The Finnish Day of Failure: Why October 13th Should Be Your Most Important Holiday On October 13th, 2025, something remarkable will happen across Finland. While most of the world celebrates successes and achievements, Finns will gather to share their failures, setbacks, and spectacular crashes. It’s called the Day of Failure (Epäonnistumisen päivä), and it might be the most important cultural innovation of our time—one that could revolutionize how we approach success in our increasingly...
1 day ago • 10 min read
The Warrior’s Garden: Why Science Proves It’s Better to Be Strong and Kind Than Weak and Hoping Recently I was watching another Veritasium video about “The Game Theory Problem That Will Change the Way You See the World,” where Derek Muller explores the fascinating science behind the Prisoner’s Dilemma and its implications for human cooperation. The Prisoner's Dilemma What struck me most wasn’t just the mathematical elegance of the research, but how it provides scientific validation for an...
3 days ago • 9 min read
The Fairness Trap: How Waiting for Justice Is Keeping You From Success Last week during Fundamentals class, I was partnered up with Josué, a really nice fellow white belt—intelligent, not spazzy, and fun to learn with. There was just one small problem: he was 230 pounds, almost twice my weight. In fact, if I lost 5 pounds, he would be literally twice my weight. We were practicing attacking from closed guard and doing a triangle choke—something I would never attempt on him if we were...
4 days ago • 8 min read
The Gap Between Pain and Response: Why Your Coping Mechanisms Define Your Life About four years ago, in 2022, I was trying out BJJ for the first time at Rigan Machado’s latest location—ironically, the very spot where I had trained in Hapkido for so many years. 3201 Santa Monica Bl. Santa Monica CA As my training partner was putting me into what felt like a particularly inventive pretzel, I heard someone yell my name from across the room: “Mr. Doublet!” It was my old fellow hapkido-ist, Jason...
5 days ago • 9 min read
The Martial Arts Advantage: Why Every Kid (and Adult) Needs to Train The other night I was watching the kids’ class at Meraki, and something happened that perfectly encapsulates why I believe every child—and every adult—needs martial arts training in their life. Maria, our phenomenal kids’ coach, was wrapping up the session. I love watching her teach because she has this incredible ability to simultaneously nurture and challenge these young warriors. Buchecha, holding a BJJ workshop at Meraki...
6 days ago • 9 min read
The Introvert’s Secret Weapon: How to Supercharge Your Success Through the Science of Networks I was watching my favorite scientist-turned-YouTuber, Derek Muller of Veritasium, explore the fascinating science behind “Six Degrees of Separation” when something clicked for me. Here was hard scientific evidence for something I’d been experiencing firsthand for decades: your network isn’t just your net worth—it’s your life force. As an introvert who spent my early years sitting in corners with...
7 days ago • 8 min read
The 20% Rule: How to Rise to the Top While Others Sink to the Bottom Pink Slips and Life Lessons Notice of Termination AKA Pink Slip The foreman's voice cut through the afternoon air like a buzz saw: "Reduction in workforce." Those three words that every construction worker dreads, the polite way of saying you're getting laid off. I watched as guys packed their tools, heads hung low, driving home in shame before 2 PM on what should have been just another Friday. By all accounts, I should have...
8 days ago • 11 min read
The Flow Channel Secret : How to Turn Any Challenge Into a Progressive System of Mastery I was that young guy sitting in the corner with a book while everyone else seemed to effortlessly navigate the social dance of human interaction. An introverted book-nerd who could disappear into fictional worlds for hours but couldn’t make eye contact with a stranger for more than two seconds without feeling like I was going to spontaneously combust. Social situations felt like a foreign language I’d...
9 days ago • 8 min read
The Seven Words That Changed My Life: Why Most People Live in Quiet Desperation Almost every day from 1987 until 2007, I walked into a small dojang in Santa Monica and read the same seven statements hanging on the wall. GM Han's dojang in Santa Monica, the plaque was just off to the left While stretching (sometimes foolishly and painfully—I didn’t know better back then), training, and often gasping for air during rest breaks, I would look up at those words and ask myself one question: “How am...
10 days ago • 9 min read