Good Day and thank you so much for checking into the 50th Substack post of Budget Your Energy.
One half of one hundred, and I believe 100 weeks of anything is meant to be able to give you the grounds to say you have an understanding of the topic or activity being focused on, and that leads us perfectly into todays topic which is the philosophy of curiosity, the idea that you can learn anything if you decide to commit to consistently be curious about this topic for an extended amount of time.
The reason this topic came to mind was because I was thinking of education and learning and schooling systems versus life lessons, learning from books and reading and the ability to google any topic that you can fathom and be able to watch a video on it or find an online course for free or at a very affordable price. This might have started too by playing a game of scrabble and instantly having access to check any words validity and defintion, which was a fantastic way to spend the day.
Back to the point, when I was getting into hospitality and more so bartending, I was part of a really interesting time of technology transition outlined by very few years if you put it in perspective, but the years of Nokia dominance, followed by Blackberry and transitioning to the smartphone era which we are in today, mainly dominated by Apple and Samsung. What is my point, and have I transitioned into a cellphone brand sales man, No, the point is that I came from South Africa where my first phone was able to phone my mother to tell her that I had finished tennis or basketball training and she could pick me up (most of the time give her a miss call because I had no airtime), into the phase where I could send texts to any one at anytime at a very affordable cost (Free text, cost was the phone), into a phase where I could study on my phone. Yes I have the ability to scroll mental garbage for hours on end and waste my potential, but by reading this blog and listening to the B.Y.E. podcast you have shown yourself that this tool is in your control.
Through curiosity I have extended my understanding of beverages and bartending techniques. I have studied a certified course from Yale University on the introduction to Psychology, I have studied music production and learnt about Ableton, added Social Media and Marketing certificate into my bag of knowledge, studied at PadelMBA on how to coach Padel, which is also a certified course. I took a course on building a business and operating a Guest House that runs completely off the grid and is eco friendly and sustainable, from the methods of operation to the land development and financials and auditing.Not to mention the amount of resources on LinkedIn Learning where I personally have focused on budgeting, financial literacy, leadership, team building and business management, all because I was curious about the topics.
What are you curious about?
I am not telling you this to list what I have learnt and studied, I am asking you to write down a list of things that you are curious about and use your phone to google them and learn about them and equip yourself and add assets of knowledge to your game of life. When ever a bartender comes to me and says, “I want to learn what you know” or “I want the opportunities that you have” I always reply the same thing…
“What are you waiting for? You do not need me for that”
I am not the most intelligent person you have met, but I am diligent. You do not need to be a rocket science to know many intelligent facts that you are interested in, You do not need to be middle class and up to have access to information. You just have to be curious.
The truth is that most of the time they want the result, but not the process of getting there. The outcome is based on the input, therefore if you make time to be so curious about a topic that you are willing to spend every day learning more about it then who can get in your way?
Only you.
Last thought, I have been interested in the idea of Budget Your Energy and what it could become for a while now, I always wanted to put it into words and format in order to one day turn it into a book or guide and into a course, so I decided to let this curiosity lead me with the addition of consistency in order to flesh out this concept, grow the ability of writing and articulating, and each week I am getting better and finding more pockets of understanding of the topic and idea, because I was curious enough to start.
What are you curious about?
How can you get more understanding in that field?
How can you add that into your routine?
Enjoy the process and B.Y.E. for now.