The Glass Half Full Letter - Vol. 5 - Being Human
“To have great poets, there must be great audiences too." - Walt Whitman
Opening Thoughts
Life Happens. We sometimes get out of our groove. We shift our focus to other things that take priority. But sometimes, we also lose discipline. We lose a rhythm or a cadence. This happened to me recently. As some of you may have noticed, I haven’t written a blog post in 6 weeks. The reason why is because I shifted my focus to something else I was pursuing and felt like I didn’t have the creative capacity to reflect and put something out there that would be worthy of your time to read. I also lost discipline. I let my life control me instead of me controlling it. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had a very productive last few weeks and the Rowse house as a whole has been blessed with many opportunities recently that will pay dividends for the rest of our lives, but it seems that as our world begins to open up, we’re all having to reevaluate how we approach the most basic things in life.
Last year at this time it seemed impossible to plan anything one week in advance. Now we have our calendars booked out until Christmas. Last year at this time, we were saving money because we weren’t going out and spending money at bars and restaurants and Ubers because we would just buy a few bottles of wine for $20 and Zoom with friends and family. Last night alone, we spent over $200 for a night on the town (whoa take it easy high roller).
I say these things in an effort to have you reflect on how far we’ve come in just a year. With growth comes change. With change comes decisions. With decisions comes discipline. With discipline comes fulfillment. None of us are perfect. Over the next few months, we will all be tested to see if we can maintain the growth we’ve achieved over the last year. We will hit sharp curves in the road of life that may provide us a scenic or rocky detour around our intended path. This is fine! What matters most is that when these times come, we give ourselves the ability to reflect, learn, and figure out our next move to get back on the original path. The last 6 weeks for me have been what I would consider a scenic detour. What matters now is that I realize how blessed I am to have the ability to have a few detours in life, but also to know that I can get on track again and live by what I’ve preached in this newsletter. Knowing thyself, purpose, and consistency.
If you find yourself in a similar situation like the one I’ve laid out, reflect on why that’s happened, reassess your goals and purpose, and get back on the right track so you can continue to grow and become a better person every single day. We’re all human. My goal going forward is to get this newsletter out every other week, so thanks again for giving this read. As my good buddy Mase says…. Welcome Back
Current Reads
I just knocked out How I Invest My Money by Josh Brown and Brian Portnoy.
It’s a fairly quick read but loaded with great insight as to how some of the best and brightest people in the financial services industry invest their money. The book is a series of about 5-page essays that dive into how people see money, how they invest their money, and the WHY behind their financial decisions. As some of you may know, I’m a Wealth Manager, so this type of content is like the first time I heard Post Malone singing country music on Matthew McConaughey’s Youtube Channel
Golfers Corner
As a guy who has watched more Golf Channel and read more Golf Digest than a 65-year-old retiree in Marco Island, I began to follow a writer by the name of Geoff Shackelford. Geoff has been writing about some of golf’s most interesting stories, trends, and ideas for years now, but he finally created a newsletter on Substack (where you are reading this) that I’ve been reading religiously now. If you’re a golf fan and want to know a few more things about the state of the golf world, I strongly suggest you subscribe to his newsletter. Here is a link to a recent story relating the Tiger Woods accident to a similar accident that happened to the late Ben Hogan.
Tiger Woods Accident: Finding Solace In Ben Hogan's Recovery
Current Amazon Box
I’ve been going down rabbit holes recently around having a really cool desk set up. I’ve been working from home for over two years now and my cord management system has been horrendous. A buddy of mine told me to just velcro everything to clean it up, so I bought a few packs of the strips below and they are a game-changer.
Current Listens
This week I wanted to share a podcast from Animal Spirits around the recent housing boom, the increase in housing costs, and what it might mean for the future. As a resident of Denver, CO (whoa, you mean the Mile High City?! Like 5280 feet above sea level? Dude. Bro. Tight) housing prices are getting out of hand and there’s been a lot of speculation that the housing bubble has to pop soon. I hope to God it does.I’m tired of hearing the stories of the only people that can afford a nice home here is mommy and daddy from California buying their child, who recently graduated from CU Boulder with a philosophy degree, an $800k house with straight cash homie. Not cool.
Current Late Night Youtube Rabbit Hole
Housekeeping
I can’t say it enough but thank you so much for reading my biweekly newsletter. The biggest compliment I can get for doing this is having you share it with someone you care about and it’s been happening quite a bit as more posts start coming out. The blue links throughout the letter are the best way to share this with those people and have them subscribe from there. Once again, please comment below or respond to me directly with anything you’ve been reading, listening to, or thoughts you may have to enhance this newsletter for the weeks ahead.
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Lastly, almost everything that is underlined in this newsletter is a link to the original source of information. Click the links to find more information on these topics from people who are much smarter than me :)