A few years ago, my colleague Bryce Skaff was surfing one morning a half mile offshore in Hawaii when he felt a sudden, burning tightness in his chest. He shook it off and paddled back to shore.
After making it home and resting his surfboard, an excruciating wave of pain knocked him to the ground. He couldn’t breathe. It felt, as he later described, like someone was squeezing his heart with both hands.
His wife rushed outside, and they sped off to the emergency room—a 15-minute drive that felt like a lifetime. He drifted in and out of consciousness, pounding his arms and legs on the car door just to stay alert. By the time they reached the hospital, the cardiologist confirmed he’d suffered a massive blockage in his coronary artery—a STEMI heart attack—and he needed immediate intervention. Thankfully, the doctors acted quickly, and Bryce survived.
He was left deeply shaken, but grateful. Doctors told him that his discipline around fitness and nutrition likely saved his life. He had controlled what he could control, so when a crisis hit, he was better able to manage what he couldn’t.
I tell this story because after 50 years in finance, I’ve come to recognize how important it is to be prepared.
In health and in finances, you want to have done your homework and built up your “immune system”—whether that’s a healthy body or a well-structured, diversified portfolio—so you can rely on it when times get tough.
Bryce’s story is a vivid reminder that while we can’t predict or prevent every sudden catastrophe, health-related or financial, we can stack the odds in our favor.
Trust the Process
I often tell people that it’s important to judge yourself by the quality of your decisions, not just by their outcomes.
One of the hardest parts of focusing on process instead of outcome is coming to terms with the element of randomness. A health crisis, job loss, or sudden economic downturn can derail the best-laid plans.
Yet it’s in these moments that a solid process proves its worth. If you’ve been consistent in your actions, like building a diversified investment portfolio, you’re better positioned to ride out a crash and recover more swiftly than if your investment strategy was a patchwork of speculative decisions.
Likewise, if you adopt healthy habits and stay current with preventive care, even an unpredictable illness can often be managed with greater resilience. Disciplined, evidence-based processes win out more often than chasing quick windfalls or letting emotions run rampant.
Perhaps the best example of controlling what you can control is the concept of compounding.
Stack Wins
Whether it’s a low-interest bank account’s earnings over a short period of time or the first week of an exercise routine that demands a few months, the initial returns can look negligible.
But like so many things in life, small, faithful steps accumulate far more powerfully than most people anticipate—especially when given enough time. When you understand that compounding ultimately rewards steady, disciplined action, you stop worrying about the short term and instead trust that good habits, consistently maintained, tend to yield meaningful results over the long haul.
Throughout my career, I’ve learned the “magic of compounding” is real. It’s also subject to the unpredictable currents of markets and life, which means we manage volatility rather than try to command it. If you can practice that balance—mastering what is truly in your hands and calmly navigating what isn’t—you’ll find that compounding becomes more than just a financial concept. It becomes a guiding principle for growth in every arena of your life.
Remember that big transformations start with small, consistent habits. Whether you’re trying to lose weight or save for retirement, it’s the daily routines that eventually snowball (compound!) into tangible results.
So instead of obsessing over grand goals—like losing 50 pounds or having a million dollars in investments—focus on the small steps you can reliably take. Maybe you pack a healthy lunch each day or automatically transfer a portion of your paycheck into a savings account every month. Over time, those little efforts compound.
Embrace Uncertainty
Lastly, you’ll need to learn to accept a certain amount of uncertainty. This doesn’t mean giving up; it means preparing for multiple outcomes.
With your finances, that might mean building an emergency fund or making sure you have adequate insurance. With your health, it could be scheduling regular checkups, creating an advance health-care directive, or simply staying alert to early warning signs. Planning for the unexpected isn’t pessimistic—it’s practical.
This also means you’ll need to regularly reassess your plan. Life changes, and the things we couldn’t control last year may become perfectly manageable tomorrow, or vice versa.
Imagine someone who once felt stuck in their career but, after taking a few classes and networking, is suddenly qualified for a promotion. Their “can’t” column just got a little smaller. By staying open to new information and experiences, you’ll often find your sense of agency expanding.
Far from leaving us helpless, this approach grants a sense of freedom and optimism. The world will continue throwing curveballs—tornadoes, economic downturns, reorganizations at work, and even health crises. But by applying a disciplined, evidence-based framework and directing our energy toward what we can influence, we become both more stable and more adaptable.
Ultimately, “control what you can control and manage what you can’t” isn’t just an investment philosophy—it’s a way of navigating life. It harmonizes humility with confidence and personal responsibility. This principle applies everywhere, from how we invest and save to how we nurture our families, pursue our careers, and care for our bodies. By recognizing the boundaries of our control, we actually expand what’s possible. We free ourselves from anxiety over the uncontrollable and create space for purposeful growth.
In the months after his recovery, Bryce couldn’t help but reflect on how fragile life really is. He pointed out how similar good health habits are to sound financial planning: Preparation doesn’t prevent a crisis—be it a heart attack or a market crash—but it makes you far more resilient when it strikes.
