In this episode, we discuss how our ancestors are holding us back and what to do about it so we can thrive today.
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 are going to talk about how we shouldn’t let the voices of 1000 generations hold us back. A lot of the things we fear in life is because of what our ancestors feared. A big reason why people pay attention to negative stuff more prominently than positive stuff is that our ancestors needed to pay attention to that negative more since it more often than not, it meant life or death. If you were a hunter back in the day and heard a rustle in the bushes, you may not know if that is a tiger or not and you ran. if someone was aggressive to you, then that was a sign that you were going to lose something.
I feel like I have affiliation for avoiding heights and it might be because my ancestors were afraid of heights. I don’t know but when I get to a ledge, my mind starts to get very cautious because I don’t want to fall off that ledge. Another way our brains hold us back is our tribe mentality. We don’t want to do things that might upset our tribe because back in the day you needed your tribe in order to survive and finding another one might be impossible.
We still have that feeling of wanting to walk on eggshells when we talk to our friends. This doesn’t apply to everyone but from the books I’ve read and podcasts that I listen to, we have all these different cognitive distortions that cause us to act a certain way. Those cognitive distortions helped thousands of years of ago but we will in a much different environment today that doesn’t need the same cognitive distortions. You don’t need to do something just to please your tribe since we can find a different tribe.
I’ve lived in Oregon, Washington, DC, Hawaii, Colombia, and North Carolina. I’ve had many different jobs. I’ve added friends, I’ve lost friends. You can reinvent yourself at any age and place. So if you really want to do something, don’t let that voice of a 1000 generations hold you back. Facing rejection is something that holds me back, but I know I have to embrace it if I want to reach my goals in life. If you got rejected back in the day, then that could be fatal but there are so many more opportunities today than there were in the past. If you go up to a girl and ask for a phone number and it doesn’t work, then it doesn’t work. But there are more girls out there to meet.
If you have a business, and you ask a prospect for their business and they say no, then there are more people that you can ask. I feel like whoever can go through the rejection loop the fastest and try many things, are going to be the winner in this new economy. We need to embrace uncertainty and realize that not everything is going to go our way, but we just need to be right one out of 100 times. But hopefully, it’s more like one out of ten. Remember what got us to this point, won’t get us where we need to go.
This is why I like to study the past and the present to see what I need overcome from my past but also see where we are going as a society so I’m prepared for changes that are coming my way. I might not be prepared for those changes in the future but I’m much better off against them than the person doesn’t do anything to be prepare. We live in a society, where there are lots of opportunities, but we have to train ourselves to get them and not let social norms or your own thoughts to sabotage yourself. I would recommend that you read books like the Feeling Good Handbook, Poor Charlie’s Almanac, Brenee Brown Books, and Amy Morin Books, to help you with your emotions. It’s not enough to be book smart, we also need a high emotional intelligence as well.
I every day, well most days, I write in my journal how I’m feeling and analyze what’s holding me back in my day, or if there are any bottleneck in my life. I do this so I can be aware of my emotions and thoughts, and once I’m aware of them, then I can make sure I do the right thing for myself and not for my ancestors. I’m not a psychologist or mental health expert, but this works for me and it might work for yourself. But if you need serious help, then go seek a professional. We only have one life to live, so try to fill it with as much satisfaction as possible.
That’s it for today’s episode, to summarize it, don’t let the voices of a 1000 generations hold you back. So take some time daily to view your emotions and thoughts, and see what you need to do to overcome any obstacles. This might be simple as doing a pep talk to just take the plunge. I know when I need to do something difficult, I just tell myself, hard choices, easy life, easy choices, hard life and this usually gets me back on track to accomplish my goals. Whatever system you need to use to avoid living like your ancestors, then do it, assuming it’s ethical. Then things like imposter syndrome, worrying about pleasing everyone, and holding on to false beliefs won’t hold you back and you can live your life like you really want to.
So in your journal, ask yourself, how are you feeling today? What is exciting for you? What are you nervous about? Are you having any hesitation about doing something? Then ask yourself, are these emotions helpful or not helpful? I was watching the Last Dance Documentary and Michael Jordan said that limitations much like fear are just an illusion. We hold on to things from the past that is not useful anymore and we need to identify those illusions because they just hold us back. I would make this a daily journal exercise and you should see a lot of growth in your life. If you don’t, then go see a coach or reach of the books that I’ve mentioned. If you want to see the list, then go to the show notes at growwithjoe.me/episode270
Thanks for listening today! To get a free copy of my audiobook “More You Know, More You Grow: How to get better every day” just go to my website growwithjoe.me/book and you can download it right there.
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]
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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
Book Resources
Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger (Abridged)
