Where Our Belief Systems Come From
Imperfect Mens Club
Mark introduces the episode about belief systems in the context of the fires in Southern California Remember…Jim is a California native still living in the Bay Area and Mark has lived in Florida since 1990 Two very different perspectives and responses to natural disasters! Jim says it’s personal because he has friends and family in the fire zone He brings in our tag line and framework. He says we’ll try and find some good in all of it. He cites our 5 areas with focus on worldview Jim share some of his preparation for the episode. He asks Mark to read the definition of “belief...
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The Post Election Paradigm Shift
Imperfect Mens Club
Mark introduces Episode 1 of Season 4 with the topic of a paradigm shift. A shift in the way the country is moving with the election of Donald Trump and the push back against “woke” Jim introduces the wheel and worldview as a likely connection to the topic. He believes the shift is well on it’s way and we can see and hear evidence of it as more people open up post election Jim has some examples and topics he wants to discuss The first one is COVID What did covid change - communication Second is BLM/DEI. Neither were sustainable Third is The 2024 election 4th is Artificial Intelligence...
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AI...What The Hell Do We Know?
Imperfect Mens Club
We recorded this Dec 23, 2024. We decided to sneak one in during Christmas week and when we connected for the pre game, neither of us had any ideas about what might make a good topic Then we shared a couple of real "what just happened" stories and AI was a common theme. So we decided to share our genius I didn't edit or listen to this episode for the first time in 3 years. I think it'll be good Learn how to make fun of yourself and recognize how little you know Mark & Jim
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Planning For What's Next - What Would Jim Rohn Do?
Imperfect Mens Club
Hey all. We began with a New Years, year-end, goal setting theme within the context of some JIm Rohn quotes What we ended up with is an in depth reflection on Jim Rohn's wisdom and how much of it might be very helpful as we plan for what's next ---------------- Mark leads with year-end, new year and goal setting as topics. The context is the wisdom of Jim Rohn. Our Jim loves Rohn and brought some quotes as foundations for our episode Jim says it’s the past, present and future approach He reflects on being in sales and the goal setting and metrics of sales Jim shares his opinion of Jim Rohn...
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Know Thyself - The Magic Of Self Awareness
Imperfect Mens Club
Mark introduces the topic of self awareness. He shares that their “pregame” discussion was very self reflective. He suggests that the time of year, as well as some other personal events from Jim’s life and Mark’s have the guys a bit mired in self reflection and self awareness Mark reads a couple of quotes Jim brought to the recording. One secular (Stoic) and one Biblical (Thomas) Jim shares some context for his quotes and shares his position on self awareness and what’s going on in his life Jim reflects on yesterday being the 5 year anniversary of his father’s death. He says to...
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The Holidays - More People More Problems
Imperfect Mens Club
Mark introduces the episode and frames it around the holidays, the challenges therein and the notion that “the more people the more problems” Jim says the topic is timely and he connects it to our flywheel of life…all starting with the self. He shares his opinion on the more people topic and heightened emotions Mark adds New Years and all the prep before the holidays. He cites the pressure the woman are under Jim laughs about being through 50 of these. He says it means more, the younger you are…we’ve seen this movie Mark talks about the evolution from childhood to present holiday...
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Life Is One Big 80/20 Rule
Imperfect Mens Club
Mark introduces the episode with some context about where today's topic came from Jim had a speech to give last week and on the drive he teed up our last episode about writng a letter to your 21 year old self In that episode we mentioned the 80/20 rule, aka, The Pareto Principle He talked about how he wove it into his speech and how it resonate with the audience Then the guys broke down the history of the rule and how universal it's application became over time Both guys gave examples of it in their lives with an emphasis on work/business/productivity Then Jim went over the multitude of other...
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A Letter To Your 21 Year Old Self
Imperfect Mens Club
Mark introduces the episode and reflects on the “pregame” discussion with Jim. Jim is giving a speech in a few days to a group or around 60 to 80 college students at San Jose State in the dept of Design and construction and he wants to give them career advice and life advice to help them with the transition from school to life Jim brings the wheel into play and shares some context for his upcoming talk. Who the audience is and the topics to be discussed Jim expands upon the idea of the letter he recommends students write or could write to be read later in life Jim starts to talk about the...
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The Election - What Happened And What Do We Do Now?
Imperfect Mens Club
Mark starts off introducing the topic which revolves around the presidential election of 2024. What do we do now? Jim and Mark are more interested in addresing what actually happened, why it may have happened and what we might expect to happen next What do we do now? We went back and forth about the blue team and red team. No judgement It's not what happens to you, it's how you respond... We talked about elitism and messaging. How the blue team continued the division and condescension We discussed how diverse the turnout was from the red team (ironically) We left on an optimistic note. The...
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How Simple Words Can Influence Effective Persuasion
Imperfect Mens Club
Mark introduces the topic of communication and within that general topic, the subtopic of persuasion. He then emphasizes the value of having a framework. He puts our framework in perspective Jim chimes in about the idea of having a framework and emphasizes the IMC framework Jim shares his 5 W’s framework and how helpful it has been for him in a variety of projects. How it adds perspective for both parties He shares the value of effective people being clear Jim asks Mark about his framework Mark shares his childhood influences around communication and then his framework What do you say? How...
info_outlineMark introduces the topic of communication and within that general topic, the subtopic of persuasion. He then emphasizes the value of having a framework. He puts our framework in perspective
Jim chimes in about the idea of having a framework and emphasizes the IMC framework
Jim shares his 5 W’s framework and how helpful it has been for him in a variety of projects. How it adds perspective for both parties
He shares the value of effective people being clear
Jim asks Mark about his framework
Mark shares his childhood influences around communication and then his framework
What do you say?
How do you say it?
To whom do you say it?
When do you say it?
Both guys agree they made their frameworks theirs…no matter where it came from
Mark brings up the image Jim shared and begins to share the examples of lazy responses versus helpful responses
The guys dig into examples of how powerful specific words are and how changing a word can change the tone of the whole conversation
Problem versus “opportunity” or “challenge”
All the specific examples from Jim’s image become the conversations
Each example uncovers how simple shifts, different words change the whole tone and emotion of the conversation
Both guys share their experience with each example and how they have both made the mistake of using the lazy language and relearned the helpful response
They both emphasize the importance of not apologizing. Never apologize unless you’ve done real wrong
Mark shares - don’t say, “to be honest with you”. “Frank” or Jim’s option “transparent”
They discuss transparency as a double edged sword
“I’m too busy” means I’m too busy for you
They both have a laugh about “too busy”
“That’s not my” job versus, “let me get you to the right person”
Mark shares his mentor’s story about personal accountability
“I’ll try” versus “I’ll take care of it”. Jim has a different angle on this one
Mark frames it as personal accountability. I won’t dismiss you, we’ll get it taken care of
Apologizing comes up again and both guys reiterate the problem with saying you’re sorry
Jim uses “I own that one”. “That one’s on me”. Take ownership
Mark - “sorry never works for me unless you really fucked something up”
Mark shares some media examples of how apologies become bigger problems
Jim says behaviors are more important than words - Mark agrees
The next example is disagreement - “You’re wrong” versus “I have a different perspective on this than you and I’d like to share it with you”
Jim cites people who actually enjoy conflict to garner attention
“This might sound stupid but…” versus “Let’s try this.” Naysayers are everywhere
Jim agrees as an inventor he always shares new ideas…the value of reframing ideas until consensus is established
Mark brings up Jordan Peterson talking about Elon Musk and comparison (Elon’s roommate story)
Jim - All comparison leads to misery
Jim shares “I have an hypothesis” versus a theory. An hypothesis is designed to be challenged…designed to be criticized
He shares the difference between an hypothesis and a theory
A theory has been proven. An hypothesis has not yet been proven
“No worries”… “I’m happy to help”
Both guys discuss the nuance of this one
Mark feels like “no worries” is kind of a throw away
They conclude that this whole exercise is an exercise in self awareness
The final example is recommending something to someone
‘I think maybe we should” versus “I recommend we do this…”
Jim says “I think” makes him feel like “Why should I listen to you”
Mark finishes with his 4 pronged framework
He confirms that listening and asking questions before speaking is almost always the best strategy
Jim finishes with the value of clarifying assumptions, discussing desired outcomes, “who, not how” and what are the necessary resources?
Mark shares his support of this as authentic…for both parties