Red Hawk Essentials

This is the best way to create and maintain healthy habits. Relying on willpower alone to maintain good habits might not be sustainable. Especially over the long term. Instead, I think it’s more important to adjust your environment to encourage good habits. Get yourself around people who are also disciplined. Where it’s normal behavior and not something people talk about. All the professional fight teams I’ve been around, that’s what the environment is like. You show up and work hard.

Fighting is an unforgiving sport. I see so many fighters put all their eggs in one basket. Commit themselves to training and studying fighting for 15-20 years… and still not get the payoff they expected. I’ve seen and met a lot of talented guys. Guys who dedicated their life to fighting and had all the skills to make it. But they just got unlucky along the way. They took the wrong fights at the wrong times or injuries held them back.

BJJ will teach you how to react and remain calm during tough positions. Imagine being tired, you can barely breathe, and you got someone trying to strangle you. Instead of freaking out, you learn to find some space to breathe. You lean to stay super calm. I think this transfers to real life. If your spouse or anyone is pissing you off, you’ll be able to stay calm instead of losing your temper. You’ll be able to follow your breath and make a clear-minded decision.

Let’s talk about resentment. There’s been plenty of times in my life where I could’ve held some serious resentment toward religion or people. But I knew early on that resentment is a super toxic trait. The close cousin of jealousy. An article from John Hopkins Medicine says: Crazy, right? But we know most of the damage is internal. To me, peace equals freedom. Resentment and any other toxic emotions disturb my peace. Basically, it’s robbing me of my freedom.

It’s important to be mindful of where your motivation source is coming from. If you’ve seen Dana talk about his slap fighting lately, he’s been going off on the media. He says he’s happy they all think he’ll fail because it motivates him to prove them wrong. This is an example of using the “dark side” for motivation. For me, I’ve never really saw the dark side as a sustainable motivation source. I did use it a little when I dropped out of college to pursue MMA. My dad did not want me to drop out.

I think the ability to stay present is one the most important tools a person could have, especially if you’re competing. But even if you’re not competing, it’s an important skill for life. Eckhart Tolle says suffering is caused in the past and future. So if you can sit there in silence without being anxious about the future or depressed about the past, you can start to enjoy all the things that are going right in your life. I also think a lot of creativity also comes from the present.

I think when you’re starting your journey on anything, it’s important to find mentors, coaches, experts or someone you can look up to. And here’s something cool to think about… I’ve never met some of my mentors. Some of my mentors are online. People like Tim Ferris, Paul Chek, and James Clear. Even though I’ve never met these guys, I still feel like they are my coaches and mentors. Their content has inspired or influenced me in a positive way.

Do you aspire to be creative or want to create for a living? What if you don’t feel like you’re a “creative person”? I personally think creativity can be learned. And I think there’s two main things that hold a lot of people back from being creative. The judgment from others. Whether that be from friends, family, co-workers, or even strangers on the internet. I think this fear of negative judgment from others is what stops people from doing things they love in general.

I think a lot of people become unhappy and miserable because they’re constantly scrolling social media, comparing themselves to others. They make themselves feel jealous for no reason. I’ve always believed that jealousy is a toxic trait. And if you’re ever feeling jealous, you really gotta look inside and see what you’re insecure about. Are you insecure about not making it? Are you insecure about losing someone? For relationships, I recommend reading the book Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz.

Whenever you take the road less traveled, you’re gonna face doubters and haters. They’re a part of the journey. And they’ll test your willpower and mental fortitude. Sometimes those doubters and haters will come from people close to you, like your family. When I decided to quit college to pursue fighting, I got a lot of flack from my dad. My family kept telling me I needed a back up plan. And I don’t blame them.