Learn from analogies. Morgan Housel's The Psychology of Money shares life lessons through money stories. Grow your volleyball wealth. Let's examine a lesson from each of the first ten chapters (there are twenty):
Chapter 1. Nobody's Crazy - "Some lessons have to be experienced before they can be understood." - Michael Batnick Our experiences color our decision making. Learn from setbacks. Over twenty years ago, substituting reserves in early almost led to a loss at Reading. That never happened again.
Chapter 2. Luck and Risk - Luck and Risk stand at opposite ends of events affecting sporting and financial futures. Bill Gates and Paul Allen had literally a one in a million chance of attending high school together with cutting edge technology. There's also discussion of 'attribution bias', as we see others' failure based on character and ours relate to bad luck. "Focus less on specific individuals and case studies and more on patterns." Bad starts can be hard to overcome.
Chapter 3. Never Enough. - For many there is never enough. Insider trading undid a hundred million dollar man, Rajat Gupta and former market maker Bernie Madoff. Some risks become our undoing.
Chapter 4. Confounding Compounding. The sooner you start saving, investing, and specialized learning, the greater your chance to grow your prospects. The author explains that Warren Buffett's remarkable results in part accrue via 75 years of compounding. The volleyball player who starts at six has an edge over one who starts at fifteen.
Chapter 5. Getting Wealthy Vs Staying Wealthy. It's hard to stay at the top. The Patriots got and stayed near to the top for almost twenty years. That was then. Legendary investor Jesse Livermore earned the equivalent of three billion today dollars when the market crashed in 1929. And he ultimately lost it. Money shares similarity with reputation. It can be destroyed overnight. A lack of humility contributes. MVB has to do the work to stay on top of its game. "The wind blows hardest at the top of the mountain."
Chapter 6. Tails, You Win. Heinz Berggruen accumulated a massive portfolio of expensive art. He bought collections and a few pieces became fabulously expensive. It's the outliers (tails on distributions) that help make your reputation. Amazon Prime and Amazon Web Services drive their business. The iPhone drives Apple.
Since 2000, nearly 300 have worn the MVB uniform.
7. Freedom. Freedom is about having the time to do what you want when you want. Researcher Angus Campbell highlighted the meaning of happiness.
Athletes and their families sacrifice the now looking for future happiness. Americans have a higher standard of living than they did in the 1950s but are not happier.
Happiness is also the difference between results and expectations.
8. Man in the Car Paradox. People seek admiration and respect over things.
Sport gives you a chance to share experiences with your friends and coaches that can't be bought. The MVB Experience matters.
9. Wealth Is What You Don't See.
You might have two choices, buy a second home or save for the future - a child's education or retirement. Or you could go out for the weekend with friends or train at a volleyball tournament. To accumulate "volleyball wealth," training is not optional.
10. Save Money. Savings can seem undetectable. It comes about in different ways including not spending.
MVB has accumulated "wealth" in championships - league, sectional, and state titles - through the accumulated efforts of players, families, and coaches. They invested in volleyball instead of an alternative.
Lagniappe. To become great at almost anything, at some point you become your own coach. Identify strengths and need areas and develop a plan to consolidate strengths and lessen needs.
Keep working on your volleyball athleticism.
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