Saturday Success Series: Volume 13
Making life & money work for you.
Welcome back to the Saturday Success Series email!
In this edition we’ll have:
Five to Focus On: A quote, stock, book, show & a beer.
Master Yourself: The 1 thing that creates real change.
Master Your Money: Learn to love credit cards.
And of course…
The Weekly Special: How to Use the Incredibly Important ‘Rule of 3’
The goal here is maximum value, so let’s get to it.
Oh, by the way, if you’re feeling generous, please share this newsletter with a friend.
Five to Focus on:
In a noisy world, it’s hard to know what’s good out there. Let me help.
Quote to ponder: “Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.” - Oscar Wilde
Stock to consider: ARKF (Ark Fintech Innovation ETF).
ARKF is an actively managed Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that seeks long-term growth of capital. It seeks to achieve this investment objective by investing under normal circumstances primarily (at least 80% of its assets) in domestic and foreign equity securities of companies that are engaged in the Fund’s investment theme of financial technology (“Fintech”) innovation.
Disclaimer- this is not financial advice, I am not a financial advisor, and you should always do your own research.
Book to read: The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene.
You really can’t read too much about human nature and how our minds operate. I’m not a huge Robert Greene fan because I feel like he rambles on in a way where everything takes 3 times as long to cover. But, this is still an interesting topic and there are plenty of wisdom bits to be consumed. There is a Summary of the Laws of Human Nature- try to find that. Beware the Fragile Ego and Resist the Downward Pull of the Group were two of the better chapters.
Show to enjoy: Pam & Tommy on Hulu.
Another show that’s over the top but still 100% watchable. The show focuses on the stolen sex tape scandal that rocked the mid-90s. It gives up glimpses of the thieves and Pam and Tommy (obviously) as they traverse the landscape that is ‘the first celebrity sex tap ever’.
Beer to sip: Imperial Cloud Walker from Victory.
Hazy IPAs are a prize. And imperial hazy IPAs are the grand prize. Victory does a lot right with their beers and this is a bullseye. It’s also incredibly smooth for an imperial (beers over 8% ABV).
Master Yourself
People are full of opinions and beliefs and even, sometimes, facts. None of these mean a whole lot.
Actions though. Actions mean everything. Because they change everything.
Act constantly. Sitting and saying, oh I’m anti this or I’m pro that…shut up. Who cares? Words mean so little without action.
You’re anti abortion?
Cool. Are you adopting unwanted kids?
You’re pro guns?
Awesome. Are you out there volunteering to teach gun safety on the weekends?
You believe in kindness?
Great. You should. Are you committing kind acts every day?
You believe in bettering yourself?
What habits are you building into your day? How consistent are you?
Be about action. Actions mean so much more than any words ever could.
Think of the person you want to be and start acting like that. And, you’ve heard it before- be the change you wish to see. That comes through action.
Master Your Money
Stop hating on credit cards.
We put everything on credit cards. But nothing we couldn’t pay cash for.
Keep your utilization low, but get those points. Credit is also built in safety as you can dispute charges if need be.
In regard to utilization, my Amex limit is around 20k. I would never go over 6,000 (30%) in any given month and most months I fall well below. Like under 10% utilization.
Our Discover card is our most used credit card. Our reward points give us discounted gift cards that we use for free nights out.
Our credit card rewards pay for my gas, our dinner when we go out, purchases on Amazon and even my girlfriend’s HomeGoods trips.
Utilize credit cards to your advantage.
Weekly Special:
How to Use the Incredibly Important ‘Rule of 3’
Storytelling comes to humans naturally. We’ve been doing it for a few hundred thousand years.
And what do all stories have in common?
They have a beginning, a middle and an end.
The Rule of 3 is inherent to humans. We crave it.
Whether you’re giving a presentation or setting yearly goals or even deciding what to focus on that day- limit yourself to 3 things.
Below I’ll give a handful of examples of how people use the Rule of 3, from ordinary people to some of the most famous names.
Lisa, my girlfriend
When my girlfriend gave me her New Year Resolutions “presentation” there were 3 main topics.
Be healthier, read more and save more money.
Now of course we needed to flesh out what that actually looks like since you can’t improve what you don’t measure.
For her it was working out 3x per week, eating healthy 80% of the time, reading 3 non-fiction books per month and saving an extra 100 dollars per month, on top of what she already saves.
Cait Mack, me
When I do my annual review for my position at my 9–5 I always stick to the same big 3 themes.
I discuss what happened over the past year, the present issues facing me/us and then my/our goals for the next 1–5 years.
And within those 3 themes, I usually pick 2–3 points to focus on in each category. This keeps the review manageable and easy to understand for me and whoever reads it.
My company’s Peer Committee
My company has a Peer Committee. The idea and goal of the committee is to be a modern mentoring/employee enhancement program.
When we presented what our core values should be, here’s what we wound up with. We should be focused on:
Mentoring
Employee engagement
Skill sharing
Now we can make sure that our marketing and events align with our goals.
Bob Iger, Disney
When Disney CEO Robert Iger made his bid to takeover Disney as the new CEO, he came up with 3 main concepts. He had to share these with the board who would decide if he was worthy or not.
The main areas of focus were:
Devoting most of their time and capital to high-quality branded content
Embrace technology to the fullest
Become a truly global company
Needless to say, they were moved by the Rule of 3 and Robert became the next CEO. He led Disney to tremendous success from 2005 to 2020.
In fact, the stock price was around 20 dollars per share when he took over. It was around 125 dollars when he left in 2020. He also acquired Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel, and 21st Century Fox.
Donald Trump, 45th President of USA
Love him or hate him, is beside the point. The point is that apparently Trump’s security advisors had to give him security threats, concerns, etc. on a 3 bullet note card. That’s it. 3 point risk assessments per country.
Whether you view this as a dumbed down briefing, or a busy man getting to the point, is also beside the fact. His advisors learned quickly that the rule of 3 is practically magic.
Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father
What big 3 did Jefferson focus on?
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Arguably the three most important words in human history.
He could have come up with 20 rights, hell even 10, to focus on. But he chose 3. The human brain is most satisfied with 3 ideas at a time.
Bill Belichick, New England Patriots
Bill Belichick, arguably the greatest coach in NFL history, uses 3 core ideas for each game. The 3 most important things the team needs to do to win.
Example:
Stop the run
Protect our QB
Pressure opposing QB
He also has the 3 core Ps he focuses on year-round.
Passionate people
Preparation
Performance
Steve Jobs, Apple
Back in 2007 Jobs gave a presentation that has become quite famous. He talked about Apple’s focus…the big 3 so to speak.
He said Apple would be focused on an MP3 player, a phone and internet communication devices.
Then he surprised everyone by saying it would an all-in-one product, the iPhone.
So this is a bit of a play on the rule of 3, but still…the product focused on 3 main goals. And this has gone down as one of the greatest presentations in history.
If it worked for Steve Jobs and Thomas Jefferson- it can work for you too. Start using the incredibly important Rule of 3 to build a better life.
Thanks for reading and if you found this valuable, please share with someone who could use it. See you next Saturday!