Your Survival Guy

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NEVER INTIMIDATED: Face Life Head-On Like Larry Bird

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By Tracy Grazley @ Shutterstock.com

Happy Friday, as Your Survival Guy thinks about America’s rusty supply chain, will loads of Christmas goodies arrive just in time for Easter?

  • Your Survival Guy has no problem Christmas shopping on the Fourth of July. My mom used to take us to Building #19 in New Bedford to look for “Good Stuff Cheap.” “You don’t go in there looking for something in particular,” she would say. “You just go to see where the deals are.”
  • This from The Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street:

    Off-price retail has a record of thriving under uncertainty. Take 2011, when a surge in cotton prices led apparel sellers to respond in different ways. According to a Citigroup research note, some retailers responded by ordering more units to get per-unit costs down, while others ordered fewer units and tried to pass higher costs on to customers. Some placed orders earlier to get in front of further cost increases even as others postponed and waited for cotton prices to cool down. Today’s supply-chain disruptions are likely to lead to a similar disarray in 2022, but off-price retail could once again come out ahead.

  • When Larry Bird scored a franchise record 60-points in a road game, players on the opposing team were fined for cheering for Bird. That’s the way it was for Bird’s Celtics in ’86. There were no away games. The next day, covering the Celtics for The Boston Globe, Dan Shaughnessy brought a couple of Cokes to Bird’s hotel room, pulled up a chair while Bird stretched across his bed, and talked about shooting the basketball. Shaughnessy captures the moment in his wonderful, fresh-off-the-printing-press book, Wish It Lasted Forever: Life with the Larry Bird Celtics. A few excerpts from Shaughnessy:
    • “I just aim for the big cylinder. The thing that helped me was when my high school coach told me you could squeeze two basketballs through there at one time. I always thought, ‘Hell, if you can do that, you should be able to put one through there pretty easily.’”
    • “I’ve made a living off guys who can run and jump higher. I’m never intimidated when I’m on a basketball court. Maybe in high school a little, but not in college and not now. In college I remember a guy on the other team trying to get into my head during layup lines before a game. He had his hair in cornrows and he was yapping during warm-ups. He was a big dude and I could tell he was intimidating our players. I went over to him and said, ‘When this game’s over, you’re going to be kissing my ass.’ I scored forty-eight on him.”
    • “Guys who jump real high—they can do that when nobody’s got their ass into them. You put your ass into them and box them out, and it takes away their legs and then you can jump as high as any of them. That’s why I always try to put a body on people. I’m strong enough to hold them off. I’ve proven that a white boy who can’t run and jump can play this game.”
    • “Buckner had an additional theory: ‘Larry is a lot stronger than people think. If he puts his forearm on me, I can’t move. I think it’s from throwing all that hay into the loft when he was a kid.’”
  • When my dad and I played one-on-one basketball on Baker Lane we’d keep a running tally of wins on the kitchen chalkboard. Mom knew who won simply by noticing who picked up the chalk. And when we played, it was always “Larry Bird for the win.”
  • You may have noticed Amazon Web Services (AWS) was down this week for a few hours, wreaking havoc on cloud reliant appliances and security systems. Yet another reason why I don’t want you relying on technology for your peace of mind. The sooner you secure your situation off-grid, becoming more self-reliant, the better.
  • Can anyone compete with Amazon when it comes to wage labor and benefits? Talk about a monopoly.
  • Inflation keeps surging. Up 6.8% in November. Anyone who buys ammo knows that shortages have pushed prices to levels that were unfathomable just years ago. But even prices of Americans’ basic needs are rising fast, hurting the economy. CNBC reports “The consumer price index, which measures the cost of a wide-ranging basket of goods and services, rose 0.8% for the month, good for a 6.8% pace on a year over year basis and the fastest rate since June 1982.”
  • The more I think about South Carolina, the more I love its pro-business environment, weather, and overall proximity to New England (if I need to get out) and Florida (a frequent stopping point for Your Survival Guy). As much as I like Charleston, I’ve got Greenville, tucked away in the northwestern corner of the state, on my mind.

Action Line: You have to be strong, like Larry Bird, and innovate your way around the problems you face in life like they’re seven-foot four-inch centers who’ve just beaten up your teammate in the championships (like Ralph Sampson in the 1986 NBA Finals). He was never intimidated, and always motivated. You have to stay motivated to achieve your goals, and get serious. If you need help staying motivated, click here to sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive newsletter, where I’ll push you to achieve your goals. But only if you’re serious.

P.S. You know I’m a fan of Rush, and especially the late Neil Peart. A friend recently sent me these photos and this message, “Thought you’d enjoy these….(although I KNOW you’ve been there and seen these before). From your drumming friend in Wolfeboro, NH.”

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.