Tag Archives: The Art of War

Mistake Free

This is the fourth in a 7-part series comparing Sun Tzu’s The Art of War to youth wrestling and how we can apply these lessons in our own lives.

Click here for Part 1: It begins with Practice

Click here for Part 2: What are your Questions

Click here for Part 3: Winning with Ease

He wins his battles by making no mistakes. Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated. –The Art of War, Chapter 4:13 Tactical Dispositions

The wrestler that makes a mistake ends up on his back. The only way to not get in this position is to not­ allow the opponent an opportunity. Becoming mistake-free results in victory. If your opponent has done his research on you, he will know it when he steps on the mat. Your reputation will precede you, and your opponent will arrive already defeated.

As a mortarman in the Army, I couldn’t make a mistake. My team couldn’t make a mistake. One wrong move, one miscalculation, or one errant round could result in killing the people that counted on us for their protection.

Mistakes sink ships on the ocean. They kill businesses by damaging their reputation and the trust people put in them. Mistakes prevent you from going where you want to go.

It is difficult to be mistake free in life, but there are measures we can take to prevent mistakes. There are things we can do to offset the damage and not allow it to escalate into something we can’t fix. We can prepare, be ever-vigilant, and have a partner or coach that is looking out for us. Good coaches identify areas that need improvement. They correct issues early on so that they will not become a problem later on. They are there to prevent you from making mistakes. They are the checks and balances similar to the platoon sergeants and squad leaders of a fire team. They are there to watch, direct, and correct.

When I was younger, I thought I was alone. I isolated myself and listened to my own counselling. It wasn’t very sound, and to this day I am still paying for some of those mistakes. What I needed back then was someone to keep me in check. There were plenty of people out there that would have done it, but I wasn’t looking. It wasn’t until I was older that I started looking. By then my exterior was already hardened making it more difficult for others to get through. I am still working on this area, still working on becoming vulnerable enough to those closest to me. The good news is that I am working on this area and getting better.

It is hard to go through life alone and not make a mistake. We all need a partner, a coach, or a mentor that can see our blind spots. The influencers in your life cannot be afraid to offer counselling. And once they do, it is your job to trust them, listen, and take action. Only then can you come closer to becoming mistake free and establishing the certainty of your victory.

Winning With Ease

This is the third in a 7-part series comparing Sun Tzu’s The Art of War to youth wrestling and how we can apply these lessons in our own lives. This is how you win with ease.

Click here for Part 1: It begins with Practice

Click here for Part 2: What are your Questions

Winning with Ease

What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease. –The Art of War, Chapter 4:11 Tactical Dispositions

Wrestling is a difficult sport taxing one’s body, soul, and mind. In his second year, Alec has yet to put all three together on the mat. This is not a harsh statement. He is only six years old. How many boys his age has found this balance? Some of the older kids, who have been wrestling longer, have begun to put it together. It is noticeable when they walk on the mat. They look confident and fearless. When they win, they make it seem easy. Those are what the ancients would call a clever wrestler. It is the one with the experience, who has put in the hard work and has persevered.

In my forty-four years, I haven’t gone through this life with ease. Why is that? My road has been difficult, because I have not always put in the hard work when it comes to my body, soul, and mind. But when I do put in the work, when I persevere, life gets easier. When I neglect even one of these three pillars, my road becomes difficult to travel.

Want to be the one that not only wins, but excels in winning with ease? Learn from experience by doing the hard work. Keep grinding every day. Keep practicing. Persevere. Do this and you will find your Tao, your Way.

What Are Your Questions?

This is the second in a 7-part series comparing Sun Tzu’s The Art of War to youth wrestling and how we can apply these lessons in our own lives.

 

Click here for part 1: Begin with Practice

To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself. –The Art of War, Chapter 4:2 Tactical Dispositions

What are your questions?

The kids toe the line and shake hands. Once ready and in their stances, the referee blows the whistle to begin the contest. Having never faced each other before, both the boys have options. What they choose to do is based on experience and comfort level. Not knowing the other’s skill level, to shoot for a takedown from distance could be disastrous. If you can’t touch your opponent, the long shot truly lives up to its name in its chances for success.

Charging blindly into an unknown opponent is a recipe for disaster. There is a small chance you may surprise him with an opening bull rush, however an experienced opponent will have prepared for such a scenario and will be able to counter with ease. What is a better solution? It is better to probe for weaknesses and to look for the opportunities provided by your opponent.

It is foolish for a lawyer to cross-examine a witness with statements. Isn’t it better to ask questions? The more questions, the greater the chances of finding a flaw in the testimony.

You can take control of a meeting by spouting off all the things you know without getting feedback, but this will not solve the problem at hand. The meeting participants are not the enemy. The problem is the enemy. To find the solutions you have to ask questions. You have to probe. You have to collaborate. The solutions to the problem will eventually be exposed, and then you can attack.

The quality of your questions determines the quality of your life. –Tony Robbins

If the enemy is within, what should you do? How can you attack a problem if you don’t really know what it is? Whether it is a medical condition or a bad habit, the methods of combatting it are similar. Identify the problem. Ask the questions that can lead to a solution. If you can’t find the solution on your own, collaborate. As Sun Tzu said, “To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands.” It is in your hands whether or not you choose to fight. Only through fighting will you be able make use of the opportunities provided by the enemy.

There are some things you won’t be able to cure. In that case, your only option is to live the best life you can. You do not have to be the victim. You can rise above and not allow the enemy an easy victory.

It Begins With Practice

This is the first in a 7-part series comparing Sun Tzu’s The Art of War to youth wrestling and how we can apply these lessons in our own lives.

Sun Tzu said: The good fighters of old put themselves beyond defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. –The Art of War, Chapter 4:1 Tactical Dispositions

It Begins with Practice

Alec is about to wrap up his second season of wrestling. With a month left to go in the season, I am amazed that he still only knows a few basic moves. At first I was frustrated. Why isn’t the coach teaching them new moves? Every week it seems like we go over the same fundamentals and rarely add anything new. How will Alec be able to compete against other wrestlers with so small an arsenal of moves?

Though I have good intentions for his future in wrestling, the last question was not a good one to ask. A better question would be to ask: Has he mastered the moves he does know? Unfortunately, the answer is no. He has not mastered them. Don’t get me wrong. He has made remarkable improvements over last year. But in terms of mastery, he still has a long ways to go. How can he hope to learn new moves, when the basics have not been perfected? He needs to keep practicing until they become a part of his nature.

Practice, the master of all things. –Octavius Augustus

The first way to put yourself beyond defeat: Practice the things you know until you have mastered them and can execute them without flaw.

Last week, we practiced defending the head and arm throw. It is a favorite method of attack used by other local teams. Because it is easy to defend, we do not teach this attack on our team. To teach the boys how to defend the move, we had to show them how to execute the move. It wasn’t until after they learned the move that we could move on to its defense.

This leads to the second way you can put yourself beyond defeat: Identify the things you don’t know.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance. –Confucius

When you watch a football game on television, you only see the finished product. What you don’t see is the hours of watching film. The team is not only studying its own strengths and weaknesses, but it is also studying the other team’s. In essence, they conduct an analysis method known as S.W.O.T.

  • Strengths
  • Weaknesses
  • Opportunities
  • Threats

The good fighters of old were courageous. How were they courageous? They practiced what they knew until they became masters. They identified their weaknesses and then practiced to correct those issues. They studied themselves. They studied their enemies. When you read the stories of the old fighters, you only read about the finished product. It was the years of preparation before the battle that put them beyond defeat.

Who is the opponent in your life? Who or what is the enemy? We may not have someone out there looking to do us harm, but we all are fighting battles. It would be foolish to think we can win some of these battles overnight. We have to put in the work. We have to build the right habits that will put us in position to achieve success. For those who want to move forward in life, keep practicing.

No Promotion, No Problem

 

You didn’t get the promotion you were hoping for, and it hurts. You are currently doing the job, but you have neither the title nor the security the title provides. You have been working hard for this. You feel like you deserve it, but you didn’t get it. Now you have to get over it. And just maybe, it doesn’t really even matter. So you need to move on. You cannot wallow or feel sorry for yourself. Not getting that job may have been the best thing for you.

Do not ask for what you will wish you had not got. –Seneca

You could have ridden this job into retirement. You could have coasted into old age doing something that was easy and comfortable. You could have relaxed and settled. You might lose your edge, but that’s okay, because there would have been nothing left to fight for. But wasn’t this job only a holdover until you could do the things you wanted? Wasn’t this supposed to be a temporary solution now to get the food on the table? You don’t want to grow old and at the twilight of your life say, “This is what I have done. I gave all my years to the company.” What were you to that company anyway? A vital part or just a number? Would you have left an unfillable void or would the next number come in to replace you? The twenty or forty years at the factory wasn’t easy. It took a toll on your body. It took a toll on your family. It wasn’t the easiest path to take, but it was the one with the least resistance. It was the easy way to grow old. The dreams you had in your youth were just dreams. As an adult, you left those childish dreams aside. Instead of realizing your dreams, you punched a timeclock.

Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands resistance. –Steven Pressfield

Last week I read “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield. This book reached down into my core. It opened my eyes. For the first time, I had the name of the enemy that has been plaguing me my whole life. The sad thing is that I never knew I was in a war against an enemy, one that is relentless and will attack whether or not you are fighting back. How do you fight an unknown enemy?

If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt. -From Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”

So who or what is this enemy? Its name is Resistance. What is resistance? It is that voice telling you to delay doing the things you know and believe you should do. It is telling you to take another drink, to eat another cupcake, and to start that diet tomorrow instead of today. It is the one telling you later, not now. Resistance is the soft warmth of your bed beckoning you to hit that snooze button. It is the voice telling you that you will never be good enough so don’t even bother trying. Resistance says that your hopes and dreams can be put on hold until the time is right. We all have an adversary named Resistance.

 The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew each day. –Steven Pressfield.

Every day. The enemy, Resistance, is there waiting to attack. Sun Tzu said that one of the best ways to attack is to look for a weakness in your opponent. Resistance knows your weaknesses. It attacks when you are the most vulnerable to giving in. If you don’t do battle against the enemy every day, then all those aspirations you have in life will amount to nothing. Your dreams will be just that, dreams.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Was there something I wanted to create but didn’t?

• Did I delay building my business, because something else came up?

• Did I say to myself just one more show on Netflix and then I will get started?

• Did I not pursue my dreams because life got in the way?

I have used that last line plenty in the past. So much I wanted to do, but life got in the way. Life will always get in the way if you let it. Who is in control? Are you in control of your life or are you being controlled by outside factors? Life didn’t get in the way. Resistance got in the way.