Personal Mission Statement – Develop Your Conduct Code

by Marc Winitz

Surfing through TV channels late the other night, I came across one of the ultimate Hollywood personal discovery movies – Jerry McGuire, starring Tom Cruise. In the beginning of the movie McGuire is wrestling with his place in life as top sports agent and how unfulfilled his life is. In a fit of alcohol fueled passion he sets out to write a personal mission statement about the person he wants to be. He spends the rest of the movie discovering who he really is, guided by his new manifesto.

I think there is value in a personal mission statement, although I am not crazy about the “touchy feely” aspect of that term. I prefer to view this as a code of conduct, something the Samurai warrior class developed and lived by over centuries in ancient Japan. The code they upheld and I have trained by (to an extent) is called Bushido. The term “Bushido” translates to “The Way of the Warrior” and entails a focus on Loyalty, Benevolence and Courage as important traits the Samurai strived to live up to.

Codes of conduct have been developed by a wide array of institutions as a way to identify the principles and values they believe their members, employees or communities should strive to follow. It’s common to see codes or mission statements in corporations, universities, and militaries. In these settings the code is typically more of a mandate – something you are supposed to do.

It’s also typical to see conduct codes developed in martial arts dojos, but usually it is structured as something you strive to achieve over time, more in the Bushido spirit. In the dojo I have trained in over many years the students collectively created the conduct code.  It is something one may never achieve mastery of, but it provides a serious set of core values one seeks to constantly develop and drive towards. The key with any code of conduct, especially one focused on your own personal self development, is not to get caught up on working at all of the defined principles at once. Ideally you consciously focus on one of them for a period of time and then choose another for a renewed effort.

In the fast paced world of multi-tasking, Twitter and the constant interconnectedness we have through our BlackBerries or iPhones it takes some doing to slow down and focus like this. That got me to thinking about having my own code of conduct. The things that are important for me to strive to focus on and continually work towards achieving on a personal level while the frenetic world rages on. I’d like to share those here as a model for others to look at and consider. Not to adopt mine but simply to establish this thought process for you. In martial arts training I refer to this as the “Internal Morality” aspect of black belt training, one of the 6 Elements.

My Personal Code of Conduct

1. An Obligation to Teach Others
I believe people have an obligation to teach others and share their knowledge proactively. Certainly we all do this to some degree. Parents automatically do this with their kids, to an extent by setting proper examples of behavior (sometimes not). In work situations this can easily be done. For example, I spend a lot of time coaching new sales people, or even those that don’t sell professionally but need to know the basic principles, just as others did for me earlier in my career. This blog is a reflection of that principle, something I want to continue to expand and grow.

2. Demonstrably Show Appreciation
I am constantly amazed at how little appreciation we show towards one another. I see this a lot in the workplace, for example. It also happens on a personal level as we take for granted those we know – family, friends, and loved ones. There needs to be more proactive kindness. At work I try and do this regularly, thanking employees for contributions they have made or a job well done. I am surprised more company executives don’t do this. It is such an inexpensive motivator that really means something to people and it’s free.

3. Actively Offer Dignity
This is a challenge for a lot of people, me included. I see a lack of dignity being offered to others, notably strangers. A simple example is how we treat those that serve us. When you are at the market do you push your money towards the checkout worker or politely hand it to them? Have you asked them how they are today, just out of courtesy? I know I haven’t done this as much as I should. Perhaps the most troubling of all is our actions towards strangers. Not offering any amount of dignity to the beggar on the street. I am not saying make someone in this situation your best friend. But given the state of the world economy more people than ever are in places they don’t want to be and I think we need to be cognizant of that through external action. I know I do.

4. Embrace Differences
I am honestly tired of the whole “Red State vs. Blue State” mentality in the United States. There is no problem in disagreeing but the escalation that is occurring now is counter productive on a societal level. Fortunately I have traveled a good part of the world having been to 30 countries so I find the uniqueness and differences of other cultures and countries very appealing. Yet, even I forget that these differences are valuable learning methods. This is a reminder for me to try and see viewpoints other than my own regardless of what I personally believe. I can only grow by doing this which is something I want to expand on through this blog.

5. Be a Good Steward of Planet Earth
I wouldn’t call myself an environmentalist but more and more I believe there is an obligation to future generations for us to be cognizant of how we live right now. I think I have done somethings well in this regard. My family recycles like no one’s business, something I wouldn’t have imagined we would have done to the extent we now do since moving to Northern California last year (it’s just huge up here). I’ve been telecommuting for 4+ years and sold my SUV. We live with just one car, which do-able as a telecommuter, but still tricky in transportation challenged California. I have a feigning interest in astronomy and I am blown away by the scientific discoveries going in the Universe right now. Earth is so small in that context, but it is all we have. We need to do a better job protecting her. The samurai would, that’s  what any true warrior does.

As you can see, this is not goal setting, it is much deeper than that. In order to achieve peak performance in anything, I believe you need to look at yourself and reflect on more than a superficial level of what you want to achieve in life. It’s how you live right now that matters just as much, if not more. These are deep seated values one carries with them.

If you decide to try this exercise, it is fine it doesn’t come out for you exactly how you want it to the first time. The important aspect of this is to simply start the process of really identifying these core values for you and course correct them over time.

I’ll wrap up by saying that ff you know me than keep me honest on these. And if you don’t, well keep me honest anyways. Thanks for training with me.

Photo Credit Courtesy of Piero Sierra

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Make Yourself Commit to Succeed

by Marc Winitz

I really enjoy the process of fighting. Not from a physical violence aspect nor as a way to settle something (it is not). But for what it represents as a metaphor in life. If you want to win you have to commit to it. I struggled with this concept for years outside of my study in Japanese martial arts. By nature most people are cautious and getting more information is a measured way to support a safer conclusion. But sometimes we can over analyze a situation, something referred to as “analysis paralysis”. I see this all the time in business settings for example. A decision gets put off until another study is done, or more people are consulted. Or in a personal development setting it’s pretty common for someone to look at themselves and know they have a problem that needs action but refuse to really do something to make their situation better. That can be anything from changing careers to quitting smoking. I never fully appreciated what committing to something meant until I decided to test for black belt. I knew I wanted to be one but there was always a tentative feeling of “can I do this” or “am I ready” in the back of my mind.

Are You Exploring or Just Being Tentative?
When we don’t commit to either starting something or we have told ourselves that we will take a specific course but don’t willfully follow through we are either searching for more information or are being tentative. This really applies to very vanilla situations we face in our lives whether that is setting a goal, undertaking a new activity (I want to start working out), looking at a new way of doing something (“I am not going to date another bad boy – Oh he’s cute”), or making a change in direction in life (“I want to spend more time with my kids instead of working”).

When change isn’t occurring its pretty common to fall back on the crutch of still exploring or gathering information or deciding that we want to do “this” whatever this is. There is nothing wrong with getting more understanding about something but at some point:

You have to commit to make a change and then you have to escalate momentum as you go for it.

This seems obvious but it isn’t in a personal development context to go from thinking about committing to actually doing it. It’s actually worse to partially commit, where you say to yourself you will do something and than it is only halfhearted. And that’s what this post is about – escalating the process of committing.

The Greatest Athlete You Never Heard Of
I am martial arts geek. As I said above, I love fighting. Watching it, analyzing it, it’s my thing. The final of American Idol is on right now? Sorry, I’ll be over at ESPN classic watching Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns. One of the greatest modern day fighters of the last 40 years is a relative unknown in the US and much of the world. His name is Fedor Emelianenko widely considered to be the greatest mixed martial arts champion in the world. He has been compared in the sports world by other major athletes to Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Roger Federer. I’m a big fan of Fedor. Aside from his incredible level of talent, his work ethic is astounding and he is a very humble person. By comparison to others he is not necessarily bigger in size and if you look at him on video or in a picture he doesn’t have the physical stature that you would expect. He has a bit of a belly and he isn’t particularly muscular compared to his peers. And it doesn’t matter.

Fedor, like any good black belt, commits when he attacks. It takes a lot of physical training to sequentially and simultaneously throw kicks and punches at an opponent without stopping. More importantly, it takes serious mental resolve to start an attack and not stop it until you get to the conclusion you need. It takes full blown commitment and achievement to commit and win.

Escalate and Don’t Stop
Once you have decided you want to change you need to actively work to break out of the situation you are currently in. This is not easy and a lot has been written about this. One of the techniques we teach in karate is increasing severity of escalation in attack. The idea is that you start with a basic technique and increase the severity and lethality until you either get compliance, the opponent backs off, or worse (for the opponent). I turns out this same general principle can be applied to increasing momentum for change in habits or behavior.

Below is video of Fedor Emelianenko that I’d like you to watch to get this point. I am a big fan of visual teaching, as I have written about here. Don’t concern yourself with the first couple of minutes unless you are interested in his life story (which is very inspiring). Also, I’ll warn you now that this is a little brutal as this is a mixed martial arts match. So if you are true pacifist you probably won’t want to watch this.

I’d like you to pay attention at 3:03 in the video and then for the next 30 seconds. Look at the following:

  1. Commitment to the goal (he starts the attack)
  2. Escalated level of commitment to get momentum on his side (increased severity with more punches and strikes)
  3. Tipping point that changes the dynamic (escalates by bringing the fight to the ground)
  4. New position provides control (successfully changes the rules to get the outcome he wants)

These 30 seconds represent a framework for change. He commits to his goal, goes for it, doesn’t stop, adjusts to keep his momentum going and ultimately wins the match. A lot of training had to occur for him to do this. But it doesn’t really take that much more to change your own personal habits to do this in any situation. OK, don’t go off and slug somebody, I am not saying that. But once you commit to something, go for it and escalate your own involvement to keep yourself in the frame of mind until you get momentum. That can happen quickly if you focus on it and don’t let off. If you don’t do this you’re the person Fedor just took down. I use the process described here for personal change all the time.

Step into the battle of self and mind and commit to winning over fear and acting tentatively.  To pursue commitment of purpose is to have dedication, one of the 6 Elements.   I hope you see what I am getting at and can make the jump from the fighting ring to your own life’s goals.

And the reason people don’t “go for it”? It’s because they don’t want to get hit in martial arts parlance. Thanks for training with me.

Photo Credit Courtesy to Thriol

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Are You a Player or Coach? A Way to Teach

by Marc Winitz

One of the complexities of teaching or sharing information is communicating a concept in a way that makes the topic understandable to the student. You would think that this goes without saying, but it doesn’t. There are plenty of teachers that cannot communicate effectively. A sports analogy I often use is the “player vs. coach” example. Some people are natural athletes. As players of a sport they excel almost effortlessly. But they have no ability to really coach (teach) others on how they do what they do, and more importantly to teach you how to emulate those skills. A similar example is the college professor who can only process and present information in an abstract format. If you are not a genius you are out of luck in this class.

By using the term “teacher” I mean anyone that has something to share that can improve the performance of someone else. Similarly, “student” refers to the person receiving the information, this is not a class room discussion, per se. In my last post I talked about the “why of teaching” with dealt with the obligation aspect. This post deals with thoughts on the “how” element of sharing information in a learning environment.

I’ll state up front that one of my biggest challenges in school was listening to someone explain a theory and then for me to be expected to take the theory and apply it to a real world problem. I am a very visual person so the way I take in information is relatively literal, not abstract.

In a martial arts setting that makes learning very difficult, believe it or not. It’s not the part related to watching a technique and being able to perform it that I have difficulty with. It’s being able to watch some one do it, and then break it down into small understandable parts that can be explained and replicated. If you have a chance (and the time), Tim Ferris of 4 Hour Work Week fame, and a fellow martial artist, does a brilliant job of showing how to take the very complicated Samuari art form of Yabusume (shooting arrows at a target the size of coin while riding horseback) which you can see here.

Through years of martial arts training, and on a personal development level, I have found the these methods work in communicating the following teachable situations:

  • Processes to follow (for example teaching a sales process)
  • Habits to create and re-enforce (personal development coaches utilize this)
  • Sustained discipline of a specific activity (a parenting skill, notably for young children)
  • A basic teaching framework that supports more complex topics over time (provides a teaching foundation)

I am not talking here about historical knowledge transfer or the development of critical thinking. Nor am I talking about the complex process of teaching “development of self” – something that takes a long time to master in order to be able to teach. This is related to the component process model and it accounts for more than just providing knowledge in the process of learning. This deals with how to learn.

On a very practical level, I have broken this down to a 6 step process and it works well because you can take complex problems and whittle them into smaller pieces. It allows the student to build on what is being taught over time. Too often, teachers use a “drink from the firehose” approach. While sometimes that is necessary, it isn’t always optimal. The whole purpose of these 6 steps is to get you in the process of internalizing the information you know so you are able to share it with others.

Component Process Teaching Method

  1. Start Small – It isn’t always effective to teach someone a brand new process all it once. In martial arts training, when we teach kata (complex forms made of many movements performed in sequence) we only teach a certain number of moves at a time. We build or add to it overtime so the student can learn the movements appropriately. We even do this with black belts. It’s the same for something like teaching a sales process or learning a new habit. A student can’t be shown it one time and then be expected to do it. Simply start with showing/demonstrating/discussing part of the lesson so the student can absorb it properly.
  2. Provide Examples – This is for context and I am really big on this. In a physical art form (like karate) if I am teaching a new technique I explain when to use it and why. Often time’s teachers provide the theory but no context for when/where/why to use the technique. There is no use in teaching someone how to do a spinning back kick without explaining what situation you use it in. Similarly, if I am teaching a sales process, I want to share what is behind a specific approach so the student knows where I am going. For example there is no purpose in “calling high in an organization” if you can’t stay there – so I discuss examples early in my career of why not being able to stay at that level led to failure.
  3. Tell Stories – I mentioned above I like to make analogies and do this often in teaching. Doing this or telling a story around why you are teaching something specific helps a student “visualize” the problem or solution. You don’t always have to do this but honestly it is very effective for kids. That means, by extension, it’s perfect for adults. One of the best personal development coaches I have seen is Brendon Burchard. His personal story behind his best selling book “Life’s Golden Ticket” makes it easy to understand his pitch and is a great example of this.
  4. Actively Engage – This is done regularly by teachers with students in martial arts training simply because it is a physical activity. Teach a drill and then have the students do it themselves. We always say “more doing and less talking”. It’s the best way to learn a new process as it gets them actively engaged in the actual learning. I find it odd that business executives, personal development coaches and parents don’t do this more frequently. When teaching a specific process, technique or habit you should stop and have the student attempt to perform it. As the teacher, if you keep talking the student won’t really internalize the lesson and learn it.
  5. Constructive Criticism – Immediately after having the student “engage” come back together and provide a critique on what was done right and what wasn’t. Do it constructively for re-enforcement. For example, a parent might say “you did this part of what I asked well. The part that needs more work is…something we will keep at.” You don’t have to take someone’s head off to make a point (not that a parent necessarily would). Usually non-constructive criticism is driven by emotion and frustration of the teacher. Try to avoid that or your comments may simply shut the student down from learning.
  6. Confirm and Expand – To a degree, make sure the student gets the lesson and then move on. This can’t always be done, but it really needs to when dealing with relatively theoretical or complex issues. Make sure when you are teaching (sharing) something complicated the student gets it. Simply checking in with them to see if they understand is a good approach. On the dojo floor, one way we do this is to have the student stand up and re-explain a drill or technique and then perform it. Professional development coaches know this and do this naturally (usually). This approach works in all kinds of situations beyond martial arts training. Once you have can confirm understanding, move on to the next topic.

Get in the Habit
The process is as much about helping you understand what is being taught as it is about communicating the information to someone else, regardless of your personal or professional situation. To use the 6 step method I often try first to explain a new sales pitch/product idea/business concept/insert topic here to my wife. If I can’t explain it in this situaiton, I don’t understand it. Try that approach. If you can’t explain something face to face, you either don’t understand the concept well enough or don’t know how to present something. It’s a safe environment and it will put you in a position to understand how to break something up into the 6 steps outlined above.

As I said in my last post  – you have an obligation to teach others. This is true personal development. I’d love to hear some of the ways you share information as a teacher of anything. Tell me what works for you and what doesn’t. And thanks for training with me.

Photo Credit Courtesy of A.A

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Stop Learning, Start Teaching

by Marc Winitz

In karate training the number one quality of a black belt we look at when promoting up the ranks isn’t how high they can kick, or how many boards they can break. It’s how well he or she can teach others. I believe a pro-active teaching mentality pays dividends to anyone. It is not limited to just a martial arts context.

On the dojo floor we use the term “obligation” in regards to the necessity of teaching, but simply saying “the importance of teaching others” captures the spirit of this for any environment or situation. So, why should you teach?

If you are not teaching, you are not growing.

Are You an Expert?
There is a whole argument going on right now across the internet related to defining what an expert is. The ability to teach demonstrates a thought process of how well you understand something and can explain it to others. While being able to explain something well doesn’t make you an expert, if you can’t explain it or do it in a way where others can take action on it, it’s likely you don’t know what you are talking about. Or you haven’t put yourself in a publicly facing position to be able to articulate something. I don’t mean just be putting up a blog post (although that’s a good start and very beneficial). You need to go eyeball to eyeball with someone to get the full meaning of this. It’s not necessary to be an “expert” to teach.

Giving Back Brings Confidence
I am not covering the relatively obvious altruistic point of helping others. I’ll take that up in a future post. What’s not obvious is that most people that do share information (and I see this around the web a lot) don’t view themselves as teachers. They should. I don’t mean this as a way of demonstrating you superiority, just recognition to you that you have something to offer. One of the primary purposes of teaching is to build confidence in yourself and it’s a major part of why we do it in a martial arts context.

Advancing Your “Art”
The other major part of this is to further advance the overall body of knowledge of whatever topic you are discussing and to do it selflessly. In this sense you are sharing with others, just as much as you are teaching. We all see a lot of this around the web, notably in blogs with topics like how to sell, write better copy, do SEO, be a better cyclist – whatever your “art” is. Sharing Knowledge is one of the 6Elements, giving back to others through teaching. It’s connected directly to the tag line of this blog “Be Your Own Master” which is no accident.

Stop Learning and Start Teaching
A slightly provocative statement perhaps, I know. And I don’t mean “stop learning” literally – this is a life metaphor. I once had a PhD student that trained in karate with tell me he thought he needed to take one more class (he was an electrical engineer) in college before he felt he was sufficiently prepared to go out on his own. I told him to knock it off and not take the class and instead start teaching others. He didn’t need one more class, he just needed to get going. All I am saying is that if you are hung up on learning more, you probably should take a break and go out and teach something for awhile. Whether that is with a co-worker, a group of colleagues, or even just with your kids. This can be done subtlety; it doesn’t need to be framed as a way of your superiority over someone else. Share something that is important to you, why it is so and some steps on how to do it. You can also do this through your blog, and many do. That is a form of teaching but I really mean getting in front of others where you are put directly into a position of thinking through what you are teaching “on the fly”.

I’ll talk more about the mechanics of specific ways you can teach regardless of your situation in future posts. And a lot of this will deal specifically with teaching opportunities that present themselves in personal situations (read not through a blog).

If you are not teaching, you are not growing. You really need to teach. You can still learn by being a student to others, but taking a pro-active role in communicating concepts, ideas and methods really supports personal growth and development.

The actions we take in everyday life are no different than the ones Black Belts train by on a daily basis. You have an obligation to teach others. So tell me, are you teaching?

Photo Credit Courtesy of Self-Portrait Girl

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Mind Pushups – Build Concentration for Sustained Focus

by Marc Winitz

This is Part 2 of a series on developing Mind Focus.

My last post dealt with a basic definition of “mind focus”. I explained the idea in a martial arts context but it applies to everyday situations. A wandering mind can be a good thing for idea generation, creativity or other creative activities. However, a lot of life situations require periods of sustained focus to be effective. Business meetings, interaction with customers, teaching others, class room learning, important conversations and even raising children all require a level of consistent mental drive. The concept of mind focus centers on keeping your attention on whatever you are specifically doing in the moment.

“Everyday” War and Opportunities to Apply Focus
The focus I am discussing here was developed for warfare as it was means to protect yourself. Sustained focus supports hand-to-hand combat in the most physical sense. Punches flying, swords swinging, arrows flying – literal carnage. Fortunately those days are gone but they have been replaced by the everyday dealings of modern society. Like the carnage of a boss droning on, following a Twitter feed, etc…Believe it or not, you are exposed to this type of “combat” regularly through:

  • Working under deadlines;
  • Being thrust into situations where you feel like you have no control (e.g. an emergency such as a car accident);
  • Presenting in a front of a large group of people;
  • Having to make any decision but notably difficult ones (business, financial, personal, etc…)

A distracted mind breaks concentration and cannot focus in a sustained way.

Conditioning Your Mind to Focus
I used the term “conditioning” on purpose because training your mind in this way is very much a workout. The term “mind pushup” was introduced in the last post as a Black Belt Guide application and it refers to a very specific basic technique you can apply to physically focus your mind. This is something I developed over years of martial arts training and I teach it to karate students. It’s a simple training mechanism.

When you apply it to active listening techniques with written follow-up you can train yourself for sustained focus.

Active Listening
The active listening process is simply intent to listen for meaning when others are speaking such as in a:

  • Presentation;
  • Lecture;
  • Business meeting;
  • one on one conversation with another person

A good definition of it can be found here. It takes work to actively listen as your mind is the major barrier to hearing everything that is said. Your mind wants to do what it does best: think, process, respond, counter an argument, whatever. But you need it to concentrate. It is a literal interpretation of the Taoist philosophy of Yin and Yang.

Listening deteriorates even more because your eyes absorb visual sources of information, disrupting concentration. That’s a stimulated environment and it interferes with sustained focus. Relating this to a martial arts perspective, you never really want to look at your opponents eyes during combat. It’s a distraction and causes your mind to wonder, even if just momentarily. You basically look at their head without looking directly at their eyes. The basic focus technique counters this problem. There is a whole pile of Zen meditation that is part of developing this type of focus but we won’t cover that here. The technique below is something anyone can do and you’ll get practical results from it.

Use Active Listening to Build Concentration and Sustained Focus
Fortunately there are no kicks, punches or golf or tennis balls to hit to improve this. The use of active listening is a substitute for physical training techniques to build mind focus. To develop active listening you need to be in situations where a fairly large amount of information is discussed, or presented. Business meetings, a lecture, a long conversation with a friend, or even watching a movie are all good for this.

  1. Listen to everything that is said in the exchange;
  2. Use the basic focus technique to keep your focus and improve your ability to concentrate. If possible pick a point other than someone’s eyes . I realize it is not possible to do this in a conversation or some meetings but where possible it is preferable. Your mind can concentrate more easily if you can avoid eye contact;
  3. Take small notes during the information exchange (unless it is a personal conversation). The notes are cues to help you remember what was said;
  4. When the exchange is done write down every thing you can from memory. This part of the exercise forces you to concentrate even though it occurs after the exchange. And yes, you will be using the basic focus technique while you perform this step.
  • Write down all the major concepts that were discussed in detail. Write as much as you can.
  • If you taught a class and a question and answer session unfolded write down all the questions asked and the answers provided.
  • Try and write all the information down from the exchange no longer than 24 hours after it occurred.
  • If you are having difficulty remembering everything because your mind starts to wonder, use the basic focus technique to regain your mind focus.

The basic formula is:  Focus > Actively Listen > Document for Concentration

It is amazing how much your mind is forced to focus on exact details and not wonder when you do this. I can’t tell you the number of people who think I have a photographic memory (I don’t and actually find my mind to be particularly weak versus other people I know) when I provide a trip report for a business meeting as an example.

Quick side note: It’s a very Western concept to constantly engage others with the eyes. It shows confidence, power and alertness. But it’s not always needed all the time. When I go into business meetings I am in full blown “combat” mode, meaning I am alert and engaged. But I also focus my eyes off of specific people for periods of time to keep my focus so I can actively listen in a sustained manner.

I’d enjoy hearing your challenges in keeping focused and how you get yourself back on track. Let me know how this set of techniques works for you. Worst case you’ll have detailed notes to fall back on – never a bad thing in business or school settings.

Photo credit courtesy of Thomas Hawk

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Mind Pushups – Understanding Focus

by Marc Winitz

This is Part 1 of a series on developing focus. There is a scene I like on one of the Harry Potter movies where Harry’s nemesis has potentially found a way to infiltrate his mind. One of young Potter’s professors has been assigned to help him train him against an epic life or death mental battle he’ll soon be facing due to this weakness.

“Focus your mind, Potter” his teacher barks sternly. Harry, who looks like he is on the verge of a stroke just stares back at his master as if he is just saying “Great. Just how do I do that?”

I want you to stop reading this post for about 10 seconds and look at the point between the attractive eyes of the woman.  Don’t blink, just look at the one point. Eyes are extremely deceptive when you are engaging (either in thought or a combative situation). We’ll come back to this later because it is key to this post series on focus.

Mind Warfare – Broken Focus
The concept of focus is simple to explain but difficult to teach. Getting focused is difficult. Being able to stay focused is even harder. So, let me ask you. Do any of these situations sound familiar?

  • You start work on something only to forget what you are doing while you are in the middle of doing it;
  • Your talking with someone and they say something you swear you hear but you can’t remember what they said moments later (aside from talking with a spouse);
  • You start talking about something only to “forget what you wanted to say” right in the middle of it.

In a martial arts context any of these examples is referred to as a “suki” which roughly translates to “a space between objects”. It just means there is no continuous flow of your mind (focus): the mind has temporarily paused to a distraction (meaning it has been defeated).

The bulleted examples above pretty much describe most people I know, including myself. Being “focused” is at total odds with what your mind is designed to do naturally. It wants to engage the environment around it: to think, absorb, react, challenge, accept pleasure, reject pain, or even just be tired. It does not naturally want to exist in a calm state or rest in one place.  The mind is at the center of a pitched battle with many competing priorities – something it enjoys. Your ability to “manage” the internal battle in your head determines how successful you can focus when you need to.

There is nothing wrong with the mind doing this by the way, I am just pointing out its natural state of being. There are a lot of times where we don’t want the mind to be particularly focused. It’s how we learn for example.

However, when you are trying to get something done you need to rely on “mind focus”. When any of the situations I outlined above occur you may say to yourself “I need to focus”. Honestly, that is just distraction. You can’t will yourself to focus. But you can work on how to get it back and continue to improve staying in a Centered Harmony state, one of the 6 Elements I refer to that lead to a command of self and situation.

Isn’t Martial Arts Mental? (Only in a physical sense)
When I talk with people about Karate training invariably the conversation always turns to the mental aspects of it. Someone will say “Isn’t there a whole mental part to it?” There is, with a lot going on behind the “mental” reference. What I refer to as mind focus is what is easily pointed to as the primary “mental” part that most people can conceptually understand.

There are many definitions of the concept “Focus”. It can mean having a specific track or goal you consistently work on like:

  • “My focus for the next 6 months is to lose weight”, or
  • “Our companies focus over the next year is to become leading maker of widgets”.

Generally focus in this context is goal related. To be clear, I am not talking about that.

Mind focus is actually developed in a physical setting that translates over time to something usable in your mental state of being. Most people think focus is strictly a mental process. It is, but you can only really master it through physical action or activity (which includes meditation).

Focus Development Explained – Don’t “Be The Ball”
A common martial arts training process to build focus is to punch/kick/strike to the exact point you want to strike or hit towards and to do it repeatedly. In this type of practice we spend a lot of time punching and kicking at a specific target. At first, when a student is just learning, their level of physical control is not very good. A beginner practicing a punching drill will punch towards a partner’s face but stop about 12-18 inches away from the end of the target (nose). Over time as the student gains more control over their body, the space between a fist or foot strike and the target being focused on shrinks.

At a black belt level the student is doing a full power strike that is considered lethal but stops within a hair width of the target. This physical training of “focus” on where the student strikes correlates directly to mind focus.

This is what is meant by the term “focus”. It relies on a deliberate training aspect to concentrate the mind.

Some other examples that describe this same concept include:

  • Practicing tennis or golf, where you are repeatedly hitting practice balls over and over the concept is similar. It’s more about concentrating on the ball as you approach it and less about the physical technique of improving your swing(s) which is a nice by product;
  • If you play music, like piano for instance, the regular repetition of playing scales emulates this same concept almost identically.

You’ve probably heard the snarky statement “be the ball” before. You actually don’t want to be the ball at all (because they get hit a lot). You just want to focus on the interaction between you and the object. All of these activities absorb you and as you develop any of these skills over time you can get closer to the specific target with a very high degree of accuracy (hitting the ball how you want to, playing the notes correctly, etc…) which leads to this:

Concentrated repetition leads to mind focus development.

Mind Pushups – Part 1 of a 2 Step Process
The term “mental pushups” is somewhat popular but slightly inaccurate for what we are discussing here. We aren’t developing our “mental”, whatever that is. We are strengthening our mind to achieve laser focus (another popular term). So, how do we do this? Here is a very basic technique you can start using now.

(Hint: It’s all about controlling your eyes…)

Basic Focus Technique

  • Pick a point (a doorknob, the edge of a picture frame) something that is not overly stimulating to your mind. You can even use the “eyes” photograph at the top of this post. The point needs to be 10-30 feet away from you;
  • Focus both of your eyes on the point for 5-10 seconds. Do your best to just focus on the point without thinking about anything in specific;
  • Take your eyes of the point for a few moments;
  • Re-focus your eyes back on the point for another 5-10 second interval;
  • Try to stare at the object somewhat intensely focusing your vision directly on part of the object (the lock in the middle of the door knob, the tip of the frame corner, the eye photo, etc…)
  • Do this sequence 3-4 times and then rest.
  • Try this once a day for 3-4 days. It’s quick and starts the training process in a very discreet way.

It won’t make complete sense now but don’t worry about it. Just practice this a few times a day for a few days. The technique gets applied to interacting with people in part 2 of this series. And fortunately for you the full technique doesn’t involve you having to do 1000′s of punches or kicks (you can just sit in a chair).

Preview of Part 2 – Active Listening
I’ll be discussing the second part of this process in the next post. We will explore basic active listening, how to do it successfully, and how to use the Basic Focus technique described above to support a real world Black Belt Guide application to further develop your ability to focus in personal, academic or business settings.

Thanks for training with me.

Photo Credit courtesy of Lan Bui

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Be Hard On Yourself – The Zen of “How”

by Marc Winitz

If you are new to this blog please don’t think this post is about self-flagellation. Because it is not (yet). Sure, you come to this site, see the two ukes (dudes in the front of the blog header picture) training with a sensei standing menacingly in the background who is holding something that looks like it inflects a lot of pain. And the first part of the post title may start to make some sense.

I am often asked what is the most difficult part of martial arts training on the path to becoming a black belt. Defending against three person attacks? Nope. Performing a flying kick over someone else and breaking a board in the air? Not really. The hardest part is making yourself train when you don’t want to. The actual act of training is the metaphor for the process of living in a martial arts context as I have written about here. In a nutshell, if you want to become a black belt (in anything) it all boils down to this simple sentence.

Do what you need to do, when you don’t want to do it.

Stop and re-read that sentence. This is the Zen of “How”, digestible for Western meaning.

The Motivation “Pill”
Assuming you could turn the sentence above into a pill it would be the greatest selling “motivation” item of late night cable infomercials for all time. Hell, I’d buy it. Most people beat around the bush when it comes to understanding how to maintain sustained productive action. I am not talking about motivation. You can be highly motivated and still not do what you need to do all the time. I am also not saying it doesn’t help or doesn’t make the process of succeeding easier because motivation does do this. But motivation usually relates to a short term catalyst for the principle I am talking about: How to commit yourself to push through something when life presents a difficult obstacle to overcome. Interestingly on a personal development level the obstacles I am referring to  are mundane. They are not big or life changing. They are ever present and always around us. When you run into these situations your have your own “teachable moment” that is an opportunity which is waiting so you can make your self better.

I am waiting for all the arrows to come from success coaches, motivational speakers and personal development bloggers now (which I will gladly accept).

Why “Just Do It” Doesn’t Cut It
An old college friend and successful venture capitalist named Mark Suster writes a terrific blog on start-ups at Both Sides of the Table. One of his excellent posts deals with his belief that successful people (his audience is entrepreneurs) should “Just Do It”. However, Mark turns that acronym into JFDI. You can guess what emphasis the “F” provides. In a business sense Mark is a warrior. And his post gets the point across in the start-up context very candidly.

I contend that the phrase “Just Do It” really means:

“Just Do It Because “It” Is Really Hard, But If You Do Push Yourself

When You Don’t Want To You Will Succeed”.

Except that the marketing people at Nike realized that wasn’t so snappy even if the principle was sound. So they shortened it to the popular phrase that now dominates our lexicon. Unfortunately the part that got lost is the “how” in this process. Which leads me to the point of this post which is all about the how, not the why. There are too many people writing and advocating “Just Do It”. As a teacher I can’t help you any more than the billions of dollars Nike has spent telling you why. We are going to talk about the “how” part which is the 20 words following the three word slogan above.

How Pleasure Eliminates Pain (Not Really)
OK, now that I have everyone’s feathers ruffled a bit, let’s get into the core of this problem. There is a natural tendency to move from things that are painful to things that are of pleasure. Why not move to a place of pleasure? That’s what motivational speakers and advice givers tell us. Things are nice and easy in Pleasureville. We are told “this is where you should spend your time”. I am happy. I have a “passion”. I want to spend my time doing fun things.

You are probably saying to yourself “I just paid you a lot of money for your course or book on how to be successful and motivated and I want to feel good about that.” It’s a good thing menacing Karate teachers still exist well past the days of the Samurai – so go with me on this and read on.

Believe me when I say that a lot of motivational advice does a great job of not telling you what you don’t want to hear. So it’s time for the gloves to come off (figuratively). I am sorry to say that the pleasure principle, which is sold in droves, does nothing to enhance your ability to do what you must do. It doesn’t eliminate pain at all, it enhances it.

I’m No Snowflake – How Does Pain Avoidance Hurt Me?

It’s actually pretty simple. When you avoid doing things you don’t feel like doing you are moving from pain to pleasure. Or at least less pain. But that transition away causes mental weakness. By moving away from things that are difficult or even things you just don’t feel like doing you lose the opportunity to train yourself to follow through in virtually any circumstance. Once a year I would go to the snow in the middle of Winter and the desert in the dead heat of summer to train in extreme conditions. Hours on end punching and kicking among the swirl of the elements. It is in this moment that you learn how to become dedicated to something, one of the 6 Elements that I have discussed in previous posts. You don’t have to like something or have a passion for something to be dedicated to it. But when you can dedicate yourself to pushing through anything that is not easy (read hard, monotonous, boring, tenuous, painful physically or mentally) that is were the real progress is made. This is being a warrior.

There were many times during my pre-black belt days where I didn’t want to go to class. I trained hard the previous days before. My body was sore. I didn’t want to do more push-ups. My arms and legs hurt from throwing punches and executing blocks against kicks. Yet I trained anyways. I went to class. I taught others students. I was mentally tired but forced myself to be present. To focus and push on. It is in those moments when you learn (read internalize) the “how” of doing what you don’t want to do.

A Simple Exercise – The Zen of “How”
I am new to this form of blog (personal development) so the whole “7 Steps to Being More Motivated” is an approach I am not yet comfortable with. There is no 7 Step program for learning how to do what you need to do, when you don’t want to do it. However, you can put yourself in a similar process, without any martial arts training, to begin to understand how you can get to this state.

You’ll notice, I said “simple exercise” above. We are talking about doing something once a week for 3 weeks. “Weeks” you say? I don’t have weeks. I have blogs to write, tweets to send, whatever. 3 weeks is short time in comparison to the payoff you will get and believe me it took years for me to understand and internalize how to do this. I am talking about real personal development here that is action oriented in the simplest way possible that anyone can accomplish.

Step 1: Make a list of 10 activities you have been putting off that you know you need to do. You haven’t done them because they are painful so you have averted them in exchange for some form of pleasure.

Some examples are things like:

  • cleaning out your garage
  • hauling some stuff away from mom’s house she asked you to do six months ago
  • cleaning all the outside windows of your house
  • weeding the backyard (I despise weeding)
  • organizing your office or closet
  • clean up your bathroom completely (perfect if you have roommates)

You get the general idea here. The tasks should be something you can complete in one day in a period of 2 to 8 hours. Also, don’t pick some form of exercise instead. Or a hobby. Or something for your business. That actually defeats the purpose here. Do any of those things in addition to this. Nothing that you couldn’t easily blow off as soon as your best friend called and said “what’s you doing?” to which you reply “nothing, want to go out?”. You’ll be telling them “no thanks, we’ll have to schedule another time” while you curse my name under your breath.

You’ll notice that a lot of the suggested tasks involve some form of “cleaning”. That’s no accident. It’s called “soji” which is a process of cleaning a dojo that has many meanings. I’ll save this for another post in our digital dojo here (lucky you, more cleaning).

“But I work hard all week and want to enjoy the weekend” you are going to say to yourself. I know. And that is exactly the point of this. Why? Because that’s the attitude a black belt (or someone training hard to become one) takes when it comes to training and personal development. They never take the easy out. They do what they have to do when they don’t want to do it.

Step 2: Pick any 3 items and write them down on a list in the order you will do them. On the top of the list write in big letters “BBG” which is short for Black Belt Guide. That’s me and I’ll be your paper sensei for the next three weeks. Post the list somewhere prominent where you have to see it every day such as your office, kitchen, or bathroom (lucky you, I am in your bathroom).

Keep the list posted prominently in a public and NON-computerized setting. Why write it down versus put on your computer as a reminder? Because you can turn that off, delete it, cancel the reminder, etc…In short you can blow it off if you are not forced to look at it.

Step 3: You will do 1 item per week for three weeks. Again, each item should take 2 to 8 hours.

How Do I Read The Tea Leaves?
This is a real personal development exercise. You are putting yourself in a position where you are making yourself do something you don’t really want to do. Whether you accomplish some, all or none of the items the value to you is to examine why you are or are not following through. This exercise is not that different from standing in the middle of the snow and doing 1000 kicks and punches in terms of the outcome. It’s easy to give up in that situation. In this exercise it is relatively easy to accomplish as you get to set the goal, it’s not dictated to you.

A Final Thought
I am as into pleasure and avoidance of any kind of pain as the next person. And I value my time, as I am sure you do as well. You will reap great benefits from examining this underlying principle that black belts regularly train by. Once you have gone through this exercise you will have experienced the beginning seeds of an Indomitable Spirit, which is the development of your personal will, another one of the 6 Elements.

I am not a personal coach but if you would like some support in the process, feel free to send me an email (my address is the contact page for this site) and I’ll be glad to virtually support you. And the worst case out of this is that you’ll have a clean garage. Perhaps my first book should be  titled “Zen and the Art of Garage Cleaning”?

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You Can Win By Losing

by Marc Winitz

A big part of managing any conflict involves knowing when to make a stand, dig in and fight for something, as well as yielding when it really is not worth it to take that course. There are always some people who feel like they have to come out on top or their “public persona” will be damaged if anything less than “looking right” or “being right” comes out of the situation. We all struggle with the need to be right. I have seen this apply to business relationships, personal interactions with friends or even intimate relationships with a spouse or significant other. But you don’t always have to be. And more importantly you can save yourself a lot of grief by recognizing those that do. In a lot of situations you can actually come out ahead simply by avoiding a conflict.

In a martial arts context this concept is called “winning by losing”. Most people automatically think that a highly trained black belt, with all the physical tools and fighting ability learned over many years, would always opt to fight their way out of situation, even one that physically threatens them. Interestingly enough that’s not the case.

Backed Into a Corner, but not Against a Wall
Years ago as a newly minted brown belt I was put in a very public situation with someone where the seemingly only outcome was a physical exchange. For me to have walked from the situation would be considered embarrassing by those around me. This person decided to pick on me (not knowing I was relatively accomplished in Karate) and was pushing for a fight as a way to prove his point. I would have “lost face” by not standing up to him to some. In this situation I made the determination that regardless of the personal issue this person had with me, my life wasn’t in any real danger. We weren’t going to sort out how was right and who was wrong either because he wasn’t being rational. It wasn’t worth fighting about so based on that I turned and literally walked away from the conflict.

Turning from Conflict – No Dishonor
Could I have come out on top had this situation escalated? Certainly I could have. As I walked away the person shouted personal insults. It must have made him feel better about himself. I just let the comments pass. His anger was misrouted and his comments were meaningless to me. I gained nothing by staying and facing off with him. Perhaps more importantly I was unconcerned with what others thought of me. I knew there was no dishonor by taking the action of walking away and not engaging. That goes against our typical cultural norm. But it took being the bigger person mentally and emotionally to walk versus escalate the conflict.

Itching For a Fight – 3 Know It Alls
I’ve identified three personality types that fall into this characterization and not all are necessarily worth engaging if you don’t need to:

1. I Am Never Wrong. We all know people like this. There are some that cannot be wrong about an issue no matter what is being discussed. This person is the class Smarty Pants. They are always right in their mind and you’re not. And it doesn’t even matter who “you” are. They are full of verbal bluster. People in this category often have toxic personalities.  Assess them and make a judgment of whether or not you really want to be around them.

Redirect Back Towards (not at) Them: I usually say “it seems like this is really important to you. I disagree with your point/argument but I understand it is important to you”. By saying this you are validating the importance of their position to them without conceding the actual argument. Or sometimes I win by losing simply by walking away from them. This is the hardest of the three characterizations to deal with because sometimes you have to deal with this person. They may be a boss, supervisor or someone you must work with. This is more of ongoing sparring match fighting for some issues and letting other things go.

2. What Do You Think I Am, Stupid? Someone is usually “saving face” when they act like this. Although this is a very “Eastern” concept, none of us enjoy looking stupid in any culture. In these kind of situations the person actually knows that that their point is incorrect, or perhaps they stated something upfront in a conversation that later was later exposed as factually wrong. But they’re going to keep arguing anyways. A “bigger” person will see this and correct themselves or say they misunderstood, providing some acknowledgment that there point/argument wasn’t correct. But a lot of people won’t do this which I find unfortunate.

Introspective Action: If this is you and you stated something wrong – own it and make amends. And in situations where you know the other person needs to save face, help them get out of the situation gracefully. One way to do this is simply to say “It’s understandable you are passionate about this point/argument it just seems that the facts show this differently from your initial discussion.”

3. Captain Argument We’ve all met him at one time or another. The Captain enjoys argument for the sake of doing it. This is probably the least “insidious” of the three categories because sometimes it is motivated by the person’s intellectual curiosity. That’s fine if that is all it is and both sides are up for it. The problem occurs when one person isn’t up for it making it an energy wasting exchange.

Let Them Sail On: For this type of person, assuming I do not feel compelled to really make my point stick, I just let them run their course. This person is basically harmless. Usually I’ll acknowledge their comments without validating them specifically saying something along the lines of “I hear what you are saying” or “That is certainly one way to look at this”.

There is a lot of gray to the point I am making here. I am not suggesting you always walk away from a situation when you encounter one of these personality types. But at least recognize the situation for what it is and then make a decision if you should “Win by Losing” as I describe here.

I’d like to hear your stories on situations such as these that you have been involved in because sometimes conflict isn’t avoidable. But a lot of the time it is. How did you handle them?

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My Breath as a Weapon

by Marc Winitz

“Everyone was watching and the situation grew tense. At first I was confident. And then a moment a later everything changed. I was hit in the chest and I couldn’t breathe.”

Alright, before you run away this post isn’t about bad breath, how to turn off members of the opposite sex or even a free plug for Altoids. I have been noticing the number of tweets being sent out to “just breathe” lately. Usually tied to some reference to the word “zen”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as much of a fan of respiration as the next person. But there is real power to be had in breathing if done correctly. I am talking about zen breathing, not just the regular upper chest version we instinctually do to bring oxygen into the body. This is being in the moment in a very conscious way. Having “Centered Harmony”, one of the 6 Elements. Want to live in the moment as so many people are also talking about this year? You can start by proactively focusing on full body breathing.

Common Situations that Force Poor Breathing

Do you ever experience situations like these?

  • Calming down an irrational and upset child
  • Arguing with a spouse or significant other
  • Dealing with an irate customer
  • Asking someone out on a date
  • Presenting in front of a large group of people
  • Asking your boss for a raise
  • A physical emergency

All of us do. I am pretty confident that regardless of the situation, your body is tense when any of these occur. So much so that your breathing physically and noticeably changes forcing your mind to concentrate on the tension of the situation you are in. That causes a chain reaction making your mind focus on what your body is doing, further distracting you from the situation at hand. In a very tangible way, if you are experiencing any of the above, you are not “centered” enough to be in the moment. The popular blog ZenHabits talks about the “why” of breathing. In this post we will cover how to breath properly.

Notice how the top of your chest tightens when you are in one of the situation mentioned above? That’s because we have a tendency to breathe into the top part of our longs. Being “centered” means you literally breathe into the middle of your body. We are going to spend a little time exploring this more so don’t reach for the Altoids yet.

I’ve seen people literally stop breathing in many of the above examples. Why? Because any particular situation can take control of you at the expense of allowing relaxation in the moment. When you’re tense, you can’t breathe effectively. When you don’t breathe correctly you don’t think or react well causing somewhat of an unbreakable cycle.

Consciously focusing on proper full body breathing helps to solve this problem.

The Beginning of a Journey
Secretly and deep inside we are captivated by the idea of “being a black belt”. The mystique associated with martial arts adeptness is so exotic. Don’t you love the idea of being in control? I do. Most people want to show discipline in the face of challenge and distraction. We even want some measure of physical confidence in the form of personal (and sometimes emotional) security.

I remember as a teenager watching Bruce Lee in “Enter the Dragon” – I was completely mesmerized as to how he could take command of an entire situation: Physically, mentally, and emotionally. He would instinctively “feel” the situation, thoroughly defending himself with a flurry of kicks and punches, all while yelping like a demon and striking fear into his opponents. Those primal screams he made were simply forced exhalations of breathing in a controlled manner. To me it just sounded cool.

Believe it or not you can’t optimally be in control of yourself unless you consciously work on your breathing. Most people always ask if I like “doing” martial arts. I don’t. I enjoy “living” it because I “breathe” it. And that is the difference. I am always “doing it” by being in the moment as much as I can. Concentrating. Focusing. And most importantly I am consciously working on full-body breathing.

At an advanced level doing martial arts doesn’t necessarily mean physical training. That’s simply a vehicle to understand an underlying martial arts principle, like breathing. The purpose of this discussion is to show the concepts and capabilities of the physical art form and describe them to a point where you can apply them in everyday life. And guess what – you are already doing it to some degree, so take a deep breath and keep reading.

A Quick Story – Learning to Breathe
All meaningful journeys involve hard lessons and this was one of the first lessons I really learned on my path to being a black belt. But it had nothing to do with taking a punch. Or even having less than perfect breath control for that matter.

In my early training as a kohai (junior belt) I would try to kick as high as I could. Bruce Lee did it in the movies and I wanted to as well. I was pleased with my progress as I am not very flexible but my kicks kept getting higher and stronger. One day in class during kicking drills a sensei told me to lower my kick to no higher than above the knee. “What does he know” I thought to myself. The word “sensei” is Japanese for “teacher” and roughly translates to “one who has gone before”.

It was my turn to spar a senior student at a class one day. I was very confident in myself. A bit cocky really. My kicks were pretty decent (if you knew how inflexible I was/am that’s saying something). I was in good physical condition and I had been recently promoted to a higher belt rank. The senpai (senior student, or mentor) I was fighting was smaller than me. We performed a rei (bow) to each other and we assumed fighting positions. I was bigger in size and thought I would win the match. All I could think about was scoring with a full round house kick to his head. Oh, the glory if I could connect. For a fleeting moment I was Bruce Lee. Yep.

I stalked my sparring partner and barked out some martial arts noises “a la” any bad audio track dubbed into a 1970’s Hong Kong fight movie. The rate of my breathing increased dramatically. I was breathing only into the top of my lungs. I moved into position waiting for the right moment trying to intimidate him with verbal yelps and menacing body movements. The senpai was calm and simply stared at my upper body. He never really engaged my eyes. All of the sudden he exploded, leaping at me unexpectedly with a flurry of kicks and punches. Startled, I barely jumped out of the way. My heart raced as I breathed heavily. Trying to react to the situation and defend myself I started a head kick but my breathing was forced and uneven. Just as I took the first step to do the head kick he caught my foot with his, redirecting my attention downward as he kicked into my shin. I felt pain. And then the full force of his fist right against my chest as he knocked the wind out of me. In one moment he took control of the situation and scored a full point. He was centered and I was dejected.

After I stepped out of the ring the sensei approached me. “You were going to try and use roundhouse to kick towards his head, weren’t you?” he stated disapprovingly. “Yes sir”, I answered sheepishly” while I attempted to regain my breath. “Next time you’re in the ring, don’t focus on anything, it’s all a distraction. Relax your body and breathe from the bottom of your stomach filling your lungs all the way to the top. And never kick above the knee as there is no need. That’s how a black belt wins,” he said.

Breathing is Second Nature – What’s the Lesson?
All zen activity, including martial arts training, revolves around breathing correctly. It is central to everything else that is studied. It is how:

  • Tremendous physical power can be generated in any activity
  • Deep concentration in a distracting environment is maintained
  • A relaxed mind, a critical element to having control of a situation, occurs.

 

A Simple Full Body Breathing Technique – 3 Steps
Most people breathe and fill only the top part of their lungs. While this maintains normal respiration (important) it is not effective to control breathing when you need to. But bringing air into the center of your body stabilizes you physically and mentally.

Here are three simple steps you can practice to improve your breathing so that you can focus in any situation:

  1. Breathe air through your mouth focusing on filling the bottom of your lungs first. Think of how milk is poured into a glass, filling from up from the bottom to the top. Try and visualize the air coming into your lungs in the same way.
  2. Count slowly to yourself “one, two, three…” all the way to eight as you inhale. You want to see your stomach expand out as you breath in.
  3. Once your lungs are full press your stomach in (like you are sucking it in to make yourself look thinner) as you exhale, forcing all the air out of your lungs. It’s fine if your breath makes a loud sound on exhalation, which shows you getting all the air out of your lungs. The air should exit you lungs from the top down. Count to eight as you exhale. The air should come out slowly and constantly.

Congratulations, you’ve done it. Your first full body breath. And you are on you way to being in better control of yourself during any of the situations mentioned above.

What About Those Primal Screams?
So what is it with those primal yelps you here in martial arts movies? It’s the air being forced out rapidly through a deep full body breath. The noise is that end is a technique that forces all of the air out of your body. It’s also supposed to scare the opponent. Technically speaking there is no need for you to do the yelping to get the benefit of full body breathing.

You can practice this technique anytime. In fact a good way to do it is just while you are at home. Try the technique for no more than a minute at a time. At first this won’t be easy. You can do this initially while you are at rest, and then during periods of exercise. It is an excellent way to get your breath back after intense physical exercise. Over time you will develop a greater lung capacity. Purposefully focusing on your breathing also leads to a calm mind, but we will save that for another post.

Now, the next time someone tells you your breath is a weapon, take that as a complement. Or you can fantasize about being Bruce Lee while eating a chili dog. Altoid anyone?

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Welcome to My Digital Dojo

by Marc Winitz

Photo courtesy of Vincent®

I’ve wanted to write Black Belt Guide since 2004. I love writing and teaching and I have wanted to share so many of the tremendous benefits of martial arts training to a wider audience for a long time. I started Karate training in 1982 at the age of 16, competing in my first AAU national Japanese Karate tournament at the age 20 and founding my first dojo at the age of 23.

Be A Black Belt, In Life
One of the greatest things about martial arts training is that the physical and mental skills you learn can be applied to any part of life. Often I am asked “what’s it like to be a black belt”. I’ll get more into this in the forthcoming posts I write, but this blog isn’t about martial arts, per se. My purpose in writing this is to share with you what are the core elements that black belts possess in my view, and how you, without any training, can develop yourself to have a black belt mentality. A warrior’s attitude. You don’t have to punch or kick to “do martial arts”. But, you do have to show up.

So, can you fly?
Seriously, what is it with the flying thing and martial arts? There are so many misconceptions. Want to learn how to smash your hand through a brick and impress your girlfriend? Well you won’t learn that little technique here. But you will learn how to develop your mind to push through any barrier, which is what the purpose of “breaking” anything is about. How about making all those primal Kung Fu noises like Bruce, Jackie or Jean Claude? We won’t cover that here either. However we will talk about how to control your breathing and use it to generate power (see the next post). And sorry to disappoint – there is no flying involved in any of this.

As a Vice President in large information technology company I don’t get as much of a chance to workout like I used to. But I am always doing martial arts, even in business settings. I don’t mean throttling an un-cooperative customer (not that I wouldn’t like to sometimes). I mean understanding when to walk away from a conflict not worth fighting over – like an unreasonable demand – or holding your ground without flinching, such as in a high stakes negotiation. Or talking with your nine year old.

An Attitude – Developed
Ultimately, martial arts training, and by extension being a black belt, is all about being in control of yourself. That sounds like an odd statement (aren’t we all in control of ourselves?). But really it isn’t (because we aren’t “in control” as much as we can be). There are a lot of blogs on the internet today providing very good advice on “how to be productive” and “10 steps you can take to accomplish your goals”. All with very good advice and noble intentions. But few of them help their readers recognize the underlying skills and principles that need to be applied to succeed. And that’s what we are going to do here.

I Rei to You (we are bowing to each other now)
I want to thank you for coming by my digital dojo and seeing what I have to offer. I hope to create a little community that can benefit from the ideas presented here. And like all good dojos (and communities) I hope to learn from you too. So please, join in the conversation. In a Japanese karate dojo it is very common to acknowledge those who have trained before us and have passed knowledge along over generations. “To those who have gone before…” I bow to you. And to those that come I bow as well in friendship and understanding.

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