Attention to detail

Now this is something that lies at the very heart of my own martial arts teaching and practice. It is something I have also tried to instill in all of the instructors I have taught. As human beings we do have a tendency to adopt behaviors and technologies that have proven to be successful without analyzing our thinking about them all that much. In short, if it works, we don’t feel a need to think about it too much – we just use it.
I like to think about what makes things work, what makes a behavior successful, what causes this or that effect? I guess this is a scientific approach – although strangely enough, I didn’t do to well at science whilst in school. But I love doing the science of the martial arts; I want to understand what makes a technique work (or fail); I love detail, just can’t get enough of it in fact.
In my view, paying close attention to the underlying detail of a technique or strategy and then walking others through that same exact process goes right to the heart of what teaching is all about. I really get huge satisfaction from seeing other people realize there is much more to the study and understanding of the martial arts than they may have first thought possible.
There is depth in everything – anyone can do ‘breadth’ – but depth is something else again …
JBW

A.C.T Action ....

I am sitting at the airport in Canberra, awaiting my flight home. It's been a buig three days - a great BJJ seminar on Sunday, hosted at Travis Faure's school and attending by hist students as well as those of Danny Weir and Ben Langford. I had the absolute pleasure of being able to present Danny with his BJJ Black Belt - big congratulations Danny, you are the driving force of BJJ in Canberra and the ACT owes you a debt of gratitude. Well done indeed my friend.
Monday and Tuesday were big days as I was doing military work from dawn till dusk. I wont go into details, suffice it to say that it was also a bit of a reunion of some old friends - go the perth next weekend for another series of seminars. The beat goes on.
JBW

Pic: The Sunday BJJ group. What a great group!!!

Know when to go ...

There are many challenges for the student to overcome in trying to make the considerable leap from the learning environment to real-world environment/scenarios. One of the biggest hurdles is that students can easily become over-reliant upon the verbal commands of their teachers – when to move, what to do, when to start, when to stop, etc – whereas in real-life they are on their own.
One example of this can be seen when students are told to hit the pads, or do the technique – on verbal command. On the surface of things, this seems like an orderly and good idea; the student even develops good technique; but then if the situation should ever arise in real-life, where the student needs to use the same technique – how do they know when to go?
Eg: On the firing range the new police officer is clearly told – ONLY FIRE WHEN THE COMMAND TO FIRE IS GIVEN. Sounds good – safety and all that – but what happens in real life? The bad guy aims his gun at the officer, who has even drawn his weapon and is looking down the barrel at the nasty perp – but what needs to happen before the officer pulls the trigger? There is no-one giving him or her the command to FIRE. This can lead to problems.
The fix is simple: in the classroom, we might well start out by giving the students verbal commands as we walk them through the technique or combination – but at some point it is a good idea to wean them off a reliance on those verbal commands and transition to a model where they are responding to a visual cue given to them by their training partner instead. Eg: our partner drops his right shoulder back – we hit the pad; our partner puts his hand up to push at our face – we armbar, etc.
Learn to

Passion - Focus - In the Service of Others

I know a coffee shop, hidden in an industrial estate, where sometimes the queue runs out the door and into the street. The guy who runs is almost certainly not in it for the money, he isn’t driven by a business plan, he didn’t wake up one day and say ‘hey. I’m going to make a great living out of making coffee’ – her is just totally into it – really, really, into it. The first time I went there I asked for a latte – his response was ‘NO!’ Then he set out to make me a coffee, which I had to drink black, with no sugar – because of the particular beans he was using from Ethiopia that month and how milk didn’t quite go with them or some such thing – I call him the Coffee Nazi (Seinfeld Soup Nazi reference). I admire him greatly – he is an individual driven by passion – he lives for his coffee. And as a result, has a queue of people outside his door. He didn’t have to market to them – they found him!
And so it is with the odd martial artist. When we are driven by passion and a strong sense of purpose, the world beats a trail to our doorstep. For me, it’s all about passionate commitment to solve the puzzle that is martial arts and to help other people find what they need within in it’s landscape. I believe that martial arts teachers should be clear on the idea that they are in the service of other people – if not, then they should forget about teaching. It’s never about showing others how good we are at what we do – it should be all about deepening the experience that our students have when we are on the mat, in the ring or on the floor with them. When we are truly passionate, we want others to share the same experience that we ourselves are having – just like my coffee nazi. Bless his cotton socks. JBW

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Consider Carefully

Further to my Looking Good and Going Nowhere blog – please indulge me in one of my passions: taking lessons I have learned on the mat and bringing them into the broader aspects of our lives …
I am going to list some of the most common behaviors I see in the martial arts landscape and compare them to their respective success-oriented alternatives – these things, I have found, apply both on and off the mat …
Stay safe – remain the same VS Constant experimentation regardless of outcome
Maximal effort – minimum result VS Minimum effort – maximum result (leverage)
Respect my rank VS Respect my efforts
Need admiration of others VS Uncaring of what others think
Wanting the payoff now VS Willingness to sacrifice now for payoff later
Favoring offense over defense VS Placing equal value on offense and defense
One maximal effort VS non-stop incremental improvements
Gravitate towards convenience VS Un-phased by the inconvenient
Micro-specialization VS In-depth diversification
Focus on goals VS Focus on process

Thoughts ... JBW

Norske time

Here in beautiful Norway - after two nights of great training at my friend Kenneth Fjeld's school in Drammen. They say it gets cold here, really cold - as in minus 35 degrees - I think this is a ploy to keep visitors away because whenever I ma here it is bright, sunny and not a breath of wind - absolutely beautiful. Last night we did a BJJ seminar and tonight and MMA session - we had a ball, with kenneth translating for me - jokes and all! One of my little Norwegian friends is pictured here (ten year old Stian Haave) with a drawing he did of Professor Will - nice! I have it packed away in my suitcase for tomorrows journey back to heathrow, London, onward to Hong Kong and finally to melbourne on Saturday. It's always sad to leave my Norwegian friends - they are so very friendly - in fact last night one cooked a traditional Norwegian dish for me, as he had promised on my last visit - lamb and cabbage (sounds questionable but it is in fact really delicious) - I am already looking forward to my return next year. To everyone at Kenneth's school - Tusen Takk.
JBW

LOOKING GOOD AND GOING NOWHERE

I have mentioned this concept several times during this trip to the UK – and it has elicited quite a response from more than a few people. Initially, I was describing some of the things that hold people back from progress on the mat; one of them being a need to not look silly – not fail – which keeps us bound to the predictable and the same ‘ol same ‘ol.
The desire to LOOK GOOD - be cool – be well-liked - is something that most of us can identify with. It begins for most, in the school-yard, where the need for social acceptance is strong. Many, many people, carry this need well into adulthood and fail to realize what a crippling effect it can have on the course of our lives.
If we are okay with looking goofy on the mat, trying new techniques and failing (perhaps even being punished for the effort) – then we cannot help but improve and develop. If we are overly obsessed with LOOKING GOOD, we almost guarantee our stagnation.
But how does this need to LOOK GOOD effect us off the mat? How does it impact on our lives? In many, many, many cases – it has a profound effect.
For instance, I have seen a lot of people held back by their overly consumptive lifestyles – the need to LOOK GOOD (living large) seriously impeding the possibility of them ever achieving real financial freedom. You don’t need to earn a lot of money to become a millionaire for example – but there are many people earning very high incomes that will never achieve even that modest milestone – largely because they need to wear the right suits, sport the best watch, and be see by others to be living the LIFE. Quite a few of my friends who count their net worth in the millions, wear plain clothes (bought off the internet), enjoy inexpensive hobbies, many even have modest incomes - but they do not have a burning desire to LOOK GOOD – they accumulate wealth easily and most do not care much at all what others think of them.
We do need to have standards – sure – we all want to look good to a degree; what I am saying though, is that we shouldn’t let this dominate the way we live our lives or allow it to adversely effect our situation. Overly caring about what others think of you can really impact negatively on our learning, on where we live, on how we behave, on the amount of savings we have – and ultimately, on how happy and fulfilled we are.
JBW

London town

I finished up in Coventry yesterday, said goodbye to Al Peasland, Mick Tully and new purple Rich Green before spending the last hour of the day with Geoff Thompson and his son Louis.
One of Rich Green's students, Elliot, kindly drove me down to Slough in London this morning, where I held a session (despite the public holiday) for Ken Pankiewicz's students. Ken runs Kickfit - a family oriented TKD school. After our session, we headed back to Ken (and lovely wife Anne Marie's) place for an Aussie-style BBQ. Surreal - but delicious. In the morning I am off to Heathrow where I board my British Airways flight to Norway, where I am teaching for Kenneth Fjeld. I am mildy amazed by the weather here - it's sunny (hence the Aussie barbie) but I suspect that Norway will be a lot colder - all will be revealed tomorrow. It's been quite a week in the UK, with the Royal wedding and all - an amazing phenomenon with over a hundred thousands brits hitting the streets for the celebration.
Anyways, it time for sleep - back to usual style of blogging shortly. Best wishes all
JBW

Top pic: Al Peasland, myself, Mick Tully and Rich Green
other pic: The Slough crew who turned out on a sunny public holiday - kudos!

Leaving Coombe

My last night in Coombe Abbey - sad.
I had a great day today teaching the Cov group again. I had the real pleasure of being able to present long-time coach Rich Green of Coventry MMA with his BJJ purple belt - nice! Al Peasland and Mick Tully were great hosts - and together with Rich, put togetehr a great seminar! Geoff Thompson came along and sat in for the last hour of todays session - so that was a special bonus. After the session wound up I headed off to give a lesson to Louis Thompson (Geoff's son) before heading back for my last night at the Abbey. Tomorrow, I'm off to London, then onward to Norway the day after. heading back to Australia on Thursday - looking forward to seeing my family. Everyone should keep an eye out for future offerings from Geoff Thompson, he is a prolific author and film-maker - and I hear whispers of great things in the offing. Stay tuned - or should I say - watch out!
Time for food - more to come. JBW

Big Day ...

After a late night last night teaching at Factory BJJ for the ever-awesome Adam Adshead - I said my goodbyes and thanks to all those who made the effort to be there (some coming all the way from Scotland - big love to Rick Young!).
Mark Collet and I awoke early for the two hour drive dow to Coventry where I held the first of two sessions for a group of 50+ Coventry-ites - we had a blast and I am back for more tomorrow morning.
I just installed myself in the wondrous Coombe Abbey - and my good friend Geoff Thompson was dropped off by his lovely wife Sharon for our usual walk through the woods and early dinner. We always have a great time - and will no doubt catch up again tomorrow. I may awake early and watch the UFC match between Jake Shields and Georges St Pierre - (Rocky vs Drago) - it's at 2am - not a good start to my day! Tomorrow I have a big day back with the Cov lads ( an awesome bunch), another catch up with Geoff T - an hour private lesson fort his son louis - and then an early night and much needed sleep. The day after I am down to London where I will teach for my friend Ken Pankeiwicz of Kickfit Academy - before heading across the sea to Norway to see Kenneth Fjeld and his students. That's it for now - I shall lie back and soak some of the tangible history that pervades this beautiful 13th century Cistercian Abbey (complete with moat!)
Warmest wishes to all: JBW