Matt Hogan's Blog

Modern Day Flexes

Published on February 15, 2026

Reads books.

Does inner work.

Exercises regularly.

Walks and sits with excellent posture.

Rarely eats fast food or uses the microwave.

Eats entire meals without checking phone.

Waits patiently, in line or traffic or elsewhere, without checking phone.

Can facilitate and navigate great conversations without checking phone.

Can disagree and hold a dialog with a person without attacking the person.

Speaks to others with steady eye contact.

Can dance wholeheartedly without any care of judgments.

Compliments more than complains; offers optimism more than pessimism; leads with love more than hate—both in-person and online.

Lives below their means—happily. Regardless of salary size.

Falls asleep quickly. Even after stressful and emotional days.

What Comes First… Belief Or Behavior?

Published on February 15, 2026

I’ve been trying to get my buddy to play basketball with a group of friends and I for over a year now.

Every time it’s always the same thing: working or no response.

When I saw him today, I was joking that I was tapped out trying and I was gonna tag our other friend in to do the convincing.

He laughed and essentially said, “It’s not happening.”

When I asked him if he’s got anything else going on in his downtime, he essentially said, “…Besides work? …Chill. I work, I chill at home, I work again.”

Here’s the thing: this dude used to love playing basketball. He played for his school. We always used to play pickup at gatherings. He was damn good. And he’s like 15 years younger than me!

What I think happened is at some point along the way, he turned me down one too many times and it became an identity belief.

In other words, he behaved himself into a belief. And beliefs dictate future behavior.

It’s a catch-22 worth contemplating.

Want to lead your life with a different belief or set of beliefs? Start behaving as though the belief is already ingrained. With patience and perseverance… soon enough, it will be.

Want to behave differently? Start believing as though you’re already the kind of person who behaves that way. With patience and perseverance… soon enough, it will be so.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Which comes first, the belief or the behavior?

The answer: it doesn’t matter. So long as one of them comes first and begins the cycle of reproduction.

You Are The Standard And The Throttle

Published on February 13, 2026

If it’s true you can only ever meet people as deeply as they’ve met themselves…

Then understand that you are both the standard and the throttle of your relationships.

You’re the standard because how deeply you’re showing up is how deeply you’d like the people you meet to show up.

You’re the throttle because if the person you meet shows up with a deeper understanding, then it won’t go as deeply as they might like to go.

If you crave more depth in your relationships… always reinvest that energy back into yourself and your inner work.

It doesn’t take long for people to gauge an estimation of the depth to which the people they’re getting to know have travelled…

My recommendation is to move quickly with getting to know more and more people…

And move more and more slowly with the ones who match or challenge your standard.

The Beautiful Messy [Poem]

Published on February 12, 2026

I tap my screen
While urgency sleeps
Before important clocks in
As busy decompresses
During the void hours
Mostly nights; some days
To nothing; blank
…Maybe a 12:19

I’ll sometimes sigh
Maybe slouch or frown
But never visibly
Never audibly
Not even here
Will I show it
Not even here
Will it hit my ear

Your name glowing
And only your name
Urgently protruding
Importantly colored; bordered
Filling the void
Pointing my mind
Towards entropy
Away from order

I’ll sometimes crave it
The spontaneity… the drama…
The fiery… the crazy…
The beautiful messy
The epitome
Of the nature
Of the universe
Presented perfectly

In your letters, your glow
My casual touch
Your chaos, your flow
My orderly house
Us merging; the mess
It always ends better
You send a text
And I straighten, smirk…

Though you’d never know it
Because I remember… ghost.

P.s. You can read my other poems here.

The one you have about yourself…
and who you are…
what you went through…
what you stand for…
who’s on your side…
who isn’t…
your worth…
your value…
your abilities…
your inabilities…
your cans…
your can’t’s…

Is just that…
dialogue.

And the thing about dialogue
is it can be edited…
rewritten…
updated…
expanded upon…
improved…
made more clear…

Choosing not to do this is exactly that:
a choice.

And choosing to act in accordance with an outdated…
demeaning…
belittling…
restrictive…
subdued…
incomplete…
script

…seems like a silly choice to mentally agree to
…to me.

The Only Shortcut

Published on February 10, 2026

The only shortcut to getting where you want to be (success) is learning from those who have traveled there.

That said, important tip #1: Pick wisely where you want to go. Not every mountain peak elicits the same reward for every traveler. It’s best to listen to no one at this step… except yourself. And to nurture curiosity (especially from childhood) and build a clear understanding of your aptitudes and ambitions while simultaneously unlearning everything you were told to do/want. The picking must come solely from you.

Important tip #2: Pick wisely what path to take. There are endless ways to the summit. Some significantly better than others. This is where research matters. Don’t just take the easy route. Don’t just follow the first path you see. Meticulously measure the pros and cons of each path, challenge the information sources, and fight to understand fully.

Important tip #3: Pick wisely who you’ll listen to. The person who has never climbed? The person who speculates from afar? The person who climbed a completely different mountain? Or the person who has hiked your mountain numerous times?

These kinds of mountain people aren’t the easiest to come by either. They only have so much energy to give to others: they’re climbing mountains for god’s sake! And what they have to give outside of their inner circle is sparse.

Which is why important tip #4 is: Pick wisely what you’ll offer. These people have already climbed the mountain so they probably won’t need your resources. What they’ll need is something else… something personable… something interesting or inspiring… some meaning or calling to do so… something only you can offer…

…Something to reflect on.

THIS Should Be Your Definition Of Success

Published on February 9, 2026

Paint a picture for me of what your ideal day looks like. I’ll start:

Wake up slowly; no alarm.
Scorching hot shower.
Foam rolling/ deep stretching/ mobility/ (p)rehab work.
Disguised exercise. Be it martial arts, sports, hike, dancing, or lifting.
Sauna/Steam room/rinse off finish.
Work that excites me.
Afternoon nap.
Scorching hot cup of black coffee.
Reflective/Creative; Writing/Reading; Inner Work time.
Meditation.
Work that excites me.
Evening spent slowly unwinding, chatting, dining, playing, and connecting with the ones I love.

You know what this now becomes?

…Your definition of success.

Not “getting six or seven figures into my bank account.”

No. Your ideal day becomes the definition that you can begin reverse engineering your way to.

It’s clear. It’s aligned. It’s priority focused.

…It’s what your life is composed of: days fulfilled or not.

And if you can successfully fill your days… how could you not have successfully filled your life?

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