Many martial artists are familiar with the old story:
A man walks up to see another man feverishly sawing away at a tree with a dull saw.
He's been at it all day, and the tree is showing very little in the way of progress.
"Hey there," says the man, "that saw you're using looks pretty dull!"
"It sure is!" The lumberjack replies, swearing in frustration.
"Shouldn't you sharpen it?" The man asks, hoping to be of assistance.
"Are you kidding!?" The lumberjack scoffs,
"I don't have time to do that, I've gotta chop down this tree!!"
We've all been guilty of doing what is urgent rather than what is sensible or important, haven't we?
I know I have.
One of the things that I find so, so, SO many people neglect is the power of their minds.
As I said, most martial artists are familiar with the concept of sharpening their saws, that is, practicing the
striking or
grappling "they already know" (That's a whole other article) to make their overall martial artist package better.
But, even within that wonderful group of individuals so dedicated to self improvement, they still often neglect their minds and their emotional development.
But, how do we do this, you might ask?
Well, books and tapes are great, as is
meditation and other forms of introspection - but, the problem with many of our methods is that they are from our own perspective. Even books are often read through a "filter".
For the most bang for your buck, there really is no greater place for self development than a seminar.
And yes, its true, there are some stinkers out there that are boring... LECTURES. But, there are some that are truly... TRULY life altering, and, a total BLAST!
Speaking from my own experience, I was $197,000 in dept when I went to the
MMI, a fantastic, life altering seminar that my friend and mentor
Steve Chang invited me to.
The tickets were
very expensive, and, neither one of us could afford them at the time; but, he had a special code (
MMI26568 is that code, by the way) which got him some tickets for
FREE.
I literally jumped on the opportunity. (knocked over some things in the process haha)
My focus was primarily upon financial growth (or at least getting back to just being broke instead of being in debt!!) and, those were the "lenses" I went in wearing.
And, while I did learn the necessary skills to get myself financially back into the positive from that seminar, I also experienced some truly remarkable, literally life-changing epiphanies, realizations, distinctions and, as the speaker called them "little gems of wisdom" that, quite honestly, it would do you a disservice to paraphrase.
The short version is, I went in to learn about money, and came out richer in all ways imaginable. Healthier, wealthier, free. I don't think many of us realize how much weight we're carrying on our shoulders until someone helps us lift it off.
If I could suggest one thing other than taking martial arts in the first place (which is its own exercise in self exploration and development in a very different and complimentary way), it would be to
go to that seminar.
But!
Don't
just go for learning money secrets (which, you DO learn). Instead,
go to grow.
Play full on. Don't back down from ANYTHING they throw at you. Stand up, be strong, and do it.
Stay for the whole thing. Parts of it are designed to be a CHALLENGE for you to overcome. Push through, and: JUST. DO. IT.
