Kris Wilder – Page 5

December 9, 2020December 25, 2020

Small Wins Win The Day

Small Wins Win The Day “Keep working at it you’ll get it.” They are trite sayings, “Just keep working.” The Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL) use the motto, “Just keep pounding.” The idea of just keep working is seen as a positive and it is expressed both small and large. Small as a parent telling their child, “Just keep working,” to professional athletes in the NFL. As pointed to earlier.

Forward Progress

This idea of forwarding progress is echoed at every level of our world.

The difficult part of applying this idea is when things are hard. It is the mental game that makes the difference at this point. Not how big are your biceps, and not how big is your heart, but how focused you can make your mind?

The focus of the mind in hard times is a challenge.

Here is a method of focusing your mind and getting some positive feedback. Positive feedback is important. We love positive feedback, even if it isn’t true. There are few things better than having an important person in your life lie a little to you. “You’re the best.” “You looked great tonight.” “That was impressive.” “You are so caring.” It’s not completely true, yet in most cases, we respond positively to these wonderful lies.

Our minds pick up the positive juice of the moment. We are subject to what is going on around us, what we see, and what we hear. If this response wasn’t true Horror movies would be out of business. No good movie executive is making a movie that doesn’t work.

Small Wins Win The Day Only If You Work It.

Here is your execution method. Take the smallest action. Let’s think about sports. Your team is losing and you are on the bench, not in the game. It is difficult to watch. Here is your small action. Lean forward in your seat, elbows on your knees. If you think that is silly. Test it now.

Sit in your chair back straight and hands in your lap. Feel your brain. Now lean forward elbows on your knees. Feel that. That is the small forward movement, it’s is true positive action.

Small Wins Create The Loop

These small forward movements build on the positive feedback loop. It is small, but it is as real. Taking the success of the simple leaning forward experiment you did. What is the next thing that gets stacked on top of it? Remember it needn’t be big.

Are you fooling yourself? No, you are aware of what you are doing. It’s the conscious manipulation of your mind.

The small action in a positive direction can take on many forms. And these forms are as diverse as we are. Yet that is universal as well. The touch of a loved one, the kind word, the leaning forward on the bench, or winning at a few rounds of a video game.

All of this stacks-up, and you should seek positive moments out and once found engage with them. Even when you know what is going on, that mass of protein awash in chemicals kept in the darkness of your skull doesn’t know, it responds and in a positive manner.

Here is the simplest of positive actions, walking. You are stepping forward, aren’t you?

A few post you may find of interest.

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KRIS WILDER

Kris Wilder is a martial artist based in Seattle Washington. He has authored many martial art books, including the classic, The Way of Kata. Making no apologies for his obsession of Football he can be found telling any who will listen about the nuances of the Canadian Football League.

December 9, 2020December 25, 2020

Rent Free In Your Head

There is a saying that goes, “Letting somebody live rent-free in your head.” That saying means a person has long since left the situation, but you continue to go over what happened. The saying is attributed to Ann Landers who wrote in an advice column for 56 years.

They Are Gone

The idea is that the person who has left the scene, their acts, their behaviors are ruminated by you. You go over them and it agitates you. The thoughts in the recurring visitations. The issue is that the person who is living rent-free in your head has long since moved on. The person may well not recall or at least place no value on what happened.

You are spending your precious life energy ruminating about something that is likely meaningless. Something that has long since meant nothing. There is a reason that person you are allowing to live rent-free in your head. And there’s a reason they did not make it into your future. They chose not to go with you into your future, or you decided to move forward without them.

Except They Made It Into Your Head

If you or they have chosen to move into the future, well go ahead and purge them. Purge the thoughts, don’t drag them against their will into your future. And against your better judgment.

If you can understand the reason you let them live in your head rent-free your way ahead. Maybe you feel offended. There was some transgression, they drank straight from the milk carton. It’s all your choice to explore the reason. And to let that person go.

They Likely Don’t Care, Nor Should You

To not let them continue to live in your world, in your mind. Because they don’t care and you probably shouldn’t either. If you can find that reason that’s the key. Take a moment to sit. Spend the time to understand the reason why and how they made it into your mental future and not your physical future.

And let that mental future go because nobody gets to live rent-free in your head.

Here are some other posts you may find of interest.

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KRIS WILDER

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December 8, 2020December 25, 2020

Others Get The Gift of Karate

Others get the gift of Karate and you reap the benefits. It is not a complicated formula. By participating in martial arts, you are helping keep your health. That health is important and the longer you can have it the better off you are. And the better off are those that care about you. It’s, others get the gift of karate This is the list of the major problems people face as you age.

5 Adult Diseases

Osteoporosis, Diabetes, Arthritis, Heart Disease, Depression.

Let’s take the line item and argue how karate or martial arts, in general, improves life regarding these illnesses.

Osteoporosis – The loss of bone mass. Then the bones become fragile. Inactivity can mean the loss of bone mass. Remember when Tai Chi was all the rage at adult living facilities? It’s about being active. Of course, other factors can be present, but I told you what the agenda is. Prove your martial arts proactively forestalls diseases. Here’s more.

Diabetes – Stop moving, eat, gain weight, move less, gain weight, gain weight get Diabetes. Martial arts keep you moving. I have a blackbelt at West Seattle Karate Academy with two prosthetic knees. He’s on the floor working almost every class I’m open.

Arthritis – I know nothing about arthritis other than Bro Science. I’m not passing that on. I’m going to put Heart Disease in the same category.

Depression – Getting out, getting social, moving, learning, they are all good in combatting depression. Martial Arts is not a be-all-end-all cure, martial arts are a nice addition to put in your toolbox.

Extra Words On Depression

A little more on depression. It’s bad, it’s real. And if you are in the throes of depression life doesn’t need to look like this. It is not going to get better unless you reach out. You need to make a call, click on a link, tell somebody you trust you need help.

Stop reading and do it now. You deserve not to suffer anymore.

The Gift You Are Giving

Here is where the martial arts gift comes in. The gift you are giving others. Five different diseases are in the listing. If you experience these five, you likely are dependent on your family in some way. What if you could drop two of them from the list? What if you could get it to one? Will you still be dependent? Unlikely.

You are giving a big gift with your martial arts practice. You are healthy longer and with that health, you stay independent.

A few podcast you may find of interest.

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KRIS WILDER

December 7, 2020December 25, 2020

Up Your Karate Teaching Game

Up your karate teaching game. The biggest change in karate is the instruction method. Recently while visiting friends the conversation came to a Human Resources (HR) meeting. The thrust of the HR meeting was the changing expectations of the work environment. Millennials expect different treatment than workers have had in the past.

This is a multimillion-dollar industry we are talking about. They are changing their policies and behaviors to fit the zeitgeist. The zeitgeist of a generation of workers.

Having pointed this out I want to jump right over the emotionally charged, “Why’s?” and “What’s?” of the business’s new policy.

It is a policy the business has adopted and it is a policy martial arts instructor should adopt.

Before you start to form a sternly worded letter about tradition and discipline hear me out. It will make sense and your instruction will be better. As for those of you who are on this path, this will help substantiate your teaching technique.

It is important to teach your syllabus. It is important traditions are in place when they have purpose and benefit. Don’t run away from these tenets. But know this, the mind of your students is different than yours. You are outnumbered and you better adapt.

Grinding It Out v. Sunshine

Work ethic has been seen as, “Grinding it out.” Often followed by a comment along the lines of, “You may not like it, that’s why it is called work.” An extreme example on the other end. A friend who was a manager at Amazom.com terminated an employee for leaving work with a note on their desk, “It’s sunny today.” Not having completed probation, he was terminated. On the way out the door he was promising a lawsuit.

Neither of these positions is complete. Accountability is necessary. Grit, focus, and discipline, yes, please. And so is flexibility.

Teaching to assessment becomes stagnant, stale and goals are met. Goals are met, yet sometimes the success lacks soul.

People will learn to an assessment. When teaching is to the test, people learn for the test. People have also learned, “Just pass the test.” Why would they not behave this way? I surely have. This result is satisfactory on paper, not on the floor.

Add More Experience, More Playful Exploration

Here is a suggested ratio for Explore Time.

This is specific. Explore Time happens at the end of class. This addresses the danger of teaching to the test. Explore Time blends the classic, “Nose to the grindstone.” And “I’ll get to it when I want, I’ll get it done,” orientations.

Attacking the structure of the class is not what Explore Time is about. Explore Time is within the class. This integration is an adaptation to reach your students. It is not a forsaking of tradition. And the most important thing is you are still teaching the requirements, while students get to break out of, “Learning for the test.” It will up your karate teaching game.

Learn something from the past and pay attention to the present. It’s the way the mind has always worked, now add a dash of discipline and splash of Explore Time. As a result your students understand instead of regurgitating information.

Need some extra goodies?

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KRIS WILDER

December 6, 2020December 25, 2020

The Straight Line Mind of Karate

The Straight Line Mind of Karate. Karate is not a straight line. We live in a linear world. Our school system is linear. We enter school and go through the grades.

The grades are segments designed to let us say, “You will begin here and at the end on this date.” And there are expectations of competency, from the instructors, parents, and students.

As adults the world is driven by the clock, it tells us when to wake, work, and rest. Martial arts schools engage in the same behaviors, ranks, belts, time in grade, and class times.

The world projects this linear time use onto us. We accept it and project it back. In the process, we are gaining affirmation for the adoption and use of the linear experience.

Using college as an example. At the end of four years of college, you are supposed to be competent in your chosen field of study. The university then gives you a stamp of approval. That could take the shape of a Bachelor of Arts as an example.

The equation is; go to this place, come to class, get satisfactory grades, and finish. Karate looks like that, but it is not.

The classic method of apprenticeship is more reflective of the karate experience. The apprenticeship method reads; Study with me, we’ll see how you do, be good, this is an average timeline but we are not bound by it. Open-ended by today’s standards. Certainly not the straight line mind of karate.

We think the world looks like this

But it looks like this

And as a proof point, let’s use the belt rankings in karate. As rank increases responsibility increases. Responsibility to self, and others, for training tone, safety, and expectations.

This is not a linear experience. If you are a brown belt helping a white belt get their stance correct, you are reviewing. You are looking back on information already experienced. And you are learning.

Two Recommendations

We try and make it linear because we can better deal with it. The recommendation is the world isn’t linear. You should have the ability to move from linear to non-linear. Know the world wants one thing and people want another.

The second recommendation is to look at karate in light of the apprentice system. Less linear and a whole lot more experiential. This is a far more enjoyable way to spend your training time together. It is more organic than the ridged, 1,2,3 timebound method of the straight-line effort.

Don’t toss away one method over the other, know where you stand in the experience and act accordingly.

A few more related topics.

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KRIS WILDER

December 5, 2020December 25, 2020

Martial Arts Movies Are Valuable

Martial Arts movies are valuable even though they are often dismissed. People often turn their nose up when Martial Arts movies are discussed.

The Shaw Brothers Showed The Way

These moves stretch the ideas of physics and human performance. Running through the treetops in, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The Samurai that can slice a head off its shoulder and still stay in place for a moment only to slough to the ground. Or the perfect cylinder of human flesh punched out of the bad guy’s abdomen in the movie, “Kung-Pow.” Ok, not the best example.

Taking The Idea Too Far

These are movies. Most of the time we relax and enjoy them for what they are. Entertainment. But some people blur reality with fiction. I remember standing in line at a movie theater in Tacoma Washington. I was there to see the new Steven Segal movie. The guy in front of me was dressed as Segal, wearing Chinese kung-fu shoes and a ponytail. Dressed in black his emulation of Segal was spot on.

Here is how martial arts movies are valuable as a larger thing exists. If you can see a martial arts technique in a movie it is persuasive, you think you may be able to do that. Not fighting a half dozen henchmen in an underground labyrinth on a private island. But you got inspired to try the double spin kick.

If your mind can see the movie move, it becomes tangible in your mind. If something is a concept seeing it as achievable is unlikely.

Martial arts movies are formulaic and often predictable, but so.

In the early eighties, Sunday morning was Kung-Fu Theater, 11 am my time. I could see it. I was inspired not even being aware of all the things on the screen. And the visual, the persuasive, the example.

Take a favorite martial arts movie and go to a scene you like. Analyze the moves. Yes, we know it is fake. Making a movie means filling with jump cuts, many angles, and multiple takes. Again, So.

Find that move and go see if you can make it work? See if you can make it real. If you can make it work, great. If you can’t make it real, well we learn something in the process.

This isn’t a deep pondering of the biomechanics and intent of the movie martial arts techniques. The goal of the movie is to entertain you enough you will spend some money to see it. But we get to use the visual as a piece of persuasion that can nest in our brain.

An Action Christmas?

This is far greater than a concept. And it is fun. Yeah, have some martial arts movie-inspired fun and learn something in the process. You can use this time to discover martial arts movies are valuable. I still contend, Road House, is a martial art movie, not an action movie. And while I’m at it, Die Hard, is not a Christmas movie.

Here are some other posts you may find valuable.

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KRIS WILDER