I have to admit - I am a big fight fan. Karate, Brazilian Jujitsu, Krav Maga and cage fighting is my version of a good red wine. I consider myself a 'pacifist with options'.
Putting the physical endurance aside, martial arts is like playing chess…but where you can get hurt.
Martial arts has forced me to regularly step outside my comfort zone, confront my fears and deal with my insecurities. It has taught me that you can feel fear and still step up to fight.
Training yourself to fight is counterintuitive - it’s like choosing to run towards a fire.
When confronted by a threat, your self-preservation instinct switches on. Commonly known as either your stress response, fight or flight or an adrenaline dump, it is when your mind and body jump into action to keep you alive and out of harms way.
Sometimes the instinct to fight activates automatically and sometimes you need to dig deep and draw it out.
Right now, life has changed, and you need to find the fight within you.
You now have to run towards problems and throw yourself into them and fight to find a solution. You now have to rise above your fear and anger so you can be patient and caring. You have to work harder to remain positive to keep hope alive and not succumb to the doom and gloom.
If you are in business, you have to fight your insecurities and keep calling your clients, and you’ll have to fight your negativity and not let your stress and tension get the better of you.
Now is the time to step up and bring out the fight in you.
My son recently shared a YouTube clip with me about an eighteen year old ‘E.J’ who has been living on the streets since he was seven. E.J.’s parents died and his foster parents were abusive so he found himself living under bridges, in car parks and anywhere that was safe-ish.
On the streets, he says, "you have to fight to survive". He explains that if you want to survive then you need to make friends (but don’t be too friendly), keep good debts, keep your word and don’t talk badly about others.
When asked if he could have three wishes, he responds by saying "..on the streets you don’t wish for things or wait for things to happen. You can’t control anything".
E.J has to draw out the fight everyday just to eat and find a place to sleep.
E.J.’s fight now is to make it into the army - so he can have 3 meals, a bed and a roof above his head, 365 days a year.
As our world changes, and you face uncertainty in your business, work, family, lifestyle or wellbeing, how are you going to fair in this fight?
Are you prepared to dig deep and bring the fight out? Are you willing to run towards the fire and make the difficult calls, have the tough conversations, put in the longer hours, rewrite all your planning, and take risks?
"Why not go out on a limb? That's where the fruit is.” Mark Twain
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