Welcome to Transacting Value, where we talk about practical applications for personal values when dealing with each other and even within ourselves. Where we foster a podcast listening experience that lets you hear the power of a value system for managing burnout, establishing boundaries and finding belonging. My name is Josh Porthouse, I'm your host and we are your people. This is why values still hold value. This is Transacting Value. Alrighty folks, welcome back to Transacting Value. I'm Porter, I'm your host. It's been a wild year. I appreciate you guys staying with us throughout the whole year. I appreciate you guys listening into the show, supporting the show online on our profiles on Facebook, linkedin, our website, our blog. Traffic has grown. Our entire podcast following, for that matter, has grown 10 times over what it was 2021 to 2022. What does that mean? What does it look like? Well, first off, in thanking the listeners, I also have to thank my team. Wendy, bethany, adam have absolutely destroyed any sense of inefficiency I had before they joined. They've made everything about producing this podcast so much easier, so much smoother, so much better quality, and maintain the consistency in the process. Without them, I probably would have been overwhelmed by now and this podcast may not have continued, so I also have to thank them. Now, what else does growth mean? Contributors, we have guests come on the show and talk all about their perspectives, their character, their value systems and how to practically apply those things. They talk about what role? Honesty or what role integrity or humor, adventure, faith, hope, love, most notably this month here in December what those things have done for them and what role those values have played in their lives. Why, what does that even matter? It gives us something to bond over, not even just in our conversations and not even just for you as listeners. See, this is going to be our final episode for 2023, for Transacting Value Podcast. We're going to take a break through the holidays and we'll come back Monday, january 1st, to start season five. What that looks like is not just the conversations I'm able to have with contributors on the air. It's conversations I've had with my team, conversations I've had with myself, conversations I've had with family and friends, trying to get to know people as people, not people as roles. There's so many things happening right now in the world, let alone in the country, or our city's neighborhoods, homes that continually reflect our inconsistent enforcement of healthy boundaries Right. So what does that mean? Time spent at work, vice time spent with our families or people we care about. Maybe we are empty nesters, maybe we are college grads, high school grads, maybe we are midlife crises, divorces, fiancés, any other French sound sounding English words. But what that looks like is we may be unsure of who to talk to. Generally speaking, at least in my experience, deploying around the world, being in the Marine Corps now being in the reserves and trying to figure out who I am and what I bring to the table and who do I want to become, what identity, what role am I filling All of those things have moved me closer to a position where I've needed to better identify my own self worth, better identify my strengths, my own value proposition. I've been lucky enough over the last couple years two and some change now to turn those things, cultivate those things, into a branded media production company. Now our focus at SDYT Media is audio production All right, so radio advertising, podcast production. We've done some business consulting. I've been working on some books. Those are currently with editors, brand apparel deals. We've been working All sorts of media to better convey or more effectively, more routinely convey, the impact of values. But why Everything right now on the news, I would say the greater majority 80, 85% of news headlines focus on the economy, which is great. People need to survive. Not everybody cares about the economy. There is a difference. People care about how we transact goods and services. That's the economy. People care about that science because they need to survive. That doesn't mean they necessarily care about the math and the graphs. That doesn't mean they care necessarily about the concepts and supply and demand. We're notable economists. They care about the economy because they care about the livelihoods, because they care generally about their families or at minimum, their own well-being, and so, to that end, the economy is everywhere in the news, everywhere on TV, everywhere on radio, because it's popular, it's a hot topic, and if it weren't, it wouldn't be covered. Stations would lose ratings. So to a certain degree, we control what we hear. It's cyclical. Now, if we all wanted to hear good news, well and I don't mean better quality, I mean like positivity that's what would be there. Why has reality TV become so popular over the last 20 years? Now, there was a lady that came onto the show just in this past season. Her name was Danielle Lindemann and she talked all about the effects and impacts of reality TV and how it's become as popular as it has. You can go back and listen to our conversation, but one of the biggest points that she had brought up was that everything in reality TV is meant to exaggerate reality. It's meant to exaggerate emotional resonance. Why is that? Because each person fills a character role on the show. They fill some sort of exaggerated character profile that allows for one entertainment value but two an audience to watch the show and see a little bit of themselves in each person. But what are you seeing Genetically, physically, how you look? Maybe? Maybe it's skin color, maybe it's ethnicity, maybe it's attitude? Okay, but what are you actually resonating with with some of these people on reality TV, with some of these characters, their tendencies, their priorities, their quirks, their communication styles, their interpersonal relationship building skills, their character? See, we talked about this a lot over the last year where reputation becomes something that precedes you. Generally speaking, it's something that people attribute to you and your personality before you show up, right, there's a new guy coming into the workplace and everybody who's been there for a while says who's the new guy? What do you know about him? Especially in the military Happens all the time. Everybody gets a new platoon commander. Anybody know him, anybody know about him and you get all sorts of responses oh yeah, he's a good guy, good piece of gear, right? Well, you can get burnt out over that too, because what does it really tell you? What does it really do for you? How is it that you can meet somebody in any capacity and still feel like there's a difference, over the course of a few interactions with somebody, to really getting to know somebody that phrase in and of itself, really getting to know somebody. What does it mean? It means you better understand the character. The facade has dropped. There's maybe not as much pretense. I'm not saying you've got to be open and vulnerable about everything. Secrets are okay. Keep some things to yourself, keep some boundaries up. That's healthy too. It's a known, improving survival tactic in today's world and, as any animal does learn how to survive, that's fine. But you've got to be more authentic. You've got to be more willing to communicate on an interpersonal level, maybe even on a personal level, maybe even on a private level. You want to get to know somebody. You want to marry somebody. You want to marry somebody and you don't know who you're marrying. I know everything about them. Do you have you asked them to define what it feels like to be sad. Money's important, kids are important, school's important, families important. Traditions are important. But have you asked them what was their happiest memory? Why? Why was it with that person? What about that person in that memory Made it one of the happiest? What about the setting? What about the sounds? What about the smells? And then see how their face changes, and then look at their body language, and then look at the nonverbal cues as they explain to you those types of answers and you get a better sense of somebody Sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing the basic five. To some degree, an enhanced cognitive understanding of somebody and their character comes from identifying their values and it brings about an opportunity to identify yours and better know who you are as a person and what does that do for you. Helps maintain healthy boundaries, helps mitigate burnout because you understand more your value proposition. You understand more your why, and if Simon Sinek has taught anything repeatedly on Instagram Reels, it's know your why, or, at the very least, try to start with it. Political news Political news today makes everybody a bit more unsure of the facts. And sure it's divisive. That's all over the place Radical left, radical right. Well, if everybody's so radical, what's the new norm? If everybody's so divergent? What's the new baseline? And we're adults, folks. I'm a millennial. I'm in my mid-thirties. I don't know everything, but for certain I know at least three decades worth of things. Now recalling them is a different story, but hey, it's a little bit insane that it's difficult for adults to be sure of the facts in the same sense that we were sure of anything else over the last two hundred and fifty years here in the States. Who's right, who's wrong? Who knows? Who's telling facts, who's telling lies? Who knows? Are the Democrats evil and underhanded and liberals taking over the world, or at least the country? Is it really a witch hunt, or whatever Trump's calling it? Is it really problematic? Is it really an attack, or is it just his ego? I don't know. Depending on what you listen to and who you listen to, you're gonna get both sides. I have no idea what to believe when it comes to anything political. What I can say, though, is character matters Trump, for example. You can go into White House archives online and you can see what his administration did within four years and what policies they enacted, to what effect, to what impact, and you're going to be scrolling for a solid few seconds. He's not all show, he is a showman. The President is the face of our executive branch here in the United States. He is not the holder of purse strings, that's Congress. He is not the judge and jury. We have a judicial branch for that and due process. What are Democrats doing? They hold the House, they hold sway in DC. They are the majority stakeholder in California. So it's almost a perfect example, you might say, of where some of those policies go, because you can see what happens in California. They have the majority, with very minimal opposition, in my opinion, compared especially to a lot of other states. You look at Florida almost the opposite, maybe a little bit more purple, I think is appropriate, but sure, sure, let's say the majority of the Republican Party and how its policies are affecting Florida. You can see that on a national stage, right, wrong or indifferent, there are different schools of thought, and that's healthy for a society, that's healthy for any civilization. It breeds perspective If you're able to communicate effectively, it builds societies, it builds character. It gives us as people, as citizens, an ability to think critically and make more well-rounded decisions. What do we do about it? Well, on Transacting Value Podcast, we had exclusively 53 slots this year to showcase perspectives of influential people in their own spheres, impactful people in their own rights and accomplished people in their own careers 53 a year. And of these individuals, what we had, four came out on top. See, we talked about what happened to playtime with a lady named Risa Schwartzman. She's in Vancouver. She's the CEO of a family-owned toy company. We had a lady named Carla. She came on and she talked about why getting your sexy back is important. She's out of SoCal and she's in her 50s and she talked about that. It's more than just looks. Class is carriage, it's bearing its attitude, and I don't mean trashy attitude, I mean confidence and character, I mean it's in how you present yourself to the public and to yourself. There's a certain amount of cosmic energy, I think, in the universe that, ever since creation or the Big Bang or whatever your school of thought happens to be, is resonating within every atom. That is chaos. It's a natural state, and what that means, as it moves around your body, is that your body will respond to your thoughts. Objects in motion tend to stay in motion and, that being said, any thought that comes into your head is likely going to manifest in your body with enough time and so, like Carla said, getting your sexy backs is state of mind, it's not a state of body. We had a lady come on the show, cindy Dagnon, and she talked about faith, hope and how she put a little bit of herself into each one of the characters in her books Barefoot in December, for example, we talked in our conversation about how she wrote that book and what her value system did for her ability to create a depth of character for the female lead in her book. See, it's interesting how all of these things ultimately come back to human condition. We don't have to see eye on politics. In fact, I don't care, I really don't. I think when you talk about somebody's ability to write policy and debate policy, that's a competency concern. When you talk about somebody's ability to represent it publicly, that's a communication concern. But when you talk about somebody's ability to represent it as far as what other people say, this is sort of the third arm of any sort of rhetoric, if you've studied any of that, and it's how the audience perceives it, or how the audience responds to the messaging. Well, when it comes to politicians, when it comes to newscasters, when it comes to podcasters, anybody in broadcast media character goes a long way, because that is what is the underpinning of the entire message. You can hear somebody be persuasive, but what is it about them? Their message that appeals to other people, and then, ultimately, what does it signify, what does it represent, and why do those people respond the way that they do? People value security and safety for them and their families and their livelihoods. People require shelter and food. People require some degree of self-actualization, even people that are in survival mode and they're not quite thriving yet. Homeless people, depressed people, anxious people, teenagers Well, good luck. And so, as you go through life, you start understanding what those emotions mean, how to regulate them. You learn self-control, but even when you're in survival mode a sense of self-belonging, pride in yourself, pride in ownership, self-esteem all of those things translate directly into your self-worth, and if you're able to identify that early on, you're gonna be successful. You're gonna be confused sometimes, but you're gonna be okay and that's what matters. We had a guy come on the show this past season. Doug talked about entrepreneurship from farm to fortune, and he talked about now, as a director of entrepreneurship at the Joplin Chamber of Commerce in Missouri, how he's translated his values, like gratitude, into things that inspire business owners, entrepreneurs and business leaders to find their own success. You can't replicate that on paper. It's not a how-to guide, it's not a playbook. That's character. That's why it matters. Of all the contributors that have come on the show so far, I got to give a big shout out to them. They had our four most popular conversations out of all, 53 out of the entirety of 2023 season four Risa, carla, cindy and Doug. Congratulations, guys, thanks for bringing it home. And now here we are in the last couple minutes of this conversation. Folks, this holiday season, season five is coming. 2024, specifically January 1. Go spend time with your families. Go make new traditions, go celebrate old ones, go talk about some of these things. If you're looking for inspiration, you're looking for what to talk about. You're trying to figure out how to start a conversation. You're trying to figure out how not to be awkward, how not to get upset and not to get burnt out over dealing with family members in town. Listen to the show. We talked about all kinds of tips for you Tips for mitigating burnout, establishing boundaries, building a sense of belonging with your family of origin or your family of creation. Doesn't matter who you spend time with matters, who you surround yourself with and what that does for you. Consider being vulnerable, at least with yourself, which means be honest with yourself, which means do what you say you're gonna do. Stand by your word. That's the only thing we really have at the end of the day, and if you say you're gonna do something, you do it. Results may vary, but if that means you're gonna have family over for the holidays, than have family over for the holidays. See as you guys talk about Picotopic. They're the people that are still gonna be there for you. They're the people that are still gonna be there with you, no matter how stupid they think you are, no matter how much they disagree with your opinions, no matter how much they, whatever insult your pride at family dinner. So what, get over it. Nobody else can dictate how we interpret and react to what other people say and do about us. We can't control how they interpret what we say or do, but we certainly can control how we respond to them. And so if you wanna stand by what you stand for, that's why character matters, but you gotta understand what that is first. Conflict is natural, and that's okay. Don't be afraid to get into an argument. Just stand up for yourself. And if you're afraid of repercussions, you're afraid of popular opinion or you're concerned and you don't wanna be ostracized from your family, maybe you need to reevaluate who you qualify as family. Conversely, maybe you need to reevaluate how effectively your family communicates. See where that conversation goes. You'll start to get to know people real quick. You talk like that, but keep in mind, maybe that can be your new family tradition. Once a year, you guys sit around and just bear all with pants, be authentic, talk about some of these things and just be honest, just be willing to take ridicule and criticism and pride and be embarrassed and be uncomfortable and be anxious and everything else that comes with it. It's four days, it's a week, it's two weeks. So what? The amount of growth you can accomplish in two weeks compared to the last 30 years or however old you might happen to be, is exponential, and if you do that once a year, it compounds accordingly. Folks, this is an election year and in these last three minutes keep this in mind Policies are gonna change and whatever presidents come into office, whatever precedents they bring, most of those are still things that they've gotta deal with from the previous terms and, in some cases, subsequent terms back. That's how it goes. But of the short-term considerations, who you vote for is entirely your decision. But it's our American character that's at stake every election year, from the perception of people around the world, the perception of people in our neighborhoods, the perception of law and order. Call it where you want, qualify it how you want, but that's why character matters. There's always gonna be part popularity contest when it comes to campaigning. Either has to be, but it shouldn't be based on policy and rules. Make sure that what you're qualifying stands on character that you align with, that you agree with, because ultimately that's what you have to live with All right. Now again, if you're curious, if you wanna hear more WhiteHousegov, go to the archives. Check out Biden's term, check out Trump's term and see what they both did, see what they've accomplished, and then evaluate them on their character, their competency, their credibility. Who do you wanna be represented by? When somebody sees that person as the face of America? Who do you wanna be associated with? And why Then make a decision Next season? We've got real people, real perspectives, practical applications and personal values. We're talking about suicide awareness, veteran support. We're talking about nursing and the medical field. We're talking about philosophy, coaching, confidence, happiness. Folks, my team has been scrambling and working hard over the last three months. Now We've already basically got the first quarter of season five complete. I think you're gonna love it. I'm excited for it. I'm super proud of what we've been able to accomplish so far and I can't wait to see what season five brings. I hope you guys are excited as I am. Leave me comments, send direct messages on Facebook. Search Transacting Value, search SDYT media. Track us down. Transacting Value Radio. Check out any of our brand apparel deals. Check out these books when they come out. But until next time, guys, I appreciate you helping us develop our character. Stand in with us, listen into the shows. I hope you have an awesome holidays and a happy new year, merry Christmas, and we'll meet you next time in season five. So until then, that was Transacting Value. I'll see you, guys, next time.