In this episode, we discuss how you have to be patient with your goal and your tasks, and how to use Hofstadter’s law to overcome setbacks.
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 Hofstader’s Law which basically means that things take longer and cost more than originally planned. This is an important concept to know because when things aren’t going your way, you can just say that it is supposed to be like this.
When you do that new home remodel or trying to start that new business, it’s most likely going to take longer and cost more than originally expected. As part of my MBA program, I went to Costa Rica to learn about sustainability practices in Latin America. Since I’m a digital nomad, I thought I would stay in Costa Rica for a while.
With the Syracuse MBA program, I have free access to WeWork locations around the world and I saw that Costa Rica has a location. So I booked my AirBnB next to the office which is away from a lot of the stuff in San Jose, which is the main city in Costa Rica. So then on my first day out of class, I went to the WeWork office and I discovered that it was closed for remodeling. I was devastated but I was able to find another coworking space but that cost me more money.
Then I noticed that ubers and food basically cost the same in America or more. Public transportation is not that great in Costa Rica but it’s a beautiful country. I’m not upset because I know that Hofstader’s Law exists. Things will be more expensive or take longer than expected at times.
When things don’t go my way, I just have to adjust my plan and keep moving forward. That is all I can do. I need to continue to do my work and live my life.
I’m also in the process of growing my Grow With Joe Business and this is taking longer than expected. I thought I would be a successful financial planner three years ago when I first started out as a financial planner five years ago. It’s been a grind but I love what I do. When I receive emails or have phone calls with my clients and they express how I changed their life, it just gives me the fuel to keep going.
It helps me realize that I’m doing the right thing and that I just need to keep going. I also know that once I’m at the point where I want to be in life, it will all be worth it. Even though there is a lot of uncertainty in my day, at least I have the freedom of choice. Like this morning, I read my book, I went to the park to do a TRX workout and now I’m getting to work. I’m doing what I want to do.
So if I don’t have the success that I want right now, I know that if I just keep persevering everything, I’ll eventually get what I want in life. Life requires patience. When it comes to investing, it’s a very slow process. You really don’t see your big gains in investing until you’ve been doing it for 30 years. But all people tend to be very impatient. The average S&P 500 return from 1995 to 2015 was 9.85% but the average investor’s return was 5.19% according to a Dalbar, Inc study.
You’re most likely not going to be rich overnight in the stock market, but with enough time, you can be. And that is like 30 to 40 years. The average investor used to hold their investments for 6 years now the time frame is 8 months. So when it comes to life and investing, you need to have the right perspective to keep going. Don’t quit at 8 months when 30 years is required. Right now I’m in Latin America and I’m learning Spanish very slowly. But I’m just going to stay here as long as it takes for me to learn it because I know that is what it takes and all I can do is just follow the process until I reach my goals. For me, life is good and it’s because I’m doing what I want to do in life and I just focus on what I can control and then let everything else go. There is a lot less stress when you do this.
That’s it for today’s episode, to summarize it, it will always take longer and cost more than expected. This is known as Hofstader’s Law. So when this happens, don’t get too upset because you don’t have control over the entire process. You’re just an actor in this world. You might have more power than others but you don’t have absolute control over everything. Even if you did, then it would be too stressful because all your time would be dedicated to making sure other people are doing what they should be doing and they’re not. So control what you can in the process and let everything else go. This will probably give you a lot less gray hair.
So in your journal, ask yourself, what is something that is taking longer than expected? Are you being impatient with that goal or do you need to take more control over the situation? You have to look at the situation sometimes and realize that things are not as bad as they seem. If you have to wait an extra month without your remodel is done, then so be it. If you’re not going to do the work then someone else has to and then the ball is in their court. You can get things fast with high quality but that’s going to be more expensive or you can get something fast with low quality that is going to be cheap but that cheap thing isn’t going to last. So have the right perspective and just follow the process.
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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