Money Governors
Money Governors
Money Governors
Money Governors
Breaking the money governor
I grew up obsessed with golf…my family owns a public course in Ohio.
Being a part of the family business, I got to learn a lot about the ins and outs of greenskeeping, equipment, etc.
If you lift up the seat on most golf carts, you’ll see all the inner workings of the motor and batteries.
In there is a lever called the governor.
The governor is a mechanical device that helps control the max speed of the cart.
Ever floored a golf cart and felt it max out at about ~15mph?
That’s because the governor was set to ensure drunk golfers don’t have uncontrolled speed to rip down hills and destroy the course.
Someone that knows what they’re doing can easily disable the governor to move much faster than everyone else.
I think about this often…most people are playing life with a governor on.
They have limits, often self-imposed, that control their thinking and keep their actions within set boundaries.
But if you can figure out how to remove the governor within your own mind, you’ll quickly realize the game can be played very differently.
There are all sorts of governors the average person plays with:
How they view money (i.e., max amounts someone should reasonably be able to earn)
How they view relationships (i.e., what they can and can’t do)
How they view schooling (i.e., do they need to complete X degree to do Y job)
Etc.
Most people don’t have an innate ability to break-free from their own governors. I definitely didn’t.
Unless you grow up in a family that trained you otherwise, it’s fairly typical to live within the rule set of mainstream society. What you see most often is what you assume is “right.”
It often takes an exogenous event to forcibly turn off one or more of your governors.
And once you do, it can either serve as a huge blindspot or a superpower.
The last crypto/NFT wave completely shattered my money governor. It no longer exists for me.
What does this mean tactically? I have a completely different relationship with money than I did before.
It’s like a chef that burned off the nerve endings in his/her fingers from repeatedly touching hot pans.
My money nerve endings…the innate sensitivity that society trains you to have with respect to spending/earning money…are out of commission.
And I share this because I find money psychology to be one of those things that’s super interesting to think through.
Before the crypto/NFT wave, I was fairly conservative with money. I loved thinking about it, but I didn’t like talking about it. I was worried about it a lot and focused on controlling my expenses as much as possible.
My mind was extremely constrained with respect to what was possible from an earnings perspective. For example, earning $50K/month (~$600K/year) seemed impossible to fathom.
Surely people do it, but it didn’t seem within a feasible grasp to comprehend without being a high-paid lawyer or corporate executive.
During the NFT wave, there were days when I was buying and selling $30K digital pictures. One click…$30K gone. It was common to receive 5 figure airdrops. I was willingly paying transaction fees of $200-$400 multiple times per day.
Now if you read that and thought, “holy shit this dude is insane,” that’s a completely appropriate response. That means your money governor is working.
For me, I got to a point where I didn’t even feel it.
I’d imagine this is what most gamblers or Wall Street traders feel like pretty early into their careers.
Now I share this because from a psychology perspective, it has resulted in some amazing pros and pretty scary cons (if left unchecked):
The pros:
I now believe that earning $100K+/month is not only achievable, it’s fairly reasonable if you’re working in a capacity that has unlimited upside
I don’t spend time sweating small expenses that won’t move the needle negatively in the long run (e.g., the $5 coffee is a rounding error)
I don’t chase earning opportunities that won’t move the needle positively in the long run (e.g., I won’t spend 10 hours on something that will earn $200)
The cons:
I don’t feel everyday expenses as much, so I have to be very careful with what I spend money on
I have anchored my income expectations for what’s possible much higher than “normal” which could set up a dangerous gap in financial happiness unless I hit it
Fortunately, I’m not a compulsive gambler and don’t have any bad money habits that would drive me to put a lot on the line on a daily basis.
One of the reasons I stepped away from web3 was because I started to feel a detachment from reality, especially financially.
It kind of feels like I got just enough of a dose to have opened my mind and broken the money governor, but not enough to destroy me forever.
In the long-run, I think this money mindset trade-off is going to be a positive one.
The number one factor is preventing people from achieving what they want financially is the limiting self-belief that their number isn’t reasonable to achieve.
I shattered my ability to be unreasonable in that department.
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
If you enjoyed this post and want more like it, you should subscribe to me weekly creator journal, Blueprint. Each week, I share metrics, ideas, frameworks, and experiments designed to supercharge your thinking about content & brand building in the modern age.
Breaking the money governor
I grew up obsessed with golf…my family owns a public course in Ohio.
Being a part of the family business, I got to learn a lot about the ins and outs of greenskeeping, equipment, etc.
If you lift up the seat on most golf carts, you’ll see all the inner workings of the motor and batteries.
In there is a lever called the governor.
The governor is a mechanical device that helps control the max speed of the cart.
Ever floored a golf cart and felt it max out at about ~15mph?
That’s because the governor was set to ensure drunk golfers don’t have uncontrolled speed to rip down hills and destroy the course.
Someone that knows what they’re doing can easily disable the governor to move much faster than everyone else.
I think about this often…most people are playing life with a governor on.
They have limits, often self-imposed, that control their thinking and keep their actions within set boundaries.
But if you can figure out how to remove the governor within your own mind, you’ll quickly realize the game can be played very differently.
There are all sorts of governors the average person plays with:
How they view money (i.e., max amounts someone should reasonably be able to earn)
How they view relationships (i.e., what they can and can’t do)
How they view schooling (i.e., do they need to complete X degree to do Y job)
Etc.
Most people don’t have an innate ability to break-free from their own governors. I definitely didn’t.
Unless you grow up in a family that trained you otherwise, it’s fairly typical to live within the rule set of mainstream society. What you see most often is what you assume is “right.”
It often takes an exogenous event to forcibly turn off one or more of your governors.
And once you do, it can either serve as a huge blindspot or a superpower.
The last crypto/NFT wave completely shattered my money governor. It no longer exists for me.
What does this mean tactically? I have a completely different relationship with money than I did before.
It’s like a chef that burned off the nerve endings in his/her fingers from repeatedly touching hot pans.
My money nerve endings…the innate sensitivity that society trains you to have with respect to spending/earning money…are out of commission.
And I share this because I find money psychology to be one of those things that’s super interesting to think through.
Before the crypto/NFT wave, I was fairly conservative with money. I loved thinking about it, but I didn’t like talking about it. I was worried about it a lot and focused on controlling my expenses as much as possible.
My mind was extremely constrained with respect to what was possible from an earnings perspective. For example, earning $50K/month (~$600K/year) seemed impossible to fathom.
Surely people do it, but it didn’t seem within a feasible grasp to comprehend without being a high-paid lawyer or corporate executive.
During the NFT wave, there were days when I was buying and selling $30K digital pictures. One click…$30K gone. It was common to receive 5 figure airdrops. I was willingly paying transaction fees of $200-$400 multiple times per day.
Now if you read that and thought, “holy shit this dude is insane,” that’s a completely appropriate response. That means your money governor is working.
For me, I got to a point where I didn’t even feel it.
I’d imagine this is what most gamblers or Wall Street traders feel like pretty early into their careers.
Now I share this because from a psychology perspective, it has resulted in some amazing pros and pretty scary cons (if left unchecked):
The pros:
I now believe that earning $100K+/month is not only achievable, it’s fairly reasonable if you’re working in a capacity that has unlimited upside
I don’t spend time sweating small expenses that won’t move the needle negatively in the long run (e.g., the $5 coffee is a rounding error)
I don’t chase earning opportunities that won’t move the needle positively in the long run (e.g., I won’t spend 10 hours on something that will earn $200)
The cons:
I don’t feel everyday expenses as much, so I have to be very careful with what I spend money on
I have anchored my income expectations for what’s possible much higher than “normal” which could set up a dangerous gap in financial happiness unless I hit it
Fortunately, I’m not a compulsive gambler and don’t have any bad money habits that would drive me to put a lot on the line on a daily basis.
One of the reasons I stepped away from web3 was because I started to feel a detachment from reality, especially financially.
It kind of feels like I got just enough of a dose to have opened my mind and broken the money governor, but not enough to destroy me forever.
In the long-run, I think this money mindset trade-off is going to be a positive one.
The number one factor is preventing people from achieving what they want financially is the limiting self-belief that their number isn’t reasonable to achieve.
I shattered my ability to be unreasonable in that department.
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
If you enjoyed this post and want more like it, you should subscribe to me weekly creator journal, Blueprint. Each week, I share metrics, ideas, frameworks, and experiments designed to supercharge your thinking about content & brand building in the modern age.
Breaking the money governor
I grew up obsessed with golf…my family owns a public course in Ohio.
Being a part of the family business, I got to learn a lot about the ins and outs of greenskeeping, equipment, etc.
If you lift up the seat on most golf carts, you’ll see all the inner workings of the motor and batteries.
In there is a lever called the governor.
The governor is a mechanical device that helps control the max speed of the cart.
Ever floored a golf cart and felt it max out at about ~15mph?
That’s because the governor was set to ensure drunk golfers don’t have uncontrolled speed to rip down hills and destroy the course.
Someone that knows what they’re doing can easily disable the governor to move much faster than everyone else.
I think about this often…most people are playing life with a governor on.
They have limits, often self-imposed, that control their thinking and keep their actions within set boundaries.
But if you can figure out how to remove the governor within your own mind, you’ll quickly realize the game can be played very differently.
There are all sorts of governors the average person plays with:
How they view money (i.e., max amounts someone should reasonably be able to earn)
How they view relationships (i.e., what they can and can’t do)
How they view schooling (i.e., do they need to complete X degree to do Y job)
Etc.
Most people don’t have an innate ability to break-free from their own governors. I definitely didn’t.
Unless you grow up in a family that trained you otherwise, it’s fairly typical to live within the rule set of mainstream society. What you see most often is what you assume is “right.”
It often takes an exogenous event to forcibly turn off one or more of your governors.
And once you do, it can either serve as a huge blindspot or a superpower.
The last crypto/NFT wave completely shattered my money governor. It no longer exists for me.
What does this mean tactically? I have a completely different relationship with money than I did before.
It’s like a chef that burned off the nerve endings in his/her fingers from repeatedly touching hot pans.
My money nerve endings…the innate sensitivity that society trains you to have with respect to spending/earning money…are out of commission.
And I share this because I find money psychology to be one of those things that’s super interesting to think through.
Before the crypto/NFT wave, I was fairly conservative with money. I loved thinking about it, but I didn’t like talking about it. I was worried about it a lot and focused on controlling my expenses as much as possible.
My mind was extremely constrained with respect to what was possible from an earnings perspective. For example, earning $50K/month (~$600K/year) seemed impossible to fathom.
Surely people do it, but it didn’t seem within a feasible grasp to comprehend without being a high-paid lawyer or corporate executive.
During the NFT wave, there were days when I was buying and selling $30K digital pictures. One click…$30K gone. It was common to receive 5 figure airdrops. I was willingly paying transaction fees of $200-$400 multiple times per day.
Now if you read that and thought, “holy shit this dude is insane,” that’s a completely appropriate response. That means your money governor is working.
For me, I got to a point where I didn’t even feel it.
I’d imagine this is what most gamblers or Wall Street traders feel like pretty early into their careers.
Now I share this because from a psychology perspective, it has resulted in some amazing pros and pretty scary cons (if left unchecked):
The pros:
I now believe that earning $100K+/month is not only achievable, it’s fairly reasonable if you’re working in a capacity that has unlimited upside
I don’t spend time sweating small expenses that won’t move the needle negatively in the long run (e.g., the $5 coffee is a rounding error)
I don’t chase earning opportunities that won’t move the needle positively in the long run (e.g., I won’t spend 10 hours on something that will earn $200)
The cons:
I don’t feel everyday expenses as much, so I have to be very careful with what I spend money on
I have anchored my income expectations for what’s possible much higher than “normal” which could set up a dangerous gap in financial happiness unless I hit it
Fortunately, I’m not a compulsive gambler and don’t have any bad money habits that would drive me to put a lot on the line on a daily basis.
One of the reasons I stepped away from web3 was because I started to feel a detachment from reality, especially financially.
It kind of feels like I got just enough of a dose to have opened my mind and broken the money governor, but not enough to destroy me forever.
In the long-run, I think this money mindset trade-off is going to be a positive one.
The number one factor is preventing people from achieving what they want financially is the limiting self-belief that their number isn’t reasonable to achieve.
I shattered my ability to be unreasonable in that department.
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
If you enjoyed this post and want more like it, you should subscribe to me weekly creator journal, Blueprint. Each week, I share metrics, ideas, frameworks, and experiments designed to supercharge your thinking about content & brand building in the modern age.
Breaking the money governor
I grew up obsessed with golf…my family owns a public course in Ohio.
Being a part of the family business, I got to learn a lot about the ins and outs of greenskeeping, equipment, etc.
If you lift up the seat on most golf carts, you’ll see all the inner workings of the motor and batteries.
In there is a lever called the governor.
The governor is a mechanical device that helps control the max speed of the cart.
Ever floored a golf cart and felt it max out at about ~15mph?
That’s because the governor was set to ensure drunk golfers don’t have uncontrolled speed to rip down hills and destroy the course.
Someone that knows what they’re doing can easily disable the governor to move much faster than everyone else.
I think about this often…most people are playing life with a governor on.
They have limits, often self-imposed, that control their thinking and keep their actions within set boundaries.
But if you can figure out how to remove the governor within your own mind, you’ll quickly realize the game can be played very differently.
There are all sorts of governors the average person plays with:
How they view money (i.e., max amounts someone should reasonably be able to earn)
How they view relationships (i.e., what they can and can’t do)
How they view schooling (i.e., do they need to complete X degree to do Y job)
Etc.
Most people don’t have an innate ability to break-free from their own governors. I definitely didn’t.
Unless you grow up in a family that trained you otherwise, it’s fairly typical to live within the rule set of mainstream society. What you see most often is what you assume is “right.”
It often takes an exogenous event to forcibly turn off one or more of your governors.
And once you do, it can either serve as a huge blindspot or a superpower.
The last crypto/NFT wave completely shattered my money governor. It no longer exists for me.
What does this mean tactically? I have a completely different relationship with money than I did before.
It’s like a chef that burned off the nerve endings in his/her fingers from repeatedly touching hot pans.
My money nerve endings…the innate sensitivity that society trains you to have with respect to spending/earning money…are out of commission.
And I share this because I find money psychology to be one of those things that’s super interesting to think through.
Before the crypto/NFT wave, I was fairly conservative with money. I loved thinking about it, but I didn’t like talking about it. I was worried about it a lot and focused on controlling my expenses as much as possible.
My mind was extremely constrained with respect to what was possible from an earnings perspective. For example, earning $50K/month (~$600K/year) seemed impossible to fathom.
Surely people do it, but it didn’t seem within a feasible grasp to comprehend without being a high-paid lawyer or corporate executive.
During the NFT wave, there were days when I was buying and selling $30K digital pictures. One click…$30K gone. It was common to receive 5 figure airdrops. I was willingly paying transaction fees of $200-$400 multiple times per day.
Now if you read that and thought, “holy shit this dude is insane,” that’s a completely appropriate response. That means your money governor is working.
For me, I got to a point where I didn’t even feel it.
I’d imagine this is what most gamblers or Wall Street traders feel like pretty early into their careers.
Now I share this because from a psychology perspective, it has resulted in some amazing pros and pretty scary cons (if left unchecked):
The pros:
I now believe that earning $100K+/month is not only achievable, it’s fairly reasonable if you’re working in a capacity that has unlimited upside
I don’t spend time sweating small expenses that won’t move the needle negatively in the long run (e.g., the $5 coffee is a rounding error)
I don’t chase earning opportunities that won’t move the needle positively in the long run (e.g., I won’t spend 10 hours on something that will earn $200)
The cons:
I don’t feel everyday expenses as much, so I have to be very careful with what I spend money on
I have anchored my income expectations for what’s possible much higher than “normal” which could set up a dangerous gap in financial happiness unless I hit it
Fortunately, I’m not a compulsive gambler and don’t have any bad money habits that would drive me to put a lot on the line on a daily basis.
One of the reasons I stepped away from web3 was because I started to feel a detachment from reality, especially financially.
It kind of feels like I got just enough of a dose to have opened my mind and broken the money governor, but not enough to destroy me forever.
In the long-run, I think this money mindset trade-off is going to be a positive one.
The number one factor is preventing people from achieving what they want financially is the limiting self-belief that their number isn’t reasonable to achieve.
I shattered my ability to be unreasonable in that department.
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
If you enjoyed this post and want more like it, you should subscribe to me weekly creator journal, Blueprint. Each week, I share metrics, ideas, frameworks, and experiments designed to supercharge your thinking about content & brand building in the modern age.