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Category: Thinking Clearly

Answering Tough Questions

Published on November 18, 2025

Today I completed a questionnaire to help a fellow martial artist with a research project which explores the correlation between tournament participation and personal growth in martial arts.

It took me about an hour to complete and let me tell you… it challenged me mentally in the same way a one-hour sparring match would’ve challenged me physically. Answering these questions was tough—like many things in martial arts—which is precisely why we do them.

…Because on the other side of tough things… is a tough(er) self.

Here are some of the questions I fought over:

  • What has been your biggest challenge so far in your training?
  • What is your proudest moment?
  • Was there ever a moment when you felt like quitting? What made you stay?
  • How has martial arts changed you—mentally or emotionally?
  • What lessons do you take out of martial arts into the world?
  • How do you compare yourself to others, whether in class or at tournaments?
  • How do you push yourself past mental and physical limits?
  • Has someone ever changed your mindset at martial arts? If yes, explain that experience.
  • How do you measure progress, beyond belt rankings and trophies?
  • What does the word respect mean to you in martial arts?
  • What role does teamwork play in martial arts?
  • How do you handle conflicts/disagreements with teammates/instructors?
  • Where do you see yourself in martial arts, 5 years from now?
  • If you could look back at your past self, what advice would you give?
  • How do you think martial arts will continue to shape you, physically, mentally and emotionally?

…When’s the last time you pushed yourself to honestly answer tough questions? Maybe it’s something you might consider doing today?

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 :)

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.

Making It Work

Published on November 6, 2025

One of the essential mindsets in self-defense is that there’s no right and wrong—per se—there’s just works and doesn’t work.

Yes, we train to improve technique, expand awareness, and build better instinctual reactions.

But what’s so important to remember when training is that if a “mistake” is made in a real self-defense scenario—as in the student did something different than what was taught—there’s no do-overs. And if you ask your training partner to stop, rewind, and do the simulated attack again—that’s what makes the self-defense wrong.

Of course there’s a time and a place for slow, smooth, rewind-able practice… but, generally speaking, when it comes to self-defense—we want to always be in the mindset of making it work. Which means if your training partner throws a simulated attack and you react “incorrectly”—you don’t stop and ask for a rewind… you get back on track asap… in whatever way you’re able to with the training and instincts you have.

Because while, yes, technique makes a difference—mindset makes an even bigger one. And mindset needs to be trained just as much, if not more, than technique.

…And so it is with life, eh?

When life throws a hook punch your way and knocks you off balance… do you curse the hit or figure out a way to quickly rebalance and refocus? When you make a mistake at work, do you obsessively ask for a do-over or do you take responsibility and figure out how to get back on track stat?

Don’t get in the habit of trying to rewind time… get in the habit of making things work in real time.

I Was Here [Poem]

Published on November 4, 2025

I took a picture
Of a mountain today
I don’t know why

To capture permanently
Light rendered
Off converged rock

To share socially
Document something
Get likes, impress, hype myself up 

Or maybe because
Everybody else was
And looking was pressured; timed

“Can you get the whole mountain, please?”
“Try one the other way.”
“Ew, the angle—get another shot.”

What does this mountain mean to me?
Will it ever mean anything to me?
…Is this even for me?

I don’t know why
I took a picture
Of a mountain today

But I guess I’ll leave it
Maybe one day I’ll remember
That at the very least

…I was here.

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