Brian Regan Live

Posted on by metroupe

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I saw Brian Regan live in Visalia. It was a Christmas present to her with a little delay on it.  We have been fans of his comedy for many years.  It is common to hear his jokes quoted around the Troupe house.  You should definitely go see him if his tour comes near you.  Most of his older stuff is available on Youtube and Netflix. He is a clean comedian that is truly funny without being cliched, forced, or cheesy. My life is better off because of his humor 🙂

You can find tour info on his page here at Brianregan.com

His routine included an hour of completely new material. We saw Jim Gaffigan several years ago and he was good but much of his routine was recycled content. Still good, but nothing fresh on that occasion.  During the encore Regan did 20 minutes of older stuff by request. People in the crowd actually brought signs and held them up with their requests, like fans at a football game.  He did his bit on getting a hearing test at the end. It was fantastic.

Some thoughts:

  • The Fox theater in Visalia was great. Nice venue.  It felt intimate. Go early, there lots of restaurants and pubs within walking distance.  And also, there is a Hobby Lobby near by. The wife insisted we stop and browse.
  • His humor is contagious. At the end of 80 minutes I was still laughing with the little strength I had left.
  • His observations on people and politics are always genius and very quotable. He is great at the set-up and has wonderful comedic timing in his live show. Several times in the past on his recorded sessions he seemed rushed because of the TV time table. This was not a factor and made a difference.

Essentialism Chapter 8 Discussion Questions

Posted on by metroupe

Protect The Asset

Questions for Essentialism

Chapter 8

You can download a pdf of this here: Essentialism Questions Ch. 8

This is a list of discussion questions to help work through the content of the book “Essentialism” By Greg McKeown.

Major principles:

Protect the asset. You need to care for your mind and body through rest and sleep so that you can understand what is important and be effective over the long haul

Key examples/illustrations

  • Entrepreneur Geoff and burnout, panic attacks. Highly successful yet believing he had no limits.  His overwork required a 2 year sabbatical for healing.
  • The study quoted by Malcom Gladwell in his “10,000 hour rule” for excellence also requires adequate sleep.
  • Harvard Medicine Sleep School and the article “Sleep Deficit: The Performance Killer.” Sleep deprivation leads to impairment similar to a blood alcohol level of .1%.
  • Journal of nature study about puzzle solving abilities and the beneficial effects of sleep.
  • Google sleep pods.
  1. Getting enough rest may involve scaling back on work and other activities. Why is scaling back so hard for you?
  2. The belief that we can “do it all” can reveal a dangerous pride. We think the limits do not apply to us. Do you feel that needing rest is a sign of weakness?
  3. When so many others are burned out and exhausted, we may be reluctant to take time off because it will look like weakness or a lack of commitment. Are you afraid of looking uncommitted or weak?  Who are you worried about disappointing? Why?
  4. Without rest, we might be able to do some amazing things in the short run. But we may also have problems in the long run. Think of your important relationships and work. What would happen to those relationships and projects if you suffered a 2 year health crisis due to burnout?
  5. McKeown writes  (p.94) “By the time I was twenty-one I too thought of sleep as something to be avoided. To me, it was a necessary evil.”  Do you have a philosophy of sleep?
  6. How do you feel about sleeping in on a day off? Do you feel guilty? Do you struggle feeling like you have to justify this to yourself or others? Why?
  7. McKeown quotes Bill Clinton when he said that every major mistake he had made in his life happened as a result of sleep deprivation. Has anything like this (major or minor) happened in your life? Reflect on this.
  8. Why might sleep deprivation lead to poor decision making? What does this reveal about your mind and emotional needs for making decisions?
  9. What is the difference between operating at a high level of contribution and just being busy? How does sleep influence this?
  10. One reason that we struggle with getting sleep is the myth that if we sleep less we will accomplish more.  Why is this idea wrong headed? What is the truth that we need to shatter this lie?
  11. We readily reject the idea that people can perform well at work while drunk, yet we don’t think much about people that come to work sleep deprived.  Why is this inconsistent? What can we do about it?
  12. Pulling an “all-nighter” and working through exhaustion can give the appearance of productivity and commitment.  How is this different than real effectiveness in the long run?
  13. The author quotes the Journal of Nature Study on the improved puzzle-solving abilities of people with more sleep. This suggests something about how our brain works to solve problems.  Re-read pages 99-100 and put into your own words the benefits of sleep for solving difficult problems and creativity.
  14. Being sleep deprived affects our ability to distinguish between the vital few and the trivial many.  Apply this: What does it suggest about your sleep patterns? How can you use this to make better decisions?
  15. In the high success world some top leaders and creative people are talking more about the importance and value of sleep. Think of a person that you respect who is both highly productive person and also makes sleep a priority?  Read the WSJ article “Sleep Is the New Status Symbol For Successful Entrepreneurs” quoted in the book to delve deeper on this subject.

Relativism and the Double Standard

Posted on by metroupe

double standard

I had an epiphany yesterday. Almost every time someone announces that there are no rules, they are getting ready to tell the world how to behave. Usually they are about to tell me why it is WRONG for anyone to criticize them for their choices because of course the rules are relative.

If you pay close attention, the person who says that there are no rules (or morals) almost always means there are no rules for them.  It is the parlor trick played by tolerance magicians everywhere.  They don’t like the morality that says their behavior is wrong. But they do have a long list of things that others must not do. They don’t call them rules or morals. They usually get tagged as justice, decency, or love. But a rule by any other name is still a rule.

And every human society has rules for conduct. Call them mores, norms, or whatever. Human beings all have behavior codes and we enforce them in social ways. Making judgments about the behavior of other people is one of the things that we do constantly.  So, when a person insists it is wrong to ever make judgments about other people, they are making the broadest condemnation possible.

Ironically they are making a case that it is wrong to make moral judgments, while making moral judgments.

This brand of hypocrisy is endemic to western society: A generation of people telling others how to live while insisting it is immoral for others to tell them how to live.