I have a plan

Everyone tells me I'm highly organized. Some even tell me that I'm the most organized person they know. It is true. I always have a plan or two. 

Most times I'm not sure how to react to that. I always wanted to be the best in other areas. In relation to Kung fu I wanted to be the one with the best flow, the best forms, the best techniques, well you get the picture. Being best organized just doesn't cut it. 

While reading the Art of War, one of the first statements in the book is:
"A victorious leader plans for many eventualities before the battle. A defeated leader plans only few. Many options bring victory, few options bring defeat, no options at all spell disaster. "

Now I feel better with being organized and always having a plan.  

What does Kung Fu teaches us? Discipline and Respect

There are many element of Kung Fu that teaches us how to respect one another, respect our teachers, respect our lineage.

When we bow into class we all say "Past Masters". This is to show respect to our lineage. A respect for all the effort our past masters put in order for us to be able to train and learn.

We we see each other, we great with hello, we make eye contact, we do not play with our belt. When we are given instructions in class we bow and say "yes/no sifu". This is to acknowledge the effort our instructors are putting when sharing their knowledge with us. With the younger kids we recite: "3 rules of concentration - Focus your eyes, Focus your mind, Focus your body." When a student is focused, they show respect to their instructors, to the art of Kung Fu but also they show respect for themselves.

When our master instructor, Sifu Brinker, steps on the mats, we should all stop and bow as a token of respect. Respect to the master instructor and respect to our lineage. This is also showing our gratitude for allowing us to train. When Sifu Brinker steps on the mats, someone need to call "Students" and everyone will stop what they do and bow.

Showing our respect to the alter is also very important. We never stand with our backs next to the alter. We never place our weapons or anything else in front of the alter. When we fix our belt or clothing, we also turn away from the alter.

And of course you have to respect yourself. This is an important part of building your character and becoming a better person. If you don't respect yourself, you cannot expect others to respect you.


"KNOWLEDGE WILL GIVE YOU POWER BUT CHARACTER WILL GIVE YOU RESPECT!"
Bruce Lee

Pushing beyond my stress limits

It has been super busy at work lately. It was busy before and I had too many tasks and projects. But in the last 2 months it has been even more. I usually have a busy first quarter and then it quiets down for couple months. This year the future is not clear. I am pushed to go beyond my comfort zone and I'm not sure how it is going to work and what it will require from me.

My stress levels however have been pretty low in the last few months and for some reason, things that would have stressed me in the past are not too bad. Even the potential future change is not stressing me right now. For sure I will have to learn lots but I believe I will be able to handle it.

"If there is something you are stressing about - can you do something about it? If not, why bother stressing about it. If yes, then do something about it. No reason to be stressed!"

Creating and keeping memories

Yesterday I was away from the first Rooster IHC meeting. I attended a funeral of work colleague's father. When I was sitting and waiting for the service to start, I was watching the rotating photos presentation. It showed photos from his life. Since he was a little boy all the way for being a grandpa with his own grandchildren.

I was pondering how memories are created and how they are kept alive. If we share an event with a group of people, this memory will be alive as long as one of us is still alive. I have many memories from my dad but when I'm gone these memories will be gone.

Photos (and videos) are a great way to preserve memories. However, lately I'm finding that the easier it is to take photos, the harder it is to keep and organize them. Going on a weekend trip to the mountains can easily produce more than 500 photos. Making it hard to organize and choose the best 10, the best 100 and upload them to an online album. I end up with thousands of photos that are just stored on some folder.

Sigh...

New Start

The Chinese New Year banquet was wonderful. From the preparations during the day, where everyone in the team (plus more) were helping out. The evening itself was a great fun. In between the Lion/Dragon dance, the kids demo, the IHC demo, the candidates speeches - everything was going great. I missed a move in my form, but I don't think anyone would have noticed. I just kept going. BTW - today I realized that my weapon is not "slashing staff" as I referred to it the whole year, but a "lashing staff". Oh well...

I want to congrats the 3 new black belts - sifu Chervenka, sifu Csillag and sifu Prince. All 3 of you had a great year and I'm happy for all of you.
I want to congrats all black belts who got promoted - sifu Dennis, sifu Lindstrom and sifu Langner. It is a privilege to train with you. We are truly blessed to now have 4 master level instructors in our school.
I want to congrats and thank the whole IHC team. We did great in both demos and we had a great year with lots of growth and successes.
I want to thank anyone who took part in any way with the banquet yesterday.
And I want to send a special thank you to sifu Brinker who without his leadership and support none of this would have happened.

Now after a day of rest, it is time for a new start. Well, a new continuation of last year. I would like to build on our success and not to start from ground zero. I think we have a strong team this year and it will be great working with each and one of you.

I have lots of personal plans for this year. More on that in future blogs.

Monkey Review

Today I posted my last blog as a monkey. My next blog will be as a rooster... So I thought I should review my year in blogs. It was fun reading them all.

February 2016:
Good Morning Sihing, Goodnight Sifu.
No room with the Monkeys

March:
Winter Warrior
Down (and up?)
Disconnect
If your lifer were a book and you were the author how would you want your story to go?

April:
Fitness Level
Reality Check
Power of our actions
Poe

May:
One step at a time
In-action
Where is Poe
Collect the Rain
Hotshot

June:
Parade
What we can do
Begin with the end in mind
Dragon (and Lion) Dance

July:
42
Dragon 2
Perfection
Eating and activity balance
Heights.
Inspiration

August:
Be prepared
Routine
Home
Best recovery wishes

September:
Plank Challenge
Not just another day
Leading (where?)
Catch-up

October:
Family Connection
Being in the moment, learning from the past and planning for the future
Random Act of Kindness
Tiger Challenge
Tiger Challenge v3

November:
Plank
Finally
it doesn't matter
Dragon Dance

December:
Noa
Focus
Time for myself
Which direction am I looking at?

January 2017:
Plank
Demo prep
Habits and NDEs
Now what?
Project Management 101

Project Management 101

Preparing an event, going to someones birthday, setting a goal, running a million dollar project. All should be approached the same way.

What is the target? Always start with the end in mind. What are you trying to achieve?

When is it due? what is the deadline?

What are the resources that are available to you? material, money, other people, time, etc. Everything need to be examined to make sure what you are doing is achievable. 

What are the risks that might temper what you are doing and how you are prepared to mitigate them.

What is the risk of not achieving what you are after. What will happen if you won't make it... And also is all the effort you are planning to put into it is worth it.

Every task in life is like a project being manged by you. PM 101...