Boom! Welcome to a BONUS issue of Books & Biceps to close out 2024!

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27 Motivations & Musings to Close Out 2024

I have a notebook full of ideas that I write in every day. At the end of the year I go through it and make a note of how many ideas came to fruition, how many ideas I’m ditching and how many ideas are one-offs… Sometimes I write down thoughts or scraps of thoughts that could be anything from a Twitter post to a column to a full blown book or a line from a character in a book… This year I wanted to share some odds and ends and advice that you may find helpful. Enjoy!

1. You must force yourself to do big things. It’s essential for a fulfilling life. Everyone’s big things are different, but stake your claim. Make your mark. Be audacious with what you set out to do with the time you have. What would be your crowning achievement next year? Next decade?

2. Whatever just popped into your head that you haven’t done yet—DO THAT in 2025. BONUS TIP: Sign up for events and put them on your schedule in advance. Want to do a triathlon in April? Sign up today. Lock it in. Otherwise, these things have a tendency to not get done.

3. I am, by nature, lazy. I love sleeping in. I could watch eight straight hours of football on a Sunday or see back-to-back movies in the theater anytime. Every year around the holidays, when everything is on pause, I’m reminded that my default setting is chill.

4. I’ve spent a lifetime fighting that default setting. It kills all positive inertia. It’s the voice in your head that says, ‘sleep in’, ‘skip the gym’, ‘skip swim practice’… It’s your enemy. It’s quicksand. Battle it at every turn.

5. That lazy default setting we all have is what keeps people living mediocre lives and dying with regret. Nobody ever whispers to their loved ones on their death bed, “If only I’d binged more television shows and spent more time scrolling on my phone and spent more time out of shape.”

6. You can live your life jacked or not jacked. Why live your life not jacked?

7. Be a person of action. Be active. Make exciting proclamations about what you’re going to do with your life—both long-term and day-to-day. Get them out of your head and on paper and tell people. Then follow through. 99% of people don’t do this.

8. My Boston Celtics will repeat this year and three-peat next year.

9. Hire coaches to make you better at whatever you train for. Don’t wait.

10. If you’ve been exercising your whole life—even if you consider yourself an expert—you’ve 100% picked up bad habits. Injuries. Tweaks. Overcompensations. You’ve just learned to work around your issues by now. Get fresh eyes on your form once in a while.

11. Jim Carrey is so good in the Sonic movies. He owes us nothing, but when he’s all-in on a comedy role, there’s nobody like him. He deserved an Oscar for Liar, Liar, and I won’t hear otherwise.

12. I often wonder what kind of movies Chris Farley would be making now. Would he be doing Tommy Boy 2 for Netflix, teaching his son to sell? Or would he have morphed into a brilliant character actor, crushing roles in Tarantino films?

13. The worst thing you can do is wait for permission.

14. There are no gatekeepers anymore.

15. Publish your book. Start your YouTube channel. Launch a business from your house. Sell the t-shirts, mugs, software, ideas, courses. Start in high school. Have a business before college. Start a business in college with your friends. Start a newsletter at 65. Start a business at 75. There’s nothing stopping you.

16. Hire yourself and don’t look back.

17. That said, there’s incredible opportunity for masters of trades: welders, plumbers, electricians. People who know how stuff works and can fix things in the real world. The rest of us are morons.

18. Become a regular at your local, non-chain coffee shop. Introduce yourself to the cashier and the manager. Make small talk. Learn about them. It’s a big world, but it feels great to walk into a place where people know your name, ask about your kids, and you do the same for them. This is a lost art with Starbucks and Dunkin’ taking over.

19. Have hobbies and friends you only know through that hobby. It’s okay—and cool. I have Masters Swimming teammates I’ve never seen out of the pool, but we know about each other, root for each other, train hard, then go about our lives. My son and I go to a local baseball card shop. We see the family who owns it maybe once a month. We talk sports and cards. It’s fun. Single-serving relationships are a net positive.

20. Want to really learn about music? Listen to “Salute the Sample” on LL Cool J’s Rock the Bells Radio. It’s mind-blowing. They recently showed how SugarHill Gang’s Apache was sampled for Master P’s Make ‘Em Say Uhh. I can’t stop thinking about how creative it is.

21. Read books by interesting people, on interesting topics, that question what you think. Read books by people you disagree with. If you’re not rethinking your long-held beliefs about history or people, you’re not reading the right books.

22. Also, make time to read purely for enjoyment. Sci-fi, thrillers, mysteries—whatever. Learn about space travel or pirates. Just get lost in a book.

23. The four best words to say right after you screw up are: “Sorry, I screwed up.”

24. Having a self-deprecating sense of humor will get you far. It keeps you from being offended, upset, or taking yourself too seriously. It also helps you get over things you may be sensitive about. Take me. I have a big nose. I always tell my kids my big nose is the source of strength for all my power. Now my son wants a big nose, haha.

25. Jordan was better and had 100x the cultural impact.

26. Eat healthy 80% of the time, but if the chance comes to have a world-class apple fritter for breakfast or a famous ice cream sundae at lunch—get the damn sundae. Enjoy your life.

27. Make regular plans with people important to you. Parents. Siblings. Kids. Friends. Put a twice-monthly lunch on the calendar and stick with it. Plan a weekly FaceTime. Lock in a yearly visit now. You will never regret spending more time with people you care about - and who care about you.

Agree? Disagree?

Forward this to anyone you think would enjoy it and let me know which ideas hit home.

Or… what would you add?

STRONG LINKS

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PS: You still reading Gus and Mallory? Thanks for getting through the whole thing! No skimming!

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