Take the best qualities of the best/greatest people you can think of…

Take the best qualities of the best/greatest people you can think of…

And embody them.

Take the qualities you know, in your heart of hearts, are destructive, like…

Greed; envy; arrogance; apathy; negative pre-judgment; and hate…

And make a conscious decision not to let them work thru you in your life.

Forgive. Forget. Offer kindness even in the face of anger and confusion.

These ideas reflect the kind of martial arts “master” worth knowing (and that we strive to be).

The purely physical is the box of cake mix.

Making the cake is your training. Sitting down to eat it is part of the reward.

Eating it with a complete awareness of the fragility of life, so that when you’re sharing it with your daughter, you are completely aware of the fact that you are there, alive, and so is she…eating it with awe for what it is and what’s brought you to that place.

Well now, THAT is something so big, so valuable, so enchanted that it is borders on the sacred.

Going to your dojo today, is the cake mix.

Doing your work and workout is making the cake. Teaching is part of your reward.

Teaching people to become better, more cognizant, participative, more empathetic, more here and now and happy for it, that is the sacred.

That’s something those folks you admire might have admired themselves.

New Instructions for People Starting the Ultimate Black Belt Test

August 28, 2007, by team coach Tom Callos

Note: Some of the following instructions have been written, in one form or another, elsewhere, while some of this is all-new.

The UBBT and Your Role as a Teacher
As a member of the UBBT, you are not just a participant; you are a teacher to hundreds and probably thousands of other people. They are watching you on the website –and learning vicariously through your experience(s). A number of prominent martial arts teachers have told me that they read the UBBT’s journals first thing every morning. I’m going to guess that a lot of other people check them regularly too. So, remember, you are teaching –and there are things you do for other people’s sake when you’re a teacher, that you might not do if the process were only for yourself.

The point here is, to realize your role, and play it out as if we were making history.

The UBBT and Whining/Complaining
The UBBT is a no whining, no complaining zone. You just don’t do it. As a mature, accomplished black belt in the martial arts, you should know all too well the power one’s viewpoint holds in thought, attitude, and outcome. You don’t complain, you fix. You don’t gossip, you encourage. You don’t whine, you take action.

Most of all, you commit yourself to either having or developing an exceptional attitude about success, defeat, obstacles, people, and situations.

What happens to you is up to you. What you make of your test doesn’t belong in my hands –or in anyone’s hands –but your own. If you can’t embrace this notion with 1000% of your heart and soul, then don’t join the program until you can.

I welcome any and all conflict we have between us during this process, because when it surfaces, we will find out what is truly beneath our shells.

Passing the Test
In all likelihood, you will not earn new belt rank in the UBBT. If your participation is contingent upon earning a new level of rank, then it’s best not to be involved. To earn rank in this program you have to actually DO the agreed-upon curriculum –and you have to do it with style and something more, something that’s hard to pin down in words, but what I expect of an immensely resourceful, self-disciplined martial artist. People have earned new rank in the program, but many have not. Most people engage in the program because it speaks to them, not because they get to put a new stripe on their black belt.

Engaging with Your Fellow Testers
As a part of this team, know now, right up front, that you are expected to act (towards your fellow members) the way YOU would want your own students to act among themselves if they were testing for THEIR black belts under you.

Don’t be one of these selfish, self-centered, too busy to engage, every excuse under the sun, including “it’s hard for me”, kind of teammates who can’t seem to find the 10 minutes once-a-day to engage with people who are all supposed to be working towards THE ULTIMATE black belt test.

Act the way you would act if you knew that you were going to be teaching people all over the word WHAT TEAM IS ALL ABOUT.

Yes, I know it’s a lot to ask, but then, this is the UBBT. Begin with the end in mind.

The UBBT Journals
The journaling in the UBBT is meant to be a chronicle, a diary, of your journey. It’s not where you complain about your lack of commitment or enthusiasm, it’s where you teach and document your progress. If you suffer from low motivation, if you have “dirty laundry” you feel compelled to air, if you can’t think of something positive to say –well, you might want to picture the most spiritually evolved being you can imagine –and do what She would do.

However, you are who you are, and it’s a difficult thing to hide for very long. Journal what’s in your heart and on your mind, but JOURNAL once a week; it’s about self-discipline and doing what you committed yourself to doing. If you miss a journal, make it up.

The UBBT: A Method of Attacking the Idea –and Why

There are some things that probably ought to be done without fanfare, without announcement, without publicity.

The UBBT isn’t one of them –and let me tell you why:

We are teachers; teachers do for others. Now, of course, there are plenty of reasons that teachers teach that could be considered selfish, as there are certainly benefits teachers derive from practicing their craft; but, for the most part, teachers give (and give and give), unselfishly and unconditionally.

At least the best teachers do.

This is what the UBBT is about. The program may, at first glance, seem like an ambitious self-improvement program, and it is –but only in part. The UBBT serves you best when you recognize it as a teaching tool. Telling people about the UBBT is telling them about the potential people have (you have, they have) to use daily life, ambitions, goals, and practices, (the struggle!) to REALLY LIVE. And to be fit, to be aware, to be participative, to make it a habit to grow, learn, and evolve.

Doing the UBBT is a way to teach others, to SHOW THEM they can do more; you show them by your example; and not to guilt them into improvement, but to just simply show them how they can apply themselves to their life in a way that is immensely rewarding (although it requires self-discipline).

Do you recognize how SHOWING someone is so much more powerful than just telling them?

But wait! How powerful would it be to just decide you are going to live as an example of “mastery” –separate from any UBBT, event, or whatever? That is, I think, the amazing thing that some ordinary people do –that eventually makes them shine.

Jhoon Rhee’s like that, as is Ernie Reyes, Sr. I think Dan Inosanto embraces the idea, as does Thich Nhat Hahn, Julia Hill, and add the name of your favorite hero right here ______.

Whoa! Wait again! Don’t we want our students, our “black belt candidates” to USE their black belt test (or any test) as a reason to transform and improve? Could we ask for more?

So, let’s teach them a lesson about how to use one’s “black belt test” as a vehicle for improvement. Let’s show them how it’s done. Do it right, do it thoroughly with discipline and focus, and you’ll teach 1000 lessons.

Two or three times during the UBBT I’ve had someone tell me they’re not writing down their ACTS OF KINDNESS because they want to engage in kindness separate from recognition and/or reward.

And that’s noble –except that is, in my opinion, not the point of the exercise.

We record 1000 acts of kindness, and we do it publicly and with declaration, because we are teachers. Every acts of kindness is a lesson in the extraordinary, in self-discipline, in determination, and in commitment. If it were just for our own spiritual health, then yes, it would be a good thing just to DO them...but this isn't about you --it's about people you have the opportunity to teach (young and old alike).

So is it with the entire UBBT process. Doing the UBBT is an act by a martial arts activist. It is you doing something overtly public –to serve as a role model for others.

Julia Butterfly Hill sat up in Luna, the old growth redwood tree, not just to save a single tree or patch of forest, but as a declaration of the need to take action on issues that you feel strongly about. It was to show how one person can make a difference.

In my “perfect world” scenario, people who do the UBBT do it because they CAN –and because they believe that it’s their responsibility (and/or opportunity) to teach others they can also do more, be more, change, and improve. Of course, some people will not understand...but that's not going to stop us from turning the key in the lock of our classroom --and opening the door. It's our job.

Start the UBBT with the mindset of a teacher (which is the mindset of a student).

On the UBBT's Eco-Adventure

(Each year I take the members of the Ultimate Black Belt Test on a 3 or 4 day Eco-Adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail outside of Lake Tahoe, CA)

We are going into the Sierra’s for a number of reasons…and I promote this event purposely and with intent (not because it’s easy or convenient or because “we have to do something”).

I truly believe that being close to nature, connecting, turning off the virtual world, and being close to the earth, to trees, and sleeping under the stars is something we need to stay sane. If you could “get” the value of these things, you would, I believe, be that much better of a teacher, leader, and inspiration to others.

The chance to do these things and create the time to talk with you, to give you the opportunity to mix and connect –and to do it all without the wiz and hum of cell-phones, air conditioners, i-pods, car stereos, servants, TV’s, bars, convention center lighting, gift shops, slot machines, and on and on –it’s perfect.

If I somehow motivated you to take your students, periodically, into the outdoors…that you would somehow tie in a “martial arts education” to connecting, at least occasionally, with nature…well, then what a feather in my cap! What a gift that would be.

That’s part of what I’m doing. I’m showing you what I think is important ---and I’m hoping you say to yourself, “yeah, this is good” ---and then implement it as a part of the education you provide for all of those people who so look up to you.

Simplicity is a common theme in my writing and work ---but how to practice it? How do we get in touch with it? How do we let go, even just for a day or two, with all of the crud we have encumbered ourselves with?

This trip does some of that –and a bonus is that we’re not trekking across Death Valley…this area we go to is beautiful ---and still looks like America looked when your father’s great-great grandfather was working on his methods for making a living on the planet.

We have, some of us, forgotten the power of nature to clear the slate and clean the soul.

Forget "Karate", MMA is The Ultimate!

Forget your karate, your taekwondo, your aikido, your gung fu, your jiu-jitsu, your kenpo; mixed martial arts is the ULTIMATE!

Mixed Martial Arts –In Perspective

By Tom Callos

Mixed martial arts is the perfect art for the space it occupies. I mean, why not use what works when it’s needed? Why not forget a style’s country of origin, it’s founder, it’s history, it’s lineage? Who really cares what art a technique is from?

Hey, if the kick works, if the choke chokes, if the punch lands, who could ask for more? When you’re in the octagon or any fighting ring, you’re on the spot -there’s no time for history or philosophy, there’s only time to do what you’ve come to do.

I love mixed martial arts for its efficiency, for its no-nonsense approach, for its adaptability, and for its lack of baggage. It is the ultimate martial art for the 625-square-feet of space that makes up a 25’ x 25’ ring.

The only thing is, and it’s worthy to note: Life does not take place in the octagon. The rules of MMA practice and fighting, the whole UFC fight thing, well…it’s made for the ring.

Life is, yeah, BIGGER! Life is...

Life is REALLY BIG!

The rules that work so well in the octagon or in ANY ring, don't apply to the big ol' world. No, for the world, to live here in peace, to let our children grow up and love, live, reach, enjoy, and prosper, there are lots, and lots, and lots of other things they need to know.

This then, all you "karate teachers" (replace "karate with your style, system, method, etc.), is a wake up call (if you need one).

If you're going to define your art with "fighting" in the first paragraph of your description of what you do, then you have limited your overall value (to the tune of about 625 square feet).

If you realize YOUR playing field in the world (read: large!) --and teach accordingly, then your style will go on, will prosper, will have value, and will make a difference (in a much larger and, dare I say, more relevant way).

If your primary focus is kicking, punching, grappling, etc. -well, it's your choice isn't it? It doesn't make you bad or weak or anything, that is except less valuable to the world.

Teach more than fighting; redefine your mission; create a new INTENT.

Message to the UBBT Teams and Members of the 100, following the MAIA Supershow:

MMA has Landed.

The UBBT concept is, I think, especially vital –now that MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) has permeated everyone’s consciousness. MMA isn’t new, as it’s what all the masters practiced before they did what they did best --and followers wrote those ideas in stone.
MMA is here, now, vital, and it’s the culmination of years of effort from masters of many styles.

The UBBT however, is ULTRA-MMA, and not just in the realm of fighting.

Our curriculum engages boxing, BJJ, fitness training, traditional practices, and reality-based self-defense training, all components of MMA—but, as you know, we go way beyond the physical. We embrace meditation (and if you’ve done as instructed, you have already studied with a master), empathy and kindness training (character development), education (interviewing a master, reading, profiling 10 living heroes, journaling as leadership), and community involvement (environmental clean up, Alabama project, 50,000 acts of kindness project).

The 100 is my attempt to get “clients” and members to focus on Project Based Leadership Training and both environmental and peace activism in a way that enhances the education your school provides, opens up new promotional opportunities, and helps create a truly unique selling proposition for each school.

All of these ideas, for our little “industry,” are terribly (or wonderfully) radical and way, WAY ahead of their time. BUT, in the broadest sense, this is ULTIMATE MMA (if you view the martial arts as more than a sport or method of physical self-defense/combat).

MMA is built upon taking the best-of-the-best martial arts techniques from wherever they happen to come from, and blending them in a way that has nothing to do with politics, country of origin, or style. What works, works, what doesn’t is placed in another catagory. What we’re doing is exactly the same thing, but in a more holistic way.

Definition of Holistic:

ho·lis·tic [ hō lístik ] 1. analyzing whole system of beliefs: characterized by the view that a whole system of beliefs must be analyzed rather than simply its individual components.

Early on, Mike Valentine, the first person to join the UBBT, said that he thought the UBBT would be most effective (as a tool for change and business improvement) if participants took their physical martial arts training to the highest level. Being in top shape, actually being “good”, and being able to show a level of physical mastery would, for the martial arts community, demonstrate that we were striving for a healthy balance.

I agree, but I can’t get you in shape –I can only point the way and encourage you. My suggestion: Practice like this is your Olympics. Do that, and at next year’s Supershow, you will find yourself a part of those leading the pack.

UBBT Alabama / M Project UPDATE

One of the Most Interesting, but underrated accomplishments of the Ultimate Black Belt Test Team 4 (with help from other teams, as always and as it should be) is its work in Alabama with Pam Dorr, the Rural Studio, and in preparation for John Bielenberg and his PROJECT M.
The teams raised $40,000 to partially renovate two historic buildings in Greensboro, Alabama --structures to be used to launch art programs for local youth --AND to house the amazing PROJECT M.

I don't think most team members realize what we did --and who it is impacting.

It all began with our relationship with Pam Dorr --who I contacted because of my interest in the great teacher Sam Mockbee.

Then I read a story about Mockbee's influence on another amazing teacher (in another field), John Bielenberg. Project M --a radically different sort of training program for graphic designers, artists, writers, photographers, is in part named after Mockbee.

I e-mailed John about our work in Alabama --and asked if he'd like to participate in some way --and that lead to conversations with Pam Dorr --which lead to our plan to renovate a place for visiting artists, groups, etc. to come to in Greensboro --which lead to Project M actually coming to Greensboro.

Oh, and let me tell you a secret: I want to be a teacher like Mockbee and Bielenberg --in the martial arts world.

So, in part, because of our work in Alabama, we have formed a bridge between some seemingly disparate fields (architecture, art, design, martial arts), and become a part of a large family of dynamic people who are, in the end, all doing the same kind of work:

Inspiration; education; awareness; creativity; community activism; leadership training ---which, in my mind, all point to a very sophisticated and essential form of self-defense.

Good work Teams. Thank you to everyone who worked, raised money, fell off roofs, made films, and generally got down and dirty for this vision. Thank you to Jason and Claire, who came all the way from the UK to help. Thank you to Nancy for her amazing films. Thank you to all the schools who raised money. Thank you to Hal for his engineering advice and work. Thank you to Pam Dorr for allowing us to participate. Thank you to all the Mom's and Dads, Hal and John Miller, and Chris Natzke, and all that I've missed, for bringing your children into our work --they don't know what they played a role in, yet.

Thank you to everyone on the team who helped do something remarkable --without much praise, with very little fanfare, and with some healthy bumps and bruises. We left a mark there --thanks to you!

The links below talk a bit about the project --and show some pictures of the houses:

http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/field_trip/project_m_at_the_rural_studio_heats_up_61220.asp

http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/field_trip/a_rural_studio_tour_61238.asp

http://projectm07.blogspot.com/2007/06/yee-haw.html

http://projectm07.blogspot.com/

Tom Callos
530-903-0286

Martial Arts Answers for a Filmmaker (FYI)

A filmmaker, whose name must remain a secret, sent me the following questions in regards to a feature film in-the-works...

Hi Tom, Getting down to business, what I am really looking for is information re. the following aspects of martial arts:

What is the founding philosophy for marital arts and the core values that it aims to maintain and sustain in individuals? Would you consider martial arts a means to creating goodness in the world? and how?What is the form/type of martial arts that is most suited to a woman's physique, energy and mentality? Which types do women tend to pioneer in? etc.

I guess that is a start for now, I am also reading numerous books and looking at varied resources but wanted to get the organic knowledge from someone with as much expertise as yourself. Very briefly, my feature film (which I can not really say a lot about at the moment) but is about women superheroes! That is the most I can say for now. I trust you will understand. We maybe shooting in Austin too!! Hope you are great Tom.Thanks,

Ok ______, Thanks…and good luck!

Here are my answers:

What is the founding philosophy for marital arts and the core values that it aims to maintain and sustain in individuals?

There is nothing about the founding of the martial arts –or its core philosophy, that isn’t easily understood or recognized about "life" in general. Think of Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs…first you satisfy hunger, shelter, companionship, and at the highest levels self-actualization and community contribution.

So too is it with martial arts.

Most people, now and historically, first started "practicing" martial "stuff" out of the basic need for protection…then came health, another form of protection, then came the expression of art, game, community, the search for mental clarity (peace) ---and all of the things you and I (human beings) think about when they’re not fighting the life-and-death struggle.

When you think of "martial arts" think "LIFE." When you say "martial artist", say HUMAN BEING. To be a martial arts master is embarrassingly easy ---being a solid, contributing, compassionate, empathetic, whole human being ---now THAT is hard work.

To be a martial artist is to have a self-defense consciousness (coined by my wife)…and "self-defense" is holistic –and not reserved for defense from physical attack alone. Follow me?

Oh, and I should mention, to be a "warrior" is easy. Pick up a weapon and kill. It is returning to be a whole human being, once you have faced the brutality of war, that is hard. People who want to be warriors have not, I think, experienced the horrible stupidity and uselessness of real war; the death of children, innocent and wide-eyed…the death of women who could have been their mothers…fathers who wanted no more than to watch their children play. People who aspire to a warrior attitude are not thinking clearly –as there is nothing about murder that feeds the soul or makes us better human beings.

If you are depicting people or super-heroes who are warriors, depict the understanding that consciousness and clarity, in this regard, is the highest form of "martial art." To lose the need and desire to fight. That is, at least at this time in my life, how I understand it.

Would you consider martial arts a means to creating goodness in the world? and how?

The martial arts, practiced diligently and with the right frame of mind ---like many things, has the potential to bring the practitioner to a centered, balanced, healthy, compassionate place.

If anger, as is said, comes from a place of fear –then the practice of the martial arts helps the practitioner overcome fear –to face fear (not just the fear of attack, but the fear of how one might feel if he or she "loses face" or feels intimidated or less-than or of losing something irreplaceable), then it is good for the world…as people do stupid things when they operate from a place of fear.

The practice of the martial arts does not bring enlightenment –just as "living" does not bring about enlightenment. There are just as many dysfunctional martial arts practitioners as there are dysfunctional human beings. What the martial arts has the potential to do, is make a person physically fit…which lends itself, for some, to mental and emotional fitness.

It is, above all else the PRACTICE of controlling one’s fear, the PRACTICE of staying clear headed under pressure, the PRACTICE of facing opponents without unjustified fear, the PRACTICE of moving the body in a way that deescalates conflict, minimizes the need for it –or its effects, it is in the quest to become clear –that one reaps the benefits of the practice of the martial arts. This idea is in everything –golf, the tea ceremony, the mountain climber…these are universal concepts.

Practice is where the value is. One doesn’t achieve "mastery", one practices the acts and concepts of mastery.

Martial arts is the car –not the trip. Martial arts are, primarily, about self-control…and self-awareness. Someone who exercises self-control –and who has a heightened sense of self-awareness OUGHT to function better as a human being. Someone who is highly self-aware, is then, I think, highly aware of the same ideas in his or her fellow human beings. That is good for the world, no?

Where martial arts might (or might not) be a more direct path to creating goodness, is directly related to the philosophy of the teacher…and "goodness" philosophy isn’t a martial arts thing…it is a very human thing. The wisest martial artists (human beings), look for teachers in everything –they look for the universal truths…not the one’s with specific labels of origin.
Martial arts is neither smart nor dumb, neither good or bad.

The Korean proverb is: The cow and the snake drink from the same pond ---the cow makes milk, the snake makes poison.

What is the form/type of martial arts that is most suited to a woman's physique, energy and mentality? Which types do women tend to pioneer in? etc.

Well, tough question, as women, like men, come in all shapes and sizes. Best to look, at least part of the time, at martial arts "styles" like state or country lines. Is there really a line between California and Nevada?

No…

and there’s really not that big of difference in style or system of martial arts for the advanced practitioner. Some styles or systems might argue that point –but most of their stuff is what is called "branding" ---they’re making borders and rules that don’t exist in the real world. Bruce Lee’s philosophy in the Tao of JKD, is the right approach: "way as no way, no way as way." (actually, it’s "Using no way as way, having no limitation as limitation")

All that being said, women with less muscle than men, use martial arts techniques that don’t require superior strength. All martial arts have something of this as a part of their stuff…
And remember, empty handed fighting is a last resort…a weapon is almost always superior to no weapon. A woman with the right weapon, is (can be) as capable as a man or animal twice her size…or more.

Note too, that martial arts that are primarily sport related, like much of taekwondo and judo –are practicing with "rules of the game." These rules govern what they can or can’t do (or what they primarily focus on in practice). A warrior fighting a life and death struggle has no rules (I’m hypothesizing) except to survive.

Tom

Cetificates of Gradutation for Team's 1 and 2

Here are the certificates from UBBT Team 1 and 2. Team 1's certificate was made by the famous poster artist Dirk Fowler. We did a firewalk on Team 1's graduation --and the poster represents the tranformation and rebirth of the testing process.

Team 2 had their poster designed by team member Patti Oji, an accomplished artist (and one tough black belt).

Graduate Certificate for UBBT Team 3

Well teams, this is one fine piece of art --created by Kim Christian, Dan Rominski's artistically gifted better half. This found and/or organic-object collage is a rendition of a photograph of a rock sculpture I did on the beach at Waipio Valley when team 3 was there for their eco-adventure. A rock sculpture is, to me, about balance --and about impermanence...two fine subjects for martial arts teachers to meditate on.

This is the 3rd certificate in the "black belt certificates as art" series...and my goal was to commission artists to make black belt certificates that were first recognized for their unique theme and beauty...and then only after that as an actual certificate.

In that we were all there at Waipio (one of the rocks is made up of a journal entry I made about my first visit to Waipio when I moved to Hawaii), and that we played hard on this beach (a couple of injuries too --and we almost lost John M.), AND that we moved about 6 ton of lava-rock at Jason Scott Lee's place there...well, it's the perfect piece.

Thank you to Kim and Dan! I am making a video on the making of this piece....which will be meant to accompany your certificate.
If you, after two years, actually MAKE it to the graduation, you will receive one of them.

Tom

Martial Arts Business Info (ala Tom Callos)

Short range; medium range; and long range –as martial artists we all understand the implications of these three distances when addressing a fight. Different techniques work at different ranges, period.

The idea of the three ranges could be expressed in three concentric circles, like in this picture:



But, the FIGHT is not any one of the circles, the fight is all of the ranges together –and each range is as important as the other in the context of a match. If you only work in one range you might find yourself in trouble if your opponent doesn’t give you the space you require. It is best to develop tools for all the ranges --and of course, that is stating the obvious, but the point is as follows:

Business is like this too.

You need to develop business and management skills that operate from any “distance” that relates to conducting a profitable and rewarding business (note: profitability is a factor of a rewarding business, but what profitability means depends on your own definition, goals, ambitions, needs, etc.).

The Inner Circle
Let’s say that the inner circle represents one aspect of your business, the basics. The basics are made of basic business protocol: appearance, cleanliness, procedures for greeting potential or current customers, dress codes, phone answering, client and prospect follow up, payroll, advertising and promotion, taxes, maintenance, profit and loss statements, etc. Very important stuff –and well-documented in the martial arts industry.

The Middle Circle
Let’s imagine that the next circle is personality based. This entails all the day-to-day interactions with potential students, current students, and former students. To be amazing at this range you have to have rapport-building skills –and a little charisma and charm don’t hurt either.

The Big Circle
The third circle, the big one, the long-range one, that’s about mission, direction, intent, vision –it’s all of the big-picture things. Why are you doing what you do? Are you a man or woman on a mission? Do you know exactly where you’re going? Do you have a selfish vision or a heroic one?

The little circle, most of it’s procedural; it’s how long you dip the French fries in the grease, it’s what color your uniform is, when you collect and pay taxes, it’s changing the retail display on Fridays, it’s everything that should and could be in a manual.

The middle circle is about smiling, focused, friendly, smart people. You can’t make a great people person by handing someone a business procedures book. You might help someone to learn some of the basics, but to master this range you need someone with a friendly, personable attitude.

The big circle? You need vision, you need purpose for being, and you need some wisdom.

You can buy a manual, you can hire good people, but for vision, well, for a vision that drives you, that serves you and everyone who works with you, you need to do “soul work.” You need to tap into a kind of thinking that is, well –visionary.

I believe that our industry is spending an inordinate amount of time focusing on short and medium range goals and ideas, both of which are vital, but incomplete if not backed up by big picture brilliance.

Making a profit, investing in moneymaking, wealth-building ventures, expanding your operation –these things are one fraction of what the biggest circle is made up of. Wealth building is the right hand of a 220-pound mixed martial arts fighter.

Spiritual awareness, community awareness, empathy for others, standing up against injustice, conscious consumption –these are just some of the big picture issues.

This is the realm of the Ultimate Black Belt Test and The 100. If you feel lost or like you’re too money-focused, if you easily lose your drive, if you wonder why you’re even doing what you do for a living –you are operating from a long-range perspective. This is the range I’m encouraging you to focus on, with at least one-third of your time as a businessperson.

If you want to talk about things in the small circle arena, turn to NAPMA, MAIA, EFC, UP, Member Solutions, Martialinfo.com, or any number of the other business groups ands information/content providers in the martial arts industry. They’re all good.

For medium range people-issues, learn how to develop good service providers by modeling companies that give amazing service, like Starbucks, like Pike’s Place Market, like Kovar’s Satori schools (PROMAC), Steve Lavallee’s schools in Florida, Tiger Schulman’s in New York, and almost any number of the larger martial arts schools in the world.

For vision? Look to people who are making a difference (or trying to) in the world. Like Olympic athletes, they aren’t EVERYWHERE, but they’re around. You may not stumble across one accidentally, but if you search you’ll find them.

One of the people that can help you with big picture stuff –is Thich Nhat Hahn. He’s going to be teaching at a week-long retreat in Estes Park, CO this August (for details, visit http://www.ultimateblackbelttest.com/ and go to TEST REQUIREMENTS, then to SPECIAL EVENTS).

My self-appointed job in the martial arts world is to leave the small and medium circle issues to my very competent friends and peers in the industry --and focus on the big circle. I see all of us, collectively, as part of the “team” of people who serve you, of which I am a part. They say it takes a village to raise a child –and I say it takes a village to raise a “master.”

I’d like to discuss, with you –the big picture. I’d like to help you develop long-range techniques –and I think you will find the work in this range to be just as important as good, solid business procedures and good people on the floor.

I am Tom Callos --and I may be reached at 530-903-0286 or tom@tomcallos.com

About Your Black Belt Test and School

To the Teams:

Good afternoon! I’m going to write you, now, about YOUR black belt test. I’m going to write you about YOUR school –what you teach and what you “sell.”

You might like what I write –and you might not, nevertheless, as coach to the team, I am compelled to “coach.”

Note this, first, before I begin: There isn’t a single issue in the UBBT that you won’t face in your own school with your own students. The primary difference between what we are doing here –and what you do in your school…is you.

You are the teacher, a leader, the head person, and some of you even use the title “Master.” You are not one of your students; you are the person who points the way. You impart the education, you set the example, and you lead. You are supposed to have the answers –and if not all of “them” –then specifically the ones that pertain to learning the martial arts.

If most of your students can perform at “level 10” –it is most likely because you have shown them “level 20.” You are not governed by the same rules, nor are you expected to fall victim to the same challenges that keep your students from excelling.

In my eyes you are not to be compared to your students, you aren’t to be held to the same standards. No, your standards are different, better-than, higher –you are a champion, an Olympian, an elite teacher, a leader of people. Your standards, how you deal with difficult situations, how you skirt defeat, how you find the way to succeed –these things set you apart, give you real value, and these are, in essence, the things people really want to learn from you.

Your Black Belt Test

Have you heard of this expression: “We are a Black Belt School”? Do you use that to describe your own school? Well, tell me, what does that mean? Does it mean that “black belt” is a standard? Does the concept mean that being a black belt is a good thing?

If it’s a good thing, what exactly is good about it?

Can you make and take a test that proves it? Do you live your life as a black belt? If so, then what does that mean? Is it found in the way you eat? In the way you interact with others? In your reading list? In your “projects”? In your consumption? Is it just a physical thing? Or have you spent your life developing an outlook and problem solving skills that are indicative of your training and rank? Or are you just like everyone else?

The Ultimate Black Belt Test is just one more opportunity for you to challenge yourself –to PRACTICE being who you aspire to be. Your life, the next minute, hour, and day ---these are all just one more opportunity to live like a master, to teach like a master, to BE in the practice of mastery.

What is martial arts mastery? YOU determine this. Set your sights low –and there you are. Set your sights high, hero-high, and THERE you are.

Hey, I have an IDEA:
Let me tell you what I’m going to do to contribute to your personal growth and development (isn’t it nice to have help sometimes?): I’m going to make a process…I’ll call it “The Ultimate Black Belt Test” (after all, the term “black belt”, as I understand it, is a universally accepted mark of skill and excellence) and I will challenge you to participate in a program where you get to SHOW THE WORLD what you’re made of. I’ll present you with a bunch of challenges, some of them nearly impossible to do, and then I’ll step back and let you run the show.

It’ll be the perfect opportunity for you to show us what skills you have, how you overcome conflict and problems. Why, you’ll be able to prove to people, especially your students, exactly why you are deserving of respect and why you are “the leader.”

I’ll work as your “PR” man –I’ll start telling the world about your test –and you get to show them the rest. Each week you can write a chapter in the “book” about your journey. Your students can get some insight into the complex and enigmatic world of a top “black belt” teacher –and imagine what you will learn from each other as you bond with like-minded people who are willing to undertake such an adventure. Wow.

Maybe, through this process, you will show your community exactly what you teach and sell! There will be no doubt in their minds! You’ll prove to them how powerful the martial arts can be! That power for transformation and growth!

What a gift! All you have to do is walk the talk of the martial arts!

Each day you wake up –and you get to start again! You’ll get in the best shape of your life, you’ll do all sorts of new things, and best of all, you will challenge yourself in ways that most people wouldn’t even dream of doing. You’ll be an “action hero” to hundred if not thousands of people(or not).

How cool is that!

Tom Callos
www.tomcallos.com

Let’s Help Usher In a New Era of Martial Arts Education

Funakoshi, Kano, Ueyshiba, Choi, Lee, and the Gracie family (among many others) have, each in their own time and way, contributed to new movements and shifts of awareness in the martial arts community.

In my 37 years of martial arts study, I have been witness to some of these --and other --historical shifts in thinking and methods.

I remember the first time a Bruce Lee movie aired in my town. I remember watching Joe Lewis, Jeff Smith, Bill Wallace, Byong Yu, and Al Dacascos in 1974 on Mike Anderson’s spectacular debut of full contact karate and creative demonstrations on national TV. I remember the first episode of Kung Fu. I remember watching Royce Gracie defeating people twice his size, using methods I had never seen before. All of these events, for me, created a shift in thinking, expectations, and goals –and I think a lot of martial artists were influenced by them as well.

It’s Happening, Again, Right Now
The martial arts community is, again, in the middle of a huge transition in methods, focus, and thinking. It’s being ushered in by the media, by TV and films; It’s being supported by a new generation of athletes –and fans of the martial arts. Ang Lee’s films, the UFC, too many Brazilians to mention by name, and You-Tube are all doing their part to create change –and opportunity –for all of us.

I would like to suggest that we (professional martial arts teachers) take this opportunity, this time and place, to step into and embrace our own changes. I think it’s time to take a leap forward in thinking, in teaching methods, and, most of all, in our expectations, our “desired outcome” from the work we put into our students.

Specifically, I am referring to what we teach our students, why we teach them, and what we expect them to know and be able to do when they “graduate” from our programs. Borrowing from Stephen Covey’s second “habit” of highly effective people (Begin with the End in Mind), I’m thinking about what we can do now to positively affect the future of the martial arts, untold numbers of martial artists, and perhaps, if we’re lucky, the world.

I don’t think that we should teach the martial arts only from a place of tradition, or for sport, but from a reevaluated position based on the needs of our society, today. New attitudes about self-defense and fitness stand to make the martial arts more “now”, more useful and relevant to the world as it is –and as it will be in the future. For teachers, more relevancy translates into more “value”, and we are all trying to increase the value (real and perceived) of what we do in –and for –the world.

From a business standpoint, what we offer to our students, in the way of education and services, has a direct effect on how we market and promote our schools. The more we expand and refine our subject matter, the more things we have to talk about with the media, with schoolteachers, with parents, and with prospective students.

Where to Begin the Transformation
Expand the Ring
There is a powerful vintage video on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/) that shows a three-minute piece of a documentary film featuring the great judo man, Kimura (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkDBflFtPIw). In the film, Canadian judoka Doug Rogers talks about Kimura and his training. He says that the university team, under Kimura’s supervision, does 600 pushups a day, and sometimes as many as 1000. Rogers says, “This is unreasonable, we know that. But it pushes us beyond a physical limit, to another place, way outside --or way inside, I don’t know where exactly, but I’ve been there.”

When you watch the film you can see how hard this team trained --and how focused both Kimura and his students were on winning and playing “great judo.” It’s beautiful: the commitment to that game, to the sport, to the mat and the training. It is exactly what you think judo is, what it was, and what it should be.

In judo competition, the ring is 33-feet by 33-feet; in boxing, a ring usually measures 24-feet square; in life, the ring is 24-7. Learning how to be a champion on the mat or in the ring is like writing one beautiful and poetic sentence –out of a Pulitzer Prize winning novel. The sentence is an integral part of the work, it is, in its structure, a vital component of the work, but it is not the novel. If only life could be narrowed down into a 33-foot square ring; Oh how easy it would be!

To expand the ring, to teach students how to take the lessons learned there and apply them to their lives, this is the new martial arts education –to be the Kimura of life-lessons! The teacher seeks to make champions in the ring, of course, but also (and more importantly) in life, the 24-7 variety. Fighting in the ring can be an art, but life? Winning in life is the real victory. Finding ways to teach these lessons, effective ways, measurable ways, this is the new challenge --and opportunity. This is the shift.

Fighting in the ring is so manageable; you win or you lose, sometimes you draw, and it’s oh-so contained. Life is a big, big ring –and as martial arts educators we need to teach those skills, so that our students go forward in their lives armed with what they need for an arena where defeat and victory really make a difference.

Make Self-Defense Global

MSN Encarta Definition for "Self Defense":

1. legal right to defend self: the use of reasonable force to defend yourself, your family, and your property against physical attack, or the right to do this
2. fighting techniques: fighting techniques used to defend yourself against physical attack, especially unarmed combat techniques such as any of the martial arts

The narrow definition of self-defense above, taken from the Internet, doesn’t begin to describe what we teach in the martial arts, nor does it give any hint whatsoever about the potential of what self-defense instruction could be.

In America, 7% of the population has diabetes, which is 20.8 million people. It’s estimated that another 14.6 million have the disease, but are currently undiagnosed. More than half-a-million people in America will die of cancer this year. The leading cause of death among children here, ages 5 to 14, is unintentional accidents, mostly auto related. A Cornell University analysis estimates that 40 percent of world deaths can now be attributed to various environmental factors, especially organic and chemical pollutants.
The estimates both in America and worldwide for the number of people killed or injured by side-kicks is unavailable, but my guess is that it’s only slightly more than are killed by back-fist attacks.

And forget about death, what about things that hurt us? Like financial issues, relationship issues (Ouch!), conspicuous consumption! Oh, and the worst of the worst: negative internal dialogue! How about diet? Racial bias and other unhealthy prejudices? How about that crippling un-awareness we have as our children grow up around us while we are absorbed in some business that someday we will come to realize didn’t mean 1/1000 as much as our loved ones?

Self-defense is so much more than we currently deal with, the opportunity to view it as something holistic, to look at it from a global perspective, is the martial arts shift-in-thinking of the century.

Out of the Dojo and Into the World: Project Based Leadership Training
Trophies in the windows of martial arts schools; how many have you seen? There have been schools that were mistaken for trophy shops, where people walked in to order their bowling awards. It may be true that trophies are a measure of some kind of success, a sign perhaps that “we are skilled,” and so an indication of quality instruction. However, the new “trophy in the window” in the martial arts world, the most evolved measure of an instructor’s skills is not forged in metal or plastic, it is the record of how students take what they are taught and practice on the mat –and apply to the real world.

It is in how they take their martial arts out of the dojo and into the world.

It is a major shift in thinking to visualize that, in the future, teachers will instruct their students on how to apply their hard-earned skills to “projects” –and that the recording and documenting of those projects will be how a teacher will not only prove that he or she is effective and skilled, but that the projects will be all of the advertising –the best advertising –a school will ever need.

Leadership training is a buzzword in the martial arts industry. The idea that leadership will be taught experientially, through community-based projects, and that the instructor’s “job” will be to help his or her students choose projects, gather resources, and then execute and record them, is a radical departure from the status quo in the martial arts industry. But what a thing! Actually teaching people to achieve by using the philosophy of the martial arts. Revolutionary!

Just the Beginning
These ideas are just part of way we could transform the martial arts industry. The most important ingredient of the transformation is our own. Elevating our thinking, increasing our action-in-the-world, and actually applying our winning “ring strategies” to a larger arena (read: life), will bring about an all-new respect for the martial arts. We could increase our value ten-fold, sort of the way Bruce Lee kicked the martial arts into millions of households --and the way The UFC has garnered millions of fans.

My work, projects like The Ultimate Black Belt Test and The 100. are exercises in transformation-thinking. The people involved in them are combining forces to make radical and much needed changes in the martial arts industry. They are working on themselves while working on the martial arts, our image, and our purpose. I think there projects represent a part of this new shift in thinking, this opportunity in the world for making the martial arts a bigger and more valuable part of everyday life.
Come join us in our dialogue about a new kind of martial arts education. Contact me at 530-903-0286 or by e-mail at
tom@tomcallos.com.

About the Author
Tom Callos is a “martial arts activist” committed to making a difference in the world by applying martial concepts in the world. He is team coach for the Ultimate Black Belt Test and the founder of The 100. Visit http://www.ultimateblackbelttest.com/ and http://www.theonehundred.org/.

Big Picture Instructions for Martial Arts School Owners

Allow me to state the obvious: Every living thing on this planet goes through its cycles of life, from birth to disintegration. The needs, focus, and desires of the infant differ from that of the teenager, the mature adult, and the senior citizen. The same idea applies to ones career (the way one makes a living from the time he or she is required to do so, until it is no longer a need).

In a career, like yours for example, your needs, focus, and desires change as you mature. What drives you now might not drive you in the near future. The reasons you do what you do now --and in the future --are probably going to shift. That shift is an opportunity for you to make your career ever more important and relevant to the world and your spiritual connection to it.

That last statement is written with the assumption that you might start your career with very self-focused needs and desires, but that as you mature the motivations might become focused on something else. That is how it has worked in my career. As I’ve matured, my idea of what I do for a living and why I do it has shifted. The circle of my thinking has expanded. I started out taking care of and feeling a sense of responsibility for myself. It expanded to include my family --and now, I have a feeling like a part of what I do for a living is about taking care of the world.

If you share this feeling –or if you see yourself moving in a similar direction, then the remainder of this article is for you.

The Big Picture of School Ownership
Front kicks, phone calls, mats, microphones, retail and renewals, belt tests, much needed rests, taxes, computers, contracts, moms, dads, demos, keys, conventions, employees, advertising, first aid, training, (take a breath) –the list goes on and on. The school owner has many things to do, little things, details, and big, conceptual things, and all of it needs to be managed.

For the last decade in our industry, the “martial arts industry,” we have spent an enormous amount of energy focusing on the small details of school management. EFC, NAPMA, MAIA and other organizations have hammered home the basics, organizing and teaching all of the little management details that every owner needs to know.

In contrast, the big picture of school ownership has been second to business basics. But, in the ever-shifting consciousness of the school owner, in a field where the pursuit of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual “mastery” is often a part of the agenda, big picture thinking is simply too important to take a backseat (at this time in our career) any longer.

Business basics are vital for our businesses health, indeed, for its very survival –just the way that brushing our teeth, looking both ways when crossing a street, and washing our food before we eat it are all essential “basics” for good health. The point is, while we need to master the basics, we don’t LIVE to brush our teeth, to cross streets, or wash food. Something bigger drives us. The little things are not where we find our purpose, our passion, and our drive.

Coincidentally, I hold the opinion that after one becomes proficient at the details, the basics of business, that it’s the big picture thinking that is the “final stage booster rocket” of one’s career. The basics get you up in the atmosphere, but your vision, passion, and spiritual focus is what frees you from the gravitational pull of the mundane.

So, what is the big picture thinking I’m referring to? At this time in my career, I feel the four following concepts represent the opportunities we need to thrive and survive, to grow and evolve as professional teachers and “black belt” citizens of the world:

Peace Education
Anger management, non-violent conflict resolution, “peace thinking,” “peace speaking,” and peace activism are all components of what it is to know peace as well as we, martial arts professionals, know about things relating to the opposite of peace (violence, conflict, etc.). This planet needs peace in the worst way –and we stand in a position to teach peace skills and peace technology in a way that could make a huge difference in the world.

At the moment, the word “peace” is hardly a part of our collective vocabulary. The word is rarely uttered in your average martial arts school. Yet, peace education, in all of its forms, may be the ultimate form of self-defense training. It is the most important, yet missing, ingredient of our teaching “platform,” and it is high time we embrace the techniques of teaching peace to the same degree that we have excelled at teaching blocks, punches, kicks, and grappling.

I believe that teaching peace education in the martial arts industry will drive as many, if not more, students to our schools. It will also make the education we provide our communities more relevant to the needs of our world as it is today.

Environmental Self-Defense
If we don’t take care of this planet, we, as a species, are in big trouble. Taking care of what we use, consume, and throw away, is part of taking care of our fellow man –and for preserving what is essential for our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

Embracing environmental consciousness, sustainability, renewable resources, and all of the many other ideas and concepts involving “environmental self-defense” are just about absent in our industry.

I believe these concepts are more relevant to self-defense than any block or attack. We are more likely to be hurt by things we do to our environment, by the things we carelessly and thoughtlessly consume, and by our disregard for our footprint on the planet, than we ever will be by the punches, kicks, and chokes of a human opponent. Nevertheless, in the next 30-days, the martial arts world will inspire people to do millions (if not billions) of different maneuvers, but barely a handful of “acts of environmental self-defense.” I think it’s time we embrace a new perspective of “self-defense.”

Community Activism
I believe that community activism, as in doing “things” in the community, is the new paradigm for martial arts school promotion (and curriculum, and intent, and passion, drive, purpose, ect.). In the near future, you will sell lessons in your school something like this:

“Mrs. Johnson, what I do for a living –is to teach people how to manifest the philosophies of the martial arts, like courtesy, respect, focus, perseverance, self-control, and integrity, in their lives, but OUTSIDE of my school, and outside of the realm of anything that has to do with a punch, kick, or throw. Let me give you some examples…”

Those examples will kept in your school’s “project portfolio” –which contains the stories, the documentation, of the actions you have inspired your students to take towards the betterment of your community. Your new focus will be taking the martial arts “out of the dojo and into the world.” Your new “trophies in the window of your school” will be the accomplishments of your students in the real world, motivated by the concepts you teach and practice so diligently on your school’s mat.

Compassion and Reducing the Suffering of Others
Teaching people about compassion, teaching them to embrace the idea of it, and teaching them to practice it, just like peace education, environmental self-defense, and community activism, has more to do with authentic self-defense, deep-rooted-real-this-is-what-in-the-end-will-REALLY-hurt-you self-defense, than almost anything we currently teach in the martial arts world. This is big picture self-defense.

Reducing the suffering of others –is a kind of thinking that comes from the pursuit of spiritual training. For many people, the idea doesn’t hardly penetrate the consciousness, much less manifest itself into any sort of notable action, but for some of us it can become one of the primary motivating factors for doing what we do.

I think that talking about and teaching compassion and ideas for reducing the suffering of others deserves at least one-tenth of the time we, as an industry, have spent on learning how to answer our phones and upgrade memberships.

There’s More, But…
I haven’t spelled out here exactly how to pursue the topics I’ve outlined above, but I have some specific ideas about how to proceed. If anything I’ve written has made you think, if you are already on this path –or in anyway hear a ring of truth in it, please feel free to contact me for further discussion. I’m actively looking for the next generation of thinkers and activists in the martial arts community. From a “big picture perspective,” I think we have some wonderful opportunities ahead of us, both to expand the value of what it means to be a martial arts educator and to shift our thinking to a place that brings us an all-new level of career satisfaction.

About the Author
Tom Callos is a 6th degree black belt under Master Teacher Ernie Reyes, Sr. He is the designer and team coach for the Ultimate Black Belt Test (http://www.ultimateblackbelttest.com/) and The 100 (http://www.theonehundred.org/). Tom resides in Placerville, CA and can be reached by e-mail at tomcallos@gmail.com or by phone at 530-903-0286.

Your Attitude and Perspective Shapes Your Experiences

(A lesson in Martial Arts Mastery)


You Know This
As you were reading the title of this report, your brain probably had an automatic moment of acceptance of the idea of it, as we all, I believe, have a basic understanding that our own attitude and the way we choose to look at things shapes our experiences. Most likely you thought –or think –“I know that.”

It’s Not What You Know…
Yes, well, it is one thing to “know” something --and another to apply what you “know” repeatedly, consistently and in most all situations. To know is one thing, to make that knowledge work for you, automatically and without conscious thought, is another. To know something is to own a hammer; to have that knowledge working for you, automatically out of training, habit, and self-discipline, is like having a crew of ten carpenters working on your behalf.

It’s Just Like the Martial Arts
Learning, practicing, and “knowing” the martial arts is closely connected to learning, practicing, and “knowing” that attitude shapes experience. To really “know” the martial arts, one has to practice the various techniques and ideas to the point of complete absorption, to the point when a block, parry, punch, or throw is delivered without thought, but from instant reaction at the perfect time and place. This kind of knowing means that the brain goes on automatic while under pressure, while over-stimulated by stress, demand, and adrenaline. This skill, for most of us, comes from practice. It comes from forming, building, and strengthening the neural pathways and muscle memories that turn thoughts into automatic responses.

The Path is as Important as the Destination
What good is knowing the martial arts if you can’t apply the techniques when you need them? Likewise, what good is it in knowing that your attitude and perspective shapes your experiences --if you are unable to apply the idea, consistently and effectively, to your life when you need it? Yes, mastery is the goal. Putting the technique or idea on auto-pilot, that’s the highest level of skill. However, the path to mastery is as important as mastery itself.

With the martial arts, the point of practice is to master the movements --on all levels (physically, mentally, and spiritually). However, practicing the movements is just as great a benefit –if not a greater one –as mastering the movements. It is through the repetitive practice of all the movements that one gets fit, learns to focus, learns when to conserve and when to unleash, and learns to perform despite fears or instinctive responses (like: RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!). It is during the practice that one interacts with his or her teachers and classmates and garners the experiences, friendships, and memories that are often equal too (or greater than) the physical benefits of the practice itself.

The Magic Resides in the Practice
As with physical practice and mastery, practicing the idea that our attitude shapes our experiences is where the greatest benefits may reside. While we want to “know” this concept automatically, we want the idea to kick in when we need it and control our experiences by controlling how we see and translate them, it is practicing this concept, situation after situation and day after day, that gives us the greatest return.

It’s the repetitive and conscious practice that gets and keeps us mentally fit –and is equal, I believe, to the benefit of knowing it completely. During the practice of shaping our attitude and outlook on life’s difficulties, we sharpen our mental and emotional coping skills –and quite often, we make friends and realize the benefits of forgiveness, compassion, kindness, and love.

Practice is just as important, if not more important, than mastery. Practice is life; mastery is achievement. Mastery might not even exist! The point might be that the practice and pursuit of mastery is the most beneficial aspect of the journey.

Thank You Sir, May I have Another?
So, I say welcome the emotional and mental difficulties and challenges of life --as you welcome the beginning of a martial arts class. You know it’s going to make you sweat, you know you’re going to have to work, but it’s GOOD! You commit yourself to a class, willingly and (hopefully) enthusiastically. You happily accept the challenges of training, because you know it is how you improve. Why not do the same with your attitude and perspective on life (and its challenges)?

Practice developing a good attitude and healthy, peaceful outlook about things that would normally drive you nuts –or bring you down. Tell yourself positive things about the what, where, when, why, and who of situations that might normally send you off the deep end. Practice smiling when you might have cried, practice being calm when you want to blow a fuse.

Tell yourself that THIS IS YOUR TRAINING, your classroom, your instruction, your lessons. This is what makes you a master. Don’t know and teach the idea that attitude is everything –PRACTICE IT! LIVE IT!

Tom Callos
http://www.tomcallos.com/
www.ultimateblackbelttest.com

UBBT Thoughts for the Masses (and stuff)

The idea that your black belt test...

• And this means YOUR test, whether it transpires this year or one, two, or three years from now [because you’re always "in-training," right?] –or whether it’s the test for one or more of your students)...

• Is one of your most potent and powerful tools for communicating to your community; for promoting your school; for promoting and propagating what makes your school and YOU a unique, brilliant, amazing, valuable and righteous commodity...

• Yes, this idea that your testing PROCESS is THE thing that drives your school –that makes your services extraordinary –that gives you recognition – this, you understand is NEW. In the old-school system, testing was a small, small part of "the process" of school promotion. Promotion had a different face...

And it (innovative, creative "out of the dojo and into the world" curriculum) need not be limited to black belts —ideas could be added to all belt levels. WHY? To make real the promises of the martial arts! That we do, indeed, develop more functional, balanced, self-disciplined people –thru MA training and mentoring.
AND ...

Your life! What about your life? How about YOU?!! (It’s always about you, isn’t it?)...
What are you doing –how do you LIVE –what are your habits –and how do you evolve and grow? What if you lived a lifestyle of "mastery practice"???? —physical mastery (always training and polishing and learning); educational mastery (reading, listening, seeking out heroes, hanging with people that inspire you); spiritual mastery (seeking what is not physical, but about your compassion and ability to love); emotional mastery (becoming the ruler of your emotions –so that they serve you)?

What if the UBBT was part of the model you used to LIVE? How? By reminding you to set lofty goals –to work on those goals methodically –to connect with people who inspire you –to put yourself OUT THERE as a tool for personal growth? Oh, and to DO for others...

SO...the next time, Mr. or Ms. Martial arts school owner, that you are sitting down to plan (or implement) your school’s advertising campaign ----think about the idea that buying an ad isn’t 1/1000th as powerful as getting up, first thing, in the morning and training –while inspiring others to do the same. That 15 minutes of meditation training under a master is more important to your school that 15 ads in the "Big Nickel" ----and that your school doing 1000 acts of kindness in 30 days is a thousand times better that spending $1000 on advertising in the next month.

And when it’s MOST powerful –is when you decide (and act upon) that you are going to MAKE
A DIFFERENCE in the WORLD by getting people to exercise –and thus begin to find their vitality and center —and that you’re going to help people learn about meditation –to connect with their inner-voice and calmness –and when you’re going to talk about self-defense from a GLOBAL perspective...

Most of all –when you live and breath these things —when you take action in the world...that’s when it’s most powerful -----and THAT is what separates you from all the others –that is the leap that few instructors/leaders take. What is your Tree? (Seen this video?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDrb03cqvrA

Yes, "What is your tree?" INDEED!

When you MASTER this approach –you will have mastered the USP of your school –your marketing strategy –and at the same time you will be happier, healthier, and on the road, I believe, to becoming a practicing "master." It’s it cool that all of these things are really the same thing?

Oh, and allow me to remind you —you’re not alone here! You have staff members...you have students...you ALL DO IT TOGETHER! Supporting each other –helping –focusing –it’s your collective energy that makes the team effort greater than anything any individual could accomplish alone.

Tips for School Management –ad and promotion campaign...etc!

1. Look over the UBBT site. As imperfect as it is –do you see how it SELLS the process? How’s your school’s black belt site? Any journaling? Any public involvement? Is it a "test" —or one-hell-of-a-life-experience? Is there another site or MA school that has anything comparable? ----oh yes, and what are you SELLING anyway?

2. Are you asking for –and directing –your staff members and senior students towards personal mastery? Are you mentoring them –or do they just "WORK FOR YOU?" If you’re NOT doing it yourself –working the work...then I’ll bet you aren’t —how could you? What kind of hypocrite are you! HOWEVER, if you’re living it, day-in and day-out –with the struggle and the defeats and all of it —you won’t barely have to say a word and you’ll inspire.

3. Your "PROJECTS" define you as a person. Your PROJECTS! What are yours? Then, next: What projects have you inspired others to tackle? Personal? Community? Global? Environmental? Art? Mentoring? Projects could run your school –and drive your publicity/enrollment campaign.

4. WHO are you talking to today? Yourself? Your staff? To make your school fly you need to talk to prospective members or to people who can HELP you talk to prospective members. THE MEDIA. When’s the last ime you had a good, solid, motivational chat with a member of your local media –a teacher –or a business owner who deals with lots of your potential students?


CLASS TEACHING TIPS

1. Make the first 5 minutes of your class AMAZING! Make those 5 minutes COUNT! Make people feel powerful, pumped up, focused, friendly, relaxed, connected, and welcome! MAKE YOUR FIRST 5 MINUTES go WOW (big time)....and then....

2. Make the second 5 minutes AMAZING...and do that every five minutes for 45 minutes. THAT is an awesome class.

3. Find a theme and/or message in your class (at least once a week, if not every day) that pierces the heart of your students –that drives a spike of recognition and compassion into their GUTS...

There’s no shortage of subjects...but what you must do is become a master story-teller —and tell stories that remind people how valuable your services are –how valuable the community you’ve created (and that they are a part of) is —and that reminds them to treat themselves and others with deep respect —to apply perseverance to life, to their daily challenges —to get them to FOCUS on the fact that giving your self over to the service of others is most of what gives you perspective, happiness, and life-satisfaction...

The better you are at THE MESSAGE —the more emotional connection/commitment you get from those around you. Want to keep students? Forget contracts –and go for connection/emotion/inspiration!