It is not all about the money, is it?

What we do, how we behave, how we interact with these who surround us should not have anything to do with money.

But -

Would you invest in a super duper security system that will provide security for your house but also for the whole neighborhood? Would you pay more than your next door neighbor does?

Would you invest more than others in your street to beautify the street landscapes?

Would you pay more than your friends to ensure that their kids (and yours) will get the best education?

Most people will say no unless it serves our own agenda. Fairness is key when dealing with money, however it is not and should not be the only factor you consider.

How much we have to do? Lots

The last 2 weekends seemed to be packed with evens and activities, work and chores. It is great being busy and accomplishing many things. I'm enjoying the weekends - spending time with family, friends, pets. Completing many projects.

The next few weekends are going to be busy. Actually all weekends in the summer are going to be busy. So much fun to have.

I just wish the weekend was longer so I can rest before going back to work...

Part of the weekends is filled with Kung Fu. Last weekend was the Pandamonium. Before it started, we worked hard to make sure the place is clean. The day itself was fun. I really enjoyed doing the Dragon/Lion dance. Today I worked on the float for the parade with Mr. Helm. It is going to be fun using it next weekend!

Prepare...

Learning new staff can be fun but can also be intimidating and frustrating. How fast should I be learning it? Should I already know it by now? Do I know enough?

There are periods in our life, like the one I am in now, where I have more time for training, I have a big new (and different) project lined up, but I'm constantly asking my self these questions.

How do you know if you are ready? How do you make sure you do not fail?

Let it rest

I pulled a muscle in March, same one a couple weeks ago and then again on Saturday during fitness class.

How much rest do you allow your body to heal and how do you know it is ready to go again? Obviously I missed judged my healing and I need to go back to square one. Now this time - even if it feels better - no crazy workouts. Need to take it easy!

Are you here for the RIGHT reasons?

This week I was think lots about why people are practicing Kung Fu. It is not hard for me to see if people are practicing for the wrong reasons. They are usually not fully engaged. Going through the motions without really understanding what the point is. The wrong reason is the wrong reasons from my perspective. Anyone's reasons to join and practice Kung Fu are valid and should not be judged. Each person has different things that are important to them and these things are not necessarily what is important to me.

Understanding what others are looking for is key. Although I definitely trying to preach what I believe in, I do need to understand and accepts others that do not share the same ideals.

My black belt journey is not over

My journey is long and will not end till the day I die.

In one of my courses in the army, my officer gave me a score that was not 100% and told me: "You did great but there is always room for improvement.".

No matter how good I am, there is always more to learn. Whenever I'm entering the kwoon, I'm setting myself to be ready to study, ready to absorb. Even when I am teaching a class, I know I'm going to learn and grow.

Sometimes growth is slow and sometimes it is fast, but there is always growth - new techniques, improved techniques, techniques with better understanding. We are constantly evolving and growing. I am ready to grow more!

Lessons from the horses

It is fascinating what you can learn from a horse. How dots between different aspects of training are connected and so many life lessons are surfacing in such a short time.

During the horsemanship session we did with Tony, we were talking about the hierarchy within the horses herd. What was truly exciting for me was to hear was that when the leader of the pack wants to go out to the field, it is not pushing all the other horses but is leading the way. All the other horses are following him. This is a behavior that I experienced in the army were the commanders were first to charge knowing that the rest of the troops will follow behind them. This is also true at the work place were true leaders are who they are because they inspire others to follow them not because of a hierarchical chart. This is also true in Kung Fu were if you want to lead, you need to be doing it yourself. If you are asking anything of your students, you should be doing it as well.

Another aspect that I wanted to cover in this blog is comfort zone. I've been challenged recently to get out of my comfort zone. I've been doing the same thing for the last 6 years at work. Sure, I got more responsibilities, I enlarged my clients list, I increased the size of my team and the size of the projects I've been doing. But at the end I was still doing the same thing. I was in my comfort zone. Making it a little bigger but still in it. In the last few weeks I've been listening to more and more leadership audio books and podcasts and I've been noticing that many of the ideas and suggestions these books have are to do with change, trying new things, taking changes, allowing yourself to fail, getting out of your comfort zone. Walking into the horses arena, I knew I was getting out of my comfort zone. I never rode a horse before and I am afraid of these big animals. I did decide that I need to get out of my comfort zone (outside of the arena) and just do it. Now I have to say that I felt nervous the whole time I was on the horse. I thought I was going to fall many times and I was careful not to get behind the horse when walking around it. But I did it. I decided that a change is good and that the worse thing that can happen is that I will fail and then try again. Now taking it out of the horsemanship seminar, I know it applies to everything in my life - work, kung-fu. There are major changes happening at work and I'm ready. Ready to embrace the change and to make the most out of it.