When I joined Shaolin-Do as white belt, Elder Master Leonard was a 5th degree black belt. Now I take private lessons directly from him, he asks me to sit next to him at lunch and calls me often on my cell phone to chat. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

 

    I try to make time my ally not my enemy.  Most people, as they grow older, are heard to say " I wish I would have...., Where did time go....., I wish I woudn't have stopped......". These people very clearly have made time an enemy, and didn't realize it until it was too late.

    If you fill your days with idle activities and distractions, time becomes your enemy. As the years pass, you become a person of less and less accomplishment. If however, you are constantly advancing your knowledge or skill on not just one thing, but many, the difference is astounding. As the years pass, the gap between you and the idle person grows to become a chasm. They look at you and wonder, where does he get the time to learn all those things and "I could never do that". At any one time I am reading as many as 5 books, listening to several different books on tape, learning Chinese, trying to writing a book, getting in better shape by running many miles a week, training on my own regimen dictated by Elder Master Leonard, teaching 20-30 hours a week, creating marketing and advertising strategy for several schools, and helping to raise a daughter, a son and spending as much time as possible with my wife.

    To quote Anthony Robbins, I follow the discipline of CANI (pronounced ca-nai). The Japanese call it KaiZen. It is the most powerful and creative principle available to a human being and before I share it with you let me say that it has been endorsed by some of the most accomplished humans our planet has produced. It stands for Constant And Never-ending Improvement, and it must become your default programming.

    So how did this get me in a good place with Elder Master Leonard? Perseverance, plain and simple.  I stuck with it longer than all the others with which I started. I was looking at a student recently who I knew was going through some personal difficulties. I thought about how Shaolin would help that person weather the storm, but that it was likely they would not stick around. I knew that in the very near future that same person would regret the day they stopped showing up to the school. Shaolin must be like eating. You wouldn't go a day without eating a meal. I doubt you go a day without watching the TV. You might even play your sony play-station every day. I am sorry to say you will never get a feeling of self-respect, accomplishment, or a black belt for any of these activities. WHY? Because they are easy and require no effort. I always tell the kid's class, you don't get a black belt for recess because everyone can do it. A black belt is worth getting because it's hard, not easy. Are you spending your life doing what is easy? Pick up a book, never go a week without attending two classes, and listen to books on tape in the car if you are in it for more than 15 minutes day. You can ignore my advice however, if you want to insure that at some day in the future you curse time for steeling your life and giving others opportunities that are beyond your imagination.