There’s something special about watching your kid step into the arena—literal or metaphorical—where they know the odds aren’t in their favor… and go for it anyway.

This past weekend, my 7-year-old went toe-to-toe with a kid two belts higher than him in jiu jitsu. He didn’t blink. Didn’t back down. He walked onto that mat with fire in his eyes and tried to strangle his way to a win.

Was it clean? No.
Was it technical? Not really.
Was it scrappy, gutsy, and worth screaming from the sidelines for? Absolutely.

And yeah—it was a humble brag post. But it was also a reminder.

That kind of reckless belief, that uninhibited intensity… it’s the stuff I see in founders too. Or at least, the ones still tapped into why they started building in the first place. The ones who are still fighting for something real, not just polishing pitch decks or chasing metrics.

It’s easy to lose that edge. Especially when you’re running a business, raising kids, and waking up every day already behind.

But man—what if we brought just a fraction of that 7-year-old energy into our mornings?

What if we attacked the day like we had something to prove, something to learn, and nothing to lose?

Not to be reckless. But to be relentless.
To chase progress, not perfection.
To step on the mat with someone better than you… and still believe you can find a way.

So here's to the underdogs. The strivers. The little guys and the dads who still throw punches at their ceiling every morning and say “let’s go.”

I want more of that energy in my life.
And I want more people around me who bring it, too.