat. And she thought her son was turning into that, so I made her aware of the thing that I think most helps kids like that is take them to a homeless shelter or somewhere where people are less fortunate, and all of a sudden they’ll start to get a different view of the world and realize that… They don’t have it so bad, and everybody, you know, there’s a lot of people that would love to trade places with them. And, you know, the first step toward being… you know, satisfied with your life is to be thankful for what you have, and so that’s what I suggested for her and her son, and I referred her to, I just did a book with the Young Men’s Service League, and they got started from The Ultimate Gift and the book and the movie, and they started a project, and they have young men in their high school years that do community service, and it started out as one mom and her two sons, and now it’s A whole bunch of moms in 38 states with 11,000 boys doing close to a half million hours of volunteer work for people that are less fortunate. It’s amazing what can happen, but the perspective that these young men have is what I wrote the book about. They’re helping some people that are less fortunate, but maybe the biggest help is how it’s changed these young men and really changed their life and their perspective.
SPEAKER 05 :
What I think is neat about it too, because I looked up to see if there were chapters near Denver, and there are ones down in Douglas County, south of Denver, and one north up in, or northwest, I guess, in Boulder County. My son goes to CU Boulder, so he’s up there. I grew up in Boulder, and that’s through one of the high schools up there. Anyway, to make a long story short, what I thought was cool about when I looked at the website, and again, this started through some through you kind of through this people who were inspired by you and the ultimate gift but that you serve with your son so it’s a great way too for mother-son relationships to be fostered you know to serve together through their high school years
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I mean, and this mother that started it, she was a single mom with two boys, but she said there were all kinds of places for boys and dads to get involved in scouting or sports or whatever, but there was no place for a mom with boys to go get involved. And so she created this Young Men’s Service League, and it has just taken off. And while I appreciate people giving me credit for this, I wrote a book. These women and their sons took a fictional story and turned it into reality, and it’s just amazing what they’ve done.
SPEAKER 05 :
I love it. I love it. All right. Well, I thought that was neat that she wrote to you. And you, of course, wrote a nice letter back, which you often do to the people that contact you. I’m just shocked at how many people you respond to and how many people reach out to you through your columns. And you’re around 60 books now and working on that ninth movie. Looking forward to that. All right. Let’s talk about your column today and what you’re teaching us.
SPEAKER 04 :
We’re talking about profound and practical. And there is so much information comes into our lives today, whether it’s email or social media or on television or radio, wherever we go. And there’s all kinds of people wanting to meet with us and get appointments. And they always say, I’ve got important information. Well, the vast majority of it, it’s important to them. But it probably is not important to you. You know, everybody wants to sell you something or get you to vote for somebody or whatever their agenda is. They’re contacting you saying they’ve got information. So you’ve got to realize, first and foremost, you can get rid of most of the stuff that comes into your life because it’s about them. It’s not about you. But even when it’s about you, it comes in two forms. And you have to understand the difference. One is, is it practical? And, you know, is there something you can do with it right now? And the other one is profound. Is this something that will stay with you for the rest of your life? And something profound is like anything your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve. That’s profound. And that will be with you 50 years from now. That will always fit into your life. Something practical is… You’ve got to spend less than you earn, and you’ve got to save some money. Well, that’s good. That’s true. That’s valid. But it’s never inspiring, like we’re getting ready for football season. Well, a coach can say hard work wins championships. That can stay with you. That’s profound. But it doesn’t tell you what to do. It just tells you what to do. Now, when they get into a game to a certain situation, he may say, make sure you block the defensive end. That’s practical. But you can’t build a season and raise a banner that says, block the defensive end. That won’t inspire you, but it’s very practical. So what we’ve got to do with all the information we get… is to decide, first and foremost, is this about me or is it about someone else? And the vast majority of it you get rid of instantly because no matter how important they say it is or it’s timely or you need to know, it’s about them. They want something. But even if it’s about you, is this profound, something that will be with you forever, or is it practical, something that you can use today? They’re both valid, but you cannot interchange those two.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, so in terms of, you know, like I read the column today, and so make it personal to me or someone listening, like how you would want me to act on the column.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, what you want to do is, first off, all the information that comes into your life, get rid of most of it. It has nothing to do with it. And the faster you can get rid of it, the better. I mean, you know, and it’s like when you go to your mailbox or your email or whatever. Most of this stuff has nothing to do with you. It has to do with them. And get rid of it. The faster you can get through the clutter, the quicker you can do it. You know, you were talking about how I respond to everybody that sends me an email from my books or movies or the columns. Well, because one advantage I have is somebody gets rid of all the clutter before I go in there. And we’re already down to… This is the stuff I need to respond to, so I don’t have to mess with all that. I’m very grateful that that’s a part of my life. Now, it wasn’t when I started, but it is now. And then, you know, then you start to figure out, is this something that I can live with for my life? Is this profound, or is it practical? You know, years ago, when I first started out as a speaker, I went to a church, actually, and I met a guy named Reverend Charles Neal. I will never forget, he had a British accent, and You know, I started talking to him. We became friends. And I said, tell me about your background. Well, he had grown up in England during World War II. And then after the war, he worked for Winston Churchill. He was a speechwriter. And he had actually written the Iron Curtain speech that Churchill gave here in America in Fulton, Missouri. And, you know, and he was just an amazing guy. And for me to sit and talk to somebody that knew Winston Churchill, I thought was incredible. And I told him I have a series of audio of speeches that I’ve collected over the years in my home office. And I think Churchill was one of the most profound speakers I ever heard. And he said, who’s the most profound? And I said, boy, I hope you’ll take this in the right context. The most impactful speaker I ever heard was Adolf Hitler, because he had a horrible message. It was destructive and everybody knew it, but he could make it so compelling. So just because someone’s a great speaker. Doesn’t mean it’s practical. Doesn’t mean it works for us. And we need to be ever mindful of that as we come into the political season here. There are all kinds of people that can make great, grand, and wonderful speeches or debate one another. And you have to think about those and get back to who is really saying what I want to hear. And, you know, you can go back to the 1960s. JFK is debating Nixon. And people who watched that on TV… thought that JFK won. He was much better, because he was young, he was good-looking, he was calm. Nixon was older, didn’t shave, didn’t do makeup, he was sweating all over the place, and he just didn’t look reliable. Well, but ironically, people who read the transcript in the newspaper the next day If you read the words, people thought Nixon won the debate. And so, you know, we have to make sure what are we getting stuck on here? What do we do? You know, and there’s a reason people who spend millions of dollars for advertising put beautiful people on there. They’re selling their beverages or T-shirts or sneakers or whatever it is they’re selling because we pay attention to that. That matters more to us. And subconsciously, they’re telling us, if you start drinking this soft drink, you’ll look like her. Well, no, you won’t, and you and I both know that, but it still impacts us. We still think about it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, yeah. I like the idea of not being swept up in the charisma of someone and actually really listening to the message. But it makes me think about what my son is doing right now, too. He has to analyze things and write papers. And the first one, he had my husband and I proofread and go over. And we were like, oh, my husband’s like, oh, my gosh, this is horrible. And I read it and I’m like, ooh, ooh. We didn’t even know where he was going or what he was saying or what he was trying to prove. And so my husband looked up this particular kind of analysis and how you’re supposed to lay out the paper. And so I proofread it for just, you know, whatever. making it flow so it was understandable. And then my husband really explained to him how to break down the pieces and to compare and analyze the different things he was supposed to compare and contrast. So anyway, to make a long story short, then his papers went on throughout the semester. He just got his grade yesterday, actually. He got an A, but he didn’t really know how to present his thoughts properly. And so that’s what he’s really learning to do in college is to, you’d think that he’d already know, but no, I mean, this is very specific, some of the college courses on how to present your ideas. And that’s really what it’s all about, to really make it clear what you are trying to say and to prove your point in a manner that we can follow the path of your argument.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, and in the professional speaking industry, we call it form over content. I mean, you can have the world’s greatest message, but if you can’t get up there and deliver it where anybody will listen to you, it doesn’t matter how good it is. And if you have the world’s greatest delivery, you’re spellbinding, but there’s nothing behind what you’re saying. It’s just nonsense. you won’t last very long because people are going to realize, yeah, that was a great speech, but it didn’t take me anywhere. And, you know, and so you’ve got to have both form and content. You’ve got to be able to present it well, but you have to have something worth presenting.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. So let’s talk about, you know, what’s next for you. I know you’ve got, you know, another book in the works. It seems like you always have at least one in the works and then the movie. So what’s going on? You’ve got about another minute left.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, actually, last night I had a dinner surrounding one of the movie projects we’re working on right now, and it’s the Will Rogers one, and Jennifer Rogers, his great-granddaughter, was in, and we had dinner with her and the executive producers talking about, you know, some fairly subtle nuances of the movie, and we’re getting down to that, and then… And then I, well, over the weekend, as often happens, I just wrote three or four books this spring and summer, and I thought, I’m not writing anything until next year. I told my publisher, if Mark Twain comes back to life and wants to co-author a book with me, tell him to get with us in the spring. I’m not writing any more books right now. And so I do that, and no sooner do I do that, Angie, than something happens and it triggers this idea for a novel. And this whole story starts filling itself in in my head, and I came in here and roughed out 21 chapters that I’ll need to fill in, but, you know, it’s… It’s really amazing how the creative process works. I don’t think we control it. I think it controls us.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, no kidding, huh? JimStoval.com. Thanks for the update, friend. Thank you.
SPEAKER 03 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
Hello there, Angie Austin and Grace Fox with the good news. And the good news is we are going to find some hope in crisis today because we’re talking about a devotion called the to-do list in Grace’s book titled Finding Hope in Crisis, Devotions for Calm and Chaos. Welcome back, Grace.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thanks for having me again, Angie.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. So I want to do this one because it caught my eye because I am a big to do list person. If I don’t have one, I forget to do just about everything. I need a reminder for like every single thing in my life. My kids laugh at me because I set so many alarms. In my phone for various things. And that’s my easiest way to like remember when to leave the house to pick up a kid or to remember a practice or to get someone to the airport. And it could be in my calendar, but that’s just not good enough for me. I literally have to have my phone go off in my hand and say, hey, go do this now.
SPEAKER 06 :
I have that too. I’ve started using those alarms, but boy, you know what, Angie, I’ll be really honest with you. I am so scared. I’m going to forget something that’s important that I write like three different places where I have to keep track of things. So like a daily calendar, just like a pocket calendar, it’s written in there. I put it on my computer calendar and I’ve got a paper with a list of what I need to be doing in order, you know, the days of, my appointments and then my interviews and deadlines and all of that. Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow. I have to keep in touch. I like that, though, because I feel like a routine, I think, helps your life flow better, especially if you’re someone who gets easily distracted. My dad had a daily routine every day and kept keeping him, I think, like sane or centered because I think he would really get off track. He had a problem with alcohol and many, many, many years. And in his later years, he says Tai Chi really helped him. get clean and sober because it calmed him when he would do Tai Chi. Cause it’s almost like a slow dance. You know, I guess it’s considered a martial art, but if you see it, it looks like a slow dance and like very slow, like Qigong kind of like very slow movements where he’s moving and you can pray while you do it or think. And I think it just silenced his mind. But anyway, he had to do that three times a day and he would do like both sides of, you know, the movement or whatever. And he would like, move a penny each time he did like with the one you know the one tour of it or whatever and some he’d have to do the right side and the left side because I think it’s like the opposite movements or something if you do both sides and then he would play chess three times a day and I’m sure he had other rituals that went in there but the routine enabled him to keep his mind calm but I think the to-do list for me as much as routine is I can so easily get off track from what I need to get done if I don’t have a list. But I love it. You keep multiple. Like if my mom has to remember something, I’ll literally put it on a post on her mirror because even though she’s older her entire life, she’s really held other people responsible for her life. And so she’s always held my brother and I responsible for her. All of her appointments, getting her car fixed, making sure her bills are paid and booking her vacations, booking her. She’s never booked an airline ticket. She’s never scheduled a vacation. She’s never found directions to someplace on her own, you know, like actually looked up directions and like, you know, gotten there. It’s always she’s had her hands held through her entire life. So sometimes I force her to remember something by putting a post-it on her mirror in her bathroom.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I’ve done the post-it notes for myself too. But then the problem is, what happens if they fall off, right?
SPEAKER 05 :
So you have three lists.
SPEAKER 06 :
I do, I do. And I’m looking at them right now. I’m sitting at my desk and I’m like, okay, I don’t have my computer open right now, but it’s there on my iCal, but it’s here. I’m inches away from my little pocket calendar and I’ve got this Like I say, these papers, I write them down. I started that just this fall because I had so many things happening at once. But I thought, I need to just write it down on a piece of paper. So that’s kind of my way of recycling printer paper. You know, just one side, I’ll take the scrap paper. And on the back side, I’ll write down like today. Today is one of my grandson’s birthday. So I’m going to phone him later in the day. So I write down, call Micah, you know. But I’ve also got Angie on that list. And I’ve got a whole, about four of the things that I need to do. that are on top of my regular workload that I just need to get those done today because they’re time sensitive things. And I just don’t want to forget. And so. I’m getting to that point where I’m okay with admitting that I will forget unless I’ve got that reminder right in front of my face.
SPEAKER 05 :
And you know, it’s interesting because you say in your, in your devotional and to-do list, you say you’re a list maker and that you draw a line through the tasks you completed. And it’s interesting because Jim Stovall, my friend, I told you about an interview every week. He’s written over 60 books. He had a lady that worked with for him for like 40 years. And even if they’d already finished a task, he said she had to add it to the list for the day and draw a line through it. And it’s like, well, Why are you doing that? We already did that. She said it just gave her such satisfaction to see the completion of these items. So now with you, I’m curious because I’m not as organized a list maker as you are. I’ve got some messy notes like on a notebook next to me with a few things. And then I keep a master list of things like I have to schedule like the kids, you know, physicals and, you know, maybe getting the oil change on the car that could be put off for a few days before I do them. So that’s kind of like my backup master list. But how do you do the daily list, like calling Micah and Angie? Do you do that the night before? Do you get up early and write these lists? How do you keep them organized?
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, I would do it the night before. And actually, one thing that I started doing, Angie, I’d say this fall, with this stack of papers, using that recycled printer paper, I have stuff in there that’s right through to October right now. So like one piece of paper for tomorrow. I’ve got a Zoom call in the morning at 7 o’clock to do an interview with somebody for my new book. Her story will be in my new book. So 7 o’clock in the morning, my time, Zoom with her. And then At 6.15 in the evening, I have a Zoom call with women who subscribe to my newsletters. I do this once a month. And tomorrow is the day. So 6.15, be on that call. You know, don’t forget about this. There’ll be ladies waiting to get into that room. And then… I’ve got an interview Friday morning early, and so I’ve got that one down on another piece of paper. And so it’s like tomorrow’s things are all on one sheet of paper. And, you know, Wednesday’s things, that’ll be its own piece of paper. And as I get through the day, I just take that paper away. So Tuesday, you know, by Tuesday’s end, the paper goes in the trash, and there’s Wednesday morning. So when I get up in the morning, I look at that top sheet of paper, and I go, oh, yeah, okay, this is what I need to do Wednesday.
SPEAKER 03 :
So you keep a stack?
SPEAKER 06 :
And I’ve got a paper clip at the top, just keeping those papers together. Because at this point, I have so many things happening that I’m just, there’s just so many balls that I’ve got to juggle that this is my way to just not forget. Because I feel like if I have to remember all those things in my head, it takes up a whole lot of brain space. So that’s just a lot of clutter for me when I’m trying to write a book. I need my brain space reserved for books. and research and writing, you know, and just clear the clutter. So this is my way. I can take the clutter and put it on the paper and clear that brain space away. So I don’t have to think about those things. I just get up in the morning and I look at that paper and go, aha, Those are the top things that I have to be sure to be at today.
SPEAKER 05 :
So you use recycled paper or the paper clip. You could just use a notebook, but you literally like would have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And then you might even have in there September, October, November for like things in the month that you need to remember, like further on in the book. But I like the idea that with the paper clip, you can rearrange them as you have to add more things in there. And so you’ll have like that week and then things that will go further on into the month. And then do you have like a master list of things that like, um, you just can’t forget or does that go on a monthly list?
SPEAKER 06 :
These are mostly my appointments. So it’s like, and my deadlines and interviews, those types of things.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know, those are the, those are the things there. So, uh, yeah. And, and like, I have deadlines that are pushed out to October, November. So, um, I’ve got papers that far, you know, written. Some of my things are written on the papers that are that far, but I love the paperclip idea because like you said, I can rearrange. So if I all of a sudden get a call from my publicist and he goes, Oh, you’re free for an interview on such and such a day. I can look. Yep. I am. And I, and then I just write that down and stick it there. He’ll send me a, uh form that i can print off that is the confirmation from that radio or tv station or podcaster and i’ll print that form off and stick it in that pile on the appropriate day goodness that is so i love that i i i just got a new notebook and i’m hoping to utilize that and i’ll be honest with you i don’t know where i put it
SPEAKER 05 :
So I’ve got to find that today because I – yeah, I was outside actually with one of your devotionals a couple days ago and my notebook and my computer and my calendar because I have to keep everything for my work and my computer calendar. And then I bought this three-month look-ahead calendar. Because I have about eight trips scheduled right now, a lot of them to go to different parts of the country to watch my daughter play volleyball when they do travel tournaments or going to St. Louis and someplace in Kentucky. And then I’ll fly into Nashville this Thursday or Friday. And so I’ve got to keep track of all those. And it’s hard for me to on a computer calendar with just one month in advance. It doesn’t really it’s not the same as having it like written out. So I got this three month advance like wipe off calendar for my trips and you know, so I can kind of visualize them and keep better track of that. But I like that you can put, add things into this step. Now in your, in Finding Hope in Crisis, Devotions for Calm in the Chaos, we’re on page 120 doing to-do lists. You talk about choosing joy and conversing with God throughout the day and expressing gratitude. And you said the to-do list is, you know, sometimes a lot of unpleasant chores we’d rather avoid. But just like that woman I mentioned that likes to cross everything out, off, you talk about doing this to-do list releases hormones that contribute to our feelings of contentment and pleasure. And because God designed us, he knows what’s best for us. And conversing with God throughout the day helps us maybe get through some of these chores with a little more joy or contentment.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, yeah, like at the beginning of here, I wrote 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 to 18, which says, Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. And so comparing that to a list. Okay, as a follower of Christ, do I add these three things to my to-do list? Oh, man, I’ve got to get this stuff done, too. Now I have to rejoice. I’ve got to pray. I’ve got to give thanks. I can look at it as more stuff on my to-do list. Or I can look at that as… wow, these are the things that I get to do. These are not my unpleasant tasks that I put off to the next day, to the next day, to the next day, and never really cross them off because I put them off. But it’s I get to do these things today. I get to rejoice. I get to pray, you know, just talk with Jesus as I go through my day and give thanks in all circumstances. And so those are the good things on every believer’s to-do list. And like you just mentioned, it’s when we do these things, especially that giving thanks, that releases serotonin and dopamine into our system, which are the hormones associated with pleasure and contentment. And so why does God tell us to do these things? It’s not to say, okay, now as a taskmaster, you must do these things as a good Christian. But it’s, hey, I want you to do these things because they’re good for you. And so, you know, it’s not something we put off because I don’t have time for that today. But it’s I can’t do this because it’s good for me.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, one of my friends is telling me, too, and she’s a therapist and she’s an author, much like you. And I interview her quite a bit. And she said, you know, in the morning before we hop on that phone, that it’s a good idea to go through our prayers and to do some worship activities. you know, appreciation, your golden list, maybe even, you know, start your list for the day of things that you need to get done, because she said that helps release those feel good chemicals, much like accomplishing thing. But if you are in commune with God and trying to like be, uh appreciative or blessed of the opportunity uh to go through your day i got some new plaque that says uh joy comes in the morning and then the other one says um today only happens once make it amazing because i’m not a morning person so that’s not like my favorite time of day at all And so I’m trying to make myself appreciate these opportunities to do some of the things we don’t often find to be pleasant. So I that’s why I picked today to do a list out of finding hope in crisis. All right, Grace. Grace Fox dot com. Always a pleasure to have you on the good news. Thank you so much, my friend. All right. We’ll talk to you again.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening to the good news with Angie Austin on AM 670 KLTT.
