Creating Distance

"It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own."  - Marcus Aurelius   Have you ever been in a situation where you’re painfully self-conscious?   It’s your first time in the gym and you imagine every Schwarzzeneiger lookalike is staring at you, laughing in their head.  You’re giving a presentation at work and just know that...

"Be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over.  It stands, unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it."  - Marcus Aurelius  Let’s face it: life is chaotic.  From crying kids to an unappreciative client to that stubborn weight you’ve been trying to lose for years.   Bruce Lee once famously suggested that we should “be like water.”  He continues by saying “Empty your mind, be form...

Ronnie Lott is a Pro Football Hall of Famer and one of the best to ever play the game.   The below is a blurb from the book Trillion Dollar Coach, in which Lott talks about Bill Campbell, possibly the greatest executive coach of our time.  "Great coaches lie awake at night thinking about how to make you better.  They relish creating an environment where you get more out of yourself. Coaches are li...

Two years ago, I was on the road for work and got in an early morning hotel workout before my meetings.  In between sets, I realized there was a new Entrepreneur Magazine with Daymond John on the cover. Something was telling me to pick it up.   The first page I opened had a quote from John in big blue letters that said:  “Don’t ignore all those naysayers in your path.  Put that negativity to work...

Nick Saban is one of the most successful football coaches of all time.  It may surprise you that he rarely talks about his championships, or even about winning.  What he talks about almost constantly is The Process.  The Process has a mystical feeling not because it’s an abstract idea, but because it’s so simple.  It’s so easy that anyone can do it - and the fact that 99% of people don’t do it is...

A few friends and I recently visited a zen garden in Northern California.  It’s a combination of a farm, meditation center and mystical hideout 20 minutes north of San Francisco.   Although we just went for the day, there are people that do a “work-study” at the farm and live there for months at a time.  We met one of these people, Finn, a kind-faced man who left Louisiana in search of mindfulness...

“Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.”    -Seneca    We’ve all witnessed the scene of a well-meaning person walking into a convenience store to buy a lottery ticket.  In my experience, these people are almost never wealthy. In fact, I’ve heard numerous people say they’re living paycheck to paycheck, yet can’t miss their opportunity to buy a lottery ticket.  Here’s the issue with th...

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” ―Aristotle In one of my favorite quotes, Annie Dillard said: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”   It’s obvious but undeniably true.  It’s easy to think of life as this abstract idea but it’s really just a ton of individual days stacked up on top of each other.  And the success we have in any a...

“To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight,”    - E.E. Cummings I was an impressionable kid.  I still am to some degree. I remember one day after returning from visiting my family in Indiana, I had started talking differently.  I thought the Midwestern accent that my...

“If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), "Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?" chances are you are. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.” ― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art   Want to know a little secret?  Everyone is scared as shit.  Warren Buffet’s scared about blowing an investment.  Oprah is scared about fumbling over a...

Perfectionism sucks.  It’s what keeps us from starting the diet, submitting our job application or jumping into the new relationship.  It’s what keeps me staring at the first sentence of a blog post for 30 minutes as Resistance kicks my ass.  In her book, Bird By Bird, Anne Lamott shares her thoughts on the tyrant that is perfectionism.   “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of...

Today we’re going to do a spotlight on the great Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s longtime business partner and one of the richest people alive.  Here is his advice on how NOT to be successful.    “[If you want to guarantee a life of misery], be unreliable. Do not faithfully do what you have engaged to do. If you will only master this one habit you will more than counterbalance the combined effect...

"Life is never more fun than when you're the underdog competing against the giants." - Ross Perot Life can feel like you’re pushing a rock up a hill.  No wait, that’s a mountain. A big ass mountain. And it’s a struggle and grind everyday to push that rock just a little bit further than it was the day before.   And what happens when we reach the top? Usually, we don’t know what to do.  We hit the a...

Podcast!  So glad to announce that I'm back after a 6-month hiatus on the microphone.  In this episode, I discuss why I took a break, what to expect, Sober January, Cold Shower February and burnout. Let me know what you think of the episode on Twitter and Instagram @TommyTahoe and make sure to subscribe wherever you're listening.  Much love!    

If you played sports growing up, you know how instrumental it can be in your life.  That’s why I’m so excited to share this episode of the Millennial Momentum Podcast with Adam Molda.  Adam was my first ever tennis coach.  In 2016 he was given the Joseph Dietz award for doing the most for tennis in New England.  From the age of 8 until college, he taught me the ins and outs of the game.  He taught...

Well, folks.  We didn't quite make it.  We fought the good fight in our Ultramarathon mission but ultimately failed.  In this podcast, Tom brings Ryan back on to talk through what the hell happened in the race, our key takeaways, and why you need to pay the price for anything in life.  To everyone that supported us before, during and after the race: THANK YOU and we'll be back.  If you want to che...

Pre race podcast, baby!  30 miles, 60+ obstacles for a Spartan Race tackling a mountain in Aspen, CO.  There's not much else to say except the mood is electric and we're feeling good about ourselves heading into this race.  We're 12 hours away from race kick-off and invite you to join us for the thoughts, the laughs and the nerves as we get ready to tackle our biggest challenge yet.  And good news...

Rich Stone is back with some absolute FIRE on this week's podcast.  You may remember Rich as our 1st ever guest on episode 1, where he spoke about his mantra of "attitude and effort".  This is an ultimate guide for how to have a successful career.  We talk about the fundamentals of working hard and having the right attitude and more thoughts like playing the long game, which is something most mill...

Enemies.  It's an underrated part of finding the fuel to help drive your success.  In this week's conversation, I go solo and talk about why it's important to have an enemy, how famous athletes and musicians have used this to their advantage and how you can too.  I end the episode with a re-read of the best story I've heard in a long long time on the internet.  For 20 minutes of inspiration, give...

I recently found the book Trillion Dollar Coach.  Or rather, it found me - and absolutely changed the way I view leadership.  It's the story of a failed football coach that turned into Silicon Valley's greatest executive coach - mentoring folks like Steve Job, Tim Cook, Sheryl Sandberg, Jeff Bezos and hundreds of other successful leaders.  This is a quick 15-minute rundown of what I learned and is...

What's up, people? The podcast is back and I'm talking about a topic that's been in my head a lot the past few weeks: playing long term games with long term people. Check this episode out to learn more. You can read my full write-up on the topic here. Follow me @TommyTahoe on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Sign up for the weekly Millennial Momentum Newsletter. No BS, All hustle

"Manage expectation. Direct ego. Focus on what you control. Find peace in what you cannot. Enjoy this moment." - Jed Collins If you want to make people feel uncomfortable, there are a few things you can talk about: weight, religion, politics, and money. How much you make, how much to spend, what to invest, how to earn money while you sleep - these topics are, unfortunately, off the table for most...

This week, while listening to Jon Gordon's podcast, I learned about a new parable that I believe is timely, relevant and can help a lot of people listening to this podcast. On a stove sits three pots of boiling water. In one pot, the woman places a carrot. In the second pot, the woman places an egg. In the third pot, the woman places a coffee bean. While sitting in the boiling water, the once-hard...

Talent, ambitiousness, internal drive, potential and a chip on your shoulder.  These qualities have helped to shape the world we live in today. Behind every great invention, idea, man or woman, likely lies some of these traits.   Fortunately, people have said you share some of these qualities, haven’t they?  That you have a natural talent for drawing. You’re the young gun that everyone talks about...

“Principles are fundamental truths that serve as the foundations for behavior that gets you what you want out of life. They can be applied again and again in similar situations to help you achieve your goals.” - Ray Dalio Do you have principles that guide your life? No, I don’t mean the “live, laugh, love” quote on your wall.  And I don’t mean the tribal tattoo that you got on your forearm, either...