Minute With Mallon: Five Minutes to Clarity!

Welcome to Minute with Mallon! 

Something I Taught:

Here’s a wise lesson you probably already know—but may need to be reminded of today. 

Back in January I hurt my knee. Pretty badly. I’d been playing pickleball two or three times a week and after the injury I had to completely stop. I was so frustrated and just didn’t know what to do.

After a couple weeks of pain, I went to see a surgeon, but he was very vague about what the course forward might be so I didn’t do anything… for about four months.

Then one day I sat down, gave myself about five minutes and wrote a list of nine things to do. In no particular order.

Then, as best I could, I just put them in order.

The next day I started on number one.

Two weeks later, I was in an orthopedics office, talking to a surgeon, receiving a shot to help reduce the pain temporarily. We talked, and we developed a whole plan for the next few weeks to take care of the problem.

Why did it take me so long to do something?

Because I hadn’t taken the time to think about the steps. But once I wrote them out, it became crystal clear.

It may sound a little crazy, but since then I’ve worked with several clients who were stuck too. I shared this story with them. Once they saw the wisdom in it, we created a list together—and it worked every time!

What’s one area where you feel stuck right now?

Take five minutes today—just five—and list out everything you could do to move forward.

Put them in order.

Then tomorrow… start on number one.

You’ll be surprised what happens when you simply give yourself a plan.

Something to Ponder:

Rest is not laziness—it’s obedience.

Anonymous

Something I Learned:

Recently I read the book, "Die With Zero," by Bill Perkins. I've recommended the book to many, and everyone I know who’s read it (including me) says that it's had a profound impact on how they look at money.

Here are a few passages to hopefully pique your interest:

"Many psychological studies have shown that spending money on experiences makes us happier than spending money on things."

"The main idea here is that your life is the sum of your experiences. This just means that everything you do in life—all the daily, weekly, monthly, annual, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences you have—adds up to who you are."

"If you spend hours and hours of your life acquiring money and then die without spending all of that money, then you’ve needlessly wasted too many precious hours of your life. There is just no way to get those hours back. If you die with $1 million left, that’s $1 million of experiences you didn’t have. And if you die with $50,000 left, well, that’s $50,000 of experiences you didn’t have. No way is that optimal."

So how about you…  Are you stacking dollars or collecting memories?

Pick one thing you’ve been meaning to do and go ahead—book it, plan it, or at least get it on the calendar today.

Your wallet might complain—but your future self will thank you.

Something I Saw

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Hope you have an incredible week!

Robert

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Minute With Mallon: I Heard Her Laugh!