Success By Steps

A couple of years ago my son started begging to take karate lessons.

After a little research, I discovered that an acquaintance of mine taught jujitsu, so I decided to take lessons with my son.

I remember laughing to myself when I first saw the instructor teaching such nonsense as walking, falling, and making fists.

Shortly thereafter, I was threatened with physical violence on a warranty claim, so I decided to take my classes much more seriously.

When I first began taking jujitsu, I had to learn how to move in fights.

I was shown how an experienced competitor would trip my foot as I placed my weight upon it.

To counteract this, I was taught to move by sliding my feet on the mat in a C-like fashion. Since it is extremely important to stay balanced in a fight, I was warned that a competitor might try to get me off balance by pushing me back over my heels or pulling me forward over my toes.

To avoid this, I was to approach my competitor at a 45-degree angle, and mirror their foot placement with my feet.

In other words, I was taught to keep my balance by being sure footed, fighting at an angle, and staying out of my competitor's line of attack.

You'd have to be rather naive to think that you'll never slip or fall, but how do you recover after you fall?

The instructor taught me to slap the mat with my hand and forearm upon impact. I learned that my hands absorb pain better than the rest of my body.

By striking with my hands, this prevented landing on my elbows, which could knock my shoulders out of socket.

Also, competitors would attempt to drive my head into the mat, which I was taught to escape by doing shoulder rolls.

In effect, he was teaching me after I fall to recover from my mistakes quickly.

To win, you eventually have to go on offense. I had to learn how to make an effective weapon.

I was taught to create a fist by rolling my pinky finger band then the adjacent fingers to make an extremely hard fist.

Furthermore, I learned the knuckles of the index and middle finger are stationery; therefore, I was taught to strike with these two knuckles to prevent breaking my hand.

Also, I learned to target muscle tissue instead of bone to reduce damage to my fist.

With slight adjustments to my hands and targets, I could make greater impact.

In jujitsu and life, the difference between winning and losing is usually minute.

It's a total of a lot of little things. These could be the difference between winning or losing to your competitor.

Remember to:

1. TAKE SUCCESS SERIOUSLY.

2. MAKE A PLAN TO WIN.

3. BE OPEN TO DIRECTION.

4. HAVE A BALANCED ATTACK.

5. CORRECT MISTAKES QUICKLY.

6. MAKE SMALL ADJUSTMENTS.

I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there, too--your reassuring presence, coming and going. David, King of Israel. Psalm 139:5. (MSG)