Host Matt Miller, talks with Philip Blackett: Author, Consultant, Minister, and Father. Philip shares his path to success and the importance of academic excellence and building relationships. He discusses his journey from growing up in Memphis to attending the University of North Carolina and later working on Wall Street. Philip also talks about his decision to attend seminary and the inspiration behind his book, 'Disagree Without Disrespect,' which focuses on navigating disagreements with respect and building relationships. Philip Blackett emphasizes the need for respectful dialogue and understanding different perspectives. He highlights the importance of clarity, goal-setting, and persistence in achieving success. The conversation also touches on the power of AI in increasing productivity. Additionally, Matt Miller and Philip share personal anecdotes about preaching, parenting twins, and their favorite smells and drinks.

Check out the podcast website at www.yourestilldointhat.com - Sign up to be on the show or nominate a friend.

You can find Philip at https://www.philipblackett.com - Be sure to check out his books, consulting services and sermons.

You're good to go. I'm good to go. All right. do I sound all right to you? I mean, sound good. Okay. Yeah, no, you're just fine. All right. Here we go. With me today is Philip Blackett and the topic for today's podcast is the path to success. Welcome to the show. Philip.

Sound good to me. How about me? Okay.

Thanks so much, Matt. Happy to be here with you.

Great. Philip is an author, a consultant and entrepreneur, and he's worked with companies like FedEx, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Chick -fil -A. Philip graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill with a degree in political science and economics. He's got an MBA from a little unknown college called Harvard, and he's got a master's of divinity.

from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. That's a pretty impressive resume there, Philip, that you've got going so far.

Thanks so much, Matt, and all in the first 40 years of my life, I say.

Yeah. The first 40 years. All right. So, so, at least academically you've had all kinds of success and in the business world. So let's kind of get people going to see how something like that happens. So let's start with where were you born and where did you grow up?

Mm -hmm.

So yeah, I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Southern guy at heart. And so for me, it was born to single mother. Well, her mom was married at the time, but they later divorced. I had a younger sister and had grandparents and an aunt as far as extended family in the city. But basically the single mother part came in where it's just basically I didn't have my father present really much in my childhood.

So that was something I had to quote unquote overcome as far as like understanding what it meant to be a young man. And I think my grandfather was very instrumental to step in, even though he could have retired. He definitely saw like an opportunity to really instill some knowledge for me growing up and help out his daughter at the time. And so I think from there, like, you know,

Right.

Yeah.

everything that my family had done to help fill that void and to help provide for my mom and my sister and myself, the biggest way of me feeling like I could pay them back, so to speak, was not necessarily getting a job at 14. My job was just to excel academically. And I think, right. And so I think for me, that was, I remember my grandmother was saying to me, the best way for me,

Right.

Right was the succeed. Yeah.

to really pay it forward for them or show that you appreciate whatever sacrifices they were making was, do your very best in the classroom. And so I think for me, that really struck a nerve for me, probably about seventh, eighth grade for sure, where basically I was just kind of like somebody that was just kind of in the middle of the pack academically speaking, got some motivation, then all of a sudden became valedictorian in my eighth grade class. And I think from there, it just kind of,

Yeah.

Wow.

kind of snowballed, so to speak, where it's like, OK, once you're starting to be successful in this realm, let's see how far we can take it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's right. That's right. I might, both my daughters are in college right now. And one of them is like, man, I'll, I'll be glad when college is out, I'm ready to get out there and get going. And I was telling her, no, you're going to stay in college and rack up as many degrees as you can get. I'm telling you, you're going to want all that paperwork. So when you do get out, then doors are going to open much more easily. Yeah. Nope.

Yeah, there's no rush to rush a four year process in college. You'll be an adult for the rest of your life afterwards. No need to rush good times.

I say get it, Smitt.

And I was, I was like, we're going to be in debt regardless. I was like, man, just keep getting degrees and degrees as many as you can before you get out. You got all the time. All right. So growing up Memphis. So how did you get to North Carolina?

Mm -hmm.

So when I was in high school, my heart set honestly on Harvard as my go -to school. And so senior year, fast forward four years from eighth grade, that's where I applied. I got in. I pretty much was set after I screamed and made a fool of myself in the hallway after hearing I got accepted that this is where I was going. And probably about a few days later, my college counselor

Right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

brought me into her office and said, hey, we're able to nominate people for this scholarship program at the University of North Carolina. It's our first year being able to do so, and we'd like to nominate you. And so for me, I wasn't a pimpled, freckled nose young in there, but some sort of immature high school senior at the time, very much smelling myself in that sort.

Yeah.

was like, yeah, that's fine. I just want you to know I'm going to Harvard regardless. But if you want to use that spot for me, I mean, I guess it couldn't hurt. But that was before I actually went through the process. When I went through the process and I applied, then I interviewed, and then I passed my finals round, got to final round interviews, I flew down to Chapel Hill. I got to see the campus, got to see a basketball game.

Yeah.

Right, right.

Yeah.

Got to see some of the students. Now it was just like, man, I was like, this wasn't the open and shut decision as I was thinking it was going to be. So lo and behold, when they offered me the scholarship, basically a full tuition, full ride, room and board, computers, more head. Yeah, absolutely. Everything's covered. My mom wouldn't have to worry about anything. We were going to have to have a.

Yep.

Right, right.

Right. The Morehead, right? Yep.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

conversation after I got the scholarship. And so I'd be remiss in saying that there weren't necessarily like tears shed during that conversation, more so from her than me. But I think the big thing was, it's like, look, we were hell bent, for lack of a better word, or heel bent, I should say, to go to Harvard, as far as us two. I would go, but she would make.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hehehe

move heaven and earth to make it happen. But I said, listen, I know that our hearts were set at Harvard. We were blessed with this wonderful opportunity here to go to North Carolina with a scholarship. If you allow me to take advantage of that and make the best out of that, my promise to you is I'll do my very best after I graduate from there to find my way back to Harvard, but for business school. And so that was a promise I made to my mom back when I was 18.

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, you can't turn down a full ride. That's a, it's a little bit of a no brainer to get there too.

which now as a parent, I have a greater appreciation for those type of opportunities whenever they come by.

Yes.

Yep. So yeah, congrats on that Morehead scholarship. Those are not, not easy to come by. That's for sure. Long process. so, you finished, Chapel Hill. Did you go to Harvard directly or did you go to seminary next?

He he.

actually neither. I went to work. I went in particular to New York city and worked on Wall Street for a couple of years at Goldman Sachs. I had done a summer internship there the summer before my senior year. got to get since what investments was like, more from the credit side versus stocks. And so I was invited back full time. Definitely happy to do so.

Yeah, you have to work, there you go.

Yeah, it was a number of years before I went back to business school. I think, sorry, if I graduated from college like 2007, I started business school 2014. So yeah, there's a seven year span in between where I was working at a number of different companies, getting some work experience, going through adult thing. That's the work for us concern, enjoying what it means to be in the real world after college and.

Right.

Right. Yep. Yep.

At some point I said to myself, hey, if I want to get to another level with regards to progressing my career, I should probably go back to school. And in particular, let's see if we can make good on that goal and that promise I had seven plus years ago.

Right. Right. what led you to divinity school?

Mm -hmm.

So seminary was around that time during COVID. And I think that that was a time for a lot of people. Mortality was coming up front for a lot of people as far as like, you know, how precious life is, thinking about what happens afterwards. And I think for me, a big question was just, you know, as far as my faith as a Christian, just understanding, okay, is there...

Gotcha.

a greater purpose for me outside of just running a business, which at the time I was running a business I had bought that focused on managing and operating cemeteries. And so I was basically surrounding my life every day, eating, sleeping, breathing.

Right.

Right. The final outcome. Yeah.

the final outcome, like funerals. Like, it was either I was processing or doing operations from the desk of my office regarding burials and funerals and that sort, or I was actually literally on the cemetery grounds, like cutting grass or helping lower caskets down and backfilling them and that sort. So I think for me, it was just like just a different perspective of like, you know, you're...

hitting death in the face or seeing it face to face, eye to eye, almost on a daily basis. And I think for me during that time during COVID, I think I was really grappling with trying to understand like, is this all there is for my life? Or is there something more? And I think especially when I was going through some tough times with the business, that's what opened me to say, hey, like, like I need to figure out, you know, more of what's going on.

Yeah.

where I can see my life going forward from this. I think a big inspiration for me was the late Reverend Billy Graham, which for me, you know, he's basically is a legend, not just nationally, but definitely in the North Carolina area was a huge inspiration role model for me. And I think ever since I took a trip down to Charlotte to visit his home and the Billy Graham Museum down there, that never left my mind as far as what that would look like as far as potentially preaching.

And so that's what property is. Hey, let's just take a first step. Let's see where this is going. Let's enroll in seminary and see how that plays out and get our master's degree over there.

My dad is a minister and he's Presbyterian minister. So, and he went back later in life as well, like you. So I was, for the most part, an adult when he went through that whole process too. So I got a lot of, an odd idea of what you're going through and what all that looks like. I remember the first time he ever preached at our little country church, it was before seminary, but he was trying it out, you know, to see if this was his.

Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

This was his thing and he finished a real early. It was like 11 45 or something. It was like the first one. And I'm in high school, I think at the time. And so we're standing outside the church door, shaking hands, you know, as people come out and one of the old timers that came into the church with that church and he says, wonderful job today, Keith. He goes, you stood up, you spoke up and you shut up.

Hehehehehe

I was like, I'll remember that forever. I was like, that's the key to doing great at any speech. And I was like, stand up, speak up and shut up. Super funny. All right. So, let's talk about how some of your success happens. So you get a degree, you get out of Carolina and you get into wall street and Goldman Sachs. what were some of the ways that made you successful?

Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

going into that adulting world first coming out.

Well, I think what comes off top of mind for me, Matt, is understanding, you know, a job is a lot different from college. And so you're not necessarily doing papers or turning by a certain deadline. You're not trying to balance quote unquote extra curriculars the night before for cram sessions, for big tests and exams and quizzes and that sort of this is like.

Yes.

You got to develop some consistency about yourself. You got to have some dedication. You have to be able to say, hey, listen, I'm the new guy in the office. It's not important for me to just do my job and just keep it at that. Like, I'm part of a team. So there's a whole sense of relationship building that for me coming out of college, I usually would do on a more social setting rather than a professional setting in the office, the water cooler and that sort of thing.

so I think for me, it's just kind of understanding like a couple of things. One, the actual work itself, like the learning curve you're grasping and climbing to learn. so you're not holding your team back. You're actually moving them forward and the quicker you can get to that point, the better. And then the other aspect of it is building relationships with those who you're working with. So are you a, you know, person that works well and plays well in the sandbox with others? Right.

Yeah.

Yep.

something that may seem elementary at the time now comes back in full circle. It's like you're now working with people that probably are older than you, more experienced than you, more senior than you. And so how you best go about that too, because it's not enough just to deliver great work. If you're being a jerk about it, they'll probably find somewhere else for you to go.

Hehehehe

That's right. Or find somebody to promote over you as well. Well, my daughter and I picked her up. She works at the illustrious golden corral here in our town. I'm not sure if you're aware of that chain restaurant. and, but she, she works up front and, I picked her up and she was, late. She was supposed to get off at one. She comes out at one 30 and I was like, I got a podcast with.

Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

Of course.

a fellow here pretty quickly. So we got to get rolling. but anyway, a couple of people had gone sick. And so that made her later getting out. She was covering and she was complaining about one of the girls that are there too. And this how she interacts with everyone else. And, I was like, just, I told her, I said, just keep in mind, you know, everything you're learning here at this job and you're learning at college to keep the, remember those lessons as you go through.

Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

So hopefully people will like you enough to move you forward. And so you're right on the spot there.

And the other key thing about it too, Matt, I realized now in retrospect is, you know, we live in an age now where more than likely where you first work is likely not going to be your last place to work. And so you're thinking about this in terms of building a skill set that may be transferable. If you do move on to another opportunity, another company, another job, you also understand their reputation.

That's true.

is very important. So sometimes your reputation can precede you. So if you are building bridges rather than burning them, then over the course of the next job opportunity or promotion or career trajectory you embark on, you're getting that whole blend of can you do the job well? What hard skills do you have to bring to the table? And then what are your soft skills as well?

And are we the type of person that people can enjoy working with eight hours a day, five days a week, or if it's going to be a pain? And so it's best to be excelling at both ends when it comes to not only doing your job well, but also being a good person to do your job with.

Yeah.

Yes. Soft skills and hard skills. I don't know if I've heard that, heard it worded that way, but I like it. definitely. I'll have to use that. I'm a public school teacher. So for principals talking to me about something she wants better. And I'm like, well, I'll be working on those soft skills. I got them. I like it, the terminology. So, this leads us right into, your writing. You're an author of several books. and one of them,

Mm -hmm.

is, let's see, is your book that you've written is called Disagree Without Disrespect, and talking about how you interact with others. So if, how do you, what made you decide that was something you wanted to write a book on?

Mm -hmm.

So it gets right to soft skills, Matt. I think that we live in a world nowadays that we think that the best way we can communicate to people is via text message or by commenting on a post or more likely liking somebody's post on Facebook, Instagram, or somewhere else on social media. We're not in a place where we're really talking to people. Even in this.

Yes.

format we're doing here. And not many people do that on an ongoing basis. But more importantly, not only just talking, you can have small talk anywhere. But when you actually get into something more substantive, more substance -based, like below the surface, you're more than likely going to come across people that you don't agree with on everything. And so the question then becomes, how do you navigate disagreement in a way where you can still be friendly?

Right.

you can still be respectful and you can still build a relationship, whether it's a relationship within your family, maybe your significant other, or maybe a colleague at work. And so this was something that, you know, stemmed from an experience that happened with me and my family, 4th of July last year, where essentially I was with my sister, she brought her family to my house, I had my family, my mom came to visit us as well.

My sister and I were talking about a topic that, quite frankly, I don't remember what it was actually. I just knew that we were on opposite ends of the spectrum on that particular issue. And I didn't see it as necessarily a troublesome situation to be in. I thought it was more so an opportunity for us to learn more about each other. My mom thought otherwise. She wanted to be the referee to step in and say, hey, time out. Let's not get involved with this because.

Heheheheh

Right.

Right.

It is the 4th of July here, and I don't want to see fireworks before the actual fireworks here. So I think like, you know, the intent was fine, was understandable. The impact for me, though, was more so like I felt like I was at a loss because I don't see my sister often. And then for us to get into some sort of more serious conversation.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

as grown folks and really get to understand one another on a deeper level. I felt like the opportunity was lost because of concern or fear that we wouldn't know how to handle ourselves if we found that we disagreed on an issue. And so that's what really got me to say, hey, if I'm experiencing this, how many other people are probably experiencing this, whether during Fourth of July's family reunions or just everyday life working with people that

Right.

God forbid you don't agree on everything with. So I was like, let me put this to paper. And that's what came out of this book, Disagree Without Disrespect, how to respectfully debate with those who think, believe, and vote differently from you.

Right?

Right. I give those lessons, to fifth graders all the time. They do not absolutely have any idea how to be disagreeable with each other and not be disrespectful at the same time. It's like they put the two together. If you don't like what someone said, then I'm going to disrespect you personally about it. I mean, they go right to it. So I have those conversations a lot, with them.

Mm -hmm.

Yeah, because a lot of it comes out from the sense, and I blame social media for part of this, maybe a significant part of this, is this whole notion that, hey, my respect and love for you, Matt, is based on or is contingent on whether or not you agree with me. And if you don't agree with me, then you are hating on me or you dislike me. And that can't be further from the truth because...

Yeah, 100%. Yes. Yeah.

I'm talking to another father here, father to father. My question to you, Matt, is, hey, do you love your children?

Yeah, of course.

Do you agree with everything your children do or say?

Absolutely not.

Does the fact that you disagree with them, does that take away your love for them?

No, I never will. No.

And that's the point. And how we can help spread that message to people, if we can do that father to child, you can do that in just about any relationship. It's the same concept.

Yeah, yeah.

Right.

Yeah. Yeah. you're totally right about the internet and no accountability. And, we can just say whatever, cause it's in pretend land. It doesn't matter unless, unless you happen to be the kicker for the Kansas city chiefs. my goodness. I was like, right.

Mm -hmm.

Well, that's a whole nother story, Matt. We can go into that one if you like, but yeah, that's kind of where it goes. You know, someone says something that people disagree with and you got both ends of the spectrum.

Right. It's usually, yep. It usually doesn't matter what you say online for the most part, but then occasionally everybody hears what you said.

Well, and that's the thing too, Matt, not getting fully or more into it than I need to, but just if you had a conversation with your fifth graders, for example, and you targeted your message to fifth graders and somehow somebody got a recording of that and shared it on social media and said, look what Matt talked about with his fifth grade kids. And there was one or two things that despite the whole context of what you said, you spoke for 20 minutes.

Right?

and they focus on 30 seconds of what you said and blew it up on Instagram and Facebook and Twitter. And all of a sudden you're a bad guy teaching our kids, but they have no idea as far as what was going on through the entirety of your speech, let alone people can be respectful and disagree with you and not try to call for your job.

Yep. Yep.

Right. Yep. Yep. Or, well, I could go on a lot about education, but that's be a whole nother podcast. I had a friend that asked if I was going to do an education version of podcasting and I was like, not while I'm employed. I'm not, I might do it after I retire. Yep. After I retire. so,

You

I understand that, yep. Yep.

So, let's, I'm going to move along here. we cover so much of stuff I had written down here to cover with you. yeah. So is it possible for someone to have conflicting ideas and try not to persuade them one way or the other?

course.

Yeah, I was thinking that's a issue we have today is people want to always persuade someone to go to one side of something or the other side. When it's fine, whatever side they're on, even if you don't agree with it, they can still have that opposite opinion. But I think, I think it's difficult for people just to be comfortable that someone else thinks differently than they do.

Mm -hmm.

Yeah, I think part of it, Matt, it makes me think of a quote that Dale Carnegie said in, I think his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, a book I wish every student would read before they graduate from high school or college for that matter, because that's a soft skill. Winning friends and influence people, I think a lot of people will be well suited to learn how to do. He mentioned something to paraphrase that basically, you know, a man.

Right?

you know, conflicted against his will is still of the same mind still. Meaning that when we think about persuasion, try to help somebody go from like one point of view to another. If you try to force somebody's will on that one, try to shame them, guilt them, pressure them, threaten them to see things the way you see it. They may comply in the temporary, in the short term, but inside,

Yeah.

what you can't see, they're not with you. And the sooner they can, you know, bolt from where you are and they're not in front of you, they'll choose a different outcome. That's more of what they're doing. And the problem is here, you know, our way of thinking we're persuading people, we're horrible persuaders. It's just, you know, calling people outside of their names is not a great way to persuade them. Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Pressuring them and putting them in awkward positions on social media is not an easy or good way for you to persuade someone to see things your point of view. So I think, you know, the art, so to speak, of persuasion in debate and influencing someone respectfully to understand your point of view and why it's helpful for them to consider, you know, adopting your point of view is quite honestly a lost art for sure.

in our society.

Yeah, definitely. I would agree with that. We have, I in college, I took, a public speaking class was like a requirement. And part of that part of the lessons in there was you had to give two persuasive speeches, trying to persuade people one way or the other. And, I always thought that was fun. I never had much of a problem speaking in front of people if I had to, but my two things I persuade you can tell my youth.

I worked at a video store way back in the day. So I was persuading people to be kind and rewind. that's right. movie max is what it was called where I worked at. so yeah, it would be good if we could teach some more of those social skills and get away from, the testing academic stuff. That's for sure. All right. So, if you could give somebody.

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Shout out to the Blackbuster.

okay.

Mm -hmm.

a few simple key elements to foster success. What would some of those elements be?

So one I would say is get clarity on what success means to you. And understand that that definition of success, it can change over time. What you think is successful when you're 18 can change when you're 28 or 38. You know, especially as you work, you're in the real world, you're out of your parents' house, maybe you've met somebody, you've got married.

Yes, that's for sure.

You got a house of your own. You have kids of your own. It's something that moves over time. Once you get that clarity, understand for yourself, OK, what does it take for you to reach that definition of success? Meaning, what are your goals? Get clarity on that and be realistic and pragmatic to yourself. Say, hey, what is it going to take on a day to day basis for me to reach these goals? Right.

It's one thing to think of what you want to do, but far often people don't really understand the work and the dedication and the sacrifices that are needed for you to get to where you're trying to go. And so at that same time, the last thing I would say is whatever your goal is to reach whatever definition of success you have at that particular time, make a strong commitment to yourself that you're going to persist.

Yes, for sure.

and do what it takes, whether you feel like it today or you don't, if things work out the way you want it to work out or they don't, whether people are cheering for you on the sidelines or they're ignoring you. It's something that honestly, this should be something that's running your race regardless, because it's important to you.

Yes.

Yep.

and the people you care about, but more importantly, to the person who's going to be doing that work, which should be you.

Yeah, that's right. Good advice to give. I'm going to hit you with a couple of, of lighter, fun questions here. so first do you, are you currently preaching anywhere?

Mm -hmm.

Not currently. I've done some sermons online and going through the book of Matthew right now, as far as a sermon series that I'll get picked back up in short order, but not in particular for preaching at a church on a regular basis.

I was going to decide on my next line of questioning. what is your favorite topic to preach on? What's one of your favorite, favorite topics to go with.

Anything that involves Jesus in particular, the one that I like the most is when Jesus was washing his disciples feet and how I see that as the perfect paradigm of what leadership is about, because you have a man that is now preach on this one per se. But I'll give you like the 10 second version of it. You have a man that clearly is above every man in that room that is taking on the lowliest.

Yeah.

Yeah.

level of service to honor those men that he knows are sinful. He knows that they're wrong. They're not they're not right like him, but he serves them because he loves them. And to me, it's it's it's a model that I feel like is missing in our culture and society. And I think it's a great example for us to lean on and say, how can we be more like Jesus?

Yep.

Yep.

For sure.

who I say is the perfect leader when it comes to that. And so that's a popular thing I love to preach on.

yes. when I was in Sunday school way back in the day, our teacher, there was only two of us in our, in that Sunday school class. And I was so nervous cause she, washed our feet, right? She was teaching that lesson. So we had to take off our shoes and socks and wash her feet. And I was like, this is really awkward. Cause we were like middle school age, you know, it was like 13, 14, but, but that one stuck with me about.

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

And, you know, the leader that will go and do the lowliest work. So that's one good thing about my kid's job at golden crow there. If one, one of my daughters is a dishwasher and part of that job is to clean the bathrooms. And so if the bathroom is, just extremely disgusting for whatever reason, the manager will go in and she'll clean it herself and not make them do it. If it's really bad. And so I always like, that's, I always say that's a good leader right there.

Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

She does good work. Yeah, but doing the lowliest work even if you're the top of the pole.

Absolutely.

You are correct. If people are looking for your sermons online, where can they go to find them?

So the sermons are on my website, www .beggarsbreakingbread .com. So beggars, yep, so beggars as far as B -E -G -G -A -R -S, breakingbread .com.

beggarsbreakingbad .com.

Got you. Yeah. Go check that out. You're also a father of twin daughters, twin girls. That's like, I am as too. So I see if there's any similarities. Do you have one of your girls as one, the boss and one, the follower.

Mm -hmm.

That changes by the day, Matt. It's probably like one that's probably like 51 % the boss and the other one's like 51 % the follower. But yeah, they tend to switch up on each other. It makes sense. They're very much alike.

Does it?

Yeah.

That's interesting. We've, mine are not identical and there's one that's very much the leader and another one that's very much the worker and she follows and does a lot of the work. So that's kind of interesting there too. what are some, what were some of the weirdest questions people asked you about your daughters when they were little and twins? What were some of the weirdest things?

Mm -hmm.

Right.

Like I'll tell you, like for one of ours, my wife and I might be in the grocery store and they're both like dressed in pink and they'll say, is one a boy and one a girl or something like that would have come through. And we're like, no.

Mm -hmm.

Hehehehehe

Well, I think one thing was I remember when when my girls were born they had pink hats and blue hats And said identical twins are coming out the same time essentially If you give them both the same color it might be difficult at least at that stage fresh out the womb to tell the difference so I remember one of them the first one that came out she had a a blue hat and the second one had a pink hat and

Yeah.

Yes.

Mmm.

Right. Yep.

Yep. All right.

And that was helpful for us to tell the difference.

Are, at our hospital, they wrote on the bottom of their feet. They wrote a for the first kid and B for the second one. But luckily ours, mine weren't identical. So it was, it didn't take very long whatsoever. they're a little, they're similar, but there is enough. They were not, they're not too bad. also in doing some research on you, fill up.

Mm -hmm.

That's good.

Right.

you do a little bit of work and a little bit of consulting with AI. so how would you associate AI and helping you to foster success? How could that be used as a tool?

Mm -hmm.

So I look at AI as essentially similar to what the internet was when it first came out. When I think about the typewriter, when I think about the telephone, or any major advance in technology we've had historically. One of the main elements, the common elements among all those, those new technologies helped us become more productive.

Yeah.

than we were before the technology. And so I look at AI as very similar, where this is dependent on the tool you use, can help you save on a significant amount of time doing the type of work you might have otherwise had somebody else to do versus yourself that now allows you to take on more activities to be more fruitful, more productive.

Right. That's for sure.

Right.

than you would have otherwise. And so I think from a sense of scaling towards success is more so like now, depending on how diligent you are to understand here are all the things I need to do to reach my goal. Now you can look at it from the sense of here are the things that I know I have to do. And here are the things that I can now outsource, not necessarily to somebody else, but I can outsource it to AI and they can get it done much quicker.

Right.

probably just as good, if not maybe even better. So I think from a time savings that leads to more productivity, which leads you closer to getting your goals that you're trying to reach, that helps you become more likely to be successful.

Right.

Right. it does certainly helps me with writing podcast descriptions. That's for sure. I use it quite frequently. so if, people are interested in finding, any of your books, where do they go or are your business services? Cause you are also an active consultant. where can they go, to find any of those things?

Mm -hmm.

So I would go to Amazon for any of my books. And then I will go to my website at philipblackett .com.

Gotcha. I see someone in the background. I was minor, minor older, so they don't barge in anymore, but I'm certainly used to those days. That's for sure.

Heheheheh

Yep, that's the older one, that's Sophia. You want to wave?

there's his a high Sophia.

There she is.

Alright, go back to mommy, let daddy finish up. Thank you.

Yeah. Yeah. I remember those no privacy days. That's for sure.

I'm gonna go to bed.

yeah, yeah, yeah. And you think you close the door good enough that at seven -year -olds, they wouldn't be able to barge through, but clearly they're picking up on strength.

Right.

Yes, that's for sure. All right. so Phil, we're going to wrap things up. I ask all my folks the same, same six questions each time to see, similarities and answers and things like that. so just rapid fire here. What's your favorite smell?

Fresh linen as in like fresh sheets fresh towels. Yeah

Yep. What's one of your favorite smells? Fresh linen. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good one. what's your favorite drink? Dr. Pepper. That's a good one. Cheer wine for me. what is something that you absolutely hate to eat that you do not like?

Dr. Pepper.

Wow eggplant.

Yeah, it's not my worst, but that's definitely not something I'm going to order. Yeah, it's up there. who's the most famous person you've ever met?

up there.

Hmmmm

That's a good question. I'm kind of going through who could that possibly be as far as most famous. First one that came off to me was R &B singer Alicia Keys.

that's a good one. I'm one degree from Alicia keys. I can test a contestant on the voice is a hometown local guy here where I'm from. And that was his coach. And, yeah. So he was on the voice and that was his coach. So I'm one degree from Alicia. if you could go on a dream vacation, what would that look like?

Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

nice.

There you go.

Turks and Caicos with the family, but also have like an option where you can have a day or two, just me and the wife. And then the kids can have their own fun fest and you just see them for meals.

Yes.

Right. Yes, that's a good one. School. Put them in school while you're on vacation. If you could give yourself some advice, your younger self, some advice, what would it be?

Mm -hmm.

Just stay in it. Things will get better if you just stay in it.

Yeah, that's a, that's a pretty consistent answer for most people patients and stay with it. That's for sure. what is one of your core memories? Something that you're never, ever, ever going to forget.

Mm -hmm.

when my twin girls were born.

Yeah, that's a pretty strong one. That's for sure. Philip, it was really great chatting with you today. I'm going to get you out of here. if anyone is interested on his services, check out, his websites, where can they go again? Philip.

go to philipblackett .com.

Philip Blackett .com. You can find everything you need there for financial consults or check out the, what was for the sermons again, what was that website?

Beggars breaking bread.

I love it. There you go. We'll see a Duke fan and a UNC alumni can have a good conversation. It is proof. check out his stuff, check out his books on, Amazon. And, he's got a lot of good stuff for you guys, to go through. so remember folks find out what makes you happy and get to it. There's a lot of life out there to live. So make it a good one. Be nice, be kind, be good and have a good week.

Absolutely.

And it was really great talking to you, Philip.

Likewise, Matt, thank you so much.