The History of Fortune Cookies: From Culinary Curiosity to Cultural Icon

You can’t build a solid house on a rotten foundation. You can’t build a strong life on weak principles. And you can’t build lasting strength on a garbage core. “Garbage core” isn’t just about physical fitness — though it starts there. It’s about what’s at the center of anything you’re trying to grow. Your body. Your mindset. Your business. Your relationships. If the core is weak, unstable, or neglected, everything built on top of it will eventually fall apart. The Physical Side of a Garbage Core In fitness, people often chase aesthetics — abs, arms, numbers on the scale. But underneath it all is the core: your spine’s support system, your stability, your balance. If your core is weak, it shows up everywhere. In your posture. In your pain. In your fatigue. In how quickly you break down under stress. A garbage core means you’re compensating. Your back hurts. Your knees take the strain. You lift wrong. You move wrong. You feel wrong. And no amount of biceps curls or cardio sessions can fix that. The fix? Strip it back. Get serious about the basics. Planks, slow movements, posture checks, deep core activation. Not glamorous — but foundational. Strength built from the inside out lasts. The Mental Side of a Garbage Core Your mindset is your mental core. And if it’s filled with clutter — comparison, doubt, fear, entitlement — then no strategy or motivation will hold for long. You’ll start projects and abandon them. Set goals and sabotage them. Chase growth but resist discomfort. A garbage mental core can sound like: “It’s not fair.” “Why is this so hard?” “I need motivation.” “Maybe I’m just not that type of person.” Cleaning it up means facing what you’ve been avoiding. Rewriting the scripts. Building a mindset around resilience, discipline, and self-respect. Again, not flashy. But it changes everything. The Core of Your Business, Your Team, Your Routine You can apply this everywhere. A business with no clear values? Garbage core. A team with no trust? Garbage core. A routine with no consistency? Garbage core. If the foundation is weak, it will crack under pressure. It might look fine on the surface — for a while. But when things get heavy, the truth shows. Clean It Up The good news? You can always rebuild. But you have to start at the root. You have to be willing to throw out the garbage — the shortcuts, the excuses, the fluff — and put in the work to build something strong. Start small: Five minutes of focused core work. One honest self-check on your mindset. One clear value you won’t compromise on. One basic routine you stick to no matter what. Then stack on that. Slowly. Deliberately. From the inside out. Final Thought Everyone wants the results. Few want to clean up the core. But that’s where the real power is — not in the flashy outer layers, but in the part that holds everything together. So take a look at what you’re building on. Be honest. If it’s garbage, clean it out. Because strength that lasts only comes from the inside.