Athletes make a lot of money, and for some of them this fact clouds their judgement. According to numerous research studies, most professional athletes go broke a decade after they retire. Earning mega sums of money cultivates the unfortunate habit of excessive and unnecessary spending, mainly aimed at impressing others.
What most of them forget is that they can still lead a lavish lifestyle while still making investments to double their earnings. However, not all athletes squander all their money. Take Conor McGregor for example. The professional fighter is one of the most successful athletes today, and he lives as you would expect him to. Flashy cars, exotic vacations, trendy outfits, the like.
However, the athlete has recently admitted to being more cautious on how he spends his money. This change of heart, he says, is all thanks to a fellow pro athlete, NBA’s LeBron James.
Materialistic Spending
Speaking to Tony Robbins, McGregor admitted that until recently, his attitude towards his accumulated wealth was that of materialistic spending. Throughout his mid-twenties going forward, he was fascinated by expensive cars, watches, and all that flashy life.
However, a piece he read about LeBron changed his whole view on spending. He realized that he was spending little to nothing on himself, in terms of keeping fit, eating healthy, and maintaining his peace of mind. According to that piece on LeBron, the basketballer spends an annual $1.5 million on his physical therapists, nutritionists, masseuse, and everything that goes towards maintaining his physicality at its optimum.
This challenged him in a big way, seeing as he had never been one to put much emphasis on physical maintenance. Funny for a fighter, right? McGregor even went as far as admitting that before a fight, he would prepare for ten weeks locked away in Vegas. Insane preparations went into that ten-week period, but he admits that it isn’t the best way to train his body for his chosen profession.
After reading about LeBron, he committed to being 100% into his profession, maintaining his physicality at all times. It is now his new philosophy, and he intends to carry it on for as long as he possibly can.
Attitude matters
You may want to argue that with McGregor being one of the wealthiest professional athletes, he can comfortably afford to concurrently pay for both his lavish lifestyle and the physical training. In all honesty, he can, but that’s beside the point. The message the fighter is trying to put across is that an individual’s attitude towards their spending habits could be what makes the difference between success and failure. And we all want to be deemed successful, don’t we?
For a guy who can comfortably make $99 million a year, aren’t you eager to see how McGregor will go about spending money on himself? One thing that’s for certain, he’ll make sure we know about it. The man has never been known to be tight-lipped when it comes to how he spends his millions. Let’s just sit back and wait!
