'23: Make it Your Jordan Year

So it's 2023.

About 25 years ago, I matriculated at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. I didn't go for academics or to play lacrosse, and I certainly didn't go to play basketball.

I went for Michael Jordan. Not to see him, he was long gone.  

I went because, just like the Gatorade commercial, I wanted to be "like Mike." See, athletes had come and gone and while some loved Magic or Bird, or Joe Montana or even as a Baltimorean, Cal Ripken Jr., to me there was nobody like Mike.

To be anywhere near him, like him, just be in the same place he'd once been. That's what I wanted.  I think I was hoping for some delusional form of transmutation or something.

And so as we enter into '23, I gave a recap of last year, but there weren't any resolutions or goals. Rather than do that I wanted to challenge myself and all of you to be like Mike. These aren't new year's resolutions, this isn't goal setting.  It's habit-building.

A few of my favorite quotes from the Great One

“You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.”

2023 is about raising my own expectations and commitments to myself and my family. More writing, better family time, more presence, more exercise, more practice, more discipline (see this week's music below), more fun.

“Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.”

Less wasted time, more action, less complaining. More cycles, more revisions because the process of getting better is the fun.  

“My heroes are and were my parents. I can’t see having anyone else as my heroes.”

Having become a parent last year, I expect some payback for my transgressions, but more importantly, this is a wonderful target for which to shoot. Thank you, Mom and Dad.

“I’ve never lost a game. I just ran out of time.”

Shift your mindset and there are no Losses.  Only more opportunities to achieve our goals.  

“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”

2023 is the year to get connected with myself, put in the work when nobody is looking, and as MJ once famously said, "The ceiling is the roof."

Off-cycle long-form content

Unlike this weekly newsletter, periodically, and without notice, I'll write more long-form pieces.  This week I published LIV Golf is the New Harlem Globetrotters where I explore the similarities (and mediocrity) of LIV Golf in its current form. I'm of course biased in that I'm not a fan of the Saudi regime (I hesitate to refer to it as a government).

⛳ LIV Golf is the New Harlem Globetrotters 🏀

In a repudiation of the state of college and professional basketball, Wilt Chamberlain suited up for the Harlem Globetrotters in Moscow in 1959.

Trading MisbehaviorJoshua Baylin

And while I view this through the eyes of an American and a golf fan, I find this rising speech from MBS to be compelling and recognize the power of $620 billion (the size of the Saudi Investment Fund) can have in a cash-strapped world. See while us Western "powers" have been inflating, printing and creating money out of thin air in a post gold-standard world, the house of Saud has done it the good 'ole fashioned way of selling people something they can't get enough of, oil.

The Music

I kinda went with a melodic, driving set of additions to the official Trading Misbehavior playlist this week. I hope you enjoy the blend of plucky strings, harps, and a range of vocals.  

Andrew Bird - Pulaksi at Night - At times haunting, but a super catchy hook. The more I listen to this one, the more I find surprises at each turn between violin, guitar, and Bird's heartfelt lyrics.  He gets you to feel with lyrics like,

Zero 7 - Futures - If you know, you know (aka. IFKYK). Zero 7 is among my favorite "current" bands even though they haven't been together in well over a decade in their original form.  There's too many good tunes to choose from, but this is a classic.  

Gang Starr - Discipline - Yeah, yeah, how do you go from Andrew Bird to Gang Starr? Well, I just did.  I love the sample, I love the hook and Gang Starr, yeah, legend.  "I got discipline whether you do or not."

Couldn't have said it better myself.