This week's email is (mostly) an unedited stream of consciousness I wrote after reading a commencement speech by Roger Federer.
Flood Gates: Opened.
☀️
p.s. I'm moving the Partner of the Week section to the end of the newsletter. Can't believe I thought it was OK to put something before my kids. 🤦♂️
Livin' La Vida Luna y Luca
I'm the luckiest man alive.
Optimistic Goldfish
I recently came across the commencement speech Roger Federer gave at Dartmouth and I feel compelled to share this snippet with you:
“In tennis, perfection is impossible...
In the 1,526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches...
Now, I have a question for all of you... what percentage of the POINTS do you think I won in those matches?
Only 54%.
In other words, even top-ranked tennis players win barely more than half of the points they play.
When you lose every second point, on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot.
You teach yourself to think: OK, I double-faulted. It’s only a point.
OK, I came to the net and I got passed again. It’s only a point.
Even a great shot, an overhead backhand smash that ends up on ESPN’s Top Ten Plays: that, too, is just a point.
Here’s why I am telling you this.
When you’re playing a point, it is the most important thing in the world.
But when it’s behind you, it’s behind you... This mindset is really crucial, because it frees you to fully commit to the next point… and the next one after that… with intensity, clarity and focus."
-RF
Roger does a great job demonstrating you can lose ~half the battle, but still dominate the war.
But the big lesson I took away form his speech was from that last paragraph. It's the classic sports idiom, "be a goldish."
In other words, forget the result of your last attempt. Just keep playing the game the best way you possibly can.
--
Which leads me think of something else...
My accountability group of real estate investors and I often talk about having to constantly take "a leap of faith".
You can diligence the hell out of a potential business partner, subcontractor, or a target property, but the very last step before signing on the dotted line is taking a leap of faith.
It's something I've done countless times over the past ~10 years as an entrepreneur.
And similar to Roger's 54% success rate, I'm sure for every leap that ended in my favor, I can recount another that ended with me crashing and burning.
But I'm a goldfish. I press forward...
Mainly because I want to be successful in the games I play. And for me, success doesn't mean winning every time. It means being able to play the game indefinitely.
All I need is a chip and a chair.
--
Hard left...
I've been thinking a lot about how lucky I am recently.
My kids are healthy & generally happy, Dia is thriving, my business is firing on all cylinders, and I practically jump out of bed every morning.
I'm in a season where stacking wins feels like a foregone conclusion. So I tread carefully before inevitably reverting back to the mean.
But not too carefully.
Because my default setting is Optimistic. While many dwell on what can go wrong, I choose to focus on what can go right.
You can call me naieve, and I'd agree. I've been taken advantage of by people I put too much trust in without them ever earning it. I've lost so much money on "sure bets".
In fact, I'm sure if I displayed all my failures for the world to see, "naieve" would be a kind way to describe me. "Stupid" would be more apt.
But I won't change.
I like being optimistic. Nah, fk that. I love being optimistic.
You don't have to earn my trust. I give it to you freely because I believe you are good.
I also believe the weather will be fine by the time we arrive at our destination, despite the forecast calling for thunderstoms.
And of course I expect the dealer to bust every time she's showing a 2-6.
Why wouldn't I?
The alternative sounds exhausting.
I can't imagine thinking every person I deal with is out to get me, or spend all my time worrying about disaster outcomes that will likely never come to pass.
Gotta just keep swimming.
Partner of the Week
My pie-in-the-sky long-term health & fitness goal is to live to a functional 100.
I (currently) believe following the Blueprint Protocol will help me get there.
I wash down the essential line of supplements with a longevity mix for breakfast. Then I enjoy the nutty pudding + blueberry mix (in Ninja Creami form) for lunch.
Join me in the Rejuvenation Olympics and slow your aging by adopting the Blueprint Protocol.
