Are You Too Cool for School? Why Learning to Be Your Own Best Cheerleader Is the Warrior’s Hidden Skill The Movie, The Ocean, and The Scar-Sharing Ritual Summer of ’75, Waikiki. I was 9 years old. Jaws My cousin took us to see Jaws at a theater on Kalākaua Avenue—right across the street from the ocean. The sun was hot, the waves were gentle, and the scent of salt filled the air. That all changed after the movie. As the credits rolled and we stepped outside, the ocean suddenly didn’t look so...
1 day ago • 6 min read
The Uncommon Virtue That Will Save Your Life The Smoke Signals We Ignore The other day, I was leaving the café, heading to BJJ. Same route I take most days. The sun was out, traffic was light, and my body felt good—loose, alert, ready for whatever came next. I was at a red light near Venice Bl. and saw a guy crossing in front of me. Hoodie up, head down, and puffing on a vape like it was oxygen. Thick clouds spilled out of his mouth with every exhale—so dense, they looked like exhaust from an...
2 days ago • 5 min read
The Power of Context:Why “It Depends” Might Be the Wisest Answer You’ll Ever Hear The Foreman, The Black Belt, and the Student Years ago, when I was running a multi-million-dollar job site, a young apprentice came up to me during lunch. First year on the job, still had the shine of LA Trade Tech on him. He asked, “Chuck, when you're running conduit in a drop ceiling, what’s the best way to do it?” Fair question. But not a simple one. Was the ceiling space tight or wide open? Were we working...
3 days ago • 6 min read
Knowing When It’s Time to Pivot Why Banging Your Head Against the Wall Isn’t Strength I have a confession to make. By most standards, I’ve lived a blessed life. I worked for 35 years in a career that challenged me, frustrated me, and—yes—fulfilled me. I’ve been with my wife for 24 years, training in martial arts for over 20, and I retired at 56 with a seven-figure nest egg, while rarely working more than 40 hours per week and traveling the world on annual 3-week holidays. Amy showing me where...
4 days ago • 6 min read
How to Rebuild When Life Breaks You 5 Warrior Lessons from Miyamoto Musashi The Day the Lights Went Out I once had a friend—let’s call him Sam—who used to light up every room he walked into. He had the job. The relationship. The house on the hill with the skyline view. Then in the span of a few years, it all went dark. His wife left. A business deal blew up. The money vanished faster than it came. I found him one afternoon in a coffee shop with his hoodie up, hunched over a journal, muttering...
5 days ago • 5 min read
The Dangerous Lie of Delayed Joy:Why Waiting to Be Happy Will Break You The Café Philosopher of Westwood In the late-80s, I hit pause on my Hapkido training. I was midway through my apprenticeship as an electrician, and between long hours, grueling work, and the OCD that tugged at my perfectionism, I didn’t feel like I had room for much else. But I did carve out one sacred ritual. At night, I’d go to the Elysee Café in Westwood. Sit down with a journal, order a coffee, and reflect. The hum of...
7 days ago • 6 min read
Know Thyself: What Ancient East Indians Can Teach You About Being a Badass in the 21st Century The Fight I Was Never Meant to Win I used to wish I had a different body. Not in the insecure, teenage way. I mean a deep, frustrating wish—like when you’re training hard every day and still getting outmuscled by guys who eat garbage, never stretch, and somehow dominate. In my early martial arts journey, I trained with guys built like tanks—short, thick, explosive. Meanwhile, I was lean,...
7 days ago • 5 min read
Humility: The Power Move Most Men Ignore When Power Goes to Your Head(and How I Almost Let It Go to Mine) A few years back, I walked onto a construction site I’d been running for months. Everything was humming. My crew respected me. The boss trusted me. The work was tight, on time, and under budget. I was winning—and I knew it. I strutted a little more that day. Called out corrections louder than usual. Leaned back in my chair during the afternoon meeting, arms folded, eyes half-shut like I’d...
8 days ago • 5 min read
Building a Life Worth Living My boots were soaked through before lunch. It was a freezing winter morning on the jobsite, one of those days where you wonder why you ever signed up for this kind of work. I was still an apprentice, fresh-faced and wide-eyed, trying to act tougher than I felt. The foreman barked orders like a drill sergeant, the journeymen barely looked your way unless you screwed something up, and there was always something in the way—mud, rain, broken tools, short tempers,...
9 days ago • 7 min read