The many hats we wear …

On the mat we many hats … or at least we should.

We have our Guard Passing hat – our Sweeping Hat – our Attacking/Finishing hat – our Escaping/Defending Hat, etc.

Our tendency, our natural instinct, is to wear the hat we like the most – and that’s fine – but sometimes, it’s not sunny, sometimes, it’s raining, or snowing, or windy. Over time, we develop a Hat Collection … and we even develop a taste for wearing hats that at one time we didn’t like. And so it is also, with life … Sometimes, I have my ‘Dad’ hat on, other times, my Husband hat, my accountant/business hat (don’t like that one much), other times my training hat, my flyfishing/wilderness/adventuring hat, my teaching hat and right now, my writing hat. You get the idea.

If you only have one or two hats you like to wear … it may be worth thinking about adding a few more to your collection. There is a strong correlation between our ability to adapt in life and the size and quality of our hat collection. JBW

Question time ...

Often at the end of a seminar, I'll spare a little block of time for questions. People ask all kinds of questions ... sometimes about specific problems they are having on the mat, sometimes about training concepts or approaches to training, sometimes about life, living with purpose, overcoming dramas ... but one I have been asked more than one time this past week is this ... " where do I see BJJ going in the next five to ten years?"

An interesting question ... and one I have an opinion on. Twenty five years ago, BJJ was just BJJ ... a highly evolved, super effective, fighting art, at one both elegant in it's simplicity and addictive in it's complexity. Now though, a quarter of a century later, I see it moving forward in a number of different ways.

My feeling is that all BJJ Black Belts should have some understanding of each of these very different approaches - BJJ for self defence - BJJ for competition - BJJ for MMA - BJJ for life. Depending on where the instructor places the emphasis, each of these approaches can produce very different outcomes ...  none is more or less important than the others ... they are just different ... and I think that as time goes on, different instructors will become increasingly clearer on where their particular focus lies. BJJ for all seasons ... JBW

No pics ... No spellcheck ... Just thoughts

Here in Heathrow airport ... Awaiting flight to Norway. It has been a full ten days, teaching a wide variety of people throughout the UK ... And still three more days of teaching ahead of me before flying back home. The thing that never ceases to amaze me is this, people are Passionate about martial arts training ... And I mean people from all walks of life.
People come to training for a variety of reasons ... Who knows exactly why any of us start our training. I think there are any reasons that are hidden deep beneath layers of the obvious, reasons that only be one more apparent as we experience more of life and more of training. One underlying driving force however, that many people share, is this ... We want to improve ourselves in some way ... We want a little more EXCELLENCE in our lives ... This may be in the form of confidence, better health, a new circle of friends .... But most of us are to some degree obviates to lift ourselves out of the 'mundane' , or out of the 'ordinary'. As I look out over the mat, any mat, I see people wanting to improve ... I can only admire that. We all struggle our way through life, each dealing with a never ending cycle of highs and lows ... But like the butterfly fighting it's way out of the cocoon, we strive to escape the ordinary and become something 'more'.
Through our training efforts, whatever they may be, we slowly learn to see things we could not previously see ... We learn to becoming less accepting of the 'good enough to get by' ethos that so many other people fall into ... Troyes dedicated and joyful practice, we may come to deeper understanding of concepts like, integrity, congruence, mindfulness, etc ... These are the real gems to be found in practice. They are words ... Yes ... Easy to say ... Easy to allow them to roll off the tongue ... Just as words like 'leverage' , 'strategy' are EASY to say ... Easy to use in a sentence .. But to understand and embody them as truths ... This is a process that can only unfold over time ... And after some considerable life experience. Such truths and others can almost certainly be found in any type of deep, prolonged, immersive and mindful study ... In the garden, in the temple ... On the mat.
We all set out on our journey, seeking perhaps some dry simple thing ... But as we stumble along, each in our own way, we kick out of the ground a truly precious gem here and there ... If only we look down and notice.
Best wishes all ... JBW

Expertise: How to get it

Having expertise empowers us. 

Expertise gives us capability. Expertise allows us to gain employment. Expertise affords us respect. Expertise gives us unique perspective. Expertise changes our thinking. Expertise begets expertise.

I have noticed that most experts share certain traits; the way they approach what they do can be modeled by practically anyone ... expertise, is in my view a 'teachable' trait/skill.

Expertise usually begins with passion. Passion is the fuel that propels us toward expertise. Without passion, we may still get there but it's a hard slog. 

Experts love to delve deep. They are curious about the subject matter and are unsatisfied with shallow levels of understanding or cursory knowledge. They want deep understanding.

Experts, even in the early stages of learning, trend toward and develop a sense of finer and finer distinctions between things that their lay counterparts do not see or appreciate (eg: eskimo's have many, many ways of describing 'snow' as opposed to most people who only have one word to describe it).

Experts tend to drag others along with them. Usually, experts have a passion that is infectious; and they are often happy to share their expertise with other people. In sharing their understanding, experts are thereby continually expanding on, clarifying and crystallizing their body of knowledge. In short, teaching others, helps build expertise.

Most of us can readily model these traits that most experts share - and thereby set ourselves on our own path toward expertise. Invest in those things we are passionate about. Delve deep; cultivate a palette for finer and finer distinctions between things that at first glance, seem very similar. Contrarily, find the similarities between things that at first glance, seem to be very different. Share with others; talk about your subject matter with like-minded people, with people more expert or less expert than yourself; write about it, read about it, think about it. 

The kernel of expertise is already within each and every one of us  - we need to become experts and developing expertise. In my view, this is what the school-system should be all about. 

JBW 2013

The Professional ...

I began thinking about this last week. It began shortly after two brief interactions with two separate martial artists.

The first was a phone call by someone asking if he could ask me a few questions about being a professional martial artist. Within a minute or two, he cut straight to the main thrust of his call by asking ‘how can I do the work that you are doing? I want to get into teaching police, military, special ops? Guys like that’ he said. My instinctive reply was short and to the point ‘Yikes!’ I replied. But then I went on to deliver a more considered answer by suggesting he first applied himself to broadening his skill-set, because from memory, he had only trained in TKD to that point.

The second was an instructor asking me if I wanted him to come to my school and run some seminars. He may or may not have had something to offer but his communication skills were ultimately what let him down. ‘Hey mate …’ and ‘thanks Bro …’ are not the best way to start or end a professional conversation; at least not in my play-book.

Now, I am not condemning either of these people’s motives or their level of passion – they were both obviously ‘keen to effect changes in their lives’ (kudos for that) – but it started me thinking about what it really means to be a professional martial artist; or perhaps more accurately, it got me thinking about the distinction between what I consider to be ‘professional’ conduct and non-professional’ conduct.

The professional, ideally, should have good communication skills. If I were trying to sell my services to a back-yard group of cage fighters in East LA – I might well open the conversation with ‘Hey Bro …’ – but if I was having a meeting with military personnel I would more likely begin with ‘Hello Sir ..’. Which leads me to Rule 1: Know your client. Building rapport with a client is very important, particularly so in the very beginning; we cannot, if we are to be true professionals, take the same ‘low brow’ approach to communication that we took with our circle of friends in high-school. A professional should come across as someone who is considered, exacting, thoughtful … someone who pays attention to detail in all that they do.

To be truly professional means that we should, to the best of our ability, cater to the needs of our client; as distinct from adopting a purely sales-oriented approach. The sales-only focus would dictate that we try and convince our clients that what we have is what they need; but a truly professional approach would be to send the client elsewhere if we felt their needs would be better met elsewhere. Being professional is about being the right ‘fit’ for someone, and if not, then helping them ‘find’ the right ‘fit’ elsewhere.

In recent times, I have heard of several instances of instructors being invited into a school to conduct a seminar (at the behest of several well-meaning school-owners); only to use that opportunity to poach away students to start up their own branches/clubs around the corner (in opposition to the school that invited them in as a guest instructor. From my perspective, this is anything but professional; zero ethics, no morality and totally self-serving. And further, what message does this send out into the community about the professionalism of martial artists? So ‘professionalism’ is not only about technical proficiency; not only about ‘coaching skills’ – it is also about integrity, congruence and ethical standards.

As far as ‘coaching skills’ are concerned, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that I have put more work into the development of my set of skills than someone who has gone to university for five or six years and got their engineering degree. Every day, I read something, watch something or listen to someone that can help me improve my own professional skill sets as well as my ability to teach or instruct others. Practice alone, is never a guarantee of success; we should remember that practice is really just hardwiring things (thoughts, actions, responses, etc) – we should be always engaged in mindful practice – constantly asking ‘is there a better way to do this? Can I improve on this or that? Why is this not working? Why does that seem to get a better result?”

As professionals we can always look to those who have walked the road ahead of us; trying to identify the pitfalls they encountered, trying to emulate the things they did exceptionally well. The true professional is always about improvement; the true professional should never be completely satisfied; they should push, explore, ask questions, seek answers, try to implement new ideas and build new paradigms.

Being a professional (and this is not correct in the strictest sense) is not necessarily about making a living – it is, in my view, about taking a studied, thoughtful and highly considered approach to whatever it is that you want to do. If people are paying you for your services; I feel it is incumbent upon us to provide the very best service that we can – and never, ever, be satisfied with merely going through the motions.

JBW

Quiten the Avatar ...

We are more than just our thoughts - our self-talk.
Think about it ... that part of you that listens to your 'self talk' - what I call my 'yammering avatar' - that is the inner/real/original you. Some might even call this part of ourselves - our true self. Our thoughts and our 'internal yammerings' are just one of the manifestations of our ego (our avatar if you like) - that construct that came into being to protect us in the world. We don't want to kill our avatar - or forever silence it - we just need to be able to quieten it down at times - at tose times when we want an inner peace - when we just want to 'be' - when we want to 'flow'.
Trying to do this in a state of action is a very interesting experiment ... flipping to this 'state of being' when we are stressed will provide instant relief from such ... an essential skill in a world that has the power to over stimulate our avatar at every turn. JBW

Adept at Adaptation ...

Nothing stays the same … for long.

Not the weather, not the stock-market, not fashion, not government policy …. not your opponent’s position whilst you are wrestling.

If there was such a thing as the ‘perfect side control position’ (for example) … we could cast cast  a mannequin into that ‘perfect’ shape … plonk it on top of you, and you would never get out … right? Hardly! The reason you would easily escape is because the mannequin wouldn’t come equipped with the ability to make the infinite number of ongoing minor adjustments needed to maintain the ‘side control’ position. This is, perhaps an overly obvious point I am making, but to some degree I see many people acting like mannequins on the mat - ice: failing to make enough and necessary micro-adjustments to the fluid situation they find themselves in. 

Nothing stays the same … so to remain ‘on course’ … we need to be adept and adaptation. Both on and off the mat … life requires we adapt … continuously … it is, in fact, how life works! JBW

Pathways to Success ...

When any of us spends enough years on the mat ... we cannot help but get better. We gain experience ... but what, in concrete terms, does this word 'experience' ... really mean. The most obvious manifestation of 'experience', in my view, is that over time we clarify and develop an ever increasingly larger set of 'pathways'. Pathways are those small sequences of moves, that once we set upon, puts us in the drivers seat where action is concerned. Everyone with mat experience has there own unique collection of pathways; the clearer they are on how these pathways are likely to unfold, they more successful they are. Over time, the number of pathways increase, so that no matter we they are in the struggle, they are never that far away from setting themselves on a pathway. In many ways this can be likened to how we 'map' the world we live in. ifg we move to a new city, we are at first, unfamiliar with the layout. We might start out knowing where we live and where we work and how best to get from each to the other. As time goes on, and we develop a better sense of the city, we develop many pathways, from home to the cinema, from the cinema to the supermarket, from the supermarket back to home, etc. Once we set ourselves on a familiar pathways, we shift over to a kind of automatic pilot; we know where we are going, we don't have to think about it too much, and free up mental resources to attend to other problem. And so it is with Jiu Jitsu. JBW

Eskimo's and Omoplata's ....

One of my old credo's that has served me well in life .... 'Find similarities in things that are different ... And find the differences in those things that appear very similar'.

Eg: I always try to make connections between techniques that (at first glance) seem to have little or no obvious connection. By doing this, I better 'anchor' the technique or idea in my mind. Tying to find similarities between things that are very different is , for me, one of the cornerstones of 'creativity'. Ad even if the connection is highly abstract ... Eg: goldfish ... Giraffe ... Both golden in colour .. Hey, both wear the same kind of shoes ... OK , makes no sense, but it doesn't always need to, in making that crazy connection, I anchor the concept of giraffe and goldfish, in my mind.

Now to something more concrete ,,, finding the differences between things that are very similar ... Eg: orange, mandarin, tangerine ... We develop a better understanding of the nuance that each brings to the table. When I am teaching, for example, a whole stack of techniques that look very similar, if I fail to continually point out and even exaggerate the differences between each of those techniques, the student can wake up the next day and find that the techniques have become a big blurry mess in their mind ... A grey mess ... A melted penguin ....

Becoming clearer on what makes a technique 'unique' unto itself, is to develop both a clearer and deeper understanding of what that technique is all about. I guess if someone has a refined palette for 'wine' ... They have done just this ... They have developed a deeper, and clearer understanding of what makes each kind of wine unique. And so it is with an Eskimo and 'snow' ... An Eskimo has a whole lot of words to describe the subtle differences in the different types of snow ... The Eskimo has developed 'expertise'. And so should we, in those areas of our lives where we want expertise ...

JBW

The deep end ...

I love the concept of the Bell Curve - and the many ways we can overlay the various parameters of our lives upon it. Saints at one end - serial killer at the other - the utra-fit at one end - the morbidly obese at the other - etc …. we all sit somewhere on the bell-curve - in every aspect of our lives, training, etc.

When it comes to martial arts practice - the same thinking can be applied; at one end of the bell curve we have those who practise a martial as a purely recreational or social pursuit - at the other end we have those who practice to prepare for engagement with an enemy life-death struggle - and somewhere along that bell curve most of us have found our ‘sweet-spot’. 

In thinking about where you want to be (on that bell-curve) and where you actually are … it is possible to gain clarity on which direction you need to move and in what areas you need to switch or at least, orient, your practice. The deep end of the pool is not for everyone … but neither is the shallow end. And over time, your preferences will almost certainly … change

Blurring the lines ...

Here’s a question for you … do you think the bee wakes up, says to himself ‘oh, crap another ten hours of flying around collecting pollen?’  I doubt it very much. The bee doesn’t make the distinction between ‘working’ and ‘living’ that most people do … for the bee, it’s all just ‘living’.

Think about that …

For anyone who has lived in or travelled to Asia, you may have noticed that many of the people there (working in markets, cooking food, etc) are smiling, chatting, solving each other’s problems, etc – all as they ‘earn’ their living. I think many of these people don’t see the distinction between ‘working’ and ‘living’ that many western people see. There’s a secret to be unearthed in this; a big lesson to be learned.

If you love what you do or you can learn to ‘live’ fully while you are doing whatever it is you are doing – it may be possible to never ‘work’ a day in your life. In blurring the lines between what we call ‘work’ and what we call ‘life’ – we can enrich our lives dramatically. JBW

Heat Seeking Missiles ...

This is a story of ‘learning’ … and how we ‘learn’.

Think of how an old ‘heat seeking missile’ works … it’s flight path from from launch to target is anything but a straight line. After launch - the missiles technology starts looking for a heat signature from it’s target - it then orients itself toward this heat signature and then keeps asking a simple question ‘warmer or colder?’. We all played this same game as kids - probably with a blindfold on - ‘warmer or colder?’ Then after a series of ever and ever smaller course corrections we ‘zero in’ on our intended target. I think this is a very good analogy of how we go about learning new skills … we try, we fail, we try again and we eventually ‘zero in’ on the skills we want or need.

The main point is this - COURSE CORRECTIONS are vital to this whole ‘zeroing in’ process. As we ‘correct’ our course, we can often ‘over correct’ - and this is neither bad nor good, it is just a natural part of the process. Over time, as we gather experience, our course corrections tend to be smaller and smaller - this ‘from the outside’ looks like we are ‘lucky’, ‘gifted’, ‘talented’, etc. Over time, we have eliminated the directions that don’t work well for us … and we zero in on the direction that does give us the lifestyle or outcomes that we want. Course corrections, just like those our heat-seeking missile makes are exactly what we need to achieve in life. Heat seeking missiles do not fly in a straight line from launch to the target - and neither do we. 

JBW

Having your cake ...

A number of people have e-mailed me asking for an elaboration on the concept of Precessional Effect - I have even had several suggestions that I write a book on the subject. Nice idea ... and flattering confidence ... but I seriously doubt whether there would be any serious interest - or interest enough to warrant a book ... but anyways, here's another short blog on the idea: 

The simplest example I can think of to shed further light on what I am trying to say is this: imagine you have a business, a job, whatever; it doesn’t matter what it is, saving animals, making cakes, creating gardens …

The goal associated with most jobs, is to get the work done and get paid for it; after all, we have long since traded our time for the convenience of money, and we need it to compensate others for their goods and services so that we can live our lives in the way we want to live them. Okay … let’s say for the moment that the goal is to earn money (that’s why most people work) … but to earn that money, we need to save our animals, bake our cakes and create our gardens. Instead of focusing on the goal (getting that pay-check), we place our focus on the outward rippling implications of what we do; making people feel better about animals and thereby deepening their understanding of their role on this planet; making people’s special occasions all that more special buy creating that cake that they will never forget; by designing or making that garden that will connect people more deeply to their living space and enrich their lives in a myriad of ways … by concentrating on these outcomes, we become enriched ourselves; we are fulfilled and happier for our efforts; we are respected and acknowledged by others … oh, and that’s right … we still get paid. Maybe, in fact, it is highly likely, that we will be valued even more for our ‘work’ and be paid more than we would have if we had just remained focused on the pay-check.

We can indeed have our cake and eat it too … by directing our attention to the outward-rippling implications of our actions, we get to eat our cake but by doing just that, we get ‘work’ done and get paid for it … and that we get to keep our cake as well. We, are that special brand of honey-bee that doesn’t just collect the pollen and take it back to the hive, but we can knowingly and passionately, place our attention on the process (and outward-rippling effect’ of cross-pollination) and enjoy fulfilment and happiness along the way.

John B Will 2012

Rise above ...

We marvel and cheer for people who succeed, especially when they succeed against all odds. 

Today I watched a movie entitled The Greatest Game ever Played’ about a golfing underdog who succeeded in winning the 1913 US open … I defy anyone to watch it and not find themselves cheering for Francis, the film’s protagonist played by Shia La Beouf.  

We love people who do well, who rise above all expectations and beat the odds … well .. most of us do, but there are also quite a few of us who only seem to do this is long as the underdog is ‘at a distance’ - when it is someone they do not personally know. I think that this strange phenomenon is best summed up by an old saying (can’t recall where I first heard it) - ‘We love it when friends are successful - just as long as they are not more successful than we are’. Yikes!

I have seen this phenomenon in action - up close and personal - and it is ugly. I guess we all know this to be true … but it does raise the interesting question: why?

I think it may be because ‘hero’s (at a distance) are no immediate threat to our ego … they are ‘over there’ - part of THAT story - and not OUR story. When someone close succeeds in a way that perhaps we could have succeeded ourselves (but did not) we are forced to question our own (often imagined) failings. They bought a house, why didn’t I? They made that money, what didn’t I? They have that great relationship, why don’t I? Etc. 

It seems we are fine with Storey’s, with Movie’s, with Hero’s-at-a-distance - but often not-so-fine when it’s our friend, our neighbour, etc. 

Immunise yourself against this kind of thinking/behavioural reaction today - realise this; there are abundant opportunities … plenty of chances - heaps of houses - lot’s of money - a zillion opportunities for a wonderful relationship …. we are no longer living 3000 years ago, when resources may have been scarce and if someone else grabbed something, it mean’t that we missed out. 

I love seeing other people succeed - it serves as a poignant reminder to me that abundance is abundant.

JBW 2012

Divining Purpose ...

Life is an endless series of choices; each moment presents us with unique opportunity to alter the way in which our life unfolds. So how do we tell if the path we have set ourselves on, is one that will produce a fulfilling and happy future? With so much choice available to us, we are so much better off than our distant ancestors right? Wrong; at least in my opinion. Happiness is not, in my experience, an outgrowth of choice; in fact, too much choice in certain situations can make life more stressful than it needs to be. 

Happiness, as I have come to understand it, always seems to come hand in hand with having a sense of purpose. Think back to when you have planned a holiday (or an adventure); it is often the case that the planning gives as much pleasure as the actual event itself. The reason is simple; as we plan and envisage how our future may unfold, as we marinate in the possibilities the adventure might bring, we are bolstering ourselves with a strength born of purpose.

So when you choose, when you decide which course of action to take, ask yourself this: are you setting yourself on a path that fills you with a sense of purpose? For our distant ancestors, having a sense of purpose afforded survival value. If our hypothetical ancestor of old was skilled at hunting, fire-making, story-telling (or whatever) he or she would have gained greater standing or prestige within the tribe and would more likely enjoy a greater share of benefits. Being purposeful was a way to improve their odds of being successful in their chosen endeavour; being purposeful afforded personal identity and approval from others. Most of us are hard-wired to reap pleasure from those basic instincts that are necessary for survival (food, sex, etc). I would place having a sense of purpose a very close second to these fundamental laws of nature. A sense of purpose drives us, defines us and imbues us with happiness. 

John Will 2012

End of the ordinary world ...

Life consists of some very exciting times ... some troublesome times ... and a whole lot of quite 'ordinary' or 'routine' times. The exciting times take care of themselves - we revel in them and extract great enjoyment from them; the troublesome times, at the other end of the spectrum, usually have a 'shelf life' - they don't last, and they often instruct - the 'ordinary' or 'routine' times are the most common - they fill many hours of each day, each week, each month and each year ... in learning to extract pleasure from 'mundane tasks' we enrich our lives tremendously. Finding joy in the simple things is a very, very powerful way to live a more enriching, more fulfilling life.
The Japanese tea ceremony, the 'Chanoyu' is an example of how something simple (like making and serving tea) can be an immensely satisfying and fulfilling ritual ... but we don't need to look to the exotic for examples of how we can also find joy in simple things ... whether we are working in the garden or taking a shave ... we have opportunity aplenty to be mindful of the so-called ordinary things we do every day. Or perhaps more to the point ... there are no ordinary things ... ultimately it is how we tend to the actions that make up our lives that determine whether things are ordinary or not.
Have a great Christmas everyone ... JBW

Now ... nothing new!

There is quite a bit of talk nowadays ... about being in the NOW. I myself have talked and written about this idea. But there's the thing ... it is NOTHING NEW!!!
For a very, very, very, very, very, very long time ... mankind has lived as an integral part of nature, as a part of the world, living in the now for the most part of his (or her) life.
It is only relatively recently (historically speaking) that we have had to have 'jobs', 'careers', 'earn money', pay taxes, buy computers, enlist online friends (to be our friends), etc ... we don't need to find the NOW, we just need to GET BACK TO IT. For a long, long, long, long, long time ... we ALWAYS lived in the now. The entire animal kingdom lives in the now - they are succesful (within their own lives - they don't worry about taxes, they don't worrty at all. They live.
Being successful, has mean't something different (if anything at all) for a very, very long time ... but now (no pun intended) that we no longer live in the 'now' ... being successful is often interpreted as being something other than what it really is. Almost the entire system we dwell in, is structured in a way that pulls us away from being what we are meant to be ... and how we are meant to live.
How to live our lives ... worth thinking about ... worth acting on ... right NOW! JBW