What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to another flagship episode here on stacking slabs. I'm Brett. I'm fired up. It's holiday week coming at you. I got Thanksgiving on the other side of this.

Are we going for 10,000 calories? I might be. How are you? Let me know. What kind of sides you smashing? You doing the desserts? You going nuts? You you able to start at breakfast and go the distance all the way to the end of the day?

If you're gonna hit 10,000 calories, you got to start at breakfast. It's gotta be bacon based. It's gotta have all the meats. You gotta have a program if you're trying to get your Thanksgiving fill. I'm fired up for this episode.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I guess the first thing I should mention is the fact that we are probably going to drop something on Thanksgiving. So you're gonna get another piece of content on the other side of this.

Likely will be centered around being thankful and some things in the hobby this year that stacking slabs and myself is certainly thankful for. So be on the lookout for that.

But in today's conversation, we are talking about completion. I think completion is a fun and exciting topic, and I think completion drives a lot of activity here in the hobby or the idea of being complete.

So we're gonna dig into that, pretty deep. I have a lot of notes and a lot of thoughts, and I was very intentional putting this episode together.

But first, I wanna thank my good friends at Inferno Red Technology Technology for sponsoring the flagship. If you haven't already, make sure you check out the last episode of Built for the Hobby with Scott and Ed.

We we brought it we unlocked a new character. Shout out Ed. I know he's a loyal listener of Stacking Slabs. That episode dropped earlier this week. So if you haven't already heard it, make sure you go back in the feed and check it out.

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See what they can build for you at infernored. com. I'm ready for this. I'm fired up. I've got a lot of energy. This is a topic that I don't know if we've really explored too much in the history of stacking slabs.

So let's get into this. Let's let's set the stage here by thinking about the last card you slot into your binder or the final slab you put into your case.

That final piece that completes that set that you've been chasing for months or even years. It can be a run you're trying to build. You name it. It's just a piece that completes something.

It's a triumphant feeling. We get fired up. It's a mix of relief, joy, and accomplishment. In the hobby, there are few highs like finishing a collection or project. That's what the experience has been for me.

Could be childhood memories of filling sticker books or trading with friends to the satisfaction we get as adults today of maybe completing, a PSA registry set. It's the quest for completeness runs deep in collecting DNA.

Why is achieving complete status so satisfying, and how does it drive behavior as a collector? What I wanna do in this episode is dive into the psychology behind this, stories and strategies for what makes a collection feel complete.

Completeness is an underrated state in this hobby. I think it's the secret sauce that keeps many of us engaged in coming back for more.

When you have a clear goal like finishing a set or player run, the hobby becomes more than just random purchases. It becomes a mission. You can be goal oriented as collectors. I think most of us are goal oriented as collectors.

We appreciate the emotional high that comes from completion. We like chasing stuff. It gives us a sense of purpose, and we don't like to just avoid a we we don't like to just collect aimlessly.

Like, we want to avoid that. Think in other words, having that target of completeness provides us direction and meaning to our collecting.

Each mail day isn't just a new card, but it's one step closer to a finish line. I'm a goal oriented human being. I've had to be a goal oriented human being throughout my entire life and my entire career.

I like to set goals. I like to have a vision, and I like to do that with my cards too. The finish line of completing something has benefits. Cards that help someone else reach their completion goal carry a premium value in the market.

This is one of the most important attributes for price or for values is a collector trying to complete something. If a dozen set builders all need a specific card to finish their set, that card's price can skyrocket due to demand.

It's simple economics. Many collectors have noticed that cards hitting all time high prices tend to be last pieces of the puzzle, and that multi the multiple collectors are after vintage set collecting.

I think about PSA registry contest or competition. The effect of it all is well documented.

It drives me crazy when people are like, how did this go this much? This player never won a Super Bowl or a World Series or whatever the the generic reason is someone's trying to put down a price of a card.

Well, maybe it's because that card is a part of someone's project. And because of that, the value that that individual collector puts on it is way higher than you just analyzing.

I think the competitive nature of completing sets can make even casual collectors very, very serious about completing sets, driving up these prices for scarce cards that collectors need to fill this checklist.

You look at the PSA registry, which ranks collectors based on set completion and quality.

It is gamified this aspect in the hobby. It doles out points and even awards for those that are a 100% complete. This fuels this feeling of an arms race for being complete, and the result, a set registry premium on certain cards.

High grade commons or tough variations can fetch big money because they stand between a collector and this feeling and satisfaction of having a complete set.

Beyond the value though, completion is what makes our hobby sticky. It keeps us from coming back. If you know you still have five cards left to track down, what are we doing?

Think about it. You're checking eBay listings like a maniac. You're messaging collectors regularly trying to source information, hitting card shows. You're staying plugged in.

The desire for complete collection keeps you engaged day after day. We can see the play we can see this play out in many ways. Leaderboards, Instagram posts where collectors proudly display a complete rainbow or complete set.

And every time someone shares a photo of that, there's this feeling and excitement from posts, and there's always admiration and appreciation from the community because it feels bigger than just one card.

That excitement that happens when we see a collector working or completing a project is infectious.

This is part of the reason why we get excited so much about cards. Other collectors see fulfillment in that post, and guess what? It is one of those moments where we sit there, we look at it, and we're like, damn.

That is really cool. Completion in a way is contagious. I think one of my favorite parts and one of the coolest aspects of our hobby is that complete or the the state of being complete means something very different to everyone.

There's no single definition. Each collector sets their own finish line. Again, I say it every week.

You've got these core themes for from stacking slabs, and they infiltrate in each of these conversations. If there's no definition, single definition, and each collector sets their own finish line, what are we doing?

Means we're the CEOs of our collection. We decide the rules. And I think a few paths that I've observed, and I would say more common paths to completeness, are the following.

I I think think about full set builders, the most classic approach. This is old school because this is the way cards are structured, and then then us as kids and our binders try to complete base sets.

But collect every card in a given set or a series. This could mean assembling, you know, 600 cards from a top baseball set, or this could some this could be collecting a specific insert set.

Set collectors often talk about the satisfaction of putting back in order what has been randomized, and what is randomized is what is in packs.

I think set builders are built a little bit different. Right? But there's something there with set builders.

Right? There's a reason why they wanna collect that way. There is this feeling, and I feel this, and there's a connection point. And I've heard this in talking with other professionals in and out of the hobby.

It's like we've got this checklist of activities we wanna do every day, and it's damn satisfying to check off those activities and feel like we completed our day with intention.

It's the same thing with cards. We want specific cards because there are gaps.

And by being on a mission to find those cards, even if they're not of hall of fame players, the fact that they fill those gaps is way more significant to us as collectors than anything else.

It's like completing a picture puzzle. You need all the pieces to see the full image. You've got player collectors and runs, and another take on completeness is picking a favorite player and trying to collect all their key cards.

And who decides the key cards? Does the hobby decide it? Hell no. You decide it. What are the key cards? If you don't like a card that other people like and gas up the price, you don't you can say, you know what?

This card sucks. I don't need this. Even though it's selling for thousands of dollars and all the talking heads tell me this is the card that I should own, that sucks.

That sucks and the card sucks, and you can decide it. That's the best part. Who cares? But I think it's fun where you can decide, I want all of these cards in this parallel from a specific product.

And you can go on these runs, and you can use your imagination, and you can curate a player run like no one else. And the player runs provide a sense of narrative, and you're curating the full story of that player in cardboard.

Some modern collectors take on the pursue of parallel runs. I think a very common one that I certainly am fall victim of, but it's so fun. It's so fun. It's gold prism runs.

They are so fun. I love it. I love it. I love going out because I love the product and trying to collect all the gold prisms of a player that I love over specific gear. That's fun collecting to me. You've got Parallel Rainbow Chasers.

You know, the proliferation of the rainbow in ultra modern has opened the door for a new way to be complete. This way of collecting, it's never it's never been attractive to me, but I understand why it's attractive to other people.

I oftentimes buy sets from others because I want three cards, and I'm I'm stuck with the whole rainbow, and and I'm just sitting there.

And it it sucks because it's one of those moments that's like, man, I know this took this personal long time, but I'm not a rainbow collector, and I don't really care that much.

But it's part of it, but and many people are. And if you're a maniac rainbow collector, like, I you you're something different because there are so many parallels to these products.

But I can understand the last card of a rainbow can serve as a white whale, and that's fun. You've got team collectors and niche products. I think some people define completeness in terms of their favorite team or theme.

You've got a team collector might want an autograph of every player in a moment. And you think about teams that have won the Super Bowl World Series, NBA championship, that that sort of thing.

And I think there are truly unique personal definitions like collecting a card from every Super Bowl winning team or every MVP.

You set those rules and those parameters, and you can decide what's complete and what's not. And I think what's important is that each collector sets their own parameters for what feels complete.

That's the important part. Someone might consider a collection of 50 Michael Jordan cards complete because it has one from each year of his career.

Another MJ collector might not feel like it's complete until they have every single insert from the nineties. It's this sort of thing, and it's it's competing with the way other people collect.

And the individuality around trying to build something to get to that level of complete is interesting. That is way more interesting to me or me monitoring other people's activities to drive towards completeness.

That's way more interesting to me than the surface level stuff that runs the hobby. The same stuff, the same cards, the same narrative, the same content, the same stuff over and over and over.

That doesn't that lacks story. That lacks substance. That lacks passion. What doesn't is being complete, trying to complete something. That is what gets us going. I think there are so many different ways that we can think about it.

I think there is a lot of different rationality around this. I think about, conversation. I'm shout out, James, Mad City Collectors mentioned him last week in the curation episode.

But I remember speaking with him about his 2017 Chrome UEFA project, and I and I might have the details. Sorry, James, if I have this murky. But he had gotten most of the cards needed.

I think this was his gold set except for Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo, and he might have those, but this is at the time of the recording. And those cards are super hard to find, and they're expensive.

And he admitted he hadn't even had a real shot of them yet, but he keeps hunting. He monitors how many of each of them have been graded. He tracks sales and mentally prepares for the day that one might be available.

In the Mbappe Mbappe, based on the way the hobby hobbies and the way Mbappe, drives prices is it's very high and lots and lots of money. And I think the rationality you could question is, is this worth it?

But for him, finishing that gold set is the dream. It's that challenge, a vision of having all of those cards together. And even searching for the last two with no guarantee success is because it's fun, and it gives him focus.

And there's trials and tribulations with completing a set. In chasing completion, he's making memories and connections through a network of other people, which is another benefit. That is the allure of completeness.

It's as much of the journey as the definition. So what's under the hood? Why do we do this? What's the reason? Like, what's the psychology? What happens in our brains that cause us to drive towards completion?

Why does completing a collection give us such a rush? It turns out the psychology has some answers. I think at a basic level, completing any task, like I mentioned from a work perspective earlier, triggers these rewards in our brain.

When when you check off an item on a to do list, your brain releases dopamine and a neurotransmitter that's linked to pleasure and motivation. You did it. It feels good. That dopamine hit doesn't just congratulate us.

It teaches us. It motivates us to repeat the action. In other words, completing one goal makes you want to complete another. No wonder we can become or collecting can become so addictive. It's a series of small goals.

Each is a mini reward building towards the big payoff or the finish. Collecting is like turning a hobby into a series of mini quests, and it turns out our brains love quests, especially ones with clear structure.

There was a recent study from the University of Arizona that found people are more motivated to keep collecting as they get get closer to completion.

The nearly complete set is more enticing than one that's far from done. Why? Because humans crave structure and order, particularly in chaotic times. The professor that cited in this, professor Reiman, he led the study.

He explained that collecting is often driven by desire for control. When the world is crazy, building a tidy complete set of something gives us a sense of order that we create.

It's like saying, I can't control the stock market or the weather, but damn, well, control my card collection's completeness. I think filling a set creates complete holistic entity, a little pocket of perfection in an imperfect world.

There's no missing pieces, no loose ends in a way a completed collection is therapeutic. Ryman even ties it to times of uncertainty like the pandemic, where many people dove into collecting for comfort.

He's quoted, during uncertain times, collecting can reduce feelings of chaos and anxiety. At its core, collecting isn't just about things. It's about creating structure in uncertain times, end quote.

I think it's fascinating to think about. The urge you feel to finish a set might be your brain's way of seeking a little slice of order and achievement. And the closer you get to completion, the stronger the pull is.

Many of us have felt this. If you are that one card away, you'll move mountains to find it. You'll spend more money or time than anybody ever thought the card would be worth because leaving it unfinished makes you uneasy.

I think the study confirmed this to people with a high desire for control were willing to pay significantly more to complete a collection, especially when they were down to the last few items.

I 100% am an example of that. I want to be in control, and I want my collection to look a certain way.

And so if you have a card that I need, I will pay you as much money as I need to to obtain it. I don't think about what you think about what I'm paying for the card.

I don't give a shit, quite frankly. I pay the money for the cards that I do because they are part of the story of my collection. None of this is to say we're crazy. I think it's to illuminate why collecting is so rewarding.

Completion triggers our brain's reward system in a positive way. It's a hobby, but also a form of self directed achievement. Finishing a collection is like winning a small personal game that we're setting for ourself.

You set a goal, you work for it, and then you win. No wonder it feels so great. There's a community element to this. Collecting might be a personal journey, but the celebration of completing a project is often a community affair.

We love to share our wins with fellow collectors who appreciate the significance. We do this on social media forums. It's full of posts where people proudly display completed runs, full binders, rainbows, team sets, you name it.

The comments light up. Completing something gives you a certain level of hobby credibility. Right? Again, like, there is there's a there's a, like, this little toast we make to other collectors when we see a completion of a project.

And it's not just because it looks cool, but there's this element too that I always appreciate. It's like, damn. Like, that's hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of cards, and you know what?

They're not selling it. They have it because they want the cards. And it just shows authenticity. But in the same sense, the people that respect the passion behind it.

You have to be passionate. You have to give a shit to be able to complete something. You have to care. You it it your the the the final the final result isn't the money. It's the project. It's ownership. It's the pride. It's having it.

There are many formal ways that the hobby awards completion is. I already talked about the set registry. There's a lot of different ways to do it, a lot of different nuances. But you don't need a formal contest to reveal completion.

Casual settings collectors often help each other towards these goals. There's trading involved. I know I have given up cards in the past to others because they've come to me, and I appreciate who they are as collectors.

And they said they've needed it because they're working on something. To me, completions inspires storytelling, and storytelling is something I'm striving for as a collector in my own collection, and I I desire from others.

When you complete a project, you usually have tales from along the way. And it's not just about the end result in the cards, but it's those stories that got you there.

The cards that were hardest to find, the deals that fell through, the ones that got away. Collectors love to recount these trials and tribulations once the mission is accomplished.

It's almost becomes part of the lore of the collection. I've got a lot of stories. I've talked a lot about, you know, making deals and casino parking lot deals be for stuff I'm working on.

But that just makes me love those cards even more because there's a journey and and cards attached to it. There's a story. There's narrative. It's also worth noting that completion in the hobby doesn't always mean finality.

It often leads to new beginnings. The community aspect can spur it too. Maybe you finish a set and post it and someone says, congrats. Are you going to tackle this set from the same year? And you think maybe or perhaps you're like, no.

I don't need to. But I think when you complete a a a project, it can often launch into your next quest, which is important to call out. We ask ourselves, when is a collection truly complete? Here's a funny paradox.

Sometimes the chase for the completeness never really ends, and that's perfectly fine. Collecting right is a journey, not a destination. It rings true especially after you consider feelings of completeness can be fleeting.

I've experienced this, and I've talked about this. It comes up almost every episode, but my Kolts Prism project is what completes me. It's what I'm working on every day.

Everything else is just on the side. The incompleteness is the secret sauce. That keeps me engaged. There's always a new discovery and an addition. There's always something new to learn. There's a psychological angle here.

Some collectors intentionally choose goals that are just out of reach or leave one piece missing on purpose, and it's because they love having an ongoing mission. They love having something to work on. It can be a bay base set.

It can be a master set. It can be a player run. You name it. Complete does not always mean all inclusive. It means complete enough for you. One person might call their collection complete when they've obtained the top grail of a card.

Others can say, you know what? That's not complete to me. And who cares? I think that diversity of thought and opinion around what is complete and not is what makes this hobby interesting.

This has been a fun episode to dig into, and, this is fun. I love these topics. I hope this resonates with you. This is the type of stuff I observe and obsess over, and it's therapeutic to get on a microphone and just talk sometimes.

And so rounding this episode out, the feeling of complete or completing collection is special because it combines achievement, emotion, and connection.

Completing a set of a project gives you that dopamine fueled sense of accomplishment in order like the study suggested from Arizona in the chaotic world.

It often increases value and significance of items you collected because together, they form a meaningful whole. It's a personal triumph that you can share with the community that appreciates every step it took.

And perhaps, most importantly, it propels you to keep going, either by expanding that same project or finding a new one that lights your fire.

It's fun to have goals. It's fun to have a purpose. Think asking yourself what would make your collection feel complete. Is it one card? Is it a group of cards? Is it a theme you wanna tell?

Define it. Dream it. Embrace it. Maybe you'll get there. Either way, you'll experience the thrill of pursuing something that genuinely excites you, and you'll learn a ton about the hobby and yourself along the way.

But don't be surprised after the glow wears off if you set your sights on a new horizon. The hobby has a funny way of evolving like that.

Completion isn't a dead end. It can be a springboard into your next adventure. That is what makes our hobby of collecting so enduring. There's always another treasure out there and another collector chasing it.

And sometimes, that collector will be you. Appreciate all of you. Appreciate your support of Stacking Slabs. I feel so fortunate to be able to bring up topics like this, get engagement, get your feedback.

It makes my hobby experience so incredible and keeps me motivated to keep back and keep contributing. Appreciate all you. Tell a damn friend. We'll talk to you soon.