What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to Stacking Slabs. This is your hobby content alternative.

It is the flagship episode. Let's go. I'm ready to get into it. I'm fired up today. I've got coffee coursing through my veins. I've got a topic that I'm extremely passionate about, and I've got an audience out there that's ready to go.

This is the perfect marriage, the flagship episode each and every week where we dig into a topic that I think really matters. And today, we're gonna be talking about the art of chasing, understanding, desire, and motivation.

Now I was trying to debate last episode, do we continue the train in just hitting the primary topic of chapters from collecting for keeps finding meaning in a hobby build on hype?

The book that I released not too long ago, and I wasn't sure. And I was thinking about it. I was just trying to explore the library of Stacking Slabs content and realize, you know what?

Like, we've talked about chase a little bit, but it'd be really fun to get in the weeds on the topic from a psychological perspective, especially because a lot of us right now, whether you like it or not, you're a chaser.

We're all chasing. It's hard not to chase when there's excitement, momentum around the category that we absolutely love. So I want to dig into that topic today, reflect on it, and explore.

I'll say this, out of the gates. I'm having a blast. I had a crazy week in the hobby, collecting sports cards, selling sports cards, winning auctions, doing private deals.

I'm a high volume activity guy. When I do high volume of anything, it usually lights me up, and I'm feeling very energized right now.

Of course, I'll share those pickups as they come. But you know what? I don't wanna I don't wanna jinx things. I want seamless transition from wherever the cards are going to my home.

And once I get those cards in hand, we will talk about them. And I gotta shout out my good friends at Inferno Red Technology for sponsoring the flagship episode of Stacking Slabs.

Inferno Red Technology is the engineering team behind some of the biggest names in sports and collectibles like DC Sports 87, Com C, Collectors Upper Deck, and eBay.

From AI powered solutions from startups to full stack platform forms for industry leaders, their team can tackle your toughest technology challenge.

They build awesome software for the hobby, for leagues and fans, and for everyone in between.

See what Inferno Red can build for you at infernored. com. I hope you got a chance to check out the debut episode of Built for the Hobby with Scott Locke, the CEO of Inferno Red Technology.

We dropped that last week. We're gonna be digging into a tech topic once a month. I spent fifteen years of my career in tech. Now I'm working in the hobby and in content, so it is like all of my worlds colliding.

And I loved the debut episode of kind of why does tech matter right now in the industry. And I think this is the the series is gonna be great from a a business perspective.

Like, if you're a business owner, operator, or an employee at any of these companies that support the hobby, this series is, I believe, one of the most important pieces of content you can listen to.

And if you're an end consumer or a collector like me, it is going to be fun to understand how companies are shaping their products through to the lens of technology to create better experiences for us. Excited for that.

Shout out inferno red. Okay. I'm ready to go. I'm feeling the energy. I'm feeling the topic. Let's get into the art of chasing. Okay. I think the first place we have to start when we're talking about chasing is that feeling.

And I can just say that feeling and chase, and hopefully you start to think about that feeling of excitement, joy, exuberance, all of that bottled up into one feeling, and that feeling is what drives the chase, what drives the motivation.

And maybe you're scrolling on eBay or another marketplace, and that one card that you have been dreaming about, thinking about, that missing piece in your collection jumps out.

You your heart starts pounding a little bit, feels kinda like you're, back in middle school, maybe attending your first dance.

Your hands might a little shake a little bit. You tremble. You click to zoom in the image. Suddenly, you're not thinking clearly.

You're intoxicated by seeing a photo of a sports car, but it's much more than just a photo of a sports car. It's a culmination of your passion, your interest, your desire, work you've been putting into.

And you don't think clearly because it's taken over, and that's crazy. Cards can take over. There are they can be the ultimate pattern interrupt in our lives.

And the chase is not a spreadsheet moment. And so much of what we wanna do as people is put certain things into formulas, into spreadsheets, try to get the ROI, try to justify all these things, look at comps, look at data, all of this.

And we go all in and overdose on this idea that we're gonna do all this work, researching data, and justify and ask people, and it's going to lead to us having a straightforward answer.

That's that's that's not this. There's never a straightforward answer because it's not a spreadsheet moment when this happens. It's a gut moment.

And those gut moments, when they hit you, you gotta treat them differently than any other moment in the hobby because that moment where you are head to head with a chase and in the that final moment, you got to it means more.

And I I remember it. I've dealt with it. There's always cards that pop up that I'm like, that's a cool card, and I'll put it on my watch list. But then there's cards that pop up that just hit me different.

Cards that don't make you sleep right. Cards that you just like they're at auction. You're thinking of everything possible to be able to acquire that card. I think we all have experienced this.

And when it is a card that we absolutely need in our collections because we've been thinking about it or is that missing piece of the puzzle, you need to throw out your rule book. You gotta treat it differently.

The hobby right now, it's on fire. We all know that. We've talked about it. We've reported on the data. Record breaking sales, the actors that are being public about the hobby, the social media of it all, the new releases.

You got fanatics taking over the basketball license. It's just story after story. I'll I'll say this, like, I am I get approached, which I'm not it's not exclusive to me.

I'm sure this is happening to other people in the hobby, but I get approached, it seems like, multiple times a week from PR agencies who are wanting to elevate brands that are working with them to be on stacking slabs and to share what they wanna share.

And I'm like, man, that's always my measurements. Like, when this is when there's an uptick in this, that means, like, we're in this frenzy mode because there's so much news, so many stories.

And I'll just say this. Worked in PR, worked in comms, worked in all this. None of them are probably listening, and this is just the complete sidebar.

But you can't just ask and expect. Like, go out of your way. Build the relationship first. Do something for the person you're eventually going to ask them for. It's it's not that hard, but I digress. So excitement's up.

But for many collectors who've been around a while, who want our collections to mean something for the long run, I think it's really good to pause. I I think it's really good to ask yourself the question, why do we chase?

What is it about that one card that grabs us tightly, that puts us in a stranglehold? In chapter two of collecting with collecting for keeps, I call this the art of chasing.

And so today, I wanna explore that further. And this has been good for me because it's allowed me to go back to that piece of content and to connect topics from that content to what's happening today.

So we're gonna talk about psychology behind the chase, dopamine, nostalgia, collecting identity, all the things, and how we can potentially potentially channel it.

And I, I think my goal for this episode is by the end of it, I hope you all have a new clarity on your own motivations and some maybe practical tools that you can think about in order to chase more intentionally.

Seem like I always say this. This isn't an instruction manual.

It's an it's a reflection from one collector, especially if you're new listening to stacking slabs Wednesday episodes, sharing how I think about this heavy dose of psychology, heavy dose of consumer behavior, heavy dose of critical thinking.

And the reason why all these things matter to me is because I spent the last fifteen years of my career obsessing over it. Now it's like, well, maybe we can apply some of these to the hobby, and I can share this, in content.

So that's what we're doing. I want you all as we set the stage for this episode to think about that last card that really made your heart race.

Why did it move you so much? Hang on to that thought in your head. It might reveal more than you can expect. So I'm going to start here with the chase is the mirror.

And I think of collecting as I like to think of collecting as logical prices, comps, market trends. We've got a lot of data. We've got a lot of tools. We've got we're more we're on information overload.

We've got more content than ever before. It's nuts. Like, I can if I wanted to, I could sit and I could consume data from tools like card letter, new content, new listings all day, every day.

It could be the only thing I could do. There's so much of it. And I think this all of this information, data, and content makes the hobby more logical.

But the chase is is where the real you shows up. So we have all of these things happening that are influencing our hobby experience, Instagram too, people posting cards.

But I believe that when you're in the mode where you're chasing a card, everything else is put aside because that's the real you as a collector.

So you see a card, and for that split second, you maybe hit by it now. You your your pulse starts to ratchet up.

And I think it's sun it's not about the market value, but it's about you as the collector, the players, the moment, the exact image out of the card. This tells you what cards matter the most to you and not everyone else.

And this is why cards and values are unexplainable. We try to put everything into a box. It's impossible to put people's motivations, desires, intentions into a box because all of ours are different.

What I value a card to be is a lot different what you value a card to be. A team I love is not a team you love. A opportunity to add a card you might look at as, oh, I can wait for the next one and I can look at is man.

This is my only chance and all of these factors are constantly at play and all of these factors. End up in a card being sold and you have someone who buys the cards whose card who's thrilled about it.

And you've got a lot of other people that are saying, I can't believe that card went for that Example I always use is the moment where I had to buy the 2,002 Peyton Manning finest x fracture out of 20.

It was buy it now on eBay, and this is I don't even think the comp is in card ladder, but this is, like, five years ago at this point.

And I paid a lot at the time for it. It was I needed it, though. It represented a player, a set, an aesthetic, and a rarity and scarcity that I I absolutely needed.

And it it wasn't just because of Manny's career in Indianapolis, and it wasn't just because of Super Bowl forty one, and it wasn't just because I wanted to get more sophisticated with my Manning collection.

It was because of all of those things and what it made me feel as a collector.

And it was the connection. It was the right card. And you know how I know it's the right card? Because that card is still in my case many, many years later, even after that card sold raw for $10,000 a couple weeks ago.

The chase bypasses logic and goes straight to your values. Think of your favorite tray chase. What card has made you lose sleep or or click buy it now without second thoughts?

That trigger finger. Whatever it was, it's a clue, and it's really revealing to you. That feeling can be so revealing and I think is so untapped that we don't go back enough to think about those moments and those cards.

And if we channel the energy from those moments and cards and those experiences, the likelihood that we buy or chase cards that mean that much to us in the future goes up.

But we're in this buy now, we're in this move fast, we're in this go go go culture. And I hope that we can all recognize that there are many cards in our collection and some mean more than others.

And those that mean the most reverse spending some time reverse engineering that experience, and it could really lead to, a powerful kind of transformation with the way you think about chasing or approaching cards.

Now what exactly motivates that rush? I talk about two types of motivations. You've got service motivation, which is the card is valuable, so I want it.

And surface is used intentionally because so much of the conversation dialogue in our industry is about just values and prices, which I think is just the surface level of how we should be talking about what we do.

But you also have core motivation, and this this is when this card reflects something I deeply care about, and I'm willing to work for it. Think about the sacrifice. Like, I know the sacrifice that I had when I bought that Manning card.

I can remember it like yesterday because I was having my first child in my own home. I had a room fully stocked full of wrestling memorabilia, figures, collectibles, and my wife said, this is this is our daughter's room.

You need to figure this stuff out. Like, what are you doing with this stuff? And I thought about it. I was like, oh, I can put it in boxes, and we hadn't moved into our new house yet.

An opportunity presented itself, and an opportunity presented itself for somebody to drive to my house to make a very strong offer on my lot of collectibles, and I did it.

But I remember it because that sacrifice, which I think about some of those pieces, that sacrifice led to me having some funding to buy that Manning card, and that is why it means so much.

And a lot of collectors stay on the surface. They chase whatever's hot, the new rookie, everyone's buzzing about, and they feel good when they buy it.

But often those buys are just for that quick hit. I call it skimming eBay for dopamine. You know, buying something and selling it a few weeks later, but it didn't have any real meaning.

We all do this at some extent. I am guilty of it. It's hard not to when the market's rising. Social media is full of take hot takes and everything else, and dopamine is just absolutely screaming at your face.

And the mini reward for all of this and just being here and showing up is we bought it, and we see the notification ding.

But what if I what if we all took a step back and that collectors who build truly meaningful collections do something different. They plot. They're methodical. They plan.

They wait. They sometimes even let a card go and come back to it later. They only chase the right cards. The ones that fit their story, their taste, their history, and that feeling that gives you excitement and feels like none other.

It's that feeling in your stomach. Those are the cards that really change the trajectory of your collection.

So I wanna I want you to ask yourself, were you were were your last few purchases driven by value or meaning? Think about it. For instance, if you're you've ever regretted buying something just to flip it, that was probably surface.

If you bought something expensive because it spoke to you, that was probably core. So that dopamine moment that we all know and love and makes us feel good, let's talk about it.

Dopamine is a brain chemical that makes us feel rewarded like when we eat cake. Who doesn't love cake? I love chocolate chip cookies, man. If I could eat a chocolate chip cookie every night, it'd be a good night.

When we get a good grade on a test, when we get a promotion, the long anticipated mail day, every time you see a sold notification or get a package, your brain fires off a little reward signal.

That's part of why the chase can be so addictive. I think I mentioned earlier, we want dopamine hits from mail days, and that's real. And it's not necessarily a bad thing.

Dopamine helped our ancestors learn and survive. It helped us as we've grown up and navigate different certain situations. But in collecting, it keeps us engaged. It is good to remember that dopamine doesn't care what the object is.

It just likes surprises and novelty. So I think we all should be aware when your finger is itching to buy something, it could be just for the rush. I which I'm gonna be putting some more content out there on this subject.

And at the time of this recording, I'm working through maybe new Thursday rotation, and I'm hoping to bring back Smashing Ben, which is a fun show. Maybe not every week, but just once a month or something.

But in that series, I interviewed, I don't know, 20 people about a bin smash purpose, purchase. And we talk about the motion and the reasons why collectors did what they did for cards.

It might not be a for the cheapest price, but it's about the conviction. It's about conviction, and sometimes it's about sacrifice, and it's about you wanting that card in that moment.

And I would recommend, if you haven't listened to any of those old episodes of Smashing Ben and you're trying to think more about this topic, that's a good place to go.

So next time when you feel compelled to pull the the trigger or smash Ben, it's always good to pause for a second.

And it might just be one second and ask, are you doing it for the dopamine hit or it does it really mean something for your collection? So we have to we can't have this conversation without talking about nostalgia and identity.

And I think in the book, I talk about nostalgia from the perspective of team connections, feeling like a kid again, and all of these things factor into me chasing cards.

But when you chase a card, often it's because of that image or a player that taps into who you were or who you are.

Maybe it's your favorite childhood player or team or historic moment being in the arena and seeing something. It could be just the art of the card itself.

You love its beauty. You love its glory. You love the aesthetic. And the the nostalgic ties give us a rush and a warm feeling and make that card always feel more than worth more than the effort. The cards you own tell your story.

Every set you build reflection is a reflection of something inside you. So when you find a card that lights you up, think which part of you is lighting up? Is it joy from that championship win from your team?

The style of your favorite car from childhood? Is it of shared memory? And I think this is why chasing can feel like we're trying to reclaim a piece of our past or cement our identity.

It's completely natural. And it me means a card in a slab isn't just plastic, but it's a memory or a statement. I wanna make sure we touch on something that is not so great and it's it's painful.

But we don't always win, and we lose. And I think there is a lot of lessons that can be learned from taking an l in a chase. It's not all roses, and it's a reflection of, like, the pain and agony that we have to deal with.

And it usually doesn't last long or maybe it lasts long, but I just wanna recognize the fact that we don't always win chases. I think losing teaches us something.

It shows you how much you cared or it sharpens your focus. I think it's a part of the game. It's not failure. It's information, and information is gold. You can't have enough information and experiences in collecting.

It tells you what your true value is. If you have a big reaction to losing a card, that's great data about your collections heart. We need a it's it's easy to be pissed off.

It's easy, freaking be lose sleep because you wish you would have bid more on auctions because you lost it. We all go through it. It's good to recognize it, but it's just, like, gather the data and move on.

I think it leads us to obsession, and I know obsession gets a bad rap. Friends and family sometimes don't understand why we care so much. I don't think obsession is dysfunction. I think obsession is focus.

It gives us purpose. It gives us a laser focus on cards or theme, and it's actually great because it gives us a sign of what we really want. You've probably posted wantless messages to buddies, trek to shows looking for every table.

That's all behavior because you're deeply invested, and that's okay. We treat collecting like a long term investigation, not a vending machine because we care enough to ask others for help.

I think obsession can be a tool. If you're listening to my show about sports cards, you're probably maybe a little bit obsessed in the hobby in some way, and that's cool.

I'm obsessed. I left my job to talk about sports cards every day. I'm obsessed. I think planning is a topic we should hit real quick. Great cards often come to those who are ready for them. You don't find great cards by accident.

You find them because you are ready when they appear. And this means saving funds instead of impulse buys, knowing what you want before it's on the market and keeping an eye on kind of those reoccurring leads that might come through.

In other words, it's chase fewer and chase harder. Don't burn everything on every shiny thing.

Focusing your energy and budget on a few cards that can fit your that fit your goals is really important. If they slip away, you move on and maybe you let a card go back might come back home later.

I've talked about boomerang cars before. Alright. We need to get out of here. At the end of the day, what are we really chasing? We're not chasing just cardboard.

We're chasing feelings. We started talking about feelings. Feelings are important. A feeling that we're building something meaningful, a story we've been telling ourselves. Hopefully, this episode has shown us so new something.

It's recognizing our motivation and improves our collecting. When done with intention, collecting gives us direction. The chase teaches us how much we care, but it's up to us to let that care guide us thoughtfully.

What are you really chasing? Is it a memory, a feeling, a version of yourself? Keep that in mind before you make your next move. I'm Brett. I host stacking slabs. I love collecting sports cards.

I really appreciate you being here, supporting what I'm doing, and I hope these types of conversations help you as you move forward and build the best damn collection that you can. Take care. We'll be back. Talk to you soon.