You Can Do it update 6 10 2026

Work hard, complain less, get up early and watch things get a little bit easier?

For literally decades, people have asked me how they can make more money. The answer is pretty easy. It may not be palatable to some, but there is a methodology to making more money than most.

When I was growing up, most fathers taught their kids to “work hard, get up early and be an honest and forthright person (whatever that is), and you’ll die rich”.

Well, that last part wasn’t too encouraging but that’s exactly what my dad told me.

Most people I grew up with did work hard and get up early and most of my high school friends now are doing just fine.  Those that are still alive that is.

Growing up in the 60’s and completing high school and college in the 70’s, it was really that simple. Get up early, work hard and the jobs were out there and the money would come.

Not so come the following decades. Government overspending started the buying power erosion of the once mighty U.S. dollar. This subsequently resulted in decades of inflation leading up to this very day. Inflation is the thief of affordability and is the silent killer to one’s financial security.

I am not going into the weeds of the whys and how of inflation but just know overspending governments print up paper dollars at will to accomplish that spending and that leads to inflation. Inflation eats away at your finances because wages never go up at the same rate as inflation does so it’s a race you slowly lose.

That said, although the effect of inflation is worse now than it was a few decades ago (because it’s gone on so long), today it IS easier to make a buck than it was 25 years ago or so.

Explaining that was eloquently done by a guy named David Goggins. He holds the world pull up record, passed both Navy Seal and Army Ranger training, and is the epitome of one hard working SOB (Look him up).

Goggins says it’s easy to be successful nowadays because most people have lost the work ethic or worse, are downright indolent.

Goggins says the examples of both types of people are everywhere we look.

In fact, I, myself, come across both types almost every single day.

For example, I ran across a 17-year-old high school student looking for yard work. I contacted him and instead of a 9:00 am start, he told me he starts at 7:00 am. Upon my inquiry, he mentioned he hits the gym at 5:00 am so he is up early and works all day.

I am like “wow”, what a breath of fresh air this kid is.”

Some motivational speakers say, “Tell me your daily schedule/plans, and I’ll tell you if you are going to be rich.”

I already know this 17-year-old kid will not be anyone society will have to worry about and he will probably be very well off in a few decades.

I know a handful of friends that get up at 5:00 am, work a solid 8-10 hours a day and live a full and active life. Not one of them are struggling. Or at least not like most.

This breed of people runs the restaurants that are always packed, the stores that are always busy and are the service folks that are dependable and do a darn good job. They’re the people we say “wow, that person does great work, always responds, fixes problems and doesn’t procrastinate”.

They are the people that put their heads down and keep swimming. They don’t quit, they keep fighting and it shows in most everything they do. Whatever the service, wherever they work, they just keep pushing.

And then there’s the other side of the spectrum where the majority lie says Goggins. “These folks are the ones making it easy for the rest of us.”

I won’t say what these folks do because it’s more like what they don’t do.

They don’t respond, they pay little attention to detail and simply don’t give it their all.

It’s not rocket science. It’s not what you do, but how you do it.

In conclusion, my gardener is only 17, and he’s just pulling weeds. But he’s damn good at it. He works hard and long and knows the secret that so many seem to not understand.

I have no doubt that with that kind of work ethic, he will go a long way.

It’s not always fun. It’s not always easy. But neither is the world today in which we live in.

Swim a little faster, work a little harder, get up a little earlier and complain a little bit less, and watch how your world will start to seem just a little bit easier.

“Watching the markets so you don’t have to”

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