In this episode, we discuss how procrastination is actually preventing you from being who you want to be in 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 it always impossible until it is done. About a year, I was sitting with my sister over the Thanksgiving Holiday and we were discussing how we wished we knew Spanish because it would open so many opportunities for each other. Then on the way back to DC from Chicago, I had a lot of time to think about things and where I wanted my life to go and I decided that I was going to quit my job and move to Latin America to learn Spanish.
I was going to go by myself and I felt that I could do it because I had no kids that I needed to take care of and no one was really depending on me to support them. It was still scary to think about leaving everything to go try this new thing.
To help me get my feet wet, I decided to go visit Medellin, Colombia for a week just to check it out. I bought my plane ticket and I fell in love with the place. As I’m recording this, I’m in Mexico for a month before I head off to Colombia.
I only know about 30 percent Spanish so I know enough to eat, and get around but not enough to have a deep conversation with folks. When I landed I was fine. I had broken Spanish conversations with the locals of Medellin and they were perfectly fine with it because I was learning. And my Spanish comprehension improved greatly.
Since I was hearing the words, and I had Google Translate to help me out, I was learning about ten new words a day. I wish I could have stayed longer in Medellin but I had to go back to the States to start my financial planning business.
But what I thought was impossible about living in a different country was no longer impossible. I went there, I found a place to live and now I’m in the process of going back.
Going on that solo trip gave me the confidence to believe that I could go live in a Spanish Speaking country for two years and learn the language.
I also went to Iraq for seven months and I was fine. I didn’t see any action since I just stayed on the base the entire time but that experience also just showed me that if I take action, then I’ll be fine.
It’s most likely going to be very uncomfortable at first but then comes a point where it is comfortable. There are days where my head hurts from translating Spanish to English, and then English to Spanish in my response. My goal though is to learn 10 new words a day and if I can do that, I can be more than proficient in two years.
This is a dream I want to accomplish because I want to start creating more financial planning content in Spanish and help more people. This dream seemed impossible a couple of years ago, but now it going to become a reality because I’m taking action. Then I can show how other people can do the same thing as me and accomplish their impossible goals.
My family is surprised that I went, but are happy for me and my journey. People always tell me that they couldn’t go through Marine Corps boot camp and that it seems impossible for them but I just tell them that it just requires you to say yes and to get on the plane to go to boot camp. I saw so many people in boot camp where I thought, this guy is going to be a Marine, and they proved me wrong by finishing. I even thought I was not cut out to be a Marine during boot camp but my drill instructors pushed to finish.
I thought those 13 weeks would never come, but they did and it just increased my confidence level afterward to believe that I can accomplish a lot of amazing things. There were times where I was in Oregon and getting everything ready where I was doubting myself, but I made the leap. It just requires a plan and taking some sort of action every day.
To help you accomplish the impossible, you also can’t allow people to tell you can’t do something. I really love the seen in The Pursuit of Happiness where Will Smith is playing basketball and he tells his son that he can’t grow up to become a basketball player. The son was super excited about playing basketball and once his father said that he’ll be mediocre and shouldn’t be spending all his time playing hoops, Will Smith’s character had a change of heart and told his son that he shouldn’t allow other people to tell him what he could do, even his father. If you have a dream, you have to protect it.
I remember telling people that I was going to leave for Latin America and some people would be like, oh why can’t you learn Spanish in America. It’s not the same. In Mexico right now, there are no escape paths towards English because they don’t know English and my day is 95% in Spanish. I’m learning so much through immersion because I don’t have distractions, I have to do it. I’m doing it now and some people will tell you it is impossible, but you can’t listen to them. You have to protect your dream and make it happen.
Just like in the Pursuit of Happiness, People can’t do something and they will tell you that you can’t do it. If you want something, you have to go get it. I know I can create a lot of positive things in the future, but I just have to go out and get it. You can do it too, you just have to start taking action and go make it happen. The best way to predict the future is to go out and create it. It’s not going to come land in your lap.
Whatever you want to accomplish in life, it isn’t impossible. It might take a long time but life is about the journey, not the destination. Just keep doing the things that will help you become the person that you need to become. Otherwise, you just wasting your potential in life and that is not a life that you should desire.
That’s it for today’s episode, and to summarize it, it’s always impossible until it’s done. To help give you move confidence that you can do stuff, just keep doing things that are a little bit more challenging the next time around. This will give you the confidence to believe that you can get things done in life. Also, don’t give up your power to someone else when it comes to accomplishing your dreams. They will just you things that they think they can accomplish and that might not be true for yourself. You only have one life, so might as well as see what is possible in it.
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]
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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.
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