Cedric Harris- Host of "The Invited" Podcast, Basketball Afficianado, and Risk Taker (#35)

Daniel: [00:00:19]Welcome back This is Daniel, not your normal introducing host. This timearound, we have got a special guest coming on, Cedric Harris, which Andrew andI now have realized that Cedric is. The third Harris in a row that we'veinterviewed. So I don't know what's going on there. We may have to rename thepodcast.

I don't know, like Daniel, Andrew, and the Harris clan.  Cedric is an old friend of mine. We. Workedtogether at compass slash a light for several years  are both big basketball, enthusiastic. Sowe're making the sacrifice right now to talk together on the podcast, despitethe Mavs being in game seven of the playoffs.

And that's just because we're really committed to you guysand this podcast, it's a Cedric really excited to have you on in honor of.Something that I know you and I share, which is listening to basketballpodcasts. I'm going to ask you a question to start out that  it's a little bit of a attribute to some ofthe podcasts we listened to, and it's a little bit of a callback to our workhistory.

So when you were working at compass in and you first got offof lead approvals and you were doing work on your own, who was the firstcommunicator to just bust your butt? To really let you have it.

Cedric: [00:01:39] Thank you all for lettingme invite me on definitely an honor. I've listened to several episodes andyou've had a lot of great guests such as writers, engineers, doctors. So I waswondering why you all chose me to be a guest, but nonetheless, definitely a bighonor.  But to answer your question, thefirst communicator that really got me was um, Elizabeth Buchanan.

She just really,yeah, she was hard, but it made me better. So, for those that don't know Dannywas my very first boss at this job. So not only did we work together, but he'salso the person that was responsible for teaching me the tray and also theperson responsible for, you know, making me better.

and throughout theprocess, there is a system of checks and balances. So when you're doing workand doing some research  get theinformation out to the clients, to the members before it goes out, so theclient there's a person called the communicator who looks over it to make sureeverything is right before they send it.

The person I'm referringto Eby is what we call her.  She did thisto everywhere. So I couldn't even take it personally.  She was notorious and known for sendingthings back or what do you call info researching? And that's when it's really,something's really off and you get a good old info research and you don't feelgood about it at all, but that's the first person who really got me, butcouldn't hold any grudges because every time she was writing, I was wrong.

So,  just part of thetrade.

Daniel: [00:03:02]Yeah, no doubt. Shout out to Eby, wherever you're at helping those Sarasotamembers back in the day.  But yeah it'sbeen, it was a pleasure having you on my team, Cedric. I remember I had bothyou and Suria as y'all were a couple of my first health pros and I think we had.The best team, probably like the nicest team of all time.

it was just a lot offun working together and seeing you grow and ultimately you have the chance tomove into becoming a senior kind of training people on your own. And then nowyou're actually in a different career have kind of made that jump in that move.So do you want to talk about, you know, what you've been doing lately, whatit's been like to hop over and change careers?

Cedric: [00:03:48]Yeah, for sure. So I was at compass for four and a half years. So two years Iwas a health bro. So the role that I started in, and then after. Two years Iwas promoted to become a senior. So that's what Daniel was when I firststarted. So I had my own team was able to help mold them and help them grow aswell.

And then just a few months ago. So starting March 1st wasactually the first time I actually jumped careers and went to a new job. Soright now I worked for an insurance broker. essentially what I do and what thecompany does. You get benefits through your employer  but we're responsible for helping put some ofthose benefit packages together.

Whether it be yourmedical, dental, vision long-term disability, things of that nature. And wework with different clients in many different industries to do so we help thembudget. We help figure out what's important to them. What. Benefits, they wouldlike for their employees and it based upon some of their needs, their culture,some of their pain points will help put together a package of benefits at agood price point for them, a good hopefully experience for the employeesthemselves.

And then we'll help monitor that throughout the year. We'llcheck the budget. We'll see if there are any ongoing trends.  Throughout the process, they will helpimprove the experience. And then if something wasn't the hit, something justreally didn't work out. We'll go to mark and try to find another vendor oranother party that will make the experience better for the employees and alsothe employer overall.

So start at that March1st and it's definitely been an adjustment. I was super comfortable at my old job super.  I feel like really ingrained in the culturebut starting a job in the middle of a pandemic. A lot of people lost their jobsand things of that nature. But to be able to start a new job in the middle ofpandemic and also be completely remote is something that's been an adjustment,not meeting any of my coworkers, been there for three months.

I haven't met any of them and just doing all the trainingremotely and things like that. It's been definitely an adjustment. But I feellike when you have those situations in which you are uncomfortable or it may bea little bit out of your comfort zone. So those are the situations in which youtypically learn the most and also grow the most.

So although it's been an adjustment also been a change,learning a new industry or a different part of the industry, and then doingthat remotely is definitely been something where I've learned a lot in the lastthree months and I plan to continue to do so.

Andrew: [00:06:02]that is pretty cool. When you're talking about these adjustments and changesdifficult, right. At adjusting to a new lifestyle is difficult. Are youactively keeping that in your mind? Saying, Hey, this is worth it because I amgetting a better experience. I'm learning new stuff. Are there days? And I'msure there are days, but how do you fight those days where it's kind of adragon like, man, I wish I just had that easy job.

I wish I was back to being really comfortable. Like how doyou get past that and stay excited about all these new changes that areprobably more stressful than not.

Cedric: [00:06:31]yeah, for sure. It's definitely there are stressful days, definitelyfrustrating days, but throughout that, I'll just think about different times inmy life when I've kind of experienced another change or another transition. Sostarting at my old job at companies, that was a transition within itself.

I'm originally from St. Louis, Missouri. So moving 10 hoursaway to Dallas, Texas, where I essentially knew no one starting a job wherealso knew no one and then learning a job where I didn't know the industry that well, that was also an overwhelming timetrying to get acclimated to working full-time for the first time ever out ofcollege.

Getting adjusted to just staying awake for working 40 hoursa week.  So I think back to those timesin which I did have frustrating days, long days, And in kind of a questionlike, was this really worth it? But then I think about the other end of thatwhen I got out of those times.  So I justthink about the times in which, although they were difficult, if you look atwhat you went through and so where you got to, I think it always weighs that onthe better end.

So I just think about on those harder days with my new jobanother transition period of. Okay. I did go through some tough timespreviously, just training, learning, things like that. I made it out. Okay. Andinstead of just surviving, I ended up thriving. So I try to look at those old times  that helps reassure me that everything willbe okay.

And sooner or later, once again, I will thrive.

Andrew: [00:07:48]That is such a great mindset.

your day job, likeyou're talking about, and it's already pretty mentally time-consuming, but alsowe haven't mentioned this, but you have your own podcast, the invited, How hasthat been hosting a podcast and all the lots of work that goes into it comparedwith you having these status changes and your work life and lifestyle changes.

What's that like? And tell us a little bit  about the podcast as well, because that'salways fun to talk about people's side hustles.

Cedric: [00:08:23]Yeah. Yeah. So like you said, It is a lot of work. And I didn't reallyanticipate that when I started the podcast. So like you said, the podcast iscalled the invited and we recently just finished up our first season. Soepisode one came out in February and then we wrapped up episode nine. Theseason finale is you will in April and we're actually starting to strategizefor season Sue and what we want to bring from that.

But the whole premise of the podcast is we similar to youall. We have guests on and we really like to highlight our guests.  So we want to highlight those people who havereally cool careers, really cool businesses make a huge impact in community.Cause I, I saw and I'm sure you all see this as well.

You get on Facebook or you get on LinkedIn and you'll seesomeone, you went to high school with, went to college with, and you're like,wow, you'll see like a new title. And you're like, how did they do that? Like,how did they get there? Like, I have a, guy that I went to college with and heworks for Buzzfeed.

And I was like, oh that's pretty cool. Or another guy thatwent to high school with in college way of he like, he's an engineer. So he maylearn more as they can essentially drive themselves. And they're smart enoughto know.  when they're like off track orwhen there's uneven part of the grass, things like that.

So I was like, wow, that's really cool. And the wholepremise of the whole origin of is no, one's talking about this. No one reallysees when they only see finish line, they only see the finished product, butthey don't see a lot of the hard work that goes into it. But they also theyreally don't see.

Essentially why someone does what they do. podcast is tohighlight those individuals, but also use that platform as a resource forothers who may want to embark on a similar journey, but might not know how toget started.  Simply just listening tosomeone may be able to jumpstart an idea.

Gets you started onthe right track and then also be able to help you follow your own cloudessentially and blaze your own trail. So that's the premise of the podcast.We've had a lot of different guests and different industries across the board,but like you said, it is a challenge also because the first episode of thepodcast actually came out on the last day in my old job.

So it was a start into an era, but it starts to a new era.And with starting a new job, but also starting a podcast. It was like a lot oftime management for sure. I feel like I was working two jobs and trying tofigure out both of them at the same time. So as you all know, starting apodcast, that seems cool is cool.

But also there's a lot of trial error with it. We're justtalking about before we hopped on whether it be sound or kind of the executionor what you want to talk about, how to get guests, things like that. It'sdefinitely been a challenge, but I feel like the reward is so much outweighsthe challenge so much.

I've learned so much from all the different people thatwe've had on, and it's really fun. Really get to talk about a lot of differenttopics. And me myself. I never really saw myself as a really creativeperson.  people I can really paint wellseeing well or people master athletes, and I didn't fit into any of thosebuckets.

But with the podcast, I feel like it gives me an opportunityto express myself and express some sort of creativity. Although it's not in thetraditional things that we grew up learning world. Talents or things that yousaw is creative. I think it's given me my own path essentially to flex some ofthe, my, my skills and also just have a little bit of fun on the side.

Daniel: [00:11:36]Yeah. And what Cedric hasn't shared is we kind of have a rule at a light thatthere can only be one podcasting employee at a time. So that's the reason whythat was on his last day and had to make that move. I mean, props to you formaking that sacrifice. No, not true at all. But I love what you said about howyou beforehand didn't view yourself necessarily as a creative individual andmaybe didn't fall into some of those stereotypical buckets of what people wouldsay is like creativity.

But the podcast really does bring out skills that you haveand really a creative side to you. I. Can completely relate would not callmyself a creative individual, but the podcast really does  provide opportunity to kind of step out inthat way. And. I definitely see that as a strength of yours to this day,Cedric, I think you are known for having one of the best senior interviews ofall time of all people, because you're just somebody that really speaks well.

You communicate well, especially when  you're sitting and you're talking tosomebody, whether there's a microphone or not, and just kind of answering,asking questions and I just love. The message of your podcast, which is    you see where somebody is at at the finishline, but you don't always see what it takes to get there. So let me give youthat perspective. And  you know, you maynot want to hear this, but I think you still have a lot of the  light values ingrained in your brain, talkingabout how you didn't just survive.

You thrive. That's such a buzz word and.  You do just such a great job of kind ofgiving, giving that perspective, which again, that's what made you a greatleader at the company. And so something for you that I see that I think is justan amazing quality. And  you know, I seethe finished product, but I'm curious where that came from is you have suchhigh integrity.

I've always had a lot of respect for  the way that you go about your work, the waythat you hold yourself, the way that you communicate. And so.  Where does that come from? How was thatdeveloped? Where did this just high integrity character come from?

Cedric: [00:13:35]Yeah well, thanks for the kind, whereas for sure. Baffled like a lot of theintegrity comes from just the way I was raised. So my parents also alwayshelped me to a really high standard, whether it be schoolwork or sports orwhatever the case may be. Nick extracurriculars of just making sure you do yourbest in all times.

One also I'm a terrible liar. if there was a time for me oropportunity to try to lie or get out of something or not do my best one, I'mnot good at that. I get caught very quickly and you can call my bluff reallyquickly, but then also I just feel like it would, I just had a feeling in methat I will feel bad.

that I would let someone down.  So that's one part of it. Another part Iwould say probably is like my faith. I do identify as a Christian. I loveJesus, all that good stuff. So whenever I did do anything bad, I always feltlike God was like watching me like looking down at me.

He's like, why did you do that? You knew better even at avery young age. I think a lot of that has to do with. growing up and learningabout, you know, faith and morals and the way to do things right. And the rightthings to go about things, but also just putting yourself in someone else'sshoes.

If this were to happen to me, how would I feel if this wereif I were to do this thing and whether it would be like, let's say a work notmeeting a deadline. that is, needs to be may with another person that you'reworking with. just because you don't feel like doing it or just because it's,it may be difficult or tough.

I wouldn't want someone to let me down, so I'm not going tolet someone else down, even if it takes a little bit of extra work, even if Ihave to go out of my way to help someone else. I think  those extra going the extra mile. you know,goes a long way essentially. And I think that's that kind of impact that I wantto make.

Just people knowing that I can be counted on people, knowingthat I can be trusted people knowing that I'm in their corner. those are thereasons why you say I have high integrity and those are the reasons why I cansee you to do what I do.  And trying to,you know, just help everyone out and just be a team player essentially.

Andrew: [00:15:38]okay. I'm going to be a little selfish here. I have been thinking very stronglyabout values this last week. Just weird coincidence and integrity is one of theones that I thought of. So a lot of people think of when they talk aboutintegrity is honesty or like truth and that kind of stuff, but it really iswhat you're talking about, where.

You're not just being honest because you can be honest andalso hurt people. You can be honest and not. care about what happens to otherpeople. I think that's a very important distinction and a really interestingvalue. And I think Daniel actually shares a lot with that on there as well. Soall three of us, probably at least try to focus on that as a value, but thatsaid, I love what you talked about, it is so much fun learning from people whocome onto these things and that's the whole goal.

To steal some wisdom from you. What goes along with yourintegrity? What are some of the values that you see in your life that you'relike, Hey, this pairs with who I want to be as a person. And then let me stacka question on with that and when you're following those values, when you're youhave high integrity and whatever else you want to say that you believe in onyour value side, what do you do with it?

Why do you do it? Is there a goal in mind or is it just, youwant to make a certain impact in your life? What brings you down that path?

Cedric: [00:16:45] Great question.  So some of the things that I value, there aresome of the things that I try to live by. Like you say one honesty.  Two, I would probably say just beingreliable.  And I think that's reallyimportant because someone can be there for you at one point in time, but thenanother time they might not be able to.

So I think I, in my friend group or my family, I think mebeing reliable is something that everyone kind of sees in me kind of like ago-to person. If someone needs help, someone has a flat tire, I've gotten manyof those calls.  And I think. I thinkwith doing that one in particular, I think I'll just go one by one.

I think by doing that one in particular that one for me, Iwant to do it because I think that if I am reliable, that people willessentially always come to me and that's like a relationship builder. And withme, I've really value relationships with people with family, friends, and Ialways love maintaining relationships.

So being reliable, being a good friend, a good family memberis something that I really strive for and being reliable in those situations issomething that can help enhance those relationships, but also maintainthem.  So that's one thing that Idefinitely want to try to do is just being a reliable  another thing I've loved to do something thatI value.

Is when just being a compassionate. So a lot of times peoplewill come to me and, you know, share stories or they may be going throughsomething or  they may be having a hardtime. So when not to judge someone because of what they're doing or some of thedecisions they made to give them a little situations, but to empathize and showcompassion is something that I always try to do.

One because we're notwe're now not perfect. So no, one's perfect. We've all made bad decisions.We've all made mistakes and we've all essentially not being where you want tobe in a point in time. So by showing compassion to someone during those timesis something that can help get them out of those times.

Be it just being a good listener, being a good friend, andthen by not judging them, but trying to uplift them is something that canreally go a long way and something that they'll always remember. So, if you arecompassionate to someone, they're more likely to be compassionate to someoneelse. And then they're more likely to be compassionate to someone else becauseof the good experience they had  from dayone with just reaching out and receiving compassion.

So that's another value that I try to live by just beingcompassionate and just making sure that I'm a good person. And I was one of thesailor pilot third one that I probably try to just live by you know, a goodvalue is. Essentially, just like you said honesty is another one. So I did reada book last year called the four agreements, really popular book.

And one of the agreements, the first one is actually to beimpeccable with your word. And I think that's really important becauseespecially in this day of age with social media and, you know, everyone havinga voice, which they should, but there's a lot of misinformation out there.There's a lot of  Essentially shapingyour narrative, which is good to have your own voice, to be able to tell yourown story, but to be able to sell that with, you know, the high integrity orbeing impeccable with your word, I think is really important because if peoplecan stress your word, they can definitely trust you.

And then with

what you're saying, if, people can listen to you and trustyou. You can reach an audience that you probably wouldn't have reached before.And so you all probably experienced this a lot with the podcasts. And justspeaking with a lot of different people you've probably realized how important words and the way you say thingsreally impact people.

And you've probably heard it from listening to people like,wow, they really they're really articulate. They really mean what they say. AndI really want to find out more about that person. And so I'm sure it's been theother way. It's like you've had listeners where.  They don't know much maybe about Daniel, butthey know a lot about Andrew vice-versa and just by the way you all speak, itmakes them a fan of yours and it makes them want to continue to learn moreabout you.

And then you continue to pass your message along, whateverthat may be. So just being a Peck with your word is something that I think isgoes a long way. That's something I always try to do.

Daniel: [00:20:45] You just dropped. so muchknowledge there's so many different directions that I feel like I sort of wantto go. And so, I mean, w we may circle back a couple of times on some of thethings you said, but there are a couple of immediate things that jumped out tome at least that  maybe won't jump out toall of the audience members, but just cool connections that I think of fromsome past episodes.

And so you talked about how, when you are. Operating withincompassion in our trying to, you know, build somebody up and just this ideathat if you can do that for one, then they sort of pass that on to theothers.  I think about  some studies that have really shown reallythat.  The way that you hold yourself andthe way that you live your life really does pass on to those that are closestto you.

And then it passes on further. So a lot of the studies haveactually been around obesity. And so if you have a friend that's obese, itactually increases the likelihood that you are obese. And then there've been acouple of, not as many studies, but some others talking about happiness aswell. If you have a happy friend, then you tend to be a little bit happier.

And I think that's just such. A cool way to think aboutthings. And again, just being mindful of the impacts that you have and how itcan spread beyond your circle of influence. Cause circles of influence isanother. Yeah, just really important thing. Especially today days like socialmedia culture, where there's so much happening in the world, we feel this onusto do things about it.

But  it's kind of thisquestion of how much can you really do and at the end of the day, which you cando. If you can show compassion to the people closest to you, you can listen tothe people closest to you. You can seek to understand the people closest toyou, and that does have that sort of ripple effect which is just so, sovaluable and so important.

And then the idea of. Your word and being impeccable in yourword. You know, if we go back to, I don't remember which class this was, but ittalks about there sort of three different types of persuasive logic that exist.There's I think it's pathos, ethos and logos and, oh, I'm going to probably, wehave to Google this to fact check to myself, but I think ethos is the onethat's very much tied to.

The character of the person sharing the message. And that'spowerful again, too, to just be mindful of that. If you are somebody who yourword is impeccable, then you gain that sort of ethos persuasiveness in whatyou're saying. And then you can, if you can pull in the pay of those in thelogos as well, that makes your message.

Really impactful.  Sojust, yeah, just a ton of gyms in that. And one thing you mentioned is thatthis idea of having an impeccable word is something that you picked up from abook. I know you've been reading a whole lot in COVID times what have been someof the most meaningful books that you've read and what have been some of theways you've sort of changed from that.

Cedric: [00:23:35] growing up, I was always abig reader, like in high school and middle school, but then moving into collegeand then also moving into just adulthood, those transitions you kinda vote forme anyway. I kind of lost the time or a dinner, prioritize the time to do sortof, to read just for leisure.

But like we all knowColby was a big impact to a lot of us. So, March of last year in March of 2020,it was just like, what am I going to do now to fill up a lot of my time, I nolonger have a commute to work. NOLA can go to light dinner or anything or happyhour or whatever the case may be. What is the best way to use my time so whereI can be productive.

So, picked up readingagain, and it's kind of funny because the first book that I read last year  was a book by Dave Ramsey called financialpeace. And my brother had given it to me in 2016 and it was like, Hey, youshould read this to be on top of your finance to be a wealth of those things.And just sat on my bookshelf for four years.

And I finally picked it up and kind of went through it. AndI started kind of doing listening to some of those principles and implementingsome of those in my life.  And the bigthing about Dave Ramsey, he's a big person of having no debt. And then when youhave no debt that you can really use a lot of your income to start investingand building wealth and things of that nature.

So I really took that to heart and started to implementthose principles and do the snowball method to eliminate debt. And I paid offall of my student loans at the end of December of 2020. And that took aboutfour and a half years. Total paid off my car in April of 2021. And I, that wasabout Sue years and three months that I had that car.

And so now I'm completely debt-free.  And now working on, you know, building wealthand things of that nature. So that was the first book I read last year. And itdefinitely had an impact on my life, in that way with my finances and justprioritizing certain things. So that way I could set myself up in a good placein the future.

But. From March of2020 through December, 2020, I ended up reading about nine books. So almostlike one a month. And I read a mix of fiction mix of nonfiction. So Dave Ramseyfinancial piece was definitely one. I, that was a big takeaway for me.  Probably the best non-fiction book that Iread or the one that I found the most interesting was the autobiography ofMalcolm X is told by Alex Haley.

And it's kind of random, cause like you hear a lot aboutcivil rights and the person you hear about the most of course, Dr. MartinLuther king Jr. Definitely a great leader. And you always hear the name MalcolmX, but no one really talks about, you know, him or what, anything that he'sdone.  I really didn't know much abouthim.

But a friend of mine, a friend of mine they had ordered thebook and then they actually ordered me the book as well.  And we just read it together and it was likea super impactful book because he went through multiple stages and multiplelayers in his life. And I think that's really important because although youare who you are at a certain point in time, that doesn't mean  that's who you have to be.

So it, a point intime he was in prison. He was well before he was in prison and he was agambler, a thief, a pimp, all these things, what's a prison. And he actuallypicked up reading himself and started getting educated. And became reformed inprison and then came out with a lot of knowledge and then became the civilrights activist that we know today.

But I think that's really important because a lot of timespeople kind of, kind of get stuck and kind of in a routine it's okay, this isjust who I am. This is what I do for work. This is what I always will be. Andit's just the way these, the, these are the cards that I was dealt, but thatdoesn't always have to be the case.

If you want to dosomething different, or if you want to learn about something different, youjust have to take the time to invest in yourself and then be able to pivot offof the things that you learned. So I think that story and just learning abouthim was super impactful in that way is I feel like if you aren't growing.

Or if you're the sameperson that you are today that you were a 10 years ago? I think a lot of growthhas to happen because I think we should all be changing and hopefully changingfor the better.  So I think that's whenbooks that I definitely read that was really impactful on the fiction.

And  I wouldn't say itwas like super impactful or anything, but it was just a super good read as abook card dark matter by Blake crouch  Ilove time travel and movies, and it's kind of about time travel and, you know,finding yourself and your identity. So if you just like a good science fictionbook, a good time travel piece I definitely recommend that one because it keptme , on the edge of my seat the entire time.

I probably read it in about a week just because it was justso interesting, so good.  It really keptme intrigued, but.  I've listed severalepisodes of your podcast. I've been writing down a lot of the bookrecommendations the allow your guests have been dropping. So. It's funnybecause , a lot of people like reading.

And so my recommended book list just keeps getting bigger andbigger. So now I just have to keep carving out more and more time to knock outa lot of those books and be able to talk about the things I learned from  the recommendations I continue to get fromfriends, podcasts, TV, all that good stuff.

So definitely a great use of time. But still have to, asthings are opening back up and we're coming to this new normal as we call itHave to continue to make sure that prioritize the time to read because I reallydo enjoy it. And I really find it impactful and I can really learn a lot. And Ihave learned a lot.

 Andrew: [00:28:42] Dang it, Cedric.Congratulations. First on the debt. That is freaking huge, dude. I lovethat.  That was a whole lot of stuff forme to jump off of. And I can't do all of that at once.

Cedric: [00:28:52]Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. I rambled went down a little rabbit hole a little bit butoh, thank you. It is it was definitely a big achievement for me as far as adent point, but  but yeah, we can takethis wherever y'all want to take it.

Andrew: [00:29:02]that is wild dude. And just to shout out there, I loved dark matter. That was,it is a cool book and that is why I like fiction like that. It makes you think.And it raises questions that are hard to do in a non-fiction setting that arestill important for, you know, introspection and learning and all that kind ofstuff.

And it's just, you couldn't do dark matter talking about a.You know, Hey, this is a non-fiction book and then have these kinds of things,because you can't talk about stuff that hasn't happened yet by talking aboutthings that have. So if we're to prepare for our futures and some of thechoices that we're going to have to make fiction, like that is just great.

that's cool, man.

Cedric: [00:29:37]Yes for sure. I was actually explaining that book to a friend of mine. Cause Ihave a friend that he's like, I'm not going to read it, , but I want to to knowabout it. So because you keep talking about it. So I I broke down the entirebook to him. He was like, wow. I see why books become movies, because he's Iwould want to see that on screen.

And I was like me too. So maybe one day

 Andrew: [00:29:54] He's got a lot of bookslike that. I hope somebody starts picking him up and be like, Hey, we're justgonna make a whole universe of all of your books and all the cool stuff you do.Cause he does some really cool ones.  

instead of addressing all of the cool things you talkedabout, because they're all really important, we're just going to tell everybodyto go listen to your podcast and go learn about all those things from you,because that's really cool.

Instead, let me shift you over to something. I've beenthinking about related to you here? One of the few people we've had that havecome on that is not a native born Texan. What is that like coming to Texas? Notas a text. And are we as crazy as everybody else in the U S thinks or is itjustified? The things we do and the things we say.

Cedric: [00:30:41]You all are definitely crazy.  I'll startthere. But yeah, I'm originally from St. Louis, Missouri is previouslymentioned. So, what brought me to Dallas in the first place was actuallycompass. So I was at, I went to the university of Missouri and they wereactually recruiting, going to campus.

And I interview still in Missouri, still in college, and Igot the job and moved down to Texas.  Andhave it have any of y'all ever been in Missouri or St. Louis, Missouri. All.

Andrew: [00:31:04] I've been to Kansas city,Missouri, which I know doesn't actually count. So that's it for me.

Daniel: [00:31:08]Yeah, Kansas city in Columbia for me, never St. Louis.

Cedric: [00:31:11]Okay. Yeah, St. Louis is a cool place, but It doesn't have a lot to offer as far as what, not as much to offer asTexas. So I would say Texas is a cool place because I've definitely met a lotof cool people here.  Done a lot ofthings that I probably wouldn't have done previously, just and there are a lotof always something going on, different events and things of that nature.

But at the same time, people in Texas love, Texas, they lovethemselves and they think that nothing else is better in the Texas, which. Idon't know if that's true. Like I didn't come from a soup for a big city, likeSt. Louis has, I guess, a mid sized city. So if I came from LA or New York orsomething like that, I would probably be like, these Texans are so full ofthemselves and they don't know what is outside of the state of Texas.

But coming from asmaller place, incumbent to Dallas, I definitely see why I definitely see thebenefits of being a Texan.  But. As wecould see with just the way and the pandemic and way in which Texas was a lotdifferent than a lot of other different places. And even now I mean, I don'tthink we ever really closed down that much.

Like people are still looking at us like we're crazy. I'vehad several family members, like, are you are really out there? Just partyingall the time? No mass no, nothing. I'm just like I'm at home. I don't, I knowpeople that do, I have friends that are out there, but I'm just relaxing.

So,  it's definitely aworld of its own. And I think I'm also, I think I've kind of adapted that alittle bit, adopted that a little bit. Like I have a. Kind of started fillingon myself as a text and a little bit. So I might be crazy soon.

Andrew: [00:32:37]All right. I'm looking forward to you. Open, caring, or evolve. That's when youknow, you've made it.

Daniel: [00:32:43]I was going to say, when you say that a Texas barbecue is better than barbecueup from the Kansas city area,

Andrew: [00:32:49]you're going to get us in trouble.

Daniel: [00:32:50]I know that's a hot, that's a hot button item.

Cedric: [00:32:52]Yeah. I don't know about that. Like, uh,

Andrew: [00:32:55]Cedric, and troubles. What I mean?

Cedric: [00:32:57]I guess it's good. I would say that, but like, it's nothing I've never hadbefore. Like it's not like a top tier. It's definitely good.  But it's not like a top tier barbecue. I'vebeen in a place with a lot better barbecue, including Missouri. Memphis haspretty good barbecue. But if you ask anyone from here, especially Dallas,they've never had anything better than pecan lodge, which is good, but I don'tknow if it's the best.

Daniel: [00:33:19]yeah. I mean, I agree with you on that. I think the best barbecue I've had isprobably a little bit closer to Austin. Con lodge is good, but  I need to try some of the Kansas city areacause I've done Tennessee. Memphis is good. I think I like Texas a little bitbetter, but I got to broaden my horizons.

Andrew: [00:33:36]the great barbecue. We're just going to shift this whole podcast into abarbecue travel log.

Cedric: [00:33:41]I wouldn't be mad at that.

Andrew: [00:33:43]I wouldn't either. I get to drive around. That'd be cool. You guys let me knowwhen you're ready.  I hear Cedric has apaid off car so he can drive and uh, I'll buy the barbecue and you know, we'llsee if we bring Daniel along or not.

Okay. Besides our barbecue journey that that'll createstories of its own down the road. But for now, one of my favorite things thatwe get to do at the end of the podcast is ask you if you have any stories andit can be about us, it can be about you. It can be about people you don't know.So if there's anything that you like, you've been waiting to tell that story.

And maybe you can't tell when on your own podcast, becauseit's too inappropriate or something, you know, I don't know. Let's see what yougot.

Cedric: [00:34:25] So this is something thatactually happened to me last Friday. I want to say. I

think it's pretty cool. I think it's pretty cool. Cause I'ma big basketball fan. As we talked about, the Mavericks are playing game sevenright now against the Clippers.  So don'tknow who's winning that one, but hopefully we do win.

But I believe it was last Friday, the game three or gamefour of the series. Dallas Mavericks had a home game and me and two buddies, wewent to go watch the game at a sports bar in uptown Dallas called Moxie's. So,we're just there watching the game, hanging out. The game went off theMaverick's loss, unfortunately, and they were just hanging out just talking,catching up and everything.

And then we're sitting toward the front of the restaurantnext day. You know, it's two guys with gray sweatsuits on.  And one is Terrence Mann who plays for the LAClippers. And then another one is DeMarcus cousins who also plays for LAClippers. So they're just coming in to get a bite to eat. Next thing you knowMarcus Morris, who also plays for LA Clippers, he comes in and then Damon Joneswas an assistant coach of the Clippers.

He comes in Yogi Farrow. Who's also.  He's played for the Mavericks. He now playsfor the Clippers he comes in. So I'm like, wow, this is super cool.  Just seeing all these athletes that are sevenfeet tall, like right in front of me, I thought that was pretty cool to see howbig they are, like in, in Parson into this to be in the same.

Like they're just literally just grabbing a bite to eatafter a win a wish. I wish they would have lost weight. Hey, that's a differentstory.  And then another player, the onlyplayer from the Mavericks that was in there with JJ Redick.  He's actually injured right now, so notplaying, but I'm a huge fan of his podcast.

So he has a podcast called the old man of the three. Andthey have all sorts of guests on there from the guy who runs Disney to theexecutive producer of the Grammys to lots of different basketball players, likeKevin Duran, Damian Lillard.  So that'sthe, actually the only person that actually went up to speak with, because I'ma huge fan of his pod and been a fan of him since he played at duke.

So we had a shortexchange just wished them good luck. Wished them good health, and then justtold them I was a huge fan of a podcast. And he's one of my podcasts influenceslike as a host, I look at him and it's he's pretty clueless. I try to kind ofmodel my host game after him, so to speak.

And we did a littleDAP at the end, so I thought that was pretty cool.

Andrew: [00:36:30]That is

Daniel: [00:36:31]so jealous, man. That's amazing. That's such a good story. I mean, you even gotto talk to Reddick. That's cool. I mean, I hope he plays soon. I agree. Man,I'd be so star struck ones, like one just like starstruck being around allthose players, but two, like you said, So they're just some big men there.

Not only are they big men, they're big men that are morecoordinated and athletic than I am. And.

Cedric: [00:36:55]Yeah, so that was pretty cool. It's funny because I guess it would have been sorecording this on the Sunday. So I guess this past Thursday  I had a friend who was in the same area thereat the same sports bar and they saw later walk right past them. So I was like, wow. I was there at the wrongtime.

I could've met Hawaii. But I think all the players stay in the hotel, this connected to thesports bar. So they were probably just coming down from their room to get abite to eat, but. If you're looking for to meet someone, I know like the friendthat SOC Hawaii, she's a woman and she's I could have been a basketball wife ifI would've known who that was.

So if you look, if you if you're looking to be a basketballwife or if you're just looking to me, see NBA players, let me know. And I'llpoint you in the right direction.

Daniel: [00:37:35]Let me know I want to be there. I want to be a basketball wife.

Cedric: [00:37:38]All right. Gotcha. So hopefully the Maverick may gets around too. So that waythere'll be more home games in Dallas. So there'll be more opportunities to seeplays from another team, maybe. So, we'll see.

Daniel: [00:37:48]man. That's a great story. I love it. Okay. So in honor of basketball podcast, one that you turned me on toyou that I've listened to quite a few episodes now is the knuckleheads podcast.And one thing that they always ask their guests that I want to ask you is startbench cut. I think that's kind of, I think that's kind of a common, maybebasketball question, but you you're pulling for the Mavericks.

You live in Dallas, which I appreciate, but I know thatyou're a true basketball love is the Lakers. So I'm going to ask a start bench, cut with three Lakers players. And first one is, I know he's only been therea couple of years now, but Bron, LeBron, and then Kobe,

Cedric: [00:38:25]okay.

Daniel: [00:38:26]and then Kareem.

Cedric: [00:38:27]Ooh. Okay. Okay. Okay. So the reason I am a Lakers fans, because Missouri, theentire state of Missouri has no professional basketball teams. So I gravitatetoward the game because my favorite player of all time is Kobe Bryant at thelate gray Kobe. So he's the reason that I'm a Lakers fan to begin withanything, even in the rougher years, we weren't as good or even with, after heretired.

Had to keep thepurple and gold on because that's what I grew up on. So I couldn't, I could notstart Kobe just because of that. So Kobe is going to get the starting positionno matter what. And then the whole brown and Kareem thing, Kareem retiredbefore I was even born.  So I neverreally got a chance to see him play  allthe highlights.

All I see is one shot, the sky hook. I've never seen him doanything else. So I know he's the NBA's all time leading scores. So I know hegot booked. It gets in different ways because I actually never saw him play.I'm going to have to cut him. And they were going to bench Brian  because he's just not going to be Coby in myopinion, but he did get the Lakers a championship and he's obviously people sayhe might be the best player ever.

So we're going to bench start Koby bench, LeBron and Karimhas to go just how the fact that I never saw him play.

Daniel: [00:39:38]All

Cedric: [00:39:39]I'm not old enough.

Daniel: [00:39:40] That's a respectableanswer. I mean,  it may be getting someof our older listeners like calling us nephews or whatever the lingo is. I Ihear people argue that Kareem should be the greatest of all time, kind of inthere with LeBron and Michael. And I'm kind of in the same boat as you, that Inever really saw him play.

I think I saw him in the movie airplane before I ever sawany basketball stuff.  So yeah. Yeah. Ithink that, I think I could have predicted that answer maybe.

Cedric: [00:40:07]Yeah, I mean, Kobe's Kobe is the guy and you just have to, you have to roll with Kobe.  But while we're on the topic of stories, I dohave one more. I want to share  wa whilewe have some time before we get off the top of the stories, but it's a storyinvolving Daniel.  And one time is thatyour listeners probably know you're like crazy athletic and do like crazyathletic things.

So you know, you doyour Spartan races.  And so he recruiteda bunch of guys from work  guys anchorsfrom work to help train for a sport and race and maybe even participate. So Iwent to the trainings for the spider races. I didn't actually participate inone.  But the training was super fun andit really made me realize like how out of shape out who I was at the time  and how in shape some people are.

So one of the trainings actually involved as going to anobstacle, warriors, gym, and we actually saw a guy in there that was actuallyon American ninja warrior. I believe.  SoI had all these different things where, you know, you run up a, run up theramp. You do the little you know, testing, upper body strength.

Yeah. Things like that. But there was one particular onewhere it was just, you know, the straight up going up the rope climb and we'reyou know, taking turns, there were two ropes, so we were competing against eachother.  So I was going against one,another, one of our coworkers shout out to Zach Austin.

And we were racing for the time and I was beat him theentire time. And Daniel how high would you say the rope was?

Daniel: [00:41:26]Very high. I, it had to been. I don't know, maybe 20 to 30 feet up at the topof it. It was up there.

Cedric: [00:41:35]Okay, so yeah, 20 or 30 feet up. So we're racing and we've already been likeworking out at this point in time. So. I'm beating him by a nice margin, but then it appointed sound as I'mtoward the top. And I just get really tired and then I'm like, okay, all I haveto do is I'm close enough to where I can, if I can just swing to hit the top, Iwill hit it in our win.

So I kept trying to swing instead of just doing the rightthing and pulling myself up one more notch to hit the top. And then out of thecorner of my eye, see Zach he's coming. He's not done. I thought I hadn'tfinished. He's not done. Some I'm continually trying to swing, swing and swing.And once on my swing to try to hit the top.

And then my hand that was grabbing the rope, just let go ofthe rope. And I fell all the way to the bottom, like all the way to the bottom.I land on the mat and I landed flat on my back. But shout out to the mat. Iwasn't injured at all because it would have been a really nasty fall. So I popright up.

But the way that everyone looked at me, when I popped up,you would've thought they saw a ghost because apparently it looked really badfrom the people they were looking at the bottom and they thought I was likegoing for it. I thought I was dead. Everyone was like, are you okay? Are youokay? And I'm like, yeah, I'm fine.

I'm good. But apparently it looked really bad and I, andZach actually won because he actually hit the top. So I did all that fornothing. But I thought that was a really cool story because  it shows, you know, how long I've known Danyou and some of the things that we, you know, do for fun. Just climbing ropes,just for fun.

But also  the fall is kind of legendary. They stilltalk about it. They used to talk about it at work. Like every six months,somebody like, man at time you fail, I heard you fail three years ago and I'mlike, yeah, it did. But I lived to tell the tale.

Daniel: [00:43:12]Yeah. Yeah. And there are a few things that I'll add to the story from theperspective of somebody standing on the ground. And so. Like you said, I goteverybody together to kinda do this fun thing and train. And so I think if thiswas like a work event, it would have been under my purview. And so seeing youat the top swinging to try, I hit the bell.

There's a part of me that was like really proud oh yeah,like Cedric has given it all, like he's going to win this. And this is a goodcompetition, but then there's a part of me that quickly realized like, Holycrap. He could fall. And I don't know what's going to happen. Yes, there's acrash pad, but that's really high up there.

And then when you fell, my stomach dropped. I was so worriedfor you. I was worried what, like the repercussions were going to be. I waslike, all of these co-workers are going to be here and witness me causingCedric to die. And so I was so relieved when you got up and. Zach was also, youknow, very relieved obviously, but it's just funny to me that he first madesure to get the bell and Whit and then come down and be like, Hey man, you allright?

But that rope was no joke. I think Donovan was your roommateat the time, like lost pretty much all of the skin on his hands climbing up anddown that.

Cedric: [00:44:29]yeah, he wasn't smart. So he like went to get down, but didn't know how, so hejust let the rope, like he just loosen his grip and just slid down the rope,but kept his hands firmly on the rope. And so yeah. Yeah, there, it looked bad.If you saw the pictures, you would think he, I don't know what you think.

Like he got into a fire or something. Like all his skin onhis fingers were bad. He say at the type with gloves at work for the next week,his fingers hurt too bad. It was crazy. But nonetheless, we all survivedbarely, I guess. But it was fun.

Andrew: [00:45:00]is awesome. And I think the guy I saw was Carsten, I think is his name because.I too went to the gym with Daniel when we were training for the same race. Anduh, he made me realize how inadequate I was. Okay.

Cedric: [00:45:12]I think that's where like a lot of people, like a lot of professional athletes,no matter what the sport is, they make it look so easy. Did they make anyonethink they can do it, but once you actually try and see what goes into it,you're like, there's a reason that I'm watching on a TV and they're actuallydoing it.

Andrew: [00:45:28]Yeah. Yeah. It's a whole different level. I actually really don't like watchingsports very much and I'm finally getting to it because it is understanding likethat. I just always had trouble understanding why, what they were doing wasinteresting because they all look like they're the same level of athleticism.

I was like, whatever. So no different than watchingsomething else, but it's not they're monsters. It's wild.

Cedric: [00:45:50]Yes indeed.

Andrew: [00:45:58] Cedric, we like to closeoff with a challenge and if you've got one, we'd love to hear it.

Cedric: [00:46:05]okay. Cool. So I mentioned the four agreements book by Don Miguel Ruiz earlierin the show. I mentioned the first agreement being impeccable with yourword.  But the second agreement, thethird agreement are the two I've found the most impactful. And essentially thesecond one and the third one, there don't take things personally and then don'tmake assumptions.

So a lot of the problems that a lot of people have in life area lot of the conflict comes from those two things.  If someone canceled on you for dinner or  someone wasn't able to make your wedding,wherever the case may be. A lot of times we take those things personally, andwe think it's about something that we did or something like that.

But a lot of times when dealing with people.  A lot of times it just has to do with them.Maybe they, you know, glad it got a flat tire or whatever the case may be andcouldn't make it. So a lot of the times we take things personally withinteractions, with people, coworkers, family, friends, loved ones, significantothers.

And that causes to feel some sort of way. And they, we mayreact based upon us taking it personally. But a lot of the times, if you take,if you don't take things personally you have a higher likelihood of that. Notletting that bother you and that you can remain in good spirits and you cancontinue on a positive track and then continue to interact with those peopleand not cut them off or cancel them or whatever the case may be.

And to go along withthat, Not making assumptions. A lot of the signs, we, the things we takepersonally, or because we made assumptions about what happened. So instead ofasking someone like, oh, why weren't you able to make dinner? Or why did you dothat? We just make assumptions about why they did these things.

We create our own narratives in our head. And then becauseof that we move a certain way or act a certain way. Based upon an assumption.So those two things together, I think can really lead SU less conflict withindividuals, but also it has keeps you in better spirits. It's less things toworry about.

A think your stress level goes down every night, constantlycreate narratives in. Worried about what other people may or may not think, ormay not be doing. And then because of that, you can continue to use that time,use that energy to focus on things that are important to you, focus on thingsthat will help benefit you and others, and that you can still continue tomaintain those relationships with those individuals or with those parties that.

If you didn't do that, you may have taken things personallymade assumptions and might not be friends anymore wherever the case may be. SoI think those two things can definitely keep you in a good spirit. And like yousaid, you can be dead by tomorrow. So you want to make sure that what you'redoing today leads to your best life.

And I think those are two things that can, while you'reliving, can make sure your quote unquote, living your best life and living intothe best of your ability. So I would like to challenge people to not takethings personally and not make assumptions. I know it's hard. We all do it.It's kind of human nature, unfortunately.

But if you just challenge yourself to  take a step back, think about it, evaluatethe situation, take some of those personal feelings out in some of those assumptions out of it. I think alot of us will be better off.

Andrew: [00:49:00]That is a perfect challenge. And I'm definitely gonna be giving that a trybecause that is something that I am not great at. I assume a lot of maliciousintent in my life. So thank you for that challenge. That's really good. Andthank you for coming on Cedric. We really appreciate you joining us. This hasbeen a blast and Daniel, thank you for letting me meet this wonderful.

compatriot of ours in the podcast world. And it has justbeen really cool having you on to everybody listening. Please go check out.Cedric Harris's podcast, the invited  Itis a wonderful educational, interesting interview format podcast. He has a lotof really cool people that do a lot of really cool things on it. definitelygive that a listen.

It might even be better than ours, but you know, Cedric's onthere and he came to hang out with us. So we can't be too far behind him. Thankyou guys for listening and we look forward to connecting with you soon.

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