I spent my childhood navigating muddy waters. On the farms in Washington State where I grew up, irrigation canals and flooded fields would get so murky you couldn’t tell up from down, or left from right. The only way through was guidance from someone who knew the terrain – someone who understood how to operate when conditions were difficult.

Those experiences have followed me into every chapter of my career. Time and again, I’ve stepped into environments where there was no clear path forward: turning around gyms in Hong Kong when the business was bleeding, founding California Fitness & Yoga in Vietnam when everyone told me it was too risky, and later building companies in esports and beauty that many dismissed as passing fads.

The truth is this: clarity is not the absence of mud. Clarity is having the courage to keep moving forward despite it.

Muddy Waters Are Fertile

Every spring, the valley where I spent my formative years would flood and leave behind thick, sticky mud. It slowed everything down – bogging tractors, caking equipment, clinging to your boots. I can’t count how many times I got stuck in it.

When I did, my father would come out to help. After a few expletives, he’d remind me:

“Son, keep your eyes looking forward, your hands on the wheel, and your feet firmly planted. Your mind will wander sometimes, but you must stay aware of the gauges on the machine as well as everything around you.”

He’d put me back on track, do a few laps, point out the dangerous areas, and then leave me to it again. That mud, as frustrating as it was, wasn’t just soil – it was a tough, necessary training ground that became the rich, fertile land that fed our cattle and sustained our farming operations.

Business works the same way. Muddy waters – uncertainty, difficulty, chaos – are uncomfortable. But they are also fertile ground for creation, as long as you keep your eyes looking forward, your hands on the wheel, and your feet firmly planted, while staying aware of what’s happening around you – even if you don’t fully understand it in the moment.

Those lessons from my father on how to navigate muddy waters have guided me through every step of my life’s journey:

• The flooded fields of the Crab Creek Valley, where mud gave rise to the crops that sustained our livelihood.

• The Pearl River Delta in Hong Kong, where we turned a failing fitness chain into a profitable, scalable culture that united people across Asia.

• The Saigon River in Vietnam, where against the odds, we founded an entire industry and launched a fitness movement that continues to flourish today.

Each looked like an insurmountable obstacle. In reality, each was an opportunity.

What others see as difficulty is often the very soil where new categories, movements, and companies take root and flourish.

Be Careful Who You Take Advice From

When I was preparing to move to Hong Kong, and later to Vietnam, almost everyone I knew told me not to go. Many were smart, and all were well-intentioned – but they hadn’t walked the path themselves. Fortunately, I had a few trusted voices who had.

That’s one of the harshest lessons muddy waters teach: title, position, and even good intentions aren’t the same as wisdom. As the saying goes, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” And that’s as true for the good intentions of your loved ones as it is for your own.

If you want to navigate uncertainty, listen to those who’ve been there before. In my 20s and 30s, I leaned on mentors who shared not only their strategies for success but also their biggest failures. They taught me the value of failing forward, of creative problem-solving, and of having the courage to think differently.

Their guidance came from lived experience, not theory – and that made all the difference.

Navigational Beacons for Zero Visibility

When visibility disappears, you can’t wait for the water to clear. You need fixed reference points that cut through the chaos and hold your course steady. For me, those have always been three things:

• Values: Guiding principles rooted in six universal human needs: security, growth, challenge, recognition, belonging, and contribution.

• Systems: Repeatable structures that bring order to chaos: top-grading talent, aligning incentives, building processes that scale.

• Psychology: Mastering the inner game. Recognizing both the sovereign leader and the shadow within us – and choosing which voice to follow under stress.

These three elements – values, systems, and psychology – are what have kept me moving forward when the path was anything but clear.

The Contrarian Truth

Most people wait for the perfect environment before they act. By then, it’s often too late.

The best opportunities are, by definition, unclear. If everyone sees the path forward, the upside is already gone. That’s why disruptors thrive in muddy waters: they see the mud as the opportunity, not the problem.

This isn’t just business – it’s ancient wisdom. Thích Nhất Hạnh, the Vietnamese Zen master, put it beautifully:

“There is the mud, and there is the lotus that grows out of the mud. We need the mud in order to make the lotus.”

In leadership, as in life, growth and beauty often emerge from what looks messy and unworkable.

Final Reflection

I’ve learned not to fear the mud. Instead, I’ve learned to welcome the opportunity it creates. Muddy waters are where vision, discipline, and resilience matter most.

When the path isn’t obvious, don’t freeze or wait for permission. Seek guidance from those who’ve walked the path themselves. Anchor yourself in values, systems, and psychology. And move with conviction.

Because in muddy waters, what looks like a mess today is often the fertile ground for tomorrow’s greatness.