In this episode, we discuss how you should do things that you can’t do, that’s how you get to eventually do them.
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 that you can reflect on in your journal so you can grow yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually and have a better career, better relationships, and better personal finances while you enjoy your morning cup of coffee.
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.
At the end of today’s podcast episode, I’m going to give you a prompt question to reflect on in your journal. The idea is to take one to five minutes to reflect on today’s lesson and write a minimum of one paragraph on how you can apply the lesson in your life. You can use an actual journal, a word document like on Google Drive, or your note-taking app like Evernote. The idea is that you’re actually thinking about how to process the information to help you improve your life.
In today’s episode, we’re are going to talk about the Pablo Picasso quote, “I am always doing things I can’t do. That is how I get to do them.” What this quote means to me is that we should try things that we want to do but know that we’re not good at them yet. This how you eventually get good at the thing. During Pablo Picasso’s life, he creates around 50,000 pieces of art. From paintings, ceramics, sculptures, drawings, and prints. If you make 50,000 pieces of something, you’re probably going to get a lot better.
I saw this thing on Reddit where this person took a drawing that they did 10 years ago, and then redid the photo using their skills ten years later and the ten-year photo ten years later is amazing. So much more detail and skill is shown. I have a niece who’s been drawing since she was a little kid and now as a teenager, she is winning Google Doodle contest for her state. Just practice and practice some more and you will get better.
In Marine Corps Boot Camp, I sucked at the front somersaults and I put off on doing MCMAP for a while until I went to Iraq and I had nothing better to do than to learn MCMAP and eventually after enough attempts, I was able to perform them. Once I was able to do a front somersault, which gave me a lot of confidence.
At first, you suck at something and at that point you have a decision, do you try again or do you quit. If you quit, you save your ego some embarrassment, but what you sacrifice is your growth as a person. I also hate to use language that tells me that I can’t do something. I will also not use language that will put me down. I might say that I messed up but then I tell myself that this is how I’m going to get better the next time around.
When I was first doing this podcast, it was so hard to do because it would take me forever to edit the podcast. And I didn’t want to record the podcast because I knew I wasn’t that very good. But thanks to reading books like the Art of War and listening to podcasts like Marketing Secrets, now I don’t have any trouble recording a podcast.
I still mess up when I record but they are not as bad as in the past, which means I just finish my podcasts faster. Now I’m doing more video work where I’m doing Facebook lives and I noticed that I would do certain things with my face that I know want to try to control. Like when I noticed that I’m accumulating saliva in my mouth, I tend to take a big gulp. Or when I’m thinking, I look away from the camera.
I’m just going to keep doing the videos and get better at them. That’s how I’m going to do them better in the future. Plus don’t see anything like the final attempt at doing something, you will get better with time. I remember talking to someone who did some internet stalking about me and she said that I was a different person in real life. She saw that I did all these videos and was expecting someone else. I’m more of an introvert by nature and will allow other people to talk. But I was surprised when this person told me that. I guess I’m moving in the right direction and maybe I’m just overthinking things and people aren’t noticing everything I’m doing wrong.
So that’s another point I’m making is that we tend to make things bigger than expected. I read this one study where kids had to wear this t-shirt with I think a big picture of Barry Manilow on it and had to show up to a class late in college. Then they interviewed the classmates after the class and asked if they noticed anything weird happen and student with a huge picture of Barry Manilow on their chest and most said no. The study called this the spotlight effect since as people we tend to put the spotlight on our self and not see what is happening around us. So next time you do something, and you want to get better at it, don’t worry looking like a fool, because no one is really paying attention. The beginning is a perfect time to perfect your skills at trying the new thing in your life.
That’s it for today’s episode, to summarize it, you should do things that you can’t do because that’s how you will eventually do them. Especially if this means you will become the person that you want to become in life. The ego of the human mind has killed a lot of dreams because it wants to protect itself from feeling bad or looking like a fool. This was helpful back in the day when we lived in small tribes, but it’s not helpful anymore. I suck at new things that I try but then I just keep doing them until I get better. This happened with dancing, doing podcasts, doing videos, and even doing financial planning. The key thing is repetition and if you do something a hundred times, there is a high probability that you will get better at it. You just got to put in the repetition in and not let your mind tell you that you can’t do something or others to. Just get to work and start living your life.
So in your journal, ask yourself, what is something that you want to do? What is causing the resistance from doing that thing? What is the worst thing that is going to happen if you try that thing ten times? What are you giving up by not doing that thing? Take some time and write your paragraphs and then just reflect on it. Hopefully, it helps you move in the right direction. Like for me, if I don’t spend time doing this podcast and my Facebook Live videos, then I won’t have a successful financial planning business and then I will have to go back to having a 9-5 job and I don’t want that. What don’t you want in your life whereby doing this thing, you ensure that won’t happen?
Thanks for listening today! 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
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Thanks for joining me today and remember if you go with Joe, you can grow with Joe, cause Joe knows Dough.
*Music outro
