Matt Hogan's Blog

How To Keep The Fun Alive In Things We Take Seriously And/Or Work Really Hard At

Published on November 15, 2025

1. Alignment: Make sure you’re aligned with whatever it is you’re serious about and working really hard at. If you’re playing a sport to please your parents (because they’re living vicariously though you) or you’re practicing law because a younger you thought it would pay a lot of money (turns out, you also have to pay a lot in stress and time committed)—then obviously, it’s not going to be fun because you’re not doing the thing for you. See maybe you don’t align with the sport your parents are pushing you to play… but, you do find yourself drawn to a different sport or can’t help but doodle and draw when you’re passing time. Doing things because you enjoy the means is play… doing things because of a specific end is work. Prioritize doing more of the things you would do even if you weren’t being paid to do them—things that maybe you’re even paying to do. Enjoying the means is the crux to having fun.

2. Prioritize play: Once you’re in alignment, the second part is to give yourself permission to not take yourself so seriously and be more playful. Being playful is a mindset and a skill that’s developed just like any other muscle. Maybe you joke more or answer questions in silly ways or smile in the midst of busyness or cheer somebody up who’s beating themself up or model taking responsibility in a more lighthearted way… Ultimately, this step isn’t something that should require too much conscious effort… it’s something that should naturally arise when you’re aligned and you’ve given yourself permission to do so.

Water Lines [Poem]

Published on November 14, 2025

Trust is trust
And cheating is cheating
Until someone you trust cheats
And someone who cheated
Becomes someone you trust

Oh, the ease
Of a life black-and-white
One can only dream
As infinite hues
Storm down, thrash, flood

Tread, paddle, stroke
Head above water
Choose, wait, contemplate
Let the universe decide?

No—blame the rulebook!
Draw lines in the sand
Except you touch only water
The last gone
Before the next is begun

It’s just you
Your experiences reflected on
Your heart and mind
People you want to be like
Your intuition, actions, time

Paint your own picture
Make freakin’ water lines
Build, break, reformulate
Surf, surrender—rise.

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

3 Ways I’ve Been Using AI (And One Way I Still Refuse To)

Published on November 11, 2025

I use Claude to answer my random curiosities / summarize large or complex problems/questions. For example, I asked Claude recently to summarize who and what will be on my voting card on Election Day. This was quite helpful, even though it was a pretty small election year. I’ve also asked it about the government shutdown, international conflicts, news rumors, and so much more and it always delivers.

I use Koupon to find all of the best deals online—even the hidden coupon code ones—so I don’t have to waste time, energy, or money. It’s like shopping on an app where only discounted items show… my kind of shopping for sure.

I use Jerry to quickly shop and compare car insurance coverage options for me. It lists all of their competing prices and what the coverage includes. So. Much. Easier. Than calling every single company every year to keep my coverage price competitive. It also has an option to track how you drive and reward you for safe driving.

I don’t use AI for Writing. This is a personal choice. I like the struggle… the fight… the challenge of figuring it out for myself: What do I think? How can I best share these thoughts? What personal stories/experiences/anecdotes can I incorporate? This isn’t to say using AI to help brainstorm ideas, create rough drafts, and edit like a college professor aren’t extremely useful tools. It’s simply to say: doing the inner work and building the skill(s) are higher priorities for me.

My question(s) for you are (1) how have you been using AI? and (2) what are you prioritizing in the age of AI? Send me a reply :)

Changes Done Daily Are Never Small

Published on November 10, 2025

I just learned this fall season that I like pumpkin seeds.

I hadn’t really given them a fair shot up until this year, but for whatever reason with this go around of roasting and lightly salting the seeds scooped out of the Halloween pumpkins picked from the local farm, my taste buds were partying.

What I did with this newly found knowledge is swap them in place of the pretzels that I eat daily while working—which turns out to be a much healthier option that’s just as satisfying.

A small change, indeed.

But… compounded over the course of every workday that I snack throughout the year?

…Is actually no small change, indeed.

Gratitude As Fuel

Published on November 10, 2025

After sharing some thoughts about having an attitude of gratitude at the end of a martial arts class I was teaching, a student came up to me and asked, “How do we balance being grateful for what we have with being goal-oriented, driven, and ambitious?”

My answer is by using gratitude as fuel.

When we start from a place of gratitude, we fill ourselves up with a positive type energy. That energy, by and by, puts us in a better state. And when we’re in a better state, we perform better. And the byproduct, of course, are better results.

When we start from a place of entitlement, however, we fill ourselves up with a negative type energy. We feel discontent—like we don’t have enough and, by and by, aren’t enough as people… maybe even feel envy, jealousy, and anger at the people who have what we don’t. This puts us in a worse state, which leads us to perform worse (or in a dirty way), and the byproduct is hamster wheel living—always running in circles getting one thing, moving our desire to something else until we get that thing, and repeating forever onward.

See—gratitude allows us to reconnect with the present; scarcity keeps us focused elsewhere—rarely in the present.

Gratitude keeps us focused on the means. Scarcity keeps us obsessing over ends.

Gratitude fills us up—with energy. Entitlement fills us up—with toxicity.

Don’t confuse gratitude for weakness or with an unambitious-ness. Gratitude is a rocket fuel that’ll launch us further forward than the opposite ever will.

What Happens When You Put Yourself On The Hook…

Published on November 9, 2025

Today, I was booked to teach a martial arts seminar.

The seminar was specifically for advanced students from across and within the association I’m a part of.

And one of the beliefs I had leading up to the seminar was, “I don’t hold anything back as a teacher… I always give my students my best… there isn’t any information I’ve been holding out on them…”

And in retrospect, I realize this was a limiting belief that held me back from promoting the event as good as I could’ve.

Because leading up to the event… I didn’t just sit in contentment with teaching what I already had… I researched, developed, and trained skills, drills, and ideas that I hadn’t taught before.

It was the seminar that put me on the hook to present new information. And that vacuum created an energy that sucked me down several rabbit holes of martial arts training videos that allowed me to do exactly that.

The point being, put yourself on the hook more often. Use it as a fuel to propel you to rise to the occasion and deliver in a way that’s beyond what you’re used to.

…And as you’re coming up to that presentation day, trust in your future self’s delivery. The more you put yourself on the hook… and hype up your future self… the more you’ll push your present self to rise.

Walking The Line Between Pressure And Fun

Published on November 8, 2025

Today I watched a Hot Ones interview of Luka Dončić.

If you don’t know, he’s an incredible NBA basketball player.

In addition to that, he’s building an incredible foundation, The Luca Dončić Foundation—which focuses on creating a more positive and joyful environment for youth sports, particularly basketball, by addressing issues like excessive pressure and providing better support systems for young athletes.

And just tonight, as I was leading my martial arts demo team through our choreographed performance (that we have to show in two weeks), I felt myself walking this line between excessive pressure and maintaining a positive and joyful environment.

Because while, yes, being competitive and adding pressure to training pushes us to realize our full potential…

…That holds true only if we don’t quit because we aren’t having fun anymore.

Don’t miss the forest for the trees… don’t let the trophies supersede original joy and just plain having fun.

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