The Jason Wright Show

In 2004, I set out to conduct a five-year “Rich Habits” study to explore how the world’s wealthiest people think about their money. Each of the 233 millionaires I interviewed fell into one of four categories: Saver-Investors: No matter what their day job is, they make saving and investing part of their daily routine. They are constantly thinking about smart ways to grow their wealth. Company Climbers: Climbers work for a large company and devote all of their time and energy to climbing the corporate ladder until they land a senior executive position — with an extremely high salary. Virtuosos: They are among the best at what they do, and they’re paid a high premium for their knowledge and expertise. Formal education, such as advanced degrees (e.g., in law or medicine), is usually a requirement. Dreamers: The individuals in this group are all in pursuit of a dream, such starting their own business, becoming a successful actor, musician or best-selling author. Dreamers love what they do for a living, and their passion shows up in their bank accounts. The Saver-Investor route requires the least amount of risk — at least compared to pursuing an entrepreneurial dream or artistic passion. But 88% of the millionaires I interviewed said that saving in particular was critical to their long-term financial success.  It took the average millionaire in my study between 12 to 32 years to accumulate a net worth of anywhere from $3 million to $7 million. Below are their three most common habits that anyone can adopt: 1. They automated, and saved 20% of net pay. Every Saver-Investor in my study consistently saved 20% or more of their net pay, each paycheck.  Many accomplished this by automating the withdrawal of a fixed percentage of their net pay. Typically, 10% went into employer-sponsored retirement accounts and the other 10% was automatically directed into a separate savings account. Once a month, the Saver-Investors would then transfer their accumulated 10% monthly savings into an investment account, such as a brokerage account. Even if 20% is too steep at the moment, saving a smaller percentage consistently can still help you meet your financial goals for the future. 2. They regularly invested a portion of their savings. Because Saver-Investors consistently invested their savings, their money compounded over time. When they started, this compound interest was not very significant. But after 10 years, they began to accumulate significant wealth. Towards the final years of their working lives, the Saver-Investors’ wealth grew to an average of $3.3 million.   The millionaires who pursued a dream and started a business (a.k.a. the Dreamer-Entrepreneurs) did not have the ability to invest their savings, particularly in the early stages of pursuing their dreams. Whatever savings they did have were used as working capital in order to fund their dream. Interestingly, however, once most of these Dreamer-Entrepreneur achieved success in the form of available cash flow, they immediately pivoted and began to invest their earnings. 3. They were extremely frugal. One of the common denominators for Saver-Investors, Big Company Climbers and the Virtuoso self-made millionaires in my study was being frugal. For these millionaires, frugality began the moment they received their first paycheck. For the Dreamer-Entrepreneurs, it started the moment their dream created enough cash flow to enable them to save and invest. Being frugal requires three things: Awareness: Being aware of how you spend your money. Focus on quality: Spending your money on quality products and services. Bargain shopping: Spending the least amount possible by shopping around for the lowest price. On its own, being frugal will not make you rich. It is just one piece to the “Rich Habits” puzzle, and there are many pieces. But it will allow you to save a larger amount of money. And the more you have in savings, the more money you can invest. Tom Corley is an accountant, financial planner and author of “Rich Kids: How to Raise Our Children to Be Happy and Successful in Life” and “Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals.” Don’t miss: There are 4 main paths to becoming a millionaire—and this is the easiest one, says money expert Author who studied millionaires for 5 years: Don’t play the lottery if you want to retire rich Early retiree shares 13 ‘stupid simple’ money rules that helped him save $1 million: ‘I wasn’t born rich’ Sign up now: Get smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletter

The Happiness Index Bhutan (The Happy Kingdom) Pickleball After playing golf one Saturday during the summer, Joel Pritchard, congressman from Washington State and Bill Bell, successful businessman, returned to Pritchard’s home on Bainbridge Island, WA (near Seattle) to find their families sitting around with nothing to do. The property had an old badminton court so Pritchard and Bell looked for some badminton equipment and could not find a full set of rackets. They improvised and started playing with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. At first they placed the net at badminton height of 60 inches and volleyed the ball over the net.As the weekend progressed, the players found that the ball bounced well on the asphalt surface and soon the net was lowered to 36 inches. The following weekend, Barney McCallum was introduced to the game at Pritchard’s home. Soon, the three men created rules, relying heavily on badminton. They kept in mind the original purpose, which was to provide a game that the whole family could play together. Rep. Joel Pritchard 1967 The first permanent pickleball court was constructed in the backyard of Joel Pritchard’s friend and neighbor, Bob O’Brian. 1972 A corporation was formed to protect the creation of this new sport. Original Pickleball Court 1975 The National Observer published an article about pickleball followed by a 1976 article in Tennis magazine about “America’s newest racquet sport.” 1976 During the spring of 1976, the first known pickleball tournament in the world was held at South Center Athletic Club in Tukwila, Washington. David Lester won Men’s Singles and Steve Paranto placed second. Many of the participants were college tennis players who knew very little about pickleball. In fact, they practiced with large wood paddles and a softball sized plastic ball. 1978 The book, The Other Raquet Sports, was published and included information about pickleball. 1982 Pickleball pioneer, Sid Williams began playing and organizing tournaments in Washington state. 1984 The United States Amateur Pickleball Association (U.S.A.P.A.) was organized to perpetuate the growth and advancement of pickleball on a national level. The first rulebook was published in March 1984. The first Executive Director and President of U.S.A.P.A. was Sid Williams who served from 1984 to 1998. He was followed by Frank Candelario who kept things going until 2004. The first composite paddle was made by Arlen Paranto, a Boeing Industrial Engineer. He used the fiberglass/nomex honeycomb panels that commercial airlines use for their floors and part of the airplane’s structural system. Arlen made about 1,000 paddles from fiberglass/honeycomb core and graphite/honeycomb core materials until he sold the company to Frank Candelario. 1990 Pickleball was being played in all 50 states. 1992 Pickle-Ball, Inc. manufactured pickleballs in-house with a custom drilling machine. 1997 Joel Pritchard passed away at age 72. Though he was Washington State’s Lieutenant governor from 1988 to 1996, he is probably better known for his connection to the birth of pickleball. 1999 The first pickleball internet website, Pickleball Stuff, launched and provided players with information, equipment, and products. 2001 The game of pickleball was introduced for the first time in the Arizona Senior Olympics through the efforts of Earl Hill.  The tournament was played at Happy Trails RV Resort in Surprise, AZ and drew 100 players. It was the largest event ever played to that point. Over the next few years the event grew to nearly 300 players. 2003 There are 39 known places to play in North America listed on the Pickleball Stuff website. This represents 10 States, 3 Canadian Provinces and about 150 individual courts. Pickleball was included for the first time in the Huntsman World Senior Games, held each year in St. George, Utah during October. 2005 A new corporation for the sport was established as USA Pickleball Association (USAPA).  Mark Friedenberg was named the first president of the new USAPA and the first Board of Directors included: Vice President – Steve WongSecretary – Fran MyerTreasurer – Lela ReedGeneral Counsel – Phil MortensonGrievance – Phil MortensonMarketing – Erne Perry followed by Pat Carroll in March, 2006Membership – Carole MyersNational/International Relations and the Ambassador Program – Earl HillNewsletter – Jettye LaniusRatings and Rankings – Mark FriedenbergRules – Dennis DueyTournaments – Barney MyerTraining – Norm DavisWebmaster – Steve Wong Steve Wong (former USAPA Webmaster) created the first USAPA website that went live in March. Website activity continued to increase as the popularity of pickleball grows and the features of the website increase. USAPA became a Non-Profit Corporation on July 1. USAPA cooperated with several web sites to have them discontinue their Places to Play links and consolidate all their entries into the USAPA database creating a single reliable source for players to find sites to play.  Today this website is: places2play.org 2006 One of the originating founders of the sport, Bill Bell passes away at 83. 2008 The USAPA Rules Committee, headed by Dennis Duey, published the (1) USA Pickleball Association Official Tournament Rulebook – Revision: May 1, 2008.  Pickleball was included for the first time at the National Senior Games Association (NSGA). There are now 420 places to play in North American as listed on the USAPA website. This represents 43 States and 4 Canadian Provinces and about 1500 individual courts. This does not account for those places that are adding courts at private homes. ABC’s Good Morning America aired live, in-studio segment on pickleball that included a brief demonstration.  This was the first mass media exposure for the sport. 2009 The first USAPA National Tournament for players of all ages was held in Buckeye, Arizona, November 2-8, 2009. The tournament drew almost 400 players from 26 states and several Canadian provinces. USAPA establishes the Grant Program to assist players in creating new sites for new players. By the end of 2013 the program has accounted for over 1,400 new sites. 2010 To help foster the growth of the sport on an international level, USAPA established the International Federation of Pickleball (IFP) organization and corresponding website (ifpickleball.org). 2013 In January, Justin Maloof joined USAPA as its first full-time Executive Director. USAPA starts the year off with a record 4,071 members. USAPA re-brands with a new logo and red, white, and blue color scheme that is more consistent with other US national sports governing bodies. 2014 USAPA launched a new, more user-friendly website. Pickleball Channel launched making it the first professional media group for the sport 2015 USAPA surpasses 10,000 members for the first time. The first USAPA ambassador retreat was held in Tahoe City, CA. According to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), there are now just over 2 million pickleball players. USAPA and author Mary Littlewood collaborate with publisher, Human Kinetics to produce a new pickleball book for beginners titled (2) Pickleball Fundamentals, Master the Basics and Compete with Confidence. After 6 years in Buckeye, AZ, USAPA moves the USAPA National Championships to Casa Grande, AZ. Total number of courts per Places2Play continues to grow and breaks through 10,000 courts and finishes the year at 12,800 for both indoor and outdoor courts. 2016 USAPA reports it now has more than 17,000 members. USAPA creates a national certified referee certification program. Pickleball Magazine launched as the sports first full-color, professional print and digital publication.  USAPA members receive a free digital copy and a discount on a mailed subscription. The first US Open Pickleball Championships were held in Naples, FL and included the first nationally televised broadcast of pickleball on CBS Sports Network. More than 4,600 locations are now listed on Places2Play. USAPA selects St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital as it’s national charitable partner. The Super Senior International Pickleball Association (SSIPA) was created and partners with USAPA and sanctions all their tournaments. 2017 The USAPA volunteer Ambassador group exceeds 1,500. Places2Play reflects nearly 5,900 locations. USAPA expands the number of USAPA regionals from 8 to 11. USAPA and the American Sports Builders Association (ASBA) partner to co-author the first official pickleball construction book for the sports industry. (3) Pickleball Courts – a Construction & Maintenance Manual provides detailed technical information for properly building pickleball courts and facilities. USAPA and the International Pickleball Teaching Professional Association (IPTPA) launched a Pickleball Hall of Fame.  Inaugural inductees were Joel Pritchard, Barney McCallum, Sid Williams, Arlen Paranto, Mark Friedenberg, and Billy Jacobsen. With over 1,300 players, the USAPA National Championships sets a record for participants and for the first time, a 2-hour segment of the event airs to a nation-wide audience on CBS Sports Network. USAPA membership doubles in two years and is 22,000 by December. 2018 USAPA membership surpasses 30,000. Total number of courts per Places2Play locations is nearly 7,000 and there are nearly 21,000 known courts across the U.S. USAPA partners with Pickleballtournaments.com to produce and launch the sports first results-based tournament player ratings (UTPRs). USAPA partners with the newly formed Professional Pickleball Registry (PPR), a subsidiary of the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR).  During the first 6 months, PPR certifies over 1,000 new pickleball instructors. USAPA members Jennifer Lucore and Beverly Youngren co-author and publish the sport’s first historical book, (4) History of Pickleball, More Than 50 Year of Fun! The USA Pickleball partners with Desert Champions, LLC with a multi-year deal and moves the National Championships to the world-renowned Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, CA. Registration for the newly branded Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships explodes to over 2,200 participants.  The event featured over 17 hours of live-streamed content to a nation-wide audience on ESPN3 and a 1-hour segment aired nationally on ESPNEWS.  The event also provides the highest cash purse ($75,000) in the history of the sport. USAPA Facebook team carried several live matches of the National Championships on Facebook and had a total reach of over 1.5Million viewers. Pickleball Hall of Fame inductees were Earl Hill, Fran Myer and Robert Lanius. 2019 USA Pickleball Association as part of the growth agenda adds several new staff including Hope Tolley, Managing Director, Recreation Programs, George Bauernfeind, as first Chief Marketing Officer, and Karen Parrish, Head of Competition and Officiating. The Sports Fitness Industry Association 2019 report indicates pickleball continues as one of the fastest growing sports in the U.S. as participants reaches 3.3 million. The last of the three originating founders of the sport, Barney McCallum passed away at 93. The Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships places a greater emphasis on spectators and the spectator experience. A VIP lounge and live video screens were placed just outside the stadium court where fans could enjoy the action from the food and beverage areas. The event drew nearly 28,000 fans. Pickleball Hall of Fame inductees were Dan Gabanek, Jennifer Lucore, Enrique Ruiz and Steve Paranto. USAPA reaches almost 40,000 members by the end of the year, a 1,000% growth rate since beginning of 2013. 2020 USAPA rebranded as USA Pickleball, aligning more consistently it with other US sports governing bodies and our USA Pickleball National Championships. The brand re-launch also includes a new, modern logo and an updated website. The new name, logo and website are designed to strengthen USA Pickleball’s worldwide image as the official pickleball organization in the U.S. Stu Upson joins USA Pickleball in December as first full-time CEO. 2021 USA Pickleball Membership reached the 50,000 milestone and ended the year with just over 53,000 members, a 43% increase from the previous year and the largest single growth year to date for the organization. With over 2,300 registered players, the 2021 Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships presented by Pickleball Central was the largest tournament in the world to date. USAP continued to reinvest in staff infrastructure and ended the year with nearly 20 staff members. Media exposure also continued to drive awareness with several national segments on NBC’s The Today Show, CNBC, BBC News, Live with Kelly and Ryan, and stories published within top-rated publications including, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Forbes, Allure, The Boston Globe, The Economist, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, Parade, and Axios.

This conversation could have gone on for hours. Brandon Guyer speaks the language of excellence with perfect articulation. A guy who exudes what Dr. Carol Dweck calls a growth mindset, Brandon has shown having a champion mindset will allow you to leverage to the highest degree your physical talents. There is so much wisdom packed into this conversation you may want to listen more than once. Enjoy the show! BRANDON’S BASEBALL JOURNEY MORE ABOUT BRANDON “I was that kid who played outside until called for dinner. I loved and played every sport, but there was just something special about baseball. I knew early on it was my true passion and I set out to be the very best version of myself. This was a series of trial and error stories. I came to realize that hitting more balls and lifting more weights wasn’t the answer for me. To achieve greatness, I knew I needed to seek and acquire tools I felt were essential in my development as a well rounded person and player. So, that’s what I did. I became OBSESSED with learning ways to improve. It started with nutrition, and finding ways to fuel my body for success. It wasn’t an overnight success either. Nutritional training soon turned into mental training, and functional physical training specific to baseball. If it could help me get to the next level, I was all in. I feel blessed to say I’m a 7 year veteran of Major League Baseball. It’s something I am very proud of. Of course I would have loved to play 20+ years, but it wasn’t in the cards, and I’m at peace with that. When I sit back and reflect on what I could have done differently, I can honestly say there’s nothing. I gave my all every single day and earned everything I was able to achieve. My scholarship to the University of Virginia, my promotions in the minor leagues, my call to the show, my role as a player in the bigs. I worked for literally everything. Today I’m better for it. I’m grateful for the demotions and the promotions. I’m grateful for the strike outs and the home runs, for the hits I got robbed of and the ones that blooped in. I’m grateful for the losses and the wins, the struggles and the triumphs, the successes and failures. I’m grateful for the joy and the tears, and for the beginning and the end. I’m grateful for all of that because now I have the experience and knowledge to pass onto you.”

*Battling demons and recovering. Dr. Dan Crawford finds his way back *”Comfort Crisis” by Michael Easter is a must read * Peter Attia and the power of exercise (Credit Joe Rogan Experience) This is just a little way to button up the week. I hope you have a great week and continue to improve always in ALL ways #PeterAttia #MichaelEaster #Improvealwaysinallways #longevity

So a year or so ago I’m introduced to Dr. Dan Crawford. He’s the dynamic, Cajun tattooed principal of one of the largest high schools in East Texas. The kids love him. His social media is prolific with him surrounded by the kids he loves, inspires and leads. I fell in love with the guy immediately. He held the title of Dr. but he was more like one of my Sulphur Springs High School buddies. He was a good ole boy, a well educated one, but just a good ole boy nonetheless. Then not long after I saw this report in the Tyler Paper. Police: Cocaine, blood at scene of former principal Crawford’s home By Zak Wellerman zwellerman@tylerpaper.comJun 29, 2021 Updated Aug 7, 2021 When police arrived at then-Tyler Legacy Principal Dan Crawford’s home in early June, documents state he was leaned against the back door of his residence with a red face and neck that were completely covered in blood. He was sitting in a large pool of blood and appeared to have a large cut on the back of his head, according to the arrest affidavit. Police said the officer saw two puddles of blood across the kitchen late at night on June 2, and next to the sink the officer found a small baggie with a “white powdery substance.” That substance was tested immediately and presumptively identified as cocaine. On June 16, results from a forensic scientist at the Texas Department of Public Safety lab in Tyler confirmed the substance was about .22 grams of cocaine, according to the affidavit. I was shocked! No way! Folks, Tyler is not Dallas. There’s nowhere to hide. This down is a fish bowl and Dan has chosen to keep swimming. I’m so glad I was able to get him on the show. “Dr. C” is trying to ‘Improve always in ALL ways.’ As a friend, I’m here for it. I hope you will tune in to this very personal and transparent story of a man fighting his way back from the ashes of a fire he lit.

I’m currently finishing up Daniel Pink’s book, “The Power of Regret.” It had been an eye opener. As someone who wants to eliminate as much regret as possible, the book has proven very useful. We have multiple selves. The two I focus on in this episode are the ‘actual self’ and the ‘ideal self.’ When we are focused on trying to reach our ideal self, we need to get rid of as many ‘oughta’s’ as we can so they don’t become irreconcilable ‘shoulda’s’ when we are older. It turns out the happiest people are those who have relationships. I go into detail about how this has personally impacted me. I have always been a guy who craved solitude and devalued relationships. That was until I met Mrs. Wright. Now that has all changed. I hope this helps you have your best Friday ever. Thank you for tuning into the Jason Wright Show! The Ice Barrell I mentioned

The Ants & the Grasshopper One bright day in late autumn a family of Ants were bustling about in the warm sunshine, drying out the grain they had stored up during the summer, when a starving Grasshopper, his fiddle under his arm, came up and humbly begged for a bite to eat. “What!” cried the Ants in surprise, “haven’t you stored anything away for the winter? What in the world were you doing all last summer?” “I didn’t have time to store up any food,” whined the Grasshopper; “I was so busy making music that before I knew it the summer was gone.” The Ants shrugged their shoulders in disgust. “Making music, were you?” they cried. “Very well; now dance!” And they turned their backs on the Grasshopper and went on with their work. There’s a time for work and a time for play.

Reality Will Punch You In The Face So I received an email from Flow Genome Collective CEO Jamie Wheal. It was excellent. Granted, Jamie and I have differing world views on a lot of the content of the email, but there was some great nuggets of wisdom for sure. The most profound was how so many people are caught up in theorizing and talking about all the problems we face without actually doing any real work or problem solving. He describes a retreat he attended in Austin with a bunch of “do gooders” who could define in a hundred different ways all the problems we face without giving one real practical action item. It got me to thinking about how in this rush to build utopia people are completely denying reality in many cases. This is a bad thing. Reality is indifferent. It can’t be made to suit your whims and fancies. It will punch you right in the face. Here’s Jamie’s email and the podcast that it inspired. The Revolution Will NOT Be Spotified! BY JAMIE WHEAL | READ AND SHARE ONLINE I repeat:The Revolution will not be SpotifiedOr YoutubedNor even Substacked(though I suspect that low-fi blogging platform may persist for a bit longer than most)As the old song goes…“You will not be able to stay home, brotherYou will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop outYou will not be able to lose yourself on skag (aka: Oxycontin)And skip out for beer during commercials, becauseThe revolution will not be televised Spotified.”Everybody’s got a plan, until… Just wrapped a three day conference here in Austin that was ostensibly focused on existential risk, systems theory, and human development. A bunch of well-meaning folks convened from all around the world, to try and save it.And boy howdy! I’ve never experienced a bigger disconnect from the actual stakes and the conversations to be had, in my entire life.It reminded me of those cringe Youtube videos, titled in all caps: “Tai Chi master gets ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED by MMA fighter!!!”Click on the link and said master, whose students have attested to his ability to send people through walls without even touching them, gets summarily dismantled by the scrappy MMA guy.It’s never even close.One journalist who was at the existential risk event asked me, “Why do you think these academics and theoreticians are so disconnected from realities on the ground?Why are they so focused on re-diagnosing the problems and debating their pet theories, rather than actually standing up real projects in the real world to do something about it?”Existential Scholasticism. Trying to outdo each other counting Angels of Death on the heads of a pin.Tai Chi masters, the lot of ’em.Waving their hands around in beautiful circles. Visualizing Whirled Peas, but wholly unacquainted with the laws of physics.#everyonesgotaplanuntilyougethitIn some instances at that Austin event (lookin’ at you, Millennials), we weren’t even dealing with real Tai Chi masters. More like Call of Duty/Grand Theft Auto/MortalKombat masters.“I’m not a real badass, but I play one in the metaverse!”Or Tulum.It’s not that these folks were withholding their most precious insights as to what do we do now??? It was increasingly, startlingly, tragically clear they had no. fucking. idea.And that’s what I mean about the Revolution not being Spotified.If you’re aching to keep your finger on the pulse of the Long Disaster, the ones to watch are going to be broadcasting less and less (if they ever were at all).They sure as shit won’t be caring about subscribers on their podcast.They will have unplugged from their screens and started digging in the dirt. Doing real things in the real world, with a degree of urgency and clarity utterly lacking in the poindexters-on-the-spectrum lot.Remember that old Lefty bumper sticker “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention?”  We might revise it to read “If you’re not gardening, you’re not paying attention.”Welcome to the Beginning of the End.(the End of the Middle just happened)Snakes and Ladders (and Maslow)That old Abe Maslow Hierarchy of Needs that Boomers loved so much because it placed their own preferred “Self Actualization” at the tippy top also has a reverse gear.We can slipslide back down to Food, Clothing and Shelter at the bottom of the stack just as easily as we can levitate to the higher reaches of spiritual bypassing.(to be fair, Abe knew this too, and his unpublished papers put “self transcendence” above “self-actualization”––so after we become someone, we’re supposed to become no one and be helpful again)But here’s Three Signs the hour’s getting increasingly late (aka: the Beginning of the End)Thing One: Clean Up Set on the Horizon Smart folks with their eyes on the horizon are warning of some serious cleanup sets heading our way. If we just sit around lollygagging on our boards, we’re going to get creamed. (a “cleanup set” is when, out in the ocean a giant wave comes and breaks further out than the ones you’re trying to surf, so if you don’t paddle your arse off to get further out to sea, it will come down on your head–just watch the video from Jaws, you’ll get it)Ray Dalio’s most recent book The Changing World Order has all sorts of wonky charts and graphs, but one that doesn’t show up online, (but is in the hardback), is a map of mortality across the last 500 years or so of history––European Wars, Spanish Flu, World Wars etc.And for each spike in deaths due to epidemics or battles, there’s an even higher spike for starvation. For everyone clipped by the first two horsemen of the Apocalypse (Pestilence and War) as many again get hosed by the third pony boy, Famine. (weirdly, we almost always ignore starvation stories in our history books and obsess on war and diseases, so we end up massively underestimating their role to play).Hence, the gardening. Worst case, you have some fresh basil and oregano for your salads. Best case, you’re thriving on your own zucchini bread instead of moldy government cheese.***Peter Zeihan, a global strategy guy who advises the CIA, DoD, and like minded folks, just came out with his new book The End of the World Is Just the Beginning, and in a nutshell, his thesis is this:We’ve enjoyed the last 75 years of the American Peace and it’s never coming back. For the rest of our lifetimes, life will never be cheaper, richer, more abundant or more peaceful than it has been so far in ours. Ever again.Read that a few times.It took me the first third of Recapture the Rapture to gently make this case in 2020––that if you’re a Boomer, GenXer, or Millennial, we grew up in a Post-War bubble that is 100% going to pop (but we can’t tell because it’s all we’ve ever known).Just two short years later, Zeihan has boiled it down to the first page of his introduction.He follows that bracing opener with 350 pages of methodical detail on precisely all the ways this is gonna unwind, with the sliver of hope (if you live in North America) that the US of A is still uniquely positioned (food and energy surpluses plus favorable transportation systems and demographics) to prevail for a Round Two of the shining City on a Hill experiment. It might not look pretty in the transition, but in the Settlers of Catan: MadMax Edition  we’re still holding some amazing cards.Two bites at the Apple of Empire!How’s that for privilege? (or dumb luck)Civil war and climate collapse are about the only two things that could thwart that triumphant second act, and I mean, what are the odds???#manifestdestinyonlyworksifwebelieveinitThing Two: Back to the Future (speaking now to the End of the Middle)Unless you have been under a rock, you’ve probably heard of the overturning of Roe v Wade. Super pivotal with wide ranging impacts, from women’s lives to midterm elections to our next president. But what you might have missed was the overturning last week of the EPA’s ability to regulate pollution.That’s gonna kneecap global climate coordination at a time when we need to be making leaps of faith (on aforementioned bad knees).As goes America, so goes the world.No politician in their right mind is going to hold their own less rich, less populous, less culpable citizens to tougher standards than ‘Merica’s. We’ll always have Paris (Accords), I guess.That means we’re increasingly likely to take the full impact of climate collapse right on the chin. No buffers, no last minute if-only-we-act-now changes of course to soften the blow.Go back and reread those IPCC reports and instead of instinctively looking at the Best Case and Second Best Case charts (cause we’re not suicidal maniacs, right?), take a peek at the Third Best and Worst Cases. They’re not nearly so rosy. (the smart money to ride out the storm’s on the Great Lakes and New England)But as all stats professors love to tell us, “it takes three points to make a trend!” And the third judicial sleight of hand that might truly mark the End of the Middle and the Beginning of the End is the winding back of voting rights across America. The quiet part, that some citizens deserve to vote more than others, is now out loud and proud (boy!).The Civil Rights Acts of ’64 and ’65, EPA creation in ’70, Roe v Wade in ’73––were all watershed legislation/rulings that set the terms and conditions for modern, secular, progressive society. They all happened within a decade of each other.And they’re all getting unwound by a deceptively activist “Originalist” bench who are happy to contradict past precedents and their own testimonies under oath to rewind the clock.Welcome back to the 1950’s.And they’re just getting started.And they all have life terms.(while Progressives were eating each other alive reacting to Trump’s Twitter and busy virtue signaling on Instagram, McConnel packed more court appointments into Trump’s first three years than Obama placed in eight! And we wonder why the Evangelical Right was so, so happy to overlook the moral turpitude of their Wrecker-in-Chief! #kingcyrusFTW)***So if you ask me, what should we be worried about? (and why I’ve been fairly relentless taking the piss out of more elaborate and misguided conspiracy thinking by otherwise well-meaning folks)That would be the Scylla and Charybdis double whammy of unmitigated ecological crisis plus a looming White Identity Christian fascist takeover of the American Republic that’s already in the seventh inning. (and lest that sound unusually assertive, consider this backstory of the war for the soul of the Evangelical Church)Coming soon to a school board near you.Which brings us to…Thing Three: Doing The Right Thing for the Wrong Reasons is Better Than Thinking Thinky Thoughts (and Doing Nothing) Because it’s only fair to note that those existential risk and policy wonks who had gathered in Austin were good-hearted people. They want the best for everyone, and are willing to have earnest conversations to try and help bring it about. Almost to a person, they’re do-gooder humanists.And yet, with only a few visible exceptions, they were clueless about what needs to happen as we enter the Beginning of the End.But you know who’s 100% getting after it?Duck Dynasty preppers and survivalists.Anti-Vax, sovereign citizen communities.Great Reset “fight the Man!” resistors.(The Bored Ape crypto bros are experiencing a temporary interruption in services but they’ll be back just as soon as their bitcoin comes up for air and Balaji shows them how to buy land in the Third World for their Digital Nations)#itsnotcolonialismifwepayincryptoAnd that’s the weird part about Thing Three:Fitness is beating the snot out of Truth. (check out the newsletter we wrote about this for further unpacking)People all over, with completely distorted whack-ass ideas about “What’s Really Going On?” are nevertheless making more practical, self-sufficient and community based decisions than some of the smartest folks on the planet whose career is mapping those very things.So what might that mean?It means that the Great Afterwards that comes will be populated by survivors and their offspring. And those most likely to survive?The Fit ones getting off Spotify and buying land with wells and ponds (never mind how

The company was founded by Mr. Frank LLosa, a serial entrepreneur who has an incredible track record of success in a number of fields from real estate, to highly technical photography for National Geographic, to one of the first cloud-based storage systems available to the public. Mr. LLosa was also an elite Division I track athlete who currently incorporates biohacking to stay competitive in all his endeavors, including a vegan ketogenic diet, hitting levels over 8.0mm on diet alone (as mentioned in a podcast with Dave Asprey, CEO of Bulletproof, where Frank made a cameo at the end). Frank has a unique ability to find a path where others have failed. He knew this could be the perfect challenge for his unique skill set. The first roadblock to bringing the product to market was finding a commercial laboratory able to actually make the Ketone Ester at scale and under $100 a serving (Dave Asprey spent $25k for one serving in 2015!). Frank and his team were warned in advance that multiple huge public companies over the last ten years had tried and failed to deliver the Ketone Ester at an acceptable purity level and price. Within six months Frank’s team contacted hundreds of labs to find the perfect partner. Ultimately having to buy all the necessary equipment three separate times to scale from bench to pilot and ultimately to full scale production. Working together as a team, they succeeded in making small batches of the purest Ketone Ester ever tested. KetoneAid is relentless in continuing their R&D. Continuously identifying new techniques to further reduce costs to make a viable consumer product. Significant breakthroughs in production methods and costs reduction techniques have been identified. In late 2017 we launched a  successful INDIEGOGO campaign and hit $150,000, which was 5x our goal. And we shipped on time (albeit barely).In 2019 they were featured in the print edition of Inc Magazine, all without a PR person.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Our ability to pay attention is collapsing. From the New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Scream and Lost Connections comes a groundbreaking examination of why this is happening—and how to get our attention back.“The book the world needs in order to win the war on distraction.”—Adam Grant, author of Think Again“Read this book to save your mind.”—Susan Cain, author of Quiet In the United States, teenagers can focus on one task for only sixty-five seconds at a time, and office workers average only three minutes. Like so many of us, Johann Hari was finding that constantly switching from device to device and tab to tab was a diminishing and depressing way to live. He tried all sorts of self-help solutions—even abandoning his phone for three months—but nothing seemed to work. So Hari went on an epic journey across the world to interview the leading experts on human attention—and he discovered that everything we think we know about this crisis is wrong. We think our inability to focus is a personal failure to exert enough willpower over our devices. The truth is even more disturbing: our focus has been stolen by powerful external forces that have left us uniquely vulnerable to corporations determined to raid our attention for profit. Hari found that there are twelve deep causes of this crisis, from the decline of mind-wandering to rising pollution, all of which have robbed some of our attention. In Stolen Focus, he introduces readers to Silicon Valley dissidents who learned to hack human attention, and veterinarians who diagnose dogs with ADHD. He explores a favela in Rio de Janeiro where everyone lost their attention in a particularly surreal way, and an office in New Zealand that discovered a remarkable technique to restore workers’ productivity. Crucially, Hari learned how we can reclaim our focus—as individuals, and as a society—if we are determined to fight for it. Stolen Focus will transform the debate about attention and finally show us how to get it back.