My Story

Where It All Began

I was born in Espoo, Finland. I was born into a family of two engineers. That’s probably why I also became an engineer. I didn’t know how to question my conditioning.

When I was young, I was characterized by confidence. One story illustrates this well. When I was young, I participated in a ski competition. Even though I went down the wrong track, I was sure I would win. In reality, my sister had won the competition. I asked my parents whether I came first or second? Knowing me, my parents let me believe that I won.

Looking back, I think that story tells us what I was like deep down inside. Confident, but also full of myself.

School Years

I did relatively well in elementary school. On the other hand, at that age, school wasn’t very challenging. I only did well because things were so easy back then that they came naturally to me. Things changed, though, when I got older.

As a teenager, I was no longer at the head of the pack. I was born at the end of the year, and on top of that, I had a late puberty. I remember being called “little Antti.” People didn’t mean it badly, but it definitely left its mark on me.

At home, expectations were pretty low. My mother, whose own mother was a teacher, had grown up in a strict home. She found this oppressive and didn’t want to continue the same spirit in me and my sister, understandably. My father also shared the same line.

This was the unfavourable side of the approach, I wasn’t encouraged to succeed. Looking back, I missed the pressure to succeed, the belief in my abilities and the expectations to be better. My grades reflected this. I wasn’t particularly good at school when it mattered, and I wasn’t particularly outstanding in my teenage years.

A Normal Childhood, with an Engineer’s Blueprint

In my youth I was a pretty normal kid for the most part. I was by no means the most popular kid, nor was I particularly unpopular. I was somewhere in the middle.

I had already adopted the role model of an engineer from a young age, and that’s why I actually applied to study engineering in the first place. I didn’t know how to question my conditioning at the time. 

Hidden Ambition

On the surface, I didn’t seem terribly ambitious as a child. However, in hindsight I think I wasted my ambition because I played online games very seriously. Unfortunately, all that ambition was diverted away from schoolwork. Thus, my academic performance was poor and never lived up to my potential. Still, I think that being successful in online games reflects in a certain way that I wanted to be successful in life as well.

A Turning Point in My Teens

As a teenager I watched from the sidelines as a couple of my friends got their asses kicked, right there I decided that that wouldn’t happen to me. At the age of 15 I started practicing Taekwon-Do. At first it was just a hobby, but around the same time when I finally stopped playing online, I started to focus very seriously on Taekwon-Do. I think I was particularly lucky to win the first competition, even though there was only one match. That match could have gone either way, but it just happened to be me this time. That initial success probably set in motion the cascade that has led to this day.

High School and an Unexpected Spark

Throughout middle school and high school, I was a typical C student. I didn’t have very high expectations for myself academically and I didn’t really expect to be able to get good grades. But then something unexpected happened. My chemistry teacher had an exceptionally kind grading scale and I was allowed to substitute one of the assignments for a thesis I did on the exam. I accidentally got a grade of 9-/10 on this exam. Even though I didn’t really deserve that grade, this was actually the only encouragement I’ve received so far in my academic career.

This single event, this small success, created another cascade in my life that has driven me to this point in my academic career. Since this incident, I have carried with me a lifelong lesson: never underestimate what a little encouragement can do. People’s lives are positive feedback loops. You may have the power to influence whether another’s life starts on a positive or negative loop. Small gestures that seem trivial can compound throughout a person’s life and sometimes even generations.

University Beginnings

I did poorly in my matriculation exams and barely managed to get into the Helsinki University of Technology to study chemistry. I chose this subject mostly because it was the only subject where I had felt a sense of accomplishment. 

Still, I carried with me a heavy sense of inferiority. My father had graduated from school with top grades, and my academic success was almost nonexistent in comparison. However, I think these experiences, combined with my low neuroticism, left me with a strong need to prove myself.

The Army Years and My First Real Success

In 2010, I entered the military service. From the beginning it was obvious to me that I had to be accepted into the reserve officer school, as both my father and grandfather had attended the reserve officer school. I felt that I had to continue the tradition and not disappoint.

The most critical obstacle was the cooper test. Running has always been my weakest point. That day, there was ankle-deep snow, and of course our road hadn’t been plowed. That day I ran exactly 2700 meters, exactly what was required. Although objectively 2700 meters is not a very good performance, that day it was one of my biggest mental efforts so far.

I was later accepted into the Naval Academy’s Reserve Officer School. Around that time, I also met Viivi, the woman who would later become my wife. When we first met, I wasn’t very confident, probably because I hadn’t achieved a lot yet, at least in my opinion. So at first our relationship didn’t work out. Still, I had something, namely, the Reserve Officer School became my first real success. It proved I could achieve something difficult and meaningful, and it gave me the momentum to put my life in order. 

After the army, I started to put my life back on track. I started to focus on my studies, and committed myself fully to Taekwon-Do.

Laying Down Roots

After the army, I started to really invest in myself. I raised my GPA from 1.5 to climbing above 4.0, which is a major feat at The University of Technology. However, deep down I knew that the engineering path wasn’t for me. With all due respect to engineering school, I felt like I was destined for more than my current state. Watching my mother face constant rounds of layoffs at Nokia convinced me that I wanted something different than the engineering path.

At the same time, I began kickboxing alongside Taekwon-Do. During these times, I especially enjoyed my coach’s very hard training sessions. The sessions broke most people down, but I decided I would never give up. The choice to never give up was one of the most significant decisions of my life.

The Road to Medicine

In 2012, I decided that I wanted to go into medicine. It took two attempts. On my second try, I was accepted into the University of Helsinki’s Faculty of Medicine.

By then, I had also reconnected with Viivi, my future wife. For the first time, I felt we were equals, and I began to see just how complementary our qualities were.

Balancing Studies, Family, and Sport

Even in medical school, I continued studies at the University of Technology, switching into industrial engineering and management. At that time I also competed at the top level in Taekwon-Do and kickboxing. Life was very intense: studying medicine and engineering, raising a family, and pushing forward with sport all at once.

At the same time, Viivi also had goals. We fought to get Viivi into dental school first and then finally medical school. We had little money, lived in a small rental flat, and borrowed my mother’s car. Resources were limited, but our lives had a clear direction and goal.

The Power of Imperfection

Around this time, a change occurred in my thinking. I was used to doing everything very carefully, seeking perfection. Suddenly, however, there was too much information and work to do, and I couldn’t internalize everything. During these times, I heard about Pareto’s law: 80% of results come from 20% of the work. 

This made me think about which option I would rather take in life? Do one thing perfectly, and get 1x 100% result, or do multiple things but not seeking perfection, thus getting 5x 80% result? The arithmetic was clear. If you can let go of perfection, you can get a lot more done. 

In addition, letting go of perfection was a psychological shift. This gave me permission and space to fail, which allowed me to learn from my mistakes. I no longer needed permission to fail, but I understood that it was an integral part of success. This opened the door to growth mindset and iterative learning.

Later, I came to realize that this growth mindset is essential for success in elite sports. Sports became my arena for practicing and exploring the mental landscape of growth. Over time, I also realized that these same principles apply even more strongly to real-life situations, not just within the context of sports psychology.

World Champion

In 2019, I became the Taekwon-Do World Champion. It wasn’t a result of pure talent, but a long iterative process. I lost repeatedly for a long time and learned from my losses until I had filled all the gaps in my style. At some point, I just noticed that suddenly I started winning almost all the time. This came quite quickly and unexpectedly, but that’s how it is with many successes. When skills reach saturation point, results come lightning fast.

Lessons from Sport

I’ve always thought of sports as a metaphor for life, except that the lessons come at a much higher frequency. When we step back and look at our lives from a distance, they contain the same elements. It’s as if life itself is a series of matches. The difference is that in everyday life, the matches and lessons come so infrequently that when they do appear, we resist them and avoid learning from them. The benefits of those lessons feel distant, while the setbacks seem either overwhelming or easy to dismiss. Over time, we grow accustomed to a life where setbacks are rare, and we start to avoid them altogether. But in reality, life follows the same pattern as sport, just that it’s in slow motion.

Knowing When to Move On

After the World Championship title, I won the European Championship silver medal in Taekwon-Do and the World Championship bronze medal in kickboxing. However, the victories and the competition itself no longer felt like anything. I noticed that competing no longer caused anticipatory anxiety. I noticed that I was no longer interested. Anxiety and interest seem to go hand in hand, you can’t have one without the other. If something is important to you, there is always a certain amount of anxiety associated with it.

But more importantly, I couldn’t justify to my family why I was doing this anymore. I had achieved my childhood dream and I no longer had any real goals, or any new goals seemed superficial. I knew it was time to move on. It was time to give back. Up until now I had used everyone else’s resources, but now it was time to offer them to others.

Where It Has Led Me

All this history has brought me here, it has made me the person I am today. I am a doctor with the psyche of an elite athlete, and the grounding of a family man. I wouldn’t trade that combination for anything. What sets me apart is not just discipline, but meaning. My family trusts me completely, and everything I build now is for them.

Why I Share My Lessons

Looking back, my journey has been about more than medals, grades, or titles. It has been about proving that growth and progress are possible for anyone willing to take the hits and keep going.

That is why I created this platform. I share my lessons freely, so others can realize their own potential, overcome health and life challenges, and navigate their journeys with more clarity.

But what drives me most is the search for truth. The truth does not depend on anyone’s opinion or agenda, and that’s the beauty of it. Truth is not owned by anyone, but is common to all and should be accessible to all.

No one is defined by their starting point. With the right mindset, the right guidance, and a genuine search for truth, the path forward is always open. This website is for me to give back, so that the experiences and truths that have guided me can also help you find your way.