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In this episode, Steve, Jason and the Guests discuss:

  • Reflecting on your own gratitude
  • The two most common reasons for gratitude
  • The effect of communities in the workplace 
  • Finding simple reasons to be grateful

Key Takeaways:

  • Listen with deep empathy for what people are grateful for and let that wash over you. Think about your own life and think about your own relationships. 
  • Community and family are two big things that have the potential to sustain people’s gratitude.
  • Even in business, a sense of community and friendship makes a big difference - it’s one of the reasons why someone wouldn’t have to dread going to work each day. 
  • We all have the ability to choose to be grateful. Simple things like beautiful scenery or maybe just the fact that we woke up today are good reasons to be grateful.

 

Connect with Steve and Jason:

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Listen to the podcast here:

 

Steve and Jason- Thanksgiving Episode

Hello, and welcome, everybody to this episode of The Insight interviews. This is a special Thanksgiving episode, Steve. Co-host Steve, co-host Jason here with you. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

Happy, happy Thanksgiving. That's awesome. It's so weird to hear you say that because I'm usually the here going, hey, it's your host, Steve Scanlon over here at the Insight Interviews, and listening to you do that is kind of funny.

I know. The joys and tribulations of co-hosting a podcast, right? Especially when you're across the country from one another.

I like yours more than mine, anyway, you do a better job.

Oh, I do?

Yeah.

Hey, Steve, let me just start off this Thanksgiving saying I'm grateful for you and I think you do it better. How about that?

Oh, yeah? Well, I'll see your gratitude and up you. I'm grateful and thankful. Ooh, Boom, baby. For you, and our partnership. I really am. It continues to be great, and to think we got a long way to go.

Well, do you realize that this is the third Thanksgiving episode that we've done? We actually got a little traction underneath of us with this whole podcasting thing we're doing here.

Again, just even hearing that causes some level of gratitude to wash over me. So, thank you, yeah, grateful that we're able to do this.

Well, here's what the heck we're doing today. If you've been listening to our podcast for over a year, you know that each Thanksgiving we come together, and because our opening question has something to do with gratitude for each and every podcast guest that we have, some of those answers are, they're all incredible. Every time I am hosting, and I ask a guest that question, I listen to their answer, and often, I'm just blown away, or it gives me pause, or it makes me think. I often after I record a session, I go back and re listen to what they're grateful for because it just makes me quite frankly, it makes me think about my own life. So, what we've done during this Thanksgiving episode, the last two years and it won't be any different this year, is we take some of those guests answers to that question and we do a compilation. That is our Thanksgiving episode. So, what you're about to hear is different guests throughout the year, what or who they were grateful for. And I guess the reason that we do that is, you know, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, in this time a year and just as we start to reflect on what the year 2022 was, just hearing what other people are grateful for, or who in their lives are important to them, to the degree that it can wash over you, listener, and make you think about your own life and your own relationships as you enter into the season. Boy, that would be great for us, we get excited just even talking about that, and thinking that that might be happening to you, as the listener. So Steve, that's why we're doing this episode.

Yeah, I suppose the only thing I would add, Jason is like you I go back and listen to those, and I just want to invite you as a listener, if you're hearing this, I guess there's you know, you're free to do whatever you want. That's the cool thing about our world and our country and our podcast is you're free to do whatever you want, but if I were going to offer any thoughts about how maybe to listen to this, listen with deep empathy, not just like, oh, that individuals grateful for this or their children or their family, but rather really listen in a way where you can feel their gratitude. Because as you mentioned, Jason, we asked that question, we have a handful of people, obviously, who are listeners to our podcast as well that we interview for the most part, though, they haven't heard it, and when we ask that question about gratitude, it's really organic.

Yeah, in a good way.

Yeah, but people kind of like whoa, wait a minute. And so, one of the things I appreciate about that question is if they haven't been prepped for it is you just usually get a fairly raw thing because we've given them no time to think about that.

So, those are the best answers, right? The rawness.

I again, I listen to your interviews and they're great. We do that, the whole interview is like that. I tell people have asked me hey, can I get some questions ahead of time? And the answer's no, you can't. I wouldn't want you to prepare for any of that. I mean, most of the time, we're asking people about their lives and what they're grateful for and that's not usually something, the more we prep for that stuff, I don't know, the more we try to make it polished, and maybe the less organic it all sounds. So anyway, I would just invite you to sit back, listen to some of these and just really hear the hearts of fellow human beings and what they're grateful for. And like Jason said, I love that let it wash over you. That's it.

Yeah, well done. Well, Steve, good to connect with you, dude. Let's get on to year four. Next year, we'll come together, and we'll introduce the fourth annual Thanksgiving episode. But for now, guests just listen to what our fellow guests have had to say about gratefulness and Thanksgiving. Think about your own life if that's something that helps you and yeah, happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Yeah. Hope y'all have a great holiday season.

When you think of the word grateful, who comes to mind that you're particularly grateful for today?

You know, it's my mother. And it's, you know, I didn't hesitate, because she's the reason I named Cash. So, you know, my family, everybody thinks they have humble backgrounds, but my family, when they moved from Florida to Philadelphia, where I was born, they were able to fit everything they owned in the trunk of a car. And, you know, my father was taking a job with Philco in Philadelphia, but he was a computer guy before there were computer guys. And like my mother, you know, to support the family, sold vacuums to JC Penney, and she was pregnant with me and demonstrated a vacuum cleaner. Back then, it wasn't one of these cute little plastic things that weighed two ounces, it was those heavy things that rolled on the floor or whatever. There she is pregnant, demonstrating, which must have been great for sales, right?

Yeah.

And she found out that JC Penney's middle name was Cash. And that's, I'm not named after him, because I didn’t get any money from James Cash Penney, but the Cash came from her thinking someday, you know, my son will be successful. And you know, nobody seems to know that JC Penney was James Cash Penney.

I am grateful, grateful for the busyness, I think of fellowship to be back in my home and in our business. I'm seeing people and getting to spend this special time of year together; I am just excited to have people around and to be in fellowship with everyone.

I'm grateful for a lot of things. You know, my kids, my family, my girlfriend, professionally, though, I say this all the time to our team, I'm grateful to have a job where I love what I do. We all love what we do, what we do is very impactful. It's very rewarding. Our members value our organization, which is a great feeling, you know.

                                                                                                   
"I talked in the past about like having jobs where I worked for a bank or a mortgage lender, and that Sunday night anxiety, I gotta go to work in the morning. Like none of that, like legit, I love what I do. And not a ton of people that can say that. So that I don't take for granted. And I'm very grateful for that."

Oh, so many things. I am grateful for the agents in my business, I'm grateful that I have a business, I have amazing friends and support system, my family. And every day, I actually show gratitude for the things that I have, so, I actually just have a very great life, and I’m grateful for that.

Phenomenal question. I don't want to be too superficial and, you know, give the normal cliché answers, but I'm grateful that I've been allowed to impact a ton of people. I'm going to start there. And what I mean by that is, you know, my family growing up, I grew up with parents that split up when I was about a year old, and they both got remarried. I ended up being the oldest of 10 eventual kids. So just being the oldest to be able to influence my younger siblings who are all half brothers and sisters. So that was huge. I ended up joining the military, as we've chatted about before, Steve, but for everybody listening was in the military, the US Navy for about 15 years. So, it was super grateful for my opportunity to serve this country and impact as many folks as I was able to impact ideally in a positive manner, but that was huge for me. So, that's what I would say is that's what I am truly grateful for, is the ability to impact folks and I want to continue to do that, and I want to impact many, many more.

Oh, wow. So, you know, so many things and it's such a crazy time out there in so many different ways, but, you know, I'm grateful for most importantly, my family. I think I have an amazing family, my wife, Megan, you know, my two kids, Easton and Hudson, they're nine and 12. And, you know, I love being home with them, I think more than anything. That's what drives me at work, you know, so it helps me get up in the morning. It's my big why, you know, I guess you could say, but, you know, providing for them, getting the time we want, whether it's on the ice hockey rink, with my oldest one, or on the baseball field with the boys or just hanging out on the couch watching sports or Netflix or whatever with the family and the wife, but just grateful for all the time that this industry and the hard work and my team, that allows me to spend with them. So, I think, you know, first and foremost, I'm definitely grateful for my family every day.

Great question, always a great question, because I spend a bit of my every day contemplating what I'm grateful for. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be sitting here at my kitchen table, looking out at the mountains, across the city of Boise, Idaho, where I just finished a mountain bike ride right before I jumped on this with you. Grateful for all the opportunities that this really interesting time in our business in our economy is going to present to us and I'm grateful that I had the experience and the wisdom to know that this cycle is just one of many that I've been through over the many years in the business, and that this too will pass, and there'll be great opportunities on the other side. That's been on my mind a lot lately, and especially today.

So, I think it's really important and it's in the same vein, learn something new every day, and that's probably more than it seems on its face value. What I mean by that is, you know, learn something new about people or a person every day. It could be your number one referral source, it could be a referral source you want to have, it could be a coworker, it could be anybody, it could be a family member, but learn something new about them every single day. Learn something new about things in general, whether you do that through listening to podcast, or reading or talking with people. I think you have to just ask a ton of questions, and be willing to learn. It could be scary what you learn. In fact, gosh, there's a lot of times that it is very scary what you learn, but be willing to learn because it's, again, this is a lot of the stuff that you've taught me. It's only through pushing yourself and change that we can really grow. You know, and if we're not growing, we're dying, and who wants to do that?

I'm grateful for this life I've created. For my family, for the balance I've been able to find with career, life and taking care of myself. I mean, the list can go on and on. I have a heart full of gratitude. Grateful to be here today with you and to meet you.

I'm grateful that I slept almost eight hours last night, which is a rarity in my world. I'm grateful for the one morning a week I can get up and go ride a horse.

Ah, I'm grateful for the opportunity. So, for me, you know, I try to look at things in sort of a holistic way. And, you know, I'm grateful for the opportunity to, you know, live my life, to serve my family, to serve our clients and customers and, just show up every day and do the best that I can. I think that that alone is something that you know, not everyone has, and it's important to remember that.

Oh my gosh, the list is long. It is really long. And I'm going to say something that's probably going to be very provocative, and people will actually think oh my gosh, we need to have our head checked. But I am very grateful for the pandemic because it changed my life, and it changed my life for the better. And that is what I'm grateful for. That is why I'm here.

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Interesting. Not knowing that you're going to ask that, Steve, I took a little different turn this morning. Normally I think in coaching and mentoring, we go for the grateful things, you know, the blessings, and I am. I mean, thank you for my wife and my children for the mountains and the sunrise this morning, it's an opportunity to spend a little time with my brother, Steve. But this morning, I actually had a little move in my spirit of looking for a challenge or an obstacle that I've faced, and that I overcame, and was grateful for what I'd learned and having to go through that difficult time. So, I don't know if you've ever done that before, but it was an interesting little pivot. Grateful, yes, but it was for a challenge that I had come out of, and I had some few struggles at work lately, but I was grateful. I'm learning so much out of that, Steve. And so, it was a little different pivot for me this morning.

I am super grateful to be breathing. So that that's important. It allows me to enjoy the rest of my day. I am immensely grateful for my family, my incredible wife, and I'm grateful for my faith in the Lord.

Hmm. Those are great, great gratitude’s. Awesome. I'm just kind of curious, how do you practice? How often do you remind yourself of your own gratitude’s?

Regularly. On a daily basis, and I pray every day and part of that is I offer gratefulness to start out, you know? Recognizing that even when things have been pretty bad in my life, at times, there was always things to be grateful for. I think that'll weave into the theme of other things I look at. That's the humbleness, right? Being grateful is an attribute of humbleness.

Oh, that is a good one. I am a very simple person, Jason. And I'm a Christian, so, I am grateful for my entire family waking up this morning, and for our health. I have gotten several text messages from friends of mine in the past week and a half, they've been diagnosed with cancer. It's just something that we really take for granted. Our health.

Well, that's kind of a two-pronged question. Obviously, my family is first and foremost that I'm grateful for. I mean, without their support, day in and day out, and us supporting each other, we can get through a lot that we've been through in the last two years, not only business but personal. And on the business side, I am absolutely grateful for the owners of Republic state mortgage, Robert and Paulina, who have just been the best human leaders that I've had in my entire career. And I have unfortunately been doing this for over 35 years, and started when I was eight years old. So, there's just a lot to be grateful for 35 years. So yeah.

Oh, that is a good opening question. Well, family first, no question, not to be confused with the religious sector in Colorado, family first. But on top of that list, my wife, Liz. We were just talking yesterday about how we've lived together for 20 years. In our first home together, we watched the Olympic torch enroute to Salt Lake City go by our house, as I'm seeing the ads for the Beijing Winter Games, it made me realize that it has been a 20-year span here next month, which I thought was really cool. Second, I would have to say my team. And there is some crossover, I have people working with me that work for both of my companies, even three of them, and certainly at my mortgage company and in our coaching company, and I have a real estate holdings company as well, and they all kind of intertwine when it comes to my team, but it is a group of amazing people that get me, that get each other, that know that we've got a much bigger goal in mind. We want to help as many people as we can and that if we do that, the rest is details. It's a very Zig Ziglar kind of mentality going on in my office, that we help as many people get what they want, we're all gonna get what we want. So yeah, I would say my wife and kids and my team are that's a robust list, but it is an incredible group of people.

Man, I love that frame of mind at the end of this discussion. You know, I think I think in terms of threes, that's just how my mind works. And I think primarily, I'm grateful that I have the ability every single day to run or ride a bike, or to use my body in the way that God intended. And I still have that those faculties and that to me, that's a precious precious thing. I actually broke my femur, and I won't go into detail, but I broke my femur on a trail run a year ago, so I know what it means to be incapacitated. Secondly, it's to be doing something. And I say, Jason, when I left Fannie, and I got a call from a recruiter, I said, look, I don't want to work with assholes, I don't wanna do something I've done before, and I don't want to move. And it gives me the opportunity, and it’s a sort of tongue in cheek when I say that, right? But I have the best opportunity to do what I want to do with people that I love. And to me, that's so fulfilling. And then the third, I'm grateful to you and to Steve, for believing that, you know, my story is a story that might resonate with your listeners. And so, thank you for giving me that opportunity.

                                                                                                       
"You know, very grateful for, you know, pretty much my whole life. I mean, I've had a really good, good life. I was the first kid in my family, and the only kid in my family got to college and opportunities open for me. And I've always been able to do work I really care about and committed to and passionate about. I don't mind a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get it done, because it's rewarding. So having a purpose in life, and something you care about that you work on all the time, I think is a real gift. So, I feel very lucky to have that gift."

You know, living it up here in the Pacific Northwest, I'm grateful for the ability to look out my window today. As we talked earlier, and see a little bit of blue sky, I say that tongue in cheek, but I also say that in reality, but I think the things that I wake up in the morning, and today being one of those that I'm the most grateful for is my family. I have an awesome family, I have a wonderful and very, very supportive wife who as we're 28 years into this and we've been through a lot of good things. And I don't say that we've been through a lot of life, but we've been through a lot of really wonderful things, we have three absolutely incredible children, that if I can brag for a moment, I'll say you know what, I've got a doctor, a nurse and junior officer, the United States Navy, so very, very proud of my children. And I think what I'm equally as proud, not only what they're doing or where they're at in life, is that they have kind of all carried on where my heart goes every single day, and that's just giving back. They're all in fields where their sole purpose or primary purpose is giving back by what they do in their occupation. So, that's probably at the top of my list every single day of what I'm most grateful for.

You know, it's interesting, we just had this conversation before we jumped on together. And resilience is just something that, you know, as an immigrant from Poland, at the age of 14, not speaking a word of English and coming to the US, it's kind of been with me since I was a kid growing up in, you know, the communist era Poland and post communism, etc. But it's kind of, you know, trailed me across the globe as I came to New York as a kid and then went to Japan at the age of 18, learning Japanese and then open went to investment banking and, and then into entrepreneurship, etc. And the second piece is something that underpins all of that, which is mindset, mindset, mindset. It's this idea that the weather outside doesn't matter, it's what your weather inside you is, and how you look at every single thing. Because every single thing can be thought of in a positive and a negative way, and whether you choose the former versus the latter literally determines the trajectory of your life.

I am grateful for the opportunities I've had to make decisions and the courage that I've found to make them.

That person right there. My wife and my business partner, Cynthia.

That is great. Great. Okay. Give us a line or two about Cynthia.

Oh, man, I'm gonna try and do this without crying but she's wonderful. She's, she's wonderful. Yeah, we started this because we wanted to work together. That was one of the things that was working for a big fortune 100 Bank, great job, great benefits, you know, all of it, but was I was just gone, you know, seven 8-10 hours a day sometimes. This is pre COVID So there's no remote working, you know, you had to travel 30-45 minutes to go to an office, you know. It was just that a startup was really best for our marriage DNA. And honestly, I'm a born entrepreneur. When I was working for the bank, it was a high rise building and you know, you're stuck in a cubicle, and I wanted to jump out the window. So, half of me is a mortgage guy. I love mortgages, especially a first-time buyer. I mean, it's an emotional, it's an exciting experience, but mortgages are very repetitious, and you know, they're kind of stuck in an old way of thinking. So, the other half of me is just a bone entrepreneur, you know? I need to be going 90 miles an hour, my hair on fire, and when you're running a startup, pretty much any business, it doesn't have to be FinTech or mortgages, but you know, you're just constantly running and you know, just trying to start it up, you know? Gotta be sure to keep your head above water.

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Thank you for that. I don't mean to make our guests feel like they want to cry right from the get-go., but I appreciate your authenticity and willingness to go there right from the get, especially because you didn't know that was coming. So, thank you for that.

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