As an avid listener to the Daily Calm meditation app, host Tamara Levit often talks about the pause... 

This is the point in our breath after we inhale and before we exhale... It’s a space in time that we rarely ever recognize yet it’s also a moment when our entire world has the ability to become completely still.

In all of our lives we deal with happenings on a daily basis... After something occurs we typically react suddenly, instinctually and with all sorts of emotion based on immediate feelings. 

Much like the pause in between breaths, the moment between any stimulus and our response is essentially the exact same thing... A moment in time where we have the ability to bring the world to a halt before choosing to react.

Those who figure out a way to recognize this moment in time before firing back will naturally be able to slow life down and then efficiently and effectively respond to any and all situations.

The pause is there for everybody and available to meditate upon with each breath we take, all we have to do is acknowledge it and all of our lives would be a lot less turbulent... 

“Professor EB, I get so emotional sometimes that I simply react by throwing shit, breaking something then saying the most hurtful things I can think of... How in the fuck do you expect me to be able to pause in that situation?”

Well Stevie, in order to pause we need to truly come into the moment and that simply starts with feeling the air pass through our nostrils... 

Whenever I would find myself in a big situation on the baseball field or even now, if I ever need to get control of my emotions, I will immediately feel the air pass through my nose for 3 seconds, PAUSE, hold it for 3 seconds and then release for 3 more... 

All it takes to properly charge on without being overrun by irrational thoughts and feelings is being able to find your PAUSE...

Just a matter if you are willing to make the 9 second investment.

Just finished watching the Ken Burns 9 Inning “Baseball” documentary that is a timeless beauty I could literally watch every night the same way I used to every off season...

The history of the game and how it has paralleled the history of our country has fascinated and captivated me on so many different levels.

Obviously it’s been well documented here in the Daily Hustle that I was a history major at UCLA... I am a firm believer that the more we study and understand the world and the generations that came before us, the more knowledge and wisdom we will be able to apply to our own experiences in the here and now as well as going forward. Add in my love for baseball and specifically US History and I could easily make the argument that the “Baseball” doc is my favorite of all time...

All that said, our history in the United States and the history of our game has endured some serious challenges and both have had to overcome shallow minded prejudices and racial inequality that included segregation that embarrassingly lasted until the mid 20th century...

At UCLA, I actually wrote my senior thesis on Jackie Robinson and how him breaking the racial barrier in baseball transcended the game and has had a gigantic and lasting IMPACT on racial relations across our entire nation.

Jackie was an All American tailback, an All American point guard and an NCAA track champion and I haven’t even mentioned the sport in which he became a Hall Of Famer…

Jackie was quite possibly the greatest athlete of all time yet the thing he will be forever known for is breaking the color barrier in baseball while enduring overwhelming racism and pure hatred from fellow players and fans.

Because he had strict instructions from Dodgers owner Branch Rickey, Jackie wore the abuse for a couple seasons and endured unimaginable hardships… 

Eventually, many of his teammates fought back for him and then Jackie fought back for himself.

Not surprisingly, this unified the Dodgers team in a way that went well beyond the sport of baseball...

Jackie won the MVP in 1947 and the Brooklyn Dodgers took their first World Series championship.

After Jackie retired, he continued to champion for Civil Rights until the day he died, way too early.  

These are undoubtedly the most challenging and racially divided times that I have seen in the past 40 plus years…

Other than the obvious, our looks, I did not know the difference between black and white growing up. My first real friend was a black kid named Little Reggie that I met at the Montessori I eventually got kicked out of, but that’s a story for another Daily Hustle…

As a 5 year old, we are blind to the biases and prejudgements of the world… The only thing we know is if something or someone is fun or not fun, good or bad and nice or mean. In a sense, we are completely oblivious to stigmas and stereotypes consistently forced upon us as we get older…

Look, I am a middle-aged white male that grew up in Northern California and has never experienced true racism in any capacity… I grew up in a bit of a bubble and then spent my entire professional baseball career in another sort of bubble as well.

Baseball, for as long as I have known it, has been an international game that has almost always rewarded and promoted the best players regardless where they are from or the color of their skin...

That said, segregation and racial targeting has grossly plagued our game and our country in the past and is still obviously present today.

Blatant brutality, excessive force, and cases of cold blooded murder have recently come to light and disgusting doesn’t even begin to describe what has transpired.

All this said, I can’t help but think what would Jackie do?

While listening to The Happiness Advantage, author Shawn Achor brought up one specific thing that has as much of an impact on life expectancy as smoking, high blood pressure, obesity and regular physical activity... 

“Oh I know, I know!!!”

Was watching the weather channel not long ago and saw old footage of a hurricane ripping through South Florida... 

Immediately my attention was drawn and fixated on two things... 

The reporter dude who looked like he was about to fly away in the 150 mph winds and palm tree in the background that was completely bent over and looked like it was either about to snap or just pick up the reporter with its leaves and slingshot him into the Atlantic Ocean. 

Living 5 winters in the Dominican Republic, I saw some of the nastiest storms rip through that island and it’s there that I learned about the stamina, strength and durability of one of the most badass trees gracing our planet... 

The thing about the Palm is that the more it bends and the more it is stressed, the stronger the root system grows.

Just like a palm tree, we will be constantly tested by powerful external factors that may force us to adapt in ways we may have not even realized were possible... 

Yet, so long as we let these trials continue to strengthen our root system, just like the palm, we may bend and we might even huck a reporter into the ocean, but you bet your ass... 

WE WILL NOT BREAK. 

-EB

 

P.S. The Let Them Play: A Triathlon Across America documentary is finally here, and it’s the perfect film for a family movie night! Proceeds will not only benefit the Let Them Play foundation, but $1 from each sale goes directly to the COVID-19 Response Fund.

Visit LetThemPlayFilm.com or click the button below to watch now!

Just finished a book called The Happiness Advantage written by Shawn Achor and definitely could dedicate an entire week of Daily Hustle’s to this bad boy... 

The book explores 2 main questions:

Is it our happiness that leads us to success?

Do we only become happy as a result of our life achievements and prosperities? 

For our avid Daily Hustlers, we shouldn’t even have to think before answering the above questions:

Yes

No

We all know that joyfully immersing ourselves in our work is 100% what leads us to success and although achievement may bring temporary elation, the real award and sustained happiness is found within the process...

Ok, cool... This is obviously pretty elementary shit. 

The real question is what steps can we take to make sure we are genuinely happy, thus allowing us to embrace the moment which ultimately will produce successful life byproducts. 

Achor brought up a study where there were two groups of very similar people... One group went about their lives as normal and their subjective happiness levels were charted over a 1 week, 1 month, 6 month and 1 year span... 

The other group’s happiness was tracked and recorded over the same time period but each day this 2nd group had to write down 3 positive things that they had experienced over the past 24 hours.

No surprise, the 2nd group recorded significantly higher happiness levels and also outperformed the first group in several different life metrics... Why?

When we take the time to recognize the different positive things that happen in our lives, we simply attract more positive things by forcing ourselves to pay attention to their existence. 

We all deal with positive and negative things, but what we will eventually get more of has everything to do with which one we want to focus on... 

As soon as I read about the experiment, I immediately implemented writing “3 Good Things” into our family’s Daily Hustle routine... 

The more specific the better and these 3 good things that happened over the past 24 hours don’t have to be perceived as immediately life altering.

A typical “3 Good Things” list for me would look like this:

Bulldogs sleeping on my head

Building off of yesterday’s Linchpin Daily Hustle, we ended with “Passion & Purpose.” 

Let's explore a bit more exactly what that means...

Ironically, my Dad used to sign off many of his letters and emails... 

“With passion & purpose, Jim Byrnes” 

Of course I thought it was dorky and kinda like the capri’s he used to rock, so I would laugh and write it off as Dad just being Dad. 

After yesterday’s Daily Hustle highlighting the overall effectiveness of passion with purpose, I couldn’t help but think of the old man and the actual message he was trying to share... 

Ever since I was a kid, I was a passionate little fucker... Just about anything and everything I did in life was an emotional FULL SEND and I would wear my heart on my sleeve and put the hard thumping little red thing into everything I did.

Passion has never been the issue, purpose on the other hand has been a bit more difficult to wrangle... Purpose is our direction and without a proper road map or game plan, it’s easy to get lost and in turn, completely waste our passion.

When I first got to the big leagues, I found it difficult to control my excitement. I was a bit like a chicken with his melon chopped off, all sorts of passionate activity with no freaking idea where I was going...

Eventually, a decapitated chicken will peel over and die, never finding its way. 

The good thing is that so long as we are reading this our heads are still attached which means we still have the ability to direct our passion and find our purpose.

Once I settled into the major league lifestyle, it became clear what I needed to do to be able to navigate my way to success... I figured out that passionately trying too hard was working against me and in order to persevere I needed to establish a routine that allowed for me to navigate and adapt to the turbulent waters and ever changing tides.  

Much like the current Daily F*IT List, that routine brought structure and direction to my passion and helped me remain consistent in my preparation and allowed me to focus solely on executing what was and is within my control.  

Passion is a beautiful thing but without purpose it is wasted energy and will eventually be deemed useless... Purpose on the other hand is the map to the golden treasure of life but without passion, we will never develop the nut sack to be able to take on and defeat the pirates chasing the exact same treasure chest we are. 

So, years after loud laughing at the ridiculousness of my Dad's choice of concluding words, I guess it seems fitting to sign off this Daily Hustle with an old familiar saying… 

With passion and purpose, EB

 

P.S. The Let Them Play: A Triathlon Across America documentary is finally here, and it’s the perfect film for a family movie night! Proceeds will not only benefit the Let Them Play foundation, but $1 from each sale goes directly to the COVID-19 Response Fund.

Visit LetThemPlayFilm.com or click the button below to watch now!

Recently completed a book called Linchpins by Seth Godin... 

Basically it provided a blueprint for how to make yourself indispensable in a dispensable world.

Look, before I get going here, I believe we all need to realize that each and every one of us is replaceable... 

“Uhhh... Professor EB, surely I am not replaceable.  Nobody will ever bring the intelligence, insight and good looks that I bring to your class.” 

Well good morning Mr. SuperSoft, as much as I do appreciate your participation, I assure you that although there will never be another Stevie SuperSoft, condescending narcissistic selfish pricks are a dime a dozen and when you are gone, it will be a pleasure to replace you with another A-HOLE that we here at the Daily Hustle will do our best to save from the jaws of arrogance... 

Ok, back to Linchpins... 

Godin says that linchpins do 2 vital things for an organization:

Exert emotional labor

Make a map 

Unless we are making an emotional investment into our work and providing a clear course of action, there is no way we will ever be perceived as indispensable... Our ability to go above and beyond the call of duty by directing our passion with purpose is what will ultimately lead to displaying one or more of these 7 linchpin abilities Godin lays out… 

Provide a unique interface between members of the organization 

Deliver unique creativity 

Manage a situation of great complexity 

Lead customers 

Inspire the staff 

Provide deep domain knowledge 

Possess a unique talent  

I really don’t think one of the above is too much to ask out of any of us, but the only way one of these 7 abilities will ever come to fruition is by making an emotional investment while maintaining a clear vision going forward... 

Simply put...

PASSION WITH PURPOSE is what will eventually allow us to be true linchpins… 

-EB

 

P.S. The Let Them Play: A Triathlon Across America documentary is finally here, and it’s the perfect film for a family movie night! Proceeds will not only benefit the Let Them Play foundation, but $1 from each sale goes directly to the COVID-19 Response Fund.

Visit LetThemPlayFilm.com or click the button below to watch now!

“The tranquillity that comes when you stop caring what they say. Or think, or do. Only what you do.”

For a long time throughout my baseball career, I cared immensely what other people thought of me... 

Of course, I played the game because I loved it and there is no doubt I had the utmost confidence in myself and my game... Yet, the opinions of others often weighed heavily on my mind and I spent much of my time, energy and effort focused on these opinions which were completely outside of my control. 

After getting traded twice and then released, I found myself having a couple resurgent years in Arizona that completely revitalized my career... After signing a 3-year contract extension I showed up in 2008 ready to prove that I was worth every penny the Diamondbacks invested in me. While running sprints before spring training, I twinged my hamstring and then tried to play through it because I wanted to be on the field to show the organization, my teammates and the fans that I was more than willing to play through pain.

I cared so much about everybody else’s perception of me that I stopped caring about what I knew that I actually needed at that moment, REST. 

It wasn’t enough for me to know my commitment to the team... I had to try to prove it to everybody else and it cost me a year of baseball when I eventually tore my hamstring off the bone.

The ironic thing is that I spent 12 months busting my ass (literally) to get back on the field and when I finally returned, the same people I tried so hard to please from the start, became disgruntled because of the time I missed and lack of instant success... A large number of them boo’d me to show their displeasure every chance they got.

We can have the right mentality and try to do all the right things and please all the right people, but ultimately, satisfying others is not within our control... People will never completely understand what we go through unless they have walked in our shoes and even if they do, that doesn’t mean they will ever understand our heart filled intentions. 

Knowing this, we need to stop caring about what other people think (good or bad) and let go of all outside perceptions then focus on the only thing that ever matters…

Doing the right thing. 

-EB

 

P.S. The Let Them Play: A Triathlon Across America documentary is finally here, and it’s the perfect film for a family movie night! Proceeds will not only benefit the Let Them Play foundation, but $1 from each sale goes directly to the COVID-19 Response Fund.

Visit LetThemPlayFilm.com or click the button below to watch now!

Recently had a Zoom fireside chat with Tahoe Mountain Realty... 

There were 30 plus agents on the call and Jeff Brown, an avid Daily Hustler and the office leader who organized the meeting, wanted me to talk to the group about a few of my life experiences and how they have helped prepare me to appropriately deal with the current environment we all happen to be living in...

In any talks that I have been fortunate to give, I feel like the most important thing is to be able to relate to the group. As much as I would like to believe we are all baseball fans and endurance sports athletes, the reality is that many people don’t like baseball and even more don’t care to run 100 miles... 

That said, I am very familiar with real estate because of my family's life long involvement and ironically, the ups and downs of the real estate world eerily compare to the highs & lows of a 162 game season or any ultra endurance endeavor.

As scattered as my talks can sometimes be, I like to believe I figure out a way to tie a beautiful bow at the and make the bottom line very clear... 

No matter what we do in life, the relationships we build and maintain are the backbone to success. When we put the team first and have a grander vision than our own selfish needs and wants, we will undoubtedly maximize the benefits we receive, but most importantly, we will maximize our very own and the team's contributions to the world. 

Whether we are real estate agents or baseball players or endurance freaks, inconsistency is an inevitable part of just about any industry, job or undertaking we can think of... 

Oftentimes, the volatile nature of our work is controlled by various factors that we have absolutely no control over... Yet, despite the inconsistent marketplace, the one proven way to continue to persevere through turbulent times is actually very simple...

We must remain CONSISTENT IN CHARACTER. 

Life is full of inconsistencies we have absolutely no control of but as we champion all the time here in the Daily Hustle, we control our reaction to ALL of it. 

When we appropriately respond by taking progressive action and making the most of whatever situation is presented, our consistency will reveal our true character and our character is what ultimately will be the impenetrable stabilizing force that will allow us to continue to survive & thrive.

When quarantine started, I put together a Daily Hustle list for my kids which included a thorough report each day to be completed on a different President of the United States... 

Recently, I noticed that they had fallen behind on their reports and I originally perceived it as a blatant act of defiance... Frustrated, I was going to make sure the little shits would be held accountable for their refusal to participate but then quickly realized I was being over emotional and was taking my feelings way too personally.

Ultimately, I decided to explore the reason why the reports were not getting done before levying any sort of punishment... 

It was very apparent that the kids were overloaded with school work which caused the President reports to take a back seat. 

Figuring the kids have done a good job overall by consistently completing all of the other Daily Hustle tasks, I decided to make an adjustment on my end.

Instead of having them do the report which originally required them looking up the President and then providing at least 3 facts, I made it easy on them by writing down the President we were going to be learning about that day and starting off with my own golden nugget of information about the man... 

The only thing I required the kids to do was come up with 1 additional interesting fact about that President.

Ironically, since we have started the new reports, they have gotten done each day and because we have been working TOGETHER on the reports to each deliver just one thing, the facts have been much more fascinating and they have even become a talking point at the dinner table. 

By delegating the work and working as a family/team, the reports have become much more efficient, effective and most importantly, they are actually getting done! 

The entire point of the President report is to learn from the character, successes and failures of our past leaders and then apply those lessons to our own lives and the world today.

As our 40th President Ronald Reagan so brilliantly said...

“Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out.”

Tough to find much better than our own family, it’s always a good idea to delegate power and no need to interfere at this point because the Daily Hustle President Report Policy is now consistently being carried out... 

Moral of the story: Sometimes by giving the kids LESS work, we all will get much more out of it.