Why Did You Name the Site Senator Club?

I named the Senator Club after a TV show. Actually not even a TV show. A series made for the internet, with a $100 million dollar budget.

You watch TV Ian?

Rarely. Generally speaking, TV is a big waste of time. When you think about your life in terms of tradeoffs and benefits. Watching TV is a losing game.

Your time is the tradeoff. Your benefit is the entertainment.

But since your time is finite and the television content is only marginally entertaining, you ultimately lose in the end.

So if you’re going to watch TV, at least watch something educational. That way you can effectively double the benefits you receive. You get entertainment now, plus you gain additional knowledge that can be applied later.

For me, this one show met that criteria…

The political drama called, . You can only watch it on Netflix.

The drama follows Francis Underwood, the House Majority Whip, (played by Kevin Spacey) who’s primary responsibility is to convince other Senators to vote in favor or against different political issues.

And though the plot is dark and deceitful at times, the Director does an exceptional job showing how Francis Underwood is able to influence other people.

His strategy and thought process is clearly detailed through a self-narration. Where Kevin Spacey will look directly into the camera and explain exactly how he plans to persuade the other person to act in his favor.

Why I’m fascinated

I’m fascinated because the Senator, Francis Underwood, is the ultimate salesman.

He knows exactly how to persuade others to his way of thinking. He is in the business of selling his ideas.

I’m not arguing whether his actions are ethical or not. Rather, emphasizing the Senator’s acute understanding of human psychology which he uses to get other people to buy into his ideas.

I recommend you watch

My friend watched the show, after hearing my positive review. And he shared with me a very unique experience he had. From the very first scene of Season One, Episode One. The show changed his perspective about a dark incident from his past…

Here is the email he sent me moments later:

To: Ian
From: Mike
Subject: Re: quick story… (inspired by house of cards!)

Without a doubt I can tell you I love this
show. Matter of fact… this show has already CHANGED MY LIFE… lmao!

No joke. My life has literally already been changed.

I thought I’d just share a quick story on how it has done so. OK, so
the very first scene of the premiere episode has Kevin Spacey calmly,
quickly, and methodically assessing an unfortunate accident with what
to do for a (not shown) yelping dog that had just been hit by a car.
Spacey says to himself/and dog,”There are two kinds of pain… The
sort of pain that makes you strong, or useless pain, the kind that’s
only suffering. I have no patience for useless things. Moments like
this require someone who will act, do the unpleasant thing, the
necessary thing.” He then strangles the dog to a horrendous but
necessary death. Spacey doesn’t flinch, second guess himself, nor does
he tell the dog’s owner how it had to end, just that the dog simply
died.

So check it out. About 4 years ago while visiting my parents I went
outside to the front yard and loaded my car preparing to leave back to
Sac. The front door had remained open and there I saw Jersey the
family dog, our adorable Yorkie, running around my car. With a
watchful eye I kept her close to my side… that is until I received a
phone call which I proceeded to answer. No more than 30 seconds
later… I hear a treacherous scream-ish sound in conjunction with the
shrieking of tires followed by a nonstop yelping. Jersey’s broken body
floundered in the street helpless in pain and confusion. I yelled
NOOOOOOOOO! at the top of my lungs, I ran over to her, spoke a soft
word to her and proceeded to strangle our family dog to her death. I
felt life leave through my hands. I felt the last gasp for air, the
body twitching and yearning to stay alive… then… motionless death
quietly lay in my hands.

The guilt of her getting ran over on my watch combined with the
numbing feeling of taking life with my own hands really messed me up
the following couple of days.I finally got over it later that week but
ever since it happened I’ve been haunted by it. A couple of times a
year I will literally get a “flashback” and just have to shake it out
of my head and sometimes even jolt a quick scream. I’ve always refused
to address what happened and have never willingly replayed the scenein my head. Anytime a flashback emerges I eliminate it instantly and

try to forget.

Whew… bro… Man, I replayed that first scene of House of Cards
about 10 times in a row, dissecting the first scene. And after doing
so it helped me finally come to complete peace with what I had to with
ending my dogs life that day. Its was sadly a brutal process of how it
had to be done, but it simply just had to be done. Last night I
vividly pictured and remembered what happened that day, on my own
accord. I addressed the sounds and images that were etched in the back
of my mind and dude, I am at complete peace with what went down. It’s
actually quite a relief. Pretty cool.

After 2 minutes of watching the House of Cards…. lmao!!!!! I can truly say.

I love that show!!

Tough decision to make

Francis Underwood makes a tough decision, swiftly and without regret. A necessary quality to have in business and in sales.

My friend identified with the show in a unique way. As did I.

Which is why I am calling it the Senator Club. Because the characters played in the House of Cards share many of the same qualities necessary to succeed in sales.

Qualities that I will continue to explore in more detail in future blog posts on the Senator Club.

Now you know where the name comes from.

Let me know if you watched “The House of Cards” and what you think about it.