In this episode, we discuss the importance of being curious about yourself.
Full Transcript
Hi Everyone, welcome to the You’re Daily Cup of Joe Podcast, with your host Joe Bautista. In this podcast, my goal is to give you quick lessons on how to grow yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually so you can have better careers, better relationships, and better personal finances.
I’m also the author of the book “More You Know, More You Grow: How to Get Better Every Day”. In this book, I wrote down over 30 tips to help you grow in those four cornerstones. I’m also the founder of Grow With Joe, where I combine self-development coaching and financial planning for Latino Professionals.
In today’s episode, we’re are going to talk about what you should be curious about and that’s yourself. For myself, I’m trying to constantly figure out things that I don’t know. I will go try new activities, I will try different foods, I try to meet different people, I will read a different type of books, and I’ll listen to different types of messages. I guess I’m just searching for the truth in terms of what I ultimately like and remove in false beliefs from my mind.
I feel like I have a good grasp of what the world is but I can always learn more. By being curious about everything, it is telling me who I need to be as a person. Growing up in Oregon, I had no clue what my actual potential in life could be but I’m glad I tried a bunch of different things because I wouldn’t be where I am in life right now and I love where I am in life right now.
I grew up in a mobile home with two blue-collar workers, my dad is an immigrant from Oaxaca, Mexico, the second poorest state and I’ve been there I think 7 times, so that exposed me to how life could be outside of Oregon. I was overweight as a kid so I know how being in a poor physical condition can take a toll on your confidence and health. I was a telemarketer and grocery bagger in high school, so I learned that I don’t want to trade my time for money. I went into the Marines and was exposed to military life and I gained a lot of discipline from that experience and I learned how to push myself when times get tough. I went to Portland State for a degree in Public health and I learned that everything is interconnected and that an ounce of cure is worth a pound cure and I was introduced to podcasts and books, which changed my learning style.
I moved to Washington, DC, which exposed me to the hustle and bustle of the east coast and learned that my potential in life is much higher than I thought. I’ve started four different business and I learned how hard it is run one but that it gives me the control over my life that I desire. I’ve written a book and learned how to stick with a project for 18 months. I’ve traveled to foreign places and learned how other people lived there life and how it is different from America.
All these different things gave me a perspective on how I should be living my life. I have absolute clarity on what I want for my future and that’s because I have always been curious. I don’t want to live a lie for too long because if I do that, then what happens is that at some point in the future, that lie stop working and if you’re not prepared for it, then you will struggle. Look at a bunch of careers in the past. The manufacturing jobs that went overseas and the coal mining jobs that no longer exist. For the ones that didn’t prepare for those moments had to struggle. I know for myself, I don’t want to struggle and I’m going to do everything within my power to explore my options and take the one that is going to give me the most security over my future.
I try to learn from the past so I don’t repeat the same mistake. If the answer is out there, then I want to find it because I don’t want to go through the pain of fixing those mistakes. Mistakes can painful and if I do the work of being curious and exploring what’s out there, then I can avoid that pain. Plus by being curious, I have never been more satisfied with life. I know what is important to me and what isn’t and this can free a lot of mental energy to focus on matters to me.
If you don’t know where to start when it comes to being curious, what you can try doing the following things.
* Read Books from different categories
- Listen to various podcasts
- Learn about different religions and philosophies
- Learn about different political ideologies
- Listen to music from different categories
- Go on a weekend vacation to a different state
- Take a class like improv, cooking, or painting
- Visit a different country
- Ask someone in a different career what they do
- Go to a Meetup group that you’re not familiar with
- Ask questions
- Ask yourself, is this what I want?
- Ask yourself, is this the best way I could be doing something?
- Ask yourself, What are the worst things I could do today?
- Ask yourself, What things give me the most energy?
The list can be longer but here is a good starting point. The idea is that you’re trying new things. You can still do the things you like but sprinkle in some new things every once in a while like 80% doing the things you enjoy and 20% trying something new. If you don’t like the new thing, then remove it from your life. If you did like the new thing, now you’re being true to yourself. You only have one shot at life, better make sure you’re not being wasteful of it.
That’s it for today’s episode, to summarize it, the thing you should be curious about is your life. We are not born with all the answers so we have to go out in the world and search for them. The path that you will take will be completely different from every other person on this planet and that is what makes the world a great place to be in. Variety is the spice of life and helps us think of creative solutions to solve problems. So make sure you take some time and try something new. If you don’t then you can fall trap to the confirmation bias fallacy where you only search for things that fit your perspective and how selfish is that to think that the world should adapt to you instead of the other way around. You can add your own personal touch to the world but if you got everything you wanted, you would just be a tyrant and how many tyrants in the world do we actually adore.
To get a free copy of my book “More You Know, More You Grow: How to get better every day” just go to my website growwithjoe.me/book and just pay for shipping and handling.
I have a quiz on my website that grades your inner circle, so if you want to find out if your inner circle is an A, B, C, D, or F, you can take that quiz at growwithjoe.me/quiz
I’m also trying to do a feedback Friday episode, so if you have a question that you would like to have my answer on the air, just e-mail me at [email protected]
I’m also on Instagram at Grow With Joe and Facebook just look up Grow With Joe
If you’re on iTunes, don’t forget to give me a five-star rating if you liked this episode.
Thanks for joining me today and remember if you go with Joe, you can grow with Joe, cause Joe knows Dough.
*Music outro
