A Sense of Vision and The UBBT and 100

UBBT and the 100

My Vision for What We’re Doing –for What You Are Involved In

When I think about our work (and “our work” is our involvement in a brand/style of thinking and action which involves a re-design, a change, in what our long-term objectives are –what our intent is –as martial artists, teachers, and citizens of the world), I think about the collective efforts of everyone involved. I think about 150 push-ups a day adding up to be 52,000+ in a year –and how that idea also applies to the small daily efforts of each person on our teams as well each person we are influencing as a result of our efforts.

I think about how all these small things have the potential to add up to something significant.

When I think about what we are doing, I think about Rosa Parks –which always makes me think of the power that one person can have in the world by taking the right action at the right time; how that person needn’t be famous or powerful or connected or anything but committed to doing what is right.

When I think about the UBBT and the 100, I know they are “programs,” I know they are ”products,” and “services,” but for me, perhaps to my detriment, I see them more as groups of committed activists working on something big –something important and healthy and historic. I may be “the leader” or “the owner” of these programs –but from my perspective I am encouraging each participant to take ownership of the mission...just about the way a good martial arts teacher would like his or her own students to take ownership of the “mission” of his or her own school (which might be called “your life’s work”). The tuition members pay is simply the cost of supporting the work.

I would like it, very much, if my work became a catalyst for you to do your work, better –and that the real lessons I sought to teach were:

1. Self-defense is more about thinking and action, than it is about blocking, weapons, and techniques.

2. A martial arts master teacher is a citizen of the world in the mold of Rosa Parks of Gandhi of Martin Luther King of Thich Nhat Hahn of people transcending the trivial to do for others –and to stand up for what is right and healing and important. Why not?

3. That the martial arts have very little value –if we do not move beyond the physical-ness of it, if we do not take the practice “out of the dojo and into the world.”

4. That the real “business” of the martial arts is the business of living more simply, out of respect for others and for our world’s finite resources, it is about teaching people that real self-defense is the ability to take action to right things that are wrong (Like Jhoon Rhee’s motto “might for right” –and without the need to hurt or kill others in the name of right), it’s about seeing the training go so far down the line that it transcends the sport of it, the exercise of it –that it takes it right to the core of what it means to be a human being in search of connection with something much, much bigger than AT&T, Microsoft, GM, Mercedes, Macy’s, and RJ Reynolds, Co.

I’m sure there are a couple of other things too, but the point is:

You’re not a businessperson teaching “karate” in a strip mall somewhere in America. You’re something much more than that, much more even than a father or mother or son and daughter. I see the UBBT and the 100 as symbols for the way things ought to be –the way things in the martial arts world should strive to be, and that is what happens after the enrollments, after the cleaning and the taxes and all the necessities of our work. These programs are about what we REALLY believe and what we really intend to DO in the world.

I want to be able to point to each and every one of you –and tell the story of the work you do in the world –and how you use your connection to these ideas to do extraordinary work, small work –and big work. Somewhere in one of your schools is a Rosa Parks –and perhaps you will be lucky enough to be a part of his or her education –maybe you will be one of the reasons this person becomes a person of action. Our world needs some more folks like that.

When I think of the UBBT and the 100, I think about the power of working together to experiment and try new things and to share our time together going after the grand. I think how together, all of us, doing our little things –have the potential to do something amazing.

I think about martial arts schools that really, honestly, provide a kind of education that lives up to the concept of mastery that is often attributed to “martial arts masters.” I think of how, in history, we might be viewed as pioneers in an educational movement that made a shift in the world –thru all of these martial arts schools teaching all of these young, willing, excited, people.

There are many groups in the martial arts community dedicated to helping your business. Good! --and my vision for the work we are doing is beyond the business --it's about the soul, about mission, about the kind of action-in-the-world that would have you standing on the same platform as those really brave folks, our heroes, who put themselves on the line for what must be done in the world.

Peace. Conscious consumption. Simplicity. Compassion. Awareness. Family ---these are the self-defense lessons of the martial arts taught by teachers who took what they practiced on the mat and applied it to life. This is what we're trying to "get" --and to put into action in our own lives -and in our schools/communities. This is what we want our students to talk about --when someday they talk about what they learned from us.
Tom Callos

A message to the UBBT Teams

To Students, Participants, Friends, Alumni, and Fans of the Ultimate Black Belt Test,

I don’t know if you know this or not, but you are helping me craft an all new approach, a revolutionary approach, to black belt testing, rank tests, training –and the “martial arts” in general. Through your actions and commitment to your goals –you are shaping a new kind of meaning for the rank of “black belt.”

Through our work, parents are going to look at the martial arts in a different way –a better way –and so will the media; so will teachers, school administrators, politicians, students, and anyone else who finds value in transforming, value in giving, value in working on peace, activism, environmentalism, and all of the things that we are saying are a part of this process.

All the things we are working on –and doing –in this process.

You are a part of something much bigger than your own black belt test –something bigger than your own training. So many of our experiments here, in the UBBT, are new ideas, ideas that have not previously been executed the way we are doing them. When you apply yourself to the UBBT, you are bringing something very valuable to the martial arts –and to the world.

Long after this program is gone –what you’re doing here will still be an influence in the martial arts world. And if I can convince you to take it all very seriously –to apply yourself to your training like you are going to the Olympics –like it’s everything to you (things like empathy training, eating like a champion, performing and recording acts of kindness, reading, walking 1000 miles, participating in Alabama, etc.), then you will make this all so much more powerful, so much more effective and meaningful and influential.

Treat your time here as if you were aware that you are a pioneer; that you aware that you are influencing and/or will influence scores of other people. Document what you are learning, what you experience –not just for your own growth and record, but for every little boy and girl, for every young man, for every person over 30 looking for authenticity –and looking to the UBBT for inspiration. Do it for everyone who will study the martial arts in the future --and experience empathy training, who will keep a journal of their year-long "test", who will learn and then teach peace education, who will perform acts of kindness, and environmental clean up projects, who will forgive their enemies --and who will do all these things in the pursuit of the coveted rank of "black belt."

Be a champion –regardless of your age, your ability, your background, and your obstacles. Understand too, that you are not being “acted upon” in this program –no, you are laying the foundation for the program. You are actively involved in making it happen –you are growing the UBBT.

Tell me of a test –a martial arts test, where you might have the opportunity to change the martial arts world for the better? Have you been in one? Have you seen a test like that before? Perhaps you have –but either way, if you’re in the program now, then appreciate that you are making history.

I know that to be true.

Thank you. I’m glad to be here with you –even if you’re not up to speed yet, the fact that you have arrived here is a sign that we are making progress.

Tom

Ultimate Black Belt Test Team Message

Good morning,

Let's talk business
The new strategy for 2008 is to get each of your students, even if only in the smallest way, to take their martial arts "out of the dojo -and into the world." What if, this year, each of your students took on a little community activism project –based on something they had an interest in? What if some of them banded together to help each other? What if people who were not your students got involved and/or heard about it? Even better, what if people heard about what you were up to –and were MOVED by it?

What if you decided that you were going to get proactive and "black belt creative" this year (starting now) about promoting your business and your services in unique, innovative, and emotionally powerful ways?!

That's the plan. It's all about PROMOTION, CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT, EDUCATION, and BEING A MENTOR/LEADER. It's NOT "buying an ad" –it's LIVING the talk. It's seeing if you can use your powers to inspire people to take action; action that shapes, action that teaches, action that creates CHANGE.

What will happen as a result?

You will TEACH people to USE THEIR POWER (too). You will reach out to people who care about your community and it's people. You will also accomplish several things at once –and your school will take on a new USP –and you will have things to talk about and sell that nobody else has.

Step # 1 is to create a PROJECT PORTFOLIO for your school –and document every project no matter the size, no matter the outcome.

Look to our new website to create an association-wide Project Portfolio —but don't wait, start now. The goal is to take each project and use it to write the book of black belt action, empowerment, activity, and outcome.

No more "this is what we can do" bullshit...it's time for THIS IS WHAT WE DO. Prove it.



Let's talk projects
Anger Management is, I think, "the thing" you should be jumping on –like yesterday. After you take the course at www.angercoachonline.com, the program's not going to fill your school like magic –you're going to have to WORK at using it....but let me tell you, there is magic in the subject, in its power, it's its potential –and you need to learn how to talk the talk, now.

Diabetes Education and the Acts of Kindess Program are your e-tickets to SELF-DEFENSE education for the HERE AND NOW. Can you get to every school-age (6 to 18) child in your town with a message about their health and diabetes? Do you have the wherewithal to use our connection with Andy Mandell and www.defeatdiabetes.com to get your black belt on and help prevent young people in your town from getting this insidious disease?

You might have to learn about diabetes first –but again, let me tell you, this could help you meet and get involved with all sorts of people that could benefit your school in a "get new students" sort of way.

This tool isn't going to come to you in a fricken box –so you're going to have to get on the stick a little and WORK IT. But you've never, ever had access to better resources to do that –than you have now.

ALABAMA. That's all I should have to do --is mention the name of the upcoming UBBT/100 event --and my phone should be ringing off the hook with offers for help. THis is the martial arts anti-convention convention. This is everything we hoped the martial arts would be about -but haven't seen become reality. It's 4 months away -and I need your help to make it happen --and I need you to be there, in force, ready to learn and share and grow.


Let's talk your head
I don't what your obstacle is. I don't know what your excuses are. I don't know what demons you have on your back.

What I do know is that you can do better. I do know that you would do very well to change your behaviors –to the kind that empower you to be who you want to be. I do know that you have joined a community that is working to MAKE A DIFFERENCE –and that if you can get yourself our of your normal routine, out of your comfort zone, out of your excuse-zone, you will become an integral part of a MOVEMENT in the martial arts world –and in the world itself, for something different –and better for the soul.

Get your power on. Hang out with better thinkers. Hang out with those that are DOING. Hang out with people working for others. Throw off the constrains of "keeping up with the Joneses" –throw off the need to feed your endless wants –and start living in a spiritual world.

As a MASTER TEACHER, this is your path. You aren't here to teach technical skills alone –you're here to inspire and make the world a better, safer, more compassionate place.

Just because you don't read about this in martial arts magazines --and just because "business associations" aren't talking about spirituality you YOU transcending the status quo ---doesn't mean it isn't important --or that it isn't time to grow up.

Let's talk journals

Besides the site getting hacked and photos not being up in any sort of timely way –what's your JOURNAL problem? Is it "hard to do?" Sorry. Are you feeling disconnected? Double sorry.

I understand –and now I have to tell you that this is THE ULTIMATE BLACK BELT TEST. And the UBBT is YOU –performing in an uncommon and remarkable way. It's you PROVING that the martial arts isn't a bunch of talk and fabrication. Studying the martial arts really does develop self-discipline, right? Black belts really have special powers, right? It isn't all show and tell, right? There is "a way," is there not?

You are a leader and a teacher, correct? You are pledged to "live as an example," yes?

Well, I'm sorry this is difficult –but the more difficult it is, the harder is for you to cope, the more challenging the obstacles, the CLOSER we get to something that helps us actually grow and evolve.

Let it BE hard! Bring it on! Come on -is that all you've got?!!! Get on your journals and journal like you're a genius -like you're a leader and a teacher -like you're a man or woman on a mission -like you're driven by unseen forces -like you eat the UBBT for breakfast.

One year –just one stinking year.

TO ANYONE and EVERYONE reading this message: LOOK to this program to see what martial artists really are -or are not! Let this stand as a banner to what "master teachers" and "black belt instructors" are capable of –what they are like under their uniforms. Watch them display the self-discipline they claim they can inspire in their students. Watch the UBBT to see if it's all so much talk –or if the martial arts are really what we so often claim they are.

Watch me make it hard for these teachers and black belts. Watch me create conflict and hardship to "test" them. Watch how they come together -or fade away...Watch all of this and it will reveal what they can actually teach their students. Collectively we will show you, now –right here and now, what the martial arts really truly are.

Self Defense for the Brain