People always think I’m full of it when I tell them that learning how to box helped me get a degree in physics, learn enough Spanish to watch my favorite telenovelas *mostly* without peaking at the subtitles and get my chess rating into the 1800s, Everyone has this idea that boxing is a sport of brutal headbanging aggression that leaves you with less mental capacity than when you started. And to be fair, I have had some concussions that left me at a loss for how to do something as basic as...
17 days ago • 9 min read
Watch the essay here Today I'm 40. I started my life in the projects, didn't graduate high school, and became a stone-cold alcoholic making so little money I was stealing food to survive. Eventually, I went on to be a standout Golden Glove-winning and national champion boxer, got signed by Roc Nation Sports as a professional, served in the military, got a degree in physics, and met the woman of my dreams along the way—and now said woman and I—who have lived in Portugal because she's born and...
22 days ago • 9 min read
You are the worst person to assess your strengths and weaknesses because you have the worst perspective of your actions. Everything you do or say, you can only judge its impact by how others respond to it, and that response will be influenced by the recipient's current state of mind, relationship with you, and what they want—or don’t want—from you. It can be impossible to get honest feedback about yourself from people. Even when a person gives you a complete assessment without regard to your...
25 days ago • 4 min read
Life has been hectic. Most of the writing for my book “Hard Lessons From The Hurt Business: Boxing And The Art of Life” is done, but interestingly enough, writing a 70k word book with double-digit rounds of editing while moving and dealing with a new baby is not even the most intensive part. The book is officially available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever else you buy books from—even Target. As I gear up for the promotional push of the book, I’m laying the foundation...
about 1 month ago • 9 min read
A fun part of parenting, where my kid decide to enjoy the snow this way. Three months before we found out my wife was pregnant, my mom died. If you have any sympathy or sorrows, they're appreciated, but long-time readers of my content know that my mom and I had a mostly tenuous relationship, and we weren't close. Still, she was my mother, and despite many of her shortcomings and failures, I credit her with some of my good traits. To this day, I can't stand the idea of destroying a book,...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
Every so often, so many things happen that I want to update you guys on, or I feel like you can help me out with something. Don't worry, though. There are no surveys in this email—again, thank you all for putting up with them. If you never did anything else for me but read this newsletter, that was more than enough. Today's newsletter is one of those newsletters. Full of good news, updates, and a small ask at the end. With that said, let's jump into it! First, let’s start with the coolest...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
At 3000 words, today's newsletter is longer than usual. But it's an important topic I feel strongly about. Anyone who follows me on Twitter/X knows how much I can't stand extreme, binary thinking. Today's newsletter is a breakdown of why that happens on social media and what you can do about it. Also, today's newsletter is sponsored by one of my favorite tools for ensuring I don't fall prey to sensationalist news stories. Ground News aggregates all news reports on a story, compares headlines,...
about 2 months ago • 15 min read
Your inner monologue isn't building your life. Your life is building your inner monologue. You don't build a positive life by blocking out negative thoughts. You block out negative thoughts by creating a positive life. This idea runs contrary to commonly accepted wisdom passed around by everyone, from manifestation coaches to best-selling authors to professional athletes, who insist that your life merely reflects your thoughts. I used to believe this wholeheartedly. But experience and...
2 months ago • 6 min read
You can watch this below. While you're at it, I'd love for you to subscribe. The channel is growing, and your subscription and view hours are free to support it! And another thing before we jump into today's newsletter. I'm *considering* doing a 2-4 week-long workshop teaching the basics of how I've finally triggered the YouTube growth I'm experiencing. The seminar is geared toward writers, millennials and older, and people fed up with X's busted algorithm who want to continue growing an...
3 months ago • 12 min read
