Build Your Life with the 5 Buckets Principle: Lessons from the Long Road
Let’s skip the sugar coating.
Success doesn’t come from a single decision, it comes from consistent investment. Over my 22 years in uniform, I began noticing that true progress wasn’t just about climbing ranks or growing a bank account. It was about becoming balanced and intentional across multiple parts of life. That’s when the 5 Buckets Principle first started making sense to me, not something I created, but a framework I began to recognize and live by through trial, reflection, and experience.
It wasn’t a polished strategy from day one. In fact, it started with a worn out 1989 Bayliner. I was in Michigan, wrench in hand, knee-deep in oil and regret. I didn’t want to just own a boat. I wanted a sailboat ⛵ something with grace, something I could be proud of. I wanted freedom. That moment made me ask myself: What would it take to not just survive, but truly own my life?
That question led to this framework. These are the five buckets I invest in consistently now. And if you're just starting out, halfway through, or transitioning out of the military, they can guide you too.
1. 🧠 Knowledge – Think Beyond Your MOS
I spent years in college before realizing the real world didn’t always care about your degree, it cared about what you could do. Still, knowledge matters, however it must be applied knowledge.
You must read beyond the battlefield. Take in leadership books, business journals, and psychology.¹ Learn to think like a strategist, not just a technician. Your MOS teaches you to function. What you learn on your own teaches you to evolve.
“Read constantly. Watch what leaders in your dream field are doing. Learn their language before you speak it.”
2. 🛠️ Skills – Train with Purpose
Degrees show you studied history. Certifications show you’re current. And in today’s civilian market, those little acronyms after your name matter more than you'd think. They don’t mean you’re a master, but they prove you're relevant.
Figure out what skills, support where you want to go, then go get them. Don’t just chase qualifications, chase utility. Find a mentor who’s levels ahead of you. Ask what they learned, what they regret, and how they built their toolkit.
“Skills give you leverage. They speak before you walk into the room.”
3. 🤝 Network – Relationships Build Roads
You can’t do this alone. The myth of the lone wolf is seductive, but dangerous. I had to learn the hard way that while you can earn rank solo, you build a life through relationships.
Find a mentor, someone you can talk to honestly and candidly. Someone who will guide you, challenge you, and tell you the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. Build a relationship with your mentors. Make sure they are levels above where you are. Mentorship isn’t about admiration; it’s about alignment with where you want to go.²
Get mentors. Not just peers or sponsors, but people who make you a little uncomfortable, because they’ve been where you want to go. Invest in people with consistency, not convenience.
“The right network won’t just help you climb. They’ll keep you from falling.”
4. 💼 Resources – Master Your Money, Buy Your Freedom
Here’s the truth: wanting more isn’t selfish. It’s strategic. I wanted a sailboat because it made me happy. And people love to say owning one is like burning money. Maybe it is. But I’d rather burn money building a memory than spend a life living someone else’s version of success.
Start saving. Start investing. Learn where your money goes and make sure it serves your future. Pay off debt. Build assets. Don’t just chase income, build ownership.⁴
“Resources aren’t about luxury. They’re about options.”
5. ⭐ Reputation – Guard Your Name
This one’s personal. In the Army, my reputation was either that of a walking EO complaint or someone who was good at their job, but difficult. One of my closest friends once told me, "You're a genius, but your, 'I don't give a f***' about how people perceive you is too high." And he was right. That attitude eventually became my stigma.
I never sugarcoated my words, never lied or mixed meanings. I was blunt, to the point of being disrespectful without realizing it. It wasn’t until I was on my way out of the Army that I fully grasped how right he had been. My last boss loved my work because it made his life easy, but he kept saying, "If your tact was where your quality of work is, you'd be unstoppable."
Since transitioning, I’ve worked hard to improve how I communicate and how my company is perceived. I focus on educating clients instead of selling to them.³ Reputation is everything. You can’t let people walk all over you or treat you poorly, but you also can’t give them an excuse to dismiss you.
“Your name travels further than your resume. Make sure it’s saying what you want it to.”
📝 Final Word to My Younger Self
If I could talk to 18-year-old me, I’d say this: Work on your reputation and resources. If you don’t, people will see you in the wrong light, and you’ll spend your life trying to prove them wrong. That builds resentment. Not success.
Define success in your own terms. Then surround yourself with people who’ve already reached it. Grow intentionally. Live deliberately.
Because the truth is this:
“Balanced soldiers aren’t just career soldiers. They’re unstoppable.”
Footnotes
John C. Maxwell, The 5 Levels of Leadership (New York: Center Street, 2011).
Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change (New York: Free Press, 1989).
Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1936).
Ramit Sethi, I Will Teach You to Be Rich, Second Edition (New York: Workman Publishing, 2019).
