The Art of the KO

     Inspiration comes to us from many places...sometimes where we least expect it to come from.      I was walking out of a print shop many years ago.  The month was May and it was about 1 week before Mother's day in the US and there was a family of 6 walking past me.      I heard the mother ask her kids, "So for Mother's Day, What are you going to get me?  More aggravation?"      This got me thinking about how we treat others...and I am far from perfect...and a work still in progress:-)...and how treating other in a positive manner can be an uplifting and inspirational experience.  A quote from Zig Zigler comes to mind, "You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want." You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want. Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/z/zig_ziglar.html You can have everything in life you want, if you wi

          Why is it that the light bulb is associated with creativity or a new idea?  For starters, when we turn on the light...we can now see what was right in front of us...but for some reason...was not very clear.  Secondly, the light bulb also signifies the illumination of the mind through intellectual or spiritual enlightenment.      There are many ways to innovate.   Innovation can be in the form of the verbiage you use in, for example, a restaurant, "Do you want fries with that?"        One particular restaurant started using that phrase about 20 years ago and it has made them millions of $ in their coffers and put millions of pounds of fat on their clientele.  The phrase was innovative...the result...no so much...but we are only talking about innovation here:-)      I recently heard a story about Franchise that had grown its membership by 50% in just 7 months after a new leadership team had taken over.  This did not happen just because they are great at

  What is the importance of rank and why are so many people fearful of losing it for one reason or another?   First lets discuss the importance of rank...as I see it.  To me, rank means that you have been training for a period of time, have some degree of proficiency, and have been acknowledged as such.  For me...that's about it.  When I was younger it was all about the rank because all I saw was that those before me put such emphasis on it.  As I get older...rank matters less and less to me, not because I have it, but because the significance on learning...to me...far outweighs the color of my belt. There are many who use rank to keep their students in line, much like our parents would use the "You are not getting desert if you don't behave" punishment.   Years ago a guy came to train with me from another school.  He found out that one of my passions was in breaking down kata and adding the Kyusho to the techniques, in addition to more realistic m

Recently I became of aware of some negative things that 2 people had been saying about my life's work.  I had considered one a mentor for many years and the other a colleague of sorts.   I could have taken that negativity and used it in a negative way...which does nothing positive for no one. After talking to a few people about this, they saw the opportunity there to get the positive element out of this situation.  After all...it is all about perspective...no? So I decided to go the positive rout and have some fun with this at the same time. Here is a clip of what I am talking about The best part about this was taking the negative energy from George Dillman and Steve Stewart focusing that energy into the positive realm.  They actually helped me to further define what have been working on for many years. I am actually grateful they did this.  Now I know what their intentions were and I do agree that I am a threat to them because my skills go way beyond the martial ar