3 Takeaways from Mark Cuban’s Book, How to Win at the Sport of Business

Posted on March 24, 2017 by Ken Thompson in Book Reviews! and tagged Autodidact, Billionaire, Billions, Blog, Book, Book Review, Books, Brilliant Minds, Business, Cuban, Dallas, Dallas Mavericks, Development, Effort, Enjoy, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Financial Freedom, Genius, How to Win at the Sport of Business, Inspiration, Karma, Mark Cuban, Mark Cuban Book, Motivate, Never Give Up, Read, Research, Sport of Business, Start Up, Success, Teach, Teacher, Texas, The Edge, Work.

Billionaire and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban gives insight into his success. He started from the bottom now he’s where he’s at, and he’s lovin it. Here are three key takeaways from his new book, How to Win at the Sport of Business:

1.Never Give Up

When Cuban was running one of his first companies, his secretary stole $83,000 dollars out of the $85,000 dollars they had saved. Cuban tried to get his money back but it wasn’t possible.

Instead of dwelling on the problem, Cuban focused on the positives, and what he could do to continue to succeed. He never saw or heard from that secretary again; she probably changed her name.

Anyway, Cuban being a stoic, a genius, and just being real with the situation said, “What’s done was done. Worrying about revenge, getting pissed at the bank and all those ‘I’m going to get even and kick your ass thoughts’ were basically just a waste of energy.”

Cuban got right back to work, and he never stopped, just call him the energizer bunny. Key takeaway is to be able to let go of people who have wronged you, and move on. Taking time out of your day to try and get revenge is only a waste of time. Let karma take care of it.

2.Become an autodidact

The most brilliant minds throughout history have all been in some ways an autodidact; that is, a self-taught person. Cuban himself is very much an autodidact, teaching himself how to program as well as continuously reading and learning.

Cuban reads multiple hours each day, and it pays off! Literally, he’s a billionaire, and a lot of why he is so successful is because he consistently reads. A huge take away from this book is to be able to teach yourself; learn how to learn.

If you don’t know something, stop sitting around doing nothing about it and research it! Study it! Whatever you want to learn is at your fingertips, we have the internet and Google! Almost all the information we’ll ever need is online, and usually for free! Be your own teacher. Stay ahead of the curve. Have the edge.

One definition Cuban has for the edge is: “Knowing that people think you’re crazy, and they are right, but you don’t care what they think.” Get up early, stay up late. Kick yourself in the ass before someone else does.

3.Enjoy the entire process

When Cuban was 23 years old he was sleeping on a floor. He was living in a 3 bedroom house with 6 people. He was basically broke and lived off of happy hour food during that time. He was having a blast though, not kidding, he loved it!

He got fired from multiple jobs but he was surrounded by great friends in Dallas and that made all the difference. Now he owns the Dallas Mavericks, and has made the team and program better with his approach. On this subject, Cuban says, “Start the day with a positive attitude.

You are going to screw up. We all do. But no matter what happens, every morning, the minute after you wipe away the crust from your eyes, remind yourself that you’re going to enjoy every minute of the day. You are going to enjoy the twenty interviews you have. You are going to enjoy waiting in the heat for your roommate to pick you up afterward. You are going to enjoy realizing how frayed your collar has become and how sick you are of your one, lonesome tie.

You are going to enjoy all the bullshit you have to deal with as you chase your goals and dreams, because you want to remember them all. Each and every experience will serve as motivation and provide great memories when you finally make it all happen. It’s your choice. What are you going to do?”

I hope these 3 key takeaways can help you as much as they have helped me! If you would like to order the book from Amazon you can order it here: How To Win At The Sport of Business. I highly recommend reading it however you can get it!

Think Big and You’ll Live Big

Posted on May 2, 2016 by Ken Thompson in Motivation, Self-Help and tagged Action, Belief, Believe, Big, Blog, Disbelief, How To, Huge, Inspire, Life, Live, Love, Magic, Mind, Mindset, Motivate, Mountain, Observe, People, Positive, Success, Successful, Think, Tips, Tremendous, Tricks.

What does every successful person have in common? They all think “BIG.”

The size of your thinking will determine your success. Open your mind to see this truth now, or don’t, and continue living the life you have at this moment. If you don’t like your job and want more from your life then REALLY open your mind to this idea. You will watch your life prosper as you begin a journey to the life you dream of.

I’m sure you’ve heard that faith can move a mountain; that if you believe you can move a mountain you will! This is true, but it is claptrap to think you can make a mountain move just by saying “Mountain move!” That is impossible; people who think this way are confused with wishful thinking. You can’t wish yourself into anything, but when you believe you can truly do something BIG, and I KNOW you can, the how-to-do it develops. When you believe you’ll succeed you will begin to observe the best. You will study how successful people approach problems and make decisions. Belief is an essential element to success!!

Disbelief is a negative power. When the mind disbelieves or doubts, the mind attracts “reasons” to support the disbelief*** When this thought first crossed my mind I instantly saw how I was already applying this to my life, so it made me reexamine my life. Think doubt and fail. Think victory and succeed. BELIEVE, and watch your life expand tremendously.

Action Cures Fear

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Ken Thompson in Motivation, Self-Help and tagged Action, Believe, Cure, Decisive, Dreamer, Experience, Fear, Hope, Inspire, Motivate, Move, People, Pleasant, Pleasing, Positive, Practical, Read, Situations, Success.

Everyone experiences a great deal of unpleasant, embarrassing, and discouraging situations. But unsuccessful and successful people deal with these situations in exactly opposite ways.

Successful people focus on putting positive thoughts into their memory bank. Unsuccessful people dwell on unpleasant situations. If you’re reading this right now you either want to be successful or are a good friend of mine, and hopefully both! If you do want to be more successful then you should practice recalling pleasant, positive experiences and count your blessings! I’ve begun to practice recalling pleasant situations and I actually wrote down a few amazing experiences on a note card to remember! I am very appreciative of everything and have to give some credit to this method.

Another practical thing you can do is to take actions that support your HOPE! What is it you desire? What is holding you back from reaching it? What you hope for, you can have. This method has been proven time and time again, but you still might not believe it, which is why you will stay exactly where you are. BELIEVE. Act on what you hope for! People who consciously think of their hopes and then act to make them happen are the people you see who are living their dreams!

The next time you experience fear, calm yourself. Then search yourself for an answer to this specific question: “What kind of action can I take to conquer my fear?” Here are some examples of fear and some possible action cures:

Fear Fear of failing an exam
*Action*Convert worry time into study time.

Fear Fear of things totally beyond your control
*Action*Turn your attention to helping relieve the fear of others and pray.

Fear Fear of what other people may think and say
*Action*Make sure that what you plan to do is fair. Then do it. No one ever does anything worthwhile without being criticized.

Fear Fear of people
*Action*Put them in the correct perspective. A person is just another human being pretty much just like yourself.

We all experience fear in one way or another, but the most successful people feel the fear then do it anyway! They take action! BE decisive! Instead of dwelling in fear, take action! Do something. Recall pleasant experiences often and get going!

Tricks to Motivate Yourself

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Ken Thompson in Motivation, Self-Help and tagged Inspire, Life, Love, Motivate, Success, Tips, Tricks.

Do you have a lack of motivation? Are you bored often? Here are a few tips you can use to get your fire burning again! Begin to live life passionately.

First, organize your life so you don’t constantly need motivation. If work is a constant battle, perhaps it’s time to start thinking about a new job. We all have to do things we don’t want to do, but if your job and/or life has become a chronic source of dull chores, you’ve got a big problem that needs fixing.

So do something you’re passionate for! When you do things you are passionate for, you will get into a state of “flow.” Flow is the state where your mind is completely focused on the task at hand. While there are many factors that go into this state, having the right challenges is a big part. Set challenges for yourself that fall between boredom and a maddening frustration.

BUT, passion and flow can fail, and when they do, try these:

Go back to your “why.” Figure out why you’re working on the task at hand. Is it for money? Do you want freedom? Do you want to give? Figuring out why you do something will motivate you!
Plan to work for 5 minutes. When you sit down to work for 5 minutes, you are more likely to kick-start a longer period of work! And if you end up only working for 5 minutes at least you got something done!
Find out what the next step is. What is the thing you know you need to do to complete your task? Focus on that! It’s okay to think ahead, but don’t focus too much on the big picture; break it down into smaller tasks and start there!
Develop a mantra; a few statements that focus your mind and motivate you. I have recently been doing this and it has helped beyond belief! Tell yourself statements like “Do it now!” Or make a jingle in your mind, “I’m going for a run, I’m going for a run. I feel strong, relaxed and confident, I’m going for a run!” There are all sorts of jingles and mantras you can do. Make sure it’s personalized to fit you!

Overall, start working more on what you love to do. Take time to do things you are passionate about. You WILL have to do some work that is very difficult, but continue to do what you love as a side job. Once you start getting paid for what you love you can do it full-time!

Who I Am

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Ken Thompson in Lifestyle and tagged Beatles, Breathe, Change, Cherish, Deams, Dreamer, Effort, England, Forever, Goals, Inspire, Life, Liverpool, Love, Motivate, Realist, School, Semester, Success, Time, Unrealistic, Work.

You may say that I’m a dreamer. I know I’m not the only one though. This world is filled with dreamers, but it is also filled with realists. Can you be a realist and a dreamer at

At The Beatle’s Story Building in Liverpool England. (2013)

the same time? I think so.

There are dreams each of us have every single day that become fulfilled, and there are dreams that are not fulfilled. A lot of times we don’t see our dreams as dreams. What I mean by this, is that most people expect to eat at some point in the day. They dream about it, they think about it. If they never thought about it, would they not eat? You have to eat to stay alive, so why don’t we look at success as if it were dinner? If ya know what I’m sayin. Need it, breathe it, think about it and be it.

There are also some dreams that some people may find unrealistic but that other people are doing. If someone else is doing it then YOU CAN TOO!! A few years ago I was presented with the idea of studying abroad. This seemed like it could be a life-changing experience, and it was, but I will get to that later. Looking back on what I did to make studying in England possible for a semester took effort. It was not easy by any means, but it was worth it. Paper work sucks, but sometimes it needs to be done if you want to do the things you really want to do. I didn’t look at studying abroad as a dream until it actually happened, and reflecting on that experience makes me see that that is exactly what that was, a dream come true. Many people talk about it, few people do it.

If you want something, go for it. Work for it. Put in TIME and EFFORT. Nothing worth having comes easy, but once you get it, the dream is something to be cherished forever.