Gratitude "Podcast" Interview: Michael Charest

Well, hi, everybody. It's David George Brooke, that gratitude guy with yet another special guest on my gratitude podcast interview regarding the pandemic. And I was thinking about this young man that I met a number of years ago, probably six or eight or 10 years ago now or something. Hit it off immediately. I thought, man, I got to stay friends with this guy. He's a sharp young man. His name is Michael Charest. He's out of Dayton, Ohio. Michael, welcome to the podcast

Hey, good to be here. If I don't get another compliment today, it's okay. That's good enough

A young man, thank you. Which either says how young you are or how old I am, one of the

somewhere probably in between. So first question I have, and I've mentioned this to several people prior to these interviews

is just about maybe how somebody is it coping with something, there's thoughts and ideas and so forth

So first question is, what has been your best coping mechanism? to deal with this whole pandemic these last five or six weeks

Wow. Awesome. Can I say two quickies? One is working. I'm working

And so focusing on the business of earning a living for myself through service of others

So helping other people and keeping the business going and running and focus on that

And then two, I just looked out there, getting outside, get that fresh air

because it is kind of easy to stay inside more. And that's, every time I go outside, I feel better

So those are. That's a good one because I think there's strength and numbers

I've heard the exercise piece to get outside, get the fresh air a lot. And so that is really, really great because you've got to have a decent coping mechanism

because this is clearly unprecedented. Unbelievable. We were talking today. I started by saying this is unprecedented

And then I said it's unprecedented in our lifetime anyway. It's probably the closest thing to the depression that our parents, grandparents went through

It's unbelievable. Totally, totally agree. So you know me as that gratitude guy

And I think if you think about what you grateful for has it changed what you grateful for today versus five or six weeks ago leading into this Have you noticed it shifted at all How has that changed In fact I mad at myself I wanted to grab my gratitude journal that I got you

I've already got one full one and I'm working on the second one. And I wanted to show it and I didn't grab it

But yes, it has. And I spend every morning, just like you advise

first thing in the morning working on gratitude. And how it's changed is just fact, no matter how much

much we focus on gratitude, we forget the things that we take for granted. And so now it's like

you know, I'm thankful that we can still go outside and have been. Or, you know, I'm thankful for

food and even really understanding and appreciating exactly how food goes from being created or grown

to coming to my house and all the people that need to be involved to our health care system. I mean

you know, I was in the hospital seven months ago for my neck

How many people had to go to work to serve me that day

You know, I didn't really think about it. I did, and I was grateful for them. But now seeing what our health care workers are going through, times more

So. Wow. Yeah. It really has. Good point. It is interesting how it does kind of shift

And I think that one of the things that this has done for me and a number of people

has helped people to realign their priorities to what they're grateful for

So that's really true. And if I think about your life and the things that you've done and anything from being in the golf club world in Michael Rock's coaching and bucket list and different things, you have a lot of things going on, always have

It's one of the things I thought was really neat when you and I met. And so any thoughts or tips or ideas or that type of thing for people that are stuck in their house or condo in terms of what they can maybe be doing during this sort of downtime, so to speak

Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously it's these are things that have to be fun for you

But use that, I mean, again, for me it's used the time to grow, right

You know, you mentioned bucket list. I think 99 of people at least those of us that are fortunate enough to not be worrying about putting shelter over our head and how we going to feed ourselves We have a bucket list and it could be as simple as learning a foreign language or being a better parent to more exotic things like trips and travel and skydiving and things like that

But whatever they are, however many they are, perhaps use this time

Just pick one off your list. And, you know, if you do have more time now when it's being spent different than it used

to be spent, allow yourself to grow during time. I mean, I know it's not always easy, but when I'm down and there are

days where it's hard to get out of bed. Michael, you want to be, you want to look back at this and be proud at how you handled it

during this time. And so that's what I would say. In addition to the fun stuff, you know

spending time with your kids and doing puzzles or games and stuff, maybe there's something

you can grow with something that you've always wanted to do. Yeah, yeah, that's a great

great tip. And do you think, and back to you personally, this is going to end at some point. And we don't

know when. We know it'll end at some point it'll be a vaccine. It'll be some sort of step back

into regular different levels back to society again, if you will. But is there anything that

you're thinking about now that, boy, I'm going to hit the ground running when this thing is over

that's made you shift. Maybe you're in your business world or even personal world, too

about what you're going to do differently once this is over, kind of formulating it now

For me, it's travel. I've always dreamed, and you and I have talked about this. I have places that I want

to go and experiences that I want to have. And, you know, I ask myself, if not now, when

More than ever. Like, what the, excuse me, I was going to say, but like, what the hell am I

waiting for? So this ends, I'm on a plane. I've not been to Paris. Paris is number one on my list

Excellent. There are many other places. But that's the biggie for me. I mean, I'm already

less to spend quality time with my family and do other things that add value to the world

So kind of a little bit selfish, but that's it for me. Well, which is why your bucket list effort is so important because I think about how I'm a lot

older than you are, but it doesn't matter. It just flies by wherever we are in this continuum

It's like, are you kidding me? How do I get to be this age all of a sudden? And it's gone by quick

So at least you can get to do those things that were on that bucket list or the things you

wanted to do. So that important So last excuse me last question is does Michael have a sort of a quote or a saying or sort of a mantra or something that is sort of overreaching of you in terms of how you run

your life or if you had a philosophy, I guess I'd say to, that's getting you through this

or has gotten you through life in general. You kind of look to, excuse me, during times like this

What a great question. That's a great one. So I'm going to share a quote that I learned in college, even before that

And then I take one minute to explain it. But it's take time to appreciate the little things in life because the big things may never come

And then you've hung around for nothing. Oh, wow. Yeah. And just a quick explanation, I'm an optimist, and I believe the big things will come

So that quote can be taken a legal negative. Like, what do you mean the big things won't come

I believe they will. But let's face it. Not everybody accomplishes all their dreams

And to Paris may not come. We don't know what's going to happen later today or tomorrow

And so today, what, you know, that walk outside, that gratitude journal in the morning

taking the time to smell the roses, if you will, and be mindful of today

well, you pursue your bigger dreams, I think is the world. Nice

Nice. I really like that. And I see that too about, because I think some people, I'm a very optimistic person and

focus on gratitude. It helps you focus on what you have versus what you don't have and really look into the

future and not worrying about the past too much. Another reason why you and I have connected so well over the years

But it is funny. There will always be the negative naysayers that, you know, no matter what it is, they'll find

out what's negative. And I used to joke about my dad. I'd say, good morning, dad

And he'd say, what's good about it? And I thought, how do you get an attitude like that

So I really like that. but I think it's almost like, you know, focus on that

and then the big things may or may not come, but if they do, how phenomenally great do you feel

because you've got to experience it? Because you can't appreciate high until you've seen low

There you go. So you've got to take both. That's exactly right. Take them both. You've got to take them both

Well, just as I suspected, excuse me, some great tidbits and nuggets and chunks and everything like that, Michael

Thank you so much for being on the podcast. I'm psyched. Thanks for having me

That was awesome. You bet. You bet. Thank you