Traveling to Atlanta and thinking about thinking

I’m on a flight to Atlanta right now and there’s no internet (or at least no free internet, and we’re all about not spending pointlessly here at The Dan Plan) but I can save a blog on my phone and figured now is a good time to get down some thoughts while there are minimal distractions. Sometimes the best chance we have to sit and think for a bit is when we’re trapped in a small seat being flung 540 mph 30,000 feet in the air along with 198 fellow humans. Although, with so many personal devices it’s easy to occupy this time with a screen, too, as I am now with this blog.

Not that there is anything wrong with occupying time. I’m not about to get on a soap box here, just saying I have a little time to think and it’s a welcomed event.

Chicago Ideas Week posted all of the talks that were given during their 2012 event. Check out the one I gave here: http://chicagoideas.com/videos/131

Also, Newstalk Ireland interviewed me this past weekend. Listen to that story here: http://newstalk.ie/could-you-become-a-pro-golfer-with-10000-hours-of-practice

People often ask me how I can afford to do The Dan Plan and the short answer is through savings. In the five/six years before I began the project I managed to put away a large chunk of funds each year and have been living off of that since heading off on this journey in April, 2010. At first, I thought it was going to be a 4 year journey and had saved accordingly, but since then have realized that, and this is with the guidance of Dr. K Anders Ericsson, the type of practice necessary to be “deliberate practice” is not something that you can do for 10 hours a day, nor 8 hours a day, and the timeline has grown from 4 years to about 6.5. Looking at my progress to date that means there are about 4 years remaining in the The Dan Plan. Knowing I currently have four full years remaining of living off of savings that was meant to end in 2014 is somewhat hard to financially swallow as the funds don’t replenish themselves as I go, but now that the everything is rolling I am certain that there will be a way to finish the entire 10,000 hours.

I suppose the point is that assumptions only serve to get us in trouble. Whenever building or planning anything, always add in extra for the what-ifs. Coming in under budget or finishing quicker than expected never trips you up, but falling short can be a heartbreaker.

I am definitely not saying that I am concerned about coming up short, but rather that if I was to start today I would tell myself to plan for 1.5x what I thought I needed.

There has been a bit of financial stress as of late. A large portion of my savings is tied up in the market and as is true with stocks there is a good chance for quality returns as well as a realistic risk of losses. Over the past year one company that I had my largest amount invested in has dropped a significant percentage. As a personal policy, I never have more than 25 percent (still too much in my opinion) of my savings in any single entity so a complete collapse in one investment doesn’t mean a grinding halt in the project, but significant loss is a significant loss and has to be dealt with appropriately.

Part of having investments is that there are good times and bad times and the best way to recover from the bad ones is to approach it like a bad shot in golf. You can’t always force a recovery and sometimes you just have to take your medicine, be patient and wait for a good time to strike. Also, it’s best to remain unemotional about the immediate; to not panic. Often waiting out the trend is the best policy, but when that doesn’t work take your miss hit/loss well and try to learn from your mistake. As former president Bush attempted to quote: fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Every day is part of the learning curve and we don’t always get it right. Learn from it and next time around you shall win.

Never let a setback thwart you, too. Take them as a challenge, as an adversary you can take down. There is nothing that can get in our way.

For a great resource on ways to save up for your own Dan Plan check out Benjamin Graham’s classic investment book: The Intelligent Investor.

Flight is landing. Spending the next week in Atlanta. I still have Saturday and Monday open if anyone wants to tee it up.

11 Responses to "Traveling to Atlanta and thinking about thinking"

SteveW says:

January 30, 2013 at 2:48 am

hey Dan

thanks for the post

re the training and the end goal………….we need to remember that there are anomalies. Greg Norman was off scratch within 18months and there are a fair few other guys I know personally who have within two years played off scratch……….now I know the difference between scratch and plus 4 is worlds apart and then plus 4 to Tour Standard is another galaxy beyond but who really knows ?

know one does do they?

I mean the amount of amazingly talented people in sports at a young age that do not go on is countless !

The hard working toilers that come thru in the end never cease to amaze me either.

therefore based on some anomalies compared to the average you might surprise yourself……….greatest respect to the DR but there are young guys who just went out to the course every day through their school holidays and all weekend long 12hrs a day and just became very very good golfers very quickly. They were not aware of the “deliberate practice” type approach.

They would buddy up on the practice green and play chipping or putting competitions for 3hrs straight ! They would zip off and play 36 holes in 7hrs and then go hit practice balls for another 5hrs !

Jason Day is a great example of a guy who just went and played golf every minute he could without much teacher/technical development until a certain point in his youth and by that time i believe he was off plus 2. Now the rest is history !

All the best !
peter eller says:

January 31, 2013 at 2:37 pm

about living off your savings, I’ve been enjoying this blog lately http://www.mrmoneymustache.com you two should maybe do some cross bloging because you seem to be on similar paths
Eddie Reece,MS, LPC says:

February 1, 2013 at 4:42 am

Hey Dan! You’re playing with my friend Steve on Saturday. He told me about your plan. Come join me Monday at the Manor. http://www.manorgcc.com As a psychotherapist and avid golfer, I’m fascinated by what you’re doing. Hope to hear from you.
thedanplan says:

February 1, 2013 at 6:35 am

Sounds perfect! I just emailed you, let me know if you don’t get that. See you Monday!
Steve W in Texas says:

February 1, 2013 at 4:11 pm

Greetings Dan. This was an interesting blog update, and the comments and your realization about the “deliberate practice” as opposed to just “practice” kind of struck me. But, it makes sense when you stop to think about it. Spending 10 hours a day with a golf club in your hands and conducting what would be considered “deliberate” practice would more than likely be as mentally exhausting as physically exhausting, if ‘deliberate’ practice is what I think it is…..full and focused concentration. Have you estimated how many hours of “deliberate” practice you ‘earn’ for every 10 hours of total practice? Is it the 50% that you used to calculate the 1.5x budget number? I find this whole project fascinating and wish you nothing but the best of the luck. If you are ever in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, you have a place to stay and a game (and some good BBQ).

PS…You may recall we played a round last July at The Reserve with a couple of my buds from the Seattle area.
thedanplan says:

February 2, 2013 at 8:56 pm

Hi Steve! I definitely remember teeing it up with you at the Reserve. How has it been going?
In a typical day, I may be at the course for 8 hours and only get 5 or 6 hours of practice. I only count the time spent working on the game. It is definitely more taxing than playing a round, and also more rewarding.
Thanks for checking in and let’s tee it up again one day soon,
Dan
thedanplan says:

February 2, 2013 at 8:57 pm

Great to play with you today and meet you. Let’s chat a lot more about the sports psychology of it all on Monday.

See you soon,
Dan
thedanplan says:

February 2, 2013 at 8:59 pm

The site is not working for some reason. I’ll check it out later.

Cheers,
Dan
dietDrThunder says:

February 3, 2013 at 12:04 am

Two words:

Index. Funds.

IMO the chance of beating the market by enough to justify the risk of individual stock price variance is very (very) small. Obviously I don’t know you…you may well be an accomplished investor. Heck, the % of brokers who consistently beat the market via stock picking is tiny…what chance does an aspiring golf pro have?
dietDrThunder says:

February 3, 2013 at 12:05 am

Oh, and you’re an inspiration! Didn’t mean to be all negative on you!
Eddie Reece,MS, LPC says:

February 4, 2013 at 5:57 pm

Dan I didn’t know you existed until last Thursday. Now I’ve played two rounds of golf with you. You just never know what is around the corner in life do you? Thanks so much for spending the time with me and listening to my ideas about the mental and emotional side of golf. I hope it helps. Even if you don’t make the tour, you accomplished one of your Dan Plan goals. You inspired me to write more and continue to follow my dream. Isn’t that what this is really about? Looking forward to more time with you. Thanks so much.

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