You Can’t Build a Rich Life With an Empty Emotional Toolbox Have you ever said something in anger that you regretted almost immediately? Maybe you snapped at somebody who didn’t deserve it. Maybe you shut down during an important conversation because you didn’t know what to say. Maybe you felt criticized, rejected, frightened, or embarrassed — and before you could figure out what was happening inside you, you’d already reacted. Then, hours later, you replayed the conversation and thought: Why...
1 day ago • 13 min read
Your Brain Is a Toolbox. Do You Know How to Use What’s Inside? Yesterday, we talked about physical wealth. Developing a body that allows you to do more, experience more, and enjoy more of your life. Today, I want to explore another kind of wealth that travels with you everywhere. Mental wealth. But let me ask you something. Have you ever found yourself facing a problem you knew you should be able to solve, only to discover you didn’t have the knowledge or the skills you needed? Maybe you were...
2 days ago • 11 min read
The One Kind of Wealth You Carry Everywhere Yesterday, I told you why I want you to be rich. Not just financially rich. Rich in your health, your knowledge, your emotional resilience, your relationships, your spiritual grounding, and your ability to contribute to the world. Today, I want to start with perhaps the most personal form of wealth you possess. Your body. Because unlike your house, your car, your investments, or your possessions, your body goes everywhere you go. You can’t leave it...
3 days ago • 10 min read
What Are You Building That’s Bigger Than Yourself? Have you ever walked into a place that made you feel small? Not insignificant. Not worthless. But small in the best possible way. As though, for a brief moment, you were standing in the presence of something much larger than your everyday concerns. Maybe it happened while looking across the Grand Canyon. Standing beneath an enormous redwood tree. Watching the sun rise over the ocean. Listening to a piece of music that moved you in ways you...
just now • 13 min read
Why the World Needs You to Be Rich And why becoming wealthy might be one of the most generous things you ever do. I want you to be rich. Not just a little more comfortable. Not just making enough money to pay your bills. I want you to be so rich that your life—and the lives of the people around you—are better because of it. But before you start imagining mansions, sports cars, and private jets, let me ask you something. What would your life look like if you were wealthy in ways that had...
4 days ago • 9 min read
If You Got Exactly What You Wanted Tomorrow, What Would Break? The other morning I was sitting at Alana’s Café, listening to two regulars talk baseball. The Dodgers were in the playoffs, and these guys were deep in it — pitchers, the bullpen, hitting, strategy, details I could barely follow anymore. Here’s the funny thing. There was a time I probably could have kept up. I used to follow sports. I enjoyed it. But somewhere along the way I made a decision and stopped paying it so much...
5 days ago • 11 min read
You Think You Can Handle It.But Where’s the Evidence? Back in the 1980s, when I was working as an fire alarm electrician, we used to do some pretty dangerous shit. One job in particular scared the hell out of me. Copper bus bars We had to drill into an energized copper bus bar to make a connection for a fire-alarm circuit. If you’re not an electrician, imagine a thick piece of copper carrying power through a distribution system. Those copper bars could carry something on the order of a...
6 days ago • 10 min read
I Knew the Blueprint. But I Kept Changing It. I spent 35 years working as a union electrician. Typical blueprint for building a home One thing you learn pretty quickly in construction is that you work from the blueprint. You don’t just show up with a truck full of tools, start bending conduit, and hope it all works out. You need to know what you’re building. Where things go. What has to happen first. How your work affects the other trades. And one of the most frustrating things on any jobsite...
7 days ago • 10 min read
Your First Answer Is Usually Just Your Habit Over my 35 years as a union electrician, I worked with a lot of different people. Some were incredibly talented. Some were experienced, hardworking, and eager to learn. And some were just plain stubborn. I remember journeymen who’d get offended if you tried to show them anything. “Don’t treat me like an apprentice.” “I’m not a kid.” “You don’t need to teach me anything.” Okay. But here’s something I learned over the years. Having experience doesn’t...
8 days ago • 9 min read
Three Questions I Keep Coming Back To I’ve been journaling for more than forty years, and I have a confession to make. I was not a "journalist" when I started. I was a freshman in high school, maybe fourteen or fifteen, and one of my classes required us to keep a journal for the entire year. Like most teenagers, I wasn’t excited about homework that didn’t have to be turned in every single day. So when I knew the teacher was about to check our journals, I’d scramble to fill in a bunch of...
9 days ago • 9 min read