Hi there fellow Wing Chun fighter — It’s Rob here at WingChunLife.com
I hope you had a great summer (or winter if you’re south of the equator). I was busy with work, family, and such… I’m sure you can relate.
In fact, for the greater part of August I didn’t spend nearly enough time on the WingChunLife.com website. I have a lot of great plans to make it better and more useful for everyone, and now I’m behind schedule.
But… having plans and getting things done are not the same thing. Not even close.
If you run into same problem in your life, one thing I’ve found that works for me is to cut down and dump a lot of things I “need” to do. That works up to a point. The problem that keeps coming up is that I like and want to accomplish more things, I want to be “more” prolific, and I want good quality.
Over the years I’ve learned to go through a kind of mental and “calendar” purging. A few times a year, when I feel very overwhelmed, I start to cross off and shred my to do lists, even if I haven’t done them. “Clear the calculator”, if you will. Reboot. I’m about ready to go through one of these forced vomits very soon! ;D
While I’m standing over the shredder and holding one finger on the “Mass Delete” key on the computer ready to complete my administrative colonic, why don’t you enjoy the following article by guest author Gerry Ayers.
Gerry is a mental training coach for combat sports fighters. He shares a lot of my philosophies on how everything we do, want, and are… starts in our head. Plus, if you want to advance in Wing Chun, or anything meaningful in your life — you have to put in the time. Believe it or not, time is elastic and Gerry shares how you can stretch time to get more of what matters to you… Take it away Gerry —
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We only have 24 hours in a day to accomplish a multitude of things. If you do the math:
24 hours – 8 hours to sleep (I know some may sleep more or less, so work with me here.) = 16 hours left
16 hours – 10 hours for work or school (these hours include getting ready, commuting, lunch, etc.) = 6 hours to live life.
6 hours is not enough time to live your life, or is it?
Let’s do some math again…
6 hours a day X 7 days a week X 52 weeks per year = 2184 hours per year.
Let’s compare that to your 5 day a week job (or school):
8 hours per day X 5 days per week X 52 weeks per year = 2080 hours per year.
Now hold on, let’s factor in 1 week of vacation and 1 week of holidays = 80 hours.
2080 hours – 80 hours (vacation and holidays) = 2000 hours per year.
Let’s compare the two:
2184 hours to live life …
2000 hours at your job…
Huh! You have an extra 184 hours a year over your 2000 hour a year FULL TIME JOB? Yet many say they don’t have enough time to get meaningful productive stuff done in their lives? What do you think would happen if you told your boss that you didn’t have enough time to get your JOB done? You would get fired wouldn’t you? So why do you tell yourself (the true boss of your life) that you don’t have enough time to do the things you really want to do in life?
The problem is YOU! YOU have not set your life’s standards and YOU let YOU off the hook too much!
The secondary problem to not having enough time in your life is a lack of priority and what is truly important. Couple that with crippling fear and a false sense of security and you have a recipe for disaster!
How am I the problem? Priorities? Fears? False Sense of Security? That’s pretty harsh don’t you think? All I wanted was more time!
Let’s tackle each one independently and see if you indeed suffer from each one.
1. Priority
We all prioritize our lives whether we consciously know it or not. Whenever we make a choice we have prioritized one thing over another. How we spend our time is a choice and ultimately it is prioritized.
Tomorrow I want you to record everything you do during your “free time”. Literally write down on a sheet of paper all that you do while not sleeping or working. I bet after one day of tracking your time you’ll be super surprised at how much time is indeed wasted. We all have the same problem of wasting time, but just like money, if you do not tell your time what to do it will run your life.
Now I am not telling you to give up every little thing and become a production-aholic, but at least put things into perspective. Think about this one statistic: The typical American watches on average 24-30 hours of television per week. That is basically 4 hours per day! If this is you, then that would leave you just 2 hours of time per day to live your life! Wow, talk about wasteful!
So first step, get your priorities straight! Take out a sheet of paper, draw a vertical line down the middle and write down all you want to accomplish on one side and on the other side write down all the time wasters. I bet if you start there you will see amazing results within the first week!
2. Fear
Yup, I said it, you’re afraid! You’re afraid to evaluate your own life for fear that you may discover that you indeed can do everything you want. Whenever we are forced to look within ourselves we become fearful, not of what we might find (because deep down we already know those answers), but what we will have to become in order to improve our position in life. So rather than face the fear and maybe use it to motivate us, we avoid it, push it to the back of the closet, hoping for it to get better on its own. The funny thing is the fear will never go away because it resides within you! You cannot lie to yourself, because every single time you lie to yourself a little piece of your soul dies!
3. False Sense of Security
Security equals comfort and comfort equals contentment. When we become content we become complacent which leads to us letting our guard down. Anytime you depend on something totally outside of your control and believe it will never go away, you develop a false sense of security. We all have a false sense of security on some level and, every single one of us strives for it to some degree. The problem is that it does not exist, at least in this day in age.
At one point in our history there was indeed security, as one’s job was always there and life was built around it. If you are 30-40 years old you probably remember the good old days because it was your parents that had it! The first thing to understand right now is that security has to come from within. When you begin to realize that the only secure thing in life is you and your abilities, is when security really begins to become a reality. Basically begin putting stock in you, and not your environment!
You are the problem, but you are also the Solution!
So to recap what we have learned:
Get your priorities straight – Once you determine what’s most important in life and where your biggest time “wasters” are you’ll begin to see the big picture.
Get over your fear of you – Embrace the change in who you must become to achieve your goals. Stop fearing change and start fearing stagnation. Use fear of the “status-quo” to push you in the direction you know deep down inside that you need to head in. Remember, whenever you lie to yourself, a little piece of your soul dies!
False Sense of Security – STOP putting stock in your environment to keep you safe and secure and START developing an acute awareness of what your internal environment is telling you. Basically trust your gut!
Begin to take action toward a better you right now! Determine the very first step you will take, whether it be as simple as deciding what you will tolerate from yourself and your environment, or as drastic as throwing out your television. Whatever it is take ACTION on it today!
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Gerry Ayers is a freelance mental training coach for various combat sports (i.e. MMA, Grappling, BJJ and Wrestling). He also has a website dedicated to helping those who want to help themselves improve the quality of their lives. Head over to facebook.com/greatnessinsideout and get started on a better you!
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Thank you Gerry! I am putting your knowledge to work right now as I type and finish off this issue of Wing Chun Life News. I was going to put it off since I have “other” things to do but this is a priority so I’m completing it now.
One more thing, after you’ve cleared out the “junk” and set your priorities straight, take a look at how the “Band of Excellence” can help you get the most out of the time you have available for Wing Chun.
