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Brant & Sherri Oddcast

2386 It's Complex Plagiarizing Yourself

·17 min·1 clip
Brant argues that your 35,000 daily decisions hinge on one limited resource: where you choose to pay attention.
The episode begins with Brant and Sherri introducing the topic of control issues, prompted by listener calls. A caller named Katie shares her experience with severe postpartum depression and psychosis, which forced her to relinquish control and trust God. Another caller, Holly, discusses recognizing her own controlling tendencies by seeing them in someone else, leading to personal growth. Brant interjects with a surprising fact: a typical cloud weighs over a million pounds. He then transitions to reading a chapter from his unpublished book, noting the legal complexity of self-plagiarism. The chapter focuses on attention, citing research that people make about 35,000 remotely conscious decisions daily. Brant argues that attention is a limited resource that determines life's trajectory, referencing Jesus's teaching that the eye is the lamp of the body. He gives examples from Alexandra Horowitz's book 'On Looking,' where experts notice different details on the same walk, and an orthopedic surgeon who sees anatomical issues in passersby. Brant shares a personal anecdote about noticing a Wolverhampton Wanderers logo at the gym due to his interest in the Premier League. He discusses how we choose what to attend to and ignore, citing Jedediah Buxton, who counted steps and words in a Shakespeare play instead of engaging with the drama. Brant emphasizes that we are shaped by what we pay attention to, for good or ill, and warns about spiritual enemies that misdirect attention. He connects this to biblical passages, urging listeners to fix their eyes on Jesus and think about whatever is true, noble, and pure. The episode ends with a discussion on how being transformed by renewing the mind should make Christians different in the present, not just in the afterlife.

As heard by us

A frank conversation about control, attention, and how change starts in ordinary daily life.

The episode stays with two pressures that do not let up: trying to control everything, and letting attention drift where it should not. It begins with a listener story about severe postpartum depression and psychosis, then moves into the harder work of planning responsibly while…

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Why you'd press play

You want a faith-talk episode that turns control issues into a practical question of attention.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
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