Where would you be today if you saved just $1/day every day since you graduated from high school? (Assuming a 2% interest rate)

If that was 10 years ago, you’d be $5807 richer.

If that was 20 years ago, you’d $12,887 richer.

If that was 30 years ago, $21,517 richer

And that’s just $1/day!  Those numbers would more than double if you had saved $2/day. 

“Uh Dad, Green Bay isn’t even a city on this Map.”

“Don’t worry, when I’m done with that team, it will be.”

That’s what the legendary coach, Vince Lombardi, told his daughter when he and his family were about to move from New York, to the tiny town of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

In the summer of 1990, Joanne Rowling – better known for her pen name J.K. Rowling – was on a train from Manchester to London when an idea came out of nowhere.

“I could see Harry very clearly. This scrawny little boy. And it was the most physical rush of excitement. I’ve never felt that physical reaction to anything about writing before.”

20 years later, J.K. Rowling became the first billionaire author, ever.

But her journey from that train when Harry Potter was a simple idea, to him being an international icon, written about and seen all over the world, was far from simple or easy.

The town was Framingham, Massachusetts – a simple place in the Northeastern United States with a population of approximately 68,000. It is a lovely town with a mix of old colonial ties and new developments. And in 2012, Framingham was listed by CNN Money Magazine as the 36th best place to live in the United States.

“I have 30 days of oxygen.”

That was what I told myself at the beginning of February. I had enough money to live for another 30 days and that was it. I was broke.

When I started Willpowered in October, I knew that this day was coming. I had a big circle on my calendar for March. March was when I was going to run out of the money I had saved to take the leap and fully commit to Performance Psychology.

Are you a hedgehog or a fox?

In a famous essay by Isaiah Berlin, the 20th century philosopher divided the world into 2 categories of people: Hedgehogs and Foxes. [1]

The fox knows a great many things. He is cunning and smart. He is fast and sneaky. He is willing to try a lot of strategies to beat the hedgehog and win his share of the forest.

The hedgehog, on the other hand, knows one big thing. He is simple. He knows only one strategy but executes it to perfection. Whatever the fox tries, the hedgehog defends himself with what he knows to do best. 

At 21 years of age, Jonah Hill exploded onto the Hollywood scene. His lead role in the comedy Superbad not only made audiences laugh, but also turned him into one of the most beloved comedic actors of his generation.  

It landed him many follow-up roles in movies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Funny People and Get Him to the Greek. In each of these movies, Hill played the chubby, jovial, funny guy – a role that he played with brilliance. But in 2011, Hill wanted to mature as an actor and as a person.

Growing up in rural Austria, Arnold Schwarzenegger had very little chance of achieving fame or fortune. His parents were poor and his father was set on Arnold joining the military, then becoming a police officer like him. Arnold, however, had a different idea. 

As a child, he picked up a magazine with Mr. Universe, Reg Park, on the cover as the star of the new movie, Hercules. As Arnold read through the magazine, he the whole plan began to unfold for him. He was going to follow Reg Park’s footsteps, become a body-building champion and a huge movie star.

Recently, I had the pleasure of doing an interview with Lindsey Stutheit of Ditching Dumb. I thoroughly enjoyed the interview  as she asked some great questions about willpower, goals and finding inspiration!

Here is a transcript of the interview:

In 1994, George Lucas, creator of Star Wars, realized something profound. Special effects technology was now at a point where he could finally create his vision for what he always wanted Star Wars to be! 

The first trilogy of Star Wars films – A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi – were 3 of the most famous movies in history. They had pushed the boundaries of special effects technology and created an imaginative, far away world that people loved.

In the legendary tale, The Odyssey, the hero Odysseus is a man of great strength.

He takes on many challenges throughout his travels. He fights a cyclops, sails through treacherous winds and faces deceitful individuals. Despite his heroism, though, Odysseus is ultimately just a man – with the same weaknesses as the rest of us.

It was 4am on January 6th, 2014. On this day, Chicago was hit by what was called the “Polar Vortex” where northern cities across the United States were hitting record low temperatures. It was a reported −16 °F (−27 °C) with a wind chill causing it to be −40 °F, so cold that Celsius and Fahrenheit measurements are actually the same. Like many people across the country, just one week earlier I had set big goals for the New Year.  

It was the summer of 2012 and a professional athletic trainer named Rob was hired to train the USA basketball team that would be playing in the Olympics in London. He had the opportunity to work with some of the best names in basketball – Lebron James, Carmello Anthony, Kevin Durant and the legendary Kobe Bryant.

The moviegoers all agreed – the popcorn smelled delicious!

158 participants had been invited to attend a post-lunch matinee at a local movie theater and give their rating of it on a 5-star scale. To help make the movie more enjoyable, psychologist Brian Wansick gave them all free popcorn!

The clock was ticking down as the UCLA Bruins were about to defeat the Seattle University Redhawks in the round of 16 game of the 1964 NCAA basketball tournament. The Bruins came into the game undefeated and were up 95-90. The win was all but assured, yet legendary coach John Wooden was not happy.

The Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s serves as one of the most historic movements in the United States of America. African Americans, who had never been treated as equals in the entire history of the American South, finally said “enough”.

It was time to stop being treated as second-class citizens. It was time to stop being abused for the sake of their color, and it was time to make a stand against the oppression they had faced for centuries. And the catalyst of the entire movement was one simple seamstress who would not give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. 

In 2009, a man named Joe DeSena founded a company called "Spartan Race". Spartan Race is an obstacle course that is typically run in trails where runners must climb up ropes, crawl under barbed wire, and scale over walls. Since then, the Spartan Race has grown rapidly; expanding into 17 countries and having over 1 million race participants in 2014.

But before DeSena created one of the top races in a fast growing sport, he sustained a hip injury and was told that he would never be able to run again. Being a tough competitor, DeSena sought to prove those doctors wrong...by running 14 Ironman Triathlons! 

The coaching staff of a high school cross-country running team recently got together for dinner after winning its second state championship in two years.  

"I don't get it," said one of the coaches. "Why are we so successful? We don't work any harder than any other teams. And what we do is just so simple. Why does it work?"

He was referring to the strategy of the program: Run best at the end.  

They are two men at the very top of their professions. One is the head of the one of the largest technology companies in the world and is personally valued at over $33 billion dollars. The other is the President of the United States of America. And they have one very unique thing in common – they wear the exact same thing every day.