Yes, we all understand that Martial Arts is about belt and dans, and kicking and punching and all that macho stuff, but after over 40 years training I’ve forgotten more of that than I remember and it’s certainly not why I continue training.  Don’t get me wrong, the training and the physical development is absolutely fabulous, and I loved every minute of it, but it’s not what kept me training for so long.

When I think back over my long career, the words that come to mind that describe my experiences are things like:

  • Process driven
  • Focus
  • Discipline
  • Attitude
  • Indominable spirit
  • Drive to succeed
  • Mental toughness

These are the things that were instilled in me by my great instructors and the things I try and instil in my students and clients, whether it be executive coaching or in the training hall.

 

So how do I apply these things to mastery my own career and life?

 

  1. I take the time to learn as much as I can about what I’m doing and the area I’m working in, I need to understand it well to interact with it well. I can’t enter a fight competition without taking into account everything I need to know in terms of skills and techniques etc. any more than I would expect to do well in an industry where I’m not interacting, learning and seeking to understand.
  2. I look at the full range of my skills and draw on all of them to apply to the situation I’m in. I don’t look at ‘this fits this and not that’, I look at how anything can fit everything. To do this I note and develop a wide range of transferable skills.  In martial arts this means I can adapt to different fighting styles or even different weapons.
  3. I keep an open mind to the changing environment and am ready and prepared to adapt quickly and smartly. I don’t ‘flog a dead horse’ I look for new, different and innovative ways to progress and move forward.  Options come from having a wide range of knowledge and understanding which comes from continually learning.
  4. I have a network of coaches, teachers, friends, associates and colleagues and I interact with them, I don’t overwhelm them, but I keep in touch. This helps me gain knowledge I may be lacking, keeps me abreast of the latest trends and gives me places to go and get advice.

 

The major thing I learned from Martial Arts after running and operating my own school for many years is how to train and develop people in all of the above.  I need to take a person who is a novice and train them mentally and physically to be the best they can be in the harshest environment.  That is a learned skill that I appreciate greatly now as I share these lessons in the business world.

In a Martial Arts situation where the training is hard, and the lessons are fast and sometimes painful, you need to develop yourself quickly in these areas.  In the business world the consequences are there, but the speed, rough and tumble of the fight isn’t so we tend to drift through thinking it will get better on it’s own or we just don’t see the urgency.  Martial arts have taught me to take charge, because if someone else does, it won’t be a fun ride, at best it just won’t be your ride, it will be there’s.