Coffee With Scott Adams — Knowledge Archive May 24, 2026
Scott Adams Philosophy Archive
Search ideas
Episodes Episode #3067 Segments
QandA Politics as Persuasion

Back to episode — Episode 3067 ChattingWSA 01/09/26

Context —

n't get stage fright or anything. But when it comes to talking with a group of people or being in a social situation that has been difficult for me historically. But one question that I found that has helped me with that is what are you thankful for? And you can ask that to somebody in an elevator. You can ask that to your cashier, to the person serving you at a restaurant. You can ask it to your…

← Previous segment →

d yet. Is your microphone off?

Yeah. So we can't hear you. Can you hear me?

Okay. There must be a microphone button somewhere on your screen. No. It should be in the bottom left or just the bottom.

No.

Okay. Can you hear me now?

Yes.

Weird.

Yeah. My head's up for everything else. But yeah now is... Yeah. Thank you Scott. So yeah I just had a story about how you actually really helped me surprise my wife on my wedding. It was like a year-long thing. So my wife she's a great singer right and she loves to sing and so I used what you taught us to teach myself how to sing in like a year's time, you know not great but better than I was for sure. But yeah so I surprised her at a wedding with a song and so the way you helped me was through systems over goals, affirmations and then simulation as well. So I scheduled weekly vocal lessons and doing it for like a half hour every day going through it. And then I was doing affirmations and my affirmations were this is like the crazy crazy part is that I was saying to my wife perfectly. All right. I was saying to my wife perfectly and I would write that down every day. I was super nervous about it. And so I would do that and then as I was picking my song the song I ended up picking was Perfect by Ed Sheeran. And unbeknownst to me that's the same song that she ended up walking down the aisle to, Perfect by Ed Sheeran.

Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah. So it was crazy. But yeah so we get to the day get to the part where I sing to her and you know I've been practicing this like forever because of the systems and I had a special vocal backing for it like a special piano version of the song. So I sent it to the DJ and the DJ was streaming it and then halfway through the song the internet goes out like so I'm up there and my wife is there and I'm in front of all of our family and friends and I got through the first verse and then I had to go to the second verse and then I just did a capella. I was like we're in a simulation and it doesn't matter anyway. So I'm just going to do it you know. And yeah then with the affirmations and her picking that song and I was like this is my chance. I'm just going to do it. I'm going to go for it. A capella and I did it. That's parts everybody remembers and yeah I'm very very grateful for your teachings.

The fact that you could get through that and that you could just instantly accommodate it is super impressive. I've had some speeches like that where the sound goes out in the middle and blah blah blah and it's the recovering that people remember. So how comfortable would you be singing to us right now? Hold on. Not the whole song but just a little snippet to just show us where you're at. And remember the goal here is not to do it well. The goal is to show us that you could do it, that you're not afraid of it, and that that's something you've conquered. It could be five seconds long but if you feel comfortable I don't want to put you on the spot but I also do want to put you on the spot just because I want you to see that the other people will just sort of appreciate it but there's no downside to it whatsoever. Do you improv?

I found a love for me darling just dive right in and follow my lead. I found a girl beautiful and sweet. I never knew you were the one waiting for me.

Thank you guys. Yeah I'm so nervous right now. Yeah thank you.

What did you just learn? It was a positive experience.

Yeah. Yeah. No I feel good for doing it.

Yeah. Well thank you for that story. Thanks for the accompaniment. Who's doing the accompaniment? What's your name?

My name's Jeff Colorado.

That was nice. How did you know what to play?

I just strumming some chords, some basic chords here. I've actually got Wichita Lineman here drawn up in tablature.

It's a beautiful song. I'm learning to play that today. One of the best songs of all time.

All right. Well that was impressive. If you had put me on the spot like that that would have been a challenge. And I do a lot of this online. So I thought you might ask when I brought the story. Oh man. That's so funny. But yeah I don't know. I am the one at our parties and stuff doing karaoke and I'm kind of known for that now and it's a lot of fun. So yeah you gave me a good gift.

Yeah you have a great natural voice. That's half the game.

Thank you.

So I've got a tip for you. Just record yourself and listen to your voice over and over and see yourself improve and actually begin to enjoy your voice more and I think that helps you evolve as a performer.

Yeah. So I actually after the wedding like I've gotten out of it. Like I practiced so much for the wedding and after the wedding I don't know. We do it for fun but I'm not like I don't want to do it super perfect. I don't know if with more systems I could. Sure.

Good point.

Well that was a great experiment and let's talk to some other people. I usually don't go too far down the music road because I don't know anything about it. But I see Mike Bird up here. Is Mike Bird on screen?

Maybe if yo

Context —

u all may I make one point about the affirmations? Yes. So in one of your books or in several of your listenings you had said that you had not kind of figured out how to make the affirmations or why they work. I actually did some research on it and so the neurobiology of your brain. So you have an area of your brain called the reticular activating system and so your brain itself only follows...…

Next segment → →