The idea of gaining rank, position or titles is a big draw. People like rewards and recognition. The problem is that true leadership has nothing to do with any of those. In fact, I’m old enough to remember people regularly commenting upon military officers coming out of ROTC programs. These officers were very educated but […]

I usually change “alone” to “by yourself” but for simplicity I’ll use “alone” here. If you can’t enjoy your own time to work on your goals/plans or do nothing, then you will never be able to truly help others. Since all of the dreams, goals and desires come from within you, you MUST be able […]

  This past weekend was full of Haidong Gumdo training for our Midwest group of masters and their students. We had three 90 minute training sessions that covered much of the required curriculum. The students got to hear the descriptions from several master instructors. The funny part is that, to me, they all sounded like […]

There are SO many aspects to this thought. When I saw the picture below posted on Alain Buresse’s Warrior’s Edge page, it struck me immediately. The irony of the game below, Go, has very few rules but can take hours, even days, to play. One aspect is that of academia. You can regularly see posts […]

General Stanley McChrystal discusses the ideas of leadership from his military experience. I think he hits several key points that carry over into the experiences that I’m having as I try to teach martial arts classes. One key point is the idea of generational leadership. The recognition that experiences can be vastly different from one […]

This came across a newsfeed recently. I think it is awesome! They may be a little blunt but they easily fit the rules for life. Taken from a combat setting, they can be applied to the every day World without much adjustment. There have been many posts about wanting “safe places” and trying to twist […]

The martial arts are centered around the personal development of the student. This development is for improving the quality of life for the student. Providing skills and techniques that provide the skills necessary to be successful at problem solving and leadership. In order to accomplish this, the student needs to develop physical  skills to introduce the […]

Everyday you make decisions that affect your life. Most are trivial, like what to have for dinner, but some, like changing lanes while driving, can affect you tomorrow and for the rest of your life. These decisions shape everything that you are today and will be tomorrow. Yes, all those little decisions helped make you […]

Rory Miller wrote the following as the lead-in to the Monkey Dance. “What you lookin’ at?” barks a young man. He’s about your size, about your age. You don’t think you were looking at anything in particular. You also know the smart thing to do is to give a little apology and go back to […]

I had a student ask if he could learn the next section of a pattern that he had for his next test. I asked him if his other four patterns were test ready. He replied that they were, so I told him to use them as a warm-up before going further on the current pattern. […]

I am willing to say that there is just as much knowledge to be found under kicking techniques as there is for striking techniques and for all of the dozen other aspects within martial arts training. A student can spend decades studying just one portion. Those who choose to compete (in any version available) probably […]

Are you tired of being where you are? Has it started to hurt?  You know, in all those parts of your life that you thought would be better by now or in those places where you thought you’d already earned your place. Here’s a secret…nothing is ever finished. People don’t usually consider that the jobs […]

Do you know the differences? Which are you? The following definitions were taken from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Yes, I know that these will be picky but that is part of what our language allows and promotes. I’ve been know to repeat the phrase “say what you mean, mean what you say” and preface some of […]