Lessons from The Karate Kid: Trusting the Process & Embracing the Journey

What if everything you’ve done in life—every mundane task, every struggle, every challenge—was actually preparing you for something bigger? 

In this episode of the Engineering Emotions & Energy Podcast, Justin Wenck takes a deep dive into The Karate Kid (1984) and the powerful life lessons hidden within the classic film. From unexpected training methods to the power of trust, discipline, and resilience, this episode will shift your perspective on your own personal journey.

Key Highlights:

• 🎬 The Karate Kid Breakdown: How this 80s classic is packed with personal growth lessons.
• 🥋 The Power of Training: Why the “Wax On, Wax Off” moments of your life matter more than you think.
• 💡 Trusting the Process: How frustration can lead to breakthroughs in your personal and professional life.
• 🏆 You’re the Best Around: Embracing setbacks as part of your path to greatness.
• 🤔 Then vs. Now: How perceptions of masculinity, mentorship, and gender roles have shifted since the 80s.
• 🎶 The Ultimate Hype Song: Why “You’re the Best” is more than just a catchy tune—it’s a mindset!

Overcome the daily grind with transformative techniques from Justin's book, 'Engineered to Love.'

These practices aren't just about finding peace—they're about reconnecting with yourself and the world around you in meaningful ways.

Access your free materials today at engineeredtolove.com/sample and start living a life filled with joy, ease, and love. 

Watch the full video episode at Justin Wenck, Ph.D. YouTube Channel!

Check out my best-selling book "Engineered to Love: Going Beyond Success to Fulfillment" also available on Audiobook on all streaming platforms! Go to https://www.engineeredtolove.com/ to learn more!

Got a question or comment about the show? E-mail me at podcast@justinwenck.com.

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Transcript

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What if all of these things that you've been up to have been the training for the big event that is yet to come? And we're talking about this through the lens of 1980 four's Karate Kid, this is it. This is the end of the line. Hey, I know it's hard, but we're not quite as are we. I promise, teach karate. It's not just karate. Listen for all life Columbia Pictures present The Karate Kid. That's right, I watched the Karate Kid again for the first time in probably over 30 years, and it was incredible. And so many life lessons and so much entertaining so let's get into it. Are you ready to live a life with enough time, money and energy have relationships and connections that delight you? Are you ready for the extraordinary life you know you've been missing? If so, then this is the place for you. I'm a best selling author, coach, consultant and speaker who's worked in technology for over two decades. I'm a leader at transforming people and organizations from operating in fear, obligation and guilt to running off joy, ease and love. It's time for engineering emotions and energy with me. Justin Wenck PhD, Hi there. Today we are talking about, what if. What if, everything you've been doing in your life, all the mundane things, all the things that seem pointless, all the things that have seemed tedious, or maybe there have been some fulfillment, but at some point you get you're like, there's got to be more than this. Like, there's more. I want more. There has to be more to my life. What is it? What if all of these things that you've been up to have been the training for the big event that is yet to come? And we're talking about this through the lens of 1980 four's Karate Kid. That's right, I watched the Karate Kid again for the first time in probably over 30 years, and it was incredible, and so many life lessons and so much entertaining. So let's get into it. So karate kid came out in 1984 it's about teenage guy, Daniel's son, Danny Larusso, played by Ralph Macchio. Mom moves him out from New Jersey to California because she gets a job and he's there and things are not going well. But one thing that really amazed me is just how Daniel LaRusso, this kid's got Moxie. He's ballsy, like he's mixing it up. He's making friends and getting invited mixing it up. And what's interesting is that this ends up he's runs into people that, oh, he starts to get some friction. So these these guys, these Cobra Kai guys from the rich part of town. And it's really funny because I'm from Southern California, so it's like, I know some of these, some of these towns. And it's really interesting because the rich people are from Encino, and Daniel is living with his mom, where he also meets Mr. Miyagi in town called Reseda. And all this is, if you're not aware of Southern California, greater Los Angeles area. Stuff is in what is known as the San Fernando Valley. And I don't know if nowadays, any of that is considered, you know, the greatest place. None of this is Bel Air. None of this is Beverly Hills. It's funny that they're like, oh, he lives in receita. Like, Oh, can't believe you're talking to somebody from Reseda and Encino. You maybe have heard of the little Brendan Fraser movie called Encino Man as I don't think that's considered super fancy anymore, but in this movie, it's fancy. And so Encino good receipt of bad. But Daniel is getting kind of like, beat up and harassed. He's didn't make some of the best moves, but he meets Mr. Miyagi, who is the maintenance guy at the place where he lives. And eventually, Mr. Miyagi agrees to teach Daniel karate so that he can deal with his struggles. But one of the one of the big lessons is it's not about fighting. It's about defense, and it's really about, like, personal peace. It's a karate is about not having to fight. And I felt like that was a really great, a great lesson in there, because the guy from Cobra Kai, their sensei is just all about show no mercy, like, take it to your enemy. Like, almost, they're just, like, looking for a fight, and they get to this arrangement where Daniel has to fight the main bad kid who's been harassing the most, who also is the ex boyfriend of his budding love romance. So we're going to get to the training and the big event. But first I want to share some kind of, like, very interesting things that. Little bit of slice of life, because, again, this movie is from 1984 I was born in the early 80s, so I know I saw this, probably, maybe when I was I don't know, I want to say maybe, like nine or something, but quite young. And it's one of those things, like, I remember certain things, but lots of things that I didn't remember. And I don't think I'd seen this. So it's really was, like going back in time. And one thing was the there's like, two or three scenes where they need to push start a car because the battery is dead or they lost charge. And it's one of those things like growing up, I definitely remember doing this a couple few times with my dad. Was like, Oh, that the dots in the dots in b2, 10. We got to push start this thing. Let's get a rolling start push. And you, you know, I'm going to push Justin you get in there and make sure the thing doesn't careen, you know, off into the sidewalk and and then turn the key and I'm going to jump in. And this was totally a thing, and I haven't heard or seen of that in 20 years. So I'd be curious if you, if you're watching this, have you ever had to push start it a car, or heard about it? And if so, what decade were you born? When's the last time you had to do it? And then another really interesting thing is family fun centers. Daniel has a couple dates, a couple outings to what I always call a Family Fun Center. And this place usually has many golf video games and possibly other things. And definitely late aliens, early 90s, there was lots of cool other things, at least when I was a kid. These are, like bumper boats. And I think I already met, I don't know the bumper boats, I think, and maybe it was a bumper cars and possibly other rides, like they could have been also a water park. And it was just kind of, oh, batting cages, batting cages, right? And so I'd also be curious anybody still to ever go to family fun centers, because I not a part of a family with small kids, so I don't know if that would be my place. And another really interesting thing that I noticed that came up was a couple things, this is great. We're going to be getting to the part of how your life is in training very soon. So continue listening. But this, some of this is like, what's old is new. What's new is old, and sometimes we have to grow through what we thought we knew to get to where we want to go. And one thing there's a part later on in the show, after Daniel gets his driver's license. Mr. Miyagi has given him a car. He meets at the Family Fun Center his romantic interest, Lady lady friend, and she's, she's like, Oh, wow, you got this car. And he's like, yeah, do you want to drive it? And she's like, really, you're gonna let me drive it? And it's, it's sitting away, implying that you're Wait, the man is gonna let a woman drive? And he goes, Hey, it's the 80s. And as far as I know, to me, this is one of the earliest decades where that has come up, where there's something about, oh, women can only do certain things. And it's like, Well, hey, this is, this is a modern era. Women can do anything. And I don't know if I'd seen it any earlier than 1984 so I'd love it if you have a better, more, earlier example of this, of this common trope that I think actually in the last five to 10 years has gone away and it's been completely replaced with women can just automatically do everything amazing. Yeah, there's as opposed to like but I just find it interesting that for this movie is now literally over 40 years old, and so that means for 40 years this concept of, oh, can women do a thing? And it's like, of course, this is the modern era. So this might be something where it's just time to realize that people are people, and doesn't matter what's between your legs, some people can do things, other people's can't. And that they can't might be because they haven't learned yet, or maybe they don't want to. Maybe they're here for something else. And so let's, you know, just let go of the Oh, you have to, either, you know, be disempowered because of something, or you're empowered to make up for decades of just do what, do what you want, do what you want. So that that's one where I think it's like, Okay, it's time to just move beyond but I would like to know, have you ever seen an earlier instance of the Hey, it's, it's the 50s. So like, yeah, let, let a let a woman smoke a smoke a cigarette while she's pregnant. Hey, it's the 50s. Hey, Menthols, the taste of a new generation. Is that Pepsi and so how that was interesting. And then a couple other interesting things. Is Daniel the kids got Do they still, they still say Riz the charisma, but he's got away with he's got away with the ladies, just the confidence. He's got an assertiveness and a dominance that I don't know if you would be able to write this and portray this anymore, because it's one of those, like it's borderline. But he. He rides the edge where he's actually always aware of his his impact, of how he's in his space, how of how he's in the girls space, and how he's talking to her, of how she's taking it in, you know. And again, he's a teenage boy, so he's not the greatest, but still, there's a little bit of he's got some confidence, but some awareness, and he's still being assertive and dominant while also being aware. And in some ways, it's really is pretty close to what is a very healthy form of masculinity. And nowadays, I don't know if we see that it would be sort of like, very, very passive. Or it's either would be passive and that would be shown as like, Oh, this is appropriate to like, not even try and or it would just be shown as as like, Oh, it's too much. And he's, it's, it's toxic, it's toxic masculinity. He's being aggressive and domineering, which he absolutely was not yet. It's just kind of interesting at the all these years later, it's like, ooh, we don't see this anymore. That's that wouldn't be considered okay, because this is too close towards what we consider, but a lot of times healthy behavior. It's about the balance. It's about it's about bringing in the balance between what is maybe harmful, and then outwards towards others, and then what is harmful to the self by just almost going in and collapsing. And I thought it was really cool to see sort of this balancing of that, hey, he's got some things he wants to do and express. And I thought it was also amazing how the young woman she she was expressing herself and going, No, leave, give me my space, and she was exerting herself. I thought it was, you know, again, these are teenagers, so they're not the greatest, yet they're both not afraid to express themselves and to say no or to say what they want. I just thought that was like, really amazing in this movie from 1984 and then the other thing that we're going to lead into the how this ties into with your entire life and where it's going, is the relationship between Daniel and Mr. Miyagi that I'm I'm watching this, and there's a lot where it's just like this, he's borderline like a pedophile cult leader. Oh, maybe that's supposed to be bleeped out on YouTube, or, I don't know, because there's certain words that I watch, but I think it's because they try to be monetized. I'm not here to be monetized. I'm just here to get messages out so that you can have a better life and enjoy enjoy the process. So enjoy the show. Well, getting things that maybe improve your life, but it's like, because Mr. Miyagi, the first few things that he has Danielson do is like, I'll come over to my place where nobody knows. And then he's He has him wax his car, has him paint his house, hasn't paint his fence, and then it's like, Okay, now that you're really bought in, hey, let's go to the beach. Here. You get in your swimsuit and go get wet, and I'm just gonna sit here, then I'm gonna watch, gonna watch you in the water half naked, and just there's just like, this is like, if this was a horror movie, be like, Oh, this guy's gonna be, you know, do some horrible, horrible stuff to young Daniel. Oh no. Oh no, yeah, that's Mr. Miyagi. Is on the up and up. He's on the up and up. And he's has a purpose for all of these things in Daniel's best interest. And it's this, there's this tension and trust of he goes, Daniel goes with it. And then at times, he's like, Hey, what the fuck is this about? Like, why am I waxing on, waxing off, and paint the fence and all this other and sand in the sand and the board and and then Mr. Miyagi always finds the way to, kind of, like, get the message across that, hey, this is doing something for you. We had an agreement. I'm teaching you now, fucking learn. And I feel like this is something that, in many ways, has gone away, where there's going to be, I believe it's still out there, where there are great men. Because I do feel like as women, get a bigger pass with underage, with underage anybody, even though I just saw like another story of or something about a, you know, a woman who had an affair with, like a fifth grader or something like that. So apparently, the the women can do shenanigans with the underage youths as well. Yet, I feel like it's been so, you know, not to say that there wasn't bad things happening. Yet, there is a little bit of, you know, now the men are kind of put in a position where it's like, if you're gonna have anything to do with anyone younger or, quote, unquote, in a less position of power, even if they are an adult of your same age, but there could be a perceived whatever it's like you better either not do it or make sure it's so supervised that there's no possibility. And so I do wonder, like, how much of like, beneficial mentoring and camaraderie has been missed out because of the fear of the things that I ended up perceiving that I think a lot of us perceive as, like, oh my gosh, this guy is abusive, and he's probably got some No, no, naughty things that he has in mind. Because why would this grown, grown, older adult man spend all of this time with a young child at and it's like there's so many reasons that have nothing to do with abuse or sexual impropriety or any of this stuff. And I kind of wonder it's like, Have we lost out on some of that, some of that? Because we've gone way too far the other way not to say that there wasn't that stuff that needed to come to light and needs to be like, No, that is not proper. But yet, I think it's, again, it's about it's about balance. And throughout this movie, Mr. Miyagi is often like, hey, balance first, then then the ability to fight comes. You must balance, go kick in the waves. Balance, go stand on that pedestal. Practice the crane. Kick for balance. Now the big thing is, like, danielson's doing all of this stuff, you know, painting the fence, waxing the car, and he's like, What is the point of this? And I feel like in my life, and I'm sure you have this at times in your life where you're like, why, why am I doing this? What is the point of this, even? Why? Why am I doing these mundane things? And this could be something that other people go like, Oh my god, I can't believe you do that. Like, I can't believe like, you're a medical doctor, like, Oh my gosh. Like, yeah, you're, you know, you've, you've written books, or, Oh, you're doing a podcast, or, or maybe it is mundane, or, you know, it's like, oh, you're raising, you're raising a family, or you're, you're in a marriage. All these things, you know, to different people at different places in their life can become like, Oh my gosh. What's the point of this? What is this moving towards? And then at some point, there becomes the AHA, and there's this a pivotal scene after Daniel's been so frustrated. She's like, Oh, why have I been doing this? I was supposed to learn karate. And Mr. Miyagi is just like, throw, starts throwing punches, like, at his face, and is like, paint the fence. And then Danielson just automatically, like, lifts his fist up because he's gotten out of the muscle memory of how to move his body in these ways, for the for the karate moves, the appropriate defenses and offenses and all these things he didn't know it. And that's what a lot of our life is. And you've, maybe you've had some moments like this, and if not, I'm sure they're on their way where it's things start to come together. Because I recently had a situation where I was put, I was put in a situation of of where it was like, Hey, Justin, you're gonna need to describe what you're doing right now as part of a part of a workshop. And I was just like, oh my oh my gosh. I'm so glad I have my experience as a yoga teacher and as a writer, as an author, because it was, even though it was challenging. I was like, put on the spot. I'm like, I was like, oh my god, I can do this. And so no matter what you've been up to in your life, what you're currently doing now, there are so many skills, abilities, awarenesses, that you are getting that if you think of it as training, training for whatever's coming next, maybe you know what your equivalent of the career championship fighting thing is, or maybe you don't. Point is it's on the way, and you're in training, and so just that little shift, that little mindset of all the little things, whenever you're like, what's the point of this? If you can just look at as like, I'm being trained, whether you have your Mr. Miyagi or not, I'd like to believe that we actually all do, whether they are, you know, our internal trainer, or maybe it is actually somebody yet we are effectively, this human experience is a little bit like a training where we just continue to grow and have new experiences. And lots of times, the reason we haven't gotten what it is we think we want yet is we're still getting the tools, we're still getting the skills, so that we can ultimately, ultimately succeed and enjoy it, and even the failure, the times where it doesn't work. Because it's amazing how challenging the last fight is, because the last fight before the penultimate fight before the championship, he basically gets kicked and injured. And he's Daniel still gets up, he's like, No, I'm gonna fight the last match against the guy that's been the bully for this entire movie. And then there's still, like, a couple, like, cheap shots and things like that. And Daniel was like, Oh, this hurts. This is hard, yet he finds it within himself. And it was such a really challenging experience to get to that. Yet he kept overcoming, and he and he succeeded, and it wouldn't have been as sweet. It wouldn't have been as amazing without all of those little hiccups, those challenges. So when you look at your life and what you're going through and the challenges and the setbacks, can you see it through that lens of, I'm having the greatest, the greatest experience that I could possibly have. This is going to be something for the ages. And just maybe you are not to that, that climax just yet, you're you're almost there. It's the part of the movie where it seems like, oh my gosh, I'm going to fail. It's not going to be good enough. And this is where I'm going to end with. With the the big song that gets played during the end, I'm trying to it's, it's called, you're the best. And I think it's like by this guy, Esposito, and it's, it starts, it starts out, you know, this, try to be the best, because you're only a man, and the man's got to learn to take it. So again, you know, this is early 1980s try to believe, though the going gets tough. You gotta hang tough to make it. It's like, all right, you know, stick with it. Stick with it, right? Like Daniel's been doing throughout the movie and throughout this this tournament, history repeats itself. Wait a minute, this is the first time. Turns out this song was originally meant to be for Rocky three, and so history repeating itself would have made a lot more sense, because I think Rocky, had, you know, tried to do things and just would make sense for a sequel, not for original, but he didn't want to rewrite the song. And you'll succeed. Never doubt that you're the one and you can have your dreams. You're the best around nothing's ever going to keep you down. You're the best around, nothing's going to ever keep you down. You're the best around, nothing's going to ever keep you down. So just remember that you're the best and nothing's ever going to keep you down. And keep going. Remember that whatever you've been through, whatever you're going through now, consider it training for the big thing that you may not even know realize is coming. Yet it's coming, and you're going to find so much joy, so much pleasure in that that bring it into the present moment and enjoy the joy and the amazement of the process of being in training, of being on the journey, and recognizing that nothing's going to get you down because you're the best, whether you're winning, whether you're losing, whether you're early, whether you're late, whether you've just won, you're the best, and just own that have that compassion for yourself and where you are at your journey, and realize that you never quite know how it's all gonna work out until it's working out. So you might as well just accept that it's working out and that you're the best around nothing's ever gonna keep you down. Oh man, I can't believe I actually was singing that song. So with that, thank you, and let me know what you think, if you got any thoughts on the Karate Kid, or what you might be in training for, or any other interesting things of you know, used to be like that in the 80s, and now it's a little different. Some of it's good, some of it's better, some of it's worse. Whatever it is, I'd love to hear it. So with that, thank you, and that's fun chatting up the Karate Kid and how you have been in training for the big the big event that's still to come. And with that, take care and good day. Thanks for tuning in to engineering emotions and energy with Justin Wenck PhD. Today's episode resonated with you. Please subscribe and leave a five star review. Your feedback not only supports the show, but also helps others find us and start their journey of emotional and energetic mastery. You can also help by sharing this podcast with someone you think will love it just as much as you do. Together, we're engineering more amazing lives you