S1E18 Value Systems: Part 3

Although the saying, "if it's not broken, why should you fix it?" can be correct often, reviewing it is not such a bad thing. 
Often we are OK with the poor results of our habits but question the better results of a change.

Q: What do you value more, healthy food or tasty food? Do you think healthy food is expensive? Do you exercise to be healthy or other reasons? Do you want something unique or popular? Do you take pride in buying cheap or expensive stuff?

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Welcome to Life Workshop where we discuss the forgotten basics. The topic of this uh episode is value system. This time is part three. We are gonna continue maybe on a few on this subject for a bit because I think it's of a lot of value. And anyway, um, as always, I have Bo, the most favorite co-host.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Hello.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

And of course, me, the most favorite host, Mo. And before again, we get started. Again, I would appreciate it, you know, if you guys would subscribe to the channel as well as if we would share it or like it. Just that gives us a little bit of uh you know support, obviously. And more than anything, if I hear from you guys, because often at this stage there are mainly my friends that are watching and they reach out to me directly versus you know if they make a comment or sending an email. So if you can do that, please do. And again, um you can make a comment on the thing. Of course, when I say comment, I mean more of a feedback. I'm a kind of anti-comment person. But then the other thing is um, yeah, or email, which would be at info at lifeworkshop.ca. But anyway, no, back to the value system. As I have mentioned it before, we have had two episodes obviously before this. That's why this becomes the part three. And then that's my math, that's not that bad at all. And then the second thing is the value system is really important, obviously, because it provides us with the direction that we choose to go in our life, and that direction, maybe at the beginning, doesn't show as much, but normally the change is exponential. At the beginning, if we go a little bit deviate from you know another way, the differences are not much. But as the years go by, it makes a huge difference. And that's it, the changes are exponential. So it can affect us in all aspects of life, from the health, wealth, happiness, you know, fame, whatever that you is important, you know, to one, you know, that really the value system that we have affects it. And normally say we often get our value system through what we have learned from our environment, which would be the affected by our culture or the people that we are surrounded with or the schooling that we have had. So these are the things that we get our value system. And often, often we feel comfortable or we start feeling comfortable with the results of that, those behaviors that we have learned very frequently, and that becomes the scary part. As soon as you start to feel comfortable with the results, then there is no need to change. They say that if isn't that good? Um, it can be, but at times not. Uh, and we will get there. So, because of that, it's a good idea to to challenge, you know, almost anything that we do. And I'm hoping, for example, by bringing some of the subjects up in this episode, I you know, get you to think. Again, I understand. They say that if it's not broken, why should you fix it? And sometimes it is correct for some part of it. But at times, maybe we can do even better than that, you know, so we will get that. And anyway, one thing that normally I say, this is my own saying, I say often we are okay with the poor results of other habits, but question the better results of a change. So if we have a bad habit, and for example, let's say it fails 50-60%, I mean it fails maybe 30-40% of the time, but it works 50-60% of the time, we are okay with that result. Oh, but 50-60% is you know working. Maybe 30-40% or something doesn't. But if we come and you know, do it make a change, and then that change gives us 80%, you know, of better results, but 20% of them fails, more frequently we say, but it failed, you know, for those 20%. We know that. But we should look at it, I said, statistically and in big in the big picture that are we getting better results or not. One very good example was um buddy of mine that um I can now go into details, but anyway, he was doing something and he said, but 80% of the time it works. And he was just fine with 80% of the time it's working, and 20% failing. I said, but that's a very poor standard in what you're doing. You want more than 90%, 95% to work. Anyway, so these kind of things happen that sometimes we become very comfortable with the with the results that we get.

unknown 5:06

Right.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

And sometimes challenging it is not a bad idea, and to see, you know, where other people, you know, stand and you know, can we change it?

SPEAKER_00 5:13

So anyway, I guess you have to decide though too, right? Like, is that standard acceptable? Is that say like the 20% failure rate? Is that actually that might be really good? Correct. Depending on the case scenario. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

Sometimes we have we have things no point in even saying that.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

I don't know why I talked.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

No, no, no, no, that is correct though. It depends on the case scenario, and sometimes we have other uh you know um stats that we can compare ourselves with. But even if we don't, and we are let's say the leader in the thing, again we can make things better. All the time we can make things better. Even for example, the life in here is not that bad at all. My my own life is to be honest, pretty good. Why am I doing this? I'm gonna make it yet better. Right. I normally say that Canada is a great country, absolutely great. Can we make it better? Absolutely we can. And I'm hoping not just Canada, you know, but just the whole world, you know, if we can just make it yet better. And I personally believe the whole world is getting to be better. We have hiccups, but in general it's getting better. But it doesn't mean that we have to stop, you know, improving. Now back to the this thing, you know, that uh some of the value system that you know I'm talking that, you know, to challenge those things that we do. For example, when it comes to eating, do you go after, and this is actually a question for you, Bo, as well as the audience, you know, when you want to for eating, do you go after the healthy part of the food or tasty part of it? Which one is more important to you if there is a food offered to you or you have the option to choose?

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Oh probably the tasty part of it. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Um example, give me an example that are you or are you talking like let's say you're going to a restaurant and order food, or you can make it at home.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

Would you be more worried about their food being healthy or being tasty?

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Uh it goes in sp spurts, I guess. Okay. Now I'm in a tasty mode. So yeah. Other times we'll be in more of a healthy mode, but they don't have to be mutually exclusive, right? They can they can, you know, tasty can be healthy.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Um the the thing is that personally myself mainly go after the healthy part of it. And of course, because of that, sometimes they say that, but it may not be tasty. Not true. Taste buds change. We can teach that. For example, I have a sweet tooth. I really like the you know sweetest stuff. But I have learned over time and I have taught basically my let's say taste buds to be, you know, to like the less sweetest stuff, and I'm trying to decrease the amount of the sweetness in my food.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

How do you feel about pineapple?

SPEAKER_02 8:01

I can't hear you.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

How do you feel about pineapple? I feel good. I've been putting it in my spaghetti sauce lately. It's fantastic. Okay. More sugar. But it's healthy, kind of.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Maybe.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Again, as I said, you know, and uh I'm not here to, I'm not gonna act like a nutritionist or a yeah, you know, but I'm a specialist, but I'm talking as a general rule. Now, this is my core value. Now, if I want to go learn something, I'm not gonna learn how I can make my food tasty. I try to learn how to make my food healthy. This is what I'm trying to say.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Oh, and then you can make it tasty later?

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Yeah, first is health. Okay. First is health, and you know, then the taste you get used to it. That is what I'm trying to say.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Oh, oh, you're not even trying to make it tasty. You just either eat healthy, suck it up, and be like, oh, eventually I'll like it.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

As long as again, it doesn't cross the line too far. Again, when I'm saying this, remember, you know, myself, definitely I want to like my food, and I normally do. I love my food. And if it is very healthy but it doesn't taste good, there is no freaking way I'm gonna do that. Right. I'm not going to that extreme. But as a general picture, I'm trying to just provide that general guideline that personally, if I have to choose one, for sure I choose the healthy part first. And then some people they go to the extreme, you know, they they want it to be healthy, but then they don't care at all about the taste. I mean, good on you if you can handle it. For me, no, I want it to be tasty, but when I want to make it tasty, as I said, I will do it one step at a time in a way that I really enjoy my food, and I do. So another thing is that would you go after healthy or expensive food? Because sometimes people generally they say that, oh, healthy food is more expensive, which I actually disagree. For example, just before we go too far, quinoa is very cheap.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

Yes, very cheap, and then it's very healthy. Flax seed, or for example, I don't know, chia seed and those kind of things are relatively cheap.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

No, flax is expensive, man.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Um, I'm not sure about that. I don't know where you're buying it. Oh probably in the wrong spot. But but they are not really that expensive relative to, for example, when you say cheap though, on the other hand, sometimes people they go eat out. And eat out, I'm talking from cheap places like fast food. That's terrible. Right. And it's first of all, it's more expensive than the food that you make at home. Secondly, obviously it's very unhealthy, and now I'm gonna just write while I'm at it. Sometimes, for example, they say that, but you know, it's just for the money part of it. No, when you eat unhealthy, it has consequences. You're not gonna be healthy, so you might have high blood pressure, cholesterol, it may not look good. You gain weight. And then when that thing has happened, now you have to fix that. So you have to spend on medication to fix that. You're not feeling good, so you have to make yourself feel good with something else. Now let me go have a beer just to get over my sadness. Or I need a holiday just because I have had too much going on. But in all in all honesty, these things they they add up, you know, very gradually. You want to do something else to compensate for the screw up that you did before. Yeah. And your health, I mean, are you kidding me? When you are not as healthy, you cannot work as good as much. Which again, or you're not enjoying that, then you want to compensate for that enjoyment. I don't know. When I'm saying this, I can be calculated you know per dollar. I don't know, but I'm sure if there were somebody would go in the big picture and would find out, you know, the eating healthy part of it is very good. Now, I went a bit too far, but when it comes healthy versus expensive, sometimes people they think that, for example, for healthy, oh, I want to get fresh fruit, and you know, it's expensive. Well, I know. Then get the frozen one. Yeah, may not be as healthy as the or may not be as taste as fresh, I don't know. But it is healthy. You can get your frozen vegetables. You don't have to buy um the vegetables or the fruit that are out of the season. There are very simple ways to do it. But we choose, let's say, if we look at it, you know, it can be different. That you know, that we can make a better decision. And in honesty, if we want to, we can. Even for example, how to make it healthy or you know tastier, a lot of things are on YouTube. I'm sure there are lots of people that they make very, and I know that they're making very healthy food very quick. So for some people that they have this excuse of, oh, I don't have time, you know. And I say for that one, even when they say you can make the process of making food fun. As I have said personally, what do I do? I invite friends over. We cook together. I'm not gonna cook for you before you get there. There is no freaking way I'm gonna do that for anybody almost. You know, because I want to enjoy it, and I'm not a type personally that I enjoy just cooking by myself. I mean, most of the time I'm not. I prefer if somebody is there, we are just having a nice conversation. At the same time, I'm cooking. You know, it is possible if we change that set of thought, we can figure it out. That is all I'm trying to say. That sometimes we just get stuck to a way, and I'm hoping by this that I'm saying, you know, again, just challenge that the way that we look at things. Another one, for example, is exercise. When we exercise, now are we doing it for the sake of being healthy or for the sake of winning, for example, a race or something. Because there are some some sort of exercise that we do.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

I think there's a difference between exercise and training. If you're doing something like to win, like you say, I mean, that that that's training, that's not exercising.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

Actually, to to maybe to kind of more elaborate on that, this is the kind of lines of it what I do. The difference primarily between exercise and sport that you just said is the competition aspect of it. Right. So if I go and run on my own is exercise. But if I run in a race, normally, and I want to beat somebody, then it becomes competition. It becomes a sport. Now, uh, which one is more important? Because, for example, some of the exercises that we do, they are not necessarily as healthy. For example, when we do bodybuilding, is it healthy? At times not. You know, when we go take some you know supplements or do some stuff that is not necessarily healthy, or now when I go, this this is a hot spot for some people. When you play uh football and you tackle each other and you get concussion, when you play hockey, that is not a game, it's boxing, it's a fight, a street fight. It just doesn't make sense that I'm not understanding when you play hockey. Why do you guys, why is it allowed to beat up each other? Nobody really knows. And this is the thing, you know, this thing that have been done in the past, and we tend to accept them. So because I have brought this up before, and then some people said, Oh, you know, this is how it was done. Lots of things we did before. We just questioned them and we changed them. I'm not sure why not this one, it's just not the time for it. And when I said that, somebody said that, Mo, you're too much of a softie. I said, you know what? I did martial arts personally for lots of years. And myself would want to be tough and rough and things. We I did Taekwondo, and we were not wearing the protective gear. Just because, you know, it's just too for softies, you know. And we don't want to be softy. And myself, I got injured that way. I have some injuries that right now, I mean, not right now, but I mean, I I have had them forever because of those wrong choices that I made. It's a very good sport, don't take me wrong, I love it. And I do practice it even to this day just for the for the heck of it. But, you know, some aspect of it, you know, I uh you know, it's just wrong as far as I'm concerned. Again, why do we exercise? To be healthy, it should be very, you know, uh we want to be very clear. Are we doing it to be healthy? And even if I want to take it one step further, it's not just a matter of health. Is it to make our life better? Because, for example, if we take the exercise to the extent that it affects other aspects of our life, like for example, our work, family, finances, and those kinds of things. It affects those in a negative way, which at times it does, then are we gaining, you know, when it comes to the bigger picture?

SPEAKER_00 16:55

I think you're making it way too complicated. And let's life is simple. Yes is right, man. And you you know what you do it for? You do it because it makes you feel good. As a matter of fact, that's and that's the end of it. And then uh all those other things you talk about just sort of fall into place. But you should just be doing it because it makes you feel good, and feel good about your your yourself as well, and it's about small term goal setting and all that stuff, and being stronger and being better, and you know, and all those other things just sort of happen, but you do it just to feel to feel good, because as soon as you start exercising, you do feel better.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

As a matter of fact, you know what? I'm glad you brought this up because myself, you know, it was some time ago I was a radio uh interview that they asked me, and then I said, I said actually to be healthy, you need an active lifestyle, not exercise. Exercise is to make you feel good, and you're very much right on that one. So to in order to be healthy, active lifestyle is the most important thing. We do exercise for the mental part of it more than anything, and then the sport, it takes it one step further when the competition aspect of it, you know, comes, then it makes it even more fun. But what I'm trying to say that, you know, if we go too far, we want to just be careful that that doesn't go you know further and you know basically in the big picture we lose. But for the most part, no, you're right. You're right. As long as it feels good, you should say it in a very simple way.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

So, what does this have to do with values?

SPEAKER_02 18:26

These are actually the very good point. What's the value? Because you know, sometimes we forget, am I exercising for what? What's the purpose of the you know, the uh the exercise that I'm doing? Am I doing it to be healthy? To have this is the values that we put on exercise. That how much value does it have? This is how I'm saying it. Okay, and then how much value should we put on something? You know, uh, because a lot of time we do things again, as I said, is based on the environment that you are in. For example, if you go, I should now you brought this up, I have to say, once years ago I was going to the gym. It may not show, but but I did. But I did go to the gym, and then there was this guy who was asking me, so how frequently do you come? Uh do you go to the gym? I said, three times. So three times a day? I said, no, no, three times a week.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

I couldn't even fathom the idea that how did that come to mind that three times a day? But himself, he was doing it twice a day. So sometimes it has gonna be, I mean, I don't know in his case, but I think he was working, he was not a retired person or something, it didn't seem like it. That are you going too far with this? This is where I'm going. The values that we put, how much? And I understand maybe you know, he goes, I don't know, during different stages of life, you know, somebody does that. But it's a good idea to re-evaluate to see are we you know getting what we want to get or not? And I'm gonna bring actually this one, another thing that you know, when it comes to the value system, would be do you normally, for example, want something that is more normal? Do you want something that is more normal or unique? For example, if you buy a car, do you want your car to be something that most people have? Or something that is one of a kind?

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Um that's interesting question, because there's you know, some at some point, like the truck I have now is very common because it has all the, you know, you can get all the parts for it, right? Or what used to be very common, they don't make them anymore, but you know, very common, and I can find more, I can get a grab a parse truck, and they're relatively cheap, as you know, so that's good good for that. But at the same time, you do little things to it, right? To make it kind of like, oh, that's just something I did, right? So you it's a kind of a combination of both.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

And this is the thing, again, and it's it's all cool, you know. And myself, I know I do the same thing. But the reason I'm bringing this up is just to make sure that we think about this stuff and to make a decision that's more we're more conscious about it. And does it fit the whole the big picture? For example, if money is an issue in your life, you don't have as much. Maybe you want to get something that's more common, that is cheaper to fix, yeah, you know, versus being unique. Or if you wanted to make it unique, I don't know, put a well, you can make it unique.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

That's just correct. Yeah, yeah. So that don't even worry about that. That is very true. Or find something that you can say that with a car, you want something that you feel comfortable driving, is more is really more important than anything.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

Comfortable, safe, and of course, that's what you want it to do. Because if, for example, you need a truck, but you buy a car, it wouldn't work. Yeah. So, you know, just to be very practical, or vice versa, which very commonly people they buy trucks when they just don't need one. But what One day, one day I may need that truck. Yeah. I said, why don't you buy a plane? Because one day, one day you need that plane.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

Yeah. I think something with a vehicle, say, well, it'll be a value, I guess. The value I place on is practicality. It's a tool. It's not a status symbol, it's a tool.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

That's a very good point. And if you start looking at it in that fashion, then probably we'll do things, we get things in a more correct way. That is it practical, is it doing what I want it to do? Does it fit, for example, or the you know my finances as well? And those kind of things. And I'm gonna throw one more thing, and that would be, for example, another thing is that sometimes people they take pride in buying something expensive, some they take pride in buying them cheap. And this is the interesting part that we have, the value system that we have, that it it affects us the way we do things. For example, I had one of a colleague that at one point she would go to Saskatoon to buy for her clothing because I can't find anything in Regina. I have to go to Saskatoon. By the way, Saskatoon is the second city, in case the Saskatoon don't let the idea get that into your head. But yeah, she was taking pride in that. On the same token, you know, there was another, you know, uh staff member that she was taking very much pride in that. Oh, I want something really cheap, let's say a value village or something. And anyway, so the value system that we have, you know, it it decides that where we go and it affects, for example, in this case, our finances, or when it comes to the health part of it, you know, to to health and the level of happiness and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

That's the thing, I got a good one. We're I was sitting there, I was invited out for drinks one night with some people and one friend of mine and two of the people I didn't know. And this guy is like, I don't know why this came up or what the hell the conversation was. I don't really remember, but I remember part of it, and he came up and said, looked at this chain, it's a five thousand dollar gold chain or something. I was just like, okay. And then my buddy's like, Oh yeah, this one here, you pulled it. There's so much money, and I'm like, This is homemade. So it's like then when you talk about the value systems and how some people are expensive and some people like it cheap, and you know, that's pretty funny.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

You're saying that actually I remember once we had gone to the to this to the South Earth, and then there was this lady that she was friend of a friend, she was sitting, and she had put her purse on the table. And I honestly, I was not, I didn't know what it is, and it was written goosey, or juicy. I read it juicy or goosey or something. Yeah, that was a Gucci, yeah. So she was trying to make an impression that so, of course, for some again, based on the value system, they for some may be impressed. Oh wow, she has a Gucci, is that Gucci? That is how it is said, yeah. But for me, why? Yeah, I feel sorry for you. So the why do you spend money on that thing?

SPEAKER_00 25:15

Well, you can get it a lot cheaper, and you know what's the purpose? Yeah, it's it's a sack.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

You could get the grocery bag would do the same job. That's a bit of a stretch, but you know, but anyway, at the end of the day, again, these are the value systems that they decide. I said they make differences in the outcome. As I said at the beginning, the changes may not be that much. For example, somebody said, but just a few dollars here, a few dollars there. But you know, in the big picture, when you look at it in an exponential way, you know, it will just, you know, the same behavior will cost you a lot of money or will save you a lot of money, and then you will put your focus on something else that hopefully will make your life better. But anyway, at the end, again, I'm gonna end up as usual with this question. Now, what about you? You know, you as an audience, and I please, you know, ask this question from other people too. You know, I want it to become a conversation because when you talk about it, they say one of the best ways to learn is to teach, or anyway, just going talking about that, you know, ask other people that what are the value systems? Do you go after the healthy or the tasty? Do you go after the healthy food or expensive food? Because healthy food can be cheap. Do you exercise to be healthy and you know make you feel happy or to impress somebody? And the last one again is do you go buy a stuff that you take pride in something that you know you buy that is rather cheaper? I mean cheaper in price-wise, not uh um uh quality, yeah. But or do you take pride in something that is more uh you know, buying something that's more expensive? Anyway, after all, again, uh life is simple. Please don't make it complicated. I did a little bit at the beginning, but don't you do that. Okay, take care, guys. Bye. Bye.