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

It is the flagship episode. We are coming at you correct. Hopefully, everybody has had a nice start to your week. You're enjoying the hobby. You're doing whatever it is in this space that makes you happy.

Small sliver of time. Many of us are busy parents. Many of us are busy professionals. We only have so much time to dedicate to cards. And when we do, I don't know about you, but it sends fireworks off in my brain.

I love the time. I love digging in. I love spending time with my own collection. I love communicating. I love building all the things that go into this episode.

And, usually, it's a key moment for me that drives these episodes, and that is true for this one. I got a deal done with a friend this past week, and that really opened the door for this entire episode.

It got me thinking. It caused me to take a couple steps back and go through some decisions that I have made about my collection and how I got there.

And that's what I wanna do in today's episode is just share and share how I think about focus. And we're gonna talk a lot about a topic I talk about a lot, which is you're collecting North Star.

But inside your North Star, how do you prioritize what matters, especially when we're in an era where the financial implications are probably at an all time high?

We only have so much money. We don't know what's coming next, and we have a lot of interest within our own collecting.

I wanna dig into that because I think this is a topic that I think about a lot. I am one of those individuals that when a card pops up that excites me, I wanna go pursue it, and I don't ask myself a lot of questions.

And I am it is way more fun to just, be carefree and just go pursue, but I have found the more that I am thoughtful about the decisions that I'm making about my buying, the better experience that I create in this space.

So I'm gonna get into that. Thank you so much for supporting stacking slabs, telling a damn friend, following, joining that Patreon group. Here's a quick plug for the Patreon.

If you like video content, most everything I do in video format is dropped in the Patreon twenty four hours before this goes live. So if you like video content, that's your place to go. Go check it out.

You can do a free trial. Also, collecting for keeps finding meaning in a hobby build on hype. I keep talking about it because I'm really proud of it. It's the book that I wrote digital. It's free. Link is in the show notes.

I continue to see people. Once a week, I'll check, like, how many people came in this week, and there's continuing to be new individuals that are consuming that content, and so I'm gonna continue to vocalize it here on stacking slabs.

Also, just another housekeeping note.

I am really excited about kind of what we're up to here and building for 2026 that my mind is there already. We're not even in October, but I'm trying to plan for the future. And I just know that if I don't do that, then it'll be, 2026.

I'll have a new, child in my house, and I'll be behind. So I'm trying to get out in front of some things. But, man, I love doing this. I I love I love listening to people do what I'm doing now.

I love doing this. There's it's so much fun to express, myself through how I think about cards. It's very important to my life. I know if you're spending some time listening, it's very important to yours, and I wanna thank you too.

I remember I said small amount of time, and you're here. So I appreciate that. We'll start here. We all have different things that really motivate and really excite us about what we collect and why we collect.

And especially in this zone where a lot of what I have collected for years is finding, is is gaining a little more traction, and there's more spotlight because there's been bigger sales. I I I wanna share that.

I will be talking about kinda my North Star and my example to kinda set the stage for all of this, but you should be able to, in this episode, kind of rip and replace whatever it is you focus on primarily, and it should all translate.

That's my goal. My my goal with the flagship is always that. Like, any collector should this should be able to resonate.

And I've been thinking a lot about, my my Colt's Prism collection. And I'm gonna talk about, like, even focusing in further within that collection because that is a very big collection.

But I I've been asking myself, and this is the interesting component where it's like, if you look at the years of that product from 2012 to 2024, The the Super Bowl winning team is not a part of that product that it it's, past that.

It is the luck era, but there's been a lot of just not so great years in that, zone. And I think about this a lot. I'm like, why is this what I collect?

Why am I collecting this? And I think it varies for a lot of different people. Some people drive off of players. Some people drive off of eras. I am and this has been something, again, that has taken a lot of reflection.

I am driving off of a specific moment in my life, and that is what has been the catalyst for this collection that consumes all my thoughts. And what I mean by that is that when I got back into cards, I was trying to fill a void.

And I've I've been very open about this, and I've been I try to be as transparent as possible. I put it in the book. I've talked about it on here, but it was a time where I was struggling.

I was struggling with, alcohol abuse. I was struggling just mentally. There were things that were going on in my life that weren't great, and I was doing whatever I could to mask those things.

Now, luckily, I got out of that jam, and I cleared my mind, focused on my health, and somehow stumbled back into sports cards.

Now when I needed something to fill the void, right, when you give up, something that's dominating your life like drinking, you think about all the things that go along with that. I had a lot of time on my hands.

Fortunate for me, I have always been someone who loves to explore, loves to collect, and I was at a point in my life where I was really in my professional career, I was really getting focused on content creation as a, a flavor of what I did and podcasting as a medium.

And so all these stars aligned and all these dots got connected for me in my life where, I gave up something that was not great for me and wasn't getting me anywhere, and I replaced it with something that excited me, like sports cards and creating content.

And as I went through the cycles that we all go through, I remember going through some consolidation process with cards. Cards I couldn't get rid of were some, like, random Colt's Prism cards gold Colt's Prism cards.

And I remember asking myself, I was like, why why can't I get rid of this? And I I hadn't thought about it. And I hadn't thought about it up until, like, recently.

Like, why is this what I'm collecting? And what I attribute it to is the fact that when I needed kind of this life raft, it was cards, but more specifically, it was prism because it was the first brand when I got back into cards.

I was figuring out 2018, 2019, what is this? Let me explore this. Why does this matter?

And so inherently, deep down inside, some strong connection was built between me getting back, needing cards, and the Prism brand, where then I just took a couple steps of being like, well, I live and breathe the Indianapolis Colts.

I'm a season ticket holder. And I really like the fact that there's different parallels, and I can figure out what's for me.

And so then I landed on the Colt's Prism collection being a thing. And that really didn't take off until I landed my first black finite and simultaneously, which was the 2014 Andrew Luck.

And simultaneously, I was trying to go for an Andrew Luck Gold Prism run. That's when it started to become real and started to become, like, my primary focus. Now within the prism obsession, there's one project that stands above all.

And so we're talking about focus. We're talking about priority in this episode. And that focus for me is my Colt's prism black finite one of one collection. These one of one black finite parallels are the grail cards for me.

When I see other parallels, gold's gold vinyl I collect, but when I see other one of ones and other categories, I'm like, those are cool, but nothing excites me like the black finite.

There's something about the accomplishment from landing one of these cards for its beauty, from its connection with the team, and I think most importantly, the fact that I'm the only one in the world who's got that copy, that excites me.

It's it's the ultimate connection between my team loyalty and the thrill of rarity.

And over the years, I've been lucky to acquire several of these cards. As a matter of fact, before I hit record, I went to my case, and I was looking through my cards, and I counted them.

And at the time of this recording, and and I hope it's more, it's probably not based on pace and how many I get and how I'm able to do this. But at the time of this recording, I have 20 black finite Colts one of one prism base cards.

That's another clarifying point. I do not collect inserts. I do not collect autos. I only collect black finite from the base set. And each time I add one, it feels like I'm adding a crown jewel to my PC.

I'm not even kidding you, and it doesn't matter the player. It's the card. It's the connection. It's the brand. The specific chase of Colt's Prism one of ones has become Black Finites, has become my North Star.

It's become the guiding light where I make all my hobby decisions. I guess, in other words, if I had to stack rank everything that I collect, the Colts Black Finite cards are tier one, and they're at the top of my pyramid.

Everything else I might like, other players, sets, side project, but everything else falls below that.

If push came to shove and the black finites would get priority of it amongst everything else, and that clarity didn't happen overnight.

But once I recognized it, it completely changed how I operate as a collector. So I talk about NorthStar a lot. What do I mean? And just if someone's coming in for the first time, we'll reiterate.

I'm talking about the single most important focus in your entire hobby journey. This can be cards, it can be a project. But what is what what excites you more than anything else?

It's that one priority that stands above the rest. I personally believe, and you can probably debate me on this, but I personally believe each of us, if we dig deep, can identify one tier one priority in our collection.

Yes. We all have multiple things that we collect, maybe a couple different sports, favorite player sets, vintage, modern.

You it goes on and on. But if you really reflect, there's usually one category that holds your heart above everything else.

And that's what your North Star is to me. It's a part of your collection that you never sacrifice. It's the part that defines your collector identity. And I think it's really important to define this.

Because once you have that North Star and it's your guiding, it becomes your guiding light for all your decisions. When you know your number one priority, it becomes much easier to decide what to chase and what to pass on.

There is wisdom in not only figuring out where your cards are that you want to chase and landing them, but there's probably even more on what to pass on.

You create this filter for your buying decisions, and instead of feeling like you've been pulled in 10 different directions by the latest hype or what somebody else posted, you have a compass pointing to your true north.

For me, if a card doesn't fit my Colt's Prism project or support it in some way, I know it's secondary. That doesn't mean I never buy anything outside of it.

I always do. I still enjoy other cards, but I'm aware of what my focus is in my main collecting Northstar that filters out the noise and helps keeps me voted motivated, is the black finite wing of my Colt's prison PC.

I think we all should ask ourselves the same collection. Like, what is that one part of your collection that matters above all else?

If everything got chaotic and you had to choose one, which which player, set, or theme would you protect above all cost? It's tough. Right? We like a lot of different things.

But if you haven't defined your main priority, you might end up making well intentioned but scattered decisions. My collecting went from impulsive to random and reactive to highly focused and highly intentional.

And I don't think we as a community talk enough about that transition from buying stuff that we see and catches our eye to avoiding that stuff and putting up a a filter because you're so motivated and focused in on intentionality and intentionality with your tier one group that you, you you evolve to that stage.

I just I don't think we discussed that enough.

So, of course, it's the flagship we talk about psychology, and I think there certainly is psychology of having a clear priority. In the flagship, we traditionally dig into process operating in psychology.

So let's talk about the psychological side of having a single singular focus in your collection. I think first off, there's a huge relief that comes with clarity, and we all know that the hobby can be overwhelming.

There's an endless options on what to buy, Chase, on any given day. When you carve out your lane, your little corner of the hobby that you care about most, it's like a ton of weight off your shoulders.

You stop feeling like you need everything, and you shrink the hobby down to a manageable, meaningful scope. I've talked a lot about shrinking the sea.

It works. It's important. In my case, I said, I'm about Colts cards, especially the Prism Air stuff in rare parallels. This means I'm not stressing about whatever the hot prospect or latest set is unless it overlaps with my lane.

Example, we're gonna get another prism set before it hangs up. Who's gonna be in that prism set? Tyler Warren. Who has made me really happy right now? Tyler Warren.

So I'm gonna wanna do whatever I can to land his black finite, his gold, his gold vinyl. So that will be tough because it's an overlap. Hyped up, stuff I appreciate. We talked about last week, talked about FOMO and comparison.

When you're unsure of your focus, it's natural to compare yourself with others. I'm not gonna dig into that too much because we spend a whole episode talking about it, but I think it's something to be mindful of.

I think there's also this concept that we share a lot about or talk a lot about or I hear a lot about is, like, finding your groove as your collector as a collector.

When everything you're acquiring fits into a bigger picture, like one piece of a puzzle connecting to another, you get a sense of momentum and contentment that's really hard to describe.

Every mail day isn't just a random day, but it's another piece of that puzzle that you're connecting.

I've had stretches where I felt a little bit lost, but once I leaned back into my North Star, I hit that groove. Each pickup, even a small one felt like progress, a cohesive gold.

Psychologically, I think it turns into positive reinforcement reinforcement that you're building something lasting. I wanna be purpose driven with everything I do, and I found when I'm creating focus, my purpose is very clear.

We've already we're we've talked about the North Star, but I think another question is, how do we operate day to day under this philosophy?

I'd I like to think a lot about collecting with intention, being the CEO of your PC. Every great collection has some structure.

Not that you need spreadsheets or some sort of plan or framework, but for me, that plan was collect Colts cards from the Prism Era with a special emphasis on the rarest, and that just checks all the boxes for me.

And one part of my strategy strategy is prioritizing which players matter most to me.

In any team collection, not every player is my you're gonna be your favorite, and you might need not need to chase every single card with the same intensity, and I think this is important.

This is a a massive category or a massive project with many players, how do I stack rank some of those players up?

Well, you've it's been very clear if you've been following along that Andrew Luck is my favorite player from this era, and I've prioritized collecting his cards.

And I would say I based on what I have, I've got probably the best Andrew Culles Prism collection in the world. And I know best is subjective, but I've got a lot of his one of ones.

I've got his golden gold vinyl runs. I've got his pie pylon. I mean, I've got a lot, but I've I've I've I've I've dedicated resources in my intention to making sure that I could take prioritize player number one and get whatever I can.

You it's impossible to do that with all the players in a project like I'm doing. So you gotta you gotta create focus.

I think what's also good about focus is and this happens to me a lot, and I'm I'm always in this where it's not like there I couldn't go on eBay and buy a prism black finite that would I would love and be in my collection right now.

But the the financial side and the dollar value, it has to align. And so what happens a lot, you know, I'll lose an auction, and then I'll get relisted on eBay for four x what I lost the auction.

Well, if it's not one of those tier one players for me with inside my focus category, it's really hard for me to even entertain the thought.

And so I just let those cards rot, and I hope that eventually, at some point, they'll end up in my collection.

But what I have found, the cards that I want the most usually come from private one to one deals, and they come because I market myself as a Colt's Prism black finite collect collector.

And that's because it's my primary focus. I'm constantly, posting the cards.

But it's really important with your focus knowing when to walk away, and it's really tough, especially when you collect something like a one of one where you see one and it feels like you need to celebrate.

Yeah. You can celebrate, but it's also you gotta I gotta be reasonable. Like, I go into this prism PC with this or the black finite wing of the PC thinking about this is I do this because these cards rule.

I love Prism. I love the Colts. And most importantly, like, there's no end to this. There's no end. So I'm not, like, running to complete this. Could I complete it? For sure.

It would take a miracle, though. Like, it would take a miracle to to to own every Colt's Black Friday. Maybe one day if, you know, stacking slabs gets, gobbled up in some media conglomeration, and I have a a a nice, win from that deal.

Maybe I'll start, you know, doing what I can to buy up everything that's out there, but I don't I don't I just don't see that happening anytime soon.

Also, like, the other thing I've been hearing a lot of people say, and I don't know where this came from.

And that was, like, a moment, and it came into my brain, and, like, my brain rejected saying it. But, like, I've just been hearing a lot of people say, deploying capital. And I don't know where that came from. But, like, deploy capital.

I'm just like, I don't know. Spending money. Deploying capital just seems like it's a financial term, and I'm I must be late to the party, but I've just been hearing a lot of people say that over and over again.

Anyways, so walking away is important. Like, I refuse to fall victim of the flipper vortex on a card just because it's a part of my PC.

I I gotta I gotta be patient. Gotta have strategy. I think the secret sauce of this focus is the the community component in the private deals. Community aspect of collecting is really important, and I can't emphasize it enough.

How much relationships have helped me acquire key cards. When you're laser focused on a niche, you naturally start to connect with other collectors who share in your interest.

Instagram forums, card shows, group chats, goes on and on. It's a beautiful thing. I think trusted communities in those spaces, the people look out for each other.

I like the simplicity of the private deal. It's especially when you know the other person, it's I look back on my collection. My favorite cards in my collection have come from private deals.

Negotiations are friendly. It's just so I had I I understand the lone wolf collecting component, but then again, I always feel like you're missing out on an opportunity to find other people who share in your passion.

And the best part about collecting cards and make one of the best is just sharing in passion with other collectors.

So I'll illustrate the power of community and focus with a recent pickup story, and this is the pickup story that was the catalyst for this episode.

I wanna first, I wanna thank Paul. Paul at Colts eight zero eight stable, He's been on the podcast a couple times, but, really, nobody else in the hobby that I know that I connect with regularly collects as close to me as Paul.

Paul is an awesome collector. We've interacted over our Colts collecting in the community and how much we love the Colts a lot over the years.

And it's great. I'm in Indianapolis. Paul's in Hawaii. And to have another collector that's that far away but shares in the same passion is great. Paul had two had two cards that were on my want list.

And Paul and I really we made a decision as as friends and collectors where there's gonna be competition at times, but we've also decided, like, he knows that I'm a Colts black finite generate, and he likes some other lanes within that.

And whether it's, you know, shimmer, black stars, stuff, and we just kinda have a good system in place where we help each other out. Well, I love DeForest Buckner.

Paul really loves DeForest Buckner. And he was holding on to the 21 prism black finite, DeForest Buckner, which is Buckner's first Colts appearance, black finite, and the 23 black finite, one of one, DeForest Buckner.

Now player, in this era, you you especially defensively in this era, the only play in the Prism era, the only player and I'm not gonna count Freeny and Mathis because they were only in 2012, and then they weren't in any others.

But when I think about the sets, outside of, Shaq Leonard, there's probably no better Colts defender than DeForest Buckner.

Now DeForest Buckner, I would even say, is one of the best players of the Colts in this era. He is on the side of the building in Indianapolis. There's four guys. He's on the side of the building. He's very important to this team.

I love collecting his stuff. I know Paul loves collecting his stuff. I love the defense. Come on. Like, it's just really fun. But I knew Paul had those cards, and I knew how much he loved them, and I figured I wouldn't have a crack.

I so I put those bus beside beside me. Now if those cards went up for auction and I didn't even know Paul and they just went up for auction, I was thinking about it.

And I I don't know what I would have done to acquire them a lot because though those cards check every every box.

Now what happens is that sometimes you build these relationships, and we all have things that go on with our collections where another card pops up or we're pursuing something else, and we need cash.

Well, I think I caught Paul at one of those times because he made mention to me, hey. Are you interested in these? And it was like, I couldn't, I couldn't say I'm interested enough, and I couldn't say I'm go I wanna buy these enough.

And Paul made them available, gave me a price, and I said, when can I send you the money? That's that's there was no negotiation. There was nothing. It was like, you're making these available to me.

These are so important to what I'm building. What do you need? And it was like that, the easiest deal ever. Paul, sent them out. I'm recording this. I don't have them yet, but hoping to have them by the time this episode lands.

This kind of hobby moment is what makes discipline and patience worth it to me because if I were just buying everything, would I I might not have the cash to go just capitalize on this opportunity.

But because I have become more disciplined with my area of of focus, I have I when it when when Paul said let's go, I said, okay.

And there's no obstacles. These it's and it's not just about what these cards look like because they look awesome, and it's a player I really love. But it's it's mostly what they represent.

They represent my commitment to this path, the relationships that have formed along the way, and the idea that if you stick to your passion, good things happen. I I mean, I can't tell you how excited I am about this.

I think this episode, hopefully, for you has been all about mindset, specifically adopting a mindset of clarity, focus, intention, and building your collection. I think it's really important to get focused.

I think it's really important to ask yourself questions when you have time, thinking about it, prioritizing, not just going aimly aimlessly, but it's like chasing with per per purpose, chasing with intention.

And I'm so passionate about, like, sharing my experience because it doesn't happen overnight.

I don't have every answer. But when I'm in these zones where it feels so good and I'm having so much fun, all I wanna do is turn on the microphone, hit record, and share it with you. And I hope some of what I'm sharing with you helps.

I think identifying your north star, thinking about finding your groove, operating with intention, knowing when to walk away, thinking about community and relationships, private deals, staying true to your passion, those sorts of things.

I think about this stuff way too much, but I do know that it it is helping me as I try to navigate this journey in collecting sports cards that matter to me.

Hope you're having as much fun collecting as I am. I wanna thank you for spending time with me on the flagship or all the other stacking slabs properties. I love what I'm doing.

I love sharing. I love telling stories. We're in a fun hobby. It's exciting. It's fun. Appreciate you sharing your feedback and telling a damn friend about what we're doing here. You take care, and happy collecting.