Contenders Wanted
Welcome to Contenders Wanted where we’re working relentlessly to solve our money problems without sacrificing what’s most important in life. We know money won’t solve our problems, but we don't want money to be THE problem. Cause for us it’s faith, family, and finances, in that order. So, how do we adopt the thoughts and behaviors that enable us to wisely take advantage of the opportunities before us, all while sifting out financial mis-information and not losing sight of our true priorities? My name is Rob Cook. I’m a husband, father, CPA, CFP, and a former financial advisor. Come with me as I search for the answer and share what I learn along the way. And if you’re a fellow Contender, then join us where Contenders are always Wanted.
Episodes
Show Notes:
What do you do when no matter your effort or your dreaming, life sends you a curveball that makes your dreams impossible? Would just contending for those dreams be enough for you? Or, if you’re a bit more like me, would that be a bit tortuous? The hard part about these questions is I think you don’t really know the answer until you’re in a moment like that. In the episode today I share how I think I might understand...
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Can you think of an example of someone or something in a perceived disadvantage that then turns it into their advantage? My mind things of Ben Affleck's character in the movie, the Accountant. Or the engineers from Apollo 11 using just what was in a box to fix the spaceship. Or Edmond Dantes from the Count of Monte Cristo. Beyond the pop culture references, some might even say that their higher education left ...
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How much do you think about your thoughts? Seems kinda like a funny question, don’t you think? Thinking about our thoughts? But in all reality, this is something people have encouraged me to do ever since I was a kid. But my early training around paying attention to my thoughts really only focused on moral cleanliness. I didn’t think about learning to observe and actively choose my own thoughts in other areas until...
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Remember the scene from Alice in Wonderland where Alice meets the Cheshire Cat in the woods and asks him which direction she should go? Do you remember his response to her question? Well Cheshire Cat's response to Alice's question is deeply profound and can act as a guiding star in all of our lives if we allow it. Listen in today as Rob and our guest talk about casting a vision for your future and how taki...
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Growing up did you ever feel like if you don't go to college you're probably going to be a failure? Well if you did, you're not alone in that feeling. As a millennial, that belief permeated our education system growing up. Everything pointed to college. But in recent years that belief has been challenged. Examples of individuals who never went to college but were very successful include the likes...
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We've all come across the internet trolls. They leave annoy or at the least frustrating comments that we all wish we could just reach across the internet sometimes and put them in their place. But unfortunately, if we do happen to be in a moment when our frustration or even self-righteous indignation get's the best of us and we write back a pithy and scathing response, we immediately regret it. But wh...
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What is it that you think is holding you back from your dreams? Maybe you think you don’t make enough money, or you don't have the right connections, or maybe if you didn’t have your health challenges, or didn’t come from a broken home, or you hadn’t messed up when you were younger, or...fill in the blank. You know what’s funny about all of those things though? They’re all just in our heads. Chances are yo...
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"To thy own self be true." Have you ever pondered on what this oft quoted saying from Shakesphere’s Hamlet means? Better yet, how have you come to better know yourself? For me I’ve done at least half a dozen different personality quizzes, strength finder tests, and purpose discovery worksheets. Each one has been helpful, but, for me personally, it’s been the culmination of all of these together coupl...
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No matter your position, power, or wealth, I think we all agree that we wish we could somehow get more time. The importance of time and our fascination with it is the subject of everything from pop culture movies to profound philosophy, and everything in between.
Some that come top of mind are Marty McFly from Back to the Future and a short saying from Seneca, a Roman Stoic Philosopher and Statesman: Life, ...
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If you are a person of faith, no matter your concept of God and faith, what role does your faith in God play in your path towards your success? For me personally it’s impacted the goals I have chosen to pursue, my view of what success is, my feelings about money, and more. For our guest today, her faith in God has influenced her own journey every step of the way. So much so that she now hosts a very successful ...
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Physically, who’s the biggest, baddest, strongest person you can think of? Maybe it’s Andre the Giant. Or The Rock. Or maybe Hafþór Björnsson, i.e. the Mountain from the hugely popular TV series, Game of Thrones. Either way, physical strength and size can be awe inspiring. But there’s another kind of strength that isn’t so easily viewed from the outside. It’s an inner strength, usually born and cultivated over years in ...
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Have you ever lost a close loved one? Perhaps a parent, sibling, close grandparent, or friend. Was it painful? It likely was. And each of us has our own way of dealing with those inevitable pains of life. Some more healthy than others. But no matter how we deal with it, we have to deal with it. We can't just run and hide, we have to face the pain. On the show today I sit down with a woman who has not only ...
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If you could sit down with someone who's played professionally in two different sports, what would you want to ask them about success? Maybe it's how they did it. Maybe it's the biggest struggles they went through. Maybe it's the attributes they've seen in the most successful in their sports. Or maybe you ask about stuff that most people don't see. On the show today we talk about a...
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I think it’s almost a universally understood fact of life that the old kids in a family are the guinea pigs and life tends to be very different when you compare the oldest and youngest children in a family. Part of that is that life circumstances change and part of that is that parents get better with time. Generally though, this is because parents tend to use an equity based parenting system and not an equalit...
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What comes to mind when you hear the word freeloader? What about mooch? Parasite? Slacker? Or deadbeat? No matter what came to mind, it likely wasn’t something nice. But at the end of the day we all know what it means: someone who takes advantage of the kindness and charity of others who shouldn’t. And almost universally we wouldn’t want to be described like that. But the problem is that none of us really is a...
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Have you ever been so invested in something it becomes part of your identity? So much so that when it disappears from your life, a part of you seems to disappear with it? Our guest today is Dave Woodward and he did the same thing when he tied a part of his identity to his company that in 2008 went from incredibly successful to hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt almost overnight. But that's just part of his sto...
Show Notes
Do you ever feel like life is beating you down? Like you’re trying so hard, but just not getting anywhere? Like you have the tools you think you need to succeed but it’s just not happening. Well our guest today is Anthony Trucks. He has felt all of these things and so much more and now he coaches people on how to overcome these barriers by focusing on your internal identity instead of more tools and tactics.
Ant...
Show Notes
Do you have that dream career you’ve always wanted to pursue? If not, is it because life seems to get in the way? Maybe you already have a successful career and you tell yourself you don’t have the time to try and go after that dream because you have a family or it might require a bit of an investment, or be inconvenient. Well if you can relate to these feelings then you’ll love our interview today with Sandra Osborne.
Sa...
Show Notes
What are some of the life lessons you learned while playing a competitive sport or activity? Do you think of team work from the football field, or maybe composure on the golf course? Or maybe it’s how to think ahead from chess? Or maybe it was how to take risks from your favorite family card game. Either way, games and competition have a way of teaching us many life lessons and our guest has some incredible insights gathe...
Show Notes
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you were fairly successful but you felt called to something more? Something that would be uncomfortable or maybe even a little risky? Well our guest today is Cara Macklin, the founder and CEO of Caram, a professional coaching and business mentoring organization based out of Northern Ireland, and she understands these feelings all too well.
Cara is a creative thinking...
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