The Karate Discipline
March 19, 2010
I’m sure we all remember the movie The Karate Kid, an all-time classic. I watched a rerun a few months ago, and realised that each wisdom from Mr Miyagi is worth exploring – in a blog post or video. Karate means “empty hand” – and is a defense strategy. I did a bit of karate at school (many moons ago), and I got to yellow belt. Karate and martial arts teach us discipline. In business we also require discipline, and I think that as entrepreneurs we can learn a lot from these art forms.
Mr Miyagi says in the movie: “First learn stand, then learn fly. Nature rule, Daniel-san, not mine.” This is very important. In business (and in life, even) we sometimes put the horse before the cart. We don’t adhere to due process principles. We’re too impatient. Mr Miyagi’s anecdote is similar to Covey‘s “Law of the harvest.” You reap what you sow.
Chet Holmes has worked with over 60 of the Fortune 500 companies as America’s top marketing executive, trainer, strategic consultant and motivation expert. He’s done work for Charlie Munger (one of Warren Buffet‘s partners), and has recently also started to do projects with Anthony Robbins. He has also studied and taught karate for 23 years.
Chet says:
The lessons we’ve learned about consistency have taught us that it is the only way to really improve anything. The secret to great accomplishment in karate is not in learning 4, 000 different moves. There’s aren’t 4, 000 different moves in karate. There are 12 moves. Becoming a master is not about doing 4, 000 different moves; it’s about doing 12 moves, 4, 000 times each. The same is true for all areas of accomplishment. Golf, tennis, sales, customer services, ALL areas of competency require repetition of fundamentals.
We need to apply this discipline to our businesses when it comes to Social Media. There are just too many tools and applications out there. And we cannot use all of them. Everyday we see people on Facebook and Twitter saying “try this new tool, this that new tool” – and for the average entrepreneur this is just as a liability on time. For most businesses, Social Media is a tool, it’s not their business. Social Media is our business – and more than just a tool – but I’m talking about those outside of this industry.
One Social Media tool is not enough though. Facebook alone is not enough. Twitter alone is not enough. LinkedIn alone is not enough. There must be a decent mix of online tools – a mix that’s right for your business. Not every business is the same. Once you’re identified the mix that suits your business, you have to be consistent in using those tools. Using a tool once every two weeks won’t result in any true value. Once per week is also too minimal. A few times per week is required, and with tools like Twitter, daily activity is required. This all might sound very time consuming, but it does not have to be. There are tools that can help you manage your online activity.
For example, here is how I use TweetDeck and HootSuite.
TweedDeck is essentially a Twitter tool, but I use it for more than that. I use it…
- To track the people I’m following on Twitter and respond to them
- To conduct multiple concurrent Twitter searches (for research and tracking purposes)
- To track and respond to Facebook status updates
- To track and respond to LinkedIn status updates
HootSuite can be used for a number of purposes, but I simply use it to schedule updates. I can spend around 10 minutes and schedule updates that will be broadcasted over one or two days. This is quite fun because even if I’m sleeping or in a meeting, my messages are going out to the world.
So I don’t even need to be on the actual websites of Facebook and Twitter, and I can still be managing my activity there.
It’s not about working hard so much. Sure we have to work hard, but we can be smart as well. And all of this can be fun, while still getting to business results that we want. But we have to remain disciplined.
Photo credit: andrew_mc_d
Pick up a jersey
March 10, 2010
If you know me personally you’ll know that I’m not that much into sports. I played soccer in my pre-teen years, but not much thereafter. I enjoy watching a good game of soccer, tennis, and other sports – but that’s only if I happen to come across it playing on tv. I don’t really schedule this into my calendar, if you catch my drift.
What I do prefer is activities that get adrenalin pumping. So I’ve done bridge jumping, recently been on a (mega fast) speed boat, and sky diving and other items are next on the agenda!
Team sports interest me though, because I am fascinated by the team dynamic. Every person is important in the team, and working together is essential for success. I believe the same is true for business, as well as social communities. In this regard, John Wooden comes to mind. I first heard about him on a talk by Anthony Robbins, and then I saw this video of him at TED.com. Wooden (now 99 years old) was a phenomenal basketball coach. He was the first person ever (and then followed by Lenny Wilkens and Bill Sharman) to be a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player (1961) and as a coach (1973). As a coach, he is still unmatched for winning 10 NCAA National Championships in a 12 year period while at UCLA. The significant difference about Wooden is that he focused on “coaching for people, not points” – so it didn’t matter if the team won or lost – he was interested in whether the individual player won or lost. Did that player play his best game, even if the team lost? Did that player play his worst game, even if the team won? What an interesting perspective!
A few months ago I attended a soccer match with my cousins and their kids. We watched a bunch of kids – around 10-12 years old – enjoy their Saturday afternoon in the best manner they knew how. Someone (I think it was a parent) yelled to one of the kids “Pick up a jersey.” Perhaps I had heard the phrase before, but that was the first time I had actually taken serious note. Immediately, I made a note on my iPhone, under “Blog Post Ideas” – yeah, I’m that type of geek!
The little kid was told to “target” a player of the opposing team, to focus only on that player. The opposite of this would be to tell the kid “Target everyone” – forcing him to run all across the field like a maniac. This is not the way team sports are played. I think businesses should learn from this. Too often we try to “Target everyone” instead of using the “Pick up a jersey” strategy. We’ve all fallen into this trap – at some time or another.
When trying to win clients, we sometimes “adapt” just so that we can get the business. This – in the long term – is not good. We lose focus, and we spend time building experience in areas which are not part of our purpose and ultimate vision. Anthony Robbins refers to this as trying to speak to all the trees in the forest – instead of the biggest trees, and the trees that are the best fit for us.
A very bold woman, and a very dear friend of mine, Jo Duxbury, has conquered this. Jo runs Freelancentral as well as Peppermint Source (please check out these websites, Jo really rocks!). A few days ago Jo said this on Twitter: “Turning away work because the clients do not fit my target profile is a uncomfortable, but sticking to my guns is best for both me and them.” You can view the original tweet here.
This idea is so essential as business advances and as global markets open up. All of us can’t be everything to everybody, we really need to focus. We need to find what it is that we do best, and then just do that!
Photo credit: bethcanphoto
