Episode 700 - Milestone

In this milestone 700th episode of Monday Morning Mojo, Phil reflects on the journey of the podcast; from its beginnings in 2011 to becoming a weekly ritual for thousands seeking motivation and meaning. Rather than spotlighting a favorite moment, Phil shares how the real magic of the podcast lies in the stories, feedback, and encouragement from listeners like you. Through personal reflections, Phil explores how perspective, gratitude, and the people we surround ourselves with shape our lives. 

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Transcript 

Top performers in every field surround themselves with those who inspire them, who seek to build them up, and who push them to reach beyond their current limits. I am Phil Buchanan, executive chairman of Cannon Financial Institute. I designed Monday Morning Mojo to provide you with a weekly spark, a push and motivational insight to live your best life.

Thanks for joining. Good Monday morning. It is Phil here with episode 700 of Monday Morning Mojo. Well, you heard that right? It's Milestone Day for Monday Morning Mojo, the seventh hundredth episode. When we began this journey back in 2011, I didn't know it. Exactly what a podcast, uh, was intended to be. Uh, now there are some critics out there that complain.

I obviously still don't understand what a podcast should be, but, uh, yet we press on, uh, some of the Cannon team was question me recently as to my favorite or most enjoyable Monday morning. Mojo episode. Now, my answer was, uh, a bit different perhaps than they had expected. I don't have a favorite episode or a fantastic memory of a particular, uh, Monday Morning Mojo.

In fact, to me, the podcast isn't the, the big deal. What has been most important to me through the years has been. Your words, yours and other listeners words. Words that you've emailed, that you've texted, that you've come up to share with me in airports and restaurants and industry events. And it's not only the kind words, but it's your own stories of how something perhaps that was said on an episode hit you just the right way for what you were going through at that particular moment.

As I've said thousands of times, uh, I am simply a teller of stories now, not mythical ones like the ancient Greeks, but the stories of day-to-day people. I. Folks like you and me now, uh, do I tend to look for the good in almost every story, almost every situation? Well, absolutely, and I think you should too.

Uh, life is short, uh, and it can be hard, so we ought to make it memorable. We ought to make it passionate. We ought to make it positive. As I was prepping for this podcast, I was reminded of Thomas Edison's great quote involving the number 700, and it goes, I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work.

Now, some folks call that wordsmithing. I prefer to think of it as the lens through which one sees the world. You know, if you train your lens on finding the wrongs and negatives in this world, you will not only succeed in discovering many, you likely will be impacted in a negative way. If in turn your focus is on the good it is, on what is right, you will tend to find that as well and again likely be impacted.

I. Our lives are so impacted by our associations, but for some reason many seem oblivious as to that impact. You know, if you wanna be successful, hang around successful people. If you wish to be happy, surround yourself with happy people. If you wish to be an addict, hang around with other addicts and enablers.

Uh, you know, we all go through seasons of our lives for which we don't understand the impact of others during that period until we have the benefit of historical perspective. You know, and looking back, some of those seasons were wonderful. Others, not so much. But what we all can take away from each season of our lives are the lessons we learn.

As I look back over the seasons of this podcast, I realize that I've likely benefited from them more than you. I've benefited because the act of doing a weekly show for 13 and a half years has allowed me to surround myself with men and women like each of you. Passionate people. Some of you more introverted in ways, others more extroverted, but all individuals who are working to be the best version of themselves while raising their families, growing their businesses, and attempting to positively impact their communities and their country because of each of you.

I'm a better man today than I was when Monday Morning Mojo first launched. So it is with deep gratitude that I say thank you. To each of you, our loyal listeners, I wanna say cheers to each of you and to the next 700. Monday morning Mojos. Monday Morning Mojo is production of Cannon Financial Institute, executive producer of Monday Morning.

Mojo is Sarah Jones. Editing and mixing is done by Danny Brunner. Until next time, I'm Phil Buchanan reminding you to be a force for good. Have a great week and thanks for being part of the Mojo community.