Stuff I Learned Yesterday

Last Wednesday was a stressful day. I got a late start to my day, which was totally my fault. I knew that my morning was going to be very unproductive and I needed to get a jump on it. But that didn’t happen. Some friends of ours are currently buying a house, and we agreed to watch their kids for a few hours. I knew that while the kids were here, I’d very likely not be able to work very much. I re...

Today’s episode is going to take a similar direction as episode 26. In that episode I spoke about the importance of being surrounded by strong peers. I want to talk about this topic again today because it’s that important. It’s important in every single aspect of our lives. I want tell you about some things that have happened over the last two weeks that have made me realize just how important thi...

Today is the Friday Forum!! In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share stories submitted about dads. Friday Forum is your opportunity to Share what YOU’VE learned, so that other listeners and I can learn from YOU. It can be a message as short as 30 seconds or several minutes long. It really doesn’t matter just as long as it’s something that will benefit others. You can participate in...

Remember way back in episode 3 when I told you about my proudest moment? That was the episode where I lost all of my friends because of my arrogance. That was a really hard but very important lesson for me to learn. I’m sorry that I had to learn it the hard way, but I’m glad I learned it at such a young age. Today I want to tell you another story about that time of my life. In fact, today’s story...

A while back I went to an event at my church. There were several people there that I was excited to see because I don’t get to see them very much. You know how you have those people in your life that you don’t see very often but you still think of them as good friends. I love having those people in my life. Well anyway, the night moved forward and a few of those people said hi to me and I was glad...

8th grade. Isn’t that one life’s greatest times? Here’s what I remember about 8th grade. Tommy Connor and Jamie Freeman got into a fist fight in the middle of class and I had a front row seat. Russell Menefee was the star running back of the 8th grade football team. In fact, that fight took place in Mrs. Iscimenler’s class. Russell had accepted the challenge to score a touchdown for every letter i...

I don’t know how long my vision has been bad. I’m sure it’s been bad pretty much all of my life, but I was in the 6th grade when my teacher contacted my parents to tell them that I should have my eyes tested. I’ll never forget my first eye exam. My dad took me to an eye doctor in the city. We went back to the office area and they blew air into my eyes. I had no idea at the time what glaucoma was o...

Today is the Friday Forum!! In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a Forum contribution from Mark in Canada. Mark shares a story about tipping your waitress and a recent trip to Boston Pizza. You can participate in a future Friday Forum episode by calling and leaving a message at 304-837-2278, emailing an audio file to feedback@goldenspiralmedia.com, or clicking on the Send Voicem...

Today’s episode is another one of those episodes that has taken me a few days to put together. I wasn’t sure how to word everything and I wanted to be really careful with the words that I chose so that I didn’t come across as being arrogant. What I want to share today are stories about some encouraging things that have happened to me in the last two weeks. And then I want to end the episode by tal...

In this episode Derek Olsen share a communication lesson he learned when a prom invitation was misunderstood. Check out Derek and Carrie's budget resources, blog, and podcast at www.derekandcarrie.com . Read More... The post 63- The Prom Invitation Mystery appeared first on Golden Spiral Media- Entertainment Podcasts, Technology Podcasts & More .

Remember episode 23? That’s the episode where I snuck home after school to get some Halloween candy and ended up playing around with a lighter and toilet paper while I was there. In that episode I mentioned that there was a story about a lamp that I would tell you one day. Today is that day. Now before I get into the story of the lamp, let me preface this story by telling you that my version of th...

Do you recognize the name Roger Bannister? Roger is a famous track athlete. He was born March 23, 1929 in Harrow, England. His first love was science, specifically, medicine. More specifically, neurology. His family was poor and could not afford to send him to Oxford, so he earned his way to Oxford the best way he knew how. He earned a track scholarship. He started running for Oxford in 1946 and h...

Today is the Friday Forum!! In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a great story shared by Coop that is filled with several great lessons. You can participate in a future Friday Forum episode by calling and leaving a message at 304-837-2278, emailing an audio file to feedback@goldenspiralmedia.com, or clicking on the Send Voicemail tab on the right side of this page. Read More......

You know what I’ve discovered? Life almost never works out exactly like we plan. I am a planning person. We decided last fall that we were going to Hawaii this September, and I immediately started planning. I shopped airline prices almost every day for 7 or 8 months so that I would know the moment I saw an exceptional deal. As a result, I saved over a thousand dollars on airfare. I’m not just that...

I don’t know how it happened but I now have a middle schooler in my house. My daughter will be making the transition to 6th grade next year and it just doesn’t seem possible. If you have kids, you know exactly how I feel. Our daughter was a really good baby and we were perfectly content with just one child. However, nearly 2 years later, Colby entered our lives. I can not imagine life without him....

You may remember that I first came up with the idea for Stuff I Learned yesterday 6 months ago at New Media Expo in Las Vegas. I mentioned that moment in episode 1 of Stuff I Learned Yesterday. It took me 3 more months before I finally launched the podcast on March 17, 2014. I had no idea what to expect. My vision for Stuff I Learned Yesterday was simple. I wanted it to be a short form daily podca...

Well, I warned you. I told you there would be more episodes coming about my flower bed project. In case you don’t remember, both my wife and I are terrible at trying to keep plants alive. This year we recruited our green thumb neighbor, Mandy, to help us. I’ve been really working to stay on top of the flower beds and keep my plants thriving. I know absolutely nothing about gardening or flower bedd...

Today is the Friday Forum!! In today's episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a very courageous and inspirational story shared by Rita. You can participate in a future Friday Forum episode by calling and leaving a message at 304-837-2278, emailing an audio file to feedback@goldenspiralmedia.com, or clicking on the Send Voicemail tab on the right side of this page. Read More... The post 55- F...

In 2001 I took over as the store manager of a bookstore in Wichita Falls, Texas. Even though I was only 25 years old, I was confident in my abilities to manage over $1 million in inventory and a staff of 30 people. Of course, I had no idea just how much I didn’t know and the best way to learn is by doing. So I dove in head first. The store had a really good staff. Unfortunately, the previous two m...

Ready for another Chicago story? I have a lot of Chicago stories because I’ve traveled there more than any other city. I love Chicago, but it hasn’t always been that way. The first time I traveled to Chicago I went there for a work related conference. I was there for 4 days. The conference was about internet technology and lasted all day each day I was there. I was the only person from my company...

Now that the calendar has passed Memorial Day, it seems that summertime is upon us. My kids are out of school until August so forget that summer solstice stuff, summer is here. Believe it or not, when my daughter arrived home from school last Friday and my wife asked her if she was excited to have the next 3 months off from school, my daughter complained that she only had 3 months off! I took that...

Today is Memorial Day here in the United States.  It’s a day we set aside each May and remember those who have served our country as a member of the armed forces, and we especially take time to remember those who gave their lives or have passed on.  We want to remember them and the service that they provided. To be honest, Memorial Day didn’t really mean a whole lot to me growing up.  To me it was...

Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday.  My name is Darrell Darnell, my favorite subject in school was English, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living.  In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I’m happy to share another installment of the Friday Forum Teacher's Edition. Golden Spiral Media now has a Patreon page!  Patreon provides a way for you to financially support Go...

Remember back in episode 38 when I talked about Kevin Durant’s MVP acceptance speech?  While there are countless examples I could point to for today’s episode, I’d like to use that one again.  Since it’s still so fresh in our minds and we know about it, it will serve as a great example to bring us all on the same page here today. As a refresher, Kevin thanked EVERYONE in his speech.  He thanked hi...

I grew up in a very middle class home. We didn’t lack for anything we needed, but we didn’t have many extras. I think having 3 teenage boys was tough on my parents. I don’t even want to know what our grocery bill was each month. I don’t know if it was because we couldn’t afford it, or if my dad wanted to teach me a lesson, but I didn’t get a car for my 16th birthday or high school graduation. If I...