How to Manage the Unmanageable I was a journeyman electrician on what might have been the most complex construction project I ever worked on. Seeing the tunnel work being done at LAX in 2018 A $1.8 billion airport terminal expansion. Twelve new terminals. Two underground tunnels — one for people, one for utilities and luggage conveyor systems. All of it had to tie into the existing Tom Bradley terminal at LAX. All of it had to work together. And I positioned myself as one of the guys in...
1 day ago • 6 min read
You're Already Ahead of 99% of People (If You Do This One Thing) Most people don't know where they're going. You just need to know your next step. Life is simple. Know what you want. Do what needs to be done to get there. Use your progress and success to stairstep toward your next goal. Simple. So why do so many people struggle? Three reasons: They don't know what they want. Or they're doing what other people want for them. They don't work consistently toward that goal. They question...
2 days ago • 9 min read
If You're Not Struggling, You're Not Growing The real challenge isn't getting good. It's staying challenged once you are. Life is not fair. It's a simple fact. And here's the funny thing about getting good at something: it becomes unfair in the opposite direction. You don't have enough people to train with. You don't have enough challenges to push you. You've outgrown your environment. That's the real challenge of getting good. How do you get better when you're the best one around? I learned...
3 days ago • 10 min read
Never Bring a Knife to a Gunfight (Why Leaders Need to Study War) The world isn't fair. And if you don't prepare for that, you'll get crushed. There's a famous scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana Jones is in a crowded marketplace. A sword-wielding henchman appears. The guy's massive. He's spinning his sword around, showing off his skills. The crowd backs away. This is clearly going to be an epic fight. And then Indiana Jones just pulls out his gun and shoots him. Scene over. Hollywood...
4 days ago • 9 min read
Your Tribe Is Everywhere (You Just Have to Show Up) The people you're looking for are looking for you too. I tried to find a quote I vaguely remember. Something about if you sit in one place long enough, you'll meet everyone in the world. I couldn't find it online. And honestly, it's probably not realistic. But there's truth in it. I'm a simple guy living a simple life. I don't do much. But what I do, I immerse myself in. Every day, six or seven days a week, I go to the same cafe when they...
5 days ago • 9 min read
The Best Way to Learn Is by Doing (And Why Most People Avoid It) You can read about it. You can watch videos about it. Or you can actually do it and figure it out. I was a teenager in Honolulu when I first wrote down a quote that changed my life. "By watching, one learns. By listening, one remembers. By practicing, one masters the skill." I was completely lost. Like most kids that age, I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going. But that quote gave me my first real roadmap. Not for...
6 days ago • 9 min read
The Five Laws of Stupidity (And Why It Will Get You Killed If You Don't Protect Yourself) Stupid people are everywhere. And sometimes they're in charge. On my first night of apprentice classes, our instructor didn't show up. He was in the resting up at home. Want to know why? He'd been working on a scissor lift in a parking structure. He positioned it perpendicular to the slant of the structure, raised it too high, shifted the center of gravity, and the whole thing tipped over. And I remember...
7 days ago • 8 min read
The Most Powerful Skill Nobody Wants to Learn (And Why It Will Set You Free) You already have everything you need. You just don't have everything you want. And that's the problem. There's an old story I carry with me. Not because it's inspiring in the traditional sense. But because it's a hedge against my own ego, my own desires, and the relentless marketing machine that never stops trying to separate me from my money and my peace of mind. It's the story of the Mexican fisherman and the...
8 days ago • 9 min read
It's Not the Size of the Dog in the Fight, It's the Size of the Fight in the Dog (And Why DJ Takes It to Another Level Entirely) When everyone says you're too small, too old, too outmatched—that's when you prove them wrong. I was always the small guy. Growing up. In school. On the job. On the mat. Always the smallest guy in the room. And for a long time, that meant I got bullied. Harassed. Overlooked. Because people saw my size and assumed I wasn't a threat. Wasn't capable. Wasn't worth...
9 days ago • 8 min read