With values soaring to the moon, card collectors are starting to get violent — In December 2020, a rare Charizard Pokémon card sold for $360,000. Early in 2021, a Michael Jordan rookie card sold for $215,000. Weeks later, the same card sold for $738,000. During the pandemic last year, with people locked inside and looking for something to flip the mood, quarantiners turned to…

You’re not a quitter — the book just sucks — I recently started reading Good to Great by Jim Collins, a highly-regarded book detailing how some of the late 20th-century’s greatest companies made the leap from being good enough to survive to dominating their competition. It didn’t take me long to give up on it. Boooring. It’s not Collins’ fault…

A question I need answered… — I have an idea of what the ideal version of myself looks like. I’m not anywhere near that person. “Maybe when I’m in my 30s,” I always tell myself. But why can’t it be sooner? To be honest, I have a major discipline problem. Not to make excuses, but it’s…

This unique tactic all but guaranteed him success — In today’s fast-moving social media world, it’s not rare for a musician to blow up overnight. That’s why Russ knew he had to get in everyone’s face — and have artillery ready once fans started piling up. Russ was not a new kid on the block when he blew up…

There was no way to escape the pandemic without (more) major financial repercussions — When the pandemic struck, America and the global economy were bound to face a recession. Production halted, meaning people stopped working and, most importantly, stopped spending. Thanks to fiscal stimulus from the government and the Federal Reserve, the recession was short, lasting just two months — the shortest on record.

Choose love and acceptance over hatred and envy — It’s so easy to blame others when we come up short. In the dating world, blaming the other person in a relationship — or hopeful relationship — is almost always our default. We don’t want to accept blame when our actions are hurtful. We don’t want to admit when we…

Most things you create won’t matter — and that’s OK — In 2021, I published a book entitled, “No Pressure,” aiming to ease the pressure people put on themselves by discussing how nothing matters (with a positive spin). The irony of this is that my book doesn’t matter, either. Neither does the first book I wrote. They will make a minimal…

Battling reality when comfort and clarity disappear — I’ve stepped foot in nearly 30 states in the past three months. Sometimes it doesn’t feel real being in so many new places. Literally. Tour managing a band, I’ve been a part of over 50 live music events since the beginning of February — traveling by van to each place…

Don’t get caught up in FIRE — enjoy work, and life, now! — I had a conversation with my parents the other day that kind of depressed me. A friend of my mom’s suggested that my brother, who is currently a crew chief in the Air Force, should look to carry that experience into civilian life — continuing to work with airplanes. …