In this brief motivational monologue recorded on April 1, 2021, the speaker shares a personal sunrise experience and uses the occasion of April Fool’s Day to encourage listeners to adopt the mindset of the "fool" or "idiot in the room." Drawing on Simon Sinek’s idea of being the idiot who asks questions and Buddhist concepts of beginner’s mind, the speaker argues that surrendering ego, admitting lack of knowledge, and staying curious prevent bias and stagnation. The talk concludes with a call to courageously ask for clarification, view the world with fresh eyes, and embrace childlike wonder, ending with a friendly sign‑off.
Chapters
Good morning, everyone. Here is your Moment of Yes for Thursday, April 1st. It's April 1st. We're into April already in 2021. I had to make an airport drop-off early this morning, and so a good opportunity to come to the beach, see a sunrise that I haven't seen in a long time. And it hit me that it's, it's April 1st, i.e., April Fool's Day. So happy April Fool's Day, everybody. So I'm happy to be your April Fool for today. And so my moment of yes for today is to encourage all of us to be the fool. Because the fool is the one that doesn't know, and the fool is the one though that doesn't also pretend to know. I was listening to a Simon Sinek talk recently, and he talks about being the idiot in the room. And he's like, I'm okay being the idiot in the room. And the idiot is the one who will basically keep raising their hand and say, I don't know, I don't understand what you're saying, can you explain it more? And to keep doing that over and over again instead of sitting in the room and pretending to understand what's going on when odds are most people in the room don't. The idiot is the one who raises their hand and says, I'm not quite sure, can you explain that a little better? What I love about that, being the idiot, being the fool, is there is a surrendering of the ego that is okay. with not knowing. And there is also the understanding that, to use the Buddhism, beginner's mind is that everything, every moment is new. And to have a beginner's mind is to see every situation as new, to never get to an arrogance level that I know everything or I— I don't have to ask questions because I get this. And that's how we get stuck in our biases is when we stop being curious and we stop being open-minded. And so today I encourage us all on April Fool's Day to be the fool. Be the fool today. When you don't understand something, be courageous enough to say, hey, I don't quite understand what you're talking about. Can you explain a little bit more? And also just to see the world with the eyes of someone seeing them for the first time, which is really difficult to do. My mother-in-law does it really well. And to have that childish foolishness and to just see with fresh eyes. So, that's your moment of yes for today. Oh, look at that view! Have a great day, everybody. Bye.
