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Tag: Martial Arts Inspired

Modeling The Way

Published on May 13, 2023

While I was sitting in my office the other day, a parent knocked at my door and asked if I had a minute to chat.

I replied, “Of course” and invited him in.

He took a seat, tilted up his hat, rubbed his head, and with a somewhat heavy face said, “My son is having a hard time finding motivation to come to Martial Arts class…”

Having had this conversation countless times before, I started downloading potential replies from my brain on the benefits of persevering, how discipline is built, habit formation, befriending momentum, being creative in approach, etc.

And just as I was finishing my thought process, he continued by saying something I can’t remember hearing another parent say (in this order) in all my 20+ years of teaching martial arts…

He said, “…So I think I’m gonna sign up myself.”

Somewhat dumbfounded, I sat there for an awkward minute, trashed the previously downloaded files and started writing fresh script in real time on how… damn impressive hearing that was.

What usually follows from the parent after that initial comment are excuses, justifications, additional challenges, membership questions, and/or requests to pause/cancel.

But, to hear a parent say: so I’m going to lead the way and show him how to persevere through my example… was incredibly refreshing and an example I think we all—not just his son—can learn from.

More Important Than Winning

Published on April 29, 2023

What’s more important than winning?

  • Honor (cheating to win isn’t a win).
  • Learning (winning and not learning isn’t a win).
  • Respect (rubbing a win in somebody’s face isn’t a win).
  • Grace (If a win doesn’t make you more grateful, more humble, more giving, more kind, more elegant etc.—it isn’t a win).
  • Connection (none of us wins alone—every win is a team effort in some way. Winning without a deepened connection to those who helped us win, isn’t a win).

I have seen many competitors get 1st place who definitely did not win.

And I have seen many competitors get last place who, in every respect, most certainly won.

Be careful how you define winning and success in life—it’ll end up defining your identity and journey in life.

Body Armor

Published on April 3, 2023

As a martial arts instructor, it’s important I keep my body in good health so I can lead by example, demonstrate proper techniques, and perform when needed.

Building resiliency in my body so I’m able to do that, however, doesn’t mean I avoid anything and everything that might lead to injury—under the guise that if I never do anything hard, I’ll never get hurt, and if I never get hurt, I’ll be “resilient” and able to keep performing.

Building resiliency actually means I expose myself to all the challenges (in a smart, healthy way) so that my body can adapt and prepare for more of the same the next time.

Sheltering ourselves from things that are hard doesn’t make us more resilient—it only makes us more vulnerable to injury. Because eventually, as we avoid challenge, our bodies become frail, and frail bodies are the ones that are injury prone. Plus, it’s harder to recover an injured frail body because it’s weak all over—not just in the injured area.

The resilient person does hard things often; things that are uncomfortable and challenging; things that frequently push their body to its limits. And when they’re smart and deliberate about it—it leads to armor, not injury. Armor that allows them to lead by example, demonstrate high level techniques, and perform with their full life force when needed…

Because they’re strong all over.

P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.

The A/B Game

Published on November 5, 2022

There’s a game I play in martial arts classes called the A/B Game.

It’s simple.

When I say “A,” students fire off a given technique as fast as they can.

When I say “B,” they stay frozen.

My goal is to mess them up by getting them to fire off the technique on “B.”

Their goal is to have such great focus that they don’t even so much as flinch on “B.”

In the early stages of the game, getting flinchers is relatively easy—some because they’re just unfocused; some because they’re too focused on being fast; and some because they need to mess up before they actually understand the game.

As the game progresses, there’s usually a handful who are hard to mess up—so, I’ll pull out one of my tricks from my bag.

Right before I call “A” or “B,” I’ll nonchalantly say… “Okay, now I want you to beat the person next to you. Don’t let them beat you…okay? Ready…”

And then quickly yell “B!” …And get a huge chunk of students to flinch. It works almost every time.

…Why?

Because instead of focusing on themselves, I got them to focus on the others. Instead of focusing on doing their best, they were distracted on being THE best and lost connection with their focused mind.

See… When we focus on beating everybody else; on racing the person next to us; on trying to be the best—we lose sight of the most important thing… focus on ourself.

P.s. I also published 46 Impactful Bruce Lee Quotes from Striking Thoughts today.

Black Belt You

Published on October 10, 2022

What does the black belt version of you look like?

For me, as a 20+ year martial arts practitioner, black belt represents something much greater than combat or performance abilities.

Black belt represents potential fought for; potential realized; potential unleashed.

It’s a firm commitment to the realization of a greater version of yourself. A version that’s disciplined; focused; confident; respectful; generous. A 2.0 version that’s built to handle to challenges presented by life.

What does your black belt version look like? Even if you never plan on stepping foot into a Dojang (although I think it’s beneficial for most everybody)—a deep visualization practice can produce a life-changing image.

Because once you see this version clearly in your mind, you can finally start to reverse engineer your way to that 2.0 you. Without it, 1.0 you is all you’ll ever know. And you can’t reverse engineer to what you don’t know.

Close your eyes and start building.

P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.

Back To Zero

Published on September 19, 2022

Before reading this, do a body scan and progressively relax one muscle at a time starting with your forehead and ending with your toes—get your body back to zero percent unnecessary tension.

When done, how much tension would you say you released that you didn’t even realize you were holding?

Well, that tension is the equivalent of you pushing the gas in your parked car.

Multiply that over the course of an entire day—and you can imagine how much energy is being wasted.

The challenge is that tension is often the default, unconscious state—we don’t even realize we’re tensing up when we do!

Go ahead and do another body scan and see how much tension already came back.

…This is why we have to make relaxing a conscious effort.

Both for energy efficiency and bodily health. Tense muscles become brittle—and brittle is prone to injury and disease. Relaxed muscles are flexible—and flexible is healthy and resilient.

Doing a progressive relaxation body scan—regularly—is an excellent strategy.

How can we do this? Here are 3 ideas to get you started:

  1. Set a timer: every time the timer goes off, do a body scan and get back to zero.
  2. Use a trigger: every time your phone rings or buzzes, do a body scan and get back to zero.
  3. Time-block: After each meal of the day, do a body scan and get back to zero.

The goal, like any other habitual practice, is to move relaxed from conscious to unconscious so it becomes more and more our default state.

P.s. In case you missed it, here’s the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week.

Selective Tension and Relaxation

Published on September 15, 2022

In Martial Arts, one of the goals is to learn how to maximize the creation of power while minimizing the expenditure of energy.

Essentially, it’s the practice of learning how to fully press the “gas pedal” while fully releasing the “brake pedal.”

Pressing the gas and brake pedal at the same time is wildly inefficient for driving. And so is it for moving the body. Yet, this is the default when it comes to moving the body with any degree of intensity.

Both the protagonist and antagonist muscle groups tense which, in effect, slows down the attempt to speed up all at once.

…And wastes a bunch of energy in the process.

The art then becomes learning how to selectively tense certain muscles while selective relaxing others in real time. And the challenge, of course, is that there isn’t only one gas and one brake pedal—there are hundreds.

And so it is for life.

The question to consider is this: in each task that you’re trying to complete, what resistance could you simultaneously reduce?

Sometimes we focus so much on the doing that we forget about the un-doing. Because while a 10% increase in speed for “doing” is good, a 20% decrease in resistance is better.

And this isn’t a question that’s asked and answered only once—it’s an ongoing awareness.

We’ll never get this perfect—for our bodies or for life. But, progress—any progress—makes the effort undoubtedly worth it.

P.s. This became the introduction for: 23 Greg McKeown Quotes from Essentialism and How To Live Better Via Less