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Financial Samurai

Slicing Through Money's Mysteries

The Psychology of Wealth Book Review And Giveaway

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The Psychology Of Wealth Book CoverSince the very beginning of Financial Samurai, I’ve sought to delve into the psychology of wealth by focusing on stories about wealth and moving beyond numbers.  My favorite is, “The Curse Of Making Too Much Money And Not Pursuing Your Dreams“.  It’s infinitely more interesting to learn about what makes people happy, and what wealth means to everyone.

Most of us are born into relative wealth given America, Australia, and the United Kingdom, are where most of you readers hail from.  There are hundreds of millions more people born into relative poverty and can’t get out.  Go anywhere in India for a couple weeks and it will change your appreciation of what you have, forever.  You’ll probably no longer complain about why you don’t make X, and you’ll likely lose some weight as well upon realization of so much waste.

The psychology of wealth is more than just having a net worth of $1 million dollars by the time you retire.  That’s pretty straight forward if you have your head on straight the day you graduate from college.  The psychology of wealth is about being wealthy, no matter how much money you have.  It’s about “understanding your relationship with money and achieving prosperity,” as Dr. Richards writes.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WEALTH REVIEW

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What Is The Real Meaning Of Wealth?

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The following is a guest post from Steve the Money Infant. There he blogs daily about money; how to save it, make more and avoid wasting it. He asks what is the real meaning of wealth?

Do you think you are wealthy? In fact, what is wealth really? The Free Dictionary defines wealth as follows:

  1. An abundance of valuable material possessions or resources; riches. The state of being rich; affluence.
  2. All goods and resources having value in terms of exchange or use.
  3. A great amount; a profusion: a wealth of advice.

Most Common Meaning Of Wealth

I think that many and possibly most people focus on the 1st meaning of wealth. We are so concerned with material wealth while there are many other kinds of wealth that we should be striving for. It hasn’t always been this way though. The word “wealth” actually comes from two Old English words; “weal” (meaning well-being) and “th” (meaning condition of) which when combined means “the condition of well-being”. That is significantly different when compared with the common usage of the word wealth these days.

While I certainly wouldn’t try to denigrate the usefulness of material wealth, in many ways my life has become a striving for wealth in the Old English sense of the world. I do not claim to have a great deal of wealth. Much of what I owned was sold before our move to Thailand.

My investments are sorely lacking. And my income, while sufficient to satisfy our meager needs, is certainly not that of what you would consider a wealthy person. What I do have on most days though is what I would call inner wealth; a great sense of well being or inner peace.



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Wake Up Young People, Nobody Is Going To Save You

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The older I get, the more I realize how necessary it is for people first starting out to find a mentor.  A mentor is there to guide you through all the landmines in a career or start-up venture.  In fact, I encourage everyone to get a mentor with every serious endeavor they are about to undertake.

“You are special.  You deserve the world and can do anything.”  These words do more damage to young people than any insult.  If all you hear growing up is how special you are, you’re going to develop the biggest entitlement attitude ever!  You’re going to think you walk on water and your shit don’t stink.

Is there any wonder why the most typical complaint by the 99% protest movement is not getting a dream job after going tens of thousands of dollars in debt?  What is wrong with picking crops and making hamburgers? College graduates are told to go to school, don’t be afraid to take out massive debt because their lives will be great since they are so special.  As a result, they aren’t willing to put in the hours to get straight A’s, work unpaid internships every summer to gain experience, and develop technical skills beyond the classroom.  Being told they are special DOOMS them.

This is why growing up in a free and developed country like the United States is pretty easy, ironically.  If you don’t have the “I’m special” attitude, then you will never be delusional.  And since so many of your peers think they are special, they aren’t willing to put the extra time and effort into whatever they are doing.  Just realizing you are just another nobody will put you far ahead in this world.

Related: Are You Smart Enough To Act Dumb Enough To Get Ahead?

RECOMMENDATION

Start your own business: If you feel you’re not getting paid what you’re worth, start your own business online on the side! It used to cost a fortune and a lot of employees to start your business. Now you can start it for next to nothing with a hosting company like Bluehost for under $4/month and they’ll give you a free domain for a year to boot.

Brand yourself online, connect with like-minded people, find new consulting gigs, and potentially make a good amount of income online one day by selling your product or recommending other great products. Not a day goes by where I’m not thankful for starting Financial Samurai in 2009. Here’s my step-by-step guide on how to start your own site.

Blogging For A Living Income Example: $300,000+

A real income statement example from a blogger. Look at all the income possibilities. CLICK the graph to learn how to start your own site in under 15 minutes.

Updated for 2018 and beyond.

Following Your Dreams To New York City: A Tenant Story

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Following your dreams can take a big leap of faith. As exciting as it may be, it takes a lot of courage to break out on your own. Yet, every now and again, people surprise me. One of the greatest feelings is when you want to laugh and cry at the same time. For years I’ve had the most wonderful tenant. And his story of following his dreams to NYC made me so proud.

Timothy was always courteous and kind, and never more than 10 days late on rent. When he told me in January of his plans to move back East, he did so in a hand written letter that was so kind.

Saddened by his impending departure, I wrote a post about it. I wrote, “Is It Better to Rent To Males or Females?” to help deal with the preparation ahead. Most of you mentioned you prefer females. However, all of my past five tenants have been males.

Who Comes Hither?



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A Little Inspiration Means So Much

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inspiration

A little inspiration can go along way. Inspiration is what can help someone keep on going during the most difficult situations. As I’ve said before, the secret to your success is 10 years of unwavering commitment. Let me share a little inspiration I came across.

The Inspiring Boy

I was driving home from grocery shopping one day when I saw this little boy in the picture holding a clipboard and smiling. 

It was your typical, chilly 58 degree San Francisco day and the boy stood so patiently in his parka, saying “hello” to every passerby.  His presence filled my heart and I zipped Moose around the corner to park so I could see what he was selling.  Whatever he was selling, I was going to buy!

Little Henry was selling $1 raffle tickets to support his school choir so they could take a trip down to Los Angeles and perform. Oh my goodness Henry, you are a star! I pulled out my wallet and gave him my only bill and told him I’ll take 10.  His smile got even bigger as he gave me the clipboard and asked me to fill out my contact info.

“Thank you Mr!“, Henry said gleefully.  I smiled back at him asking if I could take his picture.  Of course he said yes to one of his best customers.

Henry, it is I who thanks you.  You’ve given me perhaps years of mental smiles and motivation that I so dearly need all the time.  Why do I love to blog so much?  It’s partly because of memories like this where I can capture, record, and come back to any time in the future.

The Difference Maker

Everything about Henry made me want to open my wallet and support him.  As I think further, it was simply his smile that allowed every single passerby to at least acknowledge Henry and say ‘hello’ back.  I’m sure at the end of the day, Henry walked away with hundreds of dollars!

When I got back home, I began to really go through a myriad of emotions.  I remembered all the times I couldn’t go outside to play with friends because I hadn’t finished my homework yet.  I remember thinking as a kid how I never had enough money buy anything the other kids had, such as a camera or a Nintendo. 

I’d sulk in my room like a spoiled brat. I then recalled a change in attitude in the 9th grade where I started taking responsibility for myself.  I got a job at McDonald’s for $3 an hour, opening up the store at 6am to bleary-eyed customers just so I could buy what I wanted.

Big Government Bailouts

The reason why I don’t believe in handouts and big government is because of kids like Henry who are out there working hard for what they want.  Someone had to tell Henry that if he wants to go to LA and sing in the choir that he would have to help his team raise some money.  It was apparent to me that Henry loves to sing and would do anything to make his trip a reality.

The reason why I’m so bullish on all of us is that we all have the power to make something happen.  We live in a free world where nobody is inhibiting us to go out there and achieve our goals.  I don’t have pity parties, and I certainly don’t pity anybody who complains about this problem or that problem.  Every time I hear a complaint, in my mind I think to myself, “Just try harder.”  Sometimes the thoughts get nastier such as, “STFU, you baby“, but essentially it always comes back to “just try harder“.

Thank You For You Inspiration

Inspiring boy

Sometimes trying harder gets a little tiring, I admit it.  Burnout is an inevitable part of life.  What we need to do is try hard at something we enjoy.  We’ve also got to realize our strengths and weaknesses so we don’t go down a never ending path of failures.

The next time you feel like complaining, think about the Chilean Miners, or Henry.  These people are out there making the most of their situation and doing something about it.  They aren’t just whining about how life is unfair, or how somebody treated them poorly, or how another is gaming the system at their expense.  No.  They are focused on controlling what they can control, which are their own actions.

If you don’t want be broke, know that you can become rich.  If you don’t want to be out of shape, know that you can get in shape.  If love is what you want, know that there are millions of people out there looking for the same thing.  There is nothing we can’t do.  Thank you Henry for your inspiration!

Related: The Secret To Your Success: 10 Years Of Unwavering Commitment

Readers, share with us any little inspirations you might have come across.  Why do people complain so much instead of do something to improve their situation?  Does low self-esteem play a part in not allowing people to take action?  If not, what is it?

If you enjoy this post, sign up for my free private newsletter. Check out the top financial products that may help you achieve financial freedom sooner.

Regards,

Sam

My Fear And My Guilt Drives Me To Succeed

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Fear and guilt are powerful emotions to help you succeed. In fact, I think is the #1 ingredient that has enabled me to achieve financial independence at 34 in 2012.

On Sunday, January 16th Yakezie.com received around 6,300 visitors thanks to Little House’s (Yakezie Scholarship Committee Member) efforts to reach out to other organizations online.  That organization was Fastweb.com, a site that helps students find monetary support for education around the web.

Not expecting such a surge in traffic, immediately things started going haywire.  My registration e-mail notifications started flooding in, and then personal e-mails started coming in asking why they didn’t get an e-mail confirmation to register to the allow them to apply.  Frantically, I tried addressing all problems over comments, Twitter, and e-mail myself as Chris was not near a computer.  When Chris returned, he did some testing and things seemed to work, but because of the sheer flood of visitors, things locked up.

Our e-mail system (Google) supposedly has a ~200 limit per day on sending e-mail notifications for new registrants.  After about 1:30pm on Sunday, the 200 limit was quickly hit but the registrants kept coming in.  As a result, any eager student who was looking to register and compete could not.  Oh my, how bad I felt for them.

MY FEAR AND GUILT

The main reason why I started the Yakezie Scholarship vertical was so that Members could rally around a common cause to help support a person financially to further their education.  We all have different personalities and goals, but I strongly believe that the Yakezie Scholarship and our motto of selflessly helping others will hold us together for the long term.  Education is the single most important attribute one can have and develop to get ahead.

I had two fears before launching the scholarship initiative. The first fear was that there wouldn’t be enough interest in writing a 700-1000 word essay to compete to win.  Success takes effort and audacity.  As a result, we made the essay process as meritocratic and transparent as possible.  If you comply with the guidelines, your Scholarship gets posted, readers vote, and the top three vote-getters win.

The second fear was that there would be too much interest.  With this fear, I decided to increase the number of winners from one to three, and work harder to rally support for the Scholarship fund.  For two consecutive months, Members, Challengers, and readers have pledged over $1,000 to help support three essay winners for their educational endeavors.  I’m so proud of everyone who have contributed.

The first Yakezie Scholarship received a total of 14 entrants.  Although I highlighted beforehand that we would only run the top 10 as decided by the committee, I felt bad denying someone who spent the effort a chance to win.  And so, I dealt with my guilt by running all 14 essays.  I was supportive of every single one of them, making sure they submitted all pertinent info while guiding them a long the way.

With the second Yakezie Scholarship, I now fear we will have over 300 applicants with only 3 winners.  I mentioned in a post on Yakezie.com that we would run the top 30 if we had more than 20 entrants.  I never imagined that our little initiative would receive potentially 10X the number just a month later!

HOW TO DEAL WITH FEAR AND GUILT

I now fear more having too many applicants over too little going forward.  With a few applicants (<30), we can personally reach out to everyone.  With many applicants (100+), we can’t accept them all to be published since there is a limit to when each contest will end.  Furthermore, the Yakezie Network is a personal finance and lifestyle blog network where we plan to run our own content.  We’re careful to balance all three verticals of Personal Finance, Lifestyle, and Scholarship.

Thinking Out Loud Solutions:

1) We run our own Member Articles and guest posts on Yakezie.com’s homepage, while concurrently publishing the top 30 Scholarship Applicants on another page on Yakezie.com that can be found via the home page.

2) We rule out all essays which do not follow guidelines (i.e. 700-1000 words, answers one question, provides all pertinent contact info, bio, etc).  We are surprised by how many applicants don’t follow instructions.

3) We expand the Yakezie Scholarship Committee beyond myself, Chris, Jennifer, and a friend of mine so that more of us can evaluate the articles to be published and ensure the ones who follow directions and are the best written go through.

4) We build better systems on Yakezie.com to handle the submissions and sort automatically.  Once we have a great system in place, we should be able to automatically sort by word count, title, etc and make evaluating easier.  We may need to permanently upgrade our servers from VPS to dedicated to handle future spikes.

I STILL WONDER WHY ALL THE TIME

1,000 words later, I’m coming to terms with my guilt because I realize I can’t help everybody.  Perhaps it’s due to my travels abroad that I’m so conflicted and think about poverty and inequality constantly.  Why are some people born with nothing, while others are born with everything? 

How does someone born with less compete effectively against someone born with every advantage?  The answer I believe is through education.  Education is what allows us to make better life choices.  Education opens doors to new opportunities and provides a perpetual gift back to humanity.  Finally, education is what sets us free.

The only thing I can control is making the Yakezie Scholarship as smooth and meritocratic as possible.  I’m trying hard every single day to make this opportunity work.  Inevitably there will be kinks along the way.  Sometimes, I wonder whether it’s easier to just give up.  I could free up 10+ hours a week, reduce my stress and not have to feel so bad about trying to do some good.  But then again, where’s the challenge in that?

Best,

Sam

Readers, do you ever feel guilty about how good you have it?  Does your guilt ever consume you so much that it becomes debilitating?  Do you ever wonder why some are so fortunate and others are not?

A Weight Loss Tip To Die For: Be Mindful Of Others

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Are you looking for a weight loss tip? Well here’s a weight loss tip I’ve to keep me in a fairly narrow weight band for the past 20 years.

With parties and business meals galore, it’s so easy to pack on some weight and transform your once slender figure into a mound of dough. Then, of course, there is a global pandemic to deal with.

Is there any wonder why many people fail their weight loss goals? You can be doing great all year and then BAM! You wonder how you gained so much weight.

The good thing about our bodies is that we have a natural mechanism to stop eating when we get full. Otherwise, we’d all be unrecognizable in about a month. However, if we’re honest, we know we often can’t control ourselves and overeat anyways. I can’t control myself when it comes to eating buttery cookies and gobble two at a time. Yum, yum.

My weight used to fluctuate in a 10 pound upward band, which is a lot considering I’m 5′ 10″ and every pound counts on the tennis court. I could be a taut 160 pounds one month and a soft 170 pounds just a couple months later if I wasn’t careful.

At my prime, I used to be 10 pounds lighter given I ran track as well. Oh, to be that fit again. Nowadays, my weight only fluctuates by 4-5 pounds since a visit to New Delhi and Agra in 2001 that changed my outlook on eating forever.

Seeing The World Changes You – Weight Loss Tip

Each time I travel to a foreign country I learn something new. For example, there are some 22 languages recognized by the Indian constitution, and some 300+ spoken languages in India.

In New Delhi, all I saw were skinny people. And when I looked closely, all I could see on the streets was abject poverty. There are so many people in Delhi, you have to look past the layer of bustle to see the beggars on the street. You may choose to ignore, but I couldn’t. How could I when poverty surrounded me like a blanket of smoke in a dimly lit cigar room.

On the four hour drive to Agra where the Taj Mahal resides, the driver pulled over for a pitstop. No sooner had I got out, did both adults and children start tugging at my clothes asking for change.

The more rupees I gave, the more they begged. The more I tried to talk with them, the larger the swarm until my driver shrieked rudely for them to all go away. They didn’t budge and I had to force myself back in the car.

A Weight Loss Tip To Die For

As we drove away, I could see one spiny young man chase after us. He was unique, because he was on all fours and moved like a spider. It was as if he was determined to leap on the roof of our car and extract one last coin from my wallet.

His look was of great determination, but he couldn’t keep up so I dropped some coins out the window. The car’s rear wheels scrambled up a dirt cloud and that’s the last I saw of him.

But, I was wrong. I see him always in my mind.

The Mental Shift To Eating Better

I have visited many impoverished nations before and so far never one as dire as India. There’s something really wrong with so much concentrated poverty. I often wonder how they will be able to improve their standard of living, if ever?

It’s just strange to have a $1 billion dollar, 27 story home in Mumbai owned by Mukesh Ambani, yet have so much despair on the streets. I’m afraid that unless the government does something drastic, their lives will never change.

The reason why my weight doesn’t fluctuate too much anymore is because I’ve become more conscience of how much I eat. Be mindful of the suffering of others. This is the weight loss tip to die for.

When I’m feeling slightly full and I have thoughts about getting a second helping of anything, I think of the malnourished and the man in this picture above on my way to Agra and stop.

I know that it takes about 20 minutes for the body to register food after eating, so in those 20 minutes I wait and reflect if I’m alone.

We’re not even being asked to help the poor and the hungry, just ourselves.

During reflection, I am appreciative of the abundance of food all around me. I wonder how one nation could be so rich, and another so poor.

How can we ever over eat when others are constantly starving? Is it right to gorge ourselves if millions of children around the world are malnourished and can’t even reach a healthy weight?

We can’t ever let ourselves go because to do so would mean that we ignore the suffering of others.

Maybe we are ignorant and have never seen poverty. Why else would Americans who go to private school and have nice jobs claim they’ve never experienced prosperity?

Or maybe we just choose to turn the other way. But, even if you have never left the country, if you look hard enough you will see suffering all around us.

Once you see it, you’ll be hard-pressed to ever take your body for granted again. Fight on!

Recommendation For All Parents

If there’s one thing the pandemic has taught us, it’s that life is not guaranteed. We must do everything we can to protect our children while they are still dependents.

As a result, please get life insurance. Not only should you get enough life insurance to cover your liabilities, your life insurance term should last long enough to get them through college.

The best place to get life insurance is through PolicyGenius. PolicyGenius will help you find the best plan for the lowest price tailored to your needs. PolicyGenius provides free, no-obligation quotes so you can get the best rate. 

In the past, you would have to get a life insurance quote by applying to individual carriers – the process was completely opaque. Now, you can have multiple qualified life insurance carriers compete for your business after applying on PolicyGenius. It’s so much more efficient! 

After eight years of owning life insurance, my wife decided to check on PolicyGenius for free to see if should could do better. Lo and behold, my wife was able to double her life insurance coverage for less money. All this time, she thought she was getting the best deal with her existing carrier.

If you don’t have life insurance, please get life insurance before you need to. Life insurance gets more expensive the older and heavier you get. If you get sick, depending on the severity of your sickness, you might not be able to qualify.

Update: It’s been 12 years since the trip to India and the pandemic and two kids finally blew my weight range above 170, to 173 pounds. For 18 years, I maintained a really good weight range of about 162 – 169 pounds. Now, I plan to get back to an ideal weight of 160 – 163 pounds by Feb 8, 2022. Any weight loss tips for us?

Everyday Feels Like Christmas Morning

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Tahoe-winter

Everyday feels like Christmas morning. I just have to wake up by 6am because life just feels too darn exciting!

Do you remember the feeling during Christmas eve as a kid, where you were so excited you couldn’t sleep? You’d sneak down and wait in the middle of the night just to see if Santa was coming? While you waited, you also tried getting a sneak peak at your presents by pealing back each corner to see what you got! That was me. Forever mischievous and hopeful.

Somewhere in the middle of adolescence and adulthood, I lost that excitement. Perhaps it was the constant pressure of trying to do well in school so I could get a real job and not have to go back to McDonald’s. Anything was better than opening up McDonald’s at 6am for $3.25!

I recall dreading my 8am Calculus class during college. Surprise, surprise, I dropped the class and signed up for Golf III (advanced level baby) instead!  That was when I began to rekindle my excitement as a kid again. I was learning something I just loved, and couldn’t get enough.

Everyday Feels Like Christmas When You Find Something Awesome To Do

As soon as I wake up, I can’t wait to check my e-mails to see what went on in the world. We sleep a quarter to a third of our lives away! Part of the reason why I’m looking to meet more people internationally is because they are up when the East Coast is sleeping.  As a result, I’ll get to interact more with people in the evenings during my free time.

There’s very little that makes me happier than building relationships. In fact, dare I say nothing makes me happier than the relationships we have with our family and friends? Money is nice, but money is even better when we can spend it on others to help make them happy.

Just the other day, I spent hours painting, caulking, and cleaning our rental apartment. I went out and bought a new shower head, fixed some fixtures, and even got the carpets professionally cleaned. All was worth it when my tenant came in and said, “Wow!” She was smiling from ear to ear, and commented on how sparkly everything looked. Now that’s gratifying! We got to talking about her life and her aspirations.

MORE TIME CAN HELP YOU SUCCEED

One of my stretch goals is to try and wake up the same time everybody wakes up on the East Coast (8am EST assumption = 5am PST), and go to bed three hours after them (assumption 12pm PST/3am EST). In essence, I’m trying to build in 3 more hours of time into my day.

Three hours more a day is 90 hours more a month to work on your projects, be them personal projects or work projects. Let’s say you can only stay awake for one more hour a day. Don’t you think you can still do amazing things with 30 extra hours a month? You bet your buns of steel you can!

There’s a large group of people out there who just love to sleep in, myself included! There’s something so special about hearing the alarm clock, and knowing it’s Saturday and you don’t have to get up. If you find something you just absolutely love to do everyday, you won’t need that alarm clock and will bounce right out of bed every single morning.

Related: The Secret To Your Success: 10 Years Of Commitment 

Don’t Quit On Finding Your Christmas Morning Feeling

Practice waking up earlier for one hour a day, everyday for the next month. You might feel a little groggy in the beginning, but that will start to fade as you focus that extra hour on doing whatever it is you love. When you start seeing progress in your activity, you’ll discover that waking up early gets easier and easier until you just automatically get up!

Who knows, you might even move a mountain with just one hour extra a day once your life is over.

Reflection 12/25/12: I wrote this post on 12/24/2010, a year and a half after launching this site. So much has happened in the past two years, but I’ve felt this way everyday since. I never thought I would be able to retire from corporate America just a year and a half later. 2010 was the year I was getting poached to join a new firm in a different city. The money they offered was tantalizing. Instead, I negotiated a counter offer with my existing firm because I wanted to hit the 10 year mark and finish my career with them in San Francisco. 

It’s amazing to find something you love to do. If it wasn’t for the 2008/2009 financial meltdown, I’d probably still be working in an industry that I no longer loved. It’s not the worst thing in the world to simply work for a paycheck, but it’s certainly nothing close to always waking up full of excitement. I encourage everyone to keep looking for that something which requires no alarm clock. Once you find it, figure out how to make it a part of your daily life. You’ll surprise yourself with what you can do!

I suggest everybody start their own site!

Update 9/1/2020: After more than 11 years, I’m still publishing 3X a week on Financial Samurai. It is truly a blessing to be able to do what I love. Every day still feels like Christmas morning. The secret to your success is unwavering commitment.

Regards,

Sam

How To Be Clutch In Stressful Situations And Win

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Watch Texas Rangers relief pitching if you want to learn how to NOT be clutch! Wow, I mean come on.  How does that one kid throw 11 balls in a row and walk two SF Giants batters in the 8th inning of Game 2 when the bases are loaded?  It’s absolutely unbelievable how bad the Texas Rangers relief pitching was, and it’s simply due to mental weakness.  Texas going from having a chance down 0-2 in the 8th to losing the game 0-9 is a 100% ass kicking.

I understand how difficult it is to close things out due to competitive tennis.  I’ve blown my share of 5-4, third set leads before, and 9 times out of 10, it’s because my mind broke down.  Tennis, like many one-on-one sports is a complete mind bend.  I started worrying and thinking about all the “what ifs”.  What if I shank the ball when going for it?  What if my calves start cramping?  What if he starts catching fire?  As soon as I start filling my mind with doubt, my body follows suite and then before I know it, I’ve blown the lead and lose.

I’ve since been able to calm some nerves that have helped me cross the finish line in tight situations before.  Here are some tips for keeping your head in the game.

How To Be Clutch And Win

* Think of nothing. During a competitive situation, my mind literally goes blank.  It’s as if I’m out of my body observing myself act.  From the service motion, to driving the top spin backhand cross court, there is nothing on my mind except the 100% commitment to win.  Some people call this act “zoning.”  To zone, I picture a pure white cloud of nothingness before each serve.  It fills up my entire mental surrounding.  There is nothing infiltrating my mind as I go ahead and act.

* Know that you will win.  In order for you to compete effectively, you have to already believe you have won.  You know this largely due to your preparation.  You don’t have to know that you are better than them at everything.  All you need to do is believe you are better than them at one thing.  I’m convinced I will be able to outrun my opponents and drive them into the ground.  They will collapse from exhaustion if they try and rally, so they try and go for more and make errors in the process.  Knowing that they will eventually wilt from exhaustion gives me confidence to succeed.

* Put everything in perspective. Once you tell yourself it’s just a game you start to relax.  When you know it’s OK to lose, you start swinging away.  Once you start swinging away you no longer worry about the little things because everything just clicks.  Having perspective is healthy in sports, work, blogging, and practically everything you do.  Once you know you are not an unattractive person, but a beautiful monkey, you start feeling great!

Being Clutch Is A Mindset

Being clutch is a complete state of mind.  Nowhere do you see more examples of clutch than with Olympic gold medalists.  They’ve done the moves time and time again during practice.  It’s those few moments that really count where they excel the most.  Playing competitive sports definitely helps one’s abilities in non-physical arenas such as work.  There’s a reason why so many firms look to hire student athletes, and so many CEOs are single handicap golfers.  They know what clutch is and how to deal with difficult situations.

Who knows who will win the 2010 World Series.  But, if I was a betting man, I’d go all-in on the San Francisco Giants baby!

Related: When In Doubt, Just Keep On Winning

Readers, what are some of the things you do to calm the nerves in crucial situations?  Have you ever surprised yourself with your clutchness?

PS For bloggers out there, it’s the same thing.  Survival is a tough one and it is a long slog.  How can you go straight to the top with so much content out there and competition?  You simply zone and write like no one else for a methodically consistent period of time.  And then you patiently wait for things to percolate.  You know you will win because blogging is easy compared to surviving in the Amazon jungle, naked, with no matches or food!

Subscribe to the Financial Samurai newsletter by clicking here.

Regards,

Sam

Isner vs. Mahut: The Greatest Tennis Match In History

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As a tennis fanatic, it would be remiss of me not to mention the greatest tennis match in history when American John Isner beat Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 70 to 68 in the 5th set last week. That’s right 70 games to 68 games in the fifth set because one must win by two in the fifth set at Wimbledon.

The Greatest Tennis Match In History Took Forever!

Their 11 hour, 5 minute match spanned over 3 days and finished when John Isner hit a solid down the line two-handed backhand to seal the deal.

It is completely unfathomable that a match could last so long. And, it is unconscionable how Nicolas Mahut could hold serve over 60 games in a row to survive! 

The physical endurance is one thing. But, what’s most impressive is the mental fortitude both players had to never give up.

The previous record for longest match was at the 2004 French open. It was just a paltry 6 hours and 33 minutes in comparison. Still quite impressive, but Isner and Mahut had the greatest tennis match by a long shot.

Lessons Learned From The Greatest Tennis Match

There are 5 great lessons from the greatest tennis match in history. Even if you’re not an athlete, you can use these lessons to get ahead.

1) Anything is Possible

If someone were to say that a match would go 30 all in a 5th set, I would say “NO WAY.” And I’d probably confidently bet my life savings and my lucky underwear! 

Even if someone asked for 20-to-1 odds ($10 to win $200) to bet that it could happen, I’d still call them crazy and happily take the other side. I’d probably bet up to $1,000 and then proceed to lose $20,000! Now, I’ll think carefully when I hear impossible sounding feats. 

The greatest tennis match has really shown that anything is possible!

2) Standards Always Go Higher

Roger Federer defeated Andy Roddick 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14 in the 2009 Wimbledon final. We all thought that was the greatest tennis match in history at the time. Surely, a 16-14 score would never be breached. 

Fast forward to 2010, and Roger and Andy’s match sounds downright mediocre. The same goes for anything we do, be it creating a product, or being a solid employee. 

Standards don’t go backwards. They go forward. We’ve got to continuously innovate and try harder.

3) Everything is Mental

At some point, you know that the bodies of John and Nicolas were screaming to stop and give up. But, with the crowd of thousands cheering them on, they started to zone and battled away cramps and fatigue to last a marathon. 

Personal finance, physical fitness, blogging, work performance and everything is all mental. If you have the right mindset, you will likely succeed in anything you try. But, if for a second your mental fortitude breaks down, it’s game over. You’ve got to want it like no other.

4) Consistency is Key

John won the greatest tennis match in history because he hit one more ball in than Nicolas. If you workout three times a week for 52 weeks in a row, it’s pretty much a sure thing you’re going to be much more toned than if you maintained an erratic schedule. 

Likewise, if you post 2-4 times a week on your site and get to know one new person online a week, there’s no doubt your blog will grow. 

And, if you get into the office first, and leave last every single work day, you will move ahead in your career.  The list is endless. Stay consistent, and watch everything start going your way!

Related: Are There Really People Who Only Work 40 Hours A Week Or Less And Complain Why They Can’t Get Ahead?

5) Pace Yourself For Long Term Success

A day after John’s match, he lost in just 72 minutes 0-6, 3-6, 2-6 to unknown Thiemo de Bakker. John’s serve was 20 mph slower than average. And he just didn’t have any energy left understandably. 

You don’t want to go from playing the longest and greatest tennis match to the shortest match. Volatility is generally not good for your career or any venture you take.

The biggest risk we can take is taking no risk at all. If we burn out before reaching our potential (See “The Dark Side Of Early Retirement“), it’ll be just one darn shame. Balance out your work and your life, but at the same time stay consistent as well.

Related: How To Become A 5.0-rated USTA Tennis Player

Use The Greatest Tennis Match To Get Ahead

Chances are high that we’ll never be world class athletes or CEOs of mega-cap companies. That said, we should always learn from people at the top of their game to boost our own. 

In “The Mental To Physical Connection For A Healthier Lifestyle“, the article recommends we use sports or general physical activity to balance out work and our creative sides. 

It’s important to be tethered to a counter force so that we don’t burn out. If we can stay consistent with whatever it is we are hoping to achieve, there’s no doubt progress will be made!

Further Reading

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Financial Samurai has been online since 2009 and is one of the most trusted and largest independently-run personal finances today.

Regards,

Sam @ Financial Samurai – “Slicing Through Money’s Mysteries”

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