Before Mark Cuban was a billionaire, before courtside seats to the Dallas Mavericks became his office and before he was dishing out advice and cash on Shark Tank, he was just another guy trying to figure life out. At 27, Cuban wasn't living in the lap of luxury but he was starting to see the fruits of his hard work.
According to a 2012 Business Insider article covering excerpts from his book, Cuban had upgraded from the cheap polyester suits he'd been sporting for years, was finally making "twice his age," and was engaged to be married. Life seemed to be coming together.
Then, it all unraveled.
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Cuban recalls spending his entire $7,500 life savings on an engagement ring, only for his fiancée to lose it in a movie theater. "A couple of months later, the relationship broke up," he explained. Suddenly, his carefully built future felt like it had gone up in smoke. But that moment of personal failure taught him something essential: the only thing you can truly control in life is effort.
"In sports, the only thing a player can truly control is effort," Cuban says. "The same applies to business. The only thing any entrepreneur, salesperson or anyone in any position can control is their effort."
With nothing left to do but focus on his business, Cuban made a decision: he would recommit to working harder and smarter than ever before.
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"I had to kick myself in the a** and recommit to getting up early, staying up late and consuming everything I possibly could to get an edge," he said. "It meant making sure that every hour of the day that I could contact a customer was selling time and when customers were sleeping, I was doing things that prepared me to make more sales and to make my company better."
But the effort, Cuban stresses, isn't just about clocking long hours. He cautions against mistaking time spent for productivity. "It would have been easy to judge effort by how many hours a day passed while I was at work," he said. "That's the worst way to measure effort."
Instead, Cuban set clear, results-driven goals. He asked himself:
• What do I need to do to close this account?
• What do I need to do to win this segment of business?
• What do I need to do to understand this technology or that business better than anyone?
• Where can I find an edge and how am I going to get there?
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"The one requirement for success in our business lives is effort. Either you make the commitment to get results or you don't," Cuban said.
That mentality – effort measured by results, not time – became the foundation of Cuban's success. It drove him to build his first company, MicroSolutions and sell it for $6 million. It helped him navigate failure and it keeps him sharp today.
Cuban's story of the lost ring and the failed relationship isn't just a tale of personal heartbreak. It's a reminder that even when life throws you a curveball, you still have the power to control your response. The billionaire didn't sit around mourning his lost savings or broken engagement; he doubled his effort, pushed himself to improve and used those lessons to build a business empire.
And as Cuban would tell you today, it's not about working longer hours – it's about working smarter, setting goals and doing whatever it takes to reach them. If you're making New Year's resolutions this year, he'd likely suggest starting with the one thing you can always control: your effort. And if your financial goals need a boost, talking to an advisor might be the smartest move you make all year.
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