Form Follows Function: How Football, Military Discipline, and Spiritual Pursuits Build Wealth

Strategy experts caution against fixed mindsets. When developing plans there’s a riddle: nothing goes according to the original plan and early-stage secrets are disrupted by yet more secrets.

More often than not, what I hear from clients and what I’ve learned from business experience is the agony associated with the lack of momentum. Naturally, the tendency here is to refocus.

I can’t argue with this one. There’s power in developing a concentrated mind. Focusing is an incubator for endurance. But here’s a twist: too much focus over an extended time blinds us- where we lack the peripheral vision to see that our struggles are not so much about reaching the target as much as they are teaching moments on the randomness of life and our dislike for uncertainty.

We can mitigate tunnel vision simply by studying other’s experiences in goal achievement. I’ve learned that the secret sauce has more to do with the process than the result, and most often, what works for achieving dreams in football or Broadway also works in starting a company, becoming a medical doctor, and financial planning.

Here are a few more riddles.

The Trinity of Processes

1. A Games of Inches: progress is made one stride at a time. When seeking a measurement for momentum, understand that inches are easier to digest and track. Plus, inches make up yards, and seconds make up hours. Ask any accomplished athlete about moving the ball downcourt or downfield. Vince Lombardi said, “Football is a game of inches, and inches make the champion.”
2. Disciplined Habits: healthy habits are self-evident, but remaining disciplined in those habits delivers magical results. The more accustomed we become to those disciplined habits, the more we are prepared for turmoil and disruption. The United States military has a powerful acronym called the 5 P’s: proper planning prevents poor performance. You may fail at a task, or fail to achieve a desired outcome, but habits of holiness will prepare you to perform in any condition by focusing on the moment and the process.
3. Valleys, not Peaks: I once read a book, “After the Ecstasy, the Laundry.” The author delivered a frontal assault on my spiritual agenda. My first half of life was more about perfection, less stress, fewer scars, and a mountain-top Zen state. But this rarely came, and when it did, it was momentary. After age forty, I realized that the mountain peak was for visiting, not living. We are not built to live at 10,000’. We are designed for lower altitudes, among our counterparts in the mud and muck, where we experience the wonders of forgiveness, repair, progress, and commonality. This applies to spiritual development, entrepreneurship, and investing.

The Process is Dirty, but Beautiful

Frustration with the lack of speed to achievement is not a unique defect. Examining those who’ve also struggled through strategic processes is proof. All action-oriented people suffer from this dilemma. But here’s the silver lining: Rest in knowing that planning grounds us in the process rather than giving us an evacuation plan from pain. As the famous author James Clear states,

“You don’t need to worry about progressing slowly. You need to worry about climbing the wrong mountain.”

If you are worried about the current price of Nvidia, you probably have too much concentration risk. If you fear the upcoming Presidential election, relax, efficient markets transcend party politics in the long run. Always have, always will. But if you’re starting a first job, having a fourth child, planning to exit your startup business, or preparing for retirement, then get busy writing a money story that relies on a formative process with another human being. AI has no shortcuts to the mountain peak and doesn’t desire to live with us in the muddy valley. Form follows function. Always has, and always will.