Success is a scary thing. And maybe it isn't success itself that frightens us — it's the expectations that come with it. I was training with my daughter recently when the conversation turned to a trick she's been working on: an aerial. I pointed out that if she landed it, she'd have no more excuses — she'd have proven she could do it. What she said next stopped me cold. "And that's why I'm scared." She wasn't afraid of falling. She wasn't afraid of getting hurt. She was afraid of what landing...

"I come to you with only Karate. My empty hands — I have no weapons. But should I be forced to defend myself, my values, or my honor, then here are my weapons. Karate. My empty hands." These are the words my instructor passes along to every black belt he has ever trained — spoken after each student successfully completes their exam. And I'll be honest: I had forgotten them, until recently. I had the honor of attending a fourth-degree black belt exam for a colleague, and those words came...

Doing the right thing is sometimes hard. I mean, really hard. It often means owning up to mistakes — facing them head-on, which is more often than not deeply uncomfortable. I myself have had plenty of opportunities to examine my decisions and ask, "What were you thinking?"