Taking Stock

One of the big reasons that I challenged the UBBT this year was the major lifestyle change I would be facing. I am the better part of two months into my new life and I have to say, everything is great.

My training is going well. I am meeting my targets despite an early shoulder injury that has slowed me down. It really helped that I was prepared for this and had already structured my daily repetitions around this expected issue. I had a tune up in my chiropractor’ s office today and feel an improvement despite all the tears I shed during his active release torture.

My diet and mindful eating has improved greatly. Being home to make my own meals and eat them fresh is something new for me. I think this is the thing I enjoy the most about my new lifestyle.

Actually what I probably enjoy the most about living this way is how my concept of time has changed. I do what needs to be done. I need more sleep, I sleep. I need to get a chiropractic tune up, I get the tune up. I need groceries, I get groceries. Life is good - I do what I want when I want.

The biggest challenge I face as part of the 2018 Ultimate Black Belt Test is engaging with my teammates. Facebook is my least favourite place to visit but when I do, it is a massive time suck. I may have a different approach to time now but that approach has reinforced how precious time is to me. I am not going to log into Facebook until I have accomplished everything that I want to accomplish in my day first. That may mean untimely reading of my teammates’ posts but until I can get this completely balanced, it will have to do.

“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” - Bruce Lee (1940 - 1973)

Mentors

A few years ago I read something by an instructor I greatly admire that has stuck with me ever since. Sean Allen said: “For the professional martial arts instructor, there are three stages. Simplify, clarify then magnify. Simplify your focus, clarify your exact result, then magnify the difference you are making.” 

As with a lot of things, this bit of advice was not earth shattering for me or even new. I have been applying this approach to my life for decades but the process was not something I would have ever defined myself. In retrospect, I could be so much further ahead if I had taken the time to put words to my process.

This is why mentors are so important. So much of what I do and how I see the world remain abstractions for me. By putting pen to paper or words to process, definitions begin to emerge. Once I am able to define my process, I can teach it to others. It sure speeds up things if someone else’s work can help me define my own.

“Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.” - John C. Crosby (1859 - 1943)

In the Presence of a Master

I try to spend more time every year hanging around masters. There is no doubt that success and attitude can be acquired through osmosis. Just being in the presence of a master can be a deep, spiritual experience for me.

On Thursday I had to forgo training with my I Ho Chuan team in order to take advantage of the opportunity to hang out with two people who inspire me - my dad and Connor McDavid.

I have never met Connor McDavid face to face but I did make eye contact with him during the Oilers game against the Islanders. Our seats were right behind the goalie and against the glass. It was a totally different experience to see a hockey game from that vantage point and amazing to see a player of McDavid’s caliber that intimately.

Sharing the night with the man who taught me everything I know about hockey and the man who is redefining the sport was inspiring and humbling. I may never be as good at kung fu as Connor McDavid is at hockey, but it is shared experiences like I had on Thursday night that fuels my passion.

Mastery is mastery, it does not matter what canvas it is expressed on.

“It took me a lifetime.” - Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973)

My Wagon

I am two weeks into the new lunar year and yesterday I had the first meeting with my Year of the Dog I Ho Chuan team. The first meeting of the year is always fairly loose and usually short. This early in everyone is engaged and making progress. Once the snow starts to melt, things will change for a lot of people. Priorities get challenged by the new opportunities offered by the new season.

I challenged my team to stay true to their commitments, especially their journaling commitment. If you fall of the wagon somewhere down the line, it is important that your journal up to that point has defined just what wagon you have fallen off of. Knowing where you are and what you are doing is key if you want to get to somewhere else.

So what wagon am I on? After ten years of dedicating myself to mastery, the wagon I am on is quite a bit different than the one I have been riding up to now. Back in 2009, after UBBT 6, I achieved effortless effort in my kung fu. The structure I had established kept me on track and made it easy to achieve my physical and spiritual goals. So what is different?

Two events, almost a year apart, woke me up to the mediocrity I had allowed to seep into my process over the past ten years. The first event was the death of Master Margitte Hilbig on December 27, 2016. Margie was a huge influence in my life and losing her is still something I have difficulty comprehending. The amount of knowledge that is now inaccessible to the world is unfathomable. The second event was my visit with Master Dave McNeill on November 13, 2017. During my visit Master McNeill let me know that he was going to be retiring from teaching. Once again, the amount of knowledge that would be retiring with him is devastating to think about.

In my conversation with Master McNeill, he suggested I take part in the upcoming UBBT and dedicate the year to Master Hilbig. Up to that day, I had decided that this year would not be a good year for me to take on the UBBT. I had massive responsibility to my own I Ho Chuan team, I was finishing up my BMET career, and I was only a year into my marriage. Not to mention my kung fu was going great — I had logged over a half million pushups over the past ten years, and I had not slowed down since my first UBBT. The second I began to formulate the sentence required to tell Master Dave all of this, I realized I had to do the UBBT. If everything was going so great and I was firing on all cylinders, why would I hesitate?

Thanks to that conversation, I was brought to reality as to where I was. I was a long way from where I thought I was. A lot of mediocrity was present in my training. I had chronic inflammation in my shoulders and my knees. I may have been training hard but I was not training smart.

So back to the wagon that I am on. I am retooling everything I do. My daily structure is gone, and I am starting from scratch. First thing I am focusing on is the quality of my pushups first, quantity second. I am keeping up with my daily 180 but it is taking me a lot longer to complete them. The result has been less inflammation.

I am spending more time this year eating more mindfully. I am not changing what I am eating, I am just consuming it while being more present. Who would have thought that something as simple as consuming an apple could be accomplished so much better?

I am beginning and ending every day with gratitude for Margie Hilbig and everything she has brought, and continues to bring, into my life. I miss her but I continue to learn from her.

With those three main focuses providing the scaffolding that I will build my year around, the rest of my personal goals will fall into place. Perspective is everything for me when it comes to staying on track. Staying physically engaged and mentally present while I begin and end every day with gratitude will keep my perspective clear.

“I believe it's strikingly important to remember that when you know better, you can do better. With higher levels of awareness, you can make smarter choices. And the more clarity you get as to who you want to become, the quicker you can start making the choices need to get you there.” - Robin S. Sharma (b. 1969)