In my 36 years of curly haired experience, I can honestly say that I lean into everything I want to learn knowing that I will fail repeatedly before I find what I am looking for and most likely finding what I am looking for will be the collection of failures finally adding up to some realization.

Then rinse, repeat, with a smile on your face because if you genuinely want ‘it,’ you won’t give a flying you know what about failing a lot or a little along the way. In other words, you need to fall flat on your face, a few times, if you want to know what it feels like to run faster than full speed. I can honestly and somewhat boastfully share that the best things in life are on the other side of your BS facade about what your life ‘should’ be like and I can say this because I am just realizing that after a lot of ruminating on what should be or could have been.

The pain of failure, which society seems to punish us with in new psychologically detailed ways every day, is actually just short term self-applied pressure being masked as ‘pain’ and that is not a good reason to give up, as a matter of fact, it's the best reason to keep going. Ever hear of someone ‘performing well under pressure’? Or maybe you have experienced that yourself - that is what I am talking about - being YOU is and always will be the greatest pressure you face and the most important one to conquer.

No pressure, no growth. “What do you want to be when you grow up?,” 7th Grade Teacher, Ms. Dixon

7th Grade Michael: “A Priest or maybe a Pro Skater, I’m not sure yet but probably one of those.”

“What do you want to be when you grow up?,” said 4th Grade Teacher, Mrs. Castro, to little Michael. 

4th Grade Michael: “The President.”


I am sure you have been asked this question at some point in your life-time, whether you remember it or not, and you probably think now, as an adult, what a silly cliche question. Or maybe you don’t, maybe you're like me and you’ve kept asking yourself that question throughout your lifetime so that you could keep yourself guessing about yourself.

Maybe it's your weird way of finding out new things about yourself and creating some sort of weird nuanced approach toward finding internal harmony. Maybe it's a tool you can use to connect deeper with people you care about in a more child-ish light-hearted way.

What is it about these cliches that our world loves so much? It’s like there is so much deeper meaning in them because they are so surface-level, relatable to everyone and everything, right? I don’t entirely know but I do know I feel better when I play this game with myself and I know that you can spend a lifetime asking yourself this question if your true goal is to never reach whatever ‘growing up’ is. 

Whichever side of the fence you are on here, hear me out on this one: internal harmony is the ideal choice - I think perhaps one of the secrets to life - and there are so many ways to achieve that but either way you choose, it’s a lifetime of commitment to practicing these little things that make you stoked and keep you growing. I’ve started calling this my AOC (Aggregate of Creativity) and my AOC is reinventing my current-self by dreaming about my future-self hence, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ Notice its not ‘Who?’ I know Who I am, The What can keep growing, as buzz lightyear would say, “To infinity, and beyond!”

“What do you want to be when you grow up?,” Pop-Warner Football Coach to Little Michael.

Pop-Warner Michael: “The fastest man alive.” 

I am reading this book right now called Inner Excellence and it's pretty gnarly, in all the good ways. It’s like this author somehow wrapped up tons and tons of human experiences and has been able to corral and correlate all of that knowledge into parables of wisdom - kind of reminds me of when Shang Sung sucks all the souls from his beaten opponents in Mortal Kombat - but not in a mean a-hole way, in a good way, know what I’m saying? If you’ve made it this far in the LFE, you know what I’m saying. Anyway, I highly recommend this book but the big take away for me so far is about the righteous path of seeking internal harmony and how there is really no reason to have anything epic in your life if you don’t have some sort of practice which helps you gain, keep and get better at internal harmony. This strikes a gnarly chord with me because I struggle with this big time. I often fail to speak kindly to myself internally, to trust my instincts and to love myself and almost every time, it ruins my capability to be the best version of myself in all walks of life. From surfing, to dad-ing, one in the same. “What do you want to be when you grow up?,” Ninth Grade Track CoachFreshman Michael: “An Olympic Sprinter.”

You see as you weave your dreams of your future-self into your everyday reality, you start to achieve them and make sense of them. Day by day, little by little, we become what we dream about as long as we believe our dreams are achievable. Don’t forget that dreams are meant to become reality, not sit stationary in the clouds, unattainable. I feel that the world has drawn us away from using our imaginations as part of our daily tool chests and somehow, imagination has been left to the great few among us who are great enough to take part in that special world of creative dreaming. No, Rick Rubin said it best: “We are all artists.” Funny enough, it is as simple as that and the moment you realize you are the artist of your story, your dreams become your engine. 

“What do you want to be when you grow up?,” 12th Grade Michael to Self.

Michael: “The dumbest guy in the smartest room.”

The greatness we are capable of achieving is really nothing of note if it is not measured by the scale of honest self-awareness we are conducting within. I could write a hundred pages about how many times I have been asked or have asked myself this same question but I think you get the point now, right? Anyway, enough of a rant for today, get back to work! 

Happy Little Friday, Fam.

Harmony is the Ideal Choice

Write on the Surfboards and the Checks

Cash more green so you can earn more blue

Time in the water is the after-all, You.

 Make things grow so you can find inner-self

Grow too fast and you might mess up your health

Relax and know there is no mission

The present tense gift is to listenIf anything, that is the final form

To apply everything you hear and everything you learn. 

Keep earning your future self 

Dream within and harmony will present itself.

Second Quote of the Week:

“To Infinity and Beyond!”

Buzz Lightyear