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- 35) 28 Tomlinisms for 28
35) 28 Tomlinisms for 28
It's my birthday! (we might not actually get to 28)
Luke Deasy
January 19, 2026
Behind-the-scenes building Vambrace AI, a company on a mission to figure out its mission. Please pardon the stream-of-consciousness style. Subscribe to follow along or visit the site here:
(typos are to make sure you’re paying attention)
Introductory Remarks
Dear Vambracers —
In last week’s post, Harada Method, I walked through the rather intensive goal-setting method used by Shohei Ohtani. My core goal is $100M in incremental earnings over the next 5 years, and from there I identified 8 pillars that support the core goal (e.g., technology, toughness, mental acuity, relationship building, etc.). It was a fun exercise to help me frame the scope of my ambitions and root that in concrete, daily pursuits, mindsets, attitudes, etc.
28 Tomlinisms for 28
In today’s post, in honor of my 28th birthday and the end of Mike Tomlin’s tenure as Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, we’re going to take a look at some of my favorite sayings of his from throughout the years. I think I’ll only actually be able to cover 22 or so, and that will have to do. Maybe I’ll write more about reflections for 28 years and stuff next week, but idk. I honestly find those types of posts pretty annoying. So, here goes nothing!
1) Wine and grapes
“There’s a fine line between drinking wine and squashing grapes.”
There’s nuance to everything we do. There’s some degree of importance that we collectively project onto pursuits and activities.
2) Nothing mystical
“Nothing mystical about it.”
Progress and improvement—and any consequent success—stem from hard work. If we’re looking for a magic bean to save us, we’re not going to find it.
3) Man versus himself
“This is a man versus himself battle.”
We’re competing against who we were yesterday. That’s the only battle that really matters in life. The rest will sort itself out.
4) Comfort
“We do not seek comfort.”
Being comfortable isn’t the goal, particularly when it limits growth. We must step boldly into the unknown and embrace discomfort and absorb negativity.
5) Nuts
“We’re gonna keep squirreling those nuts.”
Always gotta keep on grinding.
6) The secret
“The secret is there’s no secret.”
Kind of similar to the whole, “nothing mystical” quote, there isn’t a secret to achieving success and engineering victory. It requires hard work and dedication, daily, over an extended period of time.
7) Death
“The boy gotta die so the man can live.”
Maturing is a process of transformation. That transformation can be painful, but if we’re resolute in our drive to accomplish the objective (whatever that is) then there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
8) Volunteers
“We want volunteers not hostages.”
Within collaborative pursuits, willing participants are critical to team success.
9) Fears
“We do not live in our fears.”
There is a lot of scary stuff in this world. We can’t let the fear associated with those scary things dictate what we do and stop us from taking action and moving in the right direction. We have to acknowledge the fear when we feel it, and then decide to courageously move forward.
10) Ponies and cages
“I don’t want to give a pony a whole bunch of land and then put him in a cage.”
We shouldn’t place artificial limits on our abilities or our potential. We also shouldn’t let external and/or societal pressures limit or discourage us.
11) Bags
“8 pounds in a 5-pound bag.”
We must push to get the most out of ourselves, daily, and to get the most out life, generally.
12) Winning
“We’re not gonna apologize for winning.”
I interpret this as not being bashful about what you want to accomplish and working hard to push towards those accomplishments (a la Timothee Chalamet).
13) Dogs
“Two dogs one bone.”
Be the dog that gets the bone.
14) On the rise
“Always be a man on the rise.”
We’re getting better or worse each day. Push to get better every day.
15) Availability
“Your best ability is availability.”
Always show up and be prepared. Just showing up is most of the battle.
16) Pressure
“Pressure is ever-present. You’re either feeling it or you’re applying it.”
This might be my personal favorite. It’s fairly consistent with other quotes here, with the general vibe being that we can choose to attack the day or let the day attack us. We want to be the one applying pressure.
17) Delivering
“I don’t want to hear about the labor pains just deliver the baby!”
This is slightly controversial, but I think the point is actually pretty well-made: there are always hurdles and challenges, but really the main focus is on delivering no matter what. We don’t get points for voicing our frustrations and difficulties, we just have to deliver results.
18) Running
“We don’t run from it, we run to it.”
Choose to embrace difficulty and smile in the face of adversity.
19) Dreaming
“I urge you never, ever stop dreaming. I’m a ridiculous dreamer. To this day, I do. The difference is, what separates our dreams from the ones we all share when we were children is that we have to make daily choices to take action to make those dreams a reality. That is what I mandate from this team today. Continue to dream. Don’t let the realities of the world that awaits you on the other side of that locker room to diminish those dreams. Make the conscious daily decision to take action to make those dreams a reality.”
This is consistent with, “You’re an active participant in the construction of your life.” I want to always dream, and relish the ability to build a life and habit-set that support my pursuit and achievement of those dreams.
20) Reasonable expectations
“You need to continually be a guy on the rise. That is a reasonable expectation. As opposed to just coming in here and putting in time. What do I mean by that? I mean the things that made you viable in the past aren’t going to be the things that make you viable moving forward. You better be continually getting better…
So, let’s just be really transparent, man, about expectations in this business, about how competitive it is. I never want you worrying about people on the outside. Even the man sitting next to you. This is a man versus himself battle. You’ve got to be continually pressing to get better, with the understanding that this is a highly competitive line of work that we’re in.”
We don’t want to wear our hand out patting ourselves on the back. There’s always more meat on the bone, and always something we can be doing to keep on improving.
21) Complex
“We make the simple complex.”
It’s easy to overcomplicate things, particularly in the analytics- and data-rich world we currently live in. But really there’s a talent to keeping things simple and just focusing on the immediate task at hand.
22) Money
“Scared money don’t make money.”
Similar-ish to “we don’t live in our fears,” but we have to embrace risk and bet on ourselves to compound life, financially and otherwise.
Looking Forward
I am sad to see Tomlin go, but also acknowledge that it’s time for a fresh start. But I’ll always remember him as an exceptional leader and motivator. I’ll miss him.
I hope you all have a wonderful MLK day!
Sincerely,
Luke