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Conversations with Kate is like a conversation with your friend, hairstylist, or therapist, where we will talk about music, life stories, and everything in between, with interviews and guests sprinkled in. As an LCC student, it's an honor and I love bringing a fresh perspective to the podcast menu on LCC Connect. I am your host, Kate. Let's get into this episode. All right, so I have a special guest today with me, me, my daughter, Autumn Sanford. Say hi.

Hi.

We are here to talk about your schooling. And again, this is my daughter, Autumn sanford. She is 17, and we're going to talk today about the fact that she is in high school and she is going through college at the same time. So go ahead and tell anyone who's listening a little bit about yourself.

Well, I'm 17. I just play sports and do school.

Okay, well, that's a good place to start. So you go to school and what sports do you play?

I play softball and volleyball. Okay.

Do you do anything else with your time besides those things?

Hang out with family and friends. That's literally it.

Yeah, it is summertime. We are recording this in the middle of June. So what. What's your summer been like so far?

Um, well, this is my first week of summer. It's been fun. I've been busy the whole time. That's good.

That's good.

Yeah.

What have you been up to?

I don't know. Just, like, hanging out with friends, going to the pool, tanning. Right.

Nice. Nice. Okay, so now that we've gotten to know you just a little bit, talk to me about what made you decide on the Surtec program and in general.

So what originally got me started was I've always been like. I've always had, like, a teacher personality since I was little. You have. My grandma used to tell me stories about me yelling at my brother. When we were little kids, we were playing the teaching game, and I was a teacher, and I was just yelling at him. Okay. All the time. And so it started when I was younger, but then when the opportunity came up, my sophomore year, of them bringing a education program into the Wilson Talent center, and it was the first year of them ever having it. This is the second year, so it's still a little bumpy. But, you know, it's a great program. Okay. I recommend going if you can.

We'll give you all the information if you're interested. There will be links provided. So talk to me about what the process was like in 10th grade. Like, what happened?

So. Well, it started with 8th grade. They didn't have this program.

Okay.

And then 10th grade, when that program was an option, we went and visited the Wilson Talent center. And they had told me, like, you can also get college courses through this, but you have to do, like, multiple steps. And I was like, okay, like, start my career early.

Yes.

And start college early, graduate with a degree. You know, and so basically going through this whole, like, not roundabout, but, like, process of. We had to go to the Wilson Talent center, and I had to give them my PSAT scores, my grades and all this stuff to be accepted into the program. And it was like a thick packet.

Like, I do remember that.

Ridiculously thick. And that's when I was like, okay, you know, it's not that big of a deal. It's courses, like, didn't think anything of it.

Right.

And then we went to this meeting with everybody there, and I was like, wow, there's a lot of kids. Yeah. Like, that are doing the same thing as me.

Right.

But nobody's ever talked to me about this before. I don't. I don't know what I'm going into. Nobody in my family knows what I'm going into. Because it was new. Yeah. Which they had done this. It's called Certech program. They had done it through other programs in the Wilson Talent Center.

But not education specific.

Yes. But in the education class, you have these Ferris courses that are embedded into the class. So no matter what, when you take the education class, you're getting college courses.

Right.

And college credits. But when you take the certac, you are getting lined up for your degree.

Right.

So you have a plan of study. Okay. And you get, like, all your classes that you have to take in your first two years is usually just your prereqs. But for me, it's different because I'm in the education class, and some of those classes are embedded in my class.

Right.

So not my prereqs, but, like, my. The education classes that I need to get my degree. Yes. That's embedded in my class, so I don't have to take those.

Right.

I'm already. Whatever grade I get in my Wilson class is what I get in my college class.

Gotcha.

And I don't know, it's just. It was a different feeling when I first, like, started the program. Okay. I didn't really know, like, what I was doing. Like, the first class I took was a English 150.

And I was like, how was that?

This is ridiculous. Like, why did I do this to myself? Thinking, like, this is the most ridiculous thing I've Ever done. Why did I choose to do College at 15? Like, are we serious? But because there was two options for us. You can take the first class you'll always take through the Surtech program if you're in education is the English 150. And we have a great professor on campus, Rick Cook. He also teaches here at lcc. Okay.

Okay. Good to know. I have to go find him and say hi.

He is a great teacher. He helped me write. Like, I have never wrote a better essay in my life. And he had told us.

We all know how much you love writing.

Yeah, he told us you're never done writing. It's just do. Ooh. And so throughout the entire class, you can edit all of your old essays that you wrote in the class. So your first essay, you can edit that and get a better grade on it. The entire class.

That's great.

And he will correct it, and he'll send you voice notes to walk you through what you've done or what you need to change. And you learn so much in the class. He's an amazing teacher. Just watch your ears. He is really loud. He knows that.

So talk to me a little bit about that first visit to Wilson and what made you, like, specifically go. Okay. The education program is where I want to go.

So when I first walked in. Well, I went and visited the other programs first. Yes. Education was my last one, and I didn't get, like, contact much with, like, other students. Well, I did kind of when I went to the cosmetology, it was the teachers, Right. And they had us, like, dye some hair.

Okay.

Which obviously, I already knew how to do that. So I was like, okay, this is just boring.

Right.

But most people don't know how to do that yet, you know? Yeah. And, like, they walked us through the salon and stuff, but I didn't really get much content. Like, the kids would walk us through and tell us.

Right.

But. And then when I went into the education, I was greeted by the students, and it was. The teachers had nothing to do with it.

Oh, wow.

Like, it was these students telling you about the class, telling you what goes on in the class, what the classroom is like. And then you got to do, like, an activity. Like, I got to make a water bottle.

Okay.

Like, customize a water bottle for, like, teaching.

Okay.

And they had a bunch of, like, stickers and stuff for me. And I was like, wow, this is, like, a great atmosphere. And our teacher then was not there. I think she was on sick leave, I believe. I don't remember correctly, but I Was like, wow, I love this class, even without meeting the teacher.

Right, right.

And I was like, okay, well, I have a college opportunity in this class to earn 60 college credits. Yeah, that's amazing.

Yeah.

And then I'm also getting to go out and teach kids, so I'm getting placement and I'm being able to connect with kids.

Yes.

And I was like, this would be great for me because I love kids. I've always been, like, a kid person. Yes, you have. So, you know.

Yeah, that's good. That's good. Tell me a little bit about specifically the days that you're at, like, what your week looks like when you're at Wilson.

Okay. So starting with this year, I'll start with this year, and then I'll talk about next year.

Yeah.

So starting this year, when you first come in, you're there for probably three months just at Wilson. Okay. And you're in the class, you're learning how to make lesson plans. You're learning everything you need to know about kids. Everything you need to know as a teacher, you're learning in those first three months.

Okay.

And then you get what's called a placement, where you. You pick a school and a teacher, and there's a bunch of stuff you have to go through to get to go to these teachers, you know, because you can't just show up and be like, I'm coming into your class.

Right.

You have to talk to the teacher, get to know them. Which, lucky for me, the teacher that I had, she was my student educator and also my little brother's teacher. Yes. So I had already had, like, a relationship with her and the principal. Yes. And so kind of requested. Yes. I was basically. I told her, I said, I don't care what classroom I put in, whatever you want me in. She said, well, this class has behavioral issues, and I want you in it. And I was like, oh, okay. Throw all at me my first year, that's fine.

Yep. But great way to get that out of the way.

That first, like, month you're at placement, you're there for Tuesdays only. Okay. Or like one to two months. Okay. After Christmas is when we went into two. So we'd be there Tuesdays, Thursdays.

Right.

And you're only there for the morning until you have actual class at your school.

Right.

Which was amazing. The teachers were super flexible at Wilson. Like, if you missed one of your placement days and you wanted to go for a full day. Yeah. They. They send an email to your school saying, she's excused.

That's wonderful.

Teach the whole day. They do track where you're at so you can't do nothing bad.

Oh yeah, I do remember there was a kerfuffle with your, your app a couple of times. Cuz I did get a phone. What is it called?

Jibble.

That's right.

And sometimes like won't work, but it works most of the time. Gotcha, Gotcha. Okay. But then we went there Tuesdays, Thursdays and then next year because we already have like all of the education things that we need to know to be a teacher.

Right.

We'll only be at Wilson on Tuesdays. So Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, we are out in placement teaching. That's wonderful.

How excited are you for that?

Very excited.

Yes. You're going to be back in Ms. Kaufman's classroom, right?

Yes, I am. We love her.

Wonderful. We do love Ms. Kaufman. Would you recommend Sir Tech program specifically to other students? Why or why not?

So it's very like on and off. Like if you are not gung ho about college, don't do it. Okay. Because.

Okay.

These classes go on your permanent record. If you fail it, it's on your permanent.

Right.

College record. Like right now I have a full transcript to Ferris State.

Right.

And all my classes that I have taken are on that.

Right.

So if you're the type of person to fall behind in your work or like if you don't do good with online classes, do not do Surtec. Okay. Because you will not.

Yeah.

Do very well. When I first came in, I had never taken an online class and I was like, what if I do terrible? What if I can't learn online?

Right.

Because I'm a face to face person. Like I want to be talking to you.

Yes. But have no idea where you get that from.

Yes. But I, I loved it personally.

Okay.

And I have like, I started off at a young age with a reading disability. It's still hard for me to like read and like remember what I read. So I have to read it like seven times. Okay. So the classes were challenging because they're college courses and I have to like reread everything multiple times to understand it.

Right.

But other than that, it was like amazing. Okay.

And what classes have you taken?

I've taken English 150. I don't know what education classes were embedded in my course.

Right.

At Wilson. I don't know those ones.

Just specifically the online ones though.

History230.

Okay.

There's another one that I took. I do not remember.

Government. No. That's one you're taking right now.

I'm taking. I started on the 18th. Okay.

Yeah.

There was another one.

There wasn't.

I don't remember what it was.

It's been a total of three so far, right?

Yes, yes, yes.

Okay.

But that's just because my other ones are embedded in my course.

Right. So again, why would you recommend or not recommend.

Amazing. The people at Wilson specifically that help you are amazing people. They help coordinate everything. If you have any question, they're there to answer it. They're there to help you if you're struggling.

You want to shout out anybody. Specifically at Wilson.

Ms. Casey. I love her. She's. She's like a family member to me. Okay. Obviously. But I love her. She's been very, very helpful. Okay. And Mr. Pickel. Okay. He is our other, like, coordinator person.

Okay.

And they both help so much. Like, if you have a question, they're gonna be there to answer it. If you need help, they walk you through all the steps of filling out, applying to colleges and like, everything like that. Also, on a side note, you get a thing called a memca.

Yeah.

Which is like all of your hours. Oh, okay. So like. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And that works towards, like, your degrees and stuff. That's awesome. If you don't fill it out, Ms. Casey will come for you.

FYI.

Or your plan of study. If you don't fill that out, they will. Yes. They're going to come to you because.

So what was it like just this first year? Trying to navigate schedule and juggle the online courses, the in person Wilson courses, the placement, and then also regular high school and your sports, because you do do sports.

So in the beginning it was very difficult all the way up until the end. This year it was difficult because it's junior year. Junior year's always the hardest year in school with everything you have. And I'm in. Almost all my classes are AP classes, except for one. Okay. So then I have all of that work on top of everything else. And then leaving school early all the time because of volleyball or softball games.

Yes.

Or wrestling meets. It gets very hard to juggle at some points. And there was points where I was up until 3, 4 o' clock in the morning. Okay. Doing schoolwork. Yeah, you are. You just have to juggle it.

Right.

And you push through it. It's hard, but it's not. It prepares you for, like, life.

Right.

That's what I'm gonna say. Because, like, that.

That's good.

Personally, I just. I don't know. It was hard to juggle in the beginning because there's Very, very little time. Yeah. And then when softball came around, it was less time because we had late practices, but I also had no time before that to do any schoolwork.

Yeah.

So then I was getting home and I had to do all of my Leslie schoolwork. And then my college work.

Yes.

And the weekends, there's either a tournament or something to do on a Saturday. And then Sundays, it's like, you need to get your work done. It's due.

Gotcha.

And then also flipping houses that day, too.

Yeah.

Which is. And then on top of my Wilson work that they'll give you.

Yes.

So which we didn't have it often, but. Yeah. Yeah.

What are some of the highlights for you of this first year with. With the balancing favorite things?

Probably my, like, homeschool teacher.

Yeah.

Dr. O'. Connell. Okay. He's very, like, lenient because we also. I had a lot of other things that happened this year.

Yes, we did.

He was very, like, easy going. He was like, if you need some extra days, you let me know.

Right.

Because he knew that I was taking all of my college courses on top of my AP courses, which is a lot because those count for college, too. Yes. So, yeah. Him and Mr. Liberato were, like, top tier for me because they. They were really lenient.

Right.

They definitely helped me out a lot. Okay. Besides the sometimes.

Besides the sometimes.

Yes.

What does that mean.

When Mr. Lib would get on everybody's nerves with homework. Oh, okay. Because some teachers just. Homework is homework. Yeah. Which is not how it's supposed to be nowadays.

Right.

Being through the education program, it's supposed to be like, you do work in class.

Right.

You don't send homework home for busy work.

Right.

But teachers don't know that. And some teachers now don't understand that there's multiple ways of teaching and learning.

Yeah.

Because all students learn different.

Right.

And you need every way of teaching.

Right.

So.

Yeah, that's one.

But I do. Those two did help me out a lot. And Tucker Serbrook, one of my favorite people ever. I only had him my first trimester, but he's amazing. Okay. Yes.

Yes. What about. Okay. He's the wrestling coach, right?

Yes.

Yes. And really quickly. And then we're gonna wrap things up. Talk to me about. Because we didn't talk about that. The wrestling stuff.

So during wrestling season, it was, like, hours. I'm not kidding. So I'm in two national honor societies. Yes. And I had $400 alone with just wrestling.

Just the wrestling.

Four volunteer hours. And almost every day of the week, there's Wrestling. Wrestling, wrestling, wrestling. And there's Saturdays. I leave the house at 6, and I don't get home till 10 or 11pm because that's how long some wrestling meets go.

Right.

Or, like, I've slept on the floor of gymnasiums because we've been at wrestling meets until 13 in the morning.

Right. And you're just, you know, you're the team manager, right?

Yes, yes. And so I have to be everywhere, you know, with them. Yeah.

Throughout that season.

And we had three of us this year, but it was still like, we're struggling to, like, get everybody, you know.

Everywhere for all the meets and get all the.

That's when it was. It was kind of hard then to do my schoolwork, but I was. I had a job. I was working. Yeah. And so I had time there to do some of my schoolwork.

Yeah.

But days of wrestling, it was like, yeah, you're not doing anything. You're at wrestling all day. Because our wrestling tournaments are like an hour, hour and a half away.

Right.

And so we're just working, working, working. And if it's. If they're like, at Leslie. If we were to have, like, one of the Matt Hawks wrestling tournaments for the little kids.

Yes.

We had to work it, like, all the wrestlers and the team managers. We had to be there all day and work it.

Gotcha.

So then you were there all day long. Awesome.

Well, thank you so much for setting.

Up and taking down.

That's a lot of work. That's, like, from like, early in the morning to 10 at night. 10 at night, yes. Well, thank you so much for hanging out with me today and talking about all of this cool stuff we are going to include in the episode. We are going to include all the links. So if you're listening to this and you think maybe your student or you are a student and you might be interested in taking the program also, if.

You would like, for this program, if you're going to go through what I went through, you need to go. You have to go to a school that goes through the Ingham isd, Right.

Exactly.

To be able to go to Wilson. Exactly. Yes.

Yes. Okay. So closing out the two things that I like to ask all of my guests are, the first one is what is the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

Oh, that's a hard one. Okay. I honestly never give up. Okay. Because there have been times, like, in my life where I'm like, oh, my God, this is so much. I can't do this anymore. And I didn't give up. And I'm going great now.

Okay, worst piece of advice. What is the worst piece of advice?

You've been given so much.

Well, we can tab that and visit it another time. And then the last thing I'm going to do is a random question generator. And what would you be really good at if it wasn't for one thing?

I think I would be really, really good at like cosmetology. Because you've done it right. If I wouldn't have gone into the education program. Okay. But I love education and it was a better opportunity for me. Okay. On a side note, if you're taking those college courses, Red Bull is going to be your best friend or some sort of energy drink because I'm not kidding, I drink like two to three a day.

Okay. Well again, thank you so much Autumn for coming in and chit chatting with me today about the program. I appreciate it. And that is all for today.

And if there's any questions, reach out. Yeah, like I'm willing to answer.

How can people get a hold of you social media wise to ask questions?

I'll put a link to my Instagram or something. Okay. All right.

We will create that link for you when the podcast is released. Thanks for listening to this episode of Conversations with Kate. You can find more information on LCC Connect site as well as all social platforms, Facebook, Instagram, yes, TikTok as well. Big Love.

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This is Bob Myers from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. Dorothy Gerber was frustrated. The year was 1927 and she was trying to make pureed peas for her daughter, Sally. It was hot, messy work. Her husband, Daniel Gerber, came home from work and commented that making pureed peas couldn't be that difficult. Dorothy told him to try it himself. He did. An hour later, he admitted defeat. Dorothy asked, if you can puree tomatoes down at the plant, why can't you puree peas? Daniel Gerber worked for his father's business, the Fremont Canning Company in Fremont, Michigan. Daniel took his wife's idea to his father, Frank Gerber, who suggested that he experiment with making strained baby food. Such products were available but but they were expensive and sold only at drugstores. Daniel showed some samples to the family pediatrician in Grand Rapids, who liked them and offered encouragement. By late 1927, the Fremont Canning Company offered spinach, carrots, peas, prunes and vegetable soup for babies. Dorothy gave free samples to her friends. They loved them. Jars of Gerber's baby food soon appeared on local grocery stores shelves. Gerber originally planned to call its product Sally Soups, but instead opted for Gerber Baby Food. Priced at only 15 cents a can, it was a hit. The American Medical association gave Gerber Baby Food its seal of approval, Good Housekeeping and Parents magazine carried advertisements for the new product. The iconic image of the Gerber baby originated in 1928 when the Fremont Canning Company held a contest to find a face for its brand. Artist Dorothy Hope Smith submitted an unfinished charcoal sketch and said that she would finish the drawing if it won. Smith's drawing won, but the contest judges loved it exactly the way it was. Since 1931, the Gerber Baby has served as the company's symbol. Over the years, there have been many urban myths about the identity of the Gerber Baby. One version claims that the picture is an infant Humphrey Bogart. Others say that it's one of the Gerber's own children. The truth is Dorothy Hope Smith used little Ann Turner Cook, whose parents lived next door, as her model in 1941. The Fremont Canning Company became Gerber Products Company in 1993. It was sold to Sandoz Laboratories and then to Nestle in 2007. Today, Gerber continues to produce baby food and products for a worldwide market. This Michigan history moment was brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org.

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Protect her home and Family in a disaster Karen was willing to wade through water, mud and insurance paperwork.

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Have a real good time. Hello and welcome to another episode of Stars on Sports. I'm joined today by our assistant athletic director, Steven Cutter, and our producer, Jereny Robinson. And gentlemen, we're going to be talking about the importance of showing up. And just a little side note, I was this morning coming into work and overwhelmed. We were starting this semester here at LCC and I was going to cancel this podcast. You know, they're thinking, I don't have time for it today. I got to cancel it. And then I was on my way in and I put on one of our old podcasts and it inspired me. No, I got to go and do it and give it my best today. So here we are and I'm going to make sure it's one of our better ones. But this could go a lot of different directions. And the reason I think a lot about it right now is because we are starting the beginning of our spring semester here at lcc. And I try to really emphasize to our student athletes the importance of attendance, the importance of going to class. That's half the battle. You know, being there every day will get you a long way and in a lot of ways, good grace knowing what's going on. I mean, there's a significant quote out there that says 80% of life is just showing up. So I wanted to talk about that today with.

Well, there's another famous quote out there that says showing up is half the battle. So I think they're saying 50%. So 50 to 80. I think we're close.

Okay, now we're going to debate fractions. Now, this is just turned into a math seminar for the semester. And you're right, I've heard half the battle, too, but I've seen 90% too out there of what's showing up, but how important it is. And even like today, when you're not like, I wasn't in the mindset of thinking I was going to have it, and there's some days you're just ready and want to attack it, but either way, how important it is to show up. And then once you show up, there are so many things you need to do, which we talk a lot about in this podcast, but about being focused, being present, committed, giving effort. But take away the fractions and the debate of how much, how important is it?

I feel like you're one of the things that you struggle with. Maybe this morning when you're driving in and thinking, I don't have time to do this podcast is you probably just like we all do, you're getting distracted by noise. And noises come in all different fashions. And sometimes it's really, really loud noise, which is heavy stuff that you need to deal with. And sometimes it's not that loud, but it's still noise and it provides distractions and you end up with basic feelings and words in your mouth. Like, I don't have time, I don't feel like it. You know, that kind of stuff. And it's because of noise. And so that showing up, like you said, we can go in a lot of directions, but, man, is it important.

It is Journey. You got anything to add to that? Do you want to debate fractions? Whether it's 50% or 80% of what you think it is to being successful?

I think it's the situation, like I said, when my daughter showing up was 80% of the battle or 90%. Because if you got the talent, sometimes you gotta get yourself to get on stage so you can shine.

That's a great point, because that's the importance of showing up, because you don't know when it might be your time to shine. You might not know when that opportunity arises, but if you're there, you got a chance to capitalize on that opportunity. I think that's one of the biggest reasons actually to show up, is to be ready for that opportunity. Another thing that is pretty common when you talk about showing up is what we talk a lot about on this podcast is stacking bricks. Even when you don't feel like it, you show up. It's stacking a brick. It's leading to. A word we've talked a lot about recently is resiliency. It builds resiliency by doing it every day about maybe doing something you don't want to do. And this is dumb, but I've never used a sick day in my life. I don't get sick very much, but even if I'm not. Yeah. Now watch me be out the next week with bad at the flu and everything going around. And there's days I haven't felt 100%, but my goal is to go in and give my best of how I feel. You know, I think you've shared some literature with me how important that is, that you're not going to feel your best every day, but you can give your best every day. And your, your best might differentiate between 100% and 80%. But if you're still giving your best, you're still getting. Going to get something out of them.

Yeah, I think it's important to try to stay away from like how. How do you feel? And more locked in or focused on what's the process that you need to do for where you're trying to go or what you're trying to get or whatever else. And if you listen to how you feel all the time, man, it's going to be hard to show up pretty consistently.

Yeah.

And I think that we started this podcast talking about the classroom, but I think that's where it's even more important in athletics. When I was in my previous job and level, kids would come down to my office, go, man, I don't want to go to practice today, man, we're going to run a lot in practice today. And I would try and help them change that perspective about go to practice to get better, go to practice to have fun, know, make the most of it.

And I thought you were gonna say that I would go talk to their coach for them and tell them not to run as much.

Funny though, this is a whole side note, but there were some that wanted kid that would like come down to practice because it's easier when you're in there. You know, these are our toughest days of practice. Mr. Laddigk, can you come in those days? Because it just seems that, you know, the coaches are easier on us when you are in there. But no, I like going to practice and watching practice. But it is the process. If you're not there, how do you build the process? And part of that process every day is the things you go with your commitment, show that you care and give effort. And I believe those are important in practice every day in athletics. And if kids back to we've talked about intentional practice before on this podcast, about how important practice is preparing you for that exam or that competition, that if you don't show up to practice or you don't work hard at practice, your performance is going to reflect that. So even showing up is half the battle. And then you got the other side of what you do once you get there. Another thing I think it helps do we talked about, it helps with opportunities when they arise, but it helps with relationships. If you're not there, you can't build relationships. And we've talked a lot about with zoom meetings or coming out of the pandemic, how that has been a struggle of building relationship back up because we don't meet in person as much anymore. And I believe you and I coach Cutter and I don't know where you stand during we like in person meetings, but in person showing up helps you build relationship, build trust, build camaraderie, learn together, come together. And so I think that's another important thing about showing up because how important relationships are and seeing body language as I know you've done a lot with your team on body language and how important that is in sports, how you respond to things. So anything to add to the opportunities or the relationship piece or a whole other direction you'd like to go.

I think showing up, it definitely rolls with the consistency as a superpower. And I pretty certain that consistency builds discipline and discipline builds results.

Yeah, it's so true. Again, back to just building on stacking bricks how important consistency is. And I started cross country when I was a freshman in high school and never run before in my life and and the coaches said, hey, come out for cross country I think you'll like it. And I remember the first practice, he says, don't walk. Go slower, but don't walk. Because once you walk, it's easier to walk that next time. And I believe that's also true about showing up once you don't go or once you even, you know, like I always told kids when they came into my office and quit, I said, that's the easy thing to do. The hard thing to do is stay. And once you quit one time, it's easier to quit the next time. So I.

There's a statement with even that where if you're thinking about not doing something, just frame it as, I'll quit tomorrow. And tomorrow never gets there.

You know?

Yeah, put it off another day.

Gives you some time. And that's. You know, we've talked about the benefits of procrastination too, where, you know, a lot of times you hear procrastination and it's a negative kind of tone. But there are some extreme benefits to procrastination as well. And don't quit today, quit tomorrow, don't not show up today, just not show up tomorrow.

And that's a big Navy SEAL training thing, either about not ringing the bell or whatever. Like, just put it off to the next session, do it after the next session, and you keep going. But it is about developing that consistency and building a foundation and making you stronger. Just like we know in sport, the more you give something, the harder it is to quit that. That helps build that too.

I was just thinking about. Cause you talking about delayed, almost like delayed gratification. Because if you learn to put things off, like salesman's jobs are to try to get you to do something right away.

Yeah.

But if you actually take the time to what they call sleep on it, you'll realize you don't want it as much as you thought you did. So that's the same thing with quitting. Like, you realize it wasn't as bad, it was just that day.

That's why when you go to buy a car and they want you to drive it home for the night, no, thank you.

Right.

I do. I usually end up buying.

Oh, so you got that car.

Got that car in the driveway.

So back to the being present and showing up. The other part, I think that's big is. And I know you're a big component of mental performance when you show up, we talk about that's half the battle, but the other battle is showing up physically and showing up mentally and how so many people might do one or the other. And if they do one, it's probably the physical component of showing up, but also the mental component of showing up and how important that can be. Back to my analogy earlier of 80% or so. But if you're all in, both physically and mentally, that's when you're going to have that best result. And being focused, being present, being ready, being prepared is, again, I don't want to downplay just showing up, but then showing up mentally, too, is another whole component of them.

Yeah, there's certainly a lot of curiosity for the outliers in my world. And if you look at people, teams, towns, businesses, whatever that had success, you will see that the verbiage that comes out of them when they talk about the success, they will attribute their achievements to their willingness to show up. That is attribute achievements to willingness to show up. You hear it all the time. All the time. If you kind of look at this stuff. And so it goes right back into what you're talking about, how important it is. And of course, there's other things beyond just putting your feet in the room and your butt in a chair. You have to do more with being present and actually putting some action into whatever you're supposed to be doing versus just showing up to show up. And I think that's what coaches are constantly looking for. They don't want kids just to be at practice. And of course, they always want their kids to be at practice, you know, and when somebody's not there, that's an issue. But they want more than just players at practice. They want them to put some action behind their presence.

And if you're not at practice, then the rest can't even happen. Back to showing up as part of that battle. If they're not there, they're missing things, they're not being a part of things. They're not understanding what's going on and then they gotta make up for which I think leads to. Another part of showing up that motivates me is stress. If you care and you don't show up and that stress of what you missed or that you're behind or someone's ahead of you, that it can lead. I believe it can lead to stress. But the more you do it, the less you care and the less that.

What showing up ultimately ends up being just about an opportunity. It gives you an opportunity to learn, to grow, to, you know, whatever it might be. It just gives you an opportunity. And, you know, we all want opportunities.

Right. And I also, like you said about showing up mentally, I think that's huge. Because being present is one thing that I struggle with sometimes. So I could watch a movie, but if I'm on my phone and am I really present with that situation? So same thing as practice. You can be at practice, but are you present and intentional with everything you're doing?

Yeah. And I think that's harder and harder.

For noise, mainly because of noise, like the phone's noise as well, you know, and so it's the distractions of the noise. Instead of beating yourself up because you're being distracted, recognize, acknowledge, acknowledge it and be like, oh, yeah, okay, back to here. And the more you catch yourself acknowledging it. Yeah, it's. It's in a positive way. Oh, yeah, I just got distracted by this phone or whatever it might be. You catch yourself, you bring yourself back to where you are. That's building a muscle too, and you get better at it. It doesn't mean that you're a bad person because the noise is getting to you. It's more or less just recognizing, getting away from it.

Right. Making that adjustment.

Yeah.

And. But showing up to be able to do that over time, experience, that's another way of showing up helps over time. It gives you experience on handling. And when I talked about reflecting on the stress of missing the common thing of FOMO fear, missing out with social media, but I don't think we have that same application to practice. I think sports is probably more even to some important academics, unfortunately. But that fear of missing out of practice doesn't seem to correlate or transfer over how important it is to your phone. If we could teach kids that that same fear of missing out at the same thing that would happen in practice or in algebra class, that maybe it would help motivate them to get there. But there's also the other side of it inspiring them. Fun Medina, you know, think that they want to go there, you know, and that's been my fortunate thing. I've loved my job, so I want to be at work. I want to go there regardless. And I think the good teams have that built in them, that showing up pretty, because that's where they want to be. That's where their home is, their safe haven. And so I think the good teams make it easier for people to show up and want to show up. And it's difficult on each team because as we know, the law of averages, it's not true for 100% of those students on the team. If a kid's not playing or if they're injured, I mean, those outside that noise, that might prevent them from showing up. But I know the good coaches that, you know, include them every day, have them do something that around their injury or other issue that they're dealing with to help them that it would even be more important for them to show up because that's the one place they can go that help them overcome that stress or issue that they are dealing with in life. So I think that's important and I think sports has an advantage there because like academically some kids have to take algebra even though they don't like it. Where usually kids are playing sports or student athletes are playing because they love that sport that naturally lends to maybe helping them show up. The difficulty thing we have at our level is the length. It's just a lot, it's full time. And so that can take your toll. College sports and that over time keeping that intrinsic motivation of wanting to go every day. So yeah, you know, at the college level and unfortunately even club and high school are trickling down where it's year round and. And you see, you know, kids quit or whatever because they lose that motivation.

Or it's easier to show up when you enjoy doing whatever you're doing. So it's easier to show up. So then that you know the conversations about getting outside of your comfort zone. There are plenty of things that are going to be in your life that you're going to need to do that you don't enjoy. I mean that's just part of life. It could be you do not enjoy your drive to work in mornings or in the evenings or whatever. But there are going to be plenty of things but you need to do them because you need to go from work to home. So you need to do that. And it's so much about just getting that you can show up for the things that matter that you don't necessarily like, but you know, they're important for whatever it might be. And it could be sitting at the dinner table and not having your phone sitting on the table vibrating or going off or whatever when you've got maybe just one person across from you or maybe it's the whole family being able to remove that noise in just that situation that's showing up. There's a lot of ways that we can practice showing up beyond just walking into a room and sitting down or being at a practice.

And again, that's a good point. And over the last year there's been a lot of construction instruction on our way to work. And that can be frustrating, but finding ways to make the most of it. Listening to a Podcast, listening to great music. I forget I'm even going down a lane that's not big enough for my car to fit in. You know, that. Oh, I already went past that section or the same with, you know, the snow or something. You know, just keeping, you know, bringing that back perspective or focus. Because one of the reasons back to quitting is it's not easy to show up every day.

And.

And so training yourself or teaching yourself to do that does make it.

Consistency builds discipline. That. I mean, that's where that comes from. It's because it's not easy. But then pretty soon, you keep taking those steps, you keep stacking those bricks, whatever it might be. It builds that discipline, and then it just keeps going.

I sent you a thing the other day. Like, was it January 10th or 11th, the Quitters Day? Because from New Year's resolution, that's when most people quit their resolutions. And like, even in my own family at home, you know, some of them got Planet Fitness memberships for the new year. It is nice, but again, I'm. I'm encouraging them. Hey, three weeks, get a habit. Show up every day for three weeks. Then it should get maybe not easier, but better of wanting to go every day. And back to your point of the Navy seals and that just don't ring that bell yet. Just go one more day, you know, and then it becomes a habit, you know, back to consistency, building discipline, building.

Results, and we all want them.

Yeah. My pastor was just. Just talking about how he was like, man, I went to Planet Fitness to get my usual workout, and all the machines is taken up. He said, I can't wait for three weeks from now so I can get my stuff back.

He should be encouraging the congregation.

State the facts.

It is.

It is.

Well, he's just saying that's what happened. People go.

He's right on.

He knows that after three to four weeks, I'm gonna get all my stuff back. It's gonna be back to normal.

I hope he's gonna get you an update on, man, it's gonna be like.

Two or three extra people that actually stuck to it, but that's gonna be it. I had a question for you guys, though, because you talking about showing up. How do you guys deal with this? Happens more in a youth, but kids who naturally are very talented at something, and it comes easy to them. How do you get them to show up, like, more when they feel like it's just coming easy to them?

You want to start?

I can start. The key is, again, challenging them, making it worth their while. To show up and, and I think we struggle with that sometimes because we just generalize and make everybody do the same things. But you got to push them, you got to challenge them to get better because you don't want to pull them back into the rest of the group. You want to pull the rest up to them. But you know, we've talked about on the podcast before your, your best player needs to be your hardest worker. So you gotta, you know, find ways to keep them engaged and not let that, let it be easy for them. Because I think once it gets easy for them, that's when they start feeling like what do I need to come for? I don't like this. Or I'm so much better than, than the rest of the team. But just to try and keep that integration important. But I'm sure you got a better, more experience with that.

I wouldn't call it better. But outliers at young ages, those are tough ones. When you speak about outliers, they're just a little bit different. Their talent levels are just different. And those are extremely challenging because it comes somewhat easy for them and what would be called somewhat natural. And so like you try to push them and get them outside of their comfort zone. Yeah, they typically do not respond very well. So those are some of the more challenging ones to work with as they typically will get older if they're still remain an outlier. Usually it ends up being a driver for them. And so it's, it's pretty easy to get them to, to get outside of their comfort zone. But at young ages you really have to be careful and make it more specific about the person and find out why they're playing. Beyond that, they can just shoot or they can just dribble really well.

And we talked about that before, about how having success at a young age helped them wanna do it more and get better. And they usually get better because of that. But it is, that's what I tried to say. It's more individual. And I think we struggle with that even in the classroom. Like you put all six year olds in second grade class, but their mom might be really smart kid, that should be in third grade class. So how do you keep them interested?

They usually get, you know, I'm not talking about in school, but usually the outliers get pulled back to the middle and that's not a great thing.

And I think we're learning that. Move them up. I've seen kids now skip grades. I've seen athletics move a kid up to the fourth grade team. If they're that good because again, it's still challenging them and keeping them interested and keeping them work. But you're right to some that could scare them and like, oh, no, I like being the way better and best. So those are the toughest ones to navigate. Great question. We could have a question and answer segment on this podcast in the future. But again, back to whether it's 50% or 80%. I love this saying that showing up is a lot of the battle, whether 50% or up to 80%. And it could be somewhere in between there, like we talked about earlier. But it is very important because that's the start that the start, the leading to consistency and discipline is the first step is like, just like the first brick or the foundation is showing up. All right, so really was struggling to find a question here. For the end. I have a lot, but some of them are just dumb. So I don't wanna. And I try and listen to other podcasts. Oh, that's a good one. But if you had to eat one food the rest of your life, what would it be?

Pizza.

I knew you'd say that. Even bad pizza.

It's always a great day for bad pizza.

Okay, all right. Could. I mean, like, what's your record of eating pizza?

I don't keep track.

Have you eat it? Could you eat it? I mean, have you shown to eat it every day? I mean, I mean, like, when we go buy pizza at home on like a Friday, I hope there's leftovers that I can have it Saturday and Sunday too. After that, I'm probably done with pizza. And I actually like pizza on Fridays for some reason and that, you know, I can have it for lunch or breakfast on Saturday and then Sunday, but Monday I'm ready to. To start new. So I. But that's a good one. That's a good one.

That piece is really good because you can do so much with a pizza.

I got home late last night, my wife made me like a had flatbread pizza that she made, you know, so you can get it in kind of different ways too.

Yeah, that's the good thing about pizza, right? My kids make good flatbread. I'm not a big flatbread pizza. I'm gonna try it, though.

Stuck on an island. One thing to eat and pizza.

To go away from pizza. Because pizza is a. That's really good.

That's a good answer. We'll give Cutter credit.

Something is like a pizza where you could do a lot of things with it, like a stir fry.

Okay.

Yes.

Or you can put veggies in it. You put chicken.

That's a good, good, good angle of something that you can do different eat. But that pizza, too, you have macaroni, sweet chili.

You can do a lot of things.

Okay, all right. Wow. That's a little sophisticated. I'm more simple, you know, like when I first think of what I could eat every day, it would be my Pop Tart, man. Really, Cutter? No second, you know, I think in my favorite food, like hamburger, hamburgers or tacos. But then I think in simple, like, you know, when you talk about, like when you go home at night and want to eat something, that's a grilled cheese to me, you know, pretty easy. Or a cheese taco. Something easy that I can eat. And I have, I know I have. And it's simple. So, you know, my first answer when I came into this was, you know, pizza was up there, too. But tacos are a hamburger, though. They're my favorite. But as I think more about it your. Your way, just. But, you know, because of grilled cheese, I could add, you know, different ingredients on it. Pickles or something vegetarian. Grilled cheese. I've even thinking macaroni and cheese back to that same thing of adding different things to it. So I'm gonna go with a grilled cheese now. I changed my answer.

Okay, great.

I might not have a grill, but I better have a fire on that island, right? So. All right. Well, I'm glad I showed up today. I'm glad you two showed up today. Hopefully somebody gets something out of this. And then until next time, go stars. Stars on Sports is recorded live at the WLNZ Studios. Engineering and production assistants are provided by Dadalion Lowry and Journey Robinson. You can listen to the episode and other episodes of Stars on Sports on demand@lccconnect.org to find more information about our athletic program, visit lccstars.com thanks for listening. Be sure to join us next time for more Stars on Sports.

Go, stars.

Have a real good time. This is WLNZ Lansing. You're listening to LCC Connect, a weekly program that features the voices, vibes and vision of Lansing Community College. To find out more about LCC Connect programs or to listen on demand, Visit us@lccconnect.org LCC Connect, voices, vibes, Vision.