Memories Are Better Than Stuff

Now, lets be honest. How many of us have bought something that we thought would make us happy only for it to sit in a closet collecting dust? I know ive been there, and ill bet youve been there, too. But you know what never collects dust? Memories today were diving into why the time you spend with the people you love. Is so much more valuable than anything money can buy. Whether it's a road trip or just a backyard barbecue. These moments, they last forever. And trust me, they're way more satisfying than any other thing. I'm Joe, and that guy over there planning his next vacation. He's Kurt. And we are dudes in progress. Hello, Kurt.

Hey, Joe. I missed you.

Yeah. What's going on, pal?

I'm not traveling the world. I've just been at home.

Well, I have been traveling the world. I'll tell you a little bit about it. Maybe later on. But just a short preview. I went from Cincinnati to Orlando to Manchester, England. To Budapest, Hungary. Back to Manchester, England to Germany. Back to Manchester, England to Orlando, Florida, to Cincinnati, Ohio in two weeks.

See, you were traveling the world.

It was all work related. I should have thrown in there. We took a train to London. My wife and I took a train to London. I had this business trip scheduled. And she decided to come over for a few days. She came over on a Thursday and left on a Monday. So she spent four days with me there in Europe. And we took a train from Chester, England. Manchester is the airport. Chester was the town I was staying in while I was in England. But I was also in Frankfurt and Nuremberg. And Budapest, Hungary, and couple other places. But we took a train from Chester up to London. And spent the day in London, interestingly. And my wife, interestingly enough, Kurt, my wife has a family cemetery on the north side of London.

Okay.

The Abney Trust park. Or Abney Park Trust or something like that. Yeah, that's her maiden name. Abney. A B N E Ydeene. We went up there, and it's a bit of in disarray, but still kind of an interesting little trip, for sure.

I've never been to Europe, except when I was conceived. Never saw it.

Well, it's a neat place. It is. Budapest is amazing. I spent an evening in Budapest, kind of walking the streets. And couple colleagues and I walk the streets in Budapest. And the Danube, I think. Am I seeing that? The Danube river is breathtaking. That whole area is just breathtaking.

It's one of those things I really want to do. I can't wait to hear more about it. Maybe Saturday. I've been missing you for Saturdays.

We'll certainly talk about it. Yeah, I've been. I've been out. I flew out. I flew out on a Saturday, so I missed our, our meeting. Then I was gone the next two Saturdays and I flew back on a Saturday. So, yeah, it's a. It's been whirlwind, that's for sure. But a good trip. Well worth it. Maybe we'll talk about. We will definitely talk about a little later in my win for the week. So a little. A little preview there. But today we are talking about a saying that is near and dear to my heart. It's a philosophy that's near and dear to my heart. Kurt, you've heard me say it many times, people who listen to simple Joe. I know I've not done that show in a while, but who listened to simple Joe? Heard it every single episode, every single day. Memories are better than stuff. And I can't tell you how true that is for me. And I think it's true for everybody. The research shows it. Mental health shows it. And when you talk to people on a deep level, that shows it as well. But let me ask you something, Kurt. Can you name something that you bought ten or more years ago that was $1,000 or less that was really important to you when you bought it?

You had to go, I can't remember too many things ten years ago. I'm gonna pick something. I was more reading this question ahead of time than listening to you a little bit here because I was having. Struggling, trying to figure an answer for this. But there was a. I like my music and electronics. I have gas gear acquisition syndrome. Right?

And as we're recording this, it's. This is not a good time for those of us who have gas gear acquisition syndrome, because the Amazon prime days.

Amazon Prime Days is going on. I'm thinking about this stereo unit, kind of compact that we. I think we bought one for one of our kids as a gift, and they were at BJ's. And I'm thinking, boy, I would really like to have that myself. And I think I asked my wife a million times, and it was on a pretty good price. It was on sale. That made it attractive, too. And I always like to have music. But the thing about that, you ask if it was important to me or where is it now? And what's it like thinking about it now? It's sitting on my kitchen. It's in the way, never is used. My wife won't let me bring it. She wouldn't let me take it upstairs where I could use it. And it's more of an eyesore than anything else right now. It's a big. It's big enough unit, takes some space. It. I would just rather get rid of it.

Well, you certainly did read ahead because that was what, that was what I was going to ask you is where is it now? And generally, how do you feel about it? It's. It's. You still have it. Interestingly enough, you know where it is. That's. That's really a step further than I thought it would be. And how do you feel about it now? It's in the way. Right. But at the time, it was. It was really important. You really wanted it. And you could imagine all the. How your life would be with it. And here it is ten years later, and it's just in the way. Right? It's just in the way.

Yeah. I probably have some gear like that I was thinking of little amplifier. I had a pair of speakers that went with it, and it's sitting in the closet over here because I've replaced with other gadgetry over the years. That's probably a syndrome you and I have. You find some electronic gadget that you're really excited about getting and then you find something that beats it. Maybe later or for whatever reason.

Right.

Or a little something wrong with it. Yeah. Speakers have always been my thing. That kind of. That's one of the things are headphones. I've got lots of headphones laying around, probably, that I could get rid of because I've always find it better. Amazon's a good reason for that too, with these sales.

A follow up question to that. Can you name maybe not one of your first family vacations, but maybe a family vacation from ten to 15 years ago.

Yeah. The first one that just pops right in my head is our 25th wedding anniversary trip where we. I think it was the first time we used our vacation points at Disney World for a two bedroom suite at what's called Bay Lake Tower, near the contemporary. Right near Magic Kingdom. That's where our home resort was. And that was really monumental. For our 25th wedding anniversary, we had all three kids, a couple of girlfriends, and a friend for each one of our kids. And it was just awesome to be there at Magic Kingdom in that beautiful accommodations on my DVC points, which I was really proud of. You talk about memories instead of stuff. I think that's a big reason why I made that investment for the vacation club, which is a timeshare, but it's a Disney timeshare. Yeah, that one is probably the most memorable or thing that pops right in my head right away from over ten years ago.

Could you even close your eyes and relive some of the experience of that vacation, how you felt, things you saw watching your kids?

Yeah, for sure. I think it's a. It's a little bit of a proud moment for me to be able to provide that for the family, too. And, in fact, my wife and I were still together for 25 years, like many haven't made. Horrible to say, but damn, it's the truth, though, isn't it?

Right.

Right. My kids are all good. They're healthy and doing well. Yeah. And again, a little bit of pride of being able to afford that package that we did and provide, really, for everybody. I think we bought all the tickets and everything.

So the reason I use a $1,000 is because with a $1,000, you can buy something that you think in the moment is pretty significant. Also with a $1,000, you could take a very modest, long weekend, a modest, long weekend with your family and make some amazing memories. You can spend the same amount of money for this thing that's sitting in your closet collecting dust that you've kind of forgotten about it, or spend that same money creating memories. Memories that you can think back just like you did with your. With your 25th anniversary vacation, and relive those moments and talk about those moments with your kids. Do you remember when we did this? Do you remember when we did that? Do you remember climbing up that mountain or swimming in that lake or riding that ride or chasing after that animal that went into the woods or swimming in the pool or whatever it is? We can create all these memories, and we can relive those moments. We do it all the time with our kids.

My son, my oldest son, I think he might just. I think he was still in college, or he had just gotten out. I think that was the same trip we were coming out of this attraction called one man's dream. It's kind of a little museum inside Halloween studios. It ends with a film. There's a lot of memorabilia from Walt Disney's life. And my son was going to an art college and ended up graduating with a degree in design. And I know my younger son was with us, too, just the three of us walking out of there. And my oldest sons turned to me and just said, that was really inspirational, the film that was there, but also the story of his life, especially because. And that made me feel good. When you bring. You pay for your child to go to an art college. There's a feeling of, is this the right move? But to hear him really appreciate that moment and to say it to me and the timing of it was something I always think back on that particular moment.

I think it's clear that when we take a step back and we think about how we spend our time and how we spend our money and how we spend our resources, we get caught up in stuff. So often I get caught up in stuff. I bought some things on Amazon today that I'm not sure I need it, but boy, there was such a good deal and I can had it. I had a vision in my head as how I was going to use it and so forth. And I won't go into those details here, but none of that, none of the stuff that I have matches the memories that I make with the people who love me and the people who I love. You know, there's this research by doctor Thomas Gilovich from Cornell University that shows that spending money on experiences creates long lasting happiness compared to material possessions. And that's the key, long lasting happiness. Because buying something in the moment can create a little bit of a dopamine hit, right? I it can make you feel good in the moment. You bought this thing and you have all these visions about how this thing will improve your life, make your life better. You're going to wear it or use it or experience it somehow, this thing, and suddenly after you buy it, it's just a thing. A few years later, it's just a thing collecting dust. There's a phrase for this that we have. It's called hedonic adaptation. It's what happens when we get used to things, basically, we quickly get used to the things that are around us and they no longer provide any joy or any kind of fulfillment. Because now it's just a thing that we're used to.

It makes me think of the annual vacation. We've talked about how important that is to us. We used to do early on with the kids, we did the beach vacation. I was thinking of a time when we really needed to replace our back deck, which was quite large, like 25 by 25. It was really starting to fall in. That was quite an expense. And it took away my yearly beach vacation. That was hard. And I don't think I've used that deck nearly as much as I really thought I would, too. It was. It was there before. I didn't want to not replace it. But boy, missing that beach vacation, that's where I think it adds up to, Joe, is those annual things that you do, those memories are just really fond of. I think my kids, we're talking about going back to Wildwood, New Jersey, next year, finally get the whole big family together that's been coming up. It's something we miss. And even though they're older now, they want to bring their own girlfriends, wives, kids, my grandson. So, yeah. And I think the home improvement things have taken a backseat to some of the vacations over the years. I don't regret it at all.

There's so many benefits to crafting your life, to focus on making memories, to focus on experiences, to focus on spending time with the people who love you and the people who you love, especially people around our age, Curt, in our, in our fifties, building strong emotional connections through shared experiences. For me, I can tell you, for me, it reduces my stress. I get a feeling of belonging with my family. It helps me build stronger social connections and combat isolation. I tell you what, isolation can be a problem for men in their, in their fifties and older because we start to kind of lose the connections of our youth. We have to consciously build those connections. And the only way that you don't, you don't build connections with other human beings by buying things. Right. Maybe a new set of golf clubs, but you still got to spend time playing golf with the people who care, you care about, right. So you got to build strong social connections. And there's so many mental health benefits to designing your life and building your life around making memories and experiences instead of just buying more stuff.

I'm reading a book right now by Susie Orman, and it's targeted to people over 50 thinking about retirement. But it's not just the financial part of it. There's some suggestions that are very much around the mental part of this, for sure. Like one particular suggestion, and maybe I'll review this book with you, try to pick out some of the nuggets out of it. Well, I was kind of surprised with her. I've seen some of her PBS shows, but I never really paid much attention to her, but found the book in the library. One thing she said, too, was think about downsizing your home and, and moving into a place where there are others your age for this exact reason. But there's two benefits to that downsizing, all that maintenance. You might have had a big home when you had it filled with kids, and you don't need all of that financially or mentally and downsizing. You know, there's a lot of emotion possibly behind living in that home. She really talks about considering moving away and then you know, maybe it's a place. And also think about who you're going to be socializing with and maybe some extra money. You're going to have to do experiences instead of taking care of that big home.

Yeah. I've always said I may die a pauper, but I'm going to die a pauper that's rich in memories and rich in experiences. That may very well happen. I don't know. But we did that. We downsized. We. Several years ago. Not several. A few years ago, we went from a four bedroom home that is not across town, but is in a different part of town to, I wouldn't call it a small, but a modest condo that we don't have to worry about taking care of the lawn. We don't have to worry about taking care of all those things that you have to worry about when you own a home. And there's certainly some things that we still have to take care of. We own this condo, so we have equity in it, which is important to me. But we did that intentionally so we could spend time and money and resources doing the things that we love to do with the people we love to do those things with. There's a book by Bronnie Wares. She wrote a book called the top five Regrets of the dying, and this is a really interesting book. And she found that one of the most common regrets people express at the end of their lives is I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends and spent more time with loved ones. Just let that soak in for a second. I mean, that's one of the top five regrets of the people on their deathbeds. They wish they would have stayed in touch with friends and spent more time with loved ones. Nothing about going into the office, nothing about making money for shareholders, nothing about promotions, nothing about buying a new car. None of that. Spending time with the people who love them and the people who they love, that's what they regret most. Not doing more of that.

That's a great, reflective thing. And this book obviously is perfect for pointing that out. She's probably talked to people. Yeah, she's a palliative care nurse, taking care of folks. You know, I experienced a little bit thinking about this when I was going to the nursing home, and week after week, you get that thought going through your, your mind, because it's not going to be that much longer before I'm going to be in this situation.

Yeah.

What is important, and I like this one, having friends and spending more time with them than your loved ones have.

You heard of Howard Schultz?

The name sounds familiar, but I'm probably getting confused with somebody else.

Well, Howard Schultz is the former CEO of Starbucks, and he's the guy that really transformed Starbucks into a global juggernaut of coffee. Right. But he learned some really valuable lessons along the way. His dad came from a poor working class background. He had a real drive to succeed, though. But the death of his father in 1988 forced George to. It forced him to reassess his priorities and reflect on his father's life and his own personal journey. And he realized that relationships and meaningful memories far outweighed material success. Now, I do want to say this. Somebody might say, and I might say that, hey, it's really easy, once somebody has made a billion dollars, to sit back and reflect on their life and how they wish they would have done things differently or made more memories. And I understand that. I also recognize that it's easier to do that when you have a billion dollars in the bank. Right, and you're not still trying to hustle for your. For your next meal or pay the. Pay the mortgage payment. But I do recognize that. But this experience of his father passing away and reflecting on his own journey, his own life's journey, really reshaped his whole leadership style. He started to champion employee well being, and he became an advocate for work life balance, which is, I know is really important to you, Kurt. And he. He completely changed the way he lived his life. As he watched his. As he watched his father die.

He.

Thought about missed opportunities, missed. Missed time with loved ones. He really started to focus from work to relationships. He introduced healthcare benefits for part time employees, prioritizing people's well being over profits. He realized that his most valuable memories came from time spent with family and friends, not corporate achievements. He really reflected on his life, and it changed the whole trajectory of his life going forward, and it changed the whole trajectory of Starbucks and Starbucks employees and the types of relationships that he has with Starbucks and his employees.

Yeah, I mean, I'm not that. I'm actually really proud of him. I guess being a billionaire or millionaire, whatever he was, you still have that drive. It's hard to stop that drive for success. You know, once you made $1 million, you want to make $2 million, I think I would say of most people. But it's attributed him to do this. It's a great story, Joe. And I think of Starbucks. I think people do like their coffee, but don't they like the experience just as much or more? That brand is, to me, all about going into the coffee shop and hanging out with people.

There is a very special brand with Starbucks, and there's an experience that people have latched onto with Starbucks. Maybe it's lifestyle, maybe it's status, because, really, coffee is coffee, and super sweet coffee is super sweet coffee. You know?

Yeah, it's a commodity. Anybody? Yeah, there's lots of coffee shops, but.

They'Ve certainly latched onto a mindset, a lifestyle, an identity with Starbucks. This is a really interesting story because it changed his whole. The whole trajectory of not only himself, but the organization that he led. Really, really interesting story. How do you do this, Kurt? How do you prioritize memories over stuff? How do you prioritize memories over buying more crap?

Yeah, I think we've talked about values a lot. I can think about when I was raising my kids when they were younger, it was so important for me to keep some kind of normalcy. And I always felt a little bit, in my line of work in technology, the way there was a lot of ups and downs during my career of basically people losing jobs. And I had this fear. My biggest fear was I'd have to leave the area because of the specialty skill that I had to go work somewhere else, where that was, where I could get a job. And that, boy, that was a value that was really strong with me all the time, spending time with family to be able to. Like you said, the work life balance was always strong, and that would be going to do kids activities after. After work. Like, there was nothing going to stop me from missing. I did a lot of coaching. I was very active in that line. Of all the school activities, I didn't miss anything. Luckily, I worked for some companies that were pretty good for that, but it would have been a game changer for me immediately. If I was in a situation where I couldn't do that, the promotion never would have been the thing I was going for.

I have some personal things that. That I do, just some little weird things. I always take calls for my kids. I always take calls for my kids. And I always take calls for my. My grandkids. I always take calls for my wife. It doesn't matter where I'm at, what I'm doing, what meeting I'm in, if my phone's with me. And there's some times that I forget my phone, but if my phone's with me, I don't have a setting that I can turn that off that I know of. In my phone, they have their. I have this list of favorites, and on that list are the people that can no matter what can. That phone will ring or buzz or whatever, no matter where I am. And I always take those calls. And I can tell sometimes it frustrates people. You know, we're in the middle of a meeting, and I'll step out of the meeting, I'll say, excuse me for just a second, but my kids are really good about it. They'll say, hey, are you busy? I said, I'm in a meeting right now. I'll call you back, dad, it's okay. But, you know, there have been times that it's been a serious situation. There's been times that I've left the meeting and said, hey, guys, I gotta go. We're gonna have to reschedule this because. And I'm not gonna go into detail on it, but somebody might say, well, that's kind of a trivial reason to leave a meeting. But I guarantee you, my daughter, she remembers that. My kids, they remember that I was there during that time. I always made it. Made it a point to go to every single event that my kids were involved in, even events that my wife takes part in. I always show up. That's kind of half the battle, isn't it? Just showing up?

Yeah.

Just being there. If I were to kind of put this into a process. I know this is weird to think about this as a process, but there are a few things that I do to make sure I focus on memories and relationships more than stuff. First thing I do is I do this every week. I set intentional time for dinners with family, weekend getaways, mornings with my wife, coffee with my wife, calls to my kids. I look and when's the last time I spoke with one of my kids and I make sure I call them. I set intentional time to do these things. I'm very intentional about it.

Yeah. As we know, it can get challenging when they're adults and they have lots of things going on. It's amazing. With my grandson being born, the priority to be up in Massachusetts, visiting with my son, seems like it's gone up quite high lately.

Heck yeah, man. Heck yeah.

You know. You know, my daughter and I always have shows that we're going together with, and we do holidays and lots of things I could do, but I could do more here that my kids are really good with me. They're. They're really good. You know, I thought of you, Joe. I did have a tough moment. And you don't know a lot of details about it, but you sensed it. But, you know, we've talked about, are you the type of person when you get that call at 03:00 a.m. and that would run. Drop everything to go help a friend or a family member. I found out I am that guy, so.

Oh, no doubt. Absolutely.

It wasn't easy either. I had to travel some distance, but I felt good about it. Wasn't sure I was that guy.

Yeah, we talked about, we talked about being friends and who we are. And are you the 03:00 a.m. friend, right.

Yeah. You were ringing in my ear. I remember us talking about that not that long ago.

I also try to create family traditions. The big one is the annual family vacation where we set aside intentional time to spend together. And that's quite an investment. People would be surprised to find out the monetary outlay for that family vacation. And what else could that money be used on? But we live a relatively modest life so we can spend money and time on things like a big family vacation where we all get together. Even if you do something like watch, you know, set a, set a time where you're watching the football game every Sunday or camping trip. Just create family traditions, phone calls every Thursdays or whatever it might be, just create these traditions. And it doesn't even have to be with family, but it can be with whoever you like, spending time with, whoever you want to create memories with. Make that investment financially, make that investment. Make that investment of time and energy to create. To create these traditions. But you know, one thing I've done a lot over the past few years when it comes to Christmas time and birthday time, does your, do your kids ask you, hey, dad, what do you want for Christmas? Hey, dad, what do you want for your birthday?

My daughter is asked me that this week. Yeah, matter of fact.

And it's common. It's a common thing. I've changed my whole attitude years and years and years ago about this. I would rather have presents instead of presents. You follow what I mean by that presence? P r e s e n t s?

Yes.

P r e s e n c e. I would rather have presents instead of presents. I would rather give gifts of time and memories and experiences and I would rather get gifts of time and memories of and experiences in time with the people who I love and the people who love me.

I knew that about you.

I don't, I don't need more crap in my life, right? I don't need more stuff. Anything that I really, really want, I'll probably buy myself, right? But, man, promise me a walk downtown with one of my kids on a Saturday afternoon or a scooter ride with my daughter, which we did. One of those electric scooters that you can put your credit card in and tool around downtime. My daughter and I did that.

That can be dangerous.

I would rather do that than have any. No.

Good.

No, that was fun. It was fun. I would rather do things like that than any kind of thing that anybody could buy me that's going to sit on a shelf or I. I may appreciate it, right? Yeah, I may appreciate it. I appreciate. What if I could say I like. There's a thing that I like. It's picture books. My oldest daughter, every year for Christmas, gets me. Gets me a picture book. That is all the things I did with my grandkids throughout the year, chronologically. And it's just cool to sit back and leaf through those things. It's just. That's pretty awesome. Now, that's something that. That's a. That's a thing that I love, and I am a collector of pictures. I do love pictures.

My daughter has a great. She does this a lot. She treats me to a lot of things, and a lot of them are experiences. The Broadway trips we're going to talk about in my win for the week, she took me out to a show again, and she's awesome with that. We're talking about, for the first time, my youngest son, his girlfriend's never been to Disney World, and we're talking about their Christmas gift being January, I think end of January, going to Disney World and bringing her for the first time. So this is a great idea.

That's awesome. Yeah, that's awesome.

Yeah. I love this idea.

So keep a mindset of memories are better than stuff I say that a lot of. Like I said, if you've listened to the Simple Joe podcast, you heard it every single day. Spend time with the people who love you and the people who you love, because memories are better than stuff. Because it really is. If we can live that mantra, if we can live that, live that way, I guarantee you we'll have a more fulfilling life, a more satisfying life, and will have more impact on the people that are most important to us than any kind of stuff that we can buy or get. Because memories are better than stuff. I truly believe that, Kurt.

I'm so glad you're back to remind me of these wonderful things, Joe. Although I got to tell you, my family bought me for Christmas tools that I desperately needed last year. I'm so excited to have all the tools I have now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Tools are cool.

They spoiled me. I got a nice, huge toolbox that I can move around and everything. I don't think there's a tool I need. So I'm. That was, that was good. But this year, yeah, I would really like to do that Disney trip for sure, with my kids.

Sounds like a blast. Sounds like a blast. We're going to wrap this up right there. Memories are better than stuff. Just remember that. Spend time with the people who love you and the people who you love. You got to be intentional about it, though, right? You got to create traditions, change your mindset from presence to presence, from getting stuff to experiencing life together. And remember even Charles, I mean, Howard, Charles, Howard Schultz's example, here's a billionaire CEO that completely changed his mindset after watching his father, watching his father die. And he had a really reflective moment. So again, memories are better than stuff. Right, brother?

You know, I was just listening. Yeah, absolutely. And I was listening to a NPR podcast. It's about money. You know that you like those NPR kind of shows.

Yeah, I don't, I'm not calling that.

One, but they were talking about a study at what, at what, at what level of income, does it not impact your happiness?

And there wasn't like $75,000 or something like that.

Yeah, that was a study done about ten years ago. And the NPR show was really interesting because this other researcher who really respected this person, who did the research for that 75,000 level, did another study and was starting to find different results in his data, but yet they got, he ended up, long story short, they end up getting together and start comparing all their research. And, yeah, there is a, there is a point because they were talking to some people who were doing really poorly and also had a lot of money. They had a lot more happiness when they had more money. But it's an interesting, it's an interesting listen to hear what the final analysis is there. I won't spoil it if you want to go listen to it.

Yeah, I'll definitely check it out. I'll definitely check it out. Do you ever win for the week?

Well, speaking of memories instead of stuff, we always have this on our win for the week. This week, my daughter and I went to see my favorite show, Broadway show. We've seen it in Broadway. We've seen it in Hartford, the traveling and now are one of our favorite places in Waterbury, Connecticut, the palace. They just, it's just a beautiful theater. Really impressed with this show. Hadestown, as my daughter would say, it was a non union tour. They are able to, when they go on these tours, I guess they're union actors out of New York, but once they're done with that, they can go out with the non union crew. But this boy, there was a woman there that had the lead. She was like her first show. She was incredible and all. Everybody was great. Really impressed with this show. We were in the third row, so my daughter always gives me great memories with shows. Did that on a Saturday afternoon. It was nice to just take the day off and go see a show with my daughter.

This is your second time seeing Hadestown, right?

My 6th time.

No kidding? Oh, my gosh.

Yes.

Wow. Wow.

There was a couple sitting next to us who had never seen it before. And I think, I mean, theater people know about the show, but if the. Funny thing about Waterbury, I don't think they, a lot of those people get a chance to go into the city. I have this feeling. I get this feeling from, it's a great place to see some of these traveling shows, and they had a great time. We were talking about it afterwards. Yeah, they really enjoyed it, too. But it's. It is my favorite. It's such a great show. I even got the mug. What's your win for the week?

Well, my win for the week is I complete it. As I alluded to in the beginning of the show, I complete it. A two week business trip to Europe. Part of this trip was to evaluate some of the personnel that I have in Europe and really take a look at the business, the opportunities that we have over there and build a strategy to pursue those opportunities. I lead up the global strategic sales for my company, for our division. This was definitely a business trip, and it was business minded. That was the primary focus. But, wow, was it interesting? Was it fun? Like I said, I went from Cincinnati to Orlando to Manchester, England, to Chester, England, to Budapest, Hungary, to back to Manchester. And then we took a train ride up to London and spent the day in London, and then went to Germany to visit customers, then back to Manchester, England. And the reason I'm calling it a win is because, number one, my wife was able to go when I knew I was going to go on this two week trip. We planned it for her to come for a few days, and that was awesome for her. That was her second time in Europe, but she flew by herself, so this would kind of be a win for her. She did it herself, and I'm very proud of her for navigating that process for the very first time by herself. But also, I was able to keep my energy up, keep my focus, keep moving during this whole trip, in fact, a couple of the younger guys commented, man, Joe, do you ever stop? Do you ever, do you ever just run out of energy? And I do, and I did. But certainly I was able to focus and to keep, keep moving our objective forward throughout the whole week, met with dozens of people and really put together a solid business plan to pursue, to pursue the opportunities that we have in Europe. So that was just a blast.

I understand how that can be exhausting. It's amazing traveling, but when you're the focus and you're on all the time, that's draining, too.

Yeah, you're right, you're right. And we had to be on all the time.

Yeah. Good for you.

Yeah, very productive trip.

And you got some fun out of it, too, I'm sure.

Had a blast. Yeah, Budapest is beautiful. Just, and it's an incredible city. And we drove through these small towns in Germany. And the neat thing about these small towns is they look exactly like you would expect a small town in Germany to look. The architecture, the old style of the buildings. And here's something interesting. Each and every one of these small town, small towns. The most prominent building is the church. You can see it from miles away. The big, tall church steeple. It's very cool. It's very cool. How about your resource for the week, Kurt?

This is something I've had my eye on for some time. Speaking of stuff, tools is one of my other thing, and I've been wanting one of these, but I wanted to get something on sale. I did get a couple of gift certificates at work for some success that I had. So that was nice. I got that on Monday, and I went right over to Home Depot, and they had a ryobi. Ryobi was something that you turned me on to remember years ago. We were talking about all my battery powered tools, the ryobi. So I had that 18 volts batteries already. I have two of them, and I was really thinking that's what I was going to get, but. So, yeah, I got an 18 volts. It's 100 cfm, cordless battery, variable speed jet fan, leaf blower.

Oh, leaf blower, awesome.

It came with another battery and charger, so now I've got multiple, and it worked pretty good. It's not the, you know, it's not really for doing huge amounts of leaves, but I really wanted just to blow off the deck and the driveway. That kind of thing was the main purpose, but it's got pretty good power. I was pretty impressed with it. I was able to blow a few leaves. I think I'll go out there every day and keep the leaves under control.

But just for the fun of it.

Right.

Because you got a new tool.

Well, the gas one, too. I have a Ryobi gas one, but it really needs a carburetor that's a little cleaner than it is right now. I'm gonna probably go on YouTube and try to figure that out, because I'll. That thing's like a jet engine when. When it's going.

Yeah. I'm a fan of Ryobi, and I know builders and professional people will rail against Ryobi, but I'm a fan. I'm a fan of their tools. I've got a set of Ryobi tools that I've had for 20 years, Kurt, and they work really well, and they get light usage. I mean, I'm not building houses every day, but I'm. I use each and every one of those tools a. Several times a year for one reason or another, and they've held up very well over 20 years or so. So I'm. I'm a fan of the brand.

Yeah. Christmas time. They have some great deals if you want to get the full pack, like I did with the drill and a couple other. You know, the saw and all kinds of things. So, yeah, it was like $200 for a nice, huge pack of all kinds of tools. But now I got the leaf blower.

Awesome.

What about you?

Mine. Mine is kind of a. I wouldn't call it a resource, but it's kind of a tip, a trick. I don't want even want to call it a hack, but it's. It's a way to really understand what your priorities are. And this is a tough one. It's tough, and it's sobering. Review your checkbook to check your priorities. And here's. Here's what I mean. Like I said, it's. It's simple, but not easy. And very sobering. It's a very sobering way to evaluate your priorities. Take a look at your checkbook or your bank statement and look at where your money's going. What are you spending money on? Are you spending your money on things that just take up space on stuff, or are you investing in experiences with people who you love and the people who love you? If it's more stuff than memories, maybe it's time to think about that. If you're spending your time on making memories and experiences with people, then I think you're heading in the right direction. Of course, you got to spend money on investments and make sure you're saving money and all that other stuff. But if you're spending all your money on just junk, it may be time to reevaluate it. And looking at your checkbook to check your priorities is the best way to do that. It's the absolute best way to do it. And I get it. Sometimes it's easier just to buy a new thing than it is to plan a weekend trip. But again, those weekend trips, they're what your, your family and the people who love you will really remember. So if you want to know where your priorities are, it's sobering. But take a look at your checkbook. Take a look at where you're spending your money, and it'll be glaringly obvious where your priorities lie through this exercise.

Good advice.

Let's wrap up with our quotes.

I know how much you like short ones, and I think you know this comedian. You can't have everything. Where would you put it?

Yes, I know who it is, but go ahead.

Steven Wright. He was like, is he still alive? I think. I think we.

I don't know, but he's hilarious, man. He's hilarious. That deadpan delivery.

As dry. As dry can be for comedy.

Crazy funny, though. Crazy funny.

Yeah. He can't, man. He, and he just rip them off one at a time so fast. I don't know how he even.

I wish I could think of a few of them right now, but they're great. I remember he said one that he came home to discover that somebody had broken into his house and replaced everything with an exact replica.

The one I remember. The one I remember really well is he lost his shoe. And so he called 911, or he called information. He said, hey, do you know where my shoe is? They said it's behind the couch.

That's funny. That's funny. Love Steven Wright. You've motivated me to go check out some Steven Wright videos. When we get on YouTube, those will be, yeah, hilarious, guy. You can't have everything. Where would you put it?

So true, though, right? That's the funny thing about comedians.

That's awesome.

They always had a little truth in their comedy.

Actually, mine comes from. I wouldn't call her a comedian, but she, she certainly is. Is a comedic, right? A comedic actress. She's been in lots of things. None of them, I don't think any of them were terribly serious. Maybe she's had some serious roles, but maybe, and maybe she has a stand up routine that I just don't know about. But I've always loved Lily Tomlin. I've always loved her stuff. Kind of an old school she had. I think of her skits and things like that. Just hilarious. I love her comedy. But listen to this quote from Lily Tomlin. The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.

I just snorted. Yeah, right. That's the truth.

Yeah, get out of the rat race, man. Stop being a rat. Get out of the rat race.

You're still a smelly rat. Yeah, I love that one. That's a great one.

Exactly.

Yeah, she was great. I remember her well.

Let's wrap it up right there, Kurt. Our website is dudesinprogress.com. dudesinprogress.com. And if you want to send us an email, we would love to hear from you. Dudesudesinprogress.com is our email address. Remember, when we're making memories, just make the memories. Make progress on your memories. You don't have to plan the perfect vacation. You don't have to plan the perfect event. You don't have to plan the perfect experience. In fact, it's better off that you don't just make progress when you're making memories. Just make progress. Move forward. Because progress is always better than perfection. Just keep moving forward.

Joe, I'm so glad you're back from that long trip. I miss you, and I needed this inspiration. I think of you all the time when these thoughts of making memories, memories.

Are better than stuff, brother. Talk to you soon.