Episode 448: Why Perfect Conditions Made Trees Collapse (and What That Means for Your Money & Financial Journey)

Jamila Souffrant 0:02

We can chase quick wins and viral moments, especially living in this society, this day and age and overnight transformations they they are so appealing to our mind, but just speed without stress or without the lessons that you learn along the way does not build your resilience up.

Intro 0:21

10 seconds. Welcome to the journey to launch podcast with your host Jamila Souffrant as a money expert who rocks her talk she helps brave journeyers like you, get out of debt, save, invest and build real wealth. Join her on the journey to launch, to financial freedom.

Jamila Souffrant 0:51

If you want the episode show notes for this episode, go to journey, to launch.com or click the description of wherever you're listening to this episode in the show notes, you'll get the transcribed version of the conversation, the links that we mentioned, and so much more also, whether you are an OG journeyer or brand new to the podcast, I've created a free jumpstart guide to help you on your financial freedom journey. It includes the top episodes to listen to, stages to go through to reach financial freedom, resources and so much more you can go to journey to launch.com/jumpstart

Jamila Souffrant 1:26

to get your guide right now. Okay, let's hop into the episode. Hey, hey, hey, Journey Earth, welcome to the journey to launch podcast. It's Jamila Souffrant, and I am back with you, sharing a solo episode, and I'm so excited that you're here. You could be literally anywhere else or listening to anyone else, but you're here with me, and I appreciate that. Now, I was thinking about topics to talk about and share on the podcast, and I was looking through my book, Your journey to financial freedom, and I came across one of the stories and experiments that I shared in the book, and I was reminded why I put it in the book, because it was so powerful. And I said, Wow, this is really this is really good to share on the podcast. So on my book, page 102 so if you have my book class, let's turn to page 102, if not, go get the book. But you can still listen. I want to talk about the biosphere two experiment. So the biosphere two experiment was the biggest enclosed scientific research facility and project that happened in Arizona back in 1991 to 1994 so few decades ago, and a group of scientists created this sealed in self sustaining ecosystem to simulate life on another planet. So everything was controlled in this ecosystem, in this dome, water, air, plants, animals, they wanted to see and emulate what life could look like on another planet in this controlled environment. So as they were looking at all the life that was growing, including the trees, they noticed something. All the trees were growing quickly, but they fell over before maturing. So they the trees were growing fast, but they were dying before they hit maturity, or they were not strong enough to reach its full potential, and there was no wind, so the wind or harsh conditions were not the reasons for the tree falling down, and what was happening is, or just what happens in general with trees, is that when trees are in a normal environment, not within the dome, but an environment where there is wind and other conditions, the wind is essential to helping the tree grow stronger, so that it can handle its own weight, because the trees are exposed to the wind as they mature, and they create stress wood. And the stress wood that is created within the trees because of the wind inducing or bringing on stress for the trees, allows them to support themselves and absorb proper nutrients so that it becomes stronger. So without the wind in the biosphere, the stress Wood did not become strong enough to help support the trees so they were the trees were deficient in stress wood, and it did not allow the tree to reach its full potential, even if the tree was growing faster. And when I first saw this, this is why I put it in the book, because I thought this is such a powerful way to explain our life journey and financial journey. So there are two things I want to pull from this, and we're going to talk about it a bit, and I'm going to ask you to do some reflection and thinking about your own journey. But the two things for me that stand out here is that one, obstacles and challenges that create stress in our lives and in our finances help create the strength that we need, that we can live and go through things to become stronger. The obstacles and challenges and stress help create the strength we need to survive. That's. One two, focusing on consistency and sustainability over speed is key. It's not a matter about how fast you can get to your goals, although we do want to reach our goals and have all the things now, it's not about the speed, it's about sustainability and building a strong foundation. So we're going to hop into those two topics and lessons. Now. First, let's go to the stress builds strength. Now, wind in the dome in the biosphere experiment is seen as the friction, as the problems that come along as we are on our path, whether it's just life, right, just living life and our finances. So whether it's a unexpected emergency job loss or just something you're going through, maybe you didn't have a financial foundation from your parents, anything that you feel like has happened to you or is happening to you, the circumstances that you feel have slowed you down and or have given you stress. What are those things? Right? Think about them. But those same things that cause stress are also the things that make you stronger on this journey. It's necessary for growth. It's so necessary for growth, I think about having kids now and seeing them grow, and them learning as they go, and having challenges, and instead of solving their problems for them, the times when I say, You know what, I'm going to let them learn that lesson on their own, they become more resilient and stronger because of it, versus me trying to solve the problem for them. And so the financial equivalent to that in our lives could be budgeting when money is tight, navigating a job loss or unexpected expenses, downturns while we are investing and seeing maybe some of our money lose value. These things, these experiences, are uncomfortable. It's the wind that makes us sway, hopefully not break, but it makes us sway. It makes us question our journey. It makes us question, can we do this? But it's so important because it builds up our resiliency. An important part too in this is avoiding discomfort, or wishing that you did not have any discomfort in your life will do a disservice to you, because, yes, you'll feel safe, but it's a false sense of security, because anything can happen. The lessons are going to come, whether you want them to come or not, and so whether you learn them now or later, you are in this journey called life, and the lessons will be doled out to you, and if you don't learn it now, you'll learn it later. So it's really important to think about how your past challenges or lack of or things that you did not want to happen, how that has created you to become stronger on your journey. Hey, journeyers, if you are loving this podcast, then you will love my book, Your journey to financial freedom, a step by step guide to achieving wealth and happiness. I wrote this book for you. This book is for you if you want a clear and enjoyable path to having more money options and a rich life. This book is for you if you if you hate your commute and the fact that you need to seek approval or permission from a boss, I hated that when I worked. This book is for you. If you weren't born into wealth, you didn't marry rich or won the lottery, but you still want freedom. This book is for you. If you're at a crossroads, a major decision or event is imminent, maybe a career change, marriage, starting a family. Pressures are reaching a tipping point, and the discomfort and the desire for more can no longer be ignored. And this book is for you. If you find yourself zoned out at meetings, looking out the window or daydreaming about the life you truly want. So go pick up your journey to financial freedom.com. So I can show you how to map out how to get from where you are today to where you ultimately want to be. And enjoy the journey. While you're on the path, head over to your journey to financial freedom.com. To see where you can pick the book up. It's available on Amazon, bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble, your local bookstore everywhere. Go to your journey to financial freedom.com to get the book now.

Jamila Souffrant 9:28

The second thing, speed versus strength. So the fascinating thing about the experiment, the biosphere two experiment was the trees, they grew fast under the controlled perfect conditions in the dome, it had stable temperature, consistent watering, ideal air quality. The trees brought it up quickly, and that at first is like success, right? Like the trees are growing, it's perfect environment. The rapid growth was showing visible progress. But the twist is again, before the trees could. Reached their full, full potential and full maturity, they fell over. And it wasn't because of disease or lack of nutrients. Well, the stress would was, was the cause of the lack of nutrients, but it was because of the no wind which led to the lack of nutrients. That was the key, the no wind and so without the necessary stress, without things being slower for the trees to grow and to develop the necessary stress wood that it needed, the trees fell. So think about how you are thinking about your journey, because I believe it's a powerful metaphor with how we approach our money and life. We often want to focus on speed. How fast can we pay this off? How fast can I grow my net worth? How fast can I reach financial independence and quit this job and listen, I'm not saying that you should go slow if you can go fast. I'm not saying to slow down just because, but if you are in a season of life where you need to go slow and it's necessary that you take the time to build a foundation, then you should, because we can chase quick wins and viral moments, especially living in this society, this day and age and overnight transformations. They they are so appealing to our mind. This is why social media and seeing the quick wins of people like make us want to try to do different things faster, but just speed, without stress or without the lessons that you learn along the way, does not build your resilience up. So just like those trees, the rapid growth might feel good in the moment someone promising you that you invest in this risky asset or investment, or, Oh, business, you know, you can make your money. I can make you a millionaire in X amount of years. Or you can do this. You have to think about it. Looks impressive. It looks too good to be true. What is the challenge? Because if the real storm hits, if there is real wind, can this tree, can your financial foundation, can what you've built, withstand the stress the wind? So I know it's tempting to go for speed, to chase the hot things, to do the things fast to get to your goals fast, but your real wealth and your sustainable growth as you continue on the path to financial freedom and independence, it is not built through the fast wins and things. It is the slow things that are boring, is the things that take time, right? Most likely you did not get into debt in one day or one month. Maybe it was a big purchase that you know helped to make your debt balance go up, but it's most likely been something over time, so you can't expect to get out of debt within a month, either if you don't have the proper income or financial plan to support that. So the speed of getting out of debt or reaching financial independence or investing long term the thought process of it, it's going to take a while. And remember the goal here, and this is what I talk about, is that on the journey, while it takes some time, is to enjoy the journey, not to wait until you get there, but in the process of the slow growth, to enjoy the wins along the way. So instead of thinking, how fast can I reach this goal? How fast can I grow think about how strong is the foundation that I'm building? Am I putting in the deep roots that can handle the wind and circumstances and challenges that will just come up because it's life? And are you focused more on the timeline or on the durability of what you're building, the financial house that you're building, this life that you are living fast. Growth can feel amazing, but it's the growth and the strength over time that last so I want you to think about this now too, for your own journey. Think about a time where you have experienced a challenge financially or in life and how that has impacted you. What lesson did you learn from it? Maybe it was a job change, maybe you got let go. Maybe it was a bad investment decision, or period of low income, or something with your business. How did you build resilience from that? Do you even recognize that you're resilient because of that? You have to first recognize that you've been through that and realize that, if you're listening to me, you're still here, which means you survived something, right? So think about that and what you learned from it, and you may be even going through something right now as I'm talking to you. What lesson can you take from this and grow stronger as you move on. Also want you to reframe going slow and things taking too long to building sustainable growth and wealth that it that it's worth the wait. So instead of asking, how fast can I get there, think about, okay, how. Strong. Can I make this foundation? How can I make this sustainable that when I get to my goal, I can sit and stay within this goal, and when the things happen, because things will happen, I can withstand whatever stress and or circumstances come my way. So remember measuring resilience, not speed, thinking about your foundation, not just, and that's the root, the roots of the tree, not just what people can see, not what looks good to everyone else, not the measure of success that other people will look at you and say, Wow, you're doing so well. You're doing this so fast, because a lot of the work, most people are not going to see the real work that we are doing on this financial journey to reach the goals of working when you want, maybe not working, starting a business, quitting your job, having time that you control. That kind of work to get to those goals, it's not, it's most likely not going to be things that are visible or are going to look good to other people. It might look like lack to other people on the outside. If you are paying off debt, focusing and being more intentional with your spending, going back to school or putting in more work to invest in your career and earn more money. It may not look as flashy and nice as maybe some branches and leaves on a bright tree where it looks like, oh, that person's being successful right now. They're doing something. What you're most likely doing to get better with your life and to build that foundation is going to be in the roots, where people don't see but you know, you know what you're doing, so understanding that and sitting with that. So again, I want you to think about the biosphere two experiment. I again talk about this in my book on page 102, when I I talk about a bunch of other things that I thought were interesting in terms of being able to reflect and translate

Jamila Souffrant 17:01

how we can think about our financial journeys and our mindset, because a lot of this is life and the things we need to do, but a lot of it is how we feel and how we react to things. And so think about your challenges. Have you learned from them? How you are learning from them, and give yourself credit for those things, for being resilient, for coming through on the other side, or for just going through it. And think about the journey itself as a long term journey that you are going to enjoy. It's not meant to be miserable, but even though you can, if you wanted to, maybe if you had a genie in a bottle, and it said, grant me a wish. And you say, All right, well, I just want to be a millionaire or I want to be financially independent tomorrow, if you were able to get that wish granted, can you today, just like someone winning the lottery and having millions of dollars out of nowhere going from maybe zero to a billionaire or a millionaire? Do they have the skills and the mindset and the experience to actually enjoy and keep that money? Do you have, and have you developed what it is to actually enjoy and revel in the success that you want? Maybe you do, and if so, congratulations, but I feel like most people are not ready, and the reason why we're not ready is because we're on the journey to learn those lessons so that when we get there, we can enjoy it. So think about the biosphere two experiment. I thought it was pretty fascinating when I first heard about it. That's why I included in the book. That's why I said, You know what? This is a great topic for the podcast. And reflect, reflect and reframe, and think about your journey so far. Let me know if this episode resonates with you. You can find me at journey to launch on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. I mostly hang out on Instagram. Take a screenshot of you listening, share it with me so I can repost you and share this episode with someone in your life, where you feel like this could be helpful to them. Share it with them. There's a way you can, wherever you're listening, to share or copy the link and send it to them. This is how the podcast is shared with other people. You grow with other people this way, so you're not in the journey by yourself. All right. Hope that was helpful until next week. Keep on journeying. Journeyers. Don't forget, you can get the episode show notes for this episode by going to journey to launch.com or click the description of wherever you're listening to this. And you can still grab your jumpstart guide for free to help you on your journey to financial freedom by going to journey to launch.com/jumpstart

Jamila Souffrant 19:41

if you want to support me and the podcast and love the free content and information that you get here, here are four ways that you can support me in the show. One, make sure you're subscribed to the podcast wherever you listen, whether that's Apple podcasts, that purple app on your phone, your Android device, YouTube, Spotify, wherever it is that you happen to listen. Just subscribe so you are not missing an episode, and if you're happening to listen to this in Apple podcasts, rate review and subscribe there. I appreciate and read every single review. Number two, follow me on my social media accounts. I'm at journey to launch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and I love, love, love interacting with journeyers. There three, support and check out the sponsors of this show. If you hear something that interests you, sponsors are the main ways we keep the podcast lights on here, so show them some love for supporting your girl. Four. And last but not least, share this episode, this podcast, with a friend or family member or co worker so that we can spread the message of Journey to launch. All right, that's it until next week. Keep on journeying. Journeyers. You.