A person's level of success is often a direct correlation to their internal state
Your job (as it relates to your students) is making people feel good.
I know that some of you would disagree…
But your ability to encourage referrals and retain students is a direct result of how good you are at making people feel good.
The problem is, you can’t give someone something you don’t already have.
So, if you go into work feeling miserable – that’s what you’re giving your students.
It’s easy to dismiss this as trite psycho-babble…
And believe me, I know how hard it is to be Mr. Chipper when your inquiries and enrollments are down and you feel like you’re bleeding money everywhere.
“…your ability to ENCOURAGE REFERRALS and RETAIN STUDENTS is a direct result of how good you are at MAKING PEOPLE FEEL GOOD.”
But, choosing unhappiness is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you CHOOSE to focus on the negatives, pretty soon NEGATIVES are ALL you see.
Your internal world cannot be out of synch with your external world for long… and the other half of that equation is that the mind controls the body (thoughts control actions).
Thus, your mind soon starts to synch your actions with your thoughts and feelings. When those thoughts and feelings are negative, here’s what happens:
You start gravitating toward negative people (and attracting them in droves).
You start to self-sabotage (often, you can’t see this, but other people do).
You second-guess things.
You damage relationships.
You give a less-than-your-best effort at work (teaching class).
…and so on.
This isn’t some feel-good-secret-law-of-attraction-mumbo-jumbo. It’s natural law, the way God wrote the rules to the universe.
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…”
“A man reaps what he sows.”
“According to your faith will it be done to you…”
It’s inescapable… so instead of fighting universal law, abide by the rules in place and use them to your advantage.
Here’s how:
Give 100% to your students – they deserve it.
Be that person you’ve always looked up to and admired – deep inside, you are that person.
Focus on the positives – it’s the only way you’ll get through challenges with your sanity intact.
Focus first on how you can help others – your attitude is what will bring people in. People are attracted to that which makes them feel good. If you’re happy and energetic, it will really make you stand out as an instructor and people will be drawn to that.
At all times keep in mind that your job is MAKING PEOPLE FEEL GOOD.
As a prerequisite, you have to CHOOSE to feel GOOD.
Flip that internal switch, turn a corner, transform your business, and change your life.
It’s not often that I mix in religious messages with my business messages (although, in the martial arts world religious messages are as ubiquitous as wet in water – you just don’t realize it because it’s culturally based).
However, I think this blog post by Faith-Based Millionaire author Jay Peroni is a great message for anyone who is facing challenges as they pursue their business with passion and fervor.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did… the quote in the beginning (describing the deeds of Benaiah, one of King David’s three mighty men) reads like an action sequence from Gladiator.
What exactly will you leave behind when you are through teaching martial arts?
“Have you ever wondered what your legacy will be when you stop teaching or doing martial arts?”
That’s a close approximation of the question I posed to the students and instructors in attendance during a recent black belt test I helped preside over. When I presented this question to the students who were taking the examination, I was admittedly surprised that my question seemed to garner the attention of the entire room.
Obviously, this is something that gives people pause, when they are confronted with their ever-present but not necessarily imminent mortality.
The question has been on my mind for many reasons, and I’ve given it a lot of thought recently. My motivations for puzzling out my own answers on the subject have to do partly with the fact that I’m reaching a point in my martial arts career where it’s time to start passing the bulk of my teaching responsibilities on to the next generation, and also partly with the fact that I simply think it’s an important question to ask yourself as an instructor.
And, I have to wonder… what is it exactly that I’ll have passed on during my time on the mat?
Seasons Change, And So Does Our Focus In Teaching Martial Arts
What do you want to be remembered for as a martial arts instructor?
There are a number of reasons why your focus changes as a martial arts instructor as the years go by. You might grow old (gracefully, we hope, as did Ueshiba and Funakoshi), you may face physical challenges (God forbid, nothing serious or life threatening, but the very real possibility of such a thing is something the pragmatic in me accounts for), your life situation may change, or you may simply have an epiphany regarding what you really want to accomplish during the remainder of your career.
The fact is, our instruction is a reflection of ourselves… our ethics and moral shortcomings, our knowledge and ignorance, our nobility and prejudices, our inner world turned right-side out.
Martial arts instructors tend to be iconic personalities, presenting an image to the world of what a martial arts sensei, sifu, sabumnim, guro, or coach is supposed to be. How ironic that our souls are laid bare on a daily basis through the lessons we attempt to transmit on the mat.
That such a reflection of our lives should be made public through the lessons we pass on to our students is not a thing that should be taken lightly. Still, it’s often something we give little thought to, all the while trudging through our classes as either lackluster automatons reminiscent of instructors long past, or perhaps, if we’ve executed the responsibilities of our chosen profession ideally, even as the source of inspiration for a younger, better generation of martial arts teachers.
At least, we hope that the latter is a challenge we’ve risen to meet before our time on the mat is done.
Just because someone has a successful martial art school it does not necessarily mean their methods are right for you and your school.
I’m a little disappointed in them.
I’m talking about some of old-timers in the industry who are well-known business authors and consultants.
All of them are smart, successful, and I’ve learned a heck of a lot from studying their methods.
But, lately it seems (to me anyway) that they think they’re the only ones with anything useful to share when it comes to the business of running a school.
Every time I read an email, direct marketing piece, newsletter, blog post, magazine article, or whatever from these folks, it’s always something to the effect of:
“My school-fu can beat your school-fu!”
Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for those folks. I want them to do well. I don’t ever waste my time resenting anyone else’s God-given success.
But just because the people with the megaphone are sharing their version of the “truth” with the industry, it doesn’t make it so.
Here’s what’s wrong with their thinking that they have all the answers:
For a long, long time, less than 1/2 of one percent of the school owners in the country were dictating what 98 percent of the industry should do…
That 1/2 of one percent all went to the same conventions -
They all used the same billing companies -
They all engaged in friendly competition to out-do the others -
They all spoke the same line when it came to how to run a school -
But while they were living in a fish bowl, they forgot something…
And that’s the fact that, despite creating their own definition of martial arts school success, there were a bunch of school owners out there who were quietly doing well without ever being part of that crowd.
Meanwhile, the well-known old-timers soon forgot that there are a lot of ways to get to the top of the mountain.
As we all know, there is no “ultimate style” of martial arts. Some people are better strikers, some are better wrestlers, some may be deadly with a stick or blade.
And the best styles, given the right conditions and the right practitioner, can ALL get the job done.
The same goes for martial arts business practices.
So, what’s this mean to you?
Simply this…
Your job is not to find the ultimate business system, only to find the ultimate business system for your goals and abilities.
Some things in business are universal truths – but you are unique, and there ARE differences between your goals and abilities and everyone else’s.
So, for goodness sakes, don’t just blindly follow what the “gurus” tell you…
Instead, run your business tooth and nail, flesh and bone by doing what’s right for YOU and YOUR SCHOOL.
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Do you agree? Disagree? Chime in and share your point of view… click the link below next to “Comments:” to post your two cents.
I got this from Jim Labadie this morning. This is a perfect example of the dogged determination required to achieve massive success following your passion.
During all the times I tried and failed to open a successful school, I was called:
a “dreamer” (thank God above for that – I am, most assuredly, a world-class dreamer)
“a quitter” (ironic considering what I had to go through to own a school)
“direction-less” (another misnomer – I knew exactly what I wanted, I just hadn’t figured out how to get there yet)
that I’d “never make any money doing that” (my ex-girlfriend said that when she heard I’d packed up everything and moved to Austin to teach martial arts… yet, two short years later I was in profit and the proud owner of my first successful school)
“a mess” (because I refused to follow convention – I knew I had to follow my dream).
I guess that’s why stories like this one resonate with me so much.
There’s nothing wrong with failing forward, as Tony Robbins shares here with the story of Sylvester Stallone’s inspiring rise to fame and success.
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