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Category: Living Well

You Know What I Want More Of?

Published on July 6, 2026

…It’s not horse power, or square footage, or trophies.

…It’s not more pixels, or processing speed, or more accurate LLMs.

…And it’s not more roles, or responsibilities, or subscriptions.

What I want more of… is time to hang out.

After all, what are we doing everything else for if not to get to a point where we can… you know… hang out more?

We work hard so we can cover the basic expenses for our survival… so we can then hang out and just be—with friends, family, lovers—isn’t it?

Sure there’s purpose and fulfillment that’s associated with doing work that’s meaningful to you and/or impactful on others… but isn’t it also equally about aligning with people who you like hanging out with to get done said work?

And if nothing else, shouldn’t we be aligning with work and a schedule that allows us to hang out with a better / the best version of ourself?

We are drowning in messages telling us we need to work more, harder, faster, so that we can afford more horse power, square footage, pixels, processing speed, subscriptions, etc… but what if what we really needed was simply: more time to hang out?

…And what if that was much easier to achieve then we’ve been made to believe?

Invitations Are Gifts

Published on July 5, 2026

Early last week, I got a call from a student of mine who’s like a little sister.

She asked if I was going to a martial arts tournament that she was competing in that weekend—and I told her I wasn’t planning on it.

She essentially put on her “puppy dog” voice and asked if I would go anyway.

…And so I did.

I booked a flight the next day, got a rental car, figured out my room and stay situation, and told myself I’d figure out the rest as I went.

…And I’m so glad I did.

Had that student not called me, I never would have gone. And I would’ve missed out on so many experiences, memories, and moments worth cherishing.

Sometimes we don’t call people to ask if they’ll go with us because we don’t want to “inconvenience them.” Or because we’re afraid they’ll say no or reject us in some way. Or because we figure if they wanted to go, they would’ve taken the initiative to make the plans themselves.

But here’s the thing: invitations are gifts.

…It’s how I genuinely feel about the invitation I was given by that student.

And by not extending invitations to people you would genuinely want to join you on a trip or to an experience or to be a part of shared moment… you’re withholding gifts to those very people.

Gifts that could very well give them something worth cherishing.

Energy Is Neither Created Nor Destroyed

Published on July 2, 2026

…It’s only transferred/shared.

This is why when you’re sitting at home by yourself, contemplating whether you should do that thing you know you should do or not, it can be so damn hard to find the energy to do it.

…Because there’s no energy being shared/gifted to you.

You’re just trying to create energy out of thin air.

This is also why when you show up to do that thing you know you should do, and there are a bunch of other people doing the thing already, it suddenly becomes easier…

It’s almost as though the energy… well… appears out of thin air.

…It’s because it kind of does.

The thin air is the medium through which energy is transferred/shared. And when you get a handful of people in a room who are givers of energy—everybody leaves feeling boosted. The opposite is also true as well. Get a bunch of energy vampires in a room and you’ll probably have been better off staying in that original room by yourself.

Those who understand this fundamental principle of physics understand a key strategy for getting hard things done easier in life.

…Which is at the cornerstone of all proper inner work matters.

Being A “Hotel Princess” vs Being A “Tent Bum”

Published on June 30, 2026

Sometimes it’s good to be a “hotel princess”—as one of my friends put it—and sometimes it’s good to be a “tent bum.”

Being a “hotel princess” is about choosing a situation where zero choices will need to be made about how your basic living needs are going to be met. It’s about choosing running water, air conditioned rooms, Wi-Fi access, room service, and soft beds. It’s about choosing comfort. And there is certainly a time and a place for this.

Being a “tent bum” is about choosing a situation where all choices will need to be made about how your basic living needs are going to be met. It’s about flexing your survival skill muscles and challenging yourself to figure out how you’re going to stay hydrated/clean, warm/cool, connected if/when needed, functional/fed, and where/how you’re going to set up a shelter for rest/recovery. It’s about intentionally choosing discomfort. Something many people in the modern world don’t make a time or space for in the least.

Even camping in the modern age looks less and less like the latter and is looking more and more like the former—there’s RVs, remote AirBnBs, and glamping setups galore.

And I get it—travel can be stressful enough. Especially travel to remote parts of the world where there are so many unknowns as is.

…But if you want an inner work challenge? An opportunity to see—and possibly grow—what you’re made of?

Try being a “tent bum” for a few days in the woods.

It’ll most likely elicit more inward reflection and growth than being a “hotel princess” ever would.

Show And Prove

Published on June 27, 2026

I watched a dance battle yesterday.

It was open to anybody who wanted compete and there were three judges who picked the top 16, then the winner of each 1v1 battle, until the bracket led them to the final four.

Before they ran the final battles, however, to crown the winner… they paused the show and did something that’s apparently tradition in dance battle culture called “Show and Prove.”

And while the final four competitors prepared, the judges each did a one minute performance to show and prove why they were chosen and qualified to be in the judges seat.

The audience loved it. The competitors respected it. And in a world of keyboard warriors where so many people are putting themselves in the “judges seat” and hating on and critiquing things they have never even done themselves—it felt like a refreshing thing to share.

Meaningless Easy

Published on June 21, 2026

In all my years running black belt and higher degree test, I’ve never had anybody say to me they regret participating in a really hard test.

Heck, candidates are much quicker to complain about a test being easy than they ever are to complain about a test being hard.

In fact, hard tests usually lead to bragging more than any kind of complaint.

And I think this illustrates something about all of us. That surface level, sure, we want to follow the path of least resistance. And do what’s easy. And complain about all that’s hard with our life.

…But that we also crave meaning.

And that deep down we know that nothing worthwhile comes easily. And so when we sign up for something that’s supposed to be hard, if we don’t get it, we complain because what we were after wasn’t “easy”—what we were after was meaning.

And by not giving us hard, it isn’t that you gifted us easy… it’s that you took away meaning.

…And that’s much harder to deal with than a meaningless easy.

Acts Of Humility

Published on June 20, 2026

Some of our martial arts students will shave their heads before big black belt or higher degree tests as a demonstration of their humility—to demonstrate that they are more than their hair. And that it isn’t the hair that makes the person, it’s the character that does.

And some of the students will really struggle with this… they’ll worry about what other people might say to them about it and/or that they’ll get made fun of or ostracized in some way.

…But I tell you what, the students who do go through with it? The ones who choose to sacrifice beauty for a chance to build character? The ones who decide to trust in their self-opinion more than in the opinion of others? The ones who choose the difficult route over the comfort zone option?

These are the students who get the most from their black belt and higher degree tests. These are the students who leave the test, not just with a different colored belt or added bar, but with a different colored character and an example that raises the bar.

…Because these are the students—not just of the martial arts who are in it for belts and titles—but of life who are in it for self-awareness and experiential knowledge.