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Let's Ride w/ Paul Estrada
Who else is trying to figure $hit out?
Welcome to Lets Ride w/ Paul Estrada – the podcast where a dad tackles the big questions of life, career, and everything in between, by talking to interesting people that have the answers!
When I turned 18, I lost sleep at night with questions that Google was not yet sophisticated enough to answer: What career should I pursue? How can I be more than just average? And how do successful people get to where they are (was there a secret handbook I didn't know about)? After 22 years of pondering these existential dilemmas, I’ve finally pieced together some answers – An answer that is sufficient for now, but one always in need of refinement.
Join me each week as my 6 ½ year old son, Adrian, throws out a thought-provoking question or idea, and I invite a guest to help me sufficiently respond to him. From learning about money and investing, to finding a passion in life, and exploring careers that can be meaningful for you, we cover it all with a dose of humor and some soundbites of wisdom.
So, if you’re a parent or a young adult navigating these tricky waters, or if you want confirmation that other people are sometimes just as lost as you, you’ve come to the right place.
Let's Ride w/ Paul Estrada
Solo Episode: The Two-Day Hangover
Ever wonder what drives someone to start a podcast? In this revealing solo episode, I pull back the curtain on my journey as a podcaster, father, and professional navigating life's unexpected turns.
As I approach 40, I share the real motivation behind creating Let's Ride—capturing those precious, curious conversations with my kids and providing a forum where we can all learn something valuable along the way. Growing up with entrepreneurial influences but unsure of my own path, I recount my sometimes comical attempts to unlock the "secrets" of successful people, including dropping letters in wealthy neighborhoods asking homeowners how they afforded their houses!
Through honest reflection, I tackle universal questions we all face: Is the corporate climb worth the sacrifice? Why does energy seem to vanish as we age? What does it mean to have a midlife crisis in today's world? I dive into the power of compound interest (my favorite party trick involves showing young people calculations on my phone) and share how my perspective on aging has completely transformed from my punk rock teenage years to corporate leadership.
This episode offers a window into the balancing act between ambition and contentment, youth and experience. Whether you're in your twenties wondering about your future path, or navigating midlife contemplating your choices, there's something here that will resonate with your own journey.
Join me for this candid conversation about life's forks in the road, the silent challenges of aging, and finding your path when there's no clear roadmap. Then let me know your thoughts—what questions would you like me to answer in future solo episodes?
Hi, let's Ride. Listeners, it's your friend, paul Estrada. If you've gotten any value out of any of the episodes, I'm here to ask you to pause this episode and take a moment to subscribe to the show wherever you're listening to this podcast. If you're a real go-getter, please take a moment to leave a review of the podcast. I'd be indebted to you forever. Thank you for supporting and listening to the show and for going on this journey with us. Pause, subscribe and let's ride. Let's ride on through the rain. Come on and take me anywhere that you want to be, so let's ride. What's up everybody?
Speaker 1:It's Friday evening and I've been thinking about doing a solo episode for some time, but I just kept putting it off. I don't know why exactly. I think just enjoying having the guests that I've been having and also just not really sure who wants to hear what I have to say about anything, to be honest. But I figured I'd at least spend a couple minutes explaining why I started this podcast to begin with, what I'm hoping to get out of it, what I hope to be able to offer to those people that have taken the time to listen so far, but basically, being a dad, we talk about Adrian. He's the one that shows up on the beginning of every episode. That's my oldest son, six years old, going on seven here in July. I have a four-year-old son named Damien, who I'm sure will be a guest on this podcast in the near future.
Speaker 1:And just, I know, if you're a parent, you've sat around, maybe driving in the car, and your kids start asking you questions about this, that and the other, and they're usually really interesting questions, and then it leads up with a follow-up question why, but why, but why? You know, those conversations are fun. They can be frustrating sometimes, but I thought to myself, you know, this is something that I would love to capture because I enjoy it so much in the moment. I'm, you know, typically driving, but I want to memorialize some of this stuff. And also, just, I'm sure a lot of the questions that my kids have are the same questions that other parents are facing and other kids are asking these questions. And so if I could provide some sort of forum to be able to help us all learn something along the way, that's kind of what I would try to do and that's it. And so that's kind of how this started, and the other big piece of this being, I think growing up I've always had tremendous resources.
Speaker 1:My parents put me through great schools. I never wanted or needed for anything. I had all the things that I needed to be successful. I come from a family with a number of entrepreneurs, with some that have been again very successful, and so I've had just great examples to learn from. But I've always at least some of the biggest memories that I have growing up was not really knowing having a very good idea of what I wanted to do when I got older, or knowing that I wanted to do when I got older, or knowing that I wanted to be successful, but really not knowing how to do that. And now fast forward and I'm going to be turning 40 years old this year. I've learned quite a few things, maybe have some insights or tidbits of wisdom.
Speaker 1:I would say that the trajectory or the way things turned out are not necessarily the exact way that I envisioned it. I think in terms of where I've gotten to from a career perspective, from a financial perspective, I've exceeded my expectations there. But the way I got there was not at all how I envisioned it or planned, and I think that may be true for others. I recall envying people that when I was younger, in high school and college, and they seemed to have it all kind of figured out like I'm going to do this for a career, I'm going to do that for a career, and they just are very resolute in how they were going to approach things, and I was just never that way. So much so that and I told this story when I was talking to Tom Guzman, the school custodian I think it's episode three where I was fascinated by this idea of how to make money and how to make a successful career.
Speaker 1:But I didn't really have a good idea of how to do it, and I remember getting my hands on a book where it was these guys that went around in an RV in the early 2000s and they got a hold of CEOs of companies. I remember specifically Michael Dell from Dell Computers was one of the guys they interviewed and they were answering the exact same question I was trying to get the answers to, which was how did you get to where you got in your career? Give us the secrets, give us the blueprints, because we have no clue. And so I was really fascinated by that and from that I was inspired to go out and seek some answers out for myself. And that's where I told that story of writing a letter while I was at Cal State, fullerton, and going into these well-to-do neighborhoods and just throwing this letter in there saying I'm a college student looking to learn basically, how did you afford this house, what type of career did you have, et cetera. And in hindsight, looking back on it, it was probably ridiculous and people probably thought I was some sort of scam artist or something. And, needless to say, nobody responded. At least one lady I remember calling and saying what is this, what are you doing? And me trying to explain it to her and then her not giving me the time of day but just kind of illustrating for you my fascination with wanting to figure out how this was done and trying to unlock what I thought were some secrets that I didn't know the answers to.
Speaker 1:And thankfully I've just kind of stumbled on a career that has led to, like I said before, no-transcript, but I'm very thankful for, and so if I can start to record how I got there, what I did, and if that helps anybody, or at the very least just trying to help my kids or at least kind of put my thoughts in such a way that I can better articulate what it is I did or how I got there, where I caught some breaks along the way and things like that, and so that's really what this is all about. I get into a lot of things with families as well. Like I said, being a young dad and getting some insights, not just on careers and how to be successful in that way, but how to be successful as a father, as part of a family and just the whole not just career, but just as a whole person just to have a successful life in general. So it's been a lot of fun. I'm going to keep it up as long as I can. It's a lot more work than I anticipated and, like I've talked about before, I've got a full-time job that is my main priority. I've got the family that is my main priority. I've got baseball practice that's a priority and work to do around the house Constantly that's a priority. But this is something that I enjoy. It's a hobby for now and something that I'm going to continue to do as long as people are getting something out of it and we're small now. But it's just really nice to get text messages and phone calls or when I see somebody in person say, hey, I listened to that last episode and I got this little piece of information out of it. That's why I'm doing this and that's what excites me, and so I'm thankful to those of you that have decided to support the podcast and what we're doing, and I'm thankful for you all to be here.
Speaker 1:So I thought, rather than interviewing somebody every single episode, I could change the format a little bit. I kind of got this idea. So one of the very first podcasts I ever got onto was a comedian and his name is Theo Vaughn and he happens to have maybe a top 10 podcast in the world right now. But I got onto his podcast maybe 2018, 2019, pre-pandemic, for sure. And what really fascinated me about his podcast was he wasn't interviewing any guests.
Speaker 1:Every episode that he would have that would come out each week was just a monologue basically where, as a comedian, you could imagine, he tells funny anecdotes. It's called this Past Weekend and that's exactly what he would do. The podcast would start about him talking about what did he do the past weekend. He did this comedy show. He hung out with these friends, but he would tell it in a funny way as a comedian could, and then that evolved into then him kind of going over recent news headlines and then that evolved into people calling in or emailing him with questions and then him kind of giving his own take on those or answers to those questions and just being an open book as much as he could. And that's where I basically have gotten the idea for this, and so I figured we'd give it a try, love your feedback. If you like it, if you don't like it, if you prefer just hearing from the guests, let me know. I'll take no offense to anything, but let's give this a shot. So we don't have a mechanism for people to send in questions just yet, but we do have the internet and I do tend to look on Reddit and go through some of the threads on there and ran into some fascinating questions that I think are kind of on theme with the types of things we typically talk about on here, think are kind of on theme with the types of things we typically talk about on here, and so I'll go through a couple of these and give my thoughts and we'll go from there.
Speaker 1:So first question is men over 30, what's the one thing no one warned you about? Then in the subtext it says not the obvious stuff like taxes back, pain, or how hangovers last two days. Now I mean the quiet surprises, the little things about getting older that hit differently. Maybe it's how friendships slowly fade if you don't put in effort. Maybe it's realizing your parents are aging faster than you expected. Maybe it's waking up one day thinking wait, is this it? I'm just curious what's something about life after 30 that no one prepared you for? Well, so first of all, I'm turning 40 here in a couple months. Yeah, so that's hard to admit too, but it's happening. And he did mention something there which is hangovers lasting two days. I can confirm that that is good time and that was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:But I will say, if you don't have kids, the way I like to explain it to people is when you're out having a good time with your friends or your family, you're at a party, whatever the event is, you reach this fork in the road, and I think everybody knows this fork in the road that I'm talking about. That is, if you turn to the right, you stop imbibing. You kind that I'm talking about that is, if you turn to the right, you stop imbibing, you kind of maybe start drinking water and you start taking your foot off the gas pedal. You wake up the next day you're feeling fresh as roses and you're ready to go. And the other is turning to the left and just pedal to the metal. Man, we're going big tonight, right, just keep throwing them back. Throwing them back and have a great time, but wake up the next day just in a world of pain. Throwing them back and have a great time, but wake up the next day just in a world of pain.
Speaker 1:And again back in the 20s, I'm turning to the left 9.5 times out of 10. And now that I'm closer to 40, I'm turning left one time out of 10. And that's a big iffy one. Because, man, there's just nothing like having to wake up and just having all those responsibilities like I talked about. It's like whether it's work or just household responsibilities or just wanting to be present. And young kids are rambunctious. They got a lot of things that they want to do and they don't wait for any hangover for you to overcome your hangover. They're just ready to go first thing in the morning. And so, yeah, I would say and I think a lot of my friends are like that as well where you just kind of reach that fork in the road and every once in a while you'll go down that path, but for the most part it's you know what. This is not worth it the next day, so let's move on. So that wasn't the question, that was the subtext, but I thought that part was interesting, so I wanted to cover that part.
Speaker 1:But one thing over 30, I remember, so men over 30, what's the one thing no one warned you about? I would say I definitely thought in my teens and 20s that by the time I was in my early 30s I would have it figured out. And when I mean that I mean more from a career perspective, and I don't know that that necessarily happened. I would say it's pretty clear to me now, now that I'm closer to 40, that part seems pretty solidified at this point, but it wasn't so clear. I would say that's only really happened in the last three, four, five years, and the early 30s are still very much kind of an open door where I think that there's an infinite number of different possibilities. That isn't to say that there isn't today. In fact, I used to think that people in their 40s, 50s, 60s were old, and I don't think that anymore. I think that we're still really young and if you think about it in the context of a whole life, even at 40 years old, you've got at least half your life left to go, if not more than that, which means there's a whole lot that can still be done.
Speaker 1:But one thing I will say is having your foundation set can be greatly accelerated if you focused on doing that in your 20s. It's not impossible if you do it into your 30s and 40s and so on, but it gives you a massive headstart if you start doing that in your 20s. So that means getting good at saving money, getting good at putting your money to work and invest, learning a little bit about investing and putting your money into the market, and starting to have your money grow. The power of compound interest is ridiculous, in fact. So one way I know I'm getting older is I have a compound interest calculator as one of the shortcuts on my phone, and one of my favorite party tricks to do is when I'm talking to a young teenager early 20-something, I love busting out that calculator and say hey, you know, if you took $2,000 and you let it sit in an account for 20, 30, 40 years at 12% interest rate, that will turn into blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:X number of dollars. Isn't that cool. You should do that, you should think about doing that. And I say that and they probably must look at me and think, oh, I'm ridiculous. But I say that and I'm super genuine about it, because I really wish somebody would have just given me that tidbit of information when I was a teenager, in my 20s, and who knows what would have happened. I'm again thankful for where I am today, but that was a big eye-opener For me. That really didn't come until late, very, very end of the 20s, if not into my very early years, into the 30s. So that's my fun party trick now. So exciting stuff, right, all right.
Speaker 1:The next question on here is climbing the corporate ladder worth it anymore? Or is it the real win learning how to stay at the bottom and still live well, I'm in my late 20s and I've been noticing a pattern the people who climb the fastest seem the most stressed, the most burned out and, weirdly, the most disconnected from life. Meanwhile, I know a handful of folks working low-level jobs delivery drivers, warehouse staff, admin assistants who clock out and actually live. They hike, they sleep, they laugh more. Okay, yeah, this one is interesting Again, I would say on this one definitely in my 20s I was all about climbing the corporate ladder as fast as humanly possible.
Speaker 1:That's kind of hilarious for those that have known me, because I grew up, especially in my teen years, being really into punk rock music, and for those of you that know anything about punk rock music, it's kind of a hey, we're against the man, against the system, we go against the grain, and it's the complete opposite of wearing a polo and climbing the corporate ladder. And so I think 15, 16, 17, 18-year-old Paul is looking at 39-year-old Paul saying like what the heck happened to you? But nonetheless, I think when I got into the corporate environment it was definitely again a foot on the gas pedal. Let's see where we can take this.
Speaker 1:I happened to be at an organization that had just endless opportunities and so I knew that if I put in the work it would turn into something meaningful and to the point where just working long days and then coming home this is before kids, before a wife, before any of that stuff and maybe come home and have dinner and then jump back on my laptop and start working again. And I know a lot of people that were like that and it really gave them a huge headstart. Or they wanted to maybe do some work that they can never get to during the day, or they wanted to do some sort of that they can never get to during the day, or they wanted to do some sort of report or something and gather some sort of insights or put together some sort of presentation that you just don't have the time to do when you're doing your day-to-day responsibilities. But if you can do those things, even if it's on your own time, and then present those at your organization, that's where you start really demonstrating value and that's where really good things can happen.
Speaker 1:In terms of the burnout and the stress, I think there's definitely a degree of that. I'm sure there's many people who feel that way. I think the key to that part is being at an organization that values you and not just looking at you as a number or just non-human right, just somebody that like labor, somebody that's an employee that's just doing something, versus finding a company that really will invest in your growth and your development. Yeah, the work could be challenging and difficult, but if you've got good leaders and managers above you, it can be manageable and you can have good work-life balance, so it would not be me if I did not throw in some sort of corporate conversation in there. So that's it, but that's it. I'm not going to throw another one of those in there, right? And so then the next one I have here is turning 37 this year.
Speaker 1:Is it normal to feel this tired all the time? My energy level is quite low these days. I can go to bed as soon as I get home from work, if I don't have class. I quit drinking this year as well, in hopes that it changes that. Is this normal? But man, whoever this guy is, I would love the answer to this as well. Just for point of reference, I have been wanting to do this podcast, this solo podcast, for a while, and it was getting to around this afternoon.
Speaker 1:I'm like man, I'm running out of gas right now and I went to go pick up a sugar-free Red Bull Not going to lie, the 12-ounce can, not the baby can, but the mid-size high-octane can. With this in mind, right, I'm like, if I don't pound this, I don't know that I'm going to get through the rest of this day and then have enough energy to stay up and do this. So I definitely do not have the answer to this one. In fact, if anybody does, please let me know. But yeah, I've tried all kinds of things, right, don't drink as much, you try to exercise more, you try to eat better and stay in pretty good shape.
Speaker 1:But yeah, especially what's frustrating is just those days where you go to bed early 9, 9.30, 10 o'clock and you're like, man, okay, this is awesome, I'm going to wake up tomorrow, I'm going to be feeling great, and then you wake up, get eight, nine hours of sleep, and you wake up and it's still not. You're still not, your gas tank's still not back to 100. It's like, man, what do I need to do? I'm putting in the sleep, I'm doing, I'm eating right, I mean, I'm doing all these things. Why can't I get the gas tank completely full again? So I, like I said, I don't have the answer to this one. I would love the answer If you know anything other than pounding Red Bulls or coffee or anything like that, please, I'm all ears. So let's see what else we got here.
Speaker 1:By the way, don't underestimate the power of a good power nap and what I'm saying, that we're talking about. 12, 15 minutes, set your alarm clock. Sometimes just one of those is just, that's all. It takes Just a quick reset and you know back on.
Speaker 1:And I you know that reminds me a lot of my, my grandpa Alex, who he was a big napper right, but he was also the guy that woke up. He we joked around, but it was true, he would be sitting out on the porch waiting for the newspaper to show up. So think about that, right, I mean maybe 4.30, 5 am and he's the one waiting on the newspaper guy. So he was up early, out and about doing his thing. So by 11, 12 o'clock he's clocked a full day, basically. And I'd come home from school and my grandma would watch us a lot and he had a recliner in his room and he'd have John Wayne old Westerns on the TV like loud as hell too.
Speaker 1:By the way, we're not talking just like I am trying to take a nap. Let me put the volume down. I was like pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, like loud explosions, all these things happening on super high volume. This guy is sleeping like a baby, and that was an indicator. The guy put in some work, so much so that the TV could be loud, and he still passed out like a baby, and then he'd wake up and he'd get back on that horse and start grinding out some more work. So there's something to that, right, and for him at least, anyways, that's the secret.
Speaker 1:So, unfortunately, when I'm at the office, I don't see myself putting my forehead down on my desk and just falling asleep in front of my team. So that's not necessarily an option most of the time. But hey, on a Saturday, a Sunday, especially lazy Sunday afternoon, do not underestimate the power of a good nap. But I joke about that and it is frustrating. But sometimes I do also think about what I've accomplished and I'm like, why am I so tired? It's like, okay, well, I cleaned the pool filter today, I did two-hour baseball practice, I did some work, I worked on the podcast, I made dinner. And you start listing all the things that you did. It's like, okay, well, yeah, that was a lot of stuff, and so maybe you're going to be tired if you're doing a lot of things. So I guess, also giving yourself a little bit of grace to that end, I think for a lot of people out there really ambitious go-getters that want to accomplish a lot, and you are and that makes you tired and so, yeah, but I don't have an answer Again. I wish I did. Let me know if you do.
Speaker 1:All right, the last question we're going to go over today is did you have a midlife crisis? How many of us have been through a midlife crisis? What did it feel like and how did you get out of it? I'm halfway through 30s and suddenly started to feel I don't want to do anything. No inspiration, motivation to work, couldn't try to finish my master's degree, all while knowing I should not be in this state. I can't seem to be able to get out of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so again, like I said before and I don't know why I keep repeating this, because I don't know how much I want to get this out there but I'm going to be 40. So technically, that is kind of like the definition of the midlife crisis, right, and I remember growing up that thinking, or when you watch movies and things like that, the midlife crisis was typically like you know, get a sports car or start wearing a backwards hat again with some crazy sneakers or I don't know, like stuff, stuff like that, and now being in that position and that already you could ask people around me, but I'm going to say I don't know that I'm having, or will have, a midlife crisis at least not in the near future, unless you consider starting this podcast a midlife crisis which, I guess I started this a couple of months ago, so that's the one different thing that I've done than what I was doing over the last couple of years. So that's kind of boring to say it like that, I guess, but that would be, I guess, a midlife crisis. I don't know, maybe I'm not being honest with myself. So my friends or family that listen to this, I'm sure they'll chime in as well, but I don't see myself going back to, let's say, having a mohawk and wearing punk rock band shirts again though you know now that I say that out loud, that kind of sounds kind of awesome, but I'll avoid that. I would say, you know for my well. That said, I am going to be having a 90s cover band for my 40th birthday, so maybe that is kind of like a touch going into it, but still, no, that's more like a nostalgia thing, right, or at least that's how I'm going to think about that. I don't know, I don't think I have one, but again, tell me if you have one. Maybe they're more subtle these days, because I will say this. I will say I used to think that 40, when I'm a teenager 20s, that that was ancient. And now that I'm here, I'm like, hey, it's not, come on. I'm like, hey, it's not come on, I'm I still. I'm a young guy, and I think part of that is just, society has changed a little bit too, or maybe it's always been like that. Now that I'm actually here and I have this perspective, like, no, this is still pretty young. So that's how I'm going to treat that. I'm going to go. Yeah, that's how I'm going to.
Speaker 1:Let's click on the comments here and see what people can come up with it, cause I'm sure that there's some good things that says yeah. So the first one on here bought myself a BMW Z4, but I don't know what that. I'm assuming that's a sports car. So that's what I said. Right, that's kind of like your typical. That's your typical. When I think of it in my head, it's, it's a car. So that's the first thing that popped up. Let's see what else is here. A legendary. You're experiencing depression from the grind of living in late stage capitalism. That's deep and that's no, I don't feel that. But nothing to like.
Speaker 1:I said I think, like just glossing through this, people are kind of saying the same thing. It's like I don't know that there's what it was portrayed, what a midlife crisis was portrayed, as you know, when I was growing up in the 90s. I think that was more exaggerated than anything else, but I could be wrong. So if there are some midlife crisis out there, oh, smoking like smokers not like smoking cigarettes, but people that have those eggs where they're smoking meats now that seems to be a really popular thing. So maybe that's one of the new midlife crisis type deals, I don't know. Anyway, all right, guys, I'm going to wrap up here. I hope you enjoyed some of just the thoughts off the top of my head.
Speaker 1:I think as a person and the reason why I've been doing the podcast is I think I tend to be more of a listener than a talker and I try to be an active listener where I'm picking up on all the different details that I'm getting in a story and then following up on those really details that I find fascinating and then kind of exploring more from there and then, when I can drop in little tidbits of knowledge that I think are relevant, I do that, but I think, like I said, a lot of this is me just learning a lot and not so much me talking as much. So I'm coming up on 30 minutes here and honestly, I think I'm out of things to say. So that's it for today. If you have any questions or thoughts or ideas that you want me to answer, I will do my best. Send those in. Otherwise, thank you all for being supporters of the podcast and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 1:Let's ride All night, the cold. That would do you well In the mountain morning light. So let's ride. Let's ride on through the rain. Come on and take me anywhere that you wanna be. Let's ride and let's ride. Let's follow the skyline and when we make it to the other side, we'll find all the bluest guys.