What am I getting into?

I am observing the tail end of the Dragon teams year, and preparing to enter the year of the snake. At the same time, my company has been sending me for training as a new supervisor, much of which is directly applicable to any team that is expected to function well. The main points that I see as being applicable here is a clear set of goals and expectations.

Here are the goals I am seeing vocalized for the I Ho Chuan teams, in no particular order:

1)      Black Belt pre-grading requirement

2)      School demo team, both weapons and hand forms

3)      Personal development

4)      Dragon dance/Lion dance demo team

5)      Philanthropic organization (fund raising and snow shoveling)

Balanced against that are limited resources, which also have other demands on them. My personal priorities are (in correct order)

1)      Health (without health all else is a wash)

2)      Family and my marriage (the cost to losing these is too high to trifle with)

3)      My employment (which pays for everything)

4)      Kung Fu

I am very familiar with the balancing act required when the desires of upper management exceed the resources provided, within the constraints demanded (stay on budget, work safe, no lost production etc). The only way to survive without a stress induced breakdown, is to get clarification on what the real priorities are, what they are willing to compromise on, what can wait for a better day.

“Perfect” is the enemy of “Good enough”

I recently had to coach a subordinate who was going over time and budget on a project due to attempted perfection. I had to explain the difference between the expectations of a framing carpenter, who will be working with rough lumber, with the final product of his work being hidden behind drywall, and a finishing carpenter doing kitchen cabinets. He was trying to apply the standards of one to the other, and was not realizing the true cost.

How do I see this applying to Kung Fu? From my understanding, Kung Fu is trying for a well rounded Martial Artist, but not an expert in everything. Over history, other disciplines have specialized in one facet or another, but had to drop something to achieve that skill. MMA guys might be the best in a cage match, against a single, unarmed opponent of a similar weight, guaranteed that no friends will show up to help and a referee to stop the match before things get out of hand, but how will they do in the real world?

I joined Kung Fu to get in shape, learn some potentially valuable skills and to enjoy my life in the process. The “Kung Fu is a generalist” take on life fits with my personal values. My request to the team, and its leaders, is for a clear guide to the expectations that joining the team entails, so that I can either agree, or withdraw before the implied contract is in force. Once we have agreed to the terms, I will do my best to honor them. This also implies that if any party to this agreement wishes to change the agreement, that they must again negotiate the new terms, not dictate them.

I want Kung Fu to infuse my life, not wash it away

Dennis Donohue

A Dragon’s Whisperer.

A quick word, that is only related to Kung Fu by blood, about an event I think everyone at Silent River should know about. Cecilia Lietz, Sifu Lietz’s sister is now a published author, and is having a book signing at Coles Westland Market Mall on Friday, February 1^st at 12:00 PM. I have purchased and read (and very much enjoyed) her book, A Dragon’s Whisperer. If you are interested in helping support one of our extended family, go on down and check her book out.

Dennis Donohue

Druids,Sprints and Marathons

Today’s post by Arch Druid John Michael Greer, at http://www.thearchdruidreport.blogspot.ca/, challenged his readers to get up from the computer, and lower the thermostat by 3 degrees. Not because it would make a huge difference in the world, but because they would be doing something tangible and constructive, whereas all the talk in the world would just make you look like a hypocrite without that action. Kung Fu is similar in that talk without action will get a similar lack of respect, but how do you know which way to turn your personal thermostat? If you approach a year of I Ho Chuan as a sprint to the finish line, jumping through hoops along the way, and a beach chair, margarita and a life of leisure the reward at the end, then you would probably have the furnace at full roar, damm the torpedoes (injuries) or the final cost.  If however you are into practicing for the marathon of life, and I Ho Chuan is a training session with some of the best coaches around for this lap around the sun, pacing yourself wisely is the order of the day. I am trying to create my 2013 goals such that I develop a good steady cadence that will enable me to finish in style, still going strong many laps down the track of life.

Competitive Blogging

When I was told that weekly blogging was a requirement of I Ho Chuan, I thought, hey no problem, I never missed a week in the fight club blog, this isn’t that different.  However, the reminder to the Dragon team that they need to keep up to date with their blogging got me thinking. One of the big differences is feedback. With Fight Club, there was immediate feedback from your competition, and a ruling by the Sifu in charge on whose was best. Sometimes blogging with I Ho Chuan feels like blogging into the Void, does anybody even read this thing? I know that when somebody comments, either in the official comments or verbally, that the feedback means a lot to my motivation to continue. So if you like feedback, give feedback. I will try and make a point of letting people know that I read their blogs, as I know that I appreciate feedback. The next problem is that I have not figured out how to score these things so that we can get some competitive action going, any suggestions?

Sleep, another goal for 2013

While choosing goals for the 2013 I Ho Chuan year, I was concerned that I would fall into the trap of “just get out of bed an hour earlier” or variations on that theme. I have found that for optimum performance, I need to average about 7.5 hours of sleep a night. Without this much sleep, averaged over a week or so, I notice a few things, such as my ability to focus drops, and my wife reports that I may become slightly “crabby”. I have never noticed the crabby part, but I do know that I become somewhat more cynical, and also let my “inside” voice out more than I should. I have survived on less than 4 hours of sleep a night while in military boot camp but that was partially an exercise in brainwashing (stress tests) combined with behavior control.

  As I still need to keep a paying job, with all the perks of a steady income, and I do like being married to my wife, sleep must be accounted for. At some point in the future, I may become enlightened enough to control my body to the point that I need less sleep, but I also want to sleep in a warm bed until that time. I ask others who are contemplating their next year’s goals to ask themselves what boundaries they need to protect, encourage or set in order that their real goals can be accomplished.

2012/12/13