Business: THE CUCKOO CLOCK, MY BROTHER AND ME...

“And how you do that is to use your time to maximize your income.
Not to fix things around the house.
Not to putter on your car.
Not to read all the forums.
Not to join every affiliate program and hope...
But to use your time and get maximum monetary return on your time investment”

Hey Gordon,

Back when you were growing up as a weenie golfer over in Cuyahoga Falls, I was across town on the Lake in Euclid, trying to hit a curveball. Or a fastball or changeup or anything else, for that matter.

At night I’d be by the radio, listening to Jimmy Dudley call the Indians’ games. (Bet you spent some nights there, too.) And in the early and mid ‘50s (I do have 3 years on you), they were a darn good team.

But they weren’t the Yankees. The Yanks finished first. The Tribe was second.

I hated the Yankees. I hated New York. I hated everyone who lived in the state of New York. I hated passing through New York on our way up to Canada.

Most of all, I hated Mickey Mantle.

He was the symbol of the Yankees, and he was a focal point for me.

I’d sit in the dark on the porch on those hot summer nights, unable to enjoy the breeze off the lake, because of the pain caused by Mantle.

What I remember best is Jimmy Dudley calling another mammoth Mantle homerun. Jimmy was a Carolina boy, and he talked about baseball in the terms he learned growing up in the South.

“Oh, my, Garcia threw it RIGHT into Mantle’s Wheelhouse.”

Long before I had any clue what the heck it was, I hated Mickey Mantle’s Wheelhouse.

And it took many, many years before I realized that everyone has a wheelhouse. And even more years before I found my own. But there is just absolutely NOTHING more financially valuable in life than finding your wheelhouse. (And you can do it without Jimmy Dudley’s help.)

Mantle’s Wheelhouse was an area over home plate. And when a pitcher threw the ball into THAT area, sayonara. Because Mantle saw the ball completely there. He could watch the rotation. He could watch the seams. He could accurately gauge the speed. He could watch his bat meet the ball. His body and his swing and his power meshed so when his bat met the ball in THAT area, the ball was history. He hit some of those “wheelhouse” balls so far people still talk about them, 45 years later.

Every ballplayer has a wheelhouse. Our problem was, Mantle’s was bigger than most.

Everyone else has a wheelhouse, too. Some area where if the ball is pitched there, you can hit it way out of the ballpark. Nothing, nothing, nothing is more profitable in your business life than clearly defining your own wheelhouse, where you see clearly and in minute detail, where you understand completely, where you’ve had success in the past.

And then you must be ready. You can be doing other things, but you’ve got to always be mindful of your wheelhouse. Because every now and then, some fool will throw the ball there. You’ll see it bigger ‘n life. And if you’re ready, you can rip it a mile.

Just like The Mick used to do to our boys, Gordon.

Remember?

Richard

PS – RIP, Mickey. I stopped hating you long ago. You were something else.