Matt Hogan's Blog

The Mind vs The Heart on Doing Hard Things

Published on March 28, 2025

I was speaking to a friend today about doing hard things.

And he was reflecting on a time he did a 4x4x48: 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours (which totals up to 48 miles).

He was talking about the self-deflating inner dialogue that happened throughout (“This is so stupid…” “You can’t do this…” “Why’d you let those guys talk you into this…” etc); he mentioned the moments of sheer frustration and agony… to the point of hallucinating images of and having conversations with The Banana Splits; he recalled how he got sick immediately after and how it took him three months to fully recover…

And yet…

…In the same breath, he curiously pondered the idea of doing it again.

The paradox of our reality as humans is that our mind is constantly trying to box us into the most comfortable, predictable, easy, secure, luxurious space possible. Our hearts, however… yearn to stretch. They seek adventure… depth… challenge… wonder… meaning…

And something magical happens when we accomplish an incredible physical feat like a 4x4x48… when our heart is beating faster and harder than our mind can think new thoughts…

…We’re reminded of this.

We’re reminded of the power of following our heart and quieting our mind. Either by increasing the volume of our heart or by decreasing the volume of our mind. And once we taste that: the feeling of adventure lived… depth explored… challenge completed… wonder revealed… meaning felt…

The volume of our heart never returns to it’s prior level. It remains a little louder than it was before. And even when the mental chatter gets turned up… the whispers of our heart more regularly break through.

5 Things I Noticed In Myself And Changed For A Better Day

Published on March 27, 2025

I noticed I was holding a thought for this blog… and that I was forcing myself to stick to a routine rather than simply aligning with this rare moment of inspiration from my muse and writing it out. Once I noticed it, I chose alignment instead.

I noticed I was making myself feel guilty for having a slow morning. I slept in, allowed myself extra time to watch videos as I woke up, took a longer than usual shower… and then realized, this is something I’ve earned. Slow mornings are one of life’s real luxuries and is something I should embrace and align with when possible—not make myself feel guilty about.

While I was writing the above bullet point, I noticed I wrote, “Woke up late” where I now have, “Slept in.” I didn’t wake up late… I intentionally decided to sleep in. Woke up late sounds like I made a mistake… like I missed my alarm… like I had something to feel guilty about… but I didn’t. It was intentional and rewriting it allowed me to own that.

I noticed an urge to rush to “catch up” after I finally started my morning tasks. I wanted to get my workout done so I could finish my quote curating and daily writing so I could get my car cleaned so I could go food shopping so I could finish my taxes… and then I realized, rushing is how time is wasted. And today, I decided I didn’t want to waste any of it.

And finally, I noticed that noticing is a lot easier when you’re not rushing. And noticing is step one towards essentially all inner work growth.

A Lesson From Cheryl Strayed On Managing Grief

Published on March 26, 2025

After the death of her mom, Cheryl Strayed turned devastation and grief into self-sabotage.

She blew up her young marriage, estranged herself from her family, and started doing hard drugs—including heroin.

“I tried to wreck my life as a weird way to honor the death of my mom…” she admitted as she reflected back on that delicate time many years later at a live talk here in Buffalo, NY.

…Which I think is a very natural, knee-jerk kind of reaction to such overwhelming pain due to loss or grief in general.

We want to show how much we cared for a person—how much we loved them—by showing how deep our pain goes. And so we make this perverse decision to self-sabotage and wreck ourselves and our lives to display this deep love and care.

…But—and this is such an important but to consider when dealing with a blinding and unrelenting force like grief…

“…What we really need to do,” Cheryl said from the clarity of her further healed and more deeply considerate mind, “…is thrive.”

This is how we really honor the ones we love.

Not by causing further depths of pain and hate.

…But by embodying the depth of that love and becoming the living legacy of the absolute best version of that person. Spreading not more pain into the world—but, joy. Spreading not more hate into the lives of those around us—but, love.

…Leaving us not nearly dead and alone with a needle sticking out of our arm—but alive and thriving and accomplishing unimaginatively impressive feats that’ll inspire not only those around us today… but those in many generations to come.

On Feeling Less Offended

Published on March 25, 2025

I uploaded a quote today that read, “The more the heart expands, the less offended I feel by other people working out their particular stage of being a human.”

And boy, isn’t that the truth?

It wasn’t until I understood that hurt people, hurt people… that I started softening my approach towards people who hurt.

It wasn’t until I experienced the fear of having to stand up to a bully and put my own wellbeing in danger… that I understood why people might choose to be a bystander in the face of an injustice.

It wasn’t until I experienced loss and had emotional outbursts… that I understood the potency of the fuel and blinding effect behind emotional outbursts and learned not to take outbursts pointed towards me personally.

Before you take offense to something somebody says or does… try expanding your heart a little further. You just might find yourself observing a very human stage that you, too, once experienced and had to work through yourself. Or at the very least, a stage that you—a very human kind of human—could’ve found yourself in if you experienced all that the other person experienced, too.

Inner Work Prompt: Bring to mind some of the recent experiences you’ve had where you found yourself feeling offended by something somebody said or did. How can you expand your heart to better understand where that decision stemmed from?

How To Revitalize Appreciation / Gratitude

Published on March 24, 2025

One of my all star employees is getting back surgery this coming Monday.

He’s scheduled to be out for 3 months minimum.

Then, he needs to get both hips replaced.

…Scheduling him out for another 6 months after that.

It’s one of those bitter sweet moments where we’re sad he’s going to be out for so long because of how much of a light and anchor he is—but we’re also so glad he’s getting the work done he needs to get out of the chronic pain he has been in.

It’s one of those reminders to truly appreciate what you have before it’s gone.

…And it’s a reminder I’d like to pass off to you to reflect on today.

Who is the “light” of your day? What would life be like if they were gone?

Who is an “anchor”—a source of stability and consistency—in your life? How would your day feel without that anchor there?

What items, systems, modern inventions do you rely on heavily that make your days better/easier/more enjoyable? Imagine what your life would be like without them.

We visualize life without these people and things, not to be morbid or to make us sad, but so that we can revitalize the appreciation we have for them while they’re still here… So that we can more truly express these feelings towards them and fully enjoy all that they do for us without taking it/them for granted.

P.s. ICYMI you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.

What Is Your Biggest Accomplishment?

Published on March 24, 2025

One of my associates asked me over dinner the other night, “What is your biggest accomplishment?”

To which I replied, “…In my whole life?!”

To which he said, “Yes” and a long, carefully reflective pause… I answered, “Two things…”

Number one, I answered, was getting to run the martial arts school I got my white belt in. It has been the privilege and pleasure of my life so far to do something I love doing so much day in and day out and I can’t imagine my life or doing work without it. My life has been so deeply enriched by the community, challenge, and creative outlet provided by that school and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Number two was the two websites I’ve created and built: MoveMe Quotes and this blog. MoveMe Quotes has reached millions of people online—and I’ve uploaded upwards of 13,300+ quotes and resources, by hand, that people can access for free. And this blog you’re reading now has a few hundred daily readers who are impacted by the words I take careful time to arrange and email each day.

My greatest accomplishment(s) in life weren’t the college degree, or the six foot martial arts trophies, or long distance runs that I completed…

My greatest accomplishment(s) in life were the things I helped build that helped build myself and others. For if it wasn’t for the school I run… or the websites that completely reshaped my mental landscape… none of those other things would’ve happened. And if my top accomplishment(s) only served me… they’d be pretty shallow accomplishments, indeed.

Inner Work Prompt: How about you? What is your life’s biggest accomplishment?

On Going To People’s Birthday Parties

Published on March 23, 2025

One of my martial arts students decided to have his birthday party at the school I teach at.

The week leading up to his party, my team discovered he had only one person RSVP.

So they quickly went to work and called his family to let them know, put together a list of other students who might enjoy coming, got the family’s permission to invite them, and took the initiative to do exactly that—successfully having six kids show up to his party.

Can you imagine how that child might’ve felt if the one person to RSVP got sick that day or got too busy to go?

I often write about being the one to take initiatives to connect people… to set up meetings… to plan gatherings that allow for IRL FaceTime… to do the inner work that gives you the confidence to be the first to say hi, start a genuine conversation, and ask the person out… etc.

…But today, I was reminded of how important it is to be the one to do the showing up when invited… to take the initiative to confirm an RSVP… to share your excitement about being a part of their gathering and finding ways you can add even more excitement to the already made plans… and so on.

Showing up might not feel like that big of a deal to you… but to others? To the ones who did the inviting? Who are doing the hosting?

…Trust me when I say very little could be bigger.

Inner Work Prompt: Who has been inviting you to connect that you haven’t been able to RSVP with? Could you confirm that today?

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