On refilling your gas tank. — The last few months have been non-stop. Hard training, hard work, moving, and constant traveling —all the time. I’ve been on the road nearly every week for the last 4 months, either training, spending time with my girlfriend, teaching a seminar, competing, or a mixture of all of these. The…

Reflecting on everything I did wrong. — At 26, I’m officially through my early 20s. If we’re being technical about it, I’m less than one year away from “my late 20s”, although, most people tend to think I’m older than that. Either way, since I’ve recently moved, had a birthday, and I’m in a sentimental mood, it…

Anthony Bourdain, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and the pursuit of happiness. — This past weekend, I finally got myself to watch that documentary they made about Anthony Bourdain’s life. It was the first time since his death that I’ve watched or read something to completion involving him. Trying to watch episodes of his show — knowing how his life ended — just…

Besides kicking and screaming. — Recently, my life has been nonstop. Over the last 3 months, I’ve been on the road either training Jiu-Jitsu, teaching a seminar, competing in Jiu-Jitsu, seeing my girlfriend in San Diego, or moving/traveling every single weekend except for one. The next several weeks will follow the same structure — a…

Uncovering the myth of “hard work”. — This year has been extremely challenging. I started off the year feeling a bit aimless with my life and where I was going. I wrote an article in early January about how I was having “a quarter-life crisis”. Every post I write is honest, and that one was no different. …

This year was a crazy one. — On Monday, I turned 26. I had a wonderful birthday celebration with my girlfriend on Sunday — a walk in the park, pizza, beer (one, that I got drunk off of), cake, gifts, and a little nap while watching TV. On Monday, it was pretty much right back to work. …

A strong house requires a strong foundation. — At 22, I won the purple belt no-gi World Championship in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This was, at the time, a remarkable, life-changing, and eye-opening achievement for me. It was perhaps the best achievement that I was capable of earning at the time in my life. But this victory was achieved without…

A guide to peak performance on the road. — In my life, I make a lot of mistakes. I overwork, I break down, I say the wrong things, I mess up, I hurt people, I hurt myself, and I make errors — all the time. My girlfriend lovingly calls these things my “blunders”. I am a man of many…

I couldn’t have predicted this… — In the last few months, I’ve completely restructured how I write online. In February (the shortest month of the year) I wrote 16 articles — a normal output for me at the time. In March, I was traveling the US and UK competing in Jiu-Jitsu, so I “only” wrote 10…