Get 'er Done, Even if it Scares You - Interview with Jeopardy! Champion Robin Lozano
July 14, 2021
By Matt Miner, MBA, CFP®
Success Is the Tip of the Iceberg + Living Life Bloody but Unbowed (see Footnote)
Robin Lozano shares her experience as a Jeopardy! Champion and joins the growing list of fabulous Fuquans on the Work Pants Finance podcast. She provides a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to compete on the show, and amazing lessons about winning and losing.
First, the success other people see is always the tip of the iceberg. That’s an important thing to remember about winning. By the time she made it on the show, she’d been practicing for 30+ years, because she grew up playing along with Jeopardy! contestants from home.
Second, when you show up and give it your all, even if you don’t get the result you wished, you’ve already won in the most important way: People who accomplish big goals are always the ones willing to fail enough times to win. In Churchill’s words, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
Try Scary Stuff!
One big theme in today’s show is trying scary stuff. Robin relates what it was like to apply to compete on Jeopardy!, to wait forever to hear back from the show, to “learn all of human knowledge in a month”, and what it was like winning, then losing, back-to-back episodes of Jeopardy! in the space of four hours.
I was struck again by the importance of putting your gifts out in the world and waiting to see what happens. Itir Keskiner and I discuss similar themes, too. Whether it’s a Jeopardy! contestant application and show appearance, a podcast or a painting, your neighbors are served when you share your contributions with people around you.
The Clue Crew Calls You Champ
Robin shares how well treated she was by Jeopardy’s! Clue Crew throughout her time as a contestant, how her husband Dave put a card in her suitcase for her to find at journey’s end, and the special reception her mom and sisters arranged at her hotel. I loved these stories of putting thought and effort into treating others well, and how that transforms an experience into something we remember for the rest of our lives.
How Do You Want Your Kids To See You?
Robin tells us she went on Jeopardy! in part to let her kids see her try something hard with an uncertain outcome – on a big stage with a lot of people watching. And for new ammo as a mom: “Eat your broccoli or your arm will fall off! I know, ‘cause I’m a Jeopardy! Champion!”
Key Takeaways
Robin is an accomplished business leader, a great wife, mom, and friend, and now a Jeopardy champion besides. She’s humble, relatable, and serves up massive value for WPF listeners. Here are some of my favorites.
First, if a direction is clear in work, business, family, or game show competition, go for it, even if you’re scared. People regret more the things they didn’t do, than things they tried and failed.
Second, Robin tells the story of how the Clue Crew made her feel between show recordings. Ask and answer what you can do in your daily work to honor the people with whom you interact.
Third, and related, do special things to let the people you love know you love them. Dave put a card in Robin’s suitcase. You can take your spouse on a date or give your wife a three-night mom-cation at the beach. You can invite a kid to direct how the family spends time on an entire Saturday. I promise, I’m preaching to myself here!
Fourth, ask what kind of role model you want to be for your kids. What can you do to help them see you as a “fully-baked human”? What can you do for your adult parents as you ponder their humanity, and the brevity of life?
Fifth, when you make a mistake, do what you can to make it right, then move on quickly; you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. It’s what you do next that matters. Whatever your financial past, it’s past. It’s what you do next that matters. If you’re ready to take the next step with your financial plan, go to workpantsfinance.com/start and click on the button to build a financial plan that works as hard as you do to schedule time with me.
Robin Lozano
Robin is a Jeopardy! Champion and fellow Fuqua ’09, as well as General Manager for Sonder in Austin and San Antonio. Robin’s varied industry background spans tech, consulting, nonprofits, education, and government work. She lives in San Antonio with her husband Dave and two small kids. When she's not working or spending time with her family she's usually reading – “randomly and widely” – or trying to keep a vegetable garden alive.
Footnote: I don’t endorse the stoic philosophy of “Invictus” - but appreciate the importance of persevering through setbacks, including big ones. And I liked this subtitle (disregarding wise advice), so I retained it, since it’s my website.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] Matt Miner: Today's guest shares her experience as a Jeopardy champion, and joins the growing list of fabulous viewpoints on the Work Pants Finance Podcast. She provides a behind the scenes look at what it takes to compete on the show, as well as amazing lessons about winning, reminding us that the success the world sees is always the tip of the iceberg. Lessons about losing too, when you show up and give it your all, you've already won in the most important way, because people who accomplish big goals are the ones willing to fail often enough to win.
[music]
Hey and welcome to the Work Pants Finance Podcast, where I serve up hard won wisdom about work, life, and money. I teach you how to kill debt, build wealth, and avoid the wage slave trap. My goal as a podcaster and advisor is to help you put your money to work, so you own your career, rather than it owning you. I'm Matt Miner, your money guide. For the last dozen years, my family and I killed debt and built wealth, and then I started teaching other people how to do the same thing. In 2018, I stepped away from corporate work to serve clients full-time as a fee-only fiduciary financial advisor. Work Pants Finance is the show for MBAs, entrepreneurs, and other high-income professionals who want a financial plan that works as hard as you do.
One big theme in today's show, is trying scary stuff, applying to compete on Jeopardy, waiting forever to hear back from the show, learning all of human knowledge in a month, winning then losing back-to-back episodes of Jeopardy, in the space of just four hours.
Today's money guide, quick tip relates to this: To accomplish big things in your career or with money, take a little time to consider what you want and whether it's good and wise. Seek counsel from trusted advisors who have your best interest at heart. Then, once the decision is clear, act, even in the face of fear. Action displaces fear and just by showing up, you've already won.
My guest is Jeopardy champion and fellow Fuqua '09, Robin Lozano. Robin is General Manager for Sonder in Austin and San Antonio, and has a varied background that spans tech, consulting, nonprofits, education, and government work. She lives in San Antonio with her husband, Dave, and two small kids. When she's not working or spending time with her family, she's usually reading, in her words, "randomly and widely", or trying to keep a vegetable garden alive.
Be sure to stick around to the end, when Robin shares how she hopes her children begin to perceive their mom as a fully-baked human. This is Go and Do It, Even if it Scares You interview with Jeopardy champion, Robin Lozano. Find more at workpantsfinance.com/35.
[music]
Robin, welcome to the work Pants Finance Podcast. I was so excited for you when I saw your posts about your recent Jeopardy win. It seemed like a tremendous reason to be in touch. I wanted to ask, what was it like to play the game of Jeopardy? Also, what was it like to win?
[00:02:54] Robin Lozano: It was definitely one of the most fun things I've gotten to do in a while. It was also very surreal to be standing on the Jeopardy set and actually playing the game live. I grew up watching the show almost every night at 7:30 with my mom. We used to keep score on little sheets of notebook paper and keep track of who was winning, until I started beating her consistently and then she stopped wanting to keep score. [laughs]
I just had grown up with Alex Trebek as part of my zeitgeist, and so being up there on stage was really a surreal, but amazing experience. My only regret about the experience was, I guess there are two. One was that Alex had passed away a couple of months before I went out to LA to tape the show. The second one was that, because it was during the pandemic, my family and friends couldn't come with me and be in the studio audience, which I think contributed a bit to the surreality of it. It was really just a fun bucket list experience to get to have.
[00:03:59] Matt: No, that's tremendous. Honestly, I didn't know the history of you having grown up watching the show. It highlights a theme that comes out on this podcast so often, which is that, we see people who achieve an exciting goal or milestone. You just described this as a bucket list experience for yourself. You don't realize that's the tip of the iceberg. There's a massive chunk of the iceberg that's below the surface.
In this case it was watching the show nightly or nearly nightly with your family growing up. There was no mystery about the fact that you ended up there eventually. I guess this relates to my second question, which was, going back in time, I think that we do the things that we want to do in life, and so you don't end up on Jeopardy by accident. I wanted to ask, how did you decide to be on the show? What was your process and in determining you wanted to pursue that goal?
[00:04:50] Robin: I don't know that I had a process. It's one of those things where, your family and friends always tell you, "Man, so much random trivia, you should really go on Jeopardy." [chuckles] That's true. I know a lot of random facts. I saw out of the blue one day, a Facebook ad actually that said the Jeopardy online test was available. At the time, it was only offered like once or twice a year at specific dates and times.
It's a 50 question timed test. You have, I think, 12 seconds or something like that to answer each question. Because of the time zone, I had to do it at 10:00 PM after my kids went to bed. [chuckles] I took that test and that goes off into the ether. You have no idea what happens with it. You don't know what your score is, and then they can contact you at any point to come to an audition.
I actually took the test and audition twice. That's not uncommon; a lot of people have multiple tests and auditions before they actually get on the show. Once you audition, you are in their contestant pool for 18 months. The second time I auditioned COVID started really a few months later. I thought, "Production shutdown, I'm going to have to go through this whole process again," and really put it to the side and thought it was going to happen and then got a call in January saying, "The Jeopardy contestant producer."
I almost dropped the phone. Once that call came, there was really no decision process. It was like, "Of course, I'm going to do this." [laughs] It's a lifelong, I wouldn't even say goal because I don't know that I had it as a written goal, but it was a lifelong, "Wow, wouldn't it be amazing if I got to do this thing?" I got that call and was pretty excited about it. [chuckles]
[00:06:32] Matt: That's super exciting, coming up with all kinds of questions as I listened to you, it's just the most fun for interviewing. One, I first learned about this in your social media posts. I think that were like very late May of 2021, but you were selected in January. What could you share, what couldn't you share between the time that you heard in January and when I started seeing your stuff come across my newsfeed around June 1st?
[00:06:59] Robin: I could share that I was going to be on the show with my family and friends, not broadly on social media. Then I was actually scheduled to go to LA mid February. I don't know if you remember, but Texas got hit by a massive winter storm, and every flight out of San Antonio was canceled. I was supposed to go in February, had to reschedule, bought myself an extra month of study time, which was great. [chuckles]
Then once I was in LA and taped the show, I could share that I had taped, but nothing about how I had done or really any details about the experience at all, other than just the high level, what it was like. They really don't even want you to tell your immediate family, which is hard to do.
Of course, I told my husband, it's hard to keep a secret like that. [laughs] Then everything else is embargoed until your air dates, which I taped March 15th. My air date was June 1st. I had a long wait of just sitting on that secret, not being able to tell my coworkers or friends and just really trying to keep it quiet. [laughs]
[00:08:01] Matt: You ultimately taped, obviously, two episodes if I understand your history correctly. Were they somehow back-to-back or what was the time frame from your winning the first time you played to the second time that you played when you did not win?
[00:08:17] Robin: The show tapes five episodes a day. I was actually the second and third episodes of the day. I taped my first episode, I won and then they said, "Okay, we're going to take a lunch break." I said, "No, I don't want to take a lunch break. [laughs] Let's keep going."
[00:08:33] Matt: I'm hard now.
[00:08:34] Robin: [laughs] Because of the pandemic, the lunch break was in the parking garage of the Sony Studios lot.
[00:08:40] Matt: Perfect.
[00:08:41] Robin: Very glamorous TV stuff. I couldn't eat at all. I was just like, "Let's go. I need to get to the next one." Then I taped the second episode and lost, and then I was pretty much done. It was, really less than four hours total of an experience, but I got to stay and sit in the studio audience for the last two episodes of the day and watch the people that I had met that morning compete and get to see a little bit more of how the show was made, which it's super fascinating to me. I was excited just to be in the audience and see how all that TV magic actually happens.
[00:09:15] Matt: That's all really interesting. The viewers see it one night and then the next night you taped them within a few hours of each other. That's just the way that works out. If lunch hadn't been in there, you might've literally recorded two hours back-to-back, or something like that.
[00:09:29] Robin: Pretty much, yes. My guest host was Mayim Bialik. She was just such a pro. She didn't need to rerecord a lot of things. She didn't need to redo stuff. She was zipped through all of her episodes really quickly, which I was told was not always the case with every guest host. We were out of the studio by 6:00 PM and I remember walking out onto the street and going like, "Oh, it's daytime still. [laughs] This seems like I've lived three lifetimes in this one day." [chuckles]
[00:09:59] Matt: That's terrific. My last question following up on that one, we classically educate our homeschooled children. I could see them being future Jeopardy contestants, but I wanted to ask the source of your random facts. Is it like, are you classically educated? Is it your reading? Was it barroom trivia? What led to your retention of the things you needed in order to compete on Jeopardy?
[00:10:21] Robin: I think it's all of the above. I have the benefit of a very good-- I don't know if you'd call it a classic education in the pure sense of the word, but lots of, obviously, reading of the classics throughout middle school, high school, college, and then grad school. I'm a pretty voracious reader. I read constantly. I read randomly and widely, and I go down rabbit holes of knowledge.
I love just collecting random facts and filing them away in my brain for no particular reason. Lots of different things fascinate me. I'm looking at my bookshelves now and there's books about disaster survival, warfare for my husband, horses. It's just like all over the place just on one bookshelf. That's just how my brain has always worked. Then I love, I played barroom trivia. I played while we were at Duke with some classmates of ours.
I'm also very lucky to have a really good memory. If a fact catches my interest, it will stay with me for a long time. Usually to the point that I can tell you where I read it, when I read it, what side of the book it was on. My brain has always just worked that way, which it's one of those mysteries to me that's like, "Hey, that's really cool that it does that." I have no idea how.
[00:11:39] Matt: No, that's great. Robin, I wonder if you could share with me, from your perspective, what was the most surprising thing about being a Jeopardy champion?
[00:11:48] Robin: I think the most surprising thing was that I wasn't nervous until they said, "You are our new Jeopardy champion." Right then, my legs started to shake. If you watch the show, I grabbed onto the podium because I was like, "Okay!" All the adrenaline of the morning had just hit me all at once. I was really surprised even watching it later on at how calm I was or how calm I looked, I guess on TV right up until that point, then I went, "Oh, this is really happening."
Then I think the second surprising thing was just how amazing and kind all of the people who work on the show were. Once you win, they call you champ until your next episode. When I went to get lunch, they were like, "Hey, champ, what do you want for lunch? Hey, champ, your dressing room is over here." It was like, "Oh, man, this is cool."
It's just they went out of their way to kind of make you feel special and they do this as their job. This is their everyday 9:00 to 5:00 and they've done it for 30-plus years in some cases. For them, it's old hat, but the fact that so many people go out of their way to make you feel special in your 15 minutes of fame was really surprising and really moving, actually.
[00:13:02] Matt: One thing I wanted to ask is like a story or memory that you look back on. Most people have not done what you've done. What's something that stood out from going through this process?
[00:13:10] Robin: I think the first thing that stood out was my husband snuck a card into my suitcase, for me to--
[00:13:18] Matt: Oh, he's such a good guy.
[00:13:19] Robin: He is such a good guy. He wrote a lot in there but one of the message was basically, "By just going and doing this, you've already won." I was pretty nervous going into it. I was really anxious about just the experience overall and also just the stress of doing something like this. That reminder of you've overcome your anxiety and nervousness about doing this. You're setting a really positive example for our kids of like, hey, just because something scares you doesn't mean you should avoid it or not do it. You've got to be brave. You're accomplishing a lifelong dream, so you've already won. That message really just brought my blood pressure down helped me go like, "Yes, you're right. I've already won. I'm already doing the thing." I think that that really stood out to me.
Then my mom and my sisters had arranged with the hotel where I was staying to set up a poster, and snacks, and drinks, and all that stuff. I walked into my hotel room and there was a big sign. It was just like the thoughtfulness of my friends and family around really honoring, "This is a big deal. Don't blow it off. Don't diminish the accomplishment. This is a big deal and you should take time to really celebrate that and be proud of yourself." Yes, those will stick with me for a long time, for sure.
[00:14:39] Matt: That's great. Thinking about how to honor others is such a good skill. It's such a loving thing to do. This is zero credit to me. I recall Southeast Asia GATE, a trip to Southeast Asia during business school and how our hosts at one point had made a huge banner welcoming the Fuqua MBA students to a particular location. We had no idea to expect this and we're just a bunch of 28-year-olds pulling up at a building and they've got this big vinyl sign that's like, "Welcome Fuqua GATE and Professor Bennet Zelner."
It was incredible that they would think to do that, and I remain very grateful for their thoughtfulness but just thinking about how we can appreciate others as we go through often, it's not a lot of effort or cost on our part to change an interaction from being every day to being something that someone might remember for the rest of their lives. Thanks for sharing that. Was there anything that was hard, painful, difficult about this experience?
[00:15:46] Robin: I think the anxiety of it was hard. I found out January 15th, I thought, "Okay, I have a month to get ready." Then it was like, "Oh gosh, I have to learn all of human knowledge in a month," which, of course, is not possible. Then I was just really, really nervous and then it got delayed by another month. I had another month to kind of sit and stew, and think about it, and anticipate, and be anxious. Overcoming that anxiety was a big part of the challenge. Not being able to bring my mom, obviously, who had watched with me for 20 plus years and have the whole family participate in it, that was a little bit painful, but they certainly were cheering me on from afar, which is good.
[00:16:32] Matt: Today's show is brought to you by the Work Pants Finance Podcast. If you enjoy Work Pants Finance, spread the word, recommend the show to family and friends and go to Apple Podcasts, Castbox, or Podcast Addict to leave a review. Your ratings and reviews are a huge encouragement to me. Also, let other people know that they should check out the Work Pants Finance podcast too.
Inquiring minds want to know what is a winning mindset for Jeopardy? How do you manage your own thoughts and emotions through the process of being a contestant on the show?
[00:17:07] Robin: I think a winning mindset is really just remembering that you know way more than you think you do. Even during my studying process, there's all sorts of recommendations about how to study, but the reality is, if you don't already know it somewhere in the recesses of your brain, the chances of you learning and retaining it in the limited time you have are pretty slim.
It was more just like you know this, just remembering you know this, and then remembering that a lot of it is luck. You don't control what categories are going to come up. You don't know ahead of time by any means. A lot of people think that or they keep asking me, "But you know what categories you're going to get, right?" No, you have no idea until they show up on the board.
Just remembering that luck plays a huge part of it and that you don't control that and just saying, "I'm going to do the best I can with whatever comes up." A big part of the winning mindset was the game moves so fast. Each half of the game from the first board and the second board is six minutes and that's in real-time. It goes very, very fast. You don't have time to dwell on wrong answers. If you get something wrong, you really have to just let it go and move on.
They remind you of this before you tape just like, "You can't dwell on your mistakes because you'll get lost and you'll miss the next five questions thinking about how I should've gotten that right." It's like that's a good life lesson of it's really easy to focus on the things you do wrong and it's really easy to dwell on the negative, but you're going to be much more successful if you move past it quickly if you learn from the mistake and move on as fast as you can.
[00:18:37] Matt: I appreciate all that. One thing I wanted to ask has anything unexpected happened since you appeared on the show, or have any interesting opportunities or correspondence come your way?
[00:18:49] Robin: Well, this podcast for one, certainly unexpected and interesting and a neat thing to get to do. I've heard from a lot of friends and colleagues that I hadn't heard from in a really long time which is always just like you don't realize how broad your network is until you hear from the far off tentacles of it, which is really fun. Then, here in San Antonio actually, there is a group of women who get together to play bar trivia every Tuesday night, all former female Jeopardy contestants.
Our team is called Benny and the Jeopardets. I've lived in San Antonio for 10 years almost and I had no idea that this was out there and had never really met people quite as nerdy as me. Getting to know this group of women who share this crazy experience. Then also there's a surprisingly active Facebook group, two Facebook groups, one for just general Jeopardy contestants and one for women of Jeopardy that I got invited to.
I had no idea they existed, again, but have made a lot of immediate connections with people, not just on Jeopardy based topics, but people ask for travel advice, and coaching, and life advice, and career advice and it's just, this is a group of incredibly smart people people whose brains were like mine. It's just fun to realize how many of us there are out there, I guess, [laughs] and get to meet some really fascinating people with really cool backgrounds.
[00:20:11] Matt: You went to Fuqua for two years and you had to go on Jeopardy to meet enough nerds. I don't know. I think that's tough for me to believe that's true.
[00:20:20] Robin: There are a lot of nerds in my past educational background. Let's put it that way, but this is my nerd community in San Antonio now, which is fun to have.
[00:20:31] Matt: That's great, Robin. I wonder if you can generalize for us from your experience either or both as part of the selection process or competing on the show just other parts of life, family, work, or money. You've been doing this as we go along, but since I sent you these questions in advance, I wonder if you came up with any particular thoughts there.
[00:20:49] Robin: Yes. I think the biggest lesson for me or the biggest generalization is really this became about what role model do I want to be for my kids. I have a seven-year-old and a four-year-old. They know me as a working mom, they know me as a boss, as a spouse, as a mom, obviously, but this was an opportunity for them to see who I am as a human, separate from my identity as a mom, or as a wife, or as a boss.
It's just this is who Robin is as a person. It was important to me that they see two things, one that I was scared, and two that I did it anyway, and then that they got to see like, "Hey, this is something fun. It's a dream that moms always wanted to do and she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to achieve it. She put the audition out into the ether and then said, "Fingers crossed," and the opportunity came up."
I really want them to take away if there's something you want go do it even if it scares you, and don't forget that the people around you are fully baked humans in their own rights and have their own dreams, and goals, and interests. It's hard for kids I think sometimes to see their parents as separate from themselves, but this is really an opportunity to show them like, "Hey, mom and dad are people just like you."
[00:22:08] Matt: That's a wonderful thing to take away from the show. I'm actually very struck by that today. Today is my mom, Beth Miner's 70th birthday. Happy birthday, mom. I know you're listening, at least, eventually. As part of that, we made compilation video on tribute videos for her and sent that out to a number of her friends and family from a 70-year life. I watched that video this morning before I sent it to my mom.
I'll see if I can speak without crying. It was so interesting to hear my mom's close friends and family from her long and valuable life share their thoughts and experiences that they had had with my mom, which even as a 41-year-old son I certainly am well past the point where I'm aware that my mom is a human being and have some understanding of who she is as an adult and something of a peer, but to hear others and how they see her was just was really great.
I'm delighted that you had the opportunity to gift your children with some of that at this very young age as well. I wanted to ask also, Robin, what will you, Dave, and the kids do or what have you done to celebrate this achievement? Obviously, even just in hearing you talk about it, like you perceive this correctly as an interesting achievement that you did. How are you guys doing that in your family?
[00:23:33] Robin: The first thing we did was we actually had a watch party, which coming out of the COVID era and being able to have for friends and family gather in our house was just great. That was the first time we had been able to do that in a while. My dad actually flew in from Pennsylvania for the week to be here to celebrate and our neighbors and friends came over to watch.
It's very strange to watch yourself on TV, but that was the first celebration and it was just really a fun moment to get to say-- I knew what was going to happen, obviously, but to get to watch other people's reactions to seeing the win was really fun. Then actually, this is a big year for Dave and I. It's our 10 year wedding anniversary in July and I turn 40 in October. We're going to use the Jeopardy winnings to do a big trip, which again, travel is like, "Wow, we can do this again."
We're still trying to decide where exactly we want to go, but the plan is to use the windfall that was very unexpected to do a big 40th birthday vacation. The other thing I will say that we do to celebrate it is, whenever my kids tell me I'm wrong about something I say, "Are you a Jeopardy champion, because I'm a Jeopardy champion?"
[00:24:45] Matt: Sounds like a great use of your new title. I also like your proposal for what to do with the winnings. Robin, as we wrap up, is there anything else, is there anything I didn't ask, anything you'd like to share with the Work Pants Finance audience?
[00:24:58] Robin: I would say if anybody is thinking about taking the online test, which is now offered on-demand so you can actually take it whenever you want, or has taken it and gets the call to audition and they have questions about the process, I'm happy to connect with people if they want to reach out and share my experience. I don't know that I have any earth-shaking tips for how to get on the show, but I can certainly share what I learned.
I would say go for it. It's really fun. The cast, meaning the host and the clue crew and then the entire crew, all the producers, they're just the nicest people. I was really not expecting that. In show business, you hear horror stories, but it's a group of really, really kind human beings. They make it fun and not so stressful. If you're thinking about doing it, go for it. It's a really neat experience.
[00:25:46] Matt: Good deal. Any particular place that people should reach out to you?
[00:25:50] Robin: I would say LinkedIn or just my work email. I'm pretty much on there all the time. Robin.lozano@sonder.com.
[00:26:00] Matt: My email's reached you, so it must work.
[00:26:02] Robin: Yes.
[00:26:03] Matt: Robin, thank you so much for taking time today to come on the Work Pants Finance Podcast. It's been really fun to share this conversation and it's one that I look forward to listening to once it's edited and out there in the world.
[00:26:15] Robin: Thank you and congratulations on having this podcast. It's a great achievement to have this out there in the world and be creating content for people that brings them just stuff that they wouldn't normally get to hear. Congrats to you as well.
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[00:26:31] Matt: Robin is an accomplished business leader, a great wife, mom, and friend, and now a Jeopardy champion besides. She's humble, relatable, and serves up massive value for WPF listeners. There are five key takeaways from today's show. First, if a direction is clear in work, business, family, or game show competition, go for it, even if you're scared. People regret more the things they didn't do than the things they tried and failed.
Second, Robin tells the story of how the clue crew made her feel between show recordings. Ask and answer the question, what can you do in your daily work to honor the people with whom you interact? Third and related, do special things to let the people you love know you love them. Dave Lozano put a card in Robin's suitcase. You can take your spouse on a date, give your wife a three-night momcation at the beach, or let a kid direct how the family spends the time on an entire Saturday. I promise, I'm preaching to myself here too.
Fourth, ask what role model you want to be for your kids? What can you do to help them see you as fully human? What can you do for your adult parents as you ponder their humanity and the brevity of life? Fifth, when you make a mistake, do what you can to make it right, then move on quickly. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. It's what you do next that matters.
With that in mind, whatever your financial past it's past. It's what you do next that counts. If you're ready to take the next step with your financial plan, go to workpantsfinance.com/start and click on the button to build a financial plan that works as hard as you do. From there, you can schedule time with me. Until next week, this is Matt Miner, wishing you every success in life, work, and money.
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Lucy Miner: Matt Miner is a fee-only fiduciary financial advisor and founder and CEO of Miner Wealth Management, a North Carolina registered investment advisor where Matt provides personalized, unconflicted advice to clients for a fee. He's also my dad. Please be nice when you talk to him.
Matt is a Certified Financial Planner professional and holds a Series 65 Securities License. He earned his Bachelor's Degree in Finance from Arizona State University and his MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. Work Pants Finance is Matt's financial media business where he talks about work, entrepreneurship, kids, and money, taxes, investing in other personal finance topics.
Workpantsfinance.com exists to share wisdom and provide general financial information. It is not financial, tax, or legal advice. You are an individual and probably need personal advice for your specific situation, you should consider building relationships with helpful, caring, and competent professionals who understand your unique context and can provide advice that is tailored to your needs.
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