Orange Slice Podcast | Episode 2: We Read it So You Didn't Have To: Everything is Figureoutable
Today Jesse and Nathaniel sit down together to go over the book Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo, which Nathaniel read. Jesse starts the conversation to talk about some of the takeaways that Nathaniel got from the book.
Read Our Summary - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wEyDYR7EtTnQRd0P1Xb1Ur48yoyjcj5v/edit
Get The Book Yourself - https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Figureoutable-Marie-Forleo/dp/0525534997
--------------------------------- Video Chapters -----------------------------
00:00 - Introduction
00:20 - About the Title
01:09 - Chapter 1: The Tropicana Orange Story
03:27 - Chapter 5: How to Deal with Fear
06:23 - Chapter 9: Refusing to Be Refused
09:32 - Chapter 10: The World Needs to Offer
12:12 - Conclusion
Podcast Transcript
Jesse: Today we're going to go over the book, Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo, which Nathaniel read and I just wanted to sit him down and have a little conversation about some of the takeaways. Okay, so I wanted to kind of just pick your brain about a couple different pieces of the book. First of all, could you just explain the title in a nutshell?
Nathaniel: Yeah, the title, Everything is Figureoutable, I wish I had the book here with me, but it's pretty straightforward. That's basically the book is take every concept, every struggle that you've had. And you may have thought in the moment, this is impossible, there's no way I'm going to get through this. But Marie's whole concept is that you can. And that's really all it's about, it goes through a whole bunch of different stories, a whole bunch of different perspectives, some challenges you may have come across, different experiences that different people have, and how you can really take that concept, Everything is Figureoutable to heart.
Jesse: Let's start with the Tropicana Orange story. I think that's pretty relevant to Orange Slice. And I heard you and Seth talking about it. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Nathaniel: Yeah, so this is actually Marie's first introduction to this whole concept of Everything is Figureoutable. She starts off, it's her first chapter of the book, where she explains her backstory and how she's living with her single mom at the time in New Jersey. And she comes back, I can't remember if it was from school or where exactly, but she was coming back home. And one of the things that she's used to coming home to from school is hearing her mom listening to this little Tropicana radio that she got. It was like this little Tropicana orange that you see, it's got the straw in it and everything. Her mom applied or filled out some form to get it free. And she used that and that's just kind of her way to listen to music. And one of the days she came back home, Marie, and she didn't hear it. It wasn't playing, there was no music going on. She's calling out to her mom and she couldn't find her. She's really worried that something may have happened. She comes around the corner into the kitchen and sitting at the table is her mom, just kind of this Tropicana radio ripped apart all over the table. And she's like, wait, mom, what happened? What's going on? And I'm just like, oh, yeah. Her mom said, it's broken, I'm fixing it. She puts it back together throughout this conversation that they have and it starts working. And Marie asks her mom, wait a minute, since when did you learn how to fix radios? And her mom's response was basically, well, I just figured it out. And it's something that I think the exact line was everything is figureoutable is part of the story. And Marie, that blew her mind and she'd been meditating on that, thinking about it for years until it finally hit her later in her life. But that's kind of where that phrase came from.
Jesse: Yeah. So her mom sort of modeled for her that if you have a problem, you can just find your way through it.
Nathaniel: Exactly.
Jesse: So I guess one thing that stuck out to me was sort of this, the section of the book that talks about how to deal with the fear around things.
Nathaniel: Yeah. So this is chapter five of her book, and this is actually kind of an interesting concept to me personally, because I hadn't thought about fear this way. It has been something that I've been thinking about more recently. The short phrase to try and chunk the whole chapter together is that fear is not something to avoid necessarily. It's something that you can use as a tool. You can kind of think of it like a GPS is how she explains it. You can notice the fear, really understand why you're feeling it, where is it coming from, what's triggering that, and figure out what the right response is. Maybe you might be afraid of going on stage to do some big speech, and you've got the butterflies going, you're anxious, and maybe you're afraid of all the things that could go wrong. And she points out a couple different things. One, think about the worst case scenario. What's the worst thing that could happen? And then create a plan, even though it's unlikely. Cool. Now do the worst plan again. Like what's the worst possible case scenario? Just keep walking down that. And as soon as you have this plan, now you've taken this fear and that guiding factor, and you already know what you're going to do if the worst possible case scenario happens, which more often than not is not going to.
Jesse: Right. It feels like there's sort of the ideology of like, don't think about what could go wrong, but she actually sort of flips it and says, if you sort of walk down the path of what could go wrong, you realize that usually you can handle whatever happens, and obviously it's figure-outable. But yeah, it is. I do like that approach where you're sort of just, you imagine what could go wrong, and then you create a plan so you're not scared or surprised.
Nathaniel: And one of the other things that she mentioned in this chapter is, I guess, kind of like these types of fear might be a way that you could think about it, where you need to take a second when you feel the fear, like breathe, and like really consider how it's making you feel. Is going through this or being in this moment something that makes you contract or expand? And that's kind of the concept of, is it going to help you grow if you go do this thing? Like getting on stage, you're going to develop this skill, and start to be more comfortable. It's going to be something that opens up your life and broadens your life. Whereas if you're afraid of, I'm trying to remember a good example from the book. Nothing's really coming to mind right now, but this whole concept of, is it going to make you lesser than? Is it going to take away from your life? And those are the things that you would avoid.
Jesse: So just moving on to, I guess, chapter nine, she talks about refusing to be refused. And there are a couple of things that stood out to me here. She says you're already being judged right now. What does that mean?
Nathaniel: It's like this ultra realistic picture of life, which is something that I love that Marie does. She just, she's like very straight to the point and tells you what she thinks. If you really think about it, every time you're walking down the street, there's going to be somebody on the road or maybe you're crossing them while you're going to work, and they just look at you and they're angry. Maybe you don't take a right turn fast enough. Maybe you don't, I don't know, if you're not wearing the right t-shirt or whatever the heck, literally anything, somebody's going to be judging you. Whether you know it or not, maybe some will say it, maybe some won't. And she takes it and keeps going with this idea where it's like, okay, if people are already going to be judging you, you can't cater to everyone's needs or everyone's desires of what they expect you to be. Because if you wear the shirt that one person's thinking, somebody else is going to be like, why are you wearing that shirt? Go back and forth between all these different things. So that's really where that concept of like you're being judged right now is taken to its extreme, which is true. And then it goes from there.
Jesse: Yeah, I guess you sort of realize that whatever judgment's happening is probably says more about where they are and how they view the world. So maybe not getting caught up in how people are judging you. But yeah, just being open to the fact that a lot of people have a lot of different feeling about everything.
Nathaniel: And she goes on to say that everything you love is despised by someone else. So it's kind of the continuation of the same idea. And the next step of that is if you care about what others think, it's the more they own you. So if you say, like these people have these expectations of what I should wear, what I should do every day, then that's less control that you have and putting that in their hands. So if you take that back and use what helps, maybe there's some advice that somebody might have, maybe a mentor that's talking to you, and they recommend you do one thing versus another. So that's opinion versus helpful advice. It's like bouncing between those and saying, OK, cool, what's actually helpful here? And then what's going to hurt me? And then if it's good, like if it's actually something that's helpful, something that teaches you, like don't burn your hand on the stovetop is like a super simple example, or get up, try again if you fall off a bike. That's all helpful advice. Whereas it's like you're just a bad person, you're sucky, everything you do is bad. That's not helpful advice. There's nothing good there to be extracted from it. So you just kind of put it to the side and keep moving. So think about what you want, where you're headed, and take and don't let the judgment hold you back.
Jesse: Beautiful. And then sort of just to just conclude. So she talks about the world needs what you have to offer and finding your special gift. Right? Could you just talk a little bit about what she says about that?
Nathaniel: This is a really cool way to end the book. I have this note that I've written that I'm going to read and then tear it apart here really quickly. It says, “You are here for a reason. Don't waste it. If you do, that's stealing from those who need it most. And the thing that you're taking is something that is irreplaceable. You.” It's a really interesting concept. That's like summing up that whole chapter 10. Like it says, you are irreplaceable. You are you. And there's not going to be anyone like you. There's no one that's going to see that perspective the same way you do, have that same exact experience in the order that you have it. So there's something that you've seen in the world. Take it. There's skills that you have, this desire that you want, this mesh of all these different skills that you have that maybe don't fit into any mold that currently exists. And there may not be that specific job title or I guess like realm that you fit in in a career. So you have to build it yourself. So kind of going back to the whole concept of being judged is like don't let others hold you back. Don't waste what you have. And I thought that was really cool.
Jesse: I guess she sort of starts talking about making a life that you a path that you want to be on, not just what others expect of you as well. And I think that's things are starting to shift in our society in terms of like following your own path. And but yeah, just managing your own expectations and other people's and really just staying true to yourself.
Nathaniel: Yeah, and to bring it full circle. It may feel like getting to that lifestyle that you think of maybe it's a lifestyle, maybe it's a career, a job, something that's on your mind, it may feel impossible to reach, but don't let that hold you back because everything is figureoutable. You can get there. There is a way. Don't let the judgment of the world hold you back. And don't be afraid of failing, really, just go for it, make it happen and find people Jewho can work on it with you.
Jesse: I love it. All right. Thanks, Nathaniel. Thanks for reading it so I don't have to and we'll see you next time.
Nathaniel: Of course.
Jesse: Cut.
Nathaniel: Done.
