The Richly or Poorly Show
Show Transcript
shdawson-20260825.mp3
Episode 08/25/2026
08/25/2026
Hello! Welcome to The Richly or Poorly Show!
My name is Dr. Stephen Dawson, and I am your show host.
Thank you for joining me.
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The show's motto is unmistakable: RICHLY IS GOODLY!
Please consider how you define the term good as we journey through life together in your pursuit of defining the term richly in your life.
Last week, I continued to present on the topic of relationships. I presented the fifth step in establishing a relationship: Determine Inputs-Processes-Outputs. I shared that the basis for a relationship is a longer duration than that of a team in a project. All team members have the relationship attribute. However, the starting point of formation for any relationship is different from that of forming a team. A team has a purpose to accomplish. A relationship has no purpose other than to relate as the events unfold through a set of individualized guided preferences. I invite you to review the Teaming series episodes of April 7th, 2026, through May 19th, 2026, as you see fit to better understand the episode I present to you today. It has taken several episodes to present relationships to you in preparation for presenting The Five Academic Skills Necessary for Success to you. This is the next-to-last episode in the relationship series.
Today, I will continue to present on the topic of relationships. I will present the sixth step in establishing a relationship.
I presented on December 9th, 2025, the first principle I have found as paramount, undeniable, and non-negotiable to living life more richly:
Understand Your Data Lifecycle
I presented on May 26th, 2026, the second principle I have found as paramount, undeniable, and non-negotiable to living life more richly:
Purpose Defines Process
I provided you with the thought three weeks ago that a relationship can be viewed as a license. I shared that there is a hard limit to all relationships; a license can be viewed as a cost to participate; a license can be viewed as answering questions about performance to those who issue the license; and that a license can be revoked.
I presented the input-process-output model in the December 16th, 2025, episode, and I used the model as the means to explain the flow of Wisdom in the March 10th, 2026, episode. The December 16th, 2025, episode was an episode to help form the listener relationship. The March 10th, 2026, episode was a topic connector that presented additional information to help the listener gain further insights through a deeper contextual understanding. I invite you to review these two episodes as you see fit to better understand the episode I present to you today.
The step to Determine Inputs-Processes-Outputs exists entirely to protect you. There is no guarantee that anyone will protect you except you. Any agreement you reach with any person about your relationship with them has no guarantees that the other person will hold up their end of the agreement they formed with you. The benefit of the Determine Inputs-Processes-Outputs step is not only protection by intent, but also any other unintended outcomes that benefit you in conducting your relationship.
Please understand that it is impossible to have all inputs, processes, and outputs defined in a relationship. They can be, and must be, defined in a team. The reason they must be defined in a team is that a team has a purpose to accomplish. A team accomplishes specific results, being specific outputs, to form specific outcomes. A relationship exists with almost endless flexibility. The only parts of the relationship that are not flexible are found in step four, Determine Boundaries. The only way the boundaries can continue to exist after you declare them is what you accomplish in step five, Determine Inputs-Processes-Outputs.
The sixth step in establishing a relationship is: Determine Adjustments.
The step to Determine Adjustments is accomplished when you, and you alone, have decided the step to Determine Inputs-Processes-Outputs needs modification. The modification needed is defined by step one, Determine Value. The relationship you have is not working as you prefer; you value the relationship to the point that you want it to continue, and you decide you need to adjust something in your Determine Inputs-Processes-Outputs step. Now, it is possible that you decide you want to change either your Determine Type or Determine Amount steps. The relationship formation steps occur in order. So, any step you need to modify requires you to go one step back in the list, accomplish the preceding step, and then proceed through the list again, so your relationship is formed as you prefer. If you need to modify step five, for example, then you at least need to modify step four first before modifying step five. If you need to modify step four, then you at least need to modify step three. You then proceed to adjust all of the steps as you see fit so you are happy with the relationship structure that you want to have in place.
Let's take your listening to this podcast as an example. You chose to listen to it by your own free will. You could do other things, but here you are listening to me sharing my offer of help to you by way of our relationship. There are dozens and dozens of listeners of this show at any given time doing the same thing as you. They all want to live their life more richly, as do you. How do you value the relationship you have with me through listening to The Richly or Poorly Show? I value greatly what I do to deliver the show with excellence. I cannot measure what I do not have for listener feedback without forming a relationship with them. How do you expect to grow to your full potential without forming a relationship with me?
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I recall when I was in high school that my 11th-grade mathematics teacher told us not to eat lunch, but to have a small snack. I had her class right after lunch. I thought she was out of her mind for such a suggestion. She went on to explain that the blood in the body moves to digestion and strains the mind's ability to think. She was a reputable intellect in the field of mathematics, but a horrible teacher. You will hear more about her in the coming weeks. Suffice it to say today, I did not have a good relationship with her. I wanted to learn mathematics, and I was happy to learn mathematics from her. What I was unwilling to do was to be berated as a student for having her class after lunch. I held the view then, as I do today, that a good teacher would have a way to teach students after lunch. Oddly, she, in her 40 years of teaching, did not know such a teaching technique.
I am all for adjusting a relationship when necessary. I am not for adjusting a relationship daily. It is my worldview that a relationship has some expected amount of consistency to it. If there is a constant state of change, then I struggle to believe there is a relationship between the two people. A home with instability struggles children to accomplish learning, as they are in fear for their ability to be safe. I have no interest in being in a relationship where the other person feels unsafe from anything I either do or could do. The same is true for anything the other person may do to me that either is or could be unsafe.
I have accomplished many activities over the years such as parachuting, rock climbing, rappelling, and deep-sea diving. All these activities are indeed risky to the point of being life-threatening. They are not the same as trying to have a cup of coffee with someone, or help them fix something at their house, or help them when they are in the hospital being treated for cancer. These are examples of the Determine Type step. I could walk away and tell them I do not want to be bothered with having a cup of coffee with them, or helping them fix whatever is broken, or that I do not want to go to the hospital and see them when they are near death. If I have any degree of intelligence, then I know that the Determine Value step could occur where the roles are reversed and I need to sit and have a cup of coffee with someone, or I need some help fixing something, or I am in the hospital with cancer and would like someone to come and see me for a few minutes.
Sure, a way to view the Determine Adjustments step is when things are bad. I see the Determine Adjustments step as a way to help a good relationship become ever better, when good is fine for the moment. If good is the enemy of best, then the Determine Adjustments step is perpetual. It is unlikely the Determine Adjustments step will be perpetual based on my worldview, which has the belief that a relationship has some expected amount of consistency to it. But, this is me. How about you?
I spoke with some coworkers last year that I had not spoken with in almost 40 years. I was amazed to learn how we had all chewed on the same topics over the years. We each looked at things that were not going well then over the years and tried to figure out what was wrong at the time. Almost all had reached the same conclusions as I did. Summarizing the conclusions, the lack of how to relate to one another suffered our ability to work with excellence as a team. We did our work well, and we earned awards for our quality of work as a team. However, we did not spend much time together after work. We did not have to spend time together after work, but it does seem now like it would have helped form our relationships then. We simply did not know how to form relationships, so we were clueless about the root of the problem. We knew how to do our work, and did so as a team, but not in strong relationships.
I do not see it as best that new workers spend time building relationships with their coworkers. I see it best to learn how to do the job, then become a part of the team, then accomplish success, then look to building a relationship beyond work. All workers are paid to work, not do anything else during work time. This statement is only true for a worker who is being paid to deliver productive work output. A worker paid to sit there and collect a check, well ... this is the case when politics overrides capitalism. A great way for a new worker to be an ex-worker, also known as a former worker, is to not deliver on their job requirements.
Coworkers who force a new worker to explain their entire life to them when the new worker starts the position are not interested in the new worker. They are banding together as one entity to operate as a bully, trying to find out the entire worldview of the new worker as soon as possible without disclosing their worldviews. If the worldview of the new worker does not match the existing workers', then the existing workers try to have the new worker either terminated or resign from their job. How do I know this is the Truth? Simple. There is no productive worker that is going to quit their job only for a new worker's benefit. The aspect of income assurance in the form of paycheck perseverance is evidence of this behavior.
Check out the webpage at shdawson DOT COM SLASH podcast. Scroll down to the Transcript Search Engine. Enter the term bully to search for and locate all of the show episodes where I address how a bully causes you to live your life poorly, and how I offer you help to eliminate a bully from your life.
Next week, we conclude the series on relationships. I expect you will be shocked to learn the final step. I hold this expectation as it is a rare behavior in the world of today. It is a behavior that I have found to be an absolute in living life more richly.
Please remember that we are moving toward presenting The Five Academic Skills Necessary for Success to you. These five skills are based on, literally, everything I have presented to you since the beginning of The Richly or Poorly Show last December. It is crucial for your success in living your life more richly to have a good grasp of what I am presenting in each episode for you to benefit from The Five Academic Skills Necessary for Success.
Well, that's it for today.
RICHLY IS GOODLY!
Please consider all you have heard from me today.
I hope you are excited about how you can apply the material I present to you on the show to your life, so you can live your life more richly than you have ever known!
Thank you for joining me for this episode of The Richly or Poorly Show!
I have enjoyed presenting to you today.
Until the next episode, I hope you will be safe and join me next week.
Until then.
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