Jul 25, 2015
Sometimes
we need a little down-time to just relax, but this isn't the
opportunity to fill your mind with worthless garbage
I refer
to most mainstream television as "junk food for the brain" because,
just like junk food, it fills you up but has very little
nutritional value. Television will fill your mind but it has
no beneficial value. It's like cotton candy, a lot of fluff
that tastes great in the moment, but it brings nothing of
substance.
Keep in
mind, there's very little wrong with treating yourself to a
little guilty pleasure once in a while, as long as it's not the
norm. I have people in my life who's daily routine involves
several hours worth of junk television. They've litterally run-off
a list of TV shows ... "Do you watch this... how about this... or
this?" They're amazed when I say "no, no, no." I just don't make it
a practice to mentally ingest that. But, I do love to sit and
relax and be entertained by other peoples amazing creativity.
Here is
my list of 4 TV shows which are incredibly entertaining but also
have some redemptive qualities to them. I hope you'll take a
look at some of them.
The Profit with Marcus Lemonis
This is
probably my favorite TV show.
Marcus
Lemonis is the CEO of Camping World, but now he’s the part owner of
numerous small and medium sizes businesses around the country,
because of this television show.
He heads
out to struggling businesses and helps them become profitable, by
using his business savvy and industry know-how. He can usually come
in and see exactly what's wrong with a business. In fact, I
find that in most cases, just about anybody could see what's wrong,
but when you're in the middle of it all, it's sometimes difficult
to figure out.
One of
the things I love about Marcus is that he doesn’t take any crap
from anyone. There is plenty of words bleeped out in just
about every episode. He will let an owner know when they're
making a mistake or being dishonest with him.
You will
learn SO much about running a business and the three elements
Marcus says are vital to business success, People,
Product and Process.
He’s huge
on getting the right people into place and treating them incredibly
well. Marcus treats the right people incredibly well, rewarding
them verbally as wel as monetarily when it's justified.
The
product has to be great and you have to focus on the right product,
not EVERY potential product. That’s a huge lesson. I've seen
so many businesses which have expanded beyond their core expertise
and ended up losing so much money on the fringe items, it eats into
the profit of that core.
The
process has to be streamlined and efficient as well. He’s a master
at finding opportunities to become more efficient while raising
quality as well. The process is vital.
The
Profit is available on CNBC.
Shark Tank
You’ve
probably seen the Shark Tank. It’s on prime time TV on ABC.
In fact, you can head over to ABC.com and stream previous
episodes any time you'd like. I'm a huge fan of "on demand"
televisions. That puts me in control of my entertainment
schedule.
Multi-millionaire and even billionaires sit as “Sharks” while
start-ups present their business and ask the Sharks to invest. They
ask for a specific amount and in return offer a chunk of the
business. But it's very rare for someone to get exactly what
they've asked for from the sharks. After all, they're
sharks...
The
Sharks are
Mark
Cuban - Dallas Mavericks owner
Lori
Greiner - Queen of QVC
Barbara
Corcoran - Real Estate mogul
Daymond
John - Started FUBU
Robert
Herjavec - I mentioned him in episode 114 - Cyber Security
firm
Kevin
O’Leary - Mr. Wonderful - all about making money. Made his fortune
on software for kids.
You’ll
learn so much about what it takes to develop a product that’s
attractive to investors. They ask all the questions about finances
and patents and marketability.
It's not
just business though, the sharks will sometimes key in on someone
who has such a tremendous passion and partner with them. They
know that passion is something you can't teach to someone, but all
the other business stuff, they can. It's a great lesson.
But it's not JUST passion.
Take a
look at Shark Tank if you haven't watched it yet.
American Ninja Warrior
Even if
you don’t workout or play sports, the people competing on American
Ninja Warrior will take your breath away.
The best
part of this show is that most of these people are just normal
folks with normal jobs and pretty normal lives. They
don’t have massive sponsors and they usually build crude training
facilities in their backyards. They practice after work and on
weekends. They show that, if you want it bad enough, you'll
find a way to get it.
So, what
do they do?
They take
on some of the most treacherous obstacle courses ever designed.
These are just a few examples. There are usually about 8
obsticles in a city finals. Once they go on to Las Vegas for
the nationals, there are even more and the difficulty level goes
through the roof.
-
Spinning Logs which whip you over and over and
over as you hang on until it gets to the bottom of the ramp
-
The Salmon Ladder - Like doing pull ups but each
time you pull yourself up, you have to lift the bar up about 6-8”
to another set of pegs on which it can rest.
-
The Warped Wall is 14 feet high and it’s exactly
what it sounds like, a warped wall which you have to run up and
climb over.
There are
countless other obstacles and some of them seem nearly impossible.
There have been times when we've been watching competitor
after competitor fail on one particular obsticle and wonder if it's
possible. The amazing thing is, once one person makes it, it
seems even more follow suit. The amazing power of the mind
when we finally believe something is possible.
Some of
the stories are incredbily inspriring. One example is Kacy
Catanzaro, who is just 5 feet tall but she shocked everyone by
being the first woman to qualify for the finals in Las Vegas.
She was an animal and I’ll tell you, if you have young
daughters or granddaughters, have them watch these athletes
compete. It is so inspiring.
This TV
show will motivate you to push through and do what you
originally thought was impossible. I’m not just talking about
physical abilities, but all abilities. If they can push
through and make it on this course, you can get through whatever
obstacle is standing in front of you.
It’s on
NBC or you can stream some of the best runs on YouTube or
IMDB
America’s Got Talent
This
seems like a circus show on the surface, but there are so many
talented people who have stretched to get on this show. It’s so
inspiring to me.
it's just
a singing competition. These are people who do stunts, dances,
magic, juggling, motorcycle acts, and more. Really, just
about any sort of talent.
Yes,
there are a few of the acts that are just worthless and the
producers put them on for the pure entertainment value, but they
wisely keep those to a minimum. Most of the performers are
amazing.
One thing
I really take away from this show is how little difference there is
between good and great. One more practice session per week,
or just a slight change in costuming or music and an act can go
from good to great.
Just like
life for the rest of us, the greatest determiner of success for
these contestants is perserverence. The ones who make it are
the ones who are doing what they love and never stop.
Relax This Weekend
Take some
time to relax and be inspired this weekend. There are other
great shows, but these are a fantastic starting point. I'd
even suggest you open up that DVR and schedule these in so you
catch the new episodes.
If there's a show I missed that should have been in here, reach out
and let me know. I don't watch a lot of TV, but when I do, I
want to make it time well spent.