Podcast – The Corrigan Encore

NO Time line

August 3, 2022 John Corrigan

Life is sort of like a game but it is a game without an end or a winner or loser. Life is an infinite game. It can be tempting to see someone who makes a living working at their passion and proclaim that they are a winner at life however we should avoid this temptation. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I host a weekly podcast (sort of I try to do 1 podcast a week but sometimes life gets in the way). Two weeks ago I interviewed Joshua Von War Bear. Josh is a creator of swords, leather work and armor. Josh has acted modeled and participated in many renaissance fairs and cos play events. I am envious of Josh he gets paid to play and make imagination a reality. Josh mentioned in our interview that he loves what he is doing but sometimes he thinks insurance would be nice. I to love what I am doing for a living however I am not making a living with my passion. I engage in my passion projects in my “free time” as do most of us. Because my passion projects are part of my free time and hobbies I can take as long as I want building creating and learning. Josh has deadlines and he cannot take as long as he wants with his passion if he does not sell he does not eat, it is a harsh equation for many working in their passions.

Last week I interviewed Sasha McBrayer. Sasha is passionate about art, graphic design, pop culture and writing. Currently Sasha works in an office and pursues her passions in her free time however some new developments may make it possible to pursue her passions full time (I do not want to give much away). As humans we love to play games and the games should have a beginning, an end, a winner and a loser but life is not that way. In life we only have one of those things and that is a beginning. Don’t put to much pressure on your self and life. You may not be where you want to be now but enjoy life wherever you are and what ever you are doing and know that tomorrow everything will change.

For some encourage remember that this list of authors did not publish their first works until well after age 40 one was 66 when their first book was published

1.Toni Morrison

Age: 40

2. Mark Twain

Age: 41

3. Marcel Proust

Age: 43

4. Henry Miller

Age: 44

5. J.R.R. Tolkien

Age: 45

6. Raymond Chandler

Age: 51

7. Richard Adams

Age: 52

8. Annie Proulx

Age: 57

9. Laura Ingalls Wilder

Age: 65

10. Frank McCourt

Age: 66

Be kind to yourself and never give up on your passions.

Change is ….

May 13, 2022 John Corrigan

The Corrigan Encore podcast is moving its day of the week to Friday. I know what you are thinking. What the heck is the Corrigan Encore podcast? Well, since you thought it and I can read thoughts allow me to answer. The Corrigan Encore Podcast is a podcast starring me and Benjamin Palladino. Each week Ben and I talk about a subject and interview someone who is intimately familiar with and doing something interesting in this subject. Prior to this week Ben and I have “dropped” each podcast on Wednesday now that is changing to Friday. I have a list of boring reasons why but I just wanted to let you know about the change.

Change can be scary, exciting, and fun all at the same time. In business there are resources and people that are dedicated to change, because change is a process and people need leadership through the change.

Because change is so overwhelming often change is framed in ones mind as a negative thing. Many Psychologists suggest that we engage in Cognitive Reframing when we encounter things like change.

Cognitive Reframing is a technique in which one shifts their mindset to consider the positive results of every situation. Its a 5 dollar word group for “always look on the bright side”, and maybe a little more.

Cognitive Reframing is not just overt optimism it is a technique that changes ones point of view and allows us to see all sides of a situation more clearly. I know that the change from Wednesday to Friday is most likely not causing you much stress, especially since you have no idea what the Corrigan Encore Podcast is to begin with however some change maybe causing you some stress and I urge you to try out the cognitive reframing techniques and perhaps you will alleviate stress, gain insight, and grow.

Are you talking to yourself

March 17, 2022 John Corrigan

We all do it, we have inner self talk. Self talk can be a positive thing and it can also be negative. It is important that we never allow self talk to become negative, the world is full of some pretty negative attitudes and people and we need to be able to find refugee in of all places our own minds. Most of us keep our self talk limited to an inner monologue however sometimes it can be helpful to engage in self talk out loud. Here is an interesting article outlining why out loud self talk is good. Basically talking out loud to oneself can help you move forward with your goals, and sharpen your focus.

I catch myself talking out loud and to myself, I also catch myself talking out loud to my dog too. Many computer programmers will talk to a rubber ducky when they are trying to work through some logic problems. Never let anyone talk you out of talking to yourself it is not strange.

On the subject of talking allow me to introduce my new pod cast.

No such thing (get interested)

January 7, 2022 John Corrigan

There is a podcast that I am a huge fan of, it is called People I mostly admire. On the podcast I think it is episode 4 the host Steven Levitt interviews Ken Jennings. Ken Jennings of course talks about his jeopardy success and also his love for trivia, games and learning. One thing that jumped out at me was when Ken Jennings said the the secret to learning and knowing so much was interest.

“Like the people you see on Jeopardy tonight don’t have photographic memories. That’s not a real thing. They’re just interested in like ten times the things you are. And so more facts stick.” — Ken Jennings

It is easy to say that people know more than me because of this photographic memory but see Ken was right. According to the Scientific American there is no evidence for a photographic memory. Sorry it is not that easy if you want to know and learn something you will need to find a way to do it, no shortcuts.

I was often asked in school what I was interested in. What do you want to major in? What will your focus be? Do you like science more than math or are you a fan of the arts? Problem for me was that I loved all of it. I love history, art, science, math, and social studies. Life was and still is for me very very interesting.

When I was young me and my sisters told my mom that we were bored and my mom told us that there was no such thing as being bored only boring people. Man I hated that. How dare she call me and my sisters bored. I hated that comment but, it made me really start to look around and find ways not to be bored and learn as much as I could about everything. As a kid I learned how and why microwaves worked, why bullets moved the way they did when fired, what makes a rocket move, what are different types of art and when they were popular. my grandmother would buy me encyclopedias (yes I am that old) and I would devour them. Here I could see pictures and words describing places I’ve never been before, science I’ve never heard of. It took me forever to understand what my mom meant when she told me and my sister that there was no such thing as being bored, then I saw this skit from Louis CK. I understand that the comedian was canceled and i in no way would support what he did to get canceled but this skit in his show really hits the nail on the head with regards to the impossibility of being bored.

The world and you yourself is truly endless and interesting. Instead of being bored be an explorer look inward outward and appreciate the vastness, beauty and ugly of everything.

peace

john3c

Known Unknown and Best Guesses

October 1, 2021October 1, 2021 John Corrigan

There is a podcast that I absolutely love. It is 99 percent invisible. When you get the chance you should definitely give the podcast a listen. Roman Mars is a great host and the staff has some amazing shows.

Me, my wife and kids love to visit museums… Ok ok me and my wife love to visit museums and of course my wife and I always read the plaque. The always read the plaque is a thing that Roman Mars encourages all his listeners to do. I have done this since I was a child. My wife and I have children from our first marriages we are a regular Brady Bunch one weekend we were at a revolutionary war fort and museum and my wife could tell that she was “loosing the crowd” so she had each child read a plaque out loud to the group around the fort on our ad hoc self lead group tour. It was moments like this that made me want to marry that woman (still shocked she said yes to this day).

Me, my wife and two step sons were at the Jacksonville Museum of Science and history and I was reading a plaque. In front of a skeleton, the skeleton was a skeleton of a whale. Honestly if I were to only see the skeleton of the whale I would have assumed that the whale was much smaller than it actually is. Whales are massive creatures and much of their mass is not in the skeletal structure.

The podcast 99 % invisible had a show that explained how the shape of dinosaurs has changed over the years. It was a great show and explained that with skeletons and fossils there is still some guesses that are made about the dinosaurs appearance and the guesses have changed or evolved with new evidence. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/welcome-to-jurassic-art/

When you get the chance check out the podcast show it is worth listening too. I mentioned the podcast to my wife at the museum and I again thought about assumptions, best guesses and life.

Everyday we make decisions, some ae big and others are small but we have to use the information we have to make the gest guess. We are not always going to have the best information possible and over time we will get more accurate information and when presented with this information their is absolutely nothing wrong with changing our decisions.

There are many people that have or are experiencing midlife career changes, and they can be scary and provide for a lot of anxiety however let me tell you that if you evaluated all the facts and made a change based on the facts than there is nothing wrong with that. As long as everything we do is done in a loving manner then you have not made the “wrong” decision.

What matters more than what we do is often how we do something. As a child I was often reminded of the words from 1 Corinthians 10:31 by my mother. “Johnny whatever you do you should do well for the glory of God”. I can still remember those words today and they help. I have done and still do work that seems menial, but I just recall my mothers words and that helps a lot.

So whatever choices you make today just remember that you can do it. Analyze evaluate and if needed correct course. In other words “Keep calm and make your best guesses”.

Tag: Podcast