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8 THINGS I WISH SOMEONE HAD TOLD ME
78 Plays1 year ago
Which of these tips will change your life? After speaking to the Senior Acting class at my alma mater, I realized I was actually giving advice to myself. This list will help motivate and inspire you to be a little bit better than you were yesterday. The question is: Are you ready to listen?
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Transcript
Introduction to Self-Improvement Podcast
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Here we go again.
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It's your favorite 10 to 15 minute podcast presented by me, Alex Hooper, becoming the best version of myself with every single episode that I release.
00:00:18
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Are you doing the same?
00:00:19
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I hope you
Reflecting on Educational Experiences
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are.
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Now, a couple of weeks ago,
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I talked to you about my high school experience where I went to phone school.
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I dropped out.
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I got expelled from college.
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All these wonderful things.
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Well, last week, I was at home in Baltimore.
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Now, I say home.
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I was where I grew up in Baltimore.
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I spoke to the senior acting class at my high school.
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I went to a magnet school, so I was there to act.
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And I spoke to the seniors who had not been born when I graduated.
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I'm the class of 2003.
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These students were not even zygotes yet.
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They were little tiny sperm just swimming around, a glottal of whatever.
Sharing Advice with Students
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And I went and spoke to them and I told them all about basically what I wish I had been told at that age.
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And now look, I wouldn't have listened.
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I was a rebellious little devil, but I still spoke to them.
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And what I realized in speaking to them is I was really talking to myself.
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I was giving myself advice for now that I wish I had been told at that time.
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And I think a lot of it really resonated with them.
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In fact, one of the students, when I left, the teacher emailed me and said, one of the students said, I have so much more confidence now than I did before, which is great.
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That's the Aletupar promise.
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I will come into a room and people go, oh, that guy is leading a successful life as an artist.
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Then I can definitely leave.
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do it.
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And so here are the eight things that I really tried to instill in them that I'm also trying to instill in myself.
Maintaining Creative Pursuits
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Number one,
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Once you find something that lights you up inside, keep finding ways to brighten it.
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The more you create a genuine person inside of yourself, the more your soul will illuminate and that will shine brightly on everyone around you.
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You have to find a way to keep the fire burning inside of you.
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And sometimes that means just keeping your artistic self separate from your work self.
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Sometimes you're going to get hired to do things that it doesn't light you up.
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It's just work.
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It's a paycheck, but always have some project going that does keep you creatively fueled.
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Number two,
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Focus on adaptability.
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You're never stuck being one thing.
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A huge part of being an artist is adapting to the times.
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If there's a new piece of technology, find a way to use it on your own terms.
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You're never stuck.
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Even if it's working for you, you can change up what you're doing at any time.
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Follow your instincts.
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And if you see something that's working for everyone else, it doesn't mean you need to do the same thing.
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Because what works for others might not work for you.
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So I encourage you to find your own way.
Creating Opportunities and Embracing Rejection
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Number three, don't wait for anyone to give you an opportunity.
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Do your own things all the time.
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Whatever that is, keep writing, filming, acting, just creating, editing your own projects, start a YouTube channel if that's what you wanna do.
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And this goes for any career.
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Of course, I'm speaking mainly to entertainment, but you can do this for anything.
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Create your own shit.
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Build your own career the way you want it to be by making things that you love.
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Because when you do what you want to do, you will be successful.
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And that's when the money and the opportunities will present themselves from outside sources.
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Number four, super important.
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Embrace rejection.
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Learn to love the word no.
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Every time that you hear it, you are that much closer to a yes.
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And the more no's you have to hear leading up to that yes, the better it's going to feel when finally something breaks through.
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Rejection is a huge part of life.
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And becoming resilient is what is going to carry you forward every single day.
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Believe that it will happen.
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And just because one person tells you no,
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Somebody out there is waiting in the wings to tell you that you're worthwhile.
The Power of a Supportive Community
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Number five, surround yourself with brilliant people who inspire you to be better.
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One of my favorite things about living in Los Angeles is I have seen just amazing, incredible, intelligent, creative people do shit that makes me motivated, that fuels my own fire.
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I love the people that I work with and I get to see every day.
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I'm talking about people from the earliest level at open mics that are just trying to find their voice.
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And then all of a sudden, next thing I know, they're selling out
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stadiums and they are creating TV shows and giving other people opportunities.
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It's amazing.
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Speaking of other people getting opportunities, collaborate.
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A lot of entertainment is a solo sport, but it doesn't have to be.
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The more people you bring in and surround yourself with, the better your things will get.
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Some people are going to have ideas that you would never have.
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You need people to tell you how to make things better.
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You need people to tell you, no, this is important.
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And the more, sometimes there's too many voices, but bringing in another person can really take a project from here to here.
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And I think that's very important.
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So collaborate as often as you can.
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God, I wish I had learned that one earlier on.
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I did everything by myself and I still do too much by myself.
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That's why I have a solo podcast, idiot.
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Celebrate the successes of others.
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This goes with collaboration, right?
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This is number seven though.
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But celebrate others.
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Yes, you're going to be jealous when somebody gets something that you want or that you wish you had.
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But
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Take that moment, be jealous, and then transmute that energy into a positive thought.
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Be happy for them in the same way that you would want them to be happy for you.
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And if it's happening to that, to people around you, then it's going to happen to you soon too.
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Proximity is everything.
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And remember this, you are closer than you've ever been.
The Importance of Self-Care
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With each new moment, you are manifesting your dreams.
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Number eight, the final one for this podcast.
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Take care of yourself.
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Love yourself.
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Self-care is so important.
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If you're feeling burned out, then take a break.
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Treat yourself well.
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Do not exhaust yourself.
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Don't think that constant struggle or being poor or eating shitty food has to be the way.
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If you want others to love you, it starts by loving yourself.
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External factors are only going to cause so much happiness.
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True joy is a choice that comes from within, that comes from you.
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And you need to remember that at all times.
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It starts with you.
Reflections on Life's Journey
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Speaking to those kids was awesome.
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And they were kids.
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17 years old to me is a kid.
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They don't know anything yet.
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They still think high school is going to be the best years of their life.
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Yeah, right.
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It only gets better if you keep doing it right.
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I've always thought this.
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You think your high school years are the best it's ever going to be.
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Then you spend your 20s making mistakes.
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Fucking off.
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Because you're learning about the life that you want to live.
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Then in your 30s, you can really figure out what you want and start pointing yourself towards it.
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In your 40s, you are going to be killing it.
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Because you understand all of the failures that you have behind you.
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All of the things have culminated and acquiesced into where you want to be.
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And then in your 50s, you can live.
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You can truly enjoy yourself with the life that you've created.
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Your 60s are probably going to start going downhill.
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Let's face it.
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You're going to start having heart problems and your knees are going to hurt and you're not going to want to bend over anymore and your kids are going to be hitting you up for money.
00:09:38
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But if you do it right, it's going to keep getting better all the way through your 50s.
00:09:46
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Then I think your 60s might suck.
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And then your 70s, just accept that you're going to die soon and I think you're going to be a much happier person.
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That's what I'm waiting for.
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I really am.
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So keep this one around, you know, send this to other people that need to hear it.
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I, when I was writing about this the morning before I had to talk with these students, I was like, I thought I was writing to them.
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I thought I was coming up with all the talking points for them.
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A hundred percent.
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It was for me.
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Because I need to tell myself these things too.
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And remind myself that it is a privilege to get to live this life even when it is difficult.
Podcast Evolution and Personal Growth
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I need to remember every single one of these points.
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All eight of them.
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Think about what you're going to do today to make yourself a little bit better.
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Because while you can have goals in the future...
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Don't put yourself five years away and think, if I do all these things, I can get here.
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Your only job is to be a little bit happier, smarter, and better than you were yesterday.
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Are you doing that?
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I think you are.
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I know you are.
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So keep it up, everybody.
00:11:05
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Now, Hollywood Improv, January 7th.
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I am headlining at the Hollywood Improv Lab.
00:11:13
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There are only 50 tickets left, so please go get those tickets.
00:11:17
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I am doing my full hour.
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The performance that I'm taping only a few days later, I'm doing it at the Hollywood Improv.
00:11:25
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It's my first time ever headlining there, and that's super cool.
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It's a big achievement for me, and I'm excited about it.
00:11:32
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So I really want to see you there.
00:11:33
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Go get the tickets.
00:11:34
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HooperComedy.com.
00:11:36
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Of course, follow me on social media at HooperHairPuff.
00:11:40
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It's important.
00:11:41
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I'm trying to build those numbers.
00:11:43
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I'm constantly releasing clips from this podcast, my own stand-up, some daily lollipops.
00:11:48
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You know how it goes.
00:11:50
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Silly pug things.
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It is a happiness factory at HooperHairPuff.
00:11:56
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And share this podcast.
00:11:58
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It's growing.
00:11:59
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It's cool.
00:12:00
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Some episodes have done really well lately, and that's been exciting.
00:12:04
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And I'm making it, you know, I'm being consistent.
00:12:07
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It's important.
00:12:08
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I'm almost a year deep.
00:12:09
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I think this is like episode 49 or 50 or something like that.
00:12:15
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Do you feel so good?
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I know you do.
00:12:18
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Because it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
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I love you guys.
00:12:26
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Thanks for being here.
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See you next week.