In this episode, we discuss how you should focus on the present to live a good life.
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 the need to live in the moment. It is really easy to focus too much on the past and what is going to happen in the future. I heard that depression is living in the past and anxiety is living in the future. The past is gone and it doesn’t have to determine who you are today. The future hasn’t happened yet so there is still time to change it. It is important to think about the future but doesn’t live there. There are things that you have to do today to ensure that your future is bright.
Today is a gift because we’re getting the present. Life is so much better when you’re focused on what is happening now at the moment. If you’re watching television or hanging out with friends and family and you’re not constantly engaged because you’re thinking about something else, then you’re not going to fully enjoy the moment and that can cause issues. Every day can be a good day if you allow it to. You can get bad news but you can also think about the other things that are good in your day and you can just reframe the news as a challenge or a learning opportunity.
There are is always something to be grateful that is happening today. In my journal, I typically write three things I’m grateful for and I usually write simple things. As I’m recording this podcast, I sprained my shoulder at the gym a week ago so I can’t really do any upper body exercises, I stepped on a sharp object a couple of days ago and now I have a shooting pain every time I walk around, and I’ve been dealing with a bad cough for the past month. Annoying things to deal with but it could always be worse. I’m going to go to a blazer game today with my sister, I recorded a podcast today to help me with my grow with joe business, I talked to an old friend on the phone for a while, and I had coffee. Life is good. I’m just making the best of a situation.
If things are not going well, I usually like to joke about it and then focus on the thing I need to do to get a good day. I’m a big believer that if you want to have a good day, go out and get it for yourself as Marcus Aurelius said 2000 years ago. I know that things don’t come to me, I have to go out and find them.
I like to plan out my day so I know what I have to do. This ensures that I’m on track to reach my goals and that I’m being aimless with my day. When I plan out my day, if I notice that I don’t like doing something for long enough, I try to remove that thing from my plate by delegating or just deleting it from my life. This will ensure that I’m spending the majority of my day on the things that I enjoy. I’ve been really miserable in the past in doing stuff that I didn’t like and now I work very hard on my Grow With Joe business and it doesn’t feel like a job. There are thing uncomfortable things that I have to do like having difficult conversations with clients but it’s part of the job and I just deal with it. It doesn’t consume my entire day.
Since tomorrow is not guaranteed, I want to make sure I’m not being wasteful with my life. If it’s time to play, then I play. If it’s time to work, then I work. If it is time to rest, then I rest. Whatever state I’m in, I’m making sure I’m focusing on that. I like to take walks and just look around and see what I can discover. Instead of burying my head in my phone or being distracted by music, I just look around. I also like to take detours and see what else is in the neighborhood. I might find a new store or something else interesting. When I’m done with my walk, I feel refreshed and ready to get back to work.
It’s important to take time to think and just see what is happening in your life. Ask yourself questions about life and see what is working and what isn’t working. If you’re distracted by your schedule or constantly worrying about the past or future, then you can’t ask yourself these important questions. If you’re feeling agitated and you’re not sure what is going on, go for a walk and just start thinking. If you don’t come with an answer, just push it to the side the best of your ability and focus on it on your next break. Meditation is really good for this type of exercise. When you get good at meditating, you’ll be able to slow things down by focusing on your breath and focus on the thing that needs to be accomplished without that distraction bothering you.
Since learning how to meditating, I think I’ve done a better job of living in the moment and not being distracting. I would recommend that people read a book called 10% happier by Dan Harris. This book gives you a great story on how new anchor Dan Harris used meditation to help him get through panic attacks and got his career back. Meditating can help with living in the moment because you’re able to focus better. I know that I’m better off since meditating. All it takes is five minutes. And if you don’t have five minutes to meditate, you need an hour to meditate like Buddha once said. I think.
That’s it for today’s episode, to summarize it, we have to learn how to live in the moment. This is all we have and if you can learn how to do this, then you can live a much more fulfilling life. To help with this, take time to think and start meditating. This will help you focus on the right things and remove the unimportant things from your head. Every second that you spend worrying about the past or future, is a second wasted that you won’t get back. You should only think about the past or future if it is going to help now in the present. If it doesn’t sure that purpose, then move on with your life.
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
