Discipline vs Motivation

I have been asked before where I find the motivation to get up and do what I do. If you don't know let me take you through an average day. I get up at 5:45am every morning so I can shower and help get my daughters ready for their day. I work a regular a day job in technology support from 7:30am to 4:00pm. After that I go instruct classes and do the everyday battle that is owning a business. I find some time to play with the toddler and talk with my wife. I'm studying for a personal trainer certification. Some nights I don't see home till around 10:30 in the evening. Somewhere in there I find time to continue my own martial arts training and I go train different systems throughout the week. If there is anytime left before midnight I do dishes, laundry, and pickup the mayhem my daughter may have left. She gets most of it but there's always a few extra things to tidy. My head doesn't usually hit the pillow until midnight or so. Then it starts all over again in a brief 5 hours and 45 minutes.

It's not that wild every day but it can be. And to tell you the truth motivation doesn't get me through it. Motivation to me is a response to an emotional stimuli. I am motivated to do something because I feel inspired. I am inspired by a beautiful picture, music or more often than not seeing the hard work of some else. I am motivated to take action. Motivation is therefore an emotional component of inspiration. And as we all know emotions can be fickle and unreliable. If there is nothing sparking that inspiration there is no motivation. It is an emotional high, and you end up chasing that more than you do actually getting something done. You want that chemical concoction of feeling inspired and motivated. And what needs to be done often falls to the wayside.

Instead, what I focus on developing in between bouts of sudden motivation is discipline. Discipline is there no matter how you are feeling. You do something because you tell yourself to do it. You don't have to wait for the feeling to catch you. For example this blog post. Writing is not my strong suit (as the grammatical errors will show) and I put it off as much as possible. But today is the day I have set aside to write for my business. And here I am. Writing though I don't much feel like doing it. It is one of many things I'll do today for my business and family. There will always be things you don't feel like doing, but that have to get done none-the-less.

Discipline develops the same as any other skill, with practice. Start on the small scale. Rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Finding 10 minutes to practice your art. Finding 5 minutes to simply sit and focus your mind for the day. And the key is to do it again and again. And it will force you to prioritize your time and give weight to the things you spend that time on. Probably the most difficult part is determining what really matters to you and shedding all the other things that aren't.

One of the simplest methods to help develop your discipline is by creating a Streak List. No, not a list of places you want to grace with a full Monty view. It is a list of something you need to do either daily or weekly and every day you do it you mark it off with a red X. The idea is to mark a red X on every day. Don't break the streak. There are several apps that keep track of it for you. I used one called Productive. The longer you keep the streak going the less likely you are to break it. You count 115 days of accomplishments and you really don't want to stop.

Establish your routine. Start your week with a list of what needs to be done. It may be a repeat of last week and that's okay. Having them there will help you manage your time and let you tackle new obstacles. Humans are visual creatures and seeing what needs to happen and marking them off is extremely satisfying. And it will help you gain control over what may seem like an overwhelming chaos of tasks. It may even help you find time to focus on something you really want to do for yourself but never felt you had the time to.

-Sifu David
Ronin Martial Arts Institute

Train big in a small space

My space is small. In fact it's just big enough to fit two cars.  Yes you guessed it, it's my garage.  

Is that a complaint? Not really. I started training in a space just about the same size, only with a concrete floor. Hard and cold. I trained Jeet Kune Do, Filipino Kali, and Muay Thai in that room. We were even barefoot most of the time. Oh and let's not forget KFM, Keysi Fighting Method, which was outside on the pavement. Better bring your knee pads. Training done intelligently will still let you move with intensity but also take care of yourself and your partner. Like pads in football, it didn't make the game safer...it only let the player rely on pads for their safety and throw caution to the wind. They still get hurt and they still retire young. 

So what do I like about our small space? Well, it keeps class size small. I know, probably not the most business-savvy statement. I should want packed out classes, but I don't. The smaller class allows me to instruct much closer, focusing on my students' particular hurdles, needs, and questions. If I have a large class and one student is struggling, should I hold a class of 30 back while we wait on him or her to get it? Should I leave the one student behind because everyone else gets it? The answer to both is no. Not in a classroom setting. Everyone is there to learn. Everyone is paying to be there. So what do you do then? For me the answer is smaller class sizes. In a room of ten or less, now we can have a meaningful discussion. Every class is like a mini private group lesson.

What about the columns? Do they interfere? Not in the least. Look at FMA instructors in the Philippines. They train in shorts and flip flops in the street or in the backyard. KFM trains in elevators and boardrooms and cars. Fights take place in the real world, and the real world is full of stuff. A fully stocked school is a luxury, but not a necessity. You train with what you have. The only thing that all the trimmings offer is that people are more inclined to think a person is competent. But we all know that that's not always the case. 

Why train small? It's the attention to detail. Martial Arts is a study of inches. When you're up close and personal you have to be spot on. When you're surrounded by columns you have to be aware of your movements. When the floor is hard you have to engage the ground with intelligence. Training in my small space makes me a better martial artist. 

Sifu David Mitchell
Ronin Martial Arts Institute

Dapper and Deadly

There are only a handful of people who have the ability to pull off the combination of good looks and deadly moves. James Bond, the cool intel agent in a tailored suit who can order a cocktail one minute and disarm an attacker the next. The assassin John Wick who was dragged back into the life, hellbent on delivering a fist-full of revenge. The ex-government operator Jason Bourne, fighting to reveal the truth he has forgotten. And let’s not forget Natasha Romanov, ex-Soviet assassin who can take out a room full of Generals in a slinky dress. These men and women know the value of a good suit to dazzle the eye and conceal deadly skill. Let’s not deny it, we’ve all watched these characters and wished we could be them.

So join me at Horizon Training Center in your most dapper of outfits for a few hours of martial arts training fit for the big screen. We are going to go through a series of scenarios countering empty hand attacks; countering the jab, cross, and hook to return our own flurry of punishment. We’ll move on to cover a few empty hand vs blade counters; disarm and disable. You’ll have to stay sharp for these. At the end of the evening we’ll step into the danger zone by running a multiple opponent scenario.

Dapper and non-Dapper are welcome but a dapper outfit will get you a discount for the workshop. Look good but I suggest wearing something that will let you move. You don’t have to do the full Bond tuxedo. Slacks and a button up will suffice. Egos are checked at the door. We are aiming to have a little fun and learn a few things. Cooperation, not competition tonight! We all want to look good so we’re going to help our partners look their best.

To sign up, follow the link: Horizon Training Center Events

$20 per person
You will find this workshop listed under classes on March 10th! Sign up now- spaces are limited!

Train Hard!

- Sifu David Mitchell

Horizon Training Center
Horizon Martial Arts

Tapout for Tampons

I know it’s not often you run into a guy who isn’t squeamish about buying a box of pads or tampons on an emergency run, much less a guy who puts his picture on an event saying “bring me tampons.” Growing up with two older sisters...it just doesn’t bother me.  Nor should it really, it’s just a function of the body.  Sorry guys, but get over it.

What did bother me, however, was a video I watched that popped up on my Facebook feed one day.  It was a short documentary about the needs of homeless women.  In particular, it focused on the needs of women that weren’t being met in shelters or donation facilities.  The number one request that was not being met was hygiene products.

Women are not receiving the help they need and if they can’t find a way to make do, they have to suffer through their menstrual cycle without any personal hygiene products.  This Horizon event was put together with the intention of helping fill that need.  

Friday night we will focus specifically on joint locking techniques and chokes.  Joint locking is the method of controlling the body by rotating and aligning bones in the body in such a way that it limits motion or “locks” the body or joint.  Typically you can expect to see these techniques done on the wrist, elbow, and shoulder.  They can also be applied to the ankles, knees, and hips. These techniques can be used as way to immobilize someone or to move them to a place you want them to be.

Chokes are little bit different.  Simply by their nature they are an elevated threat response.  You don’t choke someone unconscious just because they annoy you...no matter how much you may want to! Chokes can be classified into two categories: airway restriction and blood flow restriction.  Either can take only seconds to render a person unconscious.  If held too long even death can occur.        

So on Friday night we’ll be training some of the major joint locks and chokes found in the martial arts and their self defense applications.  There are a lot of details involved to make these work effectively and even more to train them safely.  Be ready to come make new friends….and then choke them!  

Train Hard!

- Sifu David Mitchell

Horizon Training Center