What the Transporter needed to learn to achieve his complete potential.

Years ago I remember reading an article about Jason Statham in a fitness magazine. The point of the article was about self-discipline. Coming from a former Olympic diver, who has had to use self-discipline to get where he had already gotten, it was a pretty authentic article. I remember vividly a quote in the article that went something like this, “if you have to have a trainer to motivate you and ensure you get a good workout, you might as well quit.”

Fast forward a couple of years, same fitness magazine, another article about Jason Statham...this time, to get in prime condition for a role, he had enrolled with a trainer, and was talking about how he was pushed further and harder than he had ever been in his life. His physique showed the difference as well.

This isn't about disproving the need for self-discipline, to the contrary, realizing that self-discipline is incredibly important it is acknowledging another factor necessary for great achievement, accountability. You may be saying that accountability and self-discipline are very related, you would be right. What world class athletes have learned is that the outside accountability of a coach really helps them achieve their full potential.

In the martial arts world, this accountability typically comes from a teacher or coach. Often though, the demands of time and our work life take us from our teacher, or at least regular face to face contact with them. Unless we actively set something up to maintain a relationship of accountability with our teacher, often times we are left with our self-discipline as our only guide.

I am reminded of a story I heard and is written in Paul Gallagher’s book, Drawing Silk. The story is of one master visiting another master, both had students in attendance. Before the visit was over, the one master did some Taiji and asked for corrections from the other master. Some of his students were surprised by this. His answer was simple, even a master could benefit from corrections.

Of course, there are also many other reasons why you might find yourself without a teacher/student relationship. Our recommendation for those of us striving towards mastery, is to either find a new teacher, or at least a mentor that can provide us with the relationship of accountability. If nothing else seems to work, form a peer group to accomplish the task.

Accountability is too important to neglect, and is a piece of the overall betterment that mastery requires.

Rich on Google+

Thinker V. Doer

My last blog focused on the inseparable nature of academics from mastery of a martial art. Don’t expect a recant here. You obviously have to be able to study, learn and think in the martial arts. This has more to do with getting stuck in the cerebral realm.

5 frogs were sitting on a log, two decided to jump in the pond, how many frogs were left sitting on the log?

Hmmmmm. Let’s see, 5 frogs, two decided...that means that 5 frogs are still on the log, none acted. Action is often the difference between those that think and decide and those that achieve. Obviously there is a whole body of work out here about this relationship and the shortfalls of non-action. You wouldn’t think that participants in martial arts (a fundamentally physical art form) would  have this challenge. Some, in fact do.

There is a vigorous conversation amongst teachers, one side throws out such wisdom of founding artists as this quote by Mas Oyama:

In Martial Arts, introspection begets wisdom. Always see contemplation of your actions as an opportunity to improve.

One side of this conversation will look at this quote and focus on the contemplation, the thinking part. The other side will focus on the need for actions. Both sides are right, the ones that focus on one side or the other are the ones that have it wrong.

Master Jou Tsung Hwa in his book the Tao of Meditation.discusses that thinking and ideas are a yin aspect while doing and action are the yang aspect of the complete martial art. We should all remember this concept as we pass down the road to mastery of our respective arts.

Rich on Google+

The Academics of Martial Arts

A question came up in class last night that really helped me put this topic into perspective. The question was one that led into a conversation of the philosophy upon which our art is based. This blog isn't about a specific art, but Martial Arts in general, so I won’t get into the specifics. The question is important because of where it led and the fact that all martial arts are based upon philosophies. To work towards mastery of a martial art, a practitioner has to study, understand and embody the philosophy upon which that specific art is based.

I am certain that many will disagree with this concept...I have read plenty of internet discussions specifically contrary to it. Many feel that the only true martial component is the physical. I definitely won’t disagree with the fact that a martial art is not real, unless it is based in the martial. By it’s definition, martial arts are about warfare, fighting. As with anything else though, there are always different ways to achieve our desired end, winning the fight. The philosophy upon which the art is founded determines the path we take in the fight.

But, the human body is the human body - therefore all fighting styles work the same.

Do they? Yes, the human body is the human body, and the human body works in a

specific way. There are many similarities and overlap amongst the different arts. There are still differences. A good analogy is that food is food...the purpose of food is nutrition, but each country, each ethnicity, each region develops its own flavor and cuisine. Likewise, different regions and cultures have developed different fighting arts that have different “flavors”.

Along the same lines of human bodies working the same way, a good martial artist has to know about the physiology of the body, how it works and a lot more. This just supports my overall statement.

You can’t master martial arts only focusing on the physical aspects, there is a need for the intellectual. In fact the intellectual is in ways just as important as the physical.

In a recent conversation, a friend/student was lamenting the amount of martial skill that seems to have been lost. He brought up firsthand stories of artists that had great, almost supernatural abilities. I countered with scientific advances and knowledge that we had gained. Though, there does always seem to be a movement to embrace the new. Academically, embracing the new without also learning from our ancestors is not a recommended path at all.

As Martial Artists.. it is our job to learn from this existing body of knowledge. Study what our ancestors have left for us and add to it where appropriate. With thousands of years of experience behind us, my guess is that this is mainly a journey of rediscovery. 

Rich on Google+

Lone Wolf or Pack Mentality

Some lessons are harder for me to learn than others. I was raised with the American ideal of “Rugged Individualism”. Work hard, count on yourself, and get things done. I learned this lesson well, as many who know me will testify. I am not afraid of hard work, know how to do many a varied task, and really have trouble counting on others or asking for help.

Martial  Arts is typically viewed as an individual type of endeavor. In fact, most of the time we hear how it is about self mastery. I am reminded of a movie Circle of Iron also known as Silent Flute,  the protagonist of the story came from no school, wore no uniform and (gasp) did not follow the rules. The movie and screenplay were originally conceived by Bruce Lee but unfinished when he died. The quest the character takes in the movie is to find Zetan, the guardian of the Book of Knowledge (supposed to contain all of the wisdom of the universe.

As you may have guessed, the protagonist finishes the quest and finds the book. I am not going to spoil the development of the story here, I mention it to simply say that this movie as well as many other documents about the martial arts stress that the journey we are on in the end is an individual journey.

Many aspects of Martial Arts cannot be learned in a vacuum.

Without getting into a lengthy debate on the virtues of Kata/Forms, historically, when developed, it was known that practitioners would not always have partners to train with. Kata/Forms were developed just for this reason so that individuals could practice alone. With that said, you can’t learn martial arts effectively without having partners to work with. Right off the bat, we have to admit that there are individual and cooperative aspects to training with the context of Martial Skills.

This brings us to a common dilemma that many martial arts practitioners are faced with during the course of their development.

Should you embody the spirit of the individual “Lone Wolf” or should you train and learn with/from others in a more social context.

The most resolute answer that I have come up with is both. There are times when you will be best served by striving for self mastery, and there are other times on your journey where it will be essentially critical for your development to work with others in a group setting. Remember, no one (with the exception of movie heroes) goes into a battle alone, take an army.

If you are building a school or business it is recommended that you build a team.

The one thing that is clear, is that if your intent is building a school or business around anything, not just martial arts, having a team is very, very important. Build your army, then attack the business plan.

Who is your teacher?

Picking your teacher could very well be the most important decision when it comes to Martial Arts training. I see numerous conversations about which art is better, or the attributes of specific styles even within certain Martial Arts. Usually the consensus of these conversations is the most important thing is how the art fits with the individual student. The longer I am around, the more I am realizing, it is less about the art, more about the instructor(s).

Student fit is important

This became very apparent very early to me when recommending parents to certain schools for their children. Each student has a unique personality and learning style, this is also true of instructors and teaching styles. Not all students and instructors fit together. Another important aspect of fit is the instructor’s view of the art that he teaches.
Martial Arts means different things to different people

What do you think Martial Arts means? The answer to this could be the subject of many posts, for today though, let’s settle on the fact that it means different things to different people. Beyond what it means, there is also the focus with which a teacher may take for his classes. It is important that this focus aligns with your intentions as well as there being a good student/instructor learning/teaching style and personality fit.

What else is important to know about my teacher?

If you are serious about learning Martial Arts, it is important to know your teachers lineage. Who did he or she learn from? Are they still studying the art that they are teaching? Did they in fact study the art that they are claiming? Do they have instructor training? Have they been taught how to formulate classes, how to work with different ages and learning styles? To the uninitiated, this may seem a bit excessive. Unfortunately, it isn’t. The Martial Arts industry has too long of a history of shams and unqualified teachers. Referrals from other students may not be enough either.

In the video, you see many students were very impressed. After seeing the end of the video, would this be someone that you wanted to study with? Would this be someone you wanted teaching your children?

Take your time, do your research before choosing a teacher. I would say contact students, teachers and martial artists that the teacher claims to know/have worked with. The decision of “who your teacher will be?” is too important to take lightly.

Rich on Google+

It's About More Than Fighting; It's About Success

This is a picture of my teacher's teacher.
Definitely a believer in the mastery
concept, he won a national competition
in his 90's.

Years ago I was introduced to a concept that really changed not only the way I look at things, but the way I do everything as well. The funny thing is that this is a concept all of us are familiar with, in fact, it was a concept that is quite central in the martial arts.

The Concept of Mastery

Originally, when I was young, I thought that mastery of something was a destination. Mistakenly I was under the impression that to be the master of something was the goal. Don’t get me wrong, I was clearly raised to be a jack of all trades with a certain breadth of knowledge and a liberal arts education, but I always looked upon those who had reached mastery with respect and admiration. The closest to home for me were the martial arts masters; what skill, dedication and achievement they represented.

As I progressed within the martial arts culture and in a parallel way through my professional career, I was introduced to mastery not as a goal  but as a concept. The concept of mastery is not one of a destination, instead it is one of a journey. Mastery, I learned, is about constant improvement, openly working towards mastery of a skill. There is even an asian term for it 改善(Kaizen in Japanese) used in the Total Quality Management programs. When used in the business sense and applied to the workplace, kaizen refers to activities that continually improve all functions, and involves all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers.

In martial arts, this is an apparent attitude. Focusing on the art, embracing it. This attitude clearly elevates the purpose of martial arts well above that of simple self defense, or fighting. One of the first mentions of this is in the Daoist writing s of Zhuangzi and Liezi in China. It is particularly noteworthy that this account clearly spells out the idea that practice of the martial arts can lead to an elevated state of mind where perfection of skill creates perfect mental focus, and does it centuries before the invention of Chan Buddhism (that practiced at the famous Shaolin monastery), in fact before Buddhism even reached China.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
~ Aristotle

The book, Outliers, The Story of Success, is an attempt to dissect and study success. One of the characteristics common among all the super-successful individuals highlighted in this book is they are masters of something. From the biggest stars of professional hockey, through Bill Joy and Bill Gates, every single super successful person first had reached mastery of their chosen subject/field/art. So, it seems that applying the Mastery Concept is the 1st step toward success for all of us.
The next question facing us is how do we become a master of what we do, how do we embrace the concept of mastery? Again, from the book ,Outliers, written by Malcolm Gladwell, in essentially all instances, before the super-successful could reach success, they had put in a minimum of 10,000 hours practicing their art.

Secret Key to Mastery: Practice
I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. ~Bruce Lee



We all remember hearing that practice makes perfect, especially if you are like me and had to take piano lessons as a child. The problem with that saying is that it is only a half-truth. In fact, perfect practice is what makes perfect. There is simply no replacement for doing something again and again and again. We can look at the recent Olympics for further proof of this. Two things are important to note here that were found in the studies that give us the 10,000 hour metric: 1. No one who spent 10,000 working and practicing hours failed to reach the mastery level. 2. There is a huge performance difference between those who don’t practice 10,000 hours and those who do.

As I mentioned earlier, I had originally viewed this mastery as a destination, and it certainly can still seem that way even with the given statistics. There is, however, something that happens during the 10,000 hours of practice other than getting really good at what you are practicing. A person changes the way they look at everything; they approach everything they do with a totally different perspective. Do you think any of these individuals got to 10,000 hours and said, ”I am good enough now”? No, during the 10,000 hours their perspective changes; they embrace the concept of mastery.

Embrace mastery, start practicing!

Rich on Google+