Unchecked Realities

Today’s Topics

• Moments of Irrationality Are Real — Don’t Let Anyone Tell You Otherwise 📠

• Give Yourself Runway ✈️

  5 Mins Read Time

Moments of Irrationality Are Real — Don’t Let Anyone Tell You Otherwise 📠

By Jo

VERSUS

Have you ever been so emotionally tied to something that you couldn’t think straight, couldn’t act like yourself, or couldn’t make a sound decision if your life depended on it? You find yourself saying or doing things that, on any other day, wouldn’t even cross your mind. That’s not just some dramatic outburst — that’s human emotion taking the wheel.

And if you’re reading this thinking, “Nah, I’ve never experienced that,” you might want to do a self-check. That’s either denial or delusion. No one goes through life untouched by emotional overload. Everyone has emotional rants, breakdowns, or moments where they just snap — and that’s okay. It doesn’t make you weak, it makes you real.

The key to navigating those moments is self-awareness. You need something — or someone — that pulls you back when you’re drifting. Maybe it’s a close friend, a sibling, a partner, or even a mentor who knows how to ground you. That outside perspective can be powerful, but it’s still not enough on its own.

Eventually, you have to be your own anchor. You need an internal indicator — that little voice or internal alarm that tells you, “You’re trippin’ right now. Breathe. Step back. Recalibrate.” Without that level of self-awareness, you risk saying or doing something in the heat of the moment that you’ll regret later.

Being emotionally invested is not the problem — it’s natural. But unchecked emotion, when left to run wild, can burn bridges, ruin relationships, and throw your entire momentum off course.

So, take it from someone who’s been there: Ground yourself. Learn your triggers. Build your emotional intelligence. And understand that the strongest people aren’t those who never break — they’re the ones who know how to put themselves back together before damage is done.

You’re not alone. You’re not broken. You’re just human.

Give Yourself Runway ✈️

By Marcus

One of the common pitfalls for entrepreneurs or new businesses in general is running out of money.

There’s a reason planes need a long runway to properly take flight. A combination of speed, power, and lift is required to get airborne. The plane already has everything it needs to succeed once it’s in the air, but the runway provides the space to make that possible.

The concept of needing a runway in life as it pertains to your goals is very similar.

Without giving yourself enough time to gain momentum, you may find yourself in a situation where you never seem to ascend to the next level. Today, let’s go over a simple process you can use to extend your runway.

Strategic Planning + Long-Term Vision

As you work toward your goals, you will naturally have expenses. When your goals require tools and resources, those things aren’t free. It's important to have a budget, no matter how confident you feel.

Sometimes we’re blinded by the potential for success and ignore the risk of failure. You take the risk and go all in, but if it doesn’t work, you’re left starting from square one.

That’s rough.

So how do you determine the best use of your available funds? How long until your funds run out?

The key is building a strategy to better structure how you deploy capital toward your goals. Let’s begin with a few questions to ask yourself:

• What are my long-term goals?

• Where would I like to be in relation to this goal in the next 6–12 months?

• What products or services will assist me in reaching this goal?

• Which of these are absolutely essential?

• Why are they essential?

• How will I cover the cost?

• If I have no new income for 3–6 months, can I still afford them?

• What other expenses am I willing to cut to keep my essential tools and resources?

Paving Your Runway

The questions above are a great starting point. If you take your goals seriously and are willing to commit the time and money, it’s important to be strategic with your expenses.

I ask myself these questions regularly when I invest in services and tools.

For example, I’m upskilling in the data science field and needed a program that fit my learning style and budget. This is a goal I take seriously, so it’s no problem allocating money toward it.

I identified Codecademy as the best learning platform for me and moved forward with a one-year subscription. It offers well-crafted career paths and extensive resources in coding, machine learning, AI, data science, and tech. For me, it’s a great fit and was worth the $130 annual fee (yes, I waited for a deal).

Between Codecademy and my other non-negotiable service—ChatGPT ($20/month)—that’s a yearly expense of around $370. This investment is well worth it. Even if I lost my primary source of income, I’d have enough runway to go “full-time upskilling” because these services are already paid/budgeted for. I’m not over-allocated because my expenses are aligned with my long-term vision, and I can continue making progress despite a temporary loss of income.

What may seem like a minor investment can have a huge impact. We all know life is unpredictable, but this is one way you can fight back.

In a few weeks, I’ll make the case for why we should all have a Research & Development budget until we retire. The world is in a constant state of change, and we can only control what we can control.

Why not invest in yourself today so you can endure the setbacks and challenges of tomorrow?