When Stability Causes Instability

60-80% of NBA and NFL players go bankrupt or experience financial stress within two years of retirement. Why? Aside from all of the obvious reasons like fancy cars, bad investments, child support payments, and gold chains, could there be a less-obvious underlying concept that explains them all? Yes indeed.

So many athletes go bankrupt because of the extreme stability they inherit overnight. Many of these players come from poor to middle-class backgrounds, and were forced to live reasonably their whole lives. But when they got that first paycheck, their previous experiences instantly became obsolete. Not only do they now have a ridiculous amount of money, but they are getting a lot more of it, too. Rather than carefully allocate their funds, most players will throw it around as if they’re multi-millionaires. Clearly, even a multi-millionaire can go bankrupt rather easily.

How can so many throw away such a golden opportunity for lifelong wealth? Read More

It’s Not How, But When to Get Motivated

Motivation is like a train. Used incorrectly, such as outside of the tracks, it won’t work. But if it’s moving on the tracks, good luck stopping it!

Motivation is misunderstood. Most people think that its primary use is to incite action, but that’s akin to using a hairbrush to brush your teeth. It might even work sometimes, but not effectively.

  • What People Think: Motivation > Action > Results
  • What’s Actually True: Action > Motivation > Results  *OR* Action > Results > Motivation > Results

Some people think I’m anti-motivational, but I’m only against the way that people are taught to use it (motivation > action).

If you depend on motivation to take action, you will not achieve goals. Why? Read More

The Minimum Requirement for Success

 

Success is a fun word, isn’t it? It’s flexible and nebulous, so whoever is saying it gets to define what it means for themselves. To one person, success is $1 million. To another person, success is a great circle of friends. To another, success is both of those and more. 

Regardless of what it means to individuals, success broadly means doing or accomplishing what you want to do or accomplish.

There are many ideas about how to succeed, but I’m only interested in the core. What is the minimum fundamental requirement for success? That is, what is the absolutely necessary first step to accomplish things?

To answer that, we need to ask two more questions, which will immediately put us in the right path.Read More

Use This Short Checklist to Beat Resistance

Work ethic is a learned skill. Like other skills, some people are naturally better at it than others. I happen to have a worse work ethic than most. 

James Bond doesn’t flinch when in mortal danger. And why? Because he knows fear intimately.

Sévérine: How much do you know about fear?

James Bond: All there is. (Skyfall, 2012)

Like Bond knows fear, I know the power of resistance to keep me from doing what I want. I know what it’s like to wake up and stay in bed for hours. But I also know what it’s like to jump out of bed, excited to take on a new day. I know what it’s like to accomplish nothing, day after day. But I also know what it’s like to achieve goals that I hadn’t dreamed of reaching.Read More

How to Restart Your Life From Step One (3 Steps)

I’ll never forget the time I held my first girlfriend’s hand in the park for the first time. I hadn’t a care in the world!

In certain magical moments, life can seem so perfectly simple and easy. Unfortunately, it’s between those moments where we spend the most time. After sports teams win the championship, after the honeymoon period of a relationship, and on a quiet, plain Tuesday morning are the times when real life is won or lost. What do we do then?

That is to say that all of us know how to live when the champagne is actively flowing. It’s easy. But otherwise, we need to figure out what to do with our lives.

I’m talking to anyone who is in a rough or dark patch of life, where the champagne bottle is shattered on the floor. I’m also talking to people who know they have a lot to be thankful for, but feel like they’ve lost their way. Basically, I’m talking to everyone, because this process works for everyone. It’s a top-down look at how to build a life worth living from scratch, from step one. Let’s go!Read More