In this episode, we discuss the importance of not getting upset when things don’t go your way but only if you gave all that you could.
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 how all you can do is all you can do, just make sure you’re doing all that you can do. This seems like a very exhausting statement to say but it is also supposed to give you clarity on your actions as a person. Are you making an excuse for why you can do something or is it a legitimate concern for how you can’t get something done?
I remember when I was in high school, I took a computer programming class and I was failing it. I don’t think the teacher was very good and there was no formula for teaching. We were basically told to go a solve a worksheet and once you get that one done, you go solve another one. I didn’t have a computer with C++ on it so I basically had to be in the classroom to practice. There were other times where I could go in and try to solve the worksheets but they weren’t enough. I remember staying after class and working with the teacher but that wasn’t helpful. I did all that I could and I still failed.
I guess one positive thing that I learned from that experience is that I don’t want to be like my computer programming teacher. It was my only F in school and I think everyone in my class failed but I can’t say I didn’t try. I gave it my all. Sometimes it is best just to quit something because it will never click or you’re just willing to put in the energy to improve on it. That was the last computer programming class that was offered at my school for the rest of my time there and so I know it wasn’t me but the system that was broken.
Sometimes the system is broken and no matter how hard you work, it’s not going to be fixed. You just have to be okay with the effort you put in. Somethings are also up to luck. I’m in a sales business and something you just get lucky when someone reaches out and wants to do business with you. As long as you put in the effort and did all that you could do, then that’s what all you can have done, it’s up to the gods after that.
I remember hearing an interview talking about Floyd Mayweather Jr, the boxer and how calm he was before a fight. He was cooler than the other side of the pillow. The person asked Floyd Mayweather why he was so calm and he Floyd said that he did all the training he could and whatever happens next will happen. He did all that he could do and that how you should feel before you have to give a big presentation or present a product. You literally put your all into the thing and you’re ready for the outcome.
In college, I would practice my presentation before I had to give it a couple of times because I wanted to make sure I was confident when I spoke in front of the class. And I usually did a good job and when you practice and are confident, then you’ll want to volunteer to go first. You can tell who didn’t practice their presentation and who did, based on their delivery. I still do this before my client meetings. I hate going into a meeting without an agenda and I know I need to present information to someone in the right way if I want them to move in the right direction, so I practice my delivery.
If the client doesn’t make the change that I want, then I know that I need to change somethings and sometimes the other person is just not ready to move forward yet and I did all that I could. There is always room for improvement, but it is better to go into something knowing 60% then waiting for 100% of the information. If we waited until we were 100% sure to do something then we would never do something but the idea is that you need to get yourself up to at least 60% ready with the time you were given.
There are plenty of times where I don’t want to wake up and I distract myself with my phone from doing the thing I need to do, but when it comes to the outcome, I can say I gave me all or I didn’t. This requires us not to lie to ourselves about our performance and we are the easiest person to lie to. I can say the reason I slept in is that I got a poor night’s sleep since my mind was racing and couldn’t fall asleep which is an excuse I use in the past. Or maybe it was too much coffee during the day. That might be a valuable excuse or it might be a poor one, you have to know your body to know when you should keep going and when you should stop.
You can also do too much. If you look at the NBA Isiah Thomas, he played through a hip injury to try to help his team in the playoffs and he just hurt even more, and now he is not the same player as he was before. Let’s see how he does this upcoming season but he already lost two years of his career. It’s hard because you only have only so many shots at the ultimate success of winning a championship but that was his choice. I remember I hurt my knee the first day of practice and instead of getting my knee checked out, I continue to play and I hurt my knee even more. I don’t know if I tore my ACL the first time or the second time but this is why I cautious about pushing through certain things because you can do even more damage.
This is why understanding your body and mind will be crucial for you to understand how much you can do as an individual. Maybe you have to train yourself up to become strong and all you can do now is a little bit. The problems begin once you start making excuses for why you couldn’t do all that you could do. If you do this, then it’s like taking a lick from the lollipop of mediocrity and if you do that, you’ll end up sucking forever. You don’t want to suck forever, so don’t lick the lollipop and just give all the effort you can.
That’s it for today’s episode, to summarize it, all you can do is all you can do, just make sure you’re doing all that you can do. I went to a conference and the speaker said that the brain likes to put a stop sign when you have 40% left in the tank. So keep going with your effort but if your suffering, then stop. You’re just going to create some damage but don’t lie to yourself about stopping when you can keep going. Life should be about how much you can challenge yourself and see what you can accomplish. How you challenge yourself and what you deem important to accomplish, will be dependent on you and your goals but the idea is not to go into the grave with unfinished business.
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