Apropos for a Black Friday newsletter issue, I think you should know: I’m a shopper. I like shopping. It’s popular for designers to be minimalists and get by with as few material possessions as possible. I admire it, but that’s never been me.
As the year is starting to wind-down, you’re might be thinking about setting yourself up for financial success in 2025. 3¢ Accounting, run by Tan Mall—if you noticed the name similarity, yep, that’s my dad!—is offering free consultations for readers of this newsletter to help set you up for financial success. I’m a client too: I had a 10-year financial independence plan that he helped me shorten down to only 2 years by redirect my income to a few different places and doing some restructuring of my savings. Whether it’s debt reduction, some forecasting, or other financial concerns, it’s at least worth a conversation. Visit 3¢ Accounting to drop them a line, and let them know I sent you for your free consultation.
I like possibilities. I like the multiverse, the potential futures that could be. When I try on a shirt or a pair of sneakers, I get to be a different person for a few minutes in that fitting room. And I get to decide if I want to be that person for longer than a few minutes. I don’t wear Hawaiian shirts because I don’t think they suit me, but I try them on every now and again to see if I’ve become the kind of person who could wear Hawaiian shirts. (Currently? No.) I like how Jordan 3’s look, but not on me. (I’m a Jordan 1 guy.) But I still try them on occasionally because I like thinking I could one day be the kind of person who looks good in Jordan 3’s.
This mindset extends further than clothing and physical appearance. I like thinking about who I am and who else I could be in a year, or a month, or a week, or tomorrow, or today. Am I the kind of person who starts businesses? I wasn’t, until I was. Am I the kind of person who can run a marathon? I’m not today, but maybe I could be in 6 months. I like trying on new versions of myself to see if they fit me. Our industry generally looks down on the idea of imposter syndrome, but I think it also has its advantages.
Lately, I’ve been trying on an uncomfortable idea. I’ve always been an ambitious person, constantly striving to reach new achievements. A new thought occurred to me: what if I actually have already achieved everything I’m going to achieve in my life? Though jarring, it’s plausible: my wife and kids give me a full and fulfilling life, I’ve experienced more business and career success than I had ever dreamed, and I’ve been able to impact the lives of many others through teaching, writing, speaking, and working. I know it’s important to not take the exercise to morbid trains of thought like “I have nothing left to live for” or anything like that. I already know what it’s like to live like someone who wants more; what does it feel like to live like someone where everything new is a bonus, not a desire and certainly not a need? How would that person act, operate, and live? And how different is that person from who I am today?
Though uneasy, I’m trying it on.
I’ll report back on how it goes.
Who can you try on? And what doors does even the thought exercise open for you? Remember: like an ill-fitting jacket or a sweater can makes your skin look a weird color, you can always take it off if you decide it’s not you.
But can it be?
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