Shore leave

After a half a week working up in Canberra (Australia's capital) I have been home for three days. This 72 hour 'shore leave' has allowed me to teach a few private classes, visit with my family, clear out a few dozen e-mails, teach this evenings classes at my school and watch my wife re-pack my bags once again. Tomorrow morning, before sunrise, I am on the first flight back up to Canberra for more work with the Aussie military. The Australian MSD (Military Self Defence) program is now a superb program; having evolved way beyond anything previously enjoyed by our forces. The tremendous work of the driving force behind it (Major Travis Faure) is really paying huge dividends. I consider it a tremendous privilege and an honor to be engaged by the Australian Military for this role; through an ongoing collaborative process we have designed basic and advanced courses that are second to none.
Tomorrow morning, I am working with a large group of officer cadets from the Royal Military College. Using the advanced MSD training as a delivery system to instill and reinforce the culture of excellence which is paramount to the mindset of the modern soldier will make for an exciting and energy-charged day; one that has no room for mediocrity or the 'good enough to get by' mindset. I have always been about 'full and total engagement' - I try to embody that mindset whenever I instruct and I expect no less from my students. The 'excellent' live apart from the masses - they are 'different' in the ways that really count - they never 'settle', nor do they 'accept the common standard'. My training and life as a martial arts and defensive tactics instructor is founded upon a constant drive toward 'best possible practice' - I love my work, I am passionate about it, and I am energized by those who share the same feelings. Surround yourself with people who live with passion and desire, and you will be incapable of accepting 'the ordinary'. Life's too short - I say, live every day as if it really counts - BECAUSE IT DOES!
JBW