Last updated on May 19th, 2024 at 12:12 am
May 12, 2024
Here is the best thing I heard (What?), saw (Eye.), and read (Read.) this week, as well as the best idea (💡) I developed.
What?
followHim Podcast – Mosiah 7-10 – Dr. Stephan Taeger:
- [Dr. Stephan Taeger] “It’s interesting that the Lord inspired His prophets to primarily fill the scriptures with stories, rather than just a list of point one, go to church, point two, pay your tithing. There’s definitely places for that, there’s times for direct discourse. But one of the reasons why stories are so powerful is that they’re experiential. You can actually feel something, experience something alongside with a story. And stories also bring down our defenses. We start to identify with certain characters in ways, maybe if someone was speaking to us directly, we might get a little defensive about. …
[Hank Smith] “As a teacher and as a trainer of teachers, I frequently tell people, if you can give a lecture or tell a story, tell the story. I know that you could spit out exactly what you want your students to know and think, but if that story covers that same idea, tell the story. …
[Dr. Stephan Taeger] “This is one of the most powerful ways to teach our families and friends, and even to study ourselves, is to identify which scripture stories, or stories from living prophets, or church history, might help in a specific situation. For example, let’s say that someone’s going through an impossible situation that seems a very difficult task. They might study 1 Nephi 3, with Nephi getting the brass plates. Let’s say that someone’s preparing to serve a mission. They might study Alma 17 through 22. Let’s say someone’s struggling with faith. They might look at Alma 32. Or, let’s say a family has too much contention at home. They might study 4 Nephi. And then rather than directly coming at people and saying, ‘Hey, these are the ways we need to change.’ Let the Word of God do the heavy lifting. Let the scriptures point out places where we could get better. And their defenses will go down, they’ll read these ancient stories that they know are not directed to them, and then they’ll start to identify with the characters and situations, and the Holy Spirit will be able to work in their hearts, and show them ways that they can get better.”
Eye.
Cleaning Flame Sensor on Lennox Furnace (YouTube):
- The flames in one of our furnaces were igniting and then going out repeatedly. We almost called a repairman, but fortunately we learned that the furnace flame sensor might need to be cleaned. Tag teaming with my wife, Morgan, we removed the sensor, cleaned it with a dollar bill, reinstalled it, and the furnace has worked great ever since!
Read.
‘Elon Musk‘ by Walter Isaacson:
- “Between Twitterland and the Muskverse was a radical divergence in outlook that reflected two different mindsets about the American workplace. Twitter prided itself on being a friendly place where coddling was considered a virtue. ‘We were definitely very high-empathy, very caring about inclusion and diversity; everyone needs to feel safe here,’ says Leslie Berland, who was chief marketing and people officer until she was fired by Musk. The company had instituted a permanent work-from-home option and allowed a mental ‘day of rest’ each month. One of the commonly used buzzwords at the company was ‘psychological safety.’ Care was taken not to discomfort.
“Musk let loose a bitter laugh when he heard the phrase ‘psychological safety.’ It made him recoil. He considered it to be the enemy of urgency, progress, orbital velocity. His preferred buzzword was ‘hardcore.’ Discomfort, he believed, was a good thing. It was a weapon against the scourge of complacency. Vacations, flower-smelling, work-life balance, and days of ‘mental rest’ were not his thing.” - Check out General Conference Applied season 3 episode 4 to see how I tied this quote into President Jeffrey R. Holland’s April 2024 General Conference address, “Motions of a Hidden Fire”.
💡
Email each of my email subscribers and ask for their feedback on the General Conference Applied Podcast, the What? Eye. Read. 💡 Newsletter, and mitchellryanpeterson.com.
- Those of you who are subscribers, be on the lookout for that email.