How to Get 1% Better Without Burning Out (SB1797)

What if the path to better money decisions, more confidence, and a calmer life wasn’t a massive overhaul but just getting a tiny bit better today than you were yesterday?

Joe Saul-Sehy, Neighbor Doug, OG, and Paula Pant (Afford Anything) are joined by David Gillis, creator of the 1% Better Conference, for a roundtable exploring the surprisingly powerful idea of improving by just 1% at a time. No vision boards. No 5 a.m. ice baths. Just small, intentional choices that compound into real results, financially and otherwise.

David brings practical insight and zero guru energy into what sustainable improvement looks like. Together the group talks about why most people burn out trying to change everything at once, and how Stackers can instead design days that make better decisions easier.

You’ll hear honest conversations about energy drainers (including the ones we pretend aren’t draining), why saying “no” is often the most underrated financial skill, and how rest, relationships, and even boredom play a bigger role in success than grinding ever will. There’s also a healthy reminder that progress doesn’t always look productive, and that’s okay.

As always, Doug brings the trivia, the basement brings the banter, and the lesson sneaks up on you when you’re not looking.

If you’ve ever felt like you should be doing more but don’t want to torch your sanity getting there, this episode is for you.

If the 1% Better philosophy resonates with you, the 1% Better Conference is happening February 21-22 in Omaha, where Joe will be the keynote speaker.

What You’ll Learn:

Why 1% better beats “start over Monday” every single time
How to identify the biggest energy leaks hurting your money decisions
Why learning to say “no” can improve your finances immediately
How rest, nature, and relationships quietly boost long term success
Why small habits matter more than motivation
How to grow personally and financially without burning out
A realistic framework for steady improvement that fits real life

This Episode Is For You If:

You’re exhausted from trying to overhaul everything at once
You feel like you should be doing more but you’re already maxed out
You want progress that doesn’t require torching your current life
You’re tired of all or nothing approaches that leave you burnt out
You’re ready for sustainable improvement instead of another failed fresh start

Question for You:

What’s one small change you could make this week that would make your life or money just a little easier? Drop it in the comments or share it with us in the Basement Facebook group. We promise not to turn it into a 30 day challenge with a workbook.

FULL SHOW NOTES: https://stackingbenjamins.com/how-to-be-1-percent-better-every-day-1797

Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.StackingBenjamins.com/201

Enjoy!

Our Topic:

How To Improve Yourself Every Day: 20 Ways To Be Better (BetterUp)

During our conversation, you’ll hear us mention:

Daily 1% gains
Back to basics
Limit energy drainers
Identify energizers
Screen time drains
Social media blocking
Freedom app blocks
Time window access
Add friction barriers
Delete re download
News doomscrolling
Timer based limits
Weather app substituting
Algorithm echo chamber
Seek dissenting views
Intentional boundaries
Saying yes too often
Prioritize to do’s
Dopamine checkbox hits
Time vs money
Relationship audits
Clusters of misery
Groupthink spirals
Do inner work

Our Contributors

A big thanks to our contributors! You can check out more links for our guests below.

David Gillis

Another thanks to David Gillis for joining our contributors this week! Learn more about the 1% Better Conference in Omaha, Nebraska, on Feb. 21-22 by visiting 1% Better Conference.

Paula Pant

Check out Paula’s site and amazing podcast at AffordAnything.com

Follow Paula on Twitter: @AffordAnything

OG

For more on OG and his firm’s page, click here.

Doug’s Game Show Trivia

As of 2024, what amount was the average monthly Social Security check a recipient received?

Mentioned in today’s show

Join Us on Monday!

Tune in on Monday when we dive into the seven big tax changes that might put a bigger refund in your pocket.

Miss our last show? Check it out here: The Science of Better Ideas with George Newman (SB1796).

Written by: Kevin Bailey

Episode transcript

[00:00:00] opener: You heard of this thing, the eight minute abs?

[00:00:03] OG: Yeah, sure. Eight minute abs. Yeah. The uh, exercise video

[00:00:06] opener: Uhhuh. Yeah. Well this is gonna blow that right out of the water. Listen to this seven minute abs.

[00:00:19] Doug: Live from the basement of the YouTube headquarters. It’s the Stacking Benjamin Show.

[00:00:34] Doug: I am Joe’s mom’s neighbor, Doug, and all this week we’ve been focused on helping you produce your best, most creative and outstanding work. So today we wrap it up with a round table discussion where we ask the question, what can you do to be 1% better every day? That’ll bring in the Benjamins, but that’s not all.

[00:00:55] Doug: Of course, at the halfway mark, we’ll pause to see who’s gonna win this installment of our year long money trivia challenge. And now a guy who never met a money challenge he didn’t love, it’s Joe. Oh, so see. Hi.

[00:01:15] Joe: Nothing more fun, Doug, than a muddy challenge really to get you focused. A lot of people did the survivor January with their food. January, of course, ending. Uh, well, right now doing Survivor January, people doing all kinds of no spend challenges, like a challenge is a way to maybe be 1% better, which is exactly what we’re talking about today.

[00:01:39] Joe: So we’re super happy that you’re here with us. Sit back and relax. You found us. And man, well, we are recording this during Snowmageddon across the United States. And Doug, you are not in the basement today. You are? Uh, a little bit north, eh?

[00:01:55] Doug: Yeah, I, uh, we just call it Friday, Joe. Like it’s not in Michigan.

[00:02:01] Doug: It’s just a normal January and Friday. Not that big a deal.

[00:02:04] Joe: It’s not like life in Texarkana where it’s called, you’re

[00:02:07] Doug: freaking out

[00:02:07] Joe: the two days a year that we actually have this stuff. Right. But we’ve got an action pack show, you know, on Monday. So let me set this up first. On Monday, we talked about better decision making.

[00:02:19] Joe: Do you trust your gut? How many times have you gone, well, my gut says I should do this, and then you don’t do it. And then I should have trusted my gut. Or do you trust the data when you make decisions? Turns out we found out a lot of science says you need both, right? You need your gut to verify the data.

[00:02:36] Joe: Does it really work for me? And then you also need the data to go, okay, my gut was probably wrong on that one. On Wednesday we talked about where good decisions come from. Where do good ideas come from? How do you get a little more creative? How do you come up with those things to help you, your team, your family, whatever it might be.

[00:02:52] Joe: Stack more Benjamins talked about that. And on Friday, then we’re going to have our round table team. Now, this is what I thought was a good way to end the week, Doug. We’d have our round table team now dive into what they do to be 1%. These are busy people, you know? These are not gurus. Well, one of them is.

[00:03:10] Joe: On being 1% better all the time. But they’re people that have to manage their time well. They have to think about, how do I bring more to the table? So let’s start off with a guy across the table who tries to be 1% better every, he’s right now, he’s working on being a 1% better plumber than he was last week.

[00:03:28] Joe: Mr. OG is here.

[00:03:30] OG: This is not the, uh, being a one percenter. That’s not what I dreamed of. This is not it,

[00:03:35] Joe: not the one percenter you’re

[00:03:37] OG: open for. This is, this is not the, they told me it would be a different thing. Something about taxes and being rich, not rose.

[00:03:45] Joe: It could be both, though. It could be both. You could be 1% better until you are, or

[00:03:49] OG: 1% just in case anybody cares.

[00:03:51] OG: You should make sure your pool runs when it’s freezing for four days.

[00:03:55] Joe: Oh,

[00:03:55] OG: FYI Just a public service announcement. It’s like the thing from NBC. Right. The more you know.

[00:04:01] Doug: Did, didn’t

[00:04:02] Joe: you learn the hard way?

[00:04:03] OG: Ah, we just had a electrical malfunction and, uh, it is all, uh, snowballing downhill.

[00:04:10] Joe: Ah, I see how that works.

[00:04:13] OG: Hold on. Thank you. I’ll be here all week folks.

[00:04:16] Joe: Doug and I got a photo of OG with a piece of broken, uh, plumbing pipe, which looked

[00:04:23] OG: two pieces. Yes.

[00:04:24] Doug: That’s not a euphemism for anything. It was right. It was actually PVC. Oh,

[00:04:30] OG: there was

[00:04:30] Doug: full of ice. Full of ice,

[00:04:32] OG: yeah. That broke off that side of the house. That was great.

[00:04:35] Joe: The woman who’s had plenty of time to think about this, because she’s been snowed in for three days straight, so she’s all about thinking about how do I get 1% better? Palant is here.

[00:04:45] Paula: I am here and I am 1% better at knowing how to deal with the snow. I saw this machine the other day. I, I’ve never seen anything like it.

[00:04:54] Paula: It, someone was hand, it had a, it was a

[00:04:56] Joe: truck with a plow on the front. I

[00:04:57] Paula: had no idea. Pretty much. Yeah, exactly. I mean, you know, I’ve seen like snowplows, but I’ve never seen something that, so they were hand pushing it and then snow was just like clearing out of the way. It was a hand push plow. Yeah, like a sidewalk plow.

[00:05:15] Joe: So you immediately, you’re buying one, you’re getting your own.

[00:05:18] Paula: Oh, I don’t have that kind of storage.

[00:05:21] Joe: It’s like hard pass. No, but you weren’t out there in, uh, central Park making Snow Angels today.

[00:05:27] Paula: Oh, I would like to go to Central Park. I haven’t journeyed that far yet. I’ve been stuck in the, you know, in the middle of the afternoon.

[00:05:33] Paula: I’m, I’m stuck working like a chump. I know, right?

[00:05:36] Joe: Oh, geez. How do you get 1% better at not doing that?

[00:05:41] Paula: Seriously,

[00:05:42] Joe: that’s maybe what we do today. And a guy who spent his career helping other people be 1% better. He’s gone to military bases and taught them how to be 1% better. He has worked with tons of people.

[00:05:55] Joe: He also runs TEDx in Omaha, Nebraska. Mr. David Gils joins us. How are you, man?

[00:06:03] David: Thanks, Joe. Yeah, I’m excited to be here and I, I’ll say I don’t run TEDx, but I’m, I’m a speaker coach for them the last five years for Omaha. But. I’m, don’t you

[00:06:11] Joe: like how I promoted you? I promoted you the guy who’s the brain behind Ted?

[00:06:16] David: I’m, yeah, I’m, I’m, it’s kind of a big deal if you didn’t know founder.

[00:06:20] Joe: CEO.

[00:06:21] David: Yeah. I’m just living the cold life here in Omaha. It feels like I was stationed back in North Dakota, like I dropped a can of a Celsius yesterday and it, I was gonna clean it up, but like, it immediately froze. It was so cold. It felt like it was like the minus 60 back in North Dakota and I stationed up there.

[00:06:36] David: But this is, uh, not normal. I think this is not used to it.

[00:06:41] Joe: How cold is it in Omaha right now, David?

[00:06:43] David: I think it’s, I think we had some negative temperatures. Uh, we haven’t got as much snow as it sounds like Some of you all have. We’ve got snow, but it is cold. The teeth hurt when you, when you go outside and you laugh at the pain.

[00:06:56] Joe: I feel like with all this talk about the weather, welcome to, uh, traffic and weather on the eight, Doug with the Stacky Benjamin Show, but David, 1% better a year. You’re so passionate about helping people get 1% better that you said. I’m not stopping with helping people with their next TEDx talk. I’m not stopping with going to military bases and helping people.

[00:07:16] Joe: I’m gonna make a conference about it. Tell us about the 1% Better conference that’s coming up.

[00:07:21] David: Yeah, I think just to, in my career I’ve been somebody who’s done a variety of things from just being the military and, and since then, teaching classes on communication, decision making, helping people improve performance.

[00:07:32] David: It’s really that self-awareness, critical thinking, and I’m kind of a quieter guy in general and it’s kind of led me to, I, I felt feared out. I need to get better. I’m gonna start teaching these classes, and that led me to helping with TEDx local nonprofit. And just amazing people out there. And then I’ve been doing some money coaching for a while, so it just really, it’s the combination of the, the financial independence community, the Ted’s community, and just everybody is on their own journey on life and it’s so important that we help them through that path.

[00:07:59] David: And I think it’s such a, a challenge sometimes when people feel like they’re all alone. But I want to create that community that I’ve enjoyed through those campfires. Fincons or economies or others. But, uh, just kind of a combination of not fully money related, but it is just about life related. What do you wanna do in life and how do you wanna get there?

[00:08:18] Joe: I like the idea of taking these two passions of yours, the money, passion, and the getting this self-improvement passion and fusing them in this. Unique way. And that’s, it’s gonna be February 21st and 22nd Omaha. So, coming up quick?

[00:08:33] David: Yes. Yep. Coming up quick. And I’m excited for all the speakers coming in.

[00:08:38] David: I’m glad you’re you’re coming in to be able to talk, Joe. I appreciate that. And I’ve got some other, like some former TED speakers and others talking about like resilience, communication. Uh, my partner with it is somebody I coached a couple years ago and he’s a, he’s a magician, a mentalist, and he’s just a great on stage.

[00:08:54] David: So he is just kind of thinking about embracing failure and I think we all are challenged with that a lot of times. And I think it’s always important to kind of set ego aside and just excited to try new things. And he’s gonna maybe show some sleight of hand and other things and other things.

[00:09:08] Joe: You’re just gonna have him magically make the whole audience 1% better.

[00:09:11] Joe: Is that what you’re gonna do?

[00:09:12] David: He is. But, uh, I think we were all, yeah. 1% different. Better, I guess, I don’t know how to say that, but, uh,

[00:09:19] Joe: different.

[00:09:20] David: Yeah. He wanted to end his Ted talk, like balancing a spoon on his nose. And it wasn’t even just the, like, the round part of the spoon. It was like the, the end of the spoon.

[00:09:28] David: Oh. And me being a very, I’d say a risk averse person in general many times. And, and it made me nervous, but he’s like, he, he had learned that over the years and he ended up balancing a spoon on his nose to end this TED talk and, and still talked about it and how learning random things like that, that don’t seem like they make a, they’re not purposeful for life.

[00:09:48] David: But he said just any learning, anything new, I think that’s so important. And it kind of sets your mind, it creates openings for new adventures. Sure. And I think that I’m excited to do that with him.

[00:10:00] Joe: The process of, of learning the process of getting good at anything. By the way, Doug can balance a spoon as well.

[00:10:05] Joe: He fills it full of food and shoves it in his mouth and it’s amazing how it balances inside his, his mouth. It’s, it’s incredible.

[00:10:12] David: And his stomach and

[00:10:13] Joe: center of gravity balances it then in his stomach. It’s amazing. Uh, we got a great show today. We’re gonna talk about how these fine people, David, Paula, and OG try to be 1% better.

[00:10:25] Joe: I found a great piece on this, but first we have a couple sponsors who help us keep on keeping on. We’re gonna hear from them, and then we’re gonna dive into helping you practice getting 1% better in your life.

[00:10:44] Joe: The inspiration for today. Well, heck, it was David coming on and the conference coming up, but I’m like, you know what? We need something to kind of rally around a piece that we can talk about. This comes to us from a BetterUp betterup.com, and this is specifically how to improve yourself every day, 20 days, 20 ways rather, 20 ways to be better.

[00:11:05] Joe: And I know Paula, you’re doing like a 50 day thing right now, aren’t you? I am 50 days to being better with your money or 50 ways to, oh, leave your money worries behind if 52

[00:11:14] Doug: ways

[00:11:15] Paula: to lose your money. Uh, 52 weeks. So it’s a year long thing where you do one thing a week every week of the year.

[00:11:23] Joe: Yeah. Really kind of the same, the same type of principle, but we take one and we kind of practice it for a week and hopefully we build a little muscle.

[00:11:30] Joe: But looking at the 20 ways to improve yourself every day. Diving into these, did you like any of these or did you have kind of a different take on where to uh, where to begin your task of getting better at something?

[00:11:41] Paula: Yeah, I loved them. A lot of these, uh, tips, I mean, they, they talk about not doing things that drain you, you know, doing less of what drains you, doing more of what energizes you.

[00:11:51] Paula: They talk about getting good rest and eating nutritious food and going outside to touch grass. And it’s like, a lot of it sounds very basic, but it is a reminder to get back to the basics. ’cause it can be so easy to, to forget about it. I mean, like we just talked about. I live right by Central Park. We’re, we’ve got this beautiful snowstorm.

[00:12:12] Paula: Have I gone to Central Park in the last two days? No. That’s a failure to get outside and touch grass, or in this case, snow.

[00:12:18] Joe: Yeah, I wanna start with that first one that you mentioned because that one hit me hard too. It’s number 14 on this list. By the way, if you don’t have it in front of you stacker, don’t worry about it.

[00:12:27] Joe: We will put it on our show notes page at Stacking Benjamins dot com. But we’re gonna describe these as we go. This idea, Paula, of limiting activities that drain you. It seems like every time I’ve worked with a coach, but my main coach, Mary Lou and I, when we meet three times a month, the very first thing we always focus on is eliminating energy drainers.

[00:12:47] Joe: Like that is her first. Before we talk about additive, we talk about mm-hmm. What’s draining you and how do we get that crap out of your life? It is, it is. So, um. I dunno if the word’s insidious or just, it’s, it’s horrible. When you got this energy drainer out there, like getting rid of that changes the game.

[00:13:05] Joe: How do you try to limit your energy? Drainers?

[00:13:08] Paula: So, I’ve personally found that the majority of my energy draining comes from various screen time activities. Social media is of course, the big one, but when I block social media from my phone, I use the Freedom app. I just substitute that with some other drain.

[00:13:23] Paula: So if, if I don’t have social media, then I’m binge reading the news, and then when I set a timer on that and block that from myself, I, I’ve limited it to 12 minutes a day now. Then I set that timer and I block that for myself. But then I, it’s just, it’s the next thing. Cal Newport had talked about how one of his students, when he challenged his students to do this, he eventually limited thing after thing after thing until one of his students just started obsessively checking the weather app, you know, because it was all that was left.

[00:13:52] Paula: Yeah, exactly. What the weather

[00:13:53] OG: in Boise right now, just so you guys know,

[00:13:57] Joe: I haven’t been to Tokyo in a while. Let’s see what the weather’s like over there.

[00:14:00] Doug: She’s spamming the ring social app. There’s a dog loose.

[00:14:06] Paula: Yeah, exactly.

[00:14:06] Joe: What’s this app, Paula, that you’re talking about? ’cause a lot of our stackers maybe haven’t used it.

[00:14:10] Paula: Oh, okay. It’s called Freedom. And Freedom allows you to block apps from yourself. So I have it set up for Instagram threads. I’ve taken Twitter off my phone entirely. So Instagram threads, what’s the third one? Or whatever is left on my phone.

[00:14:25] Joe: The other one?

[00:14:25] Paula: Yeah, the other one. I never go on Facebook anymore.

[00:14:28] Paula: Twitter is desktop, laptop only. Insta Threads, there’s one other one. I’ve blocked those three for myself. I alternate with the way that I set it up, so there have been times in the past where I only have the A window from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM and that is the only possible window of time in which I can use it.

[00:14:48] Paula: I don’t set a calendar reminder for that, and so typically what’ll happen. Is, I’ll look at the clock and it’s 9 0 7 and I’m like, ah, darn. Missed the window for today.

[00:14:59] Joe: Can’t do it till tomorrow.

[00:15:00] Paula: Yeah, exactly. That means I have to wait for another 23 hours until that, that window reopens. And so for a long time, yeah, I had it set up like that.

[00:15:08] Joe: I think that’s cool that sometimes the friction is the key. Mm-hmm. By not having the calendar reminder to check social media, then it creates even more friction, which helps push it out of your life.

[00:15:19] Paula: Exactly. And so recently I decided to just hard block all of them. So about a week ago, I just completely blocked myself from Instagram entirely.

[00:15:29] Paula: So just 24 hours a day. It’s done no more. Uh, and I, my friend Nomadic Matt who’s probably been on the show, what he does is he deletes the apps and then whenever he wants to use it, he re downloads it.

[00:15:44] OG: A little barrier to entry, I guess. That

[00:15:46] Joe: totally

[00:15:46] Paula: is though. I was thinking the same thing. And so by re then he has to put in the username, put in the password. There’s like all this friction when you redownload the app back onto your phone, he says he’ll do that. Like if he’s going to the gym and he wants to like use the app between sets, he will actually redownload an app just for that.

[00:16:06] Joe: Yeah. That’s fabulous. David, this idea of energy drainers, I have to believe that you hear this quite often, that that social media, huge energy drainer for a big part of your community.

[00:16:17] David: I think it is for everybody in the world now. I mean, it is life, it is social media’s out there, but it’s. It’s taking control, I think is, is what we’re we’re talking about here, is not letting it control us.

[00:16:27] David: And I I did have that marked down. The limit activities that drain you. Like Paula mentioned, there’s the opposite one that identify activities that energize you. Yeah, there’s that, the yin and the yang there. And I like to think of it as, I mean you have that energy vampire, the vampire like gonna suck that energy out of you, the people or things.

[00:16:44] David: But there’s also the opposite. I I would say there’s like an, I would say energy, like a fire hose in a good way. Like it helps you kind of energize you, it builds you up and make sure that you don’t have some type of flame out or burn out and it try to find those things that kind of help you just move toward that.

[00:17:01] David: That better.

[00:17:02] Joe: I wanna get back to what that is in your life, but on energy drainers, besides social media, what drains you? What in your life is something where you’re like, you know what, I gotta get rid of this.

[00:17:12] David: I think I am somebody who says yes too often, and I think that’s something I’ve had to have a challenge with.

[00:17:19] David: I think there, there’s people that say yes too much and people that say no too much. And I’ve been both of those in my life. But recently I think it’s about prioritizing. It’s the whole checklist or to-do list, to-do list. Everybody. I write their to-do list, I like to-do list, but they’re not prioritized and they’re not organized.

[00:17:35] David: You’re not leading them. They lead you and you get that little dopamine hit like sometimes I’ve even like written out something I’ve already done so I can line them out. So it’s something, gimme that little dopamine hit. It’s, it’s crazy, but it’s, that’s me. It’s who I’m, I should

[00:17:49] Joe: eat breakfast. Just did it.

[00:17:51] Joe: Bam,

[00:17:51] David: chaing sort out. Well, so it’s, I think it’s just being aware of what I’m saying yes to. I mean, I add things that aren’t even on the agenda that too often, so try to use some ai, some chat CBT to saying, okay, help me prioritize things, or whatever it is. It’s, how do I. Do things that build me up and don’t bring me down.

[00:18:11] Joe: It’s interesting because I think about sometimes the money decisions that we make often end up being money drainers, not because of the money we spend on it, but the time commitment that it also entails. Like as an example, anybody who’s been a fan of the show for any length of time knows my board game addiction.

[00:18:27] Joe: When you buy a game, you’re not just spending the money for the game, you’re committing hours of your life to this activity, which means all the other activities then get squeezed out. You know what I mean? Often we think things are a money decision when they truly could be a time decision. And I’m saying yes to this new time commitment, which could be far bigger than I’d originally thought.

[00:18:50] Joe: That it, that it was, oh gee, when it comes to social media, you x that one off. I know that when us saying yes to things, you block out very clearly. Heck, you and I are partners on the podcast, and you’ll go, Hey, it’s family time. Can’t answer you now. I’ll talk to you later. Like, you very clear about those boundaries, but what still is an energy that’s just

[00:19:10] OG: with you.

[00:19:11] OG: By the way, everybody else, Paul will texts me all the time. I’m like, Hey babe, what’s up?

[00:19:17] Joe: So thank you. Are

[00:19:17] OG: you having dinner? I don’t wanna interrupt dinner with the family, like, no, it’s cool.

[00:19:20] Joe: No, it’s great. I’ll talk to you anytime, Paula. Yeah. What’s something that’s still draining you that you’re trying to get rid of?

[00:19:28] OG: Well, I, I can’t let you say that I got rid of social because I did very consciously. The 1st of November was my three year anniversary of not being on it. And so I was like, all right, I’m gonna go back on it. Which is he’s back baby, a heroin addict being like, I know this is really bad, but damn, it was good when it was good.

[00:19:46] OG: So I’m gonna get some more. And to this day I, I mean, ’cause I’ll play on Instagram or on LinkedIn. I don’t have Facebook or Twitter, but I’d said the other day I was reading something on LinkedIn and I was like, these are all the same things that everyone else is saying over and over and over and over again.

[00:20:04] OG: Obviously on LinkedIn there’s a bunch of financial people that I follow or that are in my feed and that’s just kind of the group that I’m, that I’m in. And if I saw one post about things you should do in January with your money, I saw 700 of them and I was like, this is so ridiculous. And at the same time I saw a comment, I don’t remember where it was from, if it was a podcast or something.

[00:20:27] OG: It was basically, uh, alluding to the fact that you spend all of your time and energy listening to content that you already agree with. Instead of trying to find content that you disagree with. Oh

[00:20:38] Joe: yeah.

[00:20:38] OG: Just for no other reason than just to like hear a different side of something, whatever that thing may be.

[00:20:44] OG: You know, and it could be something like money, it could be something like politics or religion or social issues or whatever the case would be. So I’m very consciously now, uh, in the process of going back to what Paula said and just like deleting everything again. ’cause it’s just such a, such a time suck.

[00:21:00] OG: I think for me, the biggest piece on outside of that, which is I think probably true for a lot of people is social media stuff. For me, it’s really kind of around relationships, you know, and I think we spend a lot of time with people, or we have the propensity to spend a lot of time with people that we’ve always spent time with and don’t necessarily sit back and go.

[00:21:21] OG: Am I here just ’cause I like being here or I here because we’re all rowing the boat in the same direction and we can pick each other up or whatever the case may be. And that could be something, again, back to money. It could be your money group of people and you are, you know, all talking about the same stuff or you’re all dealing with the same stuff and you don’t really have any vision for what the future looks like.

[00:21:42] OG: It could be something around like health where it’s like all of us are not exercising and we all talk about, you know, instead of like hanging out with bodybuilders. You know, like that would change your perspective on that pretty quickly. I read something the other day about, uh, Warren Buffett was so against losing money that his weight control plan was, he wrote his kids checks and said, if I don’t weigh this by this date, I will sign the check.

[00:22:07] OG: That was his motivation to like, because his kids were like, dad, you should have some cake. You should have some brownies, you should have ice cream. And he was like, I can say no to that. So much easier when I know there’s a defined amount on the line. You know? And I thought that was pretty interesting.

[00:22:21] Joe: That would be negative feedback all day from your family. Dad a donut.

[00:22:25] OG: Donuts are good. No

[00:22:26] Joe: donut,

[00:22:26] OG: really yummy. I think just reevaluating with whom you spend your time in different areas and just being cognizant of it, I think is more important than anything. Right. We all have relationships that have been around for a long time, you know, friends or whatever the case may be.

[00:22:42] OG: It’s good and comfortable, but it’s not growing. You gotta be really, really cognizant of that. Or just be okay with it. Just be like, I’m good with this. I like hanging out with this person. I know we’re not solving the world’s problems in these conversations. I got a different group for that.

[00:22:57] Joe: Yeah. But you know, going in, you’re like, okay, this is the way this relationship’s gonna go.

[00:23:01] Joe: Yeah. It’s not a piece of like lifting me up.

[00:23:03] OG: By the way, Doug, just real quick, after afterward we chat for a quick minute.

[00:23:07] Joe: Yeah, yeah, yeah. My coach

[00:23:08] OG: unrelated,

[00:23:09] Joe: my coach also would bring this up og, which was clusters of misery. Oh yeah. Like she was like actively stay away from people who are clusters of misery.

[00:23:19] Joe: She called them.

[00:23:20] OG: That’s a great word.

[00:23:21] Doug: That’s why you don’t call me anymore.

[00:23:22] OG: Yeah. It’s really hard because you know, whatever topic, we just use money. ’cause we’re talking about money. If you’re struggling with money or maybe you didn’t get the bonus you thought, or you didn’t get the pay raise you thought, or you didn’t get the promotion you needed or wanted or, you know what I mean?

[00:23:38] OG: Like it’s pretty easy to kind of. Have a little bit of a pity party with that and then, and that’s fine, right? Like you can have that. But then when you get like two or three people around that, that like group think of like, yeah, you’re right man, this totally sucks man. We should this, this place blows and you know, Bob’s an idiot and like all this other sort of stuff.

[00:23:55] OG: It’s like that mob mentality really, really, really escalates quickly. And if you don’t catch it, it just spirals bad in a hurry.

[00:24:03] Joe: It’s what happens on social media, right? ’cause it feeds us stuff that we’re already inclined to think. Yeah. So then we get that group think, but in real life it’s so much worse.

[00:24:10] Joe: ’cause now we’re getting that interpersonal

[00:24:12] OG: and get that reinforcement. Yeah. Because your buddy who also didn’t get promoted isn’t gonna be like, well you know, if we worked a little bit harder next year, maybe we could, uh, you know. Yeah. There’s not any like logic in that conversation. It’s gonna be all like, yeah man, you deserve it and you got screwed.

[00:24:26] OG: And that just, that’s not good either.

[00:24:28] Joe: David, you mentioned the fire hose, like things that light you up, right? Things that are exciting. This has to go for people that light you up and people that are exciting too.

[00:24:36] David: I fully agree, like with OG G and talking about the relationships is so important. And I mean, I spent my career in the military and that was my circle of people that I hung out with most of the time.

[00:24:46] David: And then, but since then, it’s, I think I’ve really got involved with other organizations and other people and I think it seems like as you get older, either you go internal and don’t add to your list of people that you hang out with or you go the opposite. And I’ve, I think I’ve really gone the opposite.

[00:25:00] David: Even like with these TED Talks or people that I’ve helped with the nonprofit, I mean, I’m helping, I’m coaching from a doctor who teaches improv comedy to somebody who has dementia, somebody who’s in prison to somebody, PhD in microbiology, uh, orchestra conductor. I mean, it’s really, I think, opened my mind to other.

[00:25:21] David: Circles and other ideas and, and the whole, the algorithm as someone we’re alluding to is the, the social media algorithm, everything online, it feeds on what they think you like. But I think it’s about being, I’d say purposeful, being proactive and it’s really, I think, really raised me up and being around just amazing people doing amazing things.

[00:25:41] David: And I think I’m just very lucky to be able to part of that organization and people that are doing good things. Even the financial independence community, there’s people, it’s not necessarily just about money topics, it’s about life topics. It’s about what do you want to be when you grow up? I’m 50 years old and that’s still thinking about that.

[00:25:56] David: And it’s fun to think about to me. Just to have, raise each other up.

[00:26:00] Joe: Just watching you from afar, David, and the little bit that we’ve gotten to know each other, it seems like that is very intentional. Like you’re pushing yourself to do things that are pushing the envelope, which kind of excites you and makes you wanna get outta bed in the morning to be intentional about learning these new skills.

[00:26:17] Joe: But do you remember where that came from or where that started? Like was there a, a first mover when you were maybe a teenager in your twenties or heck, maybe even forties, where you went, wow, by tackling these new skills, I got a bigger reason to get outta bed in the morning.

[00:26:34] David: I think I’ve had multiple pivot points in my life.

[00:26:36] David: Some good, some not so good. Or even just leaving the military wasn’t something I had planned at the moment. It was something early retirement was, was offered and I wasn’t planning on retiring at that 15 year point. And, but I was able, I was given the option to do that, and then I still had some debt and.

[00:26:53] David: I felt out of control in that moment. It was like, I don’t know what to do and how to go and, uh, to where I wanna be. And, and I remember taking some personality tests and I was like very hard line introvert and quiet. I was the quiet kid on the bus growing up who didn’t talk. I mean, that was my life. It was frustrating to not get things that I wanted or, and not be able to speak my truth.

[00:27:16] David: And so I started just going to different Toastmaster clubs. It’s a speech club to help me learn to speak better. I started teaching and being around people that are doing great things. I, I mean, even took improv comedy classes just to try to be in the moment. ’cause I’m, I’m very analytical, I’m like very organized and saying I need to plan things out.

[00:27:35] David: And you can’t do that in improv. You can have some practice, but it’s about being in the moment, about supporting each other and it’s a very positive community in the improv community also.

[00:27:45] Joe: I just think it’s really cool and so healthy to go, you know what, this is not my natural reaction, it’s to do improv.

[00:27:50] Joe: So you know what I’m gonna do, I’m gonna do. Improv. Like, Paula, you’re taking comedy classes right now, and I think about hearing your stories about comedy classes. Talk about also pushing the envelope on something that, don’t get me wrong, I’ve always thought you’ve got a good sense of humor, but comedy’s like next level.

[00:28:05] Paula: Yeah. Standup comedy is completely different than anything I’ve ever done before because I, I, I feel like I can be funny in conversation when there’s that back and forth, but to stand up in a microphone,

[00:28:19] Paula: Doug’s, like, as someone who has conversed with you,

[00:28:23] Doug: as long as there’s a drink in your hand, Paula, your comedy gold, or, or Doug, a drink in your hand, then she’s comedy gold. Exactly right.

[00:28:32] Paula: But to stand at a microphone and monologue Right. Without anyone hard, you know, without there being any kind of an interplay, that is a, a completely different skillset.

[00:28:42] Paula: But that’s been cool and. David, to your point, there are plenty of people who are in the class who are similar to you, like kind of shy, they’ve never really been on stage before, necessarily never done any public speaking, and that’s the reason that they signed up. And then you’ve got the far other end of the pendulum.

[00:28:58] Paula: You’ve got the class clown who is the extrovert and the over extrovert and is always cracking people up. And all of their friends told ’em like, you should be a standup comedian. So you’ve got this combination of like both ends of the the spectrum. Both sides of the extreme are all in the same class together.

[00:29:19] Paula: Learning from each other and playing off each other and doing the same shows together. It’s very cool.

[00:29:24] Joe: That’s cool. Just learning from people that aren’t like you and trying to push yourself to do something a little bit different and Oh my goodness. I just think about like, if joke one doesn’t go over when you’re on stage, you know?

[00:29:35] Joe: ’cause if joke one goes over, then you, it’s a little bit like the the ball rolling downhill. But if joke one doesn’t go over trying to stay in it.

[00:29:42] Paula: Yeah.

[00:29:42] Joe: And not have any memory of that until the next one. Like, it’s gonna be hilarious. I, man, it’s so hard.

[00:29:48] Paula: Right.

[00:29:49] Doug: You’re right. Joe. Ask me how I know.

[00:29:52] Joe: Because joke one’s never funny.

[00:29:54] Joe: Is that what you’re saying?

[00:29:55] Doug: That first

[00:29:56] Joe: joke

[00:29:56] Doug: doesn’t go in the first

[00:29:57] Joe: episode.

[00:29:57] Doug: Man, it’s rough.

[00:30:01] Paula: You know the other thing that was an unexpected benefit, there’s this comedy club in New York. They had a holiday party in January. Almost every single person I met, their first question was, oh, are you a comedian?

[00:30:14] Paula: You know, it wasn’t, oh, what do you do for a living? It was, oh, are you a comedian? I mean, it was because we’re the holiday party of a comedy club. A lot of the people there are professional comedians, but I had never been in an environment where that was the default assumption.

[00:30:27] David: Wow.

[00:30:28] Paula: And so, being in that kind of an environment.

[00:30:31] Paula: Where the assumption is that you are a professional doing this thing. That’s actually very, very difficult to be a professional in. It was a cool renormalization of what could be possible.

[00:30:42] OG: Paula, you obviously had to have said no, I’m a finance blogger and podcaster, and I went, good one. Who

[00:30:52] Joe: would do that?

[00:30:53] Paula: My response whenever they said, are you a comedian? And I was like, ah, I’m comedy curious. And they’re like, what do you do? And I’m like, I’m a podcaster. And then they look really excited and they’re like, well, whatcha podcast about? And I’m like, finance, and its gone. You could just watch their face fall.

[00:31:09] Paula: Like, oh yeah.

[00:31:14] Joe: You know, it is funny though. I mean, part of becoming 1% better I think is, is being that thing that you say that you’re working at, like David, you help people become a speaker. Like instead of saying, I’m working at speaking, I am a speaker, I’m working at comedy. I am a comedian. A comedian I was watching on social media yesterday said that he said early on in his career, he kept telling people, well, I’m trying to get into comedy.

[00:31:36] Joe: I’m trying to get into comedy. He goes, when I changed my mindset and instead of saying, I’m trying to get into comedy, I said, I am a comedian. You know what happened? I became a comedian. I think there’s that aspect too. Just absolutely own it. We’re gonna dive into, and I hope already, stackers, you’ve gotten a lot outta this ’cause I think beginning with this idea of getting rid of those energy joiners, those clusters of misery are so important and being better so you can clear the way for growth.

[00:32:02] Joe: But then second, starting to look at the people that light you up and the things that light you up. And we’re gonna dive into some of those in the second half of today’s show. But at the halfway point of every Stacking Benjamins episode, we have trivia on Fridays. We have a year long trivia competition between our three frequent contributors, Paula OG and Jesse Kramer, and David today, your team Jesse Kramer, which means some good news and some bad news.

[00:32:26] Joe: Which one do you want first? David?

[00:32:28] David: Uh, let’s go with the good news.

[00:32:30] Joe: Well, the good news is you are tied for the lead, my friend, so you have one point. OG has one point and shock of shocks. Paula is is behind. Which for those of you that are new here, I know that’s shocking to you because Paula is incredibly smart, but when it comes to trivia, she’s trusted her gut way too.

[00:32:50] Joe: Paula, you gotta go back and listen to our Monday show about trusting your gut, and you probably shouldn’t do that. Just saying. Just saying, last

[00:32:57] Doug: week we flat out told her, whatever your gut is about to tell you do the opposite. And she didn’t do it.

[00:33:03] Joe: She didn’t do it. So today maybe, maybe it’s gonna change.

[00:33:08] Joe: In fact, we record these live on YouTube, dividend Gypsy hanging out with us. That Team Paula hashtag this time is different. So may maybe everybody has dreams. Dividend Gypsy, we have a new construct this year. If you’re familiar with our trivia, or even if you’re not, which is our frequent contributors can do something called a margin call.

[00:33:30] Joe: So at any time during the time that Doug is giving his trivia question, somebody can say margin call against someone that has a point. And if the person that gets margin call does not win the trivia that week, they lose a point. And on the other side, if you say margin call and the person does. Get it right.

[00:33:53] Joe: They are the winner of trivia. Well then the person that called Margin Call. It’s the margin call and they lose a point. Yes. David, you’re gonna guess first because Jesse is our current champion. Oh, gee’s. Gonna guess second. Paula gets the benefit. She said the benefit over and over and it still has no of guessing last, but we need a trivia question.

[00:34:12] Joe: So, Doug, what’s going on on this day in history?

[00:34:20] Doug: Hey there, stackers. I’m Joe’s mom’s neighbor, Duggan. Today we celebrate the birthday of the President responsible for the biggest social program in US history. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Of course, Roosevelt was president during incredibly turbulent times between World War ii, uh, a nation struggling financially and social upheaval.

[00:34:40] Doug: It’s amazing how alike we are. In fact, I’m working on this podcast Struggle is so real, people, it’s so real. And at the grocery store yesterday, somebody asked me paper or plastic, I know. It’s like, do I have to make all the decisions around here for god’s sake? Somebody else, somebody else step in and be responsible.

[00:35:01] Doug: But the social security has helped tons of Americans experience at least a little retirement. Here’s today’s question as of 2024, what amount. Was the average monthly social security check? A recipient received? Recipient received. It’s like a whole double. Anyway, I’ll be back in just a moment. This Social security talks got me thinking maybe Joe’s mom could give us an allowance for all the work we do around here for all the work we do around here.

[00:35:33] Doug: Ma, God,

[00:35:35] Joe: that, uh, may not end well for Doug, but while he’s asking about getting an allowance, we’ll ask you this question. David, you’re up first. Average social security check in 2024 for a recipient.

[00:35:49] Doug: It’s like being born on third base. David, don’t screw this up. You, you, you showed up here outta the blue and you’re, you’ve already got practically a lead so you can nail this.

[00:36:00] David: I don’t want get Jesse mad at me too. We’re talking about I don’t want him to hulk out on me. And

[00:36:04] Doug: you don’t

[00:36:05] David: get angry like gets Jesse all the time. Yeah. So an angry guy’s such an angry

[00:36:08] Joe: dude all the time.

[00:36:09] Doug: He’s a bad man.

[00:36:11] David: I don’t wanna brag or anything, but I tied for third place in a, in a bar trivia contest recently.

[00:36:15] David: So there was at least four teams in there and at my wife answering questions for me. So I don’t wanna brag or intimidate anybody. Uh, so the average monthly social security in 2024, uh, that’s average monthly. I’m not quite to that age yet. I’m getting close. I should figure this stuff out. I will go with.

[00:36:44] David: $2,700.

[00:36:46] Joe: $2,700. Og, what do you think about that answer?

[00:36:53] OG: I think it’s very reasonable for somebody that hasn’t looked into Social Security yet, so seems a little high, uh, average in 24. 2024. I think the average is a little closer to $1,834.

[00:37:11] Joe: 1834. So he’s going a little lower. David, than you went. Oh boy. Paula, it’s that time.

[00:37:20] Paula: Oh no. Okay.

[00:37:21] Joe: 2,700 for David, 1834 for og.

[00:37:26] Paula: Ouch. All right. So when I heard the question, the fir my gut,

[00:37:31] Doug: who cares

[00:37:32] Joe: what

your

[00:37:32] Joe: gut,

[00:37:33] Doug: no, this is important. We need to know exactly what the gut is so we know if she went in the other direction or not.

[00:37:39] Paula: Let her talk. Exactly. Exactly. The gut said somewhere between two to 3000.

[00:37:44] Joe: That’s where David is.

[00:37:46] Paula: Hmm. I mean, really I could, I could anchor off of either of those guesses and capture most of that, most of that range.

[00:38:03] Doug: You just think all you want, Paula, you just take all the time you need. You just go right ahead. We’ll wait.

[00:38:08] Paula: Yeah, yeah. Uh, no, no one’s doing anything for the next hour. Are they,

[00:38:14] Joe: Jesse, by the way, hanging out with us live on YouTube? He’s on Team David right now.

[00:38:20] Doug: Team David, team Jesse. Team Hawke.

[00:38:22] Joe: We’ve got all caps.

[00:38:25] Doug: You can do it. You can do it.

[00:38:26] Paula: Okay. OG years was 1834.

[00:38:30] OG: I wanna believe I said 1864, but I could have said 1834.

[00:38:33] Doug: You said? 34?

[00:38:35] OG: 34.

[00:38:35] Doug: Got it documented in the spreadsheet.

[00:38:37] OG: Okay.

[00:38:37] Paula: All right. It’s

[00:38:38] OG: been 34.

[00:38:39] Paula: Okay. I’m going to go against my gut. Yes. And say 1835.

[00:38:46] Joe: 1835 takes the top end of the middle or the bottom half of the middle, between 1834 and 2,700.

[00:38:58] Joe: All right. Yeah,

[00:38:59] Paula: that’s the anti gut choice.

[00:39:01] Joe: Let’s see, what, why, what was your gut?

[00:39:03] Paula: Uh, the gut was between two to 3000, so I would’ve gone like 26 99, kind of an anchor in that middle two thousands.

[00:39:11] Joe: Gotcha. Okay. We will see if Paul’s gut it was right or if, uh, we have a different winner. We’ll be right back.

[00:39:22] Joe: David, you kicked this off with 2,700 bucks. Paula thinks you’re right in there, but, um, OG certainly doesn’t, do you feel confident

[00:39:30] David: from being the first time here? And what I’m hearing saying, Paula, and you need to go opposite of your gut, so I’m, I’m your gut. So is that, I’m not sure what that means, but maybe it’s high.

[00:39:45] David: I I need to start researching I guess a little bit of the,

[00:39:47] Joe: well, you got some time. You’re 50, you’re good.

[00:39:50] David: Been closer if, I mean, was this saying that the, the days are long but the years are short? I think it’s, that’s,

[00:39:55] Joe: yeah.

[00:39:56] David: It went long.

[00:39:57] Joe: It is sad how quickly that escalator moves. Oh gee. 1834. But Paula took the upside.

[00:40:02] Joe: You feeling good?

[00:40:04] OG: Yeah, I think Paula’s got it.

[00:40:06] Joe: Oh wait, what? Paula, you liking that?

[00:40:11] OG: Yeah. I thought it was like 1850 or 1900 or something like that. It’s right there. It’s. You did say 2024, so maybe there’s some big increase in 25 that I’m not thinking about, but, um, but I, I think Paul is a lot closer.

[00:40:24] Paula: Well, and someone in the chat, someone said, Hey, go right in the middle.

[00:40:29] Paula: And I, you know, I hadn’t thought about that. That would’ve also been a good strategy.

[00:40:35] Joe: It’s funny ’cause it’s rarely a good strategy, but, but maybe on this one, who knows? We need an answer, Doug. We need answers. So why are we turning to Doug? I don’t know, but Doug, give us the answer, man.

[00:40:47] Doug: You want answers. You can’t handle the answers, Joe.

[00:40:50] Doug: Hey, there’s stackers. I’m guy who asked the questions. And guy who gets shot down when he asks for an allowance. Joe’s mom’s neighbor, Doug, I know what you’re thinking. Allowance at your age, Doug. And to that I say I am several months younger than that question implies. And second, if a teenager who does zippo to help the family and talk smack.

[00:41:10] Doug: 24 7 gets an allowance. Why would I not get a little something, something? You know what I’m saying? If you don’t feel like taking out the garbage, ma, you ever think about that Well enough about me. Today we’re chatting about Social Security because it’s Freddie D’s B Day Social Security stats are incredible.

[00:41:30] Doug: I mean, social Security represents about 30% of the average recipient’s income. Over 67 million people receive some form of benefit. And of course, social security isn’t just retirement. It provides important life insurance and disability insurance protection for millions. But today’s question was this, how much was the average monthly social security check in 2024?

[00:41:53] Doug: The answer, well. I think you know how we do this by now, stackers. The answer is $912 and 92 cents less than what David slash Jesse chose. It’s uh, $47 and 92 cents less than what Paula. Guest and just $46 and 92 cents less than what OG guess. Because the correct answer is $1,787 and 8 cents. Making og Oh, winner,

[00:42:27] Joe: og Taking home son of the prize sucks.

[00:42:30] Joe: Sorry, Jesse. I thought you had it, Paula.

[00:42:33] Paula: Wow. This means both my gut and my first anti gut choice Were wrong.

[00:42:39] Joe: We’re

[00:42:39] Paula: both rock. Right? Right. We’re both wrong. We’re, yeah, they both were wrong. Third

[00:42:43] David: gut and third breakfast. Next time, be like a cow and have four

[00:42:49] Paula: guts. Four, four guts. Yeah.

[00:42:52] Joe: And just like last week, Paula misses it by two bucks.

[00:42:56] Joe: Misses win by $2.

[00:42:58] Paula: Well, I’m, I’m nothing if not consistent.

[00:43:00] Joe: He, she’s always right there. How many second places has Paula had? Doug? A ton of them. All right. Oh gee. Taken on the win. Congratulations. You have an acceptance speech.

[00:43:09] OG: Uh, no.

[00:43:10] Joe: Okay. And Jesse hanging out with us live says, cue the empire straight to back music.

[00:43:17] Joe: There it is. All right, let’s dive back into this topic. Uh, David pick one of the other things that they had in this piece that said are some of the ways that you can maybe improve yourself every day that really spoke to you.

[00:43:30] David: There’s one called Do inner work. I think that’s very interesting. I think it does handle a lot of things that we’ve talked a little bit about already, but I mean, really it’s about self-awareness and I don’t think there’s enough thought on self-awareness in our lives.

[00:43:44] David: We don’t know what we believe and why we believe it. There’s, I mean, the scripts that people were told us growing up to the scripts that we tell ourselves were like, I am a comedian. That what we just talked about earlier. Yeah. From Paula just talking about ourselves in the first person. I think it’s so empowering.

[00:44:00] David: I do like that, that discussion. I’ve, I’ve tried to use that some ’cause like I doing the improv or doing. Ted, a speaker coach. I never thought I’d be doing something like that, or just in life. It’s, it’s really about understanding ourselves and good self-awareness, understanding our blind spots too, by being around people that kind of help you with those blind spots and people that you care about and that care about you that are helping you through that process.

[00:44:22] David: So I don’t think there’s enough of, I’d say self, self-reflection through meditation for yourself or looking back how you did this past year or whatever it is. But I think doing inner work, I, I think that there’s a lot of different layers to that that has intrigued me.

[00:44:37] Joe: Yeah. I think Paula, we often look for this external stimuli when everything we need is right inside of us.

[00:44:43] Paula: Yeah. The skillset of like, letting your mind go quiet, like silencing the, the chatter, it’s difficult. It’s really difficult and I think a lot of people don’t, if they haven’t tried it, it’s hard to recognize how difficult it is because it’s not visible. But it’s actually that silencing the chatter can be one of the hardest things.

[00:45:03] Joe: OG on this list, which one really lit you up?

[00:45:07] OG: Well, you guys kind of all took mine already, so, uh, none of them, you know, there’s a handful in here and you know, I’ve been pretty vocal about this. But paying attention to your own health and wellness.

[00:45:20] David: Yeah.

[00:45:20] OG: And wellbeing. And I think a lot of that stuff is intertwined.

[00:45:24] OG: The vast majority of America gets this wrong and probably the world I can just vouch for Americans, but in our world, it seems like you have to work really, really, really, really hard. And then maybe if you’re lucky, you can reward yourself after that hard work with a little bit of time off. And we all know, like we’ve taken long weekends, right?

[00:45:47] OG: Like a three day weekend, the four day, and it never really feels like it’s time off. And I think the studies say you need to be completely out for seven days before you actually get the benefit of the r and r, uh, the, the vacation. But I think if you spin that around and say, in order to work really hard, I had to have had time off.

[00:46:07] OG: I had to have had energy and, you know, be able to be creative in my role. I think that puts a little different spin on the time that you do spend time not. Doing the thing that you do for work or for your general vocation. Not everybody can do that. That’s, you know, that’s a nice to have, like, you know, scheduling your vacations first and then letting your boss know when you might be available to work.

[00:46:30] OG: That’s not a, that’s, I, I recognize that’s not a thing that most people do.

[00:46:35] Doug: I’ve tried that.

[00:46:36] OG: Yeah. But for those that can, I think it’s really important. And I think that even if you can’t, you can really be particular about that. You know, all the studies of people who, you know, have unused PTO time at the end of the year who don’t take all their sick and personal days and that sort of thing.

[00:46:53] OG: And when you do take that time, make sure you take that time to completely try to detox yourself from, from the work stuff. Because like Paula said, when you’re trying to. Be creative when you’re trying to think up new solutions to problems, which frankly, that’s kind of the job description of everything that everybody does, right?

[00:47:13] OG: Solve problems for other people. You know, whether you’re a car manufacturer, you’re a computer scientist, you’re a professor, you’re a financial planner, you’re trying to solve this problem that affects a certain amount of people that I’m trying to fix and make it easier for them. So in order to have that creativity, if you believe like I do, you have to have that rest and relaxation.

[00:47:34] OG: Making sure that you adhere to that is super important and all that other stuff goes with it too. So when, when it’s time for you to choose what to eat, you know, there’s some pieces in there about nutrition. It’s like choose the healthy food when you have time in there to be outside or exercise. Make sure you get that.

[00:47:52] OG: I call it outdoor rec time. You know, it’s so easy, especially work from home. All you just said. I haven’t been outside, you know, I haven’t left my apartment in three days. Right? Like that can easily turn into. A week if you’re not careful. ’cause you know you got everything you need and it takes a lot of energy to go get bundled up, to go stand outside in the freezing cold, you know, or in the summer the other way.

[00:48:12] OG: Right. If it’s a hundred degrees out in Dallas, you’re like, I can’t go outside. It’s a hundred degrees. So all that stuff kind of works together, I think in terms of your, just like personal wellness, whether you look at it from a physical standpoint working out or health interior, like eating good food and, and then the r and r component of it, of, of giving yourself space.

[00:48:32] OG: In order to be able to be creative later unplugged. So

[00:48:35] Joe: yeah.

[00:48:36] OG: Yeah. All of that is kind of related.

[00:48:38] Joe: Some of these statistics in this piece, I think people don’t realize, oh gee, dear point, just how important these are. According to a study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research, public health spending just 15 minutes in a forest can decrease negative feelings like anxiety, fatigue, anger, and depression.

[00:48:55] Joe: And I don’t even know that wrong.

[00:48:57] OG: Has anybody been in a forest?

[00:48:59] Doug: Yes. That’s a hundred percent accurate.

[00:49:02] Joe: It’s a hundred percent accurate.

[00:49:03] OG: Yeah. You were in different forest than me for different reasons, I suppose.

[00:49:05] Doug: Well, I wasn’t, I wasn’t doing like military training at the time. Right.

[00:49:10] Joe: Looking out for bears.

[00:49:11] OG: Yeah.

[00:49:13] Doug: There’s no sergeant yelling at me.

[00:49:14] OG: It’s like, my kids the other day were like, dad, we should go outside. It’s really fun. I’m like, well, you didn’t do winter training in Northern Canada. So lemme tell you a little something about being outside right now. It sucks.

[00:49:22] Doug: Oh God.

[00:49:23] OG: TLDR. Oh god. It’s awful.

[00:49:25] Joe: Walking among trees, it says, was found to be more effective for decreasing negative feelings of walking down a city street.

[00:49:31] Joe: Paula, so you talk about Central Park not being that far for you. You know, just, just going some

[00:49:35] OG: outdoor rec time.

[00:49:36] Doug: Paula especially, fun fact, hemlocks and Pines. They release chemicals. It’s why you feel so much more serene if you happen to be in a pine forest than even just a, a hardwood forest. So if you have an opportunity to find coniferous forest, I strongly recommend you will.

[00:49:54] Doug: You will notice a difference and it happens very fast. Oh, do you need that

[00:49:57] Paula: Googling coniferous forest near me.

[00:50:01] OG: Done. K-A-N-I-F orus, orus.

[00:50:07] Joe: I don’t need that tree.

[00:50:09] OG: I mean, just sunshine honestly. Right? Like there’s all this stuff about just getting, getting sunshine and. And, you know, snorting pine needles, you know, that’s, that’s like level two

[00:50:19] Paula: and drinking hemlock,

[00:50:21] OG: drinking some hemlock, drinking

[00:50:22] Joe: hemlock,

[00:50:22] OG: you know,

[00:50:24] Joe: uh, and on stay hydrated.

[00:50:25] Joe: Uh, research published in the World Journal of of Psychiatry found that drinking plain water is linked to a decreased risk of anxiety and depression in adults.

[00:50:33] OG: Also, bourbon

[00:50:33] Joe: gives you more energy. Bourbon

[00:50:36] Doug: drink. I was gonna say drinking distilled.

[00:50:38] Joe: He likes, he likes, uh, uh, some people like hops flavored water, in fact.

[00:50:42] Joe: Yeah. Might do the, might do the opposite. You, you know, one that’s on here. Uh, which makes a lot of sense. I mean, starting journaling is one, which I know helps a lot of people get 1% better because I think David, that helps you do inner work. But reading more books is on here when it comes to books that can help you be, be better, be 1% better.

[00:51:03] Joe: What’s one of your favorite books that has helped you be 1% better?

[00:51:08] David: You know, I was thinking about that. I’ve, I’ve tried to pick up my, my reading over the last few years and. When I say reading, it’s more audio books that, that seems like that’s been my go-to. ’cause I, I don’t just sit down and read, but as I’ve picked it up and increased the numbers the last few years, I think there’s one by the Andy Duke, the Thinking and Bets.

[00:51:25] Joe: Mm-hmm.

[00:51:26] David: Which she goes back to some of the Daniel Kahneman books and other the thinking fast and slow. But, uh, just, I think it’s very interesting to think about things from a different angle that we don’t always think about. And I always liked watching some poker and just crazy things to think through of just even like, like poker.

[00:51:41] David: Like you can start with the best hand and Texas hold ’em, uh, pocket ACEs and then, but go against somebody with the worst possible hand, two, seven, and you’re winning like 88% of the time. So you lose 12% of the time with the best hand or with the worst hand. I’m I saying that right? Yeah. With the worst hand, you win 12% of

[00:51:56] Joe: time,

[00:51:56] David: go

[00:51:57] Joe: measure the outcome, measure the process, and the percentage chance,

[00:52:00] David: right.

[00:52:00] David: And I think that’s kind of helped me, that and some other ones about think through. It’s not just based on, uh, the outcome based as you said. Like you can have the worst decisions and come to the best outcome and it just reinforces that that negative and then it’s gonna hit you down the road. But if you’re gonna do the opposite, if you’re gonna focus on the process, I think that was one I enjoyed Not too long ago.

[00:52:21] Joe: We interviewed Annie for that book and I think Paula you did too, right?

[00:52:24] Paula: Yes. Yeah, I did. She’s been on the Afford Anything podcast twice.

[00:52:28] Joe: Yeah.

[00:52:28] Paula: Thinking in Bets. And then what her other book was, uh,

[00:52:31] Joe: I’m, I’m right there with You Can’t, it’s right here.

[00:52:35] Paula: Yeah. Her other book was called Something. She had a title.

[00:52:41] Joe: Yeah, it was called stuff. It was called Google it Stacker. Yeah. But let’s go do a different book, Paula, that you like, that, uh, has helped you be 1% better. What’s a good one?

[00:52:50] Paula: You know, this is a funny answer for this, but 48 Laws of Power. That book really illustrates the world not as you want it to be, but the world as it is, and helps you understand the way that people operate so that you can just have better situational awareness and, and more effectively operate within it.

[00:53:11] Paula: So that it’s a very tell it like it is type of a book about the rules of power, about how people act and react in specific situations.

[00:53:20] Joe: What’s one good takeaway from that that you really like?

[00:53:22] Paula: So there’s one, for example, it’s never outshine the master. Sometimes you think that you’re being really helpful, but if you overdo it, that might make other people feel insecure.

[00:53:34] Paula: If you accidentally trigger somebody else’s insecurity, and if they have a higher rank or position than you, then that can actually come back negatively on you.

[00:53:44] Joe: Uh, quit is the name of the book,

[00:53:46] David: so don’t outshine. Joe Han the Master. Is he? Yeah.

[00:53:51] OG: No truer words I’ve ever been spoken.

[00:53:53] David: Yeah. My God.

[00:53:54] Doug: Absolutely.

[00:53:55] OG: Hell hath no fury.

[00:53:56] Doug: Hey, Joe, while, while you

[00:54:00] Doug: like a podcast host Corn.

[00:54:02] OG: Easy. Mm-hmm.

[00:54:02] Joe: Easy.

[00:54:03] Doug: You know, you, you guys are, are always talking about some of these, uh, what I categorize as self-help books. And I don’t mean that pejoratively, but I don’t read a lot of those. It’s just not my thing. They don’t resonate with me. But I, I try to read whether it’s fiction or historical books and try to find.

[00:54:22] Doug: Empowering kinds of messages there. And a book that came to mind as soon as you asked the question was called Indestructible by John b Bruning. And it’s about an American pilot in the Philippines at the start of World War ii. And I won’t take you through the whole plot, but the takeaway for me was there is an, an OG I think, agree with this ’cause he’s talked about this at length over the years.

[00:54:46] Doug: There is always something more you can do. If everything is on the table, there is always something else you can do. And it, and it also sort of jives with something I thought of earlier as you were talking about a comedian. There’s one that you and I both love named Jimmy Carr, who’s almost, he’s turned into more of a philosopher now than, than a comedian.

[00:55:05] Doug: A little bit of both. I loved when he said the thing you want is on the other side of the thing you don’t want to do. That really fits in with this book called Indestructible. So you asked about books that we’ve learned something from recently. Strongly recommend people check that out.

[00:55:21] Joe: David, you’ve referenced your military background.

[00:55:23] Joe: It was the Air Force, right?

[00:55:24] David: Yes. Air Force,

[00:55:25] Joe: yeah. Are you familiar with this book?

[00:55:27] David: Indestructible. No, I mean,

[00:55:28] Doug: yeah,

[00:55:29] David: plenty other, I can’t remember the names of them. Some Navy Seal books and others that

[00:55:32] Doug: Yeah, you’d, you’d love this. David, I didn’t realize you had an Air Force background. This is a guy whose family was taken captive by the Japanese in the Philippines.

[00:55:40] Doug: And while he was flying, uh, senior American officials around an air and wasn’t the Air Force at the time, of course, but uh, military officials around, he was the entire time plotting to figure out how do I get my family out of this, this prison camp. And so he started inventing new aircraft and new armaments for aircraft on these planes only for this purpose of trying to figure out how to get his family out of a prison camp.

[00:56:06] Doug: Uh, and, and it’s just, it’s fascinating what you are capable of. If you’re properly motivated.

[00:56:13] Joe: OG book you love,

[00:56:17] OG: take your pick.

[00:56:18] Joe: Harry Potter.

[00:56:18] OG: Yeah, we have tons of them up there. You

[00:56:20] Joe: referenced the War of Art quite a bit.

[00:56:22] OG: I gave that to my kid actually this year. He asked for something to read. At school. That wasn’t a textbook.

[00:56:28] OG: Steven Pressfield wrote that as well as, uh, do the work as kind of a subsequent one to that. I like Doug’s perspective on this of something that’s not a business book or not a, you know, self-help book. So I’m gonna go with 1776 by David McCullough.

[00:56:45] Joe: So good

[00:56:46] OG: as another non, you know, like first of all, if you think you’ve got it bad, go read about what a life was like in the 17 74, 75, but then

[00:56:57] Joe: if you’re George Washington,

[00:56:59] OG: uh, I mean if you’re anybody over there at that time, but then to kind of take a step back and since you know the outcome to look at the amount of intestinal fortitude that it took to keep on doing the rebellious stuff that they were doing, right, like trying to go toe to toe with the British, getting their faces kicked in day after day, week after week, and with no food and no money and.

[00:57:25] OG: No resources and no one would help you. Like you go to like try to you, you get into a city, you’re like, Hey, we’re the rebels. We’re, we just need some like food and shelter. And people are like, to hell with you man. I’m not getting in trouble with the British. Like, y’all figure it out. So now we know the end of the story.

[00:57:40] OG: And so you go, oh, well of course it was easy. We won. It’s like, yeah, we weren’t winning. Like it was like right at the edge of not winning

[00:57:49] Joe: right up until the moment they won. They were

[00:57:51] OG: not winning until the last second we were losing. Exactly. Yeah. And so the amount of belief and whether you believe in higher powers or you don’t, it’s still pretty, pretty wild to think about all those people that coalesced in one particular area in the world at one particular time.

[00:58:09] OG: All with one singular focus.

[00:58:11] Joe: That would be a great audio book, by the way.

[00:58:13] OG: Sure they have it.

[00:58:14] Joe: Yeah. I read the book, but I’m buying Imagine.

[00:58:16] Paula: But it right now imagine, just hit the confirm button.

[00:58:18] OG: Yeah, there you go. Da.

[00:58:19] Joe: That story is so well told. I think doing that as a story while you’re walking or whatever would be Fanta reading.

[00:58:26] Joe: It’s great. But I think audiobook wise, that would be a great one. I love that book. The one that I keep coming back to. You know, I was thinking about what, which one of these books do I come back to? Almost like the War of Our OG, that you keep coming back to that one. And this is a book by Jim Lair and Tony Schwartz called, the Power of Full Engagement came out a long, long time ago.

[00:58:46] Joe: It’s just this idea of don’t manage your time, manage your energy. Learning to be like a tennis player who has all kinds of different events going on all the time, but you can’t show up for everything equally. So finding those key times when you really gotta show up and then prepping for those times through your nutrition and your workouts, and making sure that you are peaking at the right time.

[00:59:10] Joe: I love this idea of managing your energy. Not your time. I feel like when I try to manage time, I end up in this cesspool of trying to be efficient every moment. But the idea that you give that away and you go, no, no, no. There’s these important moments in my life where I need to be there and I’m gonna prep for those moments.

[00:59:25] Joe: Much, much better way to manage things. So the powerful engagement old book that I come back to a lot. All right, I hope everyone that helped you get 1% better today and that you are off and running on your journey. I love that conversation guys. Thank you so much. Let’s find out before we say goodbye, though, what’s happening, where you all are.

[00:59:45] Joe: And David, I want to talk about the 1% Better Conference, but we’ll do that last, we’ll find out first. Oh gee, what do you got going on this weekend? Now that we’re on the other side of Snowmageddon or Ice Mageddon, I guess here in Texas,

[00:59:58] OG: are we technically like I might be right back into it. Uh, what’s going on this weekend?

[01:00:03] OG: This weekend is a little milestone. For me, something is going on. Nothing, uh, that I’m gonna share, but a little bit of a milestone. And then, um, I’m getting ready to go skiing. I’m going skiing next week. Yeah.

[01:00:13] Joe: Oh,

[01:00:13] OG: so

[01:00:14] Joe: fantastic.

[01:00:14] OG: Well, just a little me time.

[01:00:16] Joe: It’s one those times a lot of activities. You say break a leg but dug in skiing.

[01:00:19] Joe: That’s not one where you say break a leg

[01:00:21] Doug: ideally. No, not much.

[01:00:23] Joe: Yeah, not good much. Not what we’re looking for there. No.

[01:00:26] Doug: I mean I’ve seen OG ski, he’s very capable of doing that.

[01:00:29] OG: Very capable of getting yelled at.

[01:00:32] Joe: I don’t want to go down that road again. I don do not wanna retail

[01:00:36] OG: that hour. I throw that. Doug just did ask me today.

[01:00:38] OG: Hey, so uh, what are you skiing plans like? Are you, you got any like room for? Won’t

send

[01:00:42] Doug: me pictures.

[01:00:43] OG: You doing anything? Like what are you doing next week and is there room? Can I come?

[01:00:47] Joe: Cluster of misery. Doug, we talked about clusters of misery. You’re not sure why you’re doing that.

[01:00:51] Doug: OT is frequently in the eye of that cluster for me.

[01:00:54] Joe: Dunno where you’re going. Paula Pant. What’s going on at afford anything this week or this month?

[01:00:58] Paula: Uh, let’s see, on the Afford Anything podcast. That’s a great question. You know, Colin Roche was on the show. We did a two part series with him. So he, uh, wrote about principles around investing and just principles around general money management.

[01:01:12] Paula: The week after Valentine’s Day, we are airing an interview with Dr. Tuhi, F-O-U-T-H-I, Dr. Maji Tuhi. He’s a brain doctor and he talks about how to have better brain health and surprise, surprise. It’s a lot of the same things that you would do for your heart, you also do for your brain.

[01:01:30] Joe: I wonder if there’s a name for that or if he just call himself a brain doctor,

[01:01:34] Paula: A neurologist.

[01:01:35] Joe: I’m a brain doctor. I mean, that says everything. You don’t need a different title.

[01:01:40] Paula: Yeah, exactly.

[01:01:40] Joe: Brain. Dr. David, thanks for being a brainiac. How about that and creating the 1% Better Conference. Tell us, besides the amazing Joe Saul-Sehy, who’s gonna be on that stage, you’ve got some other fun people that are joining us and tell everybody kind of what they expect if they’re with us on February 21st, 22nd.

[01:02:01] David: We’ve got eight speakers now lined up. So, but it’s gonna be very interactive, kind of a small event is is the plan. But besides you, uh, we have, uh, like say my partner, he’s talking, he’s a former TED speaker talking about the, the power of failure. Learn embracing that and learning new things. And we have, uh, some improv exercises, some people that do full-time improv and we have topics like resilience.

[01:02:25] David: Uh, another speaker that she was a Ted speaker last year talking about being a disruptor, like being a disrupter on your own mind. Mm-hmm. And being a disrupter in your community in a positive way. So that’s something that we all can do. Kind of get out of the funk and try something new. So you, for communication, there’s got quite a few different speakers that were, that lined up.

[01:02:44] David: Mental health, resilience. Uh, it’s a little bit of money talk, but it’s a lot of. Live talk. And so yeah, I’m looking forward to it. Kind of small interactive event, February 21st, 22nd and go to, so spark financial wellness.com. It’s my, the website. It’s got the conference on there and so we’re looking forward to that.

[01:03:02] David: I know it’s, it’s cold here in Omaha, but it’s cold everywhere. It so might as well come the, it’s a, it’s attached to the casino, so you can go over to the casino and have a little fun there.

[01:03:09] Joe: Be with a warm group of people.

[01:03:11] David: Yeah, there

[01:03:11] Joe: you go. Yeah. The evening of the 20th we’re gonna do a meetup. We’re gonna do a 1% better meets the Stacking Benjamins Omaha community meetup.

[01:03:19] Joe: So I can’t wait for that. And then, uh, David, maybe we’ll play some games on the 21st as well.

[01:03:24] David: There you go. I’m looking forward to it. Again, like the, like your book tour came through. We played some four games, then

[01:03:30] Joe: we had so much fun. That was fun. All right, everybody that’s gonna do it for today. Big thanks to everybody who hung out with us today on YouTube.

[01:03:37] Joe: You guys crack me up and your comments were fantastic. If you’re not watching us on YouTube between the audio audience and you wanna be a part of the show, come join us. We do the shows Monday afternoons, generally three 30 Eastern time, and do the math on where you are at in the United States, but that’s most Mondays.

[01:03:57] Joe: We’re here creating the show that you’ll see or hear on Friday. All right, that’s gonna do it for today. Doug, man, you’re bringing it home. What should we have learned on today’s episode?

[01:04:07] Doug: Well, Joe first take some advice from our resident comedian David Gillis. He’d the advice of your inner circle, because after all, you’re good enough, you’re smart enough, and gosh darn it.

[01:04:18] Doug: People probably like you. Second, take a note from Paula. Block all the socials on your phone. The upside is you’ll be addicted to the cow milking app in a heartbeat. Oh, it’s real. And it’s glorious. No way it’s real. Go look it up. Put the big lesson. Mm, great news. I was able to negotiate a huge allowance raise from Joe’s mom.

[01:04:43] Doug: She just said she’s gonna wait for it. ’cause this is so awesome. Triple what she’s giving me now. Wait a minute. Thanks to David Gillis for joining. Paul is cocking her head like weight, so they’re the one. Thanks to David Gillis for joining us today. Join David and Joe at David’s 1% Better Conference, happening February 21st and 22nd in Omaha, Omaha.

[01:05:12] Doug: Plus. We’ll also include links in our show notes at Stacking Benjamins dot com. Thanks to Paula Pant for hanging out with us today. You’ll find her fabulous podcast, afford anything wherever you listen to the Finest podcast. And finally, thanks to OG for joining us today. Looking for good financial planning.

[01:05:28] Doug: Help head to Stacking Benjamins dot com. OG for his calendar. This show is the Property of SP podcast LLC, copyright 2026, and is created by Joe Saul-Sehy. You’ll find out about our awesome team at Stacking Benjamins dot com, along with the show notes and how you can find us on YouTube and all the usual social media spots.

[01:05:52] Doug: Come say hello and oh yeah, before I go, not only should you not take advice from these nerds, don’t take advice from people you don’t know. This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any financial decisions, speak with a real financial advisor. I’m Joe’s mom’s neighbor, Doug, and we’ll see you next time back here at the Stacking Benjamin Show.

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