Podcast

Want A Slice of Humble Pie?

Photo credit: Dilyara Garifullina

Sometimes I’m not smart. Most of the time, really. I never think I’m the smartest person in a room. Ever. I know better. That is not a put down for myself either. I am okay with not knowing everything. Life is better that way and gives me sweet success. Why? Because I can be me and truly be me. It’s a nice feeling. Well, it is for me. Have some humble pie with me and take that load off your shoulders to always be right. To always have the answers. People like that drive me nuts. Oops, I said it. I shouldn’t let them, but perfectionism is such a cover up and not real. But, ho hum. How’s your pie?

People are smart, but they don’t know it all. Sure. I’ve learned a lot in my lifetime already. I’ve been through college with high scores. Graduate school with more high scores. But, having the ability to write well does not make me the smartest person in any one room. There is more to it than that. Way more and I am humble enough to realize it.

The healthiest thing you can eat is a piece of humble pie. Taste the sweetness and the tart. The warmth of the pie and the chill of it, too. Metaphorically speaking, asking questions about topics you are passionate about and not sure of, or plainly know nothing about is delicious and like taking a bite out of the best tasting dessert you have ever eaten. Creating the recipe is just as satisfying. It is a recipe that I have put into play and continue to put into play throughout my life.

Simple 3 Humble Pie Ingredients

The recipe is pretty basic. You need your ingredients and are ready to create your layers of pie. What ingredients do you need to create this pie? Well, that is up to you, but I will tell you my ingredients and you can apply my ingredients, or your own.

{Your ingredients may vary}

{I call these the 3 P’s…}

Passion-Curiosity

People

Paper

How Passionate Curiosity

I have realized that I am passionate about many things and I love learning from others, therefore I have a passionate curiosity. I am passionate about teaching. I am passionate about intuition and learning about how the brain is able to connect. I am passionate about creative people. I am passionate about finance. I am passionate about decor and design. I am passionate about reading and good books. I am passionate about learning about different foods and cultures. I am passionate why people choose certain careers. I am passionate about why people live where they do and how they live. I am passionate about the ocean and more recently the planets and stars. Maybe passionate is a too strong of a word for all of these topics, but I if I take the time to learn about these things than I consider myself to be passionate about them.

Over the summer, I became very interested in the planets and learning about space. I even thought to myself about how I wish the library was open so I could get a book on it and learn some more. I am passionate about finance and really don’t want to buy the book-ha!

These things that I listed above are just a sampling of things that I’m interested in and want to learn more about. Somethings I continue to learn more about beyond my education, like teaching children, for example, but some things I can learn more about, which in turn will lead me to ask more questions.

My intent is not to sound like I’m on repeat here, but it is to explain how I learn daily and try new things, like this podcast. I learned. I studied. I produced.

How I Learned About Stocks In A Waiting Room

One key element to all of this are people. The people I meet. The people I meet in the daily doings of life from I find that I like to talk to people. I am one that likes to chat with people and also I like my space to process and finish tasks. To let the pie cook. But, talking to people is how I learn about things. Listening to people and asking questions about things are ways that I like to learn about my world that I am living in. How about you? I can learn so much from the most random people.

I learned about stocks and investing in a hospital waiting room. It’s 100% true. I was waiting for my mom in pre-op in Boston. My sister was in the room with her. I was just sitting there and an older gentleman, I would say about 75ish was waiting for his wife. He was dressed in his Nantucket reds, with his boat shoes and freshly ironed golf t-shirt. He looked up at the tv and then at me and said, “Are you watching this?” I smiled and said, “Nope.” He said, “Good. I have to check my stocks.” Then, he began telling me all about the stock market. Why because from that one statement that he said to me, I began to ask questions. He told me all I wanted to know and more. What stocks he had and how many shares. How he does it. What stocks I should invest in. What he does with the money he makes. All in detail. How I should begin. What I should do and then that was it. All because I was interested and asked questions. After doing more research I learned more and bought the stocks he told me to buy. I also have my son interested in stocks and he owns stocks in Snapchat. All from me being interested and so on.

I also find the people about things that I want to learn about and ask them. Imagine being able to sit down with specific people that you want to meet and have a cup of coffee with them. Make a list of things you want to learn about and find those people that have the information. Maybe you will have a cup of coffee with them. Maybe you won’t, but having a passion to learn about things is part of my path.

I can’t do that with financial expert, Chris Hogan, or Instagram influencer and social media expert, Jenna Kutcher, or the handful of others that I love to learn from, but I can still learn from them and listen to their content to apply this to my daily life. I can take notes while I’m listening. I can learn tidbits. Simply put, I can learn just as much from a person in a homeless shelter to an investor. Why? Each individual will teach something so profound if you just listen and ask. You can take the information learned and apply it to your life and share it with others. It’s really that simple.

Read the Best and Worst Books

The last ingredient is paper. Now, I say paper very loosely because I mean paper with books, social media (creative paper), and whatever else you use to learn from. I feel like there is nothing better than reading something to enrich the flavor of the questions and therefore ignite more questions. I love books. I love creative papers.

Some authors are mediocre. Some are old things regurgitated. But, many are amazing. Fiction…nonfiction…blogs…documentaries…the list goes on and on. Enjoy it and indulge. I give myself that time. That freedom. It’s important to me.

Listen to me. It’s okay to not know everything. It’s okay to be a little dumb. Ha! People wonder,…”How can you say that about yourself. What about positivity and positive self-talk?” Don’t worry… Yes, I know I’m also smart, and confident about that, but I need to ying-it and yang-it. I need the balance. For example, I love to write, but I find it hard to motivate myself to do it. I lack the motto. Yet, when I read, I get motivated to do it and I also learn more. So it’s kind of a win:win. See what I’m getting at? It’s a piece of the pie.

That’s it. Bake it. Keep baking it. Share humble pie with a friend, but don’t forget to feed yourself first!