August 25, 2025 • 31 mins
“The bigger your world becomes, the smaller your problems will seem.”
In this episode of Up Your Average, Doug and Keith explore the power of worldview. They believe the bigger your world becomes, the smaller your problems will seem. By expanding your perspective, you can reduce stress, find new opportunities, and live with greater purpose.
What you’ll hear:
- Why a narrow worldview makes problems feel bigger than they are
- How intentional choices can expand your world
- Stories from Keith and Doug’s lives that reveal the cost of “shrinking”
- Practical steps you can take today to grow your world
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by your problems, this conversation will help you see the possibilities beyond them.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Keith (00:00):
Expanding your world can happen at any place, any time.
(00:04):
But I think there's a certainlevel of intentionality too is I
don't want this I don't wantthis dogma to shrink my world. I
don't want this opinion toshrink my world. I don't want
this decision to be the finalshrinking of my world. Like, if
you choose to quit working andretire, that is gonna absolutely
shrink your world.
Welcome to the Up Your Averagepodcast where Keith and Doug
(00:27):
give no nonsense advice to levelup your life. So buckle up and
listen closely to Up YourAverage. Good morning, Doug.
Word up. It's another great dayin the neighborhood.
(00:47):
I just keep thinking it's agreat day to be alive. I can't
get that song out of my head. Idon't know why.
Doug (00:55):
I don't even know who sings that.
Keith (00:56):
Travis Tritt.
Doug (00:57):
Oh, that's right.
Keith (00:58):
Travis I like this song so much, but I couldn't part
with $40 to go see him at thestate fair, so I just played it
on YouTube.
Doug (01:04):
I sat fourth row of a heavy metal concert last night.
I got home. I don't know whattime. But my favorite part about
this heavy metal concert, and itwas heavy, the guitarist was a
clean-cut guy. No tattoos,nothing against tattoo, no
(01:26):
tattoos, hair combed, kind oflike mine.
And I and he smiled. He smiledso big. Now he'd be serious, but
then he'd smile and had a greatsmile. And I just had to look
this guy up, and it turns outhe's a businessman, 50 years
old. And, he he got invited toplay on this rock band.
(01:49):
I know. So the adventures oflife can take you some to some
great places.
Keith (01:53):
They can actually grow your world. And and I I have
been pondering. I don't evenknow if I told you this, that
maybe I would work remotely andbe a chaplain for heavy metal
bands.
Doug (02:06):
Yeah. We would all I think, Libby, Caleb, Amanda,
Phil, we'd all
Keith (02:11):
agree you should work remotely as soon as possible.
Yeah. Heavy metal. Yeah. I I'vegone to a heavy metal concert
and didn't sit in the standsvery long.
I'd just say it was a lot for itwas a lot
Doug (02:26):
for me. Oh, yeah. I had earplugs in. I I Keith, I had
coffee. I mean, these myneighbors, they my neighborhood
my neighbor guys, we all went.
Okay. And I was drinking coffee,and so I was the dad.
Keith (02:37):
I love it. I love it. Yes. So, yeah, I have done that
once, and we were even talkingabout Libby going to concerts,
but that was one of my fewconcerts in 2024. Happy metal.
Doug (02:49):
Yeah.
Keith (02:50):
Well, I wanted to talk today about growing your world
because my friend Larry May hashelped me over the years grow my
world. And we were having aconversation years ago and the
essence of what he told me isthat the bigger your world gets,
the smaller your problems seem.And when he told me this, he
(03:12):
said it I wrote down exactlywhat he said to me. And and but
I I that was my filtering itdown there. He said, your world
should expand as you mature.
The more we look at ourselves,the smaller our world gets, and
we get smaller the smaller ourworld gets, the bigger small
(03:35):
things get. And so I startedthinking about that. And with
that idea, John Jeter, you knowthat name?
Doug (03:47):
Great man.
Keith (03:48):
John helped me discover this principle back in the mid
90s. No, it was the mid 80sactually. And when John did
that, I don't even know that heknew that he was teaching me
that, but I was a normal day atwork for me would be cold
(04:09):
calling all day. Oh, yeah. Ifyou've got problems in your
world, try cold calling for aday.
See how big your problems get.And so this is the diagram that
I would suggest with thisprinciple that Larry showed me
that the problems are that smallcircle. And then if your world
(04:34):
is just wrapped around yourproblems, there's just not much
margin. And so I would I wouldget in and dial, you know, the
old phones with the cord, andpeople would hang up on me.
They'd talk about my mom and myheritage and all those things.
You know the feeling. I do.Yeah. And that is a very
problematic place to live.Pretty defeating.
(04:56):
Yes. And John took an interestin me, he said, hey, Keith. I'm
starting this singles group atour church. Do you think you
could call five people a weekfor me and check on how they're
doing and invite and just makesure they feel comfortable
coming back next week?
Doug (05:14):
Yeah. Okay.
Keith (05:16):
Yeah. I mean, I'm calling
Doug (05:17):
No problem.
Keith (05:17):
I'm calling a couple 100 people.
Doug (05:19):
That's like are easy those are easy calls.
Keith (05:21):
Right. Right. And and then if I spread them out, I
only had to call one person aday. And so when I did one
person a day, I would just checkI'd get to know them. And what I
discovered is that my problemsare real small.
The more I talk to people aboutwhat's going on in their world,
my problem of cold calling is aproblem, but they had other
(05:44):
things going on. And I couldtell several of those that they
had let their problems becometheir world. And so you could
literally even make this diagramsmaller. Yeah. You're you're
you're there can be no marginbetween your problems and your
world.
And so when Larry said you haveto grow your world, then I
(06:04):
started thinking about that. Andthis is kind of a picture of
what that could look like, isthat if your world gets small,
your problems don't reallychange in size. And with that,
you've got other things to todirect your thoughts. And, you
know, one of the things that wesay repeatedly is think
differently. And so part of theway you think differently is
(06:28):
give yourself other things tothink about other than what
you're dwelling at the point intime.
And so the best way I could kindof think to show you these ideas
was a mirror. The more time youlook at a mirror, you're looking
inwardly, and that's gonnacontract your world view. You're
gonna see things all aboutyourself. And if you want to
(06:52):
expand, I put the globe there.The the globe, the more you see
things around the world, themore you're gonna see a bigger
world.
And and so in the the vein ofthat, I started thinking, well,
what is the world? Because it'snot the globe. Your world is not
the globe. And so I define theworld with these ideas. It could
(07:15):
be bigger than this.
I put your worldview, people,places, things, ideas, which
would continue it would includelike opinions and dogmas. And
that that's kind of conceptuallywhat I'd say your world is, is
is those kind of things. Andthen a worldview, which our
friend Ray talked about a fewweeks ago, it would be the
(07:37):
nature of reality for you. Itwould be human purpose. What's
your purpose?
Knowledge and truth would bepart of your worldview. Morality
would be part of your worldview.And then destiny. And this one a
lot of these things involve timeand space, but the destiny would
(07:57):
be, do you have a temporalworldview? Like, is seventy or
eighty years all you have, or isthere an eternal worldview?
And all these things to be seento expand your world. What what
would you say like on theworldview thing about the nature
of reality, human purpose,truth?
Doug (08:18):
I I I think expanding your your worldviews just starts with
people. And so it just that'sit. It just ends starts with
people and ends with people. Andso you could spend your your
globe. When was the last timeyou saw a globe on a desk?
Do you have a globe on a desk orsomething like
Keith (08:34):
on my Connie put a globe on my bookstand at home or
bookshelf. Yeah. But who evenneeds a bookshelf anymore? You
know? Like, all that's kindaridiculous.
Doug (08:42):
The spinning globe is just cool. But so so you could spin
the globe globe and pointsomewhere, and there's somebody
there that you would like toknow. So, one of the things I'm
doing, I think I shared thiswith you, Keith, is I don't know
what to think about Israel andand and Palestine and Gaza and
all that stuff, but I've startedto specifically pray for a 50
(09:07):
year old dude. I'm 50. 50 yearold dude living in Gaza.
He's got problems up and downhis bloodline, and I wanna get
real with that guy. And the onlyway I know to do it is just
through prayer that God willsend the message to the dude. So
that is one relationship that Ihave with somebody that I've
never met, but it helps meexpand my worldview. And I was
(09:32):
thinking about this topic thismorning as I was at the coffee
shop. My new barista there, shemoved here from LA.
Nice. And so Yes.
Keith (09:41):
And she has a little bit different worldview than it.
Doug (09:44):
Probably. But we both love an Americano. And so, you know,
just being able to to be curiousand say, hey. Well, how's how's
how's Indy treating you? Youknow, just just listening to
somebody and and, havingconnection points with somebody.
That's just the best way toexpand your worldview.
Keith (10:04):
I I remember And you
Doug (10:05):
can change. You don't have to keep the same thought all the
time. Like, you could haveposted something on social media
a year ago, and you're allowedto change your mind.
Keith (10:13):
Well and and I I was just thinking of a time where I got
to watch you change yourworldview. I can't remember how
many years ago it was. I I hadintroduced you to my friend, Neb
Hayden, who came and spoke, andhe was talking about what does
what is the average Muslimperson in the world thinking
about today? And I don't know ifyou can remember that story,
(10:35):
what happened that night foryou, but it was I I I just
watched you have a worldviewchange that. I well, you told me
about it the next few days.
Doug (10:42):
Yeah. And and I think, you know, I go back to, you know,
what do I know about anybody?And, really, we're all just
trying to provide for ourfamilies at the end of the day.
And so, yeah, I I can't rememberspecifically what Ned sparked in
me, but but I'm sure it was I'msure it
Keith (10:59):
was great. Well, that night, you you hadn't shared his
opinion, and you it startedsnowing that night. Oh, that's
right.
Doug (11:08):
I forgot all about that. Yeah. My friend my friend Devin.
Yeah. Devin was in the car withme, and it was a snowstorm.
Keith (11:18):
And I think it snowed almost a foot. Like, it was a
big snowstorm, period.
Doug (11:21):
Yeah. And and we were at Crestina Hill, and there was a
car that had slid off into theditch. And and I said, oh,
Devin, let's let's help thesepeople. At the time, I had a
Land Cruiser or
Keith (11:36):
a Suburban. And you had just been told, well, open your
mind
Doug (11:39):
about Muslim people. Just been told to open my mind about
Muslim people. And and thisdude, I go up to the window, and
this guy's like, the car is inthe ditch. And I'm like, I know.
I see that.
And then, like, you know, myheart melted because I looked in
the back seats, and there wastwo little girls, and they had
(12:00):
two Domino's pizza boxes inbetween them. Dude was just
trying to get pizza.
Keith (12:04):
It's 10:00 at night. This one, like, 06:00 at night
either.
Doug (12:07):
Yeah. And so, like, yes, we saved the day, but but it it
was really all about thesepeople adding tons of life and
energy to me by just God placingthem there.
Keith (12:21):
Yeah. And and Thank you for remembering that. Yeah. No.
It it even like, the the more Ican think that I don't want to
shrink my world, I think ourculture life itself will shrink
our world because when we quitworking, our our coworkers are
part of our world, and that partof our world shrinks.
(12:42):
And it's hard sometimes to plugin somewhere else that might
expand your world again. So lifehas a tendency of shrinking our
world and being aware of thatand willing to keep trying to
expand your world. Because I Ithought a lot my uncle was kind
of destined to a chair most ofhis last year or two, but even
(13:02):
in that, I pondered, like, howmight I, if that were me, expand
my world at that point? Becauseyou you have nurses coming in.
You got cleaning people comingin, and that's your world.
And you can make the best ofthat, I think, if you have a
mindset that I need to keep myworld big.
Doug (13:18):
Yeah. And just even looking for the bright side. I
know that's a Pollyanna ish typething, but optimism optimism is
so good. So a a friend of minewas recently in a pretty bad
place in that, like, locationwhere he could not leave. And
and he told me, but you knowwhat?
The dinners weren't bad. And sothere's something there's
(13:41):
something out there to beingoptimistic and trying to find
the good or maybe trying to evenserve somebody, giving them a
chair or just a smile, whatever,it it can change somebody's
worldview.
Keith (13:53):
And and one one way that I I changed my worldview, which
I mentioned morality as a partof a worldview. Morality is such
a subjective gray area that thatthe more I tighten the screws on
my morality, the the more itpushes people out of my world.
(14:17):
And I'm not saying that I haveto just say everything goes. I'm
just saying that you don't knowthe whole story about how
somebody got into the situationthey are. And the more that I
can accept them independent ofmy own morality, the more that I
can have people in my life thatlive life differently than me,
and those people in my worldhave a tendency to expand my
(14:38):
world.
Doug (14:38):
Yeah. Well, our our clients have really allowed us
to see the world because whenyou retire, what are some of
your dreams? I wanna travelmore. If you ask anybody, hey.
What are you gonna do when youstop working?
I'm gonna travel more, and someactually do. And I can think of
this friend of ours. She liveson the West Coast in Oregon, and
(14:59):
she's she's traveled a lot. Andand she thinks a little
differently than I do. And Ithink it's because she's seen
some stuff that I just haven'tseen yet.
And so planning yourself in alocation on that globe just
might be a great use of yourtime and money for the sole
purpose of expanding the way youthink.
Keith (15:18):
Well, I I would even offer to you to consider what if
you bought 10 different globesand put them on a table.
Doug (15:26):
Okay. What are you doing now? Ten ten globes.
Keith (15:28):
10 globes. Like, you had to buy them at your yard and
Doug (15:31):
say Okay.
Keith (15:32):
You didn't buy them You didn't buy them at the store.
Okay. I mean, bought 10different globes. But those
would the all 10 of them wouldbe different because people in
there had such different worldviews. They were willing to kill
over those.
Doug (15:46):
Yeah. It's true. So the Okay. I see what you're saying.
I see what you're saying.
Keith (15:49):
They're not gonna I don't think you could if you bought
them at different times, I don'tthink they would be the same
globe. Right?
Doug (15:54):
Yeah. That's true.
Keith (15:55):
And it's all because of a point of view for which somebody
is willing to die over. Right.And that's that's one of the
things that I said, your dogma.And dogma is a strong opinion,
and it doesn't necessarily haveto be right. And so if you
realize that your strongopinions could be wrong, You
(16:16):
have to be you have to have acertain level of humility and
probably the willingness to sayI'm sorry, like when you did
realize that my dogma was wrongbecause I think that's probably
what's enabled my world to growis I've become, I think, less
dogmatic.
There's certain things I'm justnot gonna let go that I'm not
gonna yield, but there's thingsthat I thought as a younger man
(16:40):
that just aren't so. Right. Andthere are things I thought as a
younger man that the worldaround me doesn't think or so
that I know or so too.
Doug (16:49):
Like, even within the last six months, I I've had opinion
changes.
Keith (16:53):
Yeah.
Doug (16:53):
And so I I think that's that's growth.
Keith (16:56):
Yeah. Yeah. And and so the dogma is definitely gonna
shrink your world, I think. Andso your worldview is part of
your world. Your people, places,things are part of your world.
And I I wanted to kinda use thisweek as an on ramp to have some
other discussions. There arepeople that I wanna introduce
(17:20):
our friends to and havediscussions with them, maybe on
things that I don't evencompletely agree, but to talk
about them and hear what theythink about them so that we can
help up your average about ideasthat are maybe outside of your
scope of thought at this point.Let me share another. This is
this is kind of what I couldbest describe about this concept
(17:44):
of expanding your world. Justgotta figure out which one.
There it is. So this is the sameas the last slide. And I just
put some ideas that can expandyour world, your time frame,
your being thoughtful, travel,you mentioned, wisdom and
(18:04):
courage. And then some of theantinodes of that would tend to
shrink your world.
Doug (18:11):
Keith, did you ever get National Geographic? Like or did
you look at it in school oranything?
Keith (18:16):
I I felt like my grandmother might have had it.
Doug (18:19):
I was sharing the story of how I mowed I mowed mister
Fletcher's lawn earlier thisweek. And mister Fletcher, he
developed some dementia, and hepaid me with National
Geographic's interestingpictures in some of those.
Keith (18:33):
Think do that anymore, did it? I don't know. I I I
think you had me subscribe to itor somebody Yeah. I did. More.
Doug (18:39):
No. I did too. It it or maybe it's Ken, but I was
excited about it. And so justthis week, my son LJ and I, we
hung out with one of his cointerns and her dad. And guess
what he was?
He was a photographer forNational Geographic. I said,
you're like the secret life ofWalter Mitty. You're that guy,
like traveling to take the shotof the bear or whatever. But,
(19:02):
like, I see what you have uphere, and and some of us just
can't get out.
Keith (19:07):
Get out of our our house. Oh. Get out. Like your
homebound?
Doug (19:12):
Yeah. Your
Keith (19:12):
homebound. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Doug (19:13):
You know? Maybe
Keith (19:14):
Not all those will
Doug (19:16):
But but, like, something it could be a National
Geographic. It it could be apicture. Like, to think that you
could travel, you could expandsome of your thoughts, like,
just from opening a book. OrLike, that's one thing I I I
would add on there. I would adda book or a magazine or, you
(19:36):
know Yeah.
Maybe a move maybe a movie.
Keith (19:39):
Yeah. Our friend that used to make those glass angels,
what was her first name?
Doug (19:44):
Helen. Helen. Sweet Helen.
Keith (19:46):
Helen couldn't get out as much, but the way she would
travel is go on Google Maps andpull up the the the view of
Doug (19:53):
it. So cool. Yeah.
Keith (19:56):
That was how she
Doug (19:57):
And that's just curiosity.
Keith (19:59):
Right. Right. And and so I realized many months ago that
my dogma would shrink my world.Like, the expression of my
dogma. If I tell everybody mydogmatic thoughts that people
don't want to hear that.
It doesn't mean that I can'tcling to some of those, but the
(20:19):
more I express those, thesmaller my world's gonna get.
But like my uncle was stuck inthat recliner. He he could get
around with his walker andthings, but part of his
thoughtfulness was he had acatchphrase, keep smiling. Mhmm.
And he would tell that toeverybody because a lot of times
people in your world won't besmiling.
(20:40):
And something as simple as asmile can expand your world and
maybe help turn somebody else'saround. You never know. I
thought
Doug (20:50):
What's underneath dogma there or dogmatic?
Keith (20:56):
Confined. Okay. That's what I was saying. You if you're
uncle Bill, you're gonna you'renot gonna be able to travel as
much. You're gonna be moreconfined.
So your world you can't controlhow much your world gets
confined at that point in time,but you can offset it with some
other thoughts.
Doug (21:10):
And in that confinement, you can have so many noises
coming in to support a, maybe aa not too well thought out
worldview or someone else'sworldview just coming in your
living room through your YouTubeor TV or whatever. I So saying
no to
Keith (21:31):
I had to confine my world for for, I think, of almost a
decade of the nineties. Iconfined my world because I
wanted to get other thoughts outof it. I I realized I had
thoughts that had become becomebeliefs that weren't necessarily
more. They might have even cometo the level of dogma. And so I
confined my world to get allthose thoughts out of there to
(21:53):
rethink what I thought, whichit's kind of a weird idea to
expand your world, but it helpedprobably without the nineties,
I'd have a really confinedworld.
Because if you were taughtsomething when you were 15
that's not true Yeah. And youcling to that the rest of your
life and and you you you justdrop soldiers around the way.
(22:14):
You just take people out allover that thing. There's an old
saying, you shut down the truthand those truth will set you
free. Well, it's talking about alie that's stored in your head.
And if that lie is there yourwhole life, you can confine
yourself just out of ignorance.Yeah. And and the nineties is
when I had to kinda liberatemyself. And then you wouldn't
(22:34):
think I was only in my, like,twenties and thirties then. You
wouldn't think I'd have thatmany confining thoughts, but I
did.
But I would think even today,the way that stuff is targeted
via, like, the the searchengines that they read
confirmation bias, they justkeep giving you the same
thoughts. It's kinda hard tounleash yourself from some of
(22:55):
those thoughts that constrainyour future.
Doug (22:57):
And I again, I think that's where the personal
connection comes in. I see youhave fears down there, and I can
think of a a view that I had,during COVID. We were invited to
go to New York City as a family,watch my son march in the Macy's
Day Parade. And, one of oursweet friends allowed us to stay
at her place there, and I calledher. And I said, hey.
(23:21):
Is it safe to ride on thesubway? And she's like, oh my
gosh. What are you thinking?You're such a Midwesterner. And
and you you think that becauseyou hear stories, and maybe you
even know somebody.
I know somebody who got punchedin sucker punched in the face on
the subway. And so the fearsstart to take over, but it helps
(23:44):
to dive into somebody else'sview who's actually been there
and doing that. And shebasically was like, get on the
subway. And we did. Wholefamily.
Keith (23:54):
I think I think that time frame thing helps me with fears
as well. Like, I I I think Icrossed over many years ago from
a, like, a a lifespan time frameto an eternal time frame, the
way that I process things. And
Doug (24:11):
Yeah. I I would say you're probably amongst my friends,
like, when we talk about thatwith real decisions, like,
you're you're pretty focusedeternal time frame.
Keith (24:22):
And and what it did is it just helped get rid of most of
my fears. Like like Yeah. I Iknow I'm gonna die. And if if
death scares me so much, itshrinks my courage. And I won't
do things I'm supposed to do.
And and I I just have aconfidence that I really wanna
(24:44):
get I wanna live to the fullest.And we had a friend that passed
last week and I talked to hisson at the visitation yesterday
and I'm sorry for laughing, buthis son told me a story. He
says, dad had a brand newsnorkeling mask on and he died
snorkeling face down lookingdown at the fish. And I'm like I
(25:06):
mean, we're all going. Right?
Like I when he told me, I justsmiled. I'm like, dude, I don't
even know what to say aboutthat. Like, don't get to pick
that thing. But I know when Iwent scuba diving in the early
nineteen nineties, it was alittle scary, like, to to think
about the idea of putting thison and going below. And and yet
(25:28):
when I overcame that fear, my myworld was expanded beyond
anything I ever knew.
I had no idea of the beautybelow the surface of the water.
I I I kinda conceptually had it,but I saw things and colors that
I've never seen anywhere else.Yeah. And it changed my life
forever.
Doug (25:46):
And you'd do it again. Pardon me? Would you do it
again?
Keith (25:49):
I would do it again, but it even expanded my pooh pooh
god to us. Like, I couldn'tbelieve
Doug (25:54):
Right.
Keith (25:55):
Like, I had seen a lot of things above water, I but
couldn't even believe thegrandeur of what I've just seen
below the water. And I would hadI never put on a snorkeling mask
and jumped in that water, Iwould have never seen that, I
Doug (26:08):
don't think. This is this topic is one of the beautiful
things about aging and maturingis just being willing to say, I
might be wrong on that one.Absolutely. How could I think
differently about this? Even ifI think I'm right, what does the
opposing crowd say, or or whatdoes someone else think about
(26:30):
this?
And could I be wrong? Did youever take a speech and debate
class?
Keith (26:35):
I took speech, and I was horrible at it. But debate? No.
Doug (26:40):
Man, that was like my favorite course in college. And
you had to learn to argueanother side. And it's so
helpful to just be able tothink, what what does the person
who loves to scuba dive? What dothey like about this? And teach
me what you like.
What what what jazzes you aboutmath or or whatever the subject
(27:01):
is? And maybe it could help youmove the needle.
Keith (27:05):
Absolutely. The the idea of stepping back from your point
of view and maybe shifting yourposition and getting a little
different angle on it, I thinkcan expand your world. You don't
Doug (27:18):
Did you mean to dry draw an eyeball there?
Keith (27:21):
Is that what that is?
Doug (27:22):
That's what I see. I see it. I see an eyeball. And what's
so cool about that is we'retalking about your worldview and
scene.
Keith (27:32):
Yeah. I did not. Yeah. I could've I guess I could darken
that in and had the people, but,like, even that makes me think
of our friends coming. Right?
Doug (27:42):
Yeah. Yeah. Walk by faith, not by sight.
Keith (27:45):
Yeah. Yeah. And the idea of expanding your world can
happen at any place, any time.But I think there's a certain
level of intentionality too, isI don't want this dogma to
shrink my world. I don't wantthis opinion to shrink my world.
I don't want this decision to bethe final shrinking of my world.
(28:09):
You're gonna make decisions.Like, if you choose to quit
working and retire, that isgonna absolutely shrink your
world. So you may have to
Doug (28:16):
Guess you're not around people.
Keith (28:18):
Right. So you may may have to be full of thought or
thoughtful. How will I replacethat social component of my
world? And that there there is aconstant force reducing your
social network. Right?
Doug (28:32):
Yeah. Yeah.
Keith (28:33):
Yeah. And so how do I expand my world on a constant
basis? And my guess is there areyoung people that need a hand.
There are
Doug (28:45):
Well, one of our new best friends is 33 years older than
me.
Keith (28:50):
Yes. He is. Yes. He is.
Doug (28:52):
And so he's got some young friends. Yes.
Keith (28:57):
And and I I this week, I've been focused on the idea of
reading. And I think of myfriend Barbara who turns 90 in a
few weeks. And one of the thingsthat we've talked about over the
years that Barbara will helplittle kids learn to read.
Doug (29:12):
That's cool.
Keith (29:13):
And that is maybe one of the greatest skills somebody can
learn is to read. And and maybeif you got time to help somebody
read, maybe you could do thattoday. There's probably you go
to your local grade school andsay, can I help somebody learn
to read? And they probably evenhave the resources to help you,
but you can change anotherperson's world. We had little
Ellie was in our house lastnight.
(29:34):
I don't even know how old shewas, but her big o dark eyes
just stared at me, and she waswanting to share something with
me. She had found one of Caleb'scars and was wanting to share it
with me. The only thing I cangive her back was a smile. I
gave Ellie a smile back, and andI think we both expanded one
another's world. But with withthis topic, I just am looking
(29:55):
forward to some of theconversations we're gonna have,
some ideas that I had.
I mentioned how John Jeterhelped expand my world. I wanna
talk in future conversationsabout the time you took my
daughter Kristen to Ukraine andhow that expanded my And Ben.
Ben. Ben's coming to town, andit expanded his world. Caleb and
(30:17):
Olivia are taking the DaleCarnegie class.
That expanded my world. I didn'twanna do that. Failure has
expanded my world in ways that Icould never have guessed. And I
want to close today that ourcoworker Sue told us a story
about her husband. He just haddays to live.
Right.
Doug (30:37):
Yeah. He was on hospice.
Keith (30:39):
He was literally in a hospice bed, and he rallied. And
Doug (30:43):
He had a bounce back.
Keith (30:44):
He rallied. And for three weeks, bitch expanded his world
because he told her to go get mea scooter.
Doug (30:53):
Electric scooter. That's what every junior high kid
wants.
Keith (30:57):
And he rode that scooter around Fisher's, and she showed
us the video of him and it mademy dad.
Doug (31:04):
And the best part was he was wearing a helmet.
Keith (31:08):
So no matter how you expand your world, be sure to
put a helmet on. Anything else,Doug?
Doug (31:15):
Have fun today.
Keith (31:16):
Catch you all soon. Bye bye.
Expanding your world can happen at any place, any time.
(00:04):
But I think there's a certainlevel of intentionality too is I
don't want this I don't wantthis dogma to shrink my world. I
don't want this opinion toshrink my world. I don't want
this decision to be the finalshrinking of my world. Like, if
you choose to quit working andretire, that is gonna absolutely
shrink your world.
Welcome to the Up Your Averagepodcast where Keith and Doug
(00:27):
give no nonsense advice to levelup your life. So buckle up and
listen closely to Up YourAverage. Good morning, Doug.
Word up. It's another great dayin the neighborhood.
(00:47):
I just keep thinking it's agreat day to be alive. I can't
get that song out of my head. Idon't know why.
Doug (00:55):
I don't even know who sings that.
Keith (00:56):
Travis Tritt.
Doug (00:57):
Oh, that's right.
Keith (00:58):
Travis I like this song so much, but I couldn't part
with $40 to go see him at thestate fair, so I just played it
on YouTube.
Doug (01:04):
I sat fourth row of a heavy metal concert last night.
I got home. I don't know whattime. But my favorite part about
this heavy metal concert, and itwas heavy, the guitarist was a
clean-cut guy. No tattoos,nothing against tattoo, no
(01:26):
tattoos, hair combed, kind oflike mine.
And I and he smiled. He smiledso big. Now he'd be serious, but
then he'd smile and had a greatsmile. And I just had to look
this guy up, and it turns outhe's a businessman, 50 years
old. And, he he got invited toplay on this rock band.
(01:49):
I know. So the adventures oflife can take you some to some
great places.
Keith (01:53):
They can actually grow your world. And and I I have
been pondering. I don't evenknow if I told you this, that
maybe I would work remotely andbe a chaplain for heavy metal
bands.
Doug (02:06):
Yeah. We would all I think, Libby, Caleb, Amanda,
Phil, we'd all
Keith (02:11):
agree you should work remotely as soon as possible.
Yeah. Heavy metal. Yeah. I I'vegone to a heavy metal concert
and didn't sit in the standsvery long.
I'd just say it was a lot for itwas a lot
Doug (02:26):
for me. Oh, yeah. I had earplugs in. I I Keith, I had
coffee. I mean, these myneighbors, they my neighborhood
my neighbor guys, we all went.
Okay. And I was drinking coffee,and so I was the dad.
Keith (02:37):
I love it. I love it. Yes. So, yeah, I have done that
once, and we were even talkingabout Libby going to concerts,
but that was one of my fewconcerts in 2024. Happy metal.
Doug (02:49):
Yeah.
Keith (02:50):
Well, I wanted to talk today about growing your world
because my friend Larry May hashelped me over the years grow my
world. And we were having aconversation years ago and the
essence of what he told me isthat the bigger your world gets,
the smaller your problems seem.And when he told me this, he
(03:12):
said it I wrote down exactlywhat he said to me. And and but
I I that was my filtering itdown there. He said, your world
should expand as you mature.
The more we look at ourselves,the smaller our world gets, and
we get smaller the smaller ourworld gets, the bigger small
(03:35):
things get. And so I startedthinking about that. And with
that idea, John Jeter, you knowthat name?
Doug (03:47):
Great man.
Keith (03:48):
John helped me discover this principle back in the mid
90s. No, it was the mid 80sactually. And when John did
that, I don't even know that heknew that he was teaching me
that, but I was a normal day atwork for me would be cold
(04:09):
calling all day. Oh, yeah. Ifyou've got problems in your
world, try cold calling for aday.
See how big your problems get.And so this is the diagram that
I would suggest with thisprinciple that Larry showed me
that the problems are that smallcircle. And then if your world
(04:34):
is just wrapped around yourproblems, there's just not much
margin. And so I would I wouldget in and dial, you know, the
old phones with the cord, andpeople would hang up on me.
They'd talk about my mom and myheritage and all those things.
You know the feeling. I do.Yeah. And that is a very
problematic place to live.Pretty defeating.
(04:56):
Yes. And John took an interestin me, he said, hey, Keith. I'm
starting this singles group atour church. Do you think you
could call five people a weekfor me and check on how they're
doing and invite and just makesure they feel comfortable
coming back next week?
Doug (05:14):
Yeah. Okay.
Keith (05:16):
Yeah. I mean, I'm calling
Doug (05:17):
No problem.
Keith (05:17):
I'm calling a couple 100 people.
Doug (05:19):
That's like are easy those are easy calls.
Keith (05:21):
Right. Right. And and then if I spread them out, I
only had to call one person aday. And so when I did one
person a day, I would just checkI'd get to know them. And what I
discovered is that my problemsare real small.
The more I talk to people aboutwhat's going on in their world,
my problem of cold calling is aproblem, but they had other
(05:44):
things going on. And I couldtell several of those that they
had let their problems becometheir world. And so you could
literally even make this diagramsmaller. Yeah. You're you're
you're there can be no marginbetween your problems and your
world.
And so when Larry said you haveto grow your world, then I
(06:04):
started thinking about that. Andthis is kind of a picture of
what that could look like, isthat if your world gets small,
your problems don't reallychange in size. And with that,
you've got other things to todirect your thoughts. And, you
know, one of the things that wesay repeatedly is think
differently. And so part of theway you think differently is
(06:28):
give yourself other things tothink about other than what
you're dwelling at the point intime.
And so the best way I could kindof think to show you these ideas
was a mirror. The more time youlook at a mirror, you're looking
inwardly, and that's gonnacontract your world view. You're
gonna see things all aboutyourself. And if you want to
(06:52):
expand, I put the globe there.The the globe, the more you see
things around the world, themore you're gonna see a bigger
world.
And and so in the the vein ofthat, I started thinking, well,
what is the world? Because it'snot the globe. Your world is not
the globe. And so I define theworld with these ideas. It could
(07:15):
be bigger than this.
I put your worldview, people,places, things, ideas, which
would continue it would includelike opinions and dogmas. And
that that's kind of conceptuallywhat I'd say your world is, is
is those kind of things. Andthen a worldview, which our
friend Ray talked about a fewweeks ago, it would be the
(07:37):
nature of reality for you. Itwould be human purpose. What's
your purpose?
Knowledge and truth would bepart of your worldview. Morality
would be part of your worldview.And then destiny. And this one a
lot of these things involve timeand space, but the destiny would
(07:57):
be, do you have a temporalworldview? Like, is seventy or
eighty years all you have, or isthere an eternal worldview?
And all these things to be seento expand your world. What what
would you say like on theworldview thing about the nature
of reality, human purpose,truth?
Doug (08:18):
I I I think expanding your your worldviews just starts with
people. And so it just that'sit. It just ends starts with
people and ends with people. Andso you could spend your your
globe. When was the last timeyou saw a globe on a desk?
Do you have a globe on a desk orsomething like
Keith (08:34):
on my Connie put a globe on my bookstand at home or
bookshelf. Yeah. But who evenneeds a bookshelf anymore? You
know? Like, all that's kindaridiculous.
Doug (08:42):
The spinning globe is just cool. But so so you could spin
the globe globe and pointsomewhere, and there's somebody
there that you would like toknow. So, one of the things I'm
doing, I think I shared thiswith you, Keith, is I don't know
what to think about Israel andand and Palestine and Gaza and
all that stuff, but I've startedto specifically pray for a 50
(09:07):
year old dude. I'm 50. 50 yearold dude living in Gaza.
He's got problems up and downhis bloodline, and I wanna get
real with that guy. And the onlyway I know to do it is just
through prayer that God willsend the message to the dude. So
that is one relationship that Ihave with somebody that I've
never met, but it helps meexpand my worldview. And I was
(09:32):
thinking about this topic thismorning as I was at the coffee
shop. My new barista there, shemoved here from LA.
Nice. And so Yes.
Keith (09:41):
And she has a little bit different worldview than it.
Doug (09:44):
Probably. But we both love an Americano. And so, you know,
just being able to to be curiousand say, hey. Well, how's how's
how's Indy treating you? Youknow, just just listening to
somebody and and, havingconnection points with somebody.
That's just the best way toexpand your worldview.
Keith (10:04):
I I remember And you
Doug (10:05):
can change. You don't have to keep the same thought all the
time. Like, you could haveposted something on social media
a year ago, and you're allowedto change your mind.
Keith (10:13):
Well and and I I was just thinking of a time where I got
to watch you change yourworldview. I can't remember how
many years ago it was. I I hadintroduced you to my friend, Neb
Hayden, who came and spoke, andhe was talking about what does
what is the average Muslimperson in the world thinking
about today? And I don't know ifyou can remember that story,
(10:35):
what happened that night foryou, but it was I I I just
watched you have a worldviewchange that. I well, you told me
about it the next few days.
Doug (10:42):
Yeah. And and I think, you know, I go back to, you know,
what do I know about anybody?And, really, we're all just
trying to provide for ourfamilies at the end of the day.
And so, yeah, I I can't rememberspecifically what Ned sparked in
me, but but I'm sure it was I'msure it
Keith (10:59):
was great. Well, that night, you you hadn't shared his
opinion, and you it startedsnowing that night. Oh, that's
right.
Doug (11:08):
I forgot all about that. Yeah. My friend my friend Devin.
Yeah. Devin was in the car withme, and it was a snowstorm.
Keith (11:18):
And I think it snowed almost a foot. Like, it was a
big snowstorm, period.
Doug (11:21):
Yeah. And and we were at Crestina Hill, and there was a
car that had slid off into theditch. And and I said, oh,
Devin, let's let's help thesepeople. At the time, I had a
Land Cruiser or
Keith (11:36):
a Suburban. And you had just been told, well, open your
mind
Doug (11:39):
about Muslim people. Just been told to open my mind about
Muslim people. And and thisdude, I go up to the window, and
this guy's like, the car is inthe ditch. And I'm like, I know.
I see that.
And then, like, you know, myheart melted because I looked in
the back seats, and there wastwo little girls, and they had
(12:00):
two Domino's pizza boxes inbetween them. Dude was just
trying to get pizza.
Keith (12:04):
It's 10:00 at night. This one, like, 06:00 at night
either.
Doug (12:07):
Yeah. And so, like, yes, we saved the day, but but it it
was really all about thesepeople adding tons of life and
energy to me by just God placingthem there.
Keith (12:21):
Yeah. And and Thank you for remembering that. Yeah. No.
It it even like, the the more Ican think that I don't want to
shrink my world, I think ourculture life itself will shrink
our world because when we quitworking, our our coworkers are
part of our world, and that partof our world shrinks.
(12:42):
And it's hard sometimes to plugin somewhere else that might
expand your world again. So lifehas a tendency of shrinking our
world and being aware of thatand willing to keep trying to
expand your world. Because I Ithought a lot my uncle was kind
of destined to a chair most ofhis last year or two, but even
(13:02):
in that, I pondered, like, howmight I, if that were me, expand
my world at that point? Becauseyou you have nurses coming in.
You got cleaning people comingin, and that's your world.
And you can make the best ofthat, I think, if you have a
mindset that I need to keep myworld big.
Doug (13:18):
Yeah. And just even looking for the bright side. I
know that's a Pollyanna ish typething, but optimism optimism is
so good. So a a friend of minewas recently in a pretty bad
place in that, like, locationwhere he could not leave. And
and he told me, but you knowwhat?
The dinners weren't bad. And sothere's something there's
(13:41):
something out there to beingoptimistic and trying to find
the good or maybe trying to evenserve somebody, giving them a
chair or just a smile, whatever,it it can change somebody's
worldview.
Keith (13:53):
And and one one way that I I changed my worldview, which
I mentioned morality as a partof a worldview. Morality is such
a subjective gray area that thatthe more I tighten the screws on
my morality, the the more itpushes people out of my world.
(14:17):
And I'm not saying that I haveto just say everything goes. I'm
just saying that you don't knowthe whole story about how
somebody got into the situationthey are. And the more that I
can accept them independent ofmy own morality, the more that I
can have people in my life thatlive life differently than me,
and those people in my worldhave a tendency to expand my
(14:38):
world.
Doug (14:38):
Yeah. Well, our our clients have really allowed us
to see the world because whenyou retire, what are some of
your dreams? I wanna travelmore. If you ask anybody, hey.
What are you gonna do when youstop working?
I'm gonna travel more, and someactually do. And I can think of
this friend of ours. She liveson the West Coast in Oregon, and
(14:59):
she's she's traveled a lot. Andand she thinks a little
differently than I do. And Ithink it's because she's seen
some stuff that I just haven'tseen yet.
And so planning yourself in alocation on that globe just
might be a great use of yourtime and money for the sole
purpose of expanding the way youthink.
Keith (15:18):
Well, I I would even offer to you to consider what if
you bought 10 different globesand put them on a table.
Doug (15:26):
Okay. What are you doing now? Ten ten globes.
Keith (15:28):
10 globes. Like, you had to buy them at your yard and
Doug (15:31):
say Okay.
Keith (15:32):
You didn't buy them You didn't buy them at the store.
Okay. I mean, bought 10different globes. But those
would the all 10 of them wouldbe different because people in
there had such different worldviews. They were willing to kill
over those.
Doug (15:46):
Yeah. It's true. So the Okay. I see what you're saying.
I see what you're saying.
Keith (15:49):
They're not gonna I don't think you could if you bought
them at different times, I don'tthink they would be the same
globe. Right?
Doug (15:54):
Yeah. That's true.
Keith (15:55):
And it's all because of a point of view for which somebody
is willing to die over. Right.And that's that's one of the
things that I said, your dogma.And dogma is a strong opinion,
and it doesn't necessarily haveto be right. And so if you
realize that your strongopinions could be wrong, You
(16:16):
have to be you have to have acertain level of humility and
probably the willingness to sayI'm sorry, like when you did
realize that my dogma was wrongbecause I think that's probably
what's enabled my world to growis I've become, I think, less
dogmatic.
There's certain things I'm justnot gonna let go that I'm not
gonna yield, but there's thingsthat I thought as a younger man
(16:40):
that just aren't so. Right. Andthere are things I thought as a
younger man that the worldaround me doesn't think or so
that I know or so too.
Doug (16:49):
Like, even within the last six months, I I've had opinion
changes.
Keith (16:53):
Yeah.
Doug (16:53):
And so I I think that's that's growth.
Keith (16:56):
Yeah. Yeah. And and so the dogma is definitely gonna
shrink your world, I think. Andso your worldview is part of
your world. Your people, places,things are part of your world.
And I I wanted to kinda use thisweek as an on ramp to have some
other discussions. There arepeople that I wanna introduce
(17:20):
our friends to and havediscussions with them, maybe on
things that I don't evencompletely agree, but to talk
about them and hear what theythink about them so that we can
help up your average about ideasthat are maybe outside of your
scope of thought at this point.Let me share another. This is
this is kind of what I couldbest describe about this concept
(17:44):
of expanding your world. Justgotta figure out which one.
There it is. So this is the sameas the last slide. And I just
put some ideas that can expandyour world, your time frame,
your being thoughtful, travel,you mentioned, wisdom and
(18:04):
courage. And then some of theantinodes of that would tend to
shrink your world.
Doug (18:11):
Keith, did you ever get National Geographic? Like or did
you look at it in school oranything?
Keith (18:16):
I I felt like my grandmother might have had it.
Doug (18:19):
I was sharing the story of how I mowed I mowed mister
Fletcher's lawn earlier thisweek. And mister Fletcher, he
developed some dementia, and hepaid me with National
Geographic's interestingpictures in some of those.
Keith (18:33):
Think do that anymore, did it? I don't know. I I I
think you had me subscribe to itor somebody Yeah. I did. More.
Doug (18:39):
No. I did too. It it or maybe it's Ken, but I was
excited about it. And so justthis week, my son LJ and I, we
hung out with one of his cointerns and her dad. And guess
what he was?
He was a photographer forNational Geographic. I said,
you're like the secret life ofWalter Mitty. You're that guy,
like traveling to take the shotof the bear or whatever. But,
(19:02):
like, I see what you have uphere, and and some of us just
can't get out.
Keith (19:07):
Get out of our our house. Oh. Get out. Like your
homebound?
Doug (19:12):
Yeah. Your
Keith (19:12):
homebound. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Doug (19:13):
You know? Maybe
Keith (19:14):
Not all those will
Doug (19:16):
But but, like, something it could be a National
Geographic. It it could be apicture. Like, to think that you
could travel, you could expandsome of your thoughts, like,
just from opening a book. OrLike, that's one thing I I I
would add on there. I would adda book or a magazine or, you
(19:36):
know Yeah.
Maybe a move maybe a movie.
Keith (19:39):
Yeah. Our friend that used to make those glass angels,
what was her first name?
Doug (19:44):
Helen. Helen. Sweet Helen.
Keith (19:46):
Helen couldn't get out as much, but the way she would
travel is go on Google Maps andpull up the the the view of
Doug (19:53):
it. So cool. Yeah.
Keith (19:56):
That was how she
Doug (19:57):
And that's just curiosity.
Keith (19:59):
Right. Right. And and so I realized many months ago that
my dogma would shrink my world.Like, the expression of my
dogma. If I tell everybody mydogmatic thoughts that people
don't want to hear that.
It doesn't mean that I can'tcling to some of those, but the
(20:19):
more I express those, thesmaller my world's gonna get.
But like my uncle was stuck inthat recliner. He he could get
around with his walker andthings, but part of his
thoughtfulness was he had acatchphrase, keep smiling. Mhmm.
And he would tell that toeverybody because a lot of times
people in your world won't besmiling.
(20:40):
And something as simple as asmile can expand your world and
maybe help turn somebody else'saround. You never know. I
thought
Doug (20:50):
What's underneath dogma there or dogmatic?
Keith (20:56):
Confined. Okay. That's what I was saying. You if you're
uncle Bill, you're gonna you'renot gonna be able to travel as
much. You're gonna be moreconfined.
So your world you can't controlhow much your world gets
confined at that point in time,but you can offset it with some
other thoughts.
Doug (21:10):
And in that confinement, you can have so many noises
coming in to support a, maybe aa not too well thought out
worldview or someone else'sworldview just coming in your
living room through your YouTubeor TV or whatever. I So saying
no to
Keith (21:31):
I had to confine my world for for, I think, of almost a
decade of the nineties. Iconfined my world because I
wanted to get other thoughts outof it. I I realized I had
thoughts that had become becomebeliefs that weren't necessarily
more. They might have even cometo the level of dogma. And so I
confined my world to get allthose thoughts out of there to
(21:53):
rethink what I thought, whichit's kind of a weird idea to
expand your world, but it helpedprobably without the nineties,
I'd have a really confinedworld.
Because if you were taughtsomething when you were 15
that's not true Yeah. And youcling to that the rest of your
life and and you you you justdrop soldiers around the way.
(22:14):
You just take people out allover that thing. There's an old
saying, you shut down the truthand those truth will set you
free. Well, it's talking about alie that's stored in your head.
And if that lie is there yourwhole life, you can confine
yourself just out of ignorance.Yeah. And and the nineties is
when I had to kinda liberatemyself. And then you wouldn't
(22:34):
think I was only in my, like,twenties and thirties then. You
wouldn't think I'd have thatmany confining thoughts, but I
did.
But I would think even today,the way that stuff is targeted
via, like, the the searchengines that they read
confirmation bias, they justkeep giving you the same
thoughts. It's kinda hard tounleash yourself from some of
(22:55):
those thoughts that constrainyour future.
Doug (22:57):
And I again, I think that's where the personal
connection comes in. I see youhave fears down there, and I can
think of a a view that I had,during COVID. We were invited to
go to New York City as a family,watch my son march in the Macy's
Day Parade. And, one of oursweet friends allowed us to stay
at her place there, and I calledher. And I said, hey.
(23:21):
Is it safe to ride on thesubway? And she's like, oh my
gosh. What are you thinking?You're such a Midwesterner. And
and you you think that becauseyou hear stories, and maybe you
even know somebody.
I know somebody who got punchedin sucker punched in the face on
the subway. And so the fearsstart to take over, but it helps
(23:44):
to dive into somebody else'sview who's actually been there
and doing that. And shebasically was like, get on the
subway. And we did. Wholefamily.
Keith (23:54):
I think I think that time frame thing helps me with fears
as well. Like, I I I think Icrossed over many years ago from
a, like, a a lifespan time frameto an eternal time frame, the
way that I process things. And
Doug (24:11):
Yeah. I I would say you're probably amongst my friends,
like, when we talk about thatwith real decisions, like,
you're you're pretty focusedeternal time frame.
Keith (24:22):
And and what it did is it just helped get rid of most of
my fears. Like like Yeah. I Iknow I'm gonna die. And if if
death scares me so much, itshrinks my courage. And I won't
do things I'm supposed to do.
And and I I just have aconfidence that I really wanna
(24:44):
get I wanna live to the fullest.And we had a friend that passed
last week and I talked to hisson at the visitation yesterday
and I'm sorry for laughing, buthis son told me a story. He
says, dad had a brand newsnorkeling mask on and he died
snorkeling face down lookingdown at the fish. And I'm like I
(25:06):
mean, we're all going. Right?
Like I when he told me, I justsmiled. I'm like, dude, I don't
even know what to say aboutthat. Like, don't get to pick
that thing. But I know when Iwent scuba diving in the early
nineteen nineties, it was alittle scary, like, to to think
about the idea of putting thison and going below. And and yet
(25:28):
when I overcame that fear, my myworld was expanded beyond
anything I ever knew.
I had no idea of the beautybelow the surface of the water.
I I I kinda conceptually had it,but I saw things and colors that
I've never seen anywhere else.Yeah. And it changed my life
forever.
Doug (25:46):
And you'd do it again. Pardon me? Would you do it
again?
Keith (25:49):
I would do it again, but it even expanded my pooh pooh
god to us. Like, I couldn'tbelieve
Doug (25:54):
Right.
Keith (25:55):
Like, I had seen a lot of things above water, I but
couldn't even believe thegrandeur of what I've just seen
below the water. And I would hadI never put on a snorkeling mask
and jumped in that water, Iwould have never seen that, I
Doug (26:08):
don't think. This is this topic is one of the beautiful
things about aging and maturingis just being willing to say, I
might be wrong on that one.Absolutely. How could I think
differently about this? Even ifI think I'm right, what does the
opposing crowd say, or or whatdoes someone else think about
(26:30):
this?
And could I be wrong? Did youever take a speech and debate
class?
Keith (26:35):
I took speech, and I was horrible at it. But debate? No.
Doug (26:40):
Man, that was like my favorite course in college. And
you had to learn to argueanother side. And it's so
helpful to just be able tothink, what what does the person
who loves to scuba dive? What dothey like about this? And teach
me what you like.
What what what jazzes you aboutmath or or whatever the subject
(27:01):
is? And maybe it could help youmove the needle.
Keith (27:05):
Absolutely. The the idea of stepping back from your point
of view and maybe shifting yourposition and getting a little
different angle on it, I thinkcan expand your world. You don't
Doug (27:18):
Did you mean to dry draw an eyeball there?
Keith (27:21):
Is that what that is?
Doug (27:22):
That's what I see. I see it. I see an eyeball. And what's
so cool about that is we'retalking about your worldview and
scene.
Keith (27:32):
Yeah. I did not. Yeah. I could've I guess I could darken
that in and had the people, but,like, even that makes me think
of our friends coming. Right?
Doug (27:42):
Yeah. Yeah. Walk by faith, not by sight.
Keith (27:45):
Yeah. Yeah. And the idea of expanding your world can
happen at any place, any time.But I think there's a certain
level of intentionality too, isI don't want this dogma to
shrink my world. I don't wantthis opinion to shrink my world.
I don't want this decision to bethe final shrinking of my world.
(28:09):
You're gonna make decisions.Like, if you choose to quit
working and retire, that isgonna absolutely shrink your
world. So you may have to
Doug (28:16):
Guess you're not around people.
Keith (28:18):
Right. So you may may have to be full of thought or
thoughtful. How will I replacethat social component of my
world? And that there there is aconstant force reducing your
social network. Right?
Doug (28:32):
Yeah. Yeah.
Keith (28:33):
Yeah. And so how do I expand my world on a constant
basis? And my guess is there areyoung people that need a hand.
There are
Doug (28:45):
Well, one of our new best friends is 33 years older than
me.
Keith (28:50):
Yes. He is. Yes. He is.
Doug (28:52):
And so he's got some young friends. Yes.
Keith (28:57):
And and I I this week, I've been focused on the idea of
reading. And I think of myfriend Barbara who turns 90 in a
few weeks. And one of the thingsthat we've talked about over the
years that Barbara will helplittle kids learn to read.
Doug (29:12):
That's cool.
Keith (29:13):
And that is maybe one of the greatest skills somebody can
learn is to read. And and maybeif you got time to help somebody
read, maybe you could do thattoday. There's probably you go
to your local grade school andsay, can I help somebody learn
to read? And they probably evenhave the resources to help you,
but you can change anotherperson's world. We had little
Ellie was in our house lastnight.
(29:34):
I don't even know how old shewas, but her big o dark eyes
just stared at me, and she waswanting to share something with
me. She had found one of Caleb'scars and was wanting to share it
with me. The only thing I cangive her back was a smile. I
gave Ellie a smile back, and andI think we both expanded one
another's world. But with withthis topic, I just am looking
(29:55):
forward to some of theconversations we're gonna have,
some ideas that I had.
I mentioned how John Jeterhelped expand my world. I wanna
talk in future conversationsabout the time you took my
daughter Kristen to Ukraine andhow that expanded my And Ben.
Ben. Ben's coming to town, andit expanded his world. Caleb and
(30:17):
Olivia are taking the DaleCarnegie class.
That expanded my world. I didn'twanna do that. Failure has
expanded my world in ways that Icould never have guessed. And I
want to close today that ourcoworker Sue told us a story
about her husband. He just haddays to live.
Right.
Doug (30:37):
Yeah. He was on hospice.
Keith (30:39):
He was literally in a hospice bed, and he rallied. And
Doug (30:43):
He had a bounce back.
Keith (30:44):
He rallied. And for three weeks, bitch expanded his world
because he told her to go get mea scooter.
Doug (30:53):
Electric scooter. That's what every junior high kid
wants.
Keith (30:57):
And he rode that scooter around Fisher's, and she showed
us the video of him and it mademy dad.
Doug (31:04):
And the best part was he was wearing a helmet.
Keith (31:08):
So no matter how you expand your world, be sure to
put a helmet on. Anything else,Doug?
Doug (31:15):
Have fun today.
Keith (31:16):
Catch you all soon. Bye bye.
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