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Bumpers: The Framework for Finding Your Personal Abundance, Maximum Productivity, Greatest Profits and Highest Quality of Life
Are you a “high performer” yet still feel like you’re not getting enough done or enjoying the “grind”?
Are you sick of making changes only to see your life revert back to how it was before?
Would you like to smash through mental roadblocks?
Are you ready to eliminate guilt and shame?
If you answered yes, this book is for you.
If you prefer theory without application, it is not.
Bumpers is not a “shelf-help” book but a battle-tested blueprint to building the life of your dreams and living on YOUR terms.
Similar to the bumpers you would put up in the bowling alley, the bumpers this book will help you design will allow you to play “all in” with 100% effort while keeping you out of the gutter.
Regardless of where you are in your entrepreneurial or personal development journey, Bumpers will transform how you approach each day so that you can increase your enjoyment and effectiveness.
With actionable steps to improve in health, wealth and relationships while avoiding common mistakes, this actionable guidebook includes sections of LearningBuilding BumpersGuilt and ShamePitfalls
And more.
Remember, your days become your weeks, which become your months and years, which become your life, impact and legacy. It’s time to utilize a simple yet highly practical system to master your schedule, get more done and actually have fun along the way.
Are you sick of making changes only to see your life revert back to how it was before?
Would you like to smash through mental roadblocks?
Are you ready to eliminate guilt and shame?
If you answered yes, this book is for you.
If you prefer theory without application, it is not.
Bumpers is not a “shelf-help” book but a battle-tested blueprint to building the life of your dreams and living on YOUR terms.
Similar to the bumpers you would put up in the bowling alley, the bumpers this book will help you design will allow you to play “all in” with 100% effort while keeping you out of the gutter.
Regardless of where you are in your entrepreneurial or personal development journey, Bumpers will transform how you approach each day so that you can increase your enjoyment and effectiveness.
With actionable steps to improve in health, wealth and relationships while avoiding common mistakes, this actionable guidebook includes sections of LearningBuilding BumpersGuilt and ShamePitfalls
And more.
Remember, your days become your weeks, which become your months and years, which become your life, impact and legacy. It’s time to utilize a simple yet highly practical system to master your schedule, get more done and actually have fun along the way.
90 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 11, 2022
39 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 17, 2025
I will forever have a “bumper” life!! Great book -
March 2, 2024
Man, I devoured this book. It's a quick and easy read.
The author opens the book by saying that he wrote it because everyone kept asking the same question, which I remember as, "Do you think I'll ever be happy?" (That may not be 100% accurate.) Ok, consider me hooked.
The idea is basically that we go about success from the wrong angle. Instead of trying to create heroic results, such as always doing better than our previous best, the author recommends keeping things smooth and improving your rolling average by always doing better than your worst. That's where the bumpers come in: like in bumper bowling, your #1 goal is to keep yourself out of the gutter.
For example, rather than heroically losing 50 pounds (and getting all the dopamine and celebration along the way), it would be better just to not gain the weight in the first place. Easy for him to say, I know, but he explains how to apply this. Part of it is recognizing that we get rewarded for losing weight, by ourselves and those around us and all the dopamine of meeting the intermediate goals and rescuing ourselves... but we get none of those things for just not gaining weight in the first place. The author seems to think that realization and simply deciding to be happy when things don't go wrong will be enough, but I've been thinking about it a lot. This explains why maintenance is so much harder than losing weight, which otherwise makes no fucking sense. So, instead of celebrating weight loss with ice cream and doing it all again (my pattern), I'm going to look for other goals that I can throw myself into to replace weight loss.
Also, here's a big insight: one of the author's rules for himself is that he refuses to ever take on a practice that he wouldn't want to do for the rest of his life. No 90-day low-carb challenges or 30-day yoga every day projects or whatever. He says if you wouldn't be willing to do it for the rest of your life, you're basically deciding from the outset to work really hard to get a result—and then lose it later when you stop doing what got you there. Damn! This seems like a big breakthrough realization to me.
From a business perspective, it's about always doing better than your minimum, and grading yourself only on your effort, specifically, did you do what you said you were going to do? We often make a plan, don't follow it, and then blame our results on the plan or spend energy reworking the plan. No, try actually following the plan. If it doesn't work, THEN consider modifying it.
Some specific recommendations he has include:
- making a big structure/schedule based on what you've been doing, and then very gradually tweaking it to get you closer to what you want. (If you're not following the plan, focus on following the plan. If you've consistently followed the plan for 1-2 weeks, then make a tiny adjustment. Repeat.)
- focusing on consistent effort. Specifically, if you're having a bad day, just put in the amount of time you said you would. If you're having a good day and have some extra energy, still just put in the amount of time you said you would. Don't do extra, because you'll probably be too tired and create a bad day the next day.
It feels to me like he's saying "play not to lose" (as opposed to "play to win")—certainly the opposite of most advice I've ever received. I personally love working in sprints and then taking time off in between. But is that just because of the adrenaline/dopamine thing, and it's really bad for me? How can I know?
On the other hand, not working extra on high-energy days because your #1 goal is to prevent crummy days does make sense to me. It reminds me of a metaphor I read somewhere else about taking a bunch of Boy Scouts camping. Basically, if you want all the scouts to get to the campsite together by dark, you need to put the slowest kid up front and make it as easy as possible for him (ex. get other kids to carry his stuff). This totally fits with that.
Meanwhile, a big, structured schedule has wrecked my life every time I've tried it. I get all uptight, and then I resent the shit out of anyone who causes any deviation from it, and then I hate my life. By day 5, I'm in full-on rebellion and can't make myself do anything. I think I'll just skip all that this time.
Anyway, I'm not sure more work is really what I want to measure. I'm working on getting better at getting great results while NOT making it a rat race.
This point is the reason this book isn't a 5-star book for me. It seems like the author just assumes we should all be working more and spending more time with our kids, so here's what we should do. That kind of assumption gets on my nerves.
Otherwise, I found it a fascinating book that will probably turn out to be a life-changer. Or at least, I hope so. I've already lost 50 pounds twice, and now I need to do it a third time. I don't want to do it a fourth.
Highlights:
Yellow highlight | Location: 196
Intention: What you intend or plan on doing with your knowledge. Intervention: Your actual behavior. Gap: The discrepancy between the two.
Yellow highlight | Location: 198
The intention-intervention gap is the gap between: What you say you are going to do and what you actually do. What you say you want and what your behavior suggests you want. Your action plan and your implementation.
Yellow highlight | Location: 255
If you want to start monitoring your progress right away, go to freebumpersbook.com. There is a workbook and audio companion. The audio companion is not me reading this
Yellow highlight | Location: 326
In fact, if we want a quick dopamine hit, we can start a fire real quick and then rush to put it out to get our fix. Ask any entrepreneur.
Yellow highlight | Location: 366
The path forward is not about more wins. Or bigger wins. It’s about living the life that you want to live. To do that, we must stay out of the gutter. Avoiding bad things will take you further faster than finding more good things will.
Yellow highlight | Location: 368
This is the crux of Bumpers. Like bumpers in a bowling alley, they keep us out of the gutter. It’s a fundamental shift toward appreciating when bad things don’t happen. A shift toward avoiding naive intervention. And a shift toward focusing on the things that matter most.
Yellow highlight | Location: 378
People that know themselves and play by their own rules are weirdos—until they are billionaires, then they are “eccentric.”
Yellow highlight | Location: 382
The level of success you can sustain depends on how aligned your pursuits stay with your unique disposition.
Yellow highlight | Location: 385
If you have defined where you want to be and are honest about where you’re at, success becomes inevitable.
Yellow highlight | Location: 401
Write out your perfect day. Fight the for the details. It might take a few tries. And then finish the sentence: “I know I am successful when _________________________________________.”
Yellow highlight | Location: 410
This is your definition of success. From now on, weigh every decision against this picture of your future. If a decision does not get you closer to that reality, it’s not closing the gap. Every step from now on is a step closer.
Yellow highlight | Location: 419
Our survival instinct will always convince us that “more” is the answer to everything. Fight for closer to what matters, not for more.
Yellow highlight | Location: 512
Your maximum achievability is not your maximum maintainability. Raising the floor improves your maintainability. And it is easy: Do better than your worst.
Yellow highlight | Location: 531
Raising the floor is not sexy. Until it is.
Yellow highlight | Location: 613
The gutters determine where the bumpers go.
Yellow highlight | Location: 618
The key here is to identify the traps that you are the most prone to falling into. Those are your gutters. Once you identify them, turn them into commandments for yourself: the things you need to protect against.
Yellow highlight | Location: 624
You should already have a picture of this for yourself from earlier. Using that image of success, write down a few non-negotiables. One trick I find helpful is to imagine your future self living your perfect day, then list the things you will not be doing in that life.
Yellow highlight | Location: 631
Take a moment to write down your non-negotiables that can act as your keystone bumpers. Remember: these are non-negotiables. Not “it would be nice if” criteria but things you absolutely REFUSE to negotiate so your life can be what you want it to be.
Yellow highlight | Location: 675
“Am I willing to do this forever?”
Yellow highlight | Location: 682
People pay me a lot of money to judge them, so I’m not going to do it for free.
Yellow highlight | Location: 684
I mean, if people pay for space in your brain, why give it to others at no charge? Next time someone tries to occupy space in your brain at no charge to them, think about what you are telling the universe about what you’re worth.
Yellow highlight | Location: 736
The 20-Mile March is a concept about consistency: identifying the gap and timeline, averaging things out and consistently performing at the average. It says that it’s not the 10x-ers pushing for growth who keep winning. The repeat performers are the companies that plan and optimize for consistency.
Yellow highlight | Location: 738
Here’s the key to the 20-Mile March: On days you feel like you can do more, don’t.
Yellow highlight | Location: 744
As long as you still have crummy days, focus on making those better. It will improve the average more than improving the good days. We aren’t being less ambitious. We’re reallocating resources to what will move the needle the most.
Yellow highlight | Location: 783
It’s not sexy, but until you are consistently doing what you plan on doing, the next step is to get a little closer to doing it next week. The plan is not changing, but your floor will be rising. Once your behavior matches the plan, make a tiny tweak to your bumpers calendar. Your brain will try and convince you that a larger tweak is better, but you know better now, right? Keep the gap small.
Yellow highlight | Location: 786
Small change → Work on behavior until it matches the new plan → another small change.
Yellow highlight | Location: 794
This means that once they are set, as long as the scheduled stuff gets done, you are moving forward. Everything else is novelty: have fun, take a nap, hang with your family or take on a side project (within your bumpers)!
Yellow highlight | Location: 796
If the scheduled stuff does not get done, you have two options: Work on getting your behavior to match the plan. In
Yellow highlight | Location: 799
Adjust the plan to more closely match your behavior.
Yellow highlight | Location: 805
To get results, your plan does not have to change. Your behavior does.
Yellow highlight | Location: 807
Spend the rest of your free time doing things that make you happy.
Yellow highlight | Location: 816
That’s human logic for you: to be happy, we must be miserable.
Yellow highlight | Location: 818
The reality is if you set your bumpers, your brain will immediately start to adjust. As long as you’re inside the bumpers, you’re groovy. You’re moving toward what you want, you deserve it and guilt and shame start to disappear.
Yellow highlight | Location: 852
It is time to bridge the chasm. To close the gap between what you know you should be doing and the things you are actually doing.
Yellow highlight | Location: 885
Aside from self-sabotage, the biggest barrier to success is friction from others, but it is not because they don’t want you to succeed. They do. They just don’t understand what is going on or why. For all they know, you’re having an affair or started using drugs or something.
Yellow highlight | Location: 888
The second thing to be aware of is the danger of arbitrary goals and arbitrary timelines.
Yellow highlight | Location: 891
The process is the shortcut. The best thing any of us can do is to focus on the process and judge ourselves only on our behavior for that particular day.
Yellow highlight | Location: 893
You make money by getting better at things that make money, not by staring at your bank account all day.
Yellow highlight | Location: 895
The only thing you have control over is your behavior and your preparedness. It’s going to make you better or worse tomorrow.
Yellow highlight | Location: 916
Rigging The Game by Dan Nicholson:
The author opens the book by saying that he wrote it because everyone kept asking the same question, which I remember as, "Do you think I'll ever be happy?" (That may not be 100% accurate.) Ok, consider me hooked.
The idea is basically that we go about success from the wrong angle. Instead of trying to create heroic results, such as always doing better than our previous best, the author recommends keeping things smooth and improving your rolling average by always doing better than your worst. That's where the bumpers come in: like in bumper bowling, your #1 goal is to keep yourself out of the gutter.
For example, rather than heroically losing 50 pounds (and getting all the dopamine and celebration along the way), it would be better just to not gain the weight in the first place. Easy for him to say, I know, but he explains how to apply this. Part of it is recognizing that we get rewarded for losing weight, by ourselves and those around us and all the dopamine of meeting the intermediate goals and rescuing ourselves... but we get none of those things for just not gaining weight in the first place. The author seems to think that realization and simply deciding to be happy when things don't go wrong will be enough, but I've been thinking about it a lot. This explains why maintenance is so much harder than losing weight, which otherwise makes no fucking sense. So, instead of celebrating weight loss with ice cream and doing it all again (my pattern), I'm going to look for other goals that I can throw myself into to replace weight loss.
Also, here's a big insight: one of the author's rules for himself is that he refuses to ever take on a practice that he wouldn't want to do for the rest of his life. No 90-day low-carb challenges or 30-day yoga every day projects or whatever. He says if you wouldn't be willing to do it for the rest of your life, you're basically deciding from the outset to work really hard to get a result—and then lose it later when you stop doing what got you there. Damn! This seems like a big breakthrough realization to me.
From a business perspective, it's about always doing better than your minimum, and grading yourself only on your effort, specifically, did you do what you said you were going to do? We often make a plan, don't follow it, and then blame our results on the plan or spend energy reworking the plan. No, try actually following the plan. If it doesn't work, THEN consider modifying it.
Some specific recommendations he has include:
- making a big structure/schedule based on what you've been doing, and then very gradually tweaking it to get you closer to what you want. (If you're not following the plan, focus on following the plan. If you've consistently followed the plan for 1-2 weeks, then make a tiny adjustment. Repeat.)
- focusing on consistent effort. Specifically, if you're having a bad day, just put in the amount of time you said you would. If you're having a good day and have some extra energy, still just put in the amount of time you said you would. Don't do extra, because you'll probably be too tired and create a bad day the next day.
It feels to me like he's saying "play not to lose" (as opposed to "play to win")—certainly the opposite of most advice I've ever received. I personally love working in sprints and then taking time off in between. But is that just because of the adrenaline/dopamine thing, and it's really bad for me? How can I know?
On the other hand, not working extra on high-energy days because your #1 goal is to prevent crummy days does make sense to me. It reminds me of a metaphor I read somewhere else about taking a bunch of Boy Scouts camping. Basically, if you want all the scouts to get to the campsite together by dark, you need to put the slowest kid up front and make it as easy as possible for him (ex. get other kids to carry his stuff). This totally fits with that.
Meanwhile, a big, structured schedule has wrecked my life every time I've tried it. I get all uptight, and then I resent the shit out of anyone who causes any deviation from it, and then I hate my life. By day 5, I'm in full-on rebellion and can't make myself do anything. I think I'll just skip all that this time.
Anyway, I'm not sure more work is really what I want to measure. I'm working on getting better at getting great results while NOT making it a rat race.
This point is the reason this book isn't a 5-star book for me. It seems like the author just assumes we should all be working more and spending more time with our kids, so here's what we should do. That kind of assumption gets on my nerves.
Otherwise, I found it a fascinating book that will probably turn out to be a life-changer. Or at least, I hope so. I've already lost 50 pounds twice, and now I need to do it a third time. I don't want to do it a fourth.
Highlights:
Yellow highlight | Location: 196
Intention: What you intend or plan on doing with your knowledge. Intervention: Your actual behavior. Gap: The discrepancy between the two.
Yellow highlight | Location: 198
The intention-intervention gap is the gap between: What you say you are going to do and what you actually do. What you say you want and what your behavior suggests you want. Your action plan and your implementation.
Yellow highlight | Location: 255
If you want to start monitoring your progress right away, go to freebumpersbook.com. There is a workbook and audio companion. The audio companion is not me reading this
Yellow highlight | Location: 326
In fact, if we want a quick dopamine hit, we can start a fire real quick and then rush to put it out to get our fix. Ask any entrepreneur.
Yellow highlight | Location: 366
The path forward is not about more wins. Or bigger wins. It’s about living the life that you want to live. To do that, we must stay out of the gutter. Avoiding bad things will take you further faster than finding more good things will.
Yellow highlight | Location: 368
This is the crux of Bumpers. Like bumpers in a bowling alley, they keep us out of the gutter. It’s a fundamental shift toward appreciating when bad things don’t happen. A shift toward avoiding naive intervention. And a shift toward focusing on the things that matter most.
Yellow highlight | Location: 378
People that know themselves and play by their own rules are weirdos—until they are billionaires, then they are “eccentric.”
Yellow highlight | Location: 382
The level of success you can sustain depends on how aligned your pursuits stay with your unique disposition.
Yellow highlight | Location: 385
If you have defined where you want to be and are honest about where you’re at, success becomes inevitable.
Yellow highlight | Location: 401
Write out your perfect day. Fight the for the details. It might take a few tries. And then finish the sentence: “I know I am successful when _________________________________________.”
Yellow highlight | Location: 410
This is your definition of success. From now on, weigh every decision against this picture of your future. If a decision does not get you closer to that reality, it’s not closing the gap. Every step from now on is a step closer.
Yellow highlight | Location: 419
Our survival instinct will always convince us that “more” is the answer to everything. Fight for closer to what matters, not for more.
Yellow highlight | Location: 512
Your maximum achievability is not your maximum maintainability. Raising the floor improves your maintainability. And it is easy: Do better than your worst.
Yellow highlight | Location: 531
Raising the floor is not sexy. Until it is.
Yellow highlight | Location: 613
The gutters determine where the bumpers go.
Yellow highlight | Location: 618
The key here is to identify the traps that you are the most prone to falling into. Those are your gutters. Once you identify them, turn them into commandments for yourself: the things you need to protect against.
Yellow highlight | Location: 624
You should already have a picture of this for yourself from earlier. Using that image of success, write down a few non-negotiables. One trick I find helpful is to imagine your future self living your perfect day, then list the things you will not be doing in that life.
Yellow highlight | Location: 631
Take a moment to write down your non-negotiables that can act as your keystone bumpers. Remember: these are non-negotiables. Not “it would be nice if” criteria but things you absolutely REFUSE to negotiate so your life can be what you want it to be.
Yellow highlight | Location: 675
“Am I willing to do this forever?”
Yellow highlight | Location: 682
People pay me a lot of money to judge them, so I’m not going to do it for free.
Yellow highlight | Location: 684
I mean, if people pay for space in your brain, why give it to others at no charge? Next time someone tries to occupy space in your brain at no charge to them, think about what you are telling the universe about what you’re worth.
Yellow highlight | Location: 736
The 20-Mile March is a concept about consistency: identifying the gap and timeline, averaging things out and consistently performing at the average. It says that it’s not the 10x-ers pushing for growth who keep winning. The repeat performers are the companies that plan and optimize for consistency.
Yellow highlight | Location: 738
Here’s the key to the 20-Mile March: On days you feel like you can do more, don’t.
Yellow highlight | Location: 744
As long as you still have crummy days, focus on making those better. It will improve the average more than improving the good days. We aren’t being less ambitious. We’re reallocating resources to what will move the needle the most.
Yellow highlight | Location: 783
It’s not sexy, but until you are consistently doing what you plan on doing, the next step is to get a little closer to doing it next week. The plan is not changing, but your floor will be rising. Once your behavior matches the plan, make a tiny tweak to your bumpers calendar. Your brain will try and convince you that a larger tweak is better, but you know better now, right? Keep the gap small.
Yellow highlight | Location: 786
Small change → Work on behavior until it matches the new plan → another small change.
Yellow highlight | Location: 794
This means that once they are set, as long as the scheduled stuff gets done, you are moving forward. Everything else is novelty: have fun, take a nap, hang with your family or take on a side project (within your bumpers)!
Yellow highlight | Location: 796
If the scheduled stuff does not get done, you have two options: Work on getting your behavior to match the plan. In
Yellow highlight | Location: 799
Adjust the plan to more closely match your behavior.
Yellow highlight | Location: 805
To get results, your plan does not have to change. Your behavior does.
Yellow highlight | Location: 807
Spend the rest of your free time doing things that make you happy.
Yellow highlight | Location: 816
That’s human logic for you: to be happy, we must be miserable.
Yellow highlight | Location: 818
The reality is if you set your bumpers, your brain will immediately start to adjust. As long as you’re inside the bumpers, you’re groovy. You’re moving toward what you want, you deserve it and guilt and shame start to disappear.
Yellow highlight | Location: 852
It is time to bridge the chasm. To close the gap between what you know you should be doing and the things you are actually doing.
Yellow highlight | Location: 885
Aside from self-sabotage, the biggest barrier to success is friction from others, but it is not because they don’t want you to succeed. They do. They just don’t understand what is going on or why. For all they know, you’re having an affair or started using drugs or something.
Yellow highlight | Location: 888
The second thing to be aware of is the danger of arbitrary goals and arbitrary timelines.
Yellow highlight | Location: 891
The process is the shortcut. The best thing any of us can do is to focus on the process and judge ourselves only on our behavior for that particular day.
Yellow highlight | Location: 893
You make money by getting better at things that make money, not by staring at your bank account all day.
Yellow highlight | Location: 895
The only thing you have control over is your behavior and your preparedness. It’s going to make you better or worse tomorrow.
Yellow highlight | Location: 916
Rigging The Game by Dan Nicholson:
August 3, 2025
That absolute right book at the absolute right time
I frequently find myself overwhelmed with "work" and underwhelmed with my own place in my own life.
The reality is I have no Bumpers. It makes my life very consumed and difficult with very little reward.
I can see that I will need to make this book a daily read for some time as I create the structure of bumpers in my life.
If you're someone who, like myself, finds it difficult to set boundaries and reign in your energy I highly recommend this book
I frequently find myself overwhelmed with "work" and underwhelmed with my own place in my own life.
The reality is I have no Bumpers. It makes my life very consumed and difficult with very little reward.
I can see that I will need to make this book a daily read for some time as I create the structure of bumpers in my life.
If you're someone who, like myself, finds it difficult to set boundaries and reign in your energy I highly recommend this book
April 24, 2024
simple but effective advice
Bumpers is easy to read and gives sound advice, such as knowing where you are before trying to move forward and to make small incremental adjustments and make sure they are embedded before making any other changes. Well worth buying
Bumpers is easy to read and gives sound advice, such as knowing where you are before trying to move forward and to make small incremental adjustments and make sure they are embedded before making any other changes. Well worth buying
July 13, 2024
Smart, rough, intriguing
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews