From the Desk of Calvin Trieu Unexplored Letters What I've Been Reflecting On Nothing Is Impossible. Your Doubts Are. Somewhere between the alarm and the first cup of coffee this morning, a thought crept in. Maybe it was about the week ahead. Maybe it was about the thing you keep saying you're going to do. Maybe it was that quiet voice that said "you're already behind." That voice isn't telling you the truth. It's just loud. I was watching a Navy SEAL talk about how he made it through BUD/S,...
7 days ago • 2 min read
From the Desk of Calvin Trieu Unexplored Letters What I've Been Reflecting On What you avoid grows teeth There’s something I need to admit. I haven’t been writing these letters. The last one went out at the end of January. Before that, I had built an eight-week streak I was genuinely proud of. Every week I showed up, wrote, reflected, and sent something into the world. Then the rhythm broke. And the strange thing about avoidance is that it doesn’t sit quietly. It grows teeth. For the past few...
14 days ago • 2 min read
From the Desk of Calvin Trieu Unexplored Letters Internal Memo A quick reminder for the middle of the week. Standards aren't something you set once and move on from. They're something you either reinforce daily or quietly negotiate away. Early in the week, it's easy to feel inspired and clear. You reflect, you recommit, and you tell yourself that this time is different. That clarity feels good on a Monday. Almost automatic. Midweek is where that clarity gets tested. This is usually where...
2 months ago • 1 min read
From the Desk of Calvin Trieu Unexplored Letters What I've Been Reflecting On This past week I was down in Tampa, Florida, working with NFL prospects getting ready for the Combine. I was there as a strength and conditioning coach, embedded in a room full of athletes who are four to five weeks away from the biggest job interview of their lives. And I don’t say that lightly. For these guys, a few seconds on the field can mean everything. Contracts. Financial security. Changing the trajectory of...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Mental Performance Letters Hi friends, When you’re born, you look like your parents.When you die, you look like your decisions. Somewhere between those two points is who you chose to become. At the beginning, you don’t know much. You’re a mirror. You model what you see. You copy the people around you. Your parents, your family, your environment, all of it. That’s not good or bad. That’s just how it works. You’re this blank vessel soaking everything in, trying to make sense of what the world...
5 months ago • 6 min read
Podcast Episode 119: Take Messy Action (Even When It’s Not Perfect) Hi friend, It’s Sunday. 5:18 p.m. I just got back from being out of town with family. Slept four hours. Drove four hours. Filmed, podcasted, worked. And now I’m here, writing this. I’m tired. Mentally drained. Emotionally flat.The kind of tired where your brain starts tripping over words and you keep glancing at the clock. But here’s the thing. I know if I don’t do this right now, I’ll regret it. Because this is the work.This...
6 months ago • 3 min read
Hi friend, I know that you didn't sign up to cry today, but..it's... October 17, 1946 D’Arline, I adore you, sweetheart. I know how much you like to hear that, but I don’t only write it because you like it, I write it because it makes me warm all over inside to write it to you. It is such a terribly long time since I last wrote to you, almost two years, but I know you’ll excuse me because you understand how I am, stubborn and realistic; and I thought there was no sense to writing. But now I...
6 months ago • 2 min read
Hi friend, Betrayal cuts the deepest when it comes from someone you trust. And what is worse than being betrayed by someone else? Being betrayed by yourself. That is what micro negotiations are. They feel small. They feel harmless. Hitting snooze.Skipping the walk.Ordering takeout instead of cooking.Leaving the to do list blank for tomorrow.Pretending good enough is good enough. But these are not neutral decisions. Every single time you are training yourself. You are teaching your brain that...
6 months ago • 3 min read
Episode 116: How to bet on yourself more Hi friend, Most people never actually bet on themselves. They settle. They listen to voices that are not even their own, and those voices end up running the show. So pause and ask yourself: who is placing these glass ceilings over you? Who told you that you have to think small, dream small, live small? And when did you start believing them? Because if you go back to when you were a kid, there was no ceiling. You dreamed wildly. You carried this...
6 months ago • 2 min read