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What is a Matt Trick?
My name is Matthias Whitney and I go by Matthias, but back in the day, growing up, I was known as Matt. Matt was boring, indistinct, and didn't stand out of a crowd. There were at least three other "Matthews" in my small graduating, and who wants to get mixed up with them when I was a "Matthias"!? So when I went to college, I only ever introduced myself as Matthias, and that is who I am today.
Moreover, Matt was not only boring, but Matt was clumsy, foolish, forgetful, and irresponsible. This even became an inside joke in my family where whenever somebody did something like spill their drink or forget their lunch, it was labeled "The Matt Trick."
You could say that I've tried to redefine myself, but really I'm just trying to become a better version of myself, or a more complete, more whole version of myself. And so with this in mind, I've created The Matt Trick podcast where I will share a Matt Trick, a goal that I can work on with you, and a moment of inspiration I've been working out in my study journal.
But the Matt Tricks I intend to share aren't how my family used to call them. From now on, I'm redefining Matt Trick as a tip, trick, life hack, or just something cool that I've been reading about lately. It could even be something like a really awesome Youtube video my wife just found or a really bad pun joke I just heard. There are a lot of topics I'm interested in and passionate about, but I don't have much time to spend on them. This podcast and blog will be a place where I can spotlight them and also share them with you.
Moreover, Matt was not only boring, but Matt was clumsy, foolish, forgetful, and irresponsible. This even became an inside joke in my family where whenever somebody did something like spill their drink or forget their lunch, it was labeled "The Matt Trick."
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| Fig. 1 - Calvin demonstrates what was formerly known as The Matt Trick. |
You could say that I've tried to redefine myself, but really I'm just trying to become a better version of myself, or a more complete, more whole version of myself. And so with this in mind, I've created The Matt Trick podcast where I will share a Matt Trick, a goal that I can work on with you, and a moment of inspiration I've been working out in my study journal.
But the Matt Tricks I intend to share aren't how my family used to call them. From now on, I'm redefining Matt Trick as a tip, trick, life hack, or just something cool that I've been reading about lately. It could even be something like a really awesome Youtube video my wife just found or a really bad pun joke I just heard. There are a lot of topics I'm interested in and passionate about, but I don't have much time to spend on them. This podcast and blog will be a place where I can spotlight them and also share them with you.
The Matt Trick
My very first Matt Trick is a way that you can subscribe to and regularly listen to my podcast! It is a podcasting app for Android and iOS called Pocketcasts by Shifty Jelly.
To get you started, here are a list of podcasts that I subscribe to:
The Matt Trick (you should subscribe to this one too)
Feakononmics
The Clark Howard Show
Radiolab
All About Android
This Week In Google
Marathon Training Academy
Run Run Live!
Econ Talk
YNAB
The Kindle Chronicles
LDS General Conference
If you like this Matt Trick or you use something even better for listening to podcasts, comment below or email me.
Goal Line
Each episode I want to set a goal with you. This makes me accountable to someone to complete that goal. I trust you'll hold me to it. If you feel so inclined, you can make a goal along side me and we'll work on it together so we're more likely to complete it.
After going to the trouble of making a podcast, I'm making the goal to make another episode and post it by next Monday morning. Then another the next week and another the next week for a total of four episodes in four weeks (including this one). After my fourth episode I'll see how I did and I can decide if I want to keep it up or scale it back to every other week or something.
You don't have to set a goal to create a podcast, but if you like to write, start a blog and I'll read it! Keep a journal and write in it! Write down your goals and thoughts somewhere that you can come back to so that future you can find inspiration in your words and become more awesome.
Matt-spiration Moment
I'm still not sure about the title to this segment, but if you like it or you have something cleverer for me, let me know in a comment below. Here are some thoughts I've been having about being **perfect.
Linda K. Burton in her latest LDS General Conference address talked of the rich young man that approached Christ and asked how to obtain eternal life (see Matthew chapter 19). Christ responded simply to keep the commandments. The young man said he was doing that, and Christ responded more specifically:
Jesus said, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. (Matthew 19:21)
The young man went away sad because he had many possessions. I don’t think the moral of the story is to sell all your stuff and become a vagrant living on the street to become a better person. How can one effectively serve others if we can’t even take care of ourselves and if we’re dependent on others just to feed our families. Rather what was impeding this particular young man from progressing was his love of his stuff, and Christ perceived that this love of stuff would impede him from serving.
Materialism isn’t really what catches my attention in this passage right now, rather Christ’s challenge, “If thou wilt be perfect…” And this isn’t the only time Christ lays down the "perfect challenge". In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ says, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:28) He repeats the command when He appears on the American Continent to the Nephites as a glorified, perfected, resurrected being as recorded in The Book of Mormon, only he includes Himself in the list of perfect people since now He’s got a glorified, perfected, resurrected body, “Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.” (3 Nephi 12:48)
The call to perfection can be daunting, but Sister Burton in her address points out that the translated word for “perfect” in the New Testament comes from a Greek word which also means whole or complete. When I listened to this recently, it made me think of what I hope to accomplish in this podcasting/blogging project, which is to become a more whole,complete person. To be well rounded, better educated, less frazzled, less likely the kind of person to pull what my family used to refer to as a Matt Trick, and more like the kind of person that would pull what I would like to now rebrand as a Matt Trick. And hopefully you’ll come along with me for the ride and learn and grow with me.
But if you don’t ever actually achieve perfection in this life, don’t worry, you’ll be in good company with the rest of us mere mortals trying to scrape by from day to day just trying to get out the door for work on time with my lunch and my pants on. Besides, perfection isn’t really meant to be attainable in this life without help. In the final chapter of the Book of Mormon, the Prophet Moroni invites, “Yea, come unto Christ and be perfected in Him” (Moroni 10:32, emphasis added). Even though we’re only mortals, if we always strive to put forth our best effort, pick ourselves back up and learn when we make mistakes, relying on the Grace of Christ through His Atonement to make up the difference, then even though we won’t be perfect in this life, we can be “perfected in Him.”
