What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to stacking slabs, your hobby content alternative, flagship episode. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We've got the holiday season in full steam. I know I had a good one.

I'm excited to dig into today's episode. December's a big month for me. Always is thinking about my collection, making decisions, where I am now, where I wanna be, what changes I need to make, where do I wanna evolve.

I think about this every December. And since I do this every December and never really focus content around it, I let's just spin up this episode.

Right? Let's get into the weeds and try to share some perspective of how I'm thinking about my collection decisions, just some nuances with how I thought about things and then what I prioritize now and decisions I'll be making.

Before we do that, shout out to my good friends at Inferno Red Technology.

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So let's get into it. We're talking about, kinda end of the year reflections, how my collection and philosophy has evolved in 2025. December is always that month of transformation for me, both personally and as a collector.

On the home front, we are preparing for a new baby, which means life is about to change in a big way. Like, good old Jim Ross for all you wrestling fans.

Business is about to pick up. Yes. So excited. Very thrilled. Had this will be the third child that, we've had here at Stacking Slabs HQ since we've opened the doors at Stacking Slabs HQ.

Feeling very blessed. It's going to be awesome. Girl number three, girl dad through and through. In the hobby, I've been doing my annual urine reflection, taking stock of how my collection has evolved over the past year.

And what I have found is that change has been constant. My focus, my priorities, and even my guiding philosophy as a collector all have shifted significantly in 2025, and it's not a bad thing.

As one of my kind of guiding philosophies or principles reminds me of just you're not the same collector you were last year, and that's okay and being okay with that.

I think embracing change has always brought new energy and purpose to my existence as a collector. And one major change I've noticed is how December always seems to spark these shifts.

Maybe it's the symbolic end of a chapter or the excitement of a new year beginning. But this year with a new child on the way and a full year of collecting the books, I feel especially introspective.

I'm looking not just at what cards I picked up or let go, but the why behind these choices. In reflecting on the why, I've uncovered some personal revelations about my collecting approach.

These revelations are rooted deeply in psychology, growth for me, and also in evolving sense for what brings me happiness in this space. So that's what I wanna do.

I wanna explore this. I wanna share the story of these changes and how I went from maybe moving and being a die hard player collector to obsessing over a particular card brand and what that says about me as a collector.

And along the way, we'll dig into mindset and moves and all that fun stuff, but let's get into it.

So I think primarily, the biggest transformation I've made, and I just said it, but moving from being player centric focus to being brand focus.

And I've been very transparent about just what I collect, and I do it publicly, and it's a part of the brand.

I I I feel very, obligated that if I've got the show about sports cars, I should tell you what I'm doing. And these are this is what I'm collecting, and this is what I'm buying, and what I'm selling, and why.

And let's take Peyton for example. Peyton Manning is the greatest player in my favorite team's history. And when I got back into the hobby, I instinctively started hoarding Manning cards.

And early on, I think I did that because I wanted to be a Peyton guy, and it felt like the obvious route as a Colts fan. But over time, that approach stopped fulfilling me.

I found myself with dozens of Peyton cards that frankly didn't move the needle, and I had bought many of them simply because they were there, not because they had real significance to me.

Buying cars that are available. Oh, it's Peyton. It's available. I want it. It's not satisfying.

Or I thought it was satisfying, but it hasn't been satisfying. And realizing this was really freeing to me, and I didn't need to collect Peyton just because he's a legend. Instead, I needed to collect what truly resonates with me.

And there are patent cards within my collection that resonate with me. But as a collector, I have standards, and I'm holding myself to those standards, especially as I evolve primarily out of player collecting.

The realization set the stage for the biggest revelation I've had of 2025, and and that is it's way more about the type of card than the specific player on it for me.

In other words, I've become absolutely obsessed with the product, prism, for instance, especially the rare prism parallels of Colts players.

And if you told me a couple years ago that I'd rather chase shiny prism cards of various Colts than stockpile Mannings, I might have thought you were crazy, but here I am.

If all my cards were somehow up for grabs in a hypothetical expansion draft and I could protect only a small subset, I would protect my prison parallel collection first.

That's how much it means to me. It has become the core of my personal collection even more than patent guards.

So why Prism? I think for starters, Prism has been iconic modern brand. It's a flagship product that defines the current era of sports cards. I've talked about it.

I did a whole trilogy about it. It's all these things all combined. And each year, Prism releases a new chapter in assembling the new Colts, Prism Golds, Vinyls, and Black Finites each year has become a grand project.

There's something deeply satisfying about focusing on specific iconic and scarce parallels.

It gives my collection a clear identity and narrative, and I'm not just accumulating cards, but I'm building a story that's unmistakable unmistakably mine.

Meanwhile, my interest in player centric collecting, like chasing every Peyton card under the sun, has faded. And don't get me wrong. I love Peyton. He's still my favorite player of all time.

I still own some great Mannings, but I found that player collecting for its own sake just isn't as interesting to me right now. And the wild part is that this even applies to some someone of Peyton's caliber.

He's the greatest Colts player ever, a hall of famer, and yet I'd rather collect a Colts Prism Gold parallel of, say, a role player than some random patent card.

And that's what's crazy about this dynamic is that the era of product or Colts players in Prism and in the Prism era, none of them ever sniffed the Super Bowl, but I'm choosing to collect it because of the product and the consistency.

The main reason is that the Prism cards align with the vision and passion I currently have, whereas generic player collecting doesn't. In the past, I might have chased Peyton Peyton simply out of nostalgia or perceived loyalty.

Now I chase prisms because they excite me today. And that shift says a lot about how my collector mind has worked. I prioritize cards that fit a theme and story I'm building over cards that just feature a favorite player.

It's more of a personality driven collecting to a project driven collecting, and it's really reinvigorating reinvigorated my hobby experience.

To put it another way, my collection used to live in a player PC lane, and now it's firmly in the set brand project lane. I've lived in both lanes, and they're very different experiences.

You've got the Peyton PC being patient, nostalgia driven pursuit. In no rush, most great Peyton cards were already tucked away in collections, so I'd bide my time waiting for the right piece to surface.

This lane was about history, long term appreciation. Each card was like preserving a bit of NFL lore. I wasn't constantly buying because opportunities for truly special patent cards were very scarce.

It was more slower and personal. Think about my Colts project, fast paced, opportunistic. The lane is all about the thrill of the hunt and the scarce for prison parallels that moment they appear.

And I'm laser focused on completeness of checklist. So when a card pops up, even if it's a lesser known player like Hakeem Nicks, yes, Hakeem Nicks did play for the Colts, I pounce.

I've paid over market simply because it I might not get another shot at it. And every acquisition feels like adding a puzzle piece to a bigger picture, and that momentum keeps me engaged day to day.

These two approaches require two very different mindsets, almost like two different collector personalities. Each lane requires a different strategy, and I had to recognize which lane really made me the happiest.

Lately, the prison project is a lane that I find the most joy. It taps into my love of visual continuity, team pride, and excitement over modern card design. Prism cards just look and feel cool to me.

The shine, the colors, the specific cards, and putting them all together is awesome. It makes me know that I appreciate the design elements and the colors, and they're independent of the player's greatness.

It shows how much I value the the art of the card. Sometimes the card itself is as compelling as a player depicted in Prism with its bold designs and Chromium shine scratches that itch for me in a big way.

So what's the why? I know it sounds blasphemous to say I'd rather collect Prism than Peyton. What does this really say about me as a collector?

I've been thinking about this a lot, and this is December, baby. This is part of the reflection. And as I've been thinking about it, I've been trying to document. And here are some takeaways I've gleaned from my own shift.

It's about cards as much as players. I've always preached that we collect for personal meaning, not just names or numbers on a stat sheet. The shift is proof. I'm drawn to cards that represent an era in a hobby culture that I love.

Prism has gone from curiosity in 2012 to the hobby standard bearer that we know today. In a sense, I'm collecting a piece of hobby history, the Prism brand, as much as I'm collecting Colts players.

The fact that Peyton's Prime happened just before Prism era or he wasn't a Colts player just before the Prism era or during the Prism era, I often say, this is a reason why I'm able to kinda shift my focus.

My focus on Prism shows this value in cultural relevance. And also, like, none of this means that I'm not buying a patent card or I'm not collecting patent.

It's just the prioritization of it is shifting. Focusing on focus in-depth over breath. When I narrow to colds prison parallels, I've given my collection a clear focus.

This means I can go deep into focus, learning everything possible about those sets, hunting down even the most obscure names rather than spreading myself thin chasing every cool card of a player that I like.

The depth has made the hobby more rewarding. It's like I've chosen a specific neighborhood in the hobby, and I've committed to exploring every nook of it.

And this approach aligns with the CEO mindset I talk about. I've discussed, treating my collection like a project with a vision and goals, and I know exactly what I'm after and every move ideally is a step towards that vision.

Focusing on a beloved set like Prism also anchors me in the history of this hobby, and that's important.

Its legacy spans years, so building a run of Prism feels more like a timeline of both my team and the hobby itself. I think there's personal expression into this, and I think perhaps more importantly, the Prism Project is me.

It's a reflection of my story and taste. I'm a diehard Colts fan. I'm a also a child of the nineties who loves shiny refractors.

I'm a collector who cherishes a good challenge, and the prison project checks all those boxes. It lets me express my fandom, my nostalgia for shiny cards in a fun and exciting way.

In the end, our collections are a form of expression, an expression of ourselves. And shifting from two prism has been an exercise in being true to what I love, and I think that's really, really important.

I think the appeal of the project itself is important and certainly is something that needs to be called out. And I've learned that I'm someone who thrives on having a collecting project, giving goals, checklist, mission.

I'm fully engaged, and that's really, really important. And the project provides a structure for my collecting dopamine. Each win in the progress is progress towards cherish in state, not just some random hides.

Turns collecting into a narrative journey rather than a series of unconnected purchases, and that's a big shift in philosophy moving from buy what catches my eye to buying what fits the story that I'm trying to tell.

Now none of this is to say I'll never go back to dedicated player collecting.

I'm not declaring I'm done with that forever. It's more that right now, player collecting is on the back burner, and I'm reserved the right to pivot again in the future. Collectors evolve.

Remember that every December, baby. But any future pivot will be also driven by what genuine genuinely inspires me, not by what I'm supposed to collect or what I'm obligated to collect. This year has taught me to trust enthusiasm.

If down the road I wake up and I feel the urge to chase Peyton or another player exclusively, I'll listen to that. But the beautiful thing about the hobby in collecting is you can just listen to what excites you.

I think one of the practical consequences of this changing focus has been pretty dramatic calling over my collection. As I fell deeper in love with the Colts project, it's made some tough decisions.

I've had to sell off some cards, not just Manning, but a bunch of cards. And this wasn't easy, and there's emotional attachment we build to cards, especially of our childhood heroes. But I had to be honest with myself.

Many of those Manning cards were sitting in a box not because they were awesome or I absolutely love them, but there were cards based on the era when I bought them that I I thought that's what I was supposed to be collecting.

And I think selling cards can feel like taboo to some collectors, but it's not taboo when it's going to help set you up on a path that's gonna keep you in the hobby and going to keep you very excited and motivating.

You're reinvesting in your passion. I think the truth is I took a lot of the funds from sales that I made, whether it's Peyton or something else, and funnel it to the Prism PC that makes me really happy, and I have zero regrets from it.

I think opportunity cost is real, and holding on to cards you're lukewarm on can cost you the chance to acquire ones that you truly love.

To make these keep or sell decisions a bit easier, I started asking myself key questions whenever I feel stuck.

Questions like, does this card still fit in the story I'm trying to tell? Is it blocking me from getting something I want more?

The more I investigated myself and asked myself those questions, the more clear it became, and clarity was a guiding folk focus for me and gave me confidence when I was making certain decisions.

I think it's really important to to note that selling to refocus is not the same as fickleness or chasing trends. I think this reinvestment mindset is one that should be embraced by more people in the hobby or at least vocalized about.

Once I start selling off cards, it all it almost becomes fun in a way because every sale felt like clearing space for a new addition.

I wasn't just trimming fat, but I was fueling the next chase. Whatever card it was, whether it was a new black finite, a Andrew Luck gold vinyl, whatever it was, gave me focus.

Moves like this help help reinforce how right refocusing was, and my collection started to feel less like a mismatch hoard and more like coherent and curated exhibit.

I think at the end of the day, letting go of parts of my collection wasn't about losing interest in certain subjects like Peyton.

I've always been a Peyton fan. It was about recognizing that my collection can't be static if I'm not static.

I've grown and changed, and so so can my collection has evolved. And just because certain cards come and go doesn't mean that that memory and that utility value wasn't always there as a collector.

And I think that's really important. We go through these shifts, but there's this undeniable force that tells you, I can't sell these cards because I'm building something bigger.

And that thought of building something bigger and better and something that inspires me and excite me excites me is truly important.

So I think stepping back on 2025 in my collecting journey as part of a broader story of personal growth and psychological insight through the hobby, those that has taught me something.

The changes in my collection didn't just happen in a vacuum.

They mere changes in how I think about collecting and what I want out of it. A few big picture reflections on psychology behind my evolution that I think are cool to talk about.

But finding why in the meaning, and I think earlier in my return to the hobby, I was accumulating cards without a sense of purpose or identity.

But when you land on a per sense of purpose and identity and it feels like you've got a mission and goals, that's what gets me really excited, and that's why I'm falling into this new quest.

Embracing change and letting evolution happen is important.

If there's one thing that I've learned is that change is the only constant in life and the hobby, and the best collectors know, who I know, aren't the ones who stubbornly stick in one lane forever.

Rather, they're the ones who adapt and follow their passion during these different phases. The more we move, the more we learn, the more we let our curiosity take over, the more happy the more happy we can be in the hobby.

I think there's a lot of joy with intentional collecting, and all these changes have reinforced a core principle, collect with intentionality.

The more we can be intentional and have a plan and understand what drives the plan, the more fun we're all gonna have in the hobby.

I think community and identity is something else I look at. Interestingly, this journey has showed me the value of sharing and community feedback.

As I've started posting and talking about my Colt's Prism project, the winds near misses, everything in between, I found a ton of support from collectors.

People would tag me when they saw rare Colt's Prism, and they would I would always get leads. And this constantly happened and led to bigger purchases and big cards and deals and meeting people face to face to get deals done.

And you begin to build your identity and brand and what people think about you, and they help you out. And that's fun.

I think as this year closes out, I feel a sense of gratitude for how this hobby has helped me grow. It's not just about the cards. It's about self discovery, discipline, patience, and knowing when to chase versus when to let go.

If you would have told me a year ago that I'd tell a bunch of patents to be laser focused on prison parallels, I might have been skeptical, but I'm here and I couldn't be happier with the current state.

I think the story of my collection in '25 is really a story of embracing change.

It's about acknowledging that life changes And as we change, our hobbies can change too. And that's something to celebrate, not to resist. I've gone through transformation from a broader player collector to a focused set collector.

And in this process, it's rekindled my passion for honing on what I truly love, iconic card brand that captures my team's history in a shiny limited form.

I let go of some legends, but I gained new appreciation for the hobby journey itself. If there's one takeaway from this episode, this is what I'd say, follow your collecting heart even if it leads you on an unexpected path.

Don't collect something because you feel obligated or feel like you have to. Collect something that's going to inspire you. Standing at the cusp of the New Year, I'm thrilled.

I'm pumped. I'm motivated. I'm excited to continue my Prism Chase. I don't know what's gonna happen. I can't control everything, but all I know is I'm having fun. And isn't that what this is supposed to be about?

For me, 2025 will always be remembered as the year I made the hobby mine again, narrowing my focus, deepening my connection with each card, and building something that truly tells my story.

It's been a blast, and I have all you to thank for coming along and supporting me, all the feedback.

Appreciate you. Can't wait to produce and share more Stacking Slabs content with you. Appreciate all your feedback and doing all the things that you do to support this damn brand. It means a ton. We'll be back. Talk to you soon.