growing up – How To Be A Grown Man

The Power of Perseverance: How These Great People Overcame Adversity to Achieve Success

May 2, 2023jessehendonLeave a comment

We all face challenges in life, but what sets great people apart is their ability to push through adversity and come out stronger. In this post, we’ll explore the inspiring stories of Alexander the Great, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela, and sports legends like Michael Jordan and Drew Brees, who overcame obstacles and achieved greatness.

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great was a Greek king and military commander who conquered much of the known world in the 4th century BC. Despite the challenges he faced, Alexander remained a fearless and determined leader who was able to inspire his troops and overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Some of the challenges he faced include:

His father was assassinated when he was 20 years old.
His army had to endure extreme temperatures, dangerous wildlife, and difficult terrain as they made their way across vast distances.
His conquests took him through harsh and unforgiving environments, including deserts, mountains, and swamps.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 32nd President of the United States and is widely regarded as one of the greatest American presidents in history. He led the United States through some of its greatest challenges, including the Great Depression and World War II. Throughout his presidency he launched Social Security which was a safety net for older folks, a work program that put millions of people back to work and the FDIC which helped protect people from bank failures. Despite his achievements, Roosevelt faced significant challenges throughout his life, including:

Contracting polio at the age of 39, which left him paralyzed from the waist down.
Facing skepticism from many Americans who believed he couldn’t effectively lead the country from a wheelchair.

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison as a political prisoner fighting against apartheid in South Africa. He endured brutal imprisonment and isolation, confined to a tiny cell and forced to do hard labor in the blazing sun. Raised in a regime that removed black people from their homes in mixed-race neighborhoods and resettled them in townships on the outskirts of cities, he fought tirelessly to end apartheid and bring about reconciliation and unity in South Africa.

Sports Legends

There are tireless examples of people in sports who overcame adversity. Michael Jordan didn’t make his high school team and went on to lead the Bulls to six rings and lead the conversation as the greatest of all time. Drew Brees tore his shoulder in San Diego and it was thought he’d never play football again. He went on to win a Super Bowl and was one of the greatest quarterbacks of this generation. Muhammad Ali lost 3.5 years of boxing because he refused to fight in Vietnam. Mario Lemieux came back and led his team to the Stanley Cup after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

No matter what obstacles you’re facing, remember that you have the power to overcome them. Take inspiration from these great people and never give up on your dreams.

Life Skills that Should be taught in school – Financial Management

January 4, 2023jessehendonLeave a comment

“To be or not to be, that is the question.” How about to be broke or not be broke? I’ve never in my life had to go back to the lessons of Shakespeare when making an important decision, but you bet your bottom dollar that I’ve had to know the basics of finance to live!

Financial management includes skills such as budgeting, saving, investing, and managing debt. I’m going to try and keep all of this fairly high level and we can deep dive each of these skills in a separate post. For now, let’s get tot he basics of Financial management skill that should be taught to children in schools.

This is how you create your budget
1. Know your income: Start by figuring out how much money you have coming in each month. ALL OF IT.
2. Identify your fixed expenses: Monthly bills that don’t vary, such as rent or mortgage payments, car payments, and insurance premiums.
3. Identify your variable expenses: Bills that can change from month to month, such as groceries, utilities, and entertainment (Watch this one closely).
4. Track your spending: For a few weeks and then a few months, keep track of all the money you spend, ALL OF THE MONEY. This will help you see where your money is going and identify areas where you may be able to cut back (I’m looking at you fancy dinners & club nights!).
5. Create a budget: Use the information you gathered to create a budget that outlines your income and expenses. Make sure to allocate enough money to cover your fixed expenses and to set aside money for savings.
  1. Set fun money aside in your budget. Live your life, just don’t sacrifice your future! Call it, My Fun Money.
6. Stick to your budget: Once you have created a budget, try to stick to it as closely as possible. This requires discipline..
7. Review your budget regularly: If it ain’t tracked, it doesn’t matter.
Saving – The process of setting aside a portion of your income for the future, rather than spending it all
1. Open a checking and savings account with a bank that will also give you a free brokerage account
  1. From your budget, pay yourself. Seriously, you always need to save a portion of your income for your future self. Sacrifice other shit to do this if necessary. I personally like to have my cash needs in checking, emergency reserves in savings or short term TBills (see brokerage account) and then all else in my brokerage account.
2. Set financial goals: Identify what you want to save for, such as an emergency fund, a down payment on a house, a trip, a lifestyle, a car or retirement. Money, like everything else, requires a plan.
3. Automate your savings: Set up automatic transfers from your checking account to a savings account & brokerage. Stop yourself from forgetting.
4. Cut expenses: Look for ways to reduce your expenses, such as by negotiating bills or shopping around for the best prices.
  1. It’s OK to negotiate, it’s money in your pocket or theirs.
5. Increase your income: Consider ways to increase your income, such as by asking for a raise at work or starting a side hustle.
  1. Know your worth and don’t be afraid to get more.
6. Save your windfalls: When you receive unexpected money, such as a bonus or a tax refund, put it into savings rather than spending it.
7. Avoid debt: Debt can be a major drain on your finances, so try to avoid taking on unnecessary debt whenever possible. (See Below, not always bad)
Investing – The act of putting money into financial assets or other resources with the expectation of earning a profit or growing your money in the future. Before doing this, there’s a few things you need to know. This is a VERY basic outline, we’ll deep dive these lessons in future posts.
1. Risk Tolerance – Investing comes with the potential to lose. You’ll hear it said, high risk, high return. The flip side of this is high risk, lose it all!
  1. A very famous investor, Warren Buffet once said, “there are two rules to investing. First, never lose money. Second, never forget rule one!”
  2. How much risk are you willing to take?
2. Choose your investments (Building your porfolio): There are many different types of investments, including stocks, bonds, real estate, and small businesses.
  1. Stocks are bets on a company’s future success.
    1. There are two primary ways you can make money on this investment.
      1. Fellow investors believe this company will continue to do better and they’ll buy the stock, thus, increasing demand and lowering the supply available. This will push the price up.
      2. The company you invest in pays back parts of it’s profits to shareholders (people who own the stock) in terms of a dividend and you can accumulate dividend payments over time.
    2. There are two primary ways to invest in stocks
      1. Bet on individual company’s
        
        If you believe a company is going to be successful in the future ie you see a bunch of your friends buying a certain company’s product – you can buy shares in that company
      2. Buy a bunch of stocks through index funds or mutual funds (ask your mother Jameson!)
        
        My recommended philosophy is buy the indexes. The S&P 500 is a basket of 500 American stocks. You are betting on the success of US Business. As of January 2023, I think it’s still a good long term, set it and forget it bet!
    3. The Risk: You could lose your money if the value of the stock goes down. If the company goes bankrupt, you could lose your total investment in that company.
  2. Bonds – Lending money to companies or governments
    1. Just like when you give put your money in a bank and gain interest, you can lend money to companies or governments for a set interest rate.
    2. Just like stocks, there are two primary ways to invest in bonds.
      1. Buy direct: You can buy bonds from the government direct or you can buy company bonds through a brokerage account.
      2. Through a basket of bonds through Exchange Traded Funds or managed Mutual Funds.
        
        This spreads your risk so you aren’t at the mercy of one company or government.
    3. The Risk: A company or government could “default” on their debt and you lose the money you lent to them
  3. Real Estate – Investing in real estate involves the purchase, ownership, management, or sale of real estate property for the purpose of generating a profit. (I’m purposely keeping this simple for the blog post here!)
    1. There are several types of real estate investments, including residential properties (such as single-family homes and apartments), commercial properties (such as office buildings and retail spaces), and raw land. Each type of investment has its own set of risks and potential returns.
    2. There are 2 common ways to invest in real estate when you are getting started
      1. Buy a property and rent that property out for a dollar amount higher than your monthly expense to own and maintain
      2. Buy a property that you think could sell for more than you are buying it for, especially if you make improvements to the property.
    3. The Risk: You could be stuck holding onto and paying into a property that isn’t making money and losing you money
Debt Management
1. It’s inevitable that you are going to accumulate debt at some point in your life. This could be student loans, car loans, mortgage, credit cards, etc… Here’s a few steps to manage that debt and hopefully, pay it off!
  1. Make a list of your debts: Gather all of your bills and statements and make a list of your debts, including who you owe, interest rates, and minimum monthly payment for each debt.
  2. Prioritize your debts: Consider which debts are most important to pay off first. For example, you may want to focus on high-interest debts or debts with late fees first.
  3. Create a budget: A budget can help you understand your income and expenses and identify areas where you may be able to cut back on spending. Use your budget to allocate funds towards paying off your debts. Of course, remember savings, pay yourself first!
  4. Make more than the minimum payment: Pay more than the minimum payment on your debts each month, if possible, pay it all off! This can help you pay off your debts more quickly and save on interest.

I have never had to use Shakespeare – A focus on REAL Life Skills

January 2, 2023jessehendonLeave a comment

As a grown man, there are a lot of life skills that you are not taught in school. This is unfortunate. Never in my life have I had to use Shakespeare, never. However I spent hours and hours in class and outside of class reading and analyzing his writing.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to start thinking about teaching life skills first and liberal arts skills last. Education should be approached like Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. Maybe we should teach people how to survive before trying to get to enlightenment. Schools are taking the wrong approach.

Over the next series of HTBGM, we’re going to focus on life skills. I think the following 10 life skills are a great place to start. Let’s get you focused on the things that matter and save Shakespeare for a depressing, rainy, English day!

Financial management: Budgeting, saving, investing, and managing debt.
Health & Fitness: How to feed yourself and take care of your body
Communication: Verbal and nonverbal communication skills, as well as the ability to listen actively and effectively convey ideas.
Problem-solving: The ability to identify problems, generate solutions, and make decisions.
Conflict resolution: This includes the ability to handle conflicts and disputes in a constructive and meaningful way.
Interpersonal skills: This includes the ability to establish and maintain relationships with others, as well as to work effectively as part of a team.
Survival Skills: How to take care of yourself when there’s no one else to take care of you and / or when shit goes down.
Business Skills: How to survive and thrive at the workplace.
Basic home maintenance: This includes skills such as changing a tire, fixing a leaky faucet, or replacing a light fixture.
Emergency preparedness: This includes knowing how to respond to emergencies and natural disasters, and having a plan in place for these types of events.

Self Actualization Through Visualization and Action

July 6, 2022jessehendonLeave a comment

According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, self-actualization represents the highest-order motivations. Those which drive us to realize our true potential and achieve our “ideal self.” Self Actualization requires vision. The vision requires repeated action to become a reality. Through the combination of vision and action, there are endless possibilities.

If you are looking to make something great of yourself, you need to set priorities and goals which will set you up for a better and bigger future. Alexander the Great was the first person called The Great because he envisioned a unified Greece and he did it. He was the first to actively pursue a unified world. What’s your unified world vision?

Life is exactly what you make out of it. You can write your own story. We all are. The question is are you willing to go and make it. Your potential is limitless. It’s action that takes effort.

If you want your goals and dreams to come to life, you must first know what your goals are, write them down and ask friends and family to help hold you accountable. Setting goals for the long term and short term is going to be one thing that makes your life better and easier because you are going to have something to strive for and known targets you are aiming at.

Never give up and pursue goals worth pursuing. They are what get you out of bed in the morning. Be prepared to work hard at your goals, nothing worth doing is ever achieved easily.

Genghis Khan once conquered Mongolia, China, Russia, Korea and Syria. He was in control. You need to recognize that you are the one that is in control of your life. When there is something that you really want to have, you should pursue it with ferocity. Nothing is scarier than a person motivated to do something with a single pursuited purpose.

I recommend the exercise of illustrating what you want and then creating the exact plan that needs to be executed to get there. Mahatma Gandhi wanted India to be independent from the oppression of their British colonialists. He understood in order to create a movement, he’d need to do so through unorthodox means that created sympathy to their struggle. By using non-violent means of protest and flexing the new medium of television, he could get the attention necessary to get the world behind his movement. He was in control and had a mapped out plan. You should always know that you are going to be in control of a situation. When you are not happy with something that you are doing you should go out there and make your life just how you want it to be.

Do not be afraid of your goals, of making them bigger and doing what you want to do in life. Make goals that are exciting, get you eager to take action and then go do the damn thing!. There is nothing out there that should stop.

From there, your attitude is your latitude. Stay positive, work through the hardships, create a plan and stick to it until you need to pivot. Visualize, take action and follow through. The rest will handle itself.

New Junkie Stress Disorder (TM Pending)

July 5, 2022jessehendonLeave a comment

You’re constantly watching CNN for their coverage of the January 6th trials or the war in Ukraine. You spend days fixated on Fox News for their take on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe V Wade decision. You go down a reddit rabbit holes on Q, Hunter Biden and the latest shooting. You are plugged in.

If you can’t go a single day, nay hour, without knowing what’s going on and feel out of the loop if there is a news event that you are not familiar with, then you suffer from News Junkie Stress Disorder (I made the disorder up, trademark is pending!).

The desire to be informed is certainly a positive quality. After all, it’s in our genes. We had to know if there was a lion in a field far away or if danger lurked around the bush. Knowledge isn’t just power, it keeps us alive!

Also, in a democracy, there’s value in having an informed citizenry. Knowing about current events can help you to protect your property, improve your health and protect the lives of yourself and your family. People who ignore current events altogether do so at their peril.

However, being addicted to news is a huge cause of stress. Our ancestors had to know about the lions in a certain cave, but they didn’t have to know everything happening around their country or the globe at every second! That’s in addition to dealing with your own problems. If you combine Donald Trump, Joe Biden, a school shooting and your missed grocery store stop, you’re going to have a lot going on everyday!

If you have to be aware of the major issue of the day, everyday and combine that with the stress of life, it’s anxiety inducing. You might find yourself depressed, anxious, worried, fearful and apprehensive at all moments. It can be particularly troubling hearing about a news event and feeling as if you’re powerless to respond, because you are. That, paired on top of the rest of life, is way too much.

Let’s take a little quiz to see if you may be putting yourself into this category or news junkie stress disorder.. Do you watch more than two hours a day of cable news? Do you read more than one major paper? Do you listen to any news podcasts or news talk radio for more than an hour a day? Are you on the Internet for more than 2 hours a day, reading twitter headlines or Apple News or Google News?

If you answered “yes” to the preceding questions, you are in jeopardy of harming your emotional, spiritual and physical health through excessive stress. Watching television or listening to talk radio is not a passive experience, it takes a toll on your nerves. You become edgy. You feel high-strung. You might find it increasingly difficult to concentrate because you’re distracted by the latest bombing, or scandal. You become increasing irritability and can’t to stay calm in stressful situations.

Information overload is a stress inducing experience. There’s a reason military’s incorporate noises and lights in their interrogation processes. If you’re diagnosed with News Junkie Stress Disorder, you need to unplug. You have crossed the line from informed, and are now overwhelmed. It’s time to take steps to protect yourself against this stress.

I’m a fan of quitting cold turkey. This is how I quit smoking cigarettes many years ago, I just stopped. However, for those who need to taper, begin with limiting the amount of time you spend on cable news. Watch the headlines at the beginning of the day and the end. On occasion, you might want to catch a deep dive, in order to hear in-depth reporting of a particular issue. On those occasions, limit your time to an hour.

Also, cut the amount of time you spend on your phone hunting down headlines. In many cases, just knowing the headlines is enough. You don’t need the death toll minute-by-minute in order to form a viewpoint about the latest tragedy. In addition, reading just one major newspapers each day should provide you with enough information to have a good understanding of the major issues of the day. You don’t need multiple subscriptions. Most of the stories will be the same.

Being informed can give you a sense of power and awareness. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be on top of the issues. But taking it too far can lead to extreme stress. If the news is becoming overwhelming, turn off the TV, turn off your phone, sit back and relax. You may want to go on a run, walk the dog, go to the park or shoot some hoops. You’ll most likely find that being outside and getting Vitamin D makes you happier than watching the news! I promise, if you step back your news consumption, your happiness will increase by the multiple of the time you stop consuming.

The Grown Ups Guide to Life Insurance

June 14, 2022jessehendonLeave a comment

A nationwide study on life insurance recently completed by Forbes Learnvest revealed that 57% of respondents owned life insurance. Good news right, however only 28% were “extremely confident” about their understanding of their coverage or how life insurance works. 66% of study respondents had a poor understanding of how they would access their money when their loved ones die. A little side note, the insurance company would probably appreciate you not knowing how to access the money as well.

So let’s get down to the basics here. Life insurance is a policy that will pay money to a named beneficiary (most likely spouse or children) upon your death. This is a vehicle to help protect your loved ones if you were to die before you got old. In most cases it provides cash to pay for your family to maintain their lifestyle and education expectations if one or both of the parents die while they are still raising children. It could also be good to have if you are going to protect your loved ones from your financial obligations When you purchase the policy, you determine the amount of coverage you need. There are many types of life insurance available, let’s explore a few of them here.

FIRST: DO YOU EVEN NEED THIS?

If you ask a nail maker if you need nails, they’ll give you a hundred reasons why you need nails. The same thing goes for life insurance salespeople! In my opinion there is really one reason you are going to need life insurance, family. If you have a family that is dependent on your resources for their well being and survival, you need life insurance. Your children are going to be dependent upon you financially for at least 18 years (most likely more) and you want to hedge against them not being financially OK if something happens to you.

How Much Do I Need?

An easy rule of thumb is you get enough to cover a large portion of your annual expenses and cover debts that are outstanding. For example, you could add your mortgage, annual expenses and tuition costs for a 4 year institution and base you amount of coverage on this. Of course, you may do more or less based on your budget or ability to self insure (the latter meaning you’ve done well, congratulations!).

TERM AND WHOLE AND UNIVERSAL LIFE

Universal life sounds like a church you may want to warn your friends about if they are going to join (I say this as a licensed internet minister of the Universal Life Church)! In all seriousness, there are a few different types of life insurance policies in the market and the easiest way to distinguish b/w them is temporary vs permanent. Let’s get into those differences now.

Term insurance is the least expensive plan you will find on the open market. There are typically 2 ways you can buy term insurance. One is through your employer through your benefits package. This will typically not be a large policy, but often the employer will allow 2-5 times your annual income and it’s very inexpensive. If you have a need, this will get you part of the way there, very cheap! The other way is to buy a 10, 20 or 30 year policy on the open market. These policies, while not as cheap as your employers, are the least expensive manner in which to protect your family for financial loss if you die. Let’s give a scenario to explain how this works.

First, an understanding of how Life Insurance companies decide how much they collect from you each month in exchange for how much your family gets if you die. Remember, this could mess with your head a bit, but this is money you will NEVER see, but you are buying so those around you don’t suffer. Now to the meat and potatoes. Your monthly premiums are what you pay to insure the company pays if you die. These rates with life insurance are typically based on your present age today, your health, your family history, whether or not you smoke or work in a dangerous industry or spend your spare time jumping out of airplanes and shooting off fireworks. Those last 2 activities could get you denied coverage!

The gist here, the younger and healthier you are, the lower your risk is to the insurance company that you are going to die within the term of the policy and thus the less money you have to pay in insurance premiums. The opposite is also a factor. Let’s say Sarah is a 26 year old girl who works out, doesn’t smoke and eats food from Whole Foods everyday. She’s a much lower risk than John who is 45, hasn’t exercised in 5 years and lives on a steady diet of Cheetos and Bud Light. Who do you think is going to have more healthy years ahead. Just don’t ask my dad because he’d swear that John will outlive Sarah!

When you buy term insurance, you are buying a set amount of time to insure yourself, at a specific amount of money, say $300,000 to $2,000,000 and it’s typically 10-30 years. This is the most basic type of life insurance and the easiest to understand. It’s very straightforward and unless you are working with a financial professional who has a deep understanding of overfunding insurance products for cash value pull outs, this is really the only type of life insurance you’ll need over time. You die, family gets paid, you live, family keeps you!

Whole life is a policy that does what it says, it’s going to protect you for your whole life. The insurance company set’s a premium knowing that as long as you pay, they are going to have to pay out sometime. It could be today, it could be in 50 years. That said, they know they will have to pay and they set your premiums to reflect that. That’s why whole life is so much more expensive than term. The insurance company is placing a bet they only imagine they will lose, so they need to find a way to profit!

These policies are also unique in that they carry a cash value and allow you to borrow, tax-free, against the policy’s cash value during your lifetime. Of course, the policy’s cash value changes over time and is lower than the total sum of the death benefit it provides.

I know your going to ask, so, how exactly does cash value accumulate in your permanent life insurance policy?

According to our friends at investopedia “When you make premium payments on a cash-value life insurance policy, one portion of the payment is allotted to the policy’s death benefit (based on your age, your health, and other underwriting factors). The second portion covers the insurance company’s operating costs and profits. The rest of the premium payment will go toward your policy’s cash value. The life insurance company generally invests this money in a conservative-yield investment. As you continue to pay premiums on the policy and earn more interest, the cash value grows over the years.”

They also go on to explain that in the early years, the cost of insuring you is lower so more of your cash value goes into the permanent cash feature. Then as you get older, more of the premium is going to pay for the insurance.

There’s all types of things you could do with the cash, but I recommend a professional to help you out there! I just remind you that Whole Life is designed to do just that. A policy that can last your whole life.

Universal Life is the final type of policy we’ll address here. Universal policies are similar to Whole Life policies in that they are permanent protection, however they’re a bit different. They tend to run a little less expensive than Whole Life, but there’s a bit more complexity. It’s not a set it and forget purchase, but if you put the work in, you could save over whole life insurance over time.

There are multiple types of Universal policies on the market today and most of them are relatively complex. If you are interested in a Universal policy, I’d recommend working with an advisor that yoy trust.

Life Insurance plans also offer a series of optional add ons known as riders. Here are a few of them to consider when looking at your policy. Critical Illness and Chronic Illness riders are there to pay money if you get a critical illness or a chronic illness. The critical illness rider is typically set amount of money for cancer, heart disease etc… The chronic illness rider allows you to access your policy amount if a physician says you have 12 months to live or less. Other riders include Accidental Death or Double indemnity if you die in an accident. This basically means if you die with a certain accident or an accident period, your family gets much more money. There are riders for spouses (insure your spouse), waiver of premium (if you are disabled and can’t work, the premiums are waived), Child term rider (insure your child) and Long Term Care riders. LTC rider states that if you cannot do 2 activities of daily living, such as cleaning, using the restroom, moving yourself around, cooking for yourself etc., the policy will allow you to use your benefit amount to pay for someone to do these things for you. It’s an expensive rider and a type of policy we’ll dig into in a later article, but it’s a great way to protect yourself against a long term care need.

Life insurance is complicated! I recommend speaking to a broker or advisor to discuss your needs. The good news, you can throw a rock in a crowded space and hit a licensed life insurance rep! I hope this primer provided you the guidance to help make the process a bit less confusing!

10 Benefits Of Travel – Get Out There

June 10, 2022jessehendonLeave a comment

The more people you meet around your country and around the world, the more you realize how similar we are and how different we aren’t. People are people around the world. They want to take care of their families, have positive relationships with others and typically enjoy good food and good times. We aren’t that different.
The world is full of magical and diverse landscapes. The more you see, the more you’ll value this planet’s beauty. Blue warm waters, volcanoes (live and dormant), canyons, animal species, natural formations and night skies that light up green, blue and purple. The world is a magical place
Pushing your comfort zone makes you a stronger individual. Traveling to new places forces you into the position of being an outsider. When you return to your present place, you’ll have more empathy for the outsiders close to you. EQ is a driver of personal growth and professional success.
If you travel to a foreign country and learn the language, you are lowering your risk of Dementia and Alzheimer’s in the future. Learning new languages can also help you better understand your own language!
Traveling increases your creativity. You’ll be better able to “think outside of the box” because you’ll be spending time outside of yours! This will make you automatically more creative.
Traveling boosts your confidence. As you navigate new and strange situations, they become normal. As you have events happen in life that could be outside of the norm for some folks, there’s a better chance you’ve experienced it! The more familiar strange situations become, the more confident you will be in these situations.
Traveling exposes you to more personalities. If you have to deal with people for any part of your professional life, understanding personalities is a HUGE benefit. As you travel, you begin to understand how culture drives people to act as they do. This will help you in your future negotiations and relationships.
Traveling gives you interesting stories to tell! As you go through life, you’ll find interesting people like to be surrounded by other interesting people! If you have a random story about riding an elephant through the bush or navigating a school of fish while snorkeling in Thailand, that’ll make folks want to hang out with you!
Traveling allows you an opportunity to reflect internally. How do you respond to being an outsider? How are you navigating these new situations? How are your nonverbal communication skills in a land where you don’t know the language? Self recognition is an important part of self development, travel opens this part of your brain.
Travel forces you to get out there. You have to get on a plane or in a car and go somewhere. You have to plan. You have to create action to make the travel happen and then create a plan to make the travel worthwhile (site seeing, going out to eat, activities). A body in motion stays in motion. Start traveling and you may keep that action in your everyday life!

5 Books that have greatly influenced my life

June 8, 2022jessehendonLeave a comment

It’s often said the average CEO reads 60 books a year, while the average worker reads less than one! I don’t know if this is true or not, but personally, I try to read or listen to 25 – 30 books a year. I wish I could do more, but alas, time doesn’t always permit me to. The 5 books below have influenced my life and how I think. I could make this list 10 – 15, but for the interest of time, I’ll keep it pared to 5! Next time I’ll create the 20 books that everyone should read. Until then, please do yourself a favor and check one of these out for your next read.

Side note, the links below are not affiliate links, I don’t make a commission for checking these out. Seriously, they’re just great books!

Atomic Habits – James Clear – The 1st law (Cue): Make it obvious. The 2nd law (Craving): Make it attractive. The 3rd law (Response): Make it easy. The 4th law (Reward): Make it satisfying.

Tools of Titans – Tim Ferriss – Tidbits of information from Tim’s long form interviews on his podcast in the areas of Health, Wealth and Wisdom. Tim’s podcast was my gateway drug into podcasts and was instrumental in how I think about learning and asking quesitons.

David and Goliath – Malcolm Gladwell – There’s always a story behind the story and Malcolm teases these out like no other. For example, did you know that shepherds were experts with slingshots?!

Kitchen Confidential – Anthony Bourdain – This book taught me that butter and fats make everything better. It also gave me a whole new perspective on food, chasing goals and grit.

When Genius Fails – Roger Lowenstein – The first hedge fund that failed and was saved by the government, in my life, was Long Term Capital Management. The smartest people in the room were right all the time, until they were wrong. Ego is the enemy (which would also be book 6, but this list stops at 5!)

The Best Damn Cinnamon Buns On The Planet

June 6, 2022June 6, 2022jessehendonLeave a comment

This recipe has been slightly tweaked from the Bread Illustrated Cook Book from America’s Test Kitchen. This book has been instrumental in my baking journey and I can’t recommend it enough! I don’t get a commission for this recommendation.

Cinnamon buns will bring a smile to anyone’s face, at any time. This may not be a full on scientific fact, but I’ve yet to have someone disappointed when I bring Cinnamon buns for breakfast, desserts or as a snack. Ever!

These Cinnamon buns specifically have never disappointed. From my first attempt to my most recent, they always kill! I suppose it’s hard to go wrong with sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, cream cheese, flour and even more sugar! These treats are a delight and will keep your family and friends happy for years to come. Enjoy!

Ingredients (prepare before hand!)

Dough

21.25 ounces all purpose flour
2 ounces cornstarch
2.25 teaspoons instant or rapid rise yeast
1.5 teaspoons salt
6 ounces whole milk at room temperature
3 large eggs at room temperature
3.5 ounces granulated sugar
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (don’t use salted butter), softened at room temp

Filing

10.5 ounces light brown sugar
1.5 tablespoons ground cinnamon
.25 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temp

Glaze

6.5 ounces confectioners sugar
4.5 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon whole milk
1.25 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the dough: Whisk flour, cornstarch, yeast and salt together in the bowl of the stand mixer. Whisk the milk, eggs and sugar in a liquid measuring cup until sugar has dissolved.
Using the dough hook on low speed, slowly add the milky egg mixture to the dry mix and mix until cohesive dough starts to form and no dry flour remains. This should take about 2 minutes and you should scrape the bowl down as needed. Increase the speed to medium low and add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time and continue until the butter is fully incorporated, smooth and elastic. It should clear the sides of the bowl. This should take about 8-9 minutes.
1. Pro Tip, make sure the butter is not cold, but at room temperature when you add to the mix. If it’s cold it’ll take longer to break down and mix in.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured counter and knead by had to form a smooth and round ball. This will take about 30 seconds. You can also form the ball by hand. Place the dough seam side down in a lightly greased bowl (you can use butter or oil, I typically just use a small bit of olive oil), cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size (around 2 – 3 hours).

Make a foil sling for a 13X9 inch baking pan by folding long sheets of aluminum foil. The first sheet of aluminum foil should be 13 inches wide and the second sheet should be 9 inches wide. Lay the sheets of foil in a pan perpendicular to each other with extra foil hanging over the edges of the pan. Push the foil to the corners and up the sides of the pan. Smooth the foil fluch to the pan and cover with cooking spray or a small amount of olive oil. The oil & spray will help flatten.

For the filling: Combine the sugar, cinnamon and salt into a bowl. Press down the dough to deflate, then spread it to a lightly floured counter. Press and roll the dough into an 18 – 20 inch square (the wider you go, the more margin for error when you roll it up). Spread softened butter over the dough, leaving 1 inch border around the edges. Sprinkle with sugar / cinnamon mixture, leaving a border at the edges and spread evenly.

Roll the dough away from you into a firm cylinder, keeping the roll tight and snug by tucking it under itself as you go. Push and pinch the seam closed and shape the cylinder as needed to be 18 inches in length with uniform thickness. If there’s extra dough on each side, cut off with a serrated knife (this will help with uniform visual, eliminating “end pieces.” Using the same serrated knife, cut the cylinder into 8 pieces and arrange the cut side down in the prepared pan. Cover loosely with plastic and let the buns rise until doubled in size (about an hour, should take up most of the pan). PREHEAT OVEN NOW to 365 degrees. You can refrigerate the buns at this step in the process for about a day, let them sit at room temp for an hour if you decide to do this before cooking.

Bake the buns until they are golden brown and the filing is melted. I’ve found this typically hits perfectly at 37 minutes, but start checking around 30 minutes in. Rotate the dish at 15 minutes for an even cook.
For the glaze: While the buns are cooking using a fork, combine all the ingredients in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Top the buns with the glaze after they’ve been out of the oven for about 15 minutes. These are best served warm, but will be just as good if you transport them or warm up after refrigerating up to a few days later.

Don’t Skip Leg Day – Doing the Hard Shit that Matters (and 12 hard things you can start doing now)

May 31, 2022jessehendonLeave a comment

I hate leg day. It’s my least favorite workout of the week. Squats suck, lunges suck, any workout with an eastern european country’s name attached to it, (I’m looking at you Bulgaria) suck.

All of that said, no other day promotes body symmetry, fat loss, functional movement, joint health, body composition and muscle conditioning better than leg day. Skipping leg day means you are going to miss all of these benefits. If you are going to work out and take care of your body, why would you half ass it? It makes no sense, you can’t skip leg day!

I like to think of things that are easily avoidable, but detrimental if avoided, as leg day items. What am I skipping or not doing or doing that is an act of avoidance that I should be doing and confronting head on?

What are a few tough things in life that are like leg day? What are the necessary tasks that must be done to help you make the most out of your life? What are often the hard things to do that if not done, will create imbalance, mental and physical deterioration and lead to a life lived without meaning? I’ve listed 12 below and have added the why in a list below this list (I know, totally Meta!)

End toxic relationships (this could be a friend, a significant other, a job or a supervisor)
Learn a new skill
Question the assumptions (especially your own and those within your own echochamber)
Saving instead of Spending and investing those savings for gratification delayed
Watching what you eat and not regularly overindulging
Reading (or listening if that’s your jam)
Learning how to communicate to other individuals, groups and crowds
Making new friends as an adult
Meditating and being present
Volunteering, Serving or Contributing to a cause
Creating something new and publish, launch or display it for the world to see
Be Constantly honest, to yourself and others

What are you going to get out of doing all of the things above? Let’s take a look and see.

End toxic relationships (this could be a friend, a significant other, a job or a supervisor)
- Toxic relationships are relationships that have more negative benefits than positive benefits. They’re the relationships that if you were to look in from the outside, you’d ask, why is that person in this relationship?
- If you are a nice person, these can be especially hard to get out of because you don’t want to offend. WHO CARES! GET OUT!
- Stop calling this person, stop answering this person’s calls or texts and get out. If this is going to affect other relationships, get out of them as well. We have 80 – 100 years on this planet and there are BILLIONS of people you can associate with. Get out of your fear bubble and find people who will bring you up, not down. They’re out there.
Learning New Skills
- First, there is scientific evidence that learning new skills consistently throughout your life decreases your risk of dementia later in life.
- The more skills you have, the more people are going to want to be around you because you’re an interesting person who knows how to do shit.
- The more skills you have, the more opportunities you will be presented in life
Questioning Assumptions (Especially your own)
- Here are examples of common assumptions folks once believed
  1. The Earth is flat
  2. The Earth is the center of the universe
  3. Humans will never figure out flight
  4. Humans catch warts from licking toads
  5. Thomas Crapper invented the toilet (I was bummed this wasn’t true)
Saving instead of Spending and investing the savings
- You will never get rich by earning and spending, you need to create your own avenue to compound your dollars
  1. Buy stocks that pay dividends
  2. Buy businesses that produce cash flow
  3. Buy homes and rent them out
Watching what you eat and not overindulging
- If you don’t want diabetes, congestive heart failure or other diseases that are caused by being overweight, don’t overindulge. Abs are made in the kitchen, brah!
Reading
- It’s been said that the average CEO reads upwards of 60 books a year and the average worker reads one.
  1. I don’t know if the above statement is true, but I’ll stand by the fact that reading and constantly inputting information in your mind that is designed to educate will get your further
Learning how to communicate
- Unless you are an individually brilliant performer that is once in a generation at whatever skill you do, you are going to need to communicate at some point! Warren Buffet once said the greatest investment he ever made was in a Dale Carnegie public speaking course.
- To get what you want in this life, you are going to have to communicate well with others. If you don’t do this naturally, it’s a skill that can be learned, no matter how painfully shy you may be.
Making new friends as an adult
- Your network is your net worth. Don’t be stuck. Making friends as an adult can be hard. It’s easier to stay in your shell. It’s easier not to risk rejection. It’s also incredibly rewarding to surround yourself with people who help you become the best version of you, always!
- Talk to people, invite folks into your life that you admire and take the risk. Personally, all of my best friends have been made as an adult!
Meditating and being present
- Researchers at the Columbia University Medical Center claim meditating can change the structure and function of the brain through relaxation, which can: Reduce stress, anxiety, depression, increase focus, learning concentration, improve memory and attention span.
Volunteer, Serve or Contributing to a cause
- There are myriad benefits to paying it forward in life. However, none more so than the sense of self that is built from it. When you live life to serve a purpose greater than yourself, it brings the rest of your being up with it.
- Studies have also stated that service can help increase self-confidence and life satisfaction, combats depression and even helps you stay physically healthy.
Create
- Creativity has a compounding effect. When you create once, you’ll create again and again. You’ll find that if you create in your spare time, you’ll be more creative in your work, with your family and you’ll get bored less often!
- You can also parlay your creativity into additional income streams. You could create a business, publish a story or find new friends through new interests.
Be Constantly honest, to yourself and others
- There are few benefits to lying. In fact, it’s advice that goes as far back as the 10 commandments, rules followed by the 3 Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
- Many of the most successful investors and business people today practice “radical transparency” which is extreme honesty. It’s a practice that continues to create successful people and is still to this day, is hard to follow!

Now go do some hard shit and remember, don’t skip leg day!