Bag Chaser

Today’s Topics

• Goals Don’t Define Life, Circumstances Do 🎒 

• The Bag Holder Chronicles 💰

  5 Mins Read Time

Goals Don’t Define Life, Circumstances Do 🎒 
By Jo

Your goals don’t determine life itself.
What determines life is the situations—and the cards—you’re dealt.

The real challenge isn’t setting goals. It’s learning how to navigate life while trying to accomplish them. That’s the part we struggle with day to day. People often think, “I was blessed with certain things, so I can just pivot into whatever I want.” And sometimes, when you’re younger, that logic works. Momentum carries you. Fewer responsibilities slow you down.

But as you get older, things change.

Along the way, you pick up something called baggage. And baggage isn’t always bad. Sometimes it’s good. Starting a family? That’s good baggage. Owning property? Good baggage. Landing the job of a lifetime while trying to maintain everything you’ve built over time? Still baggage—just the kind you’re proud of.

Then there’s the other kind.
The baggage that drains you.
The baggage that complicates things.
The baggage that may not be “bad” on its own, but causes enough trouble to earn the label.

And then there’s another reality people don’t always acknowledge: some baggage isn’t chosen. Some of it is picked up unintentionally. Some of it you’re born into. Some of it is completely out of your control.

So you work with what you’ve got.

That’s where the real uphill battle begins.

It’s easy for someone who hasn’t experienced certain barriers to overlook them entirely. For example, people from majority groups may never have to think about discrimination, assumptions, or the extra hoops others jump through just to prove themselves—over and over again. Not because they’re incapable, but because trust isn’t automatically extended to them based on appearance or deeply ingrained stereotypes.

This isn’t about pointing fingers.
This is a neutral space.

It’s about recognizing that life has layers most people never see because they don’t have to live them. And even when someone tries to understand, emotional distance makes full empathy difficult. That doesn’t mean they’re bad people—it just means experience shapes perspective.

All any of us can do is articulate our reality the best we can, protect our mental space, and remove those who actively work against our progress.

Because moving forward requires both offense and defense.

You need offense to push your agenda forward—your goals, your plans, your vision.
You need defense to protect your thoughts, your focus, and your sense of self.

Competition exists. Opposition exists. People will disagree with what you stand for—and that’s okay. The goal isn’t uniform thinking. It’s respectful coexistence while still staying true to yourself.

This piece isn’t about division.
It’s about awareness.

There are blockages we don’t see because they don’t affect us. And there are blockages others can’t see because they don’t affect them. That’s life. But what becomes dangerous is pretending those differences don’t exist—or projecting our own expectations onto everyone else.

Not everyone is meant to chase the same milestones.
Not everyone needs the same outcomes.
Not everyone can—or should—fit into the same definition of success.

For example, there’s this idea floating around that everyone should be making six figures. That’s not realistic. It’s not structurally possible. And more importantly, it’s not everyone’s goal. Just because something is a requirement for you doesn’t mean it should be a requirement for everyone else.

Sometimes what we call “motivation” is really projection.

So before judging someone’s pace, path, or priorities, consider the full picture. Consider the baggage they carry—seen and unseen. Consider the terrain they’re walking on.

Life isn’t just about ambition.
It’s about navigation.

And understanding that truth might be the most important step forward of all.

The Bag Holder Chronicles 💰

By Marcus

Quick disclaimer: Nothing here is financial advice. I’m just sharing a piece of my journey as an investor.

Have you ever looked back on decisions in your life and thought, “If only I did this instead of that,” or “If I had known then what I know now, I’d be so much better off?”

That’s a familiar story for many of us. What could’ve been. What should’ve been. What never was. It’s all part of the human experience.

The Bag Holder

“Because no one wants to get rich slow.”
— Warren Buffett

For the past 10 to 12 years, I’ve been interested in investing. It’s only in the last five or six that I’ve treated it as a serious responsibility.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been rebalancing my portfolio. That process includes evaluating positions, rotating strategically, realizing losses, and most importantly, confronting my old decisions and the logic behind them.

As I reviewed some of the investments I was exiting—or finally taking losses on—I felt a mix of embarrassment and frustration. There were positions down 80% over three or four years. At some point, I had to accept that they were unlikely to ever break even, let alone reach new highs.

I also realized I had been over-diversified. I was tracking too many positions, and as my investment thesis evolved, older holdings received less attention. That meant I was late to important news and red flags. I should have cut ties sooner, but hope can be a powerful thing.

Long story short, I found myself holding the bag on several investments I should have exited long ago—or never entered in the first place.

“Take profits or become the profits.”
— Uncle Ray

Over time, my knowledge improved. My research process and due diligence became more disciplined. As a result, those older investments no longer met the standards I hold today.

Risk tolerance matters too. Many of the losses came from positions far down the risk curve, essentially lottery tickets.

Today, my portfolio is more consolidated. It’s “boring,” and it generally moves with the broader market. That stability exists because of those earlier mistakes.

Compounding Hindsight

The problem with constantly replaying past decisions and beating yourself up is that it produces no return. You can’t change what already happened, so eventually you have to move forward.

The results of “bad decisions” are often the price of the lesson you needed to learn. Certain outcomes aren’t possible without failure along the way.

We want the rewards of compounding, but not the humility that comes with earning it.

Yes, bad decisions can compound. But so can better ones. Instead of focusing on what you should have done, shift toward what you’ll do differently moving forward.

Accept the loss. Acknowledge the lesson. Keep going.

🏆Play Like a Champion🏆