The following article contains spoilers for Cobra Kai's six seasons. If you're not caught up, you can check out the complete series with a Netflix subscription.
After years of kicking its way into our hearts, Cobra Kai has officially come to an end. While the series may have aired its final season on the 2025 Netflix schedule, Ralph Macchio's involvement in the Karate Kid franchise is far from over. In honor of his continued work, he gave me the best piece of Mr. Miyagi's advice ever – and I'm totally loving it.
I actually had the chance to speak with the Karate Kid: Legends star about what he feels is the best piece of advice Mr. Miyagi ever gave. It's advice anyone could honestly apply to their lives (and I plan to do so soon). Without further ado, here's what Macchio had to tell me, and it had to do with that "walk left side" commitment.
I always allude to 'Walk left side - safe, walk right side - safe, walk middle - gets squished like grape.' And the reason I use that is it's almost like the only bad choice is no choice. Don't waffle down the middle. Make a commitment whether it's a decision you have or a place you're going, or a career choice or a friend you're choosing. Make the commitment to go with your instinct at the moment.
Macchio also commented that while you can "adjust" what choices you make if you choose the path down the middle, you'll never discover "who you are" and what you genuinely want to do in life. Which is maybe one of the fundamental purposes of being human. He went on to talk about how that ownership piece is so important too, telling me:
You can always adjust that and realign that, but if you waffle down the center, chances are you won't define who you are. You will get squished, and it would be washed over. So it's about making choices and following them through and owning them even when they're the wrong ones. So that's one of the ones I go to and have used… it's a good one. Little Miyagi-ism for you.
I mean…yes. I totally get it. Without getting personal, I feel like this is the kind of advice I could have used way back in college and in life in general. I certainly have not always done this in the past. But when advice is presented on a silver platter like this, I have to admit that I've honestly been mulling over it for days and days.
Really, the phrase makes a lot of sense in the course of Cobra Kai, as well. You rarely see any of these characters backing out of their decisions. In fact, they pretty much double-down, whether it's during the cast's epic fight scenes or the rivalry between dojos, or even working together to bring down a greater evil like Kreese and Terry – who, of course, got their explosive ending in Season 6.
Even when there was drama between Johnny and Daniel throughout the series, they always found ways to work together and come to common ground – and by the end, they are friends. Talk about an adjustment to a choice, but a great one.
With this kind of advice, I wonder where Daniel is going to go next in the world of Karate Kid? While I know Cobra Kai will remain one of the best shows to binge on Netflix, I can't help but get excited for the next part in Daniel's journey in Karate Kid: Legends, which comes out later this year -- and for the new Miyagi-ism's that I can apply to my own life (because goodness knows I need them).
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