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, missing parts.

We were building a high-rise downtown. A big project. Big money. Big consequences if you messed up.

On that particular day, I was tasked with setting VFD panel for the HVAC equipment.​

Basic stuff. But I rushed.

Misread the plans. The panels went in on the wrong wall.

In the grand scheme of things, it was a minor mess-up but enough to ruin the whole layout for the room.

The foreman made me pull every single one. Then had me redo them.

Every single one.

That day taught me something I never forgot: build it right the first time—or build it twice.

It wasn’t just about the panels. Or the room. Or construction in general.

It was about life.

We’re all building something.

• A career.
• A relationship.
• A body.
• A reputation.
• A life.

And the rules of the jobsite?

They apply just as much to life outside of it.

Whether you’re laying conduit or laying plans for your future, the principles are the same.

Turns out, everything I needed to know about life, I learned right there in steel-toed boots, crawling through attics, dodging falling conduit, and getting chewed out for cutting corners.

And maybe—just maybe—you don’t need another motivational speaker to pull you up and get you fired up.

Maybe you just need someone who’s built something worth building… and can show you how to build your own.

Let’s get to work.

Building It Right

1. Start with a Foundation That Can Hold the Weight

Every skyscraper starts with a hole in the ground.

Before anything goes up, everything goes down. Deep. Reinforced.

Engineered to handle not just the weight of the structure, but the pressure of wind, earthquakes, and time.

Life’s the same way.

If your foundation is weak—if you don’t know who you are, what you value, what you’re committed to—then you’re just stacking floors on sand.

And sooner or later, life’s going to reveal your poor foundation.

The foundation of life is built with:

• Character: Integrity, responsibility, discipline. Without these, everything else wobbles.
• Values: Know what matters before you're tested. Don’t borrow beliefs—build your own.
• Vision: A blueprint for the life you want. Not fantasy. Blueprint. That means dimensions, materials, constraints, and timelines.

You can’t build a mansion with garden tools.

And you can’t build a meaningful life with weak principles.

2. Build in Stages and Expect Changes

On any real construction site, the blueprint is just the beginning.

Once boots hit the ground, all kinds of issues come up:

• RFIs (Requests For Information): “Hey, what exactly did they mean by this?”
• Change Orders: “Owner changed their mind. Again.”
• Conflicts: “The HVAC is in our way.” “The fire alarm guy ran his pipe above our box.” “We didn’t account for this column.”

Sound familiar?

In life, you set goals—and then life happens.

• Your girlfriend leaves.
• Your startup fails.
• Your body breaks.
• Your family needs you.

The rookie panics. Quits. Blames others.

The professional adapts. Reworks the plan. Asks better questions. Gets the job done.

This is where most men give up. Because they think the plan should be perfect.

But real builders know: the plan never survives first contact.

Adaptability isn’t weakness—it’s mastery.

3. Leadership (or the Lack of It) Will Make or Break You

One job I’ll never forget was a big hospital project, 5 phases, each phase would take a year or two.

Gorgeous drawings of a beautiful campus.

Big budget.

All the trades were strong—plumbers, electricians, drywall, framing, I had worked with many of them before..

But the GC? The general contractor?

Clueless.

They were from out of state and didn't know the specific needs and requirements of construction in California.

Especially earthquake requirements.

• Their leadership, arrogant.
• Their coordination, almost none to speak of.
• Their management vision, my way or the highway.

Eventually they pissed off the inspection team with their arrogance and ignorance, which then made life a live hell for all of the subcontractors.

We were all doing our part but with a lack of coherent leadership.

Like a football team with no coach, no huddle, no plays.

It was chaos.

Eventually, the owners pulled out of the contract, sued the GC, kicking them off the other phases, and the whole job crawled to the finish line.

The other old-timers and I lamented that this was the worst job we had been on 30-40 years.

Tens of millions wasted.

Reputations torched.

Don’t let that be your life.

You are the GC of your own life.

You’re responsible for bringing together the trades:

• Your health
• Your money
• Your relationships
• Your purpose

If you don’t coordinate them, they’ll collide.

Health might interfere with your hustle.

Money might cost you your marriage.

Work might consume your soul.

Leadership means zooming out.

Seeing the big picture.

Anticipating conflicts.

Aligning the moving parts.

Without it? Chaos. Regret. And a half-built life.

4. Show Up Every Day, No Matter What

You don’t build a tower in one day.

You don’t build a life in one sprint.

Construction is daily. Repetitive. Physical. Mental. Rain or shine.

There were days I wanted to quit. Days I hated the noise, the stress, the assholes.

But I showed up.

And slowly, the walls went up. The roof went on. The lights came on.

Same with life.

Don’t let social media fool you—nobody builds anything real overnight.

Discipline, consistency, and craftsmanship are what separate the dreamers from the doers.

5. You’ll Be Proud When You Drive By Later

Years after I hung up my tool belt, I’d still find myself driving past old job sites. “See that building?” I’d say to my wife, who would roll her eyes. “I built that.”

Not alone, of course.

But I was part of something bigger.

And I left something behind that mattered.

You want pride? Purpose? Peace?

Then build something worth driving by later.

• Build a family that loves fiercely.
• Build a business that helps people.
• Build a body that can move, fight, survive.
• Build a character that people speak of with respect.

Whatever you do—build it right.

Putting It On the Mat

Years later, after I retired early with a 7-figure nest egg, my wife and I traveled the world. No alarm clocks. No deadlines. No job sites.

And yet, one afternoon in Athens, as we're visiting the Acropolis, I see it is under construction, repairing the 2400 year temple.

I stopped to watch.

Same tools. Same chaos. Same rhythm.

A young apprentice was getting barked at by his foreman for screwing something up.

He looked like me, 30 years earlier.

Mud on his pants. Stress in his eyes. Pride in his posture.

And I realized something:

I never left the jobsite.

Because life IS the jobsite.

Different materials. Same principles.

Now, I’m not here to glamorize blue-collar work.

It’s hard. It’s not for everyone.

But I am here to tell you that the lessons I learned there are worth more than any seminar, TED talk, or influencer podcast.

• Life is hard. Do it anyway.
• People will let you down. Lead anyway.
• Shit will go wrong. Adapt anyway.
• You’ll screw up. Fix it anyway.
• Nobody is coming to save you. Build it anyway.

Here’s the real secret:

You’re not just building a life for today. You’re building the foundation for who you’re becoming.

One day, someone’s going to ask you for help. For wisdom. For leadership.

And if you’ve been showing up, stacking bricks, learning from your mistakes, and keeping your blueprint in sight—you’ll have something to give.

You’ll have built something that lasts.

So here’s your next move:

1. Get clear on your blueprint. What kind of life are you building?
2. Identify your weak foundation points. What beliefs, habits, or behaviors need to be demolished?
3. Map out your phases. What’s next? What’s first? What’s in the way?
4. Lead your project. No one else will coordinate your trades. Be the GC.
5. Build something worth being proud of. Your legacy isn’t a dream. It’s a job. Show up and build it.

And if you want help doing that?

Join The Leader’s Dojo.​

Where warriors train. Where leaders are forged. Where badasses are built—one day, one habit, one decision at a time.

But no one’s going to hand you your blueprints.

You’ve got to show up, boots laced, tools ready, and a fire in your gut.

See you on the mat.

P.S. If you found this content helpful, I have a favor to ask.

Actually two of them, a selfish one and a not-so-selfish one.

First the selfish one, if this was helpful to you, forward it to someone you think it might help. That helps me to grow my reach.

Now the not-selfish one, the one thing I learned on the mat and on the job was that the most successful leaders were not the ones who knew the most but were the ones who applied and taught the most.

So, if you want to be a better leader, do two things, take immediate action on what you learned today AND share it with someone else. You'll look badass, I promise you.

Also, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, hit me up, reply to this email and let me know what's going on and how I can help you to be a better warrior, leader, and badass.

Thank you, I appreciate you being here in The Daily Dojo, you can learn more at CharlesDoublet.com​