Stick to the Flight Plan

Somewhere in the middle of rushing between activities, places and people; somewhere in the crevices of our over-saturated work schedules there is the time we take for ourselves, the time we use to do something a little extra for ourselves; perhaps a hobby, or simply to relax and shut off our minds to reorganize our thoughts; a little R&R.

But often, in the struggle for balance, we forget just how much of what we should be doing. In one of my previous articles, I laid out the structure of a game called Running a Martial Arts School, and denoted the four levels of dedication that one can take up. These levels of dedication correspond to the balance that I'm now talking about. When you're fully dedicated to what you're doing, the balance of work and play is easy to find and maintain. You will do what you need to get done and still have time to play around.

But what happens if we are out of balance? What happens if we don't take care of business before pleasure? What happens if we have too many "extra" things in our lives? This is a common problem because people often forget what it is that they are supposed to be doing, and instead focus their attention on all the extra activities. This loss of focus is what leads people astray and away from their goals and as anyone who's been lost before knows, it's not easy to get back on track.

I've known many martial arts school owners who instead of teaching a foundation curriculum of basics with which their students can build knowledge from, teach less useful, unnecessary things; perhaps a technique they have invented but which are counterintuitive to the students' present curriculum. This confuses students and stunts their learning process. Or perhaps they will create a website for their school, but have no basic brochure. In either instance, the teacher is not taking care of basics first.

From another perspective, if I don't take care of my marital issues to my wife's satisfaction, then anytime I try to do something extra like buy flowers, etc., then she will see it as trite and patronizing. If I don't do what I'm supposed to do in a marriage, then everything that would be auxiliary to my marriage becomes even more unnecessary.

For a martial arts student, the most important thing is to make sure that you are focusing on your curriculum. When you are dedicated at your utmost to the program, then you can begin taking on ancillary studies to supplement whatever your core studies are.But always remember to build a foundation for knowledge first.

It is a little known fact that during a flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco, a plane is off course 98% of the time. But through minor corrections from the pilot, the flight arrives at its destination, on time, and with no detours. As soon as a pilot notices the plane being off-course, a small adjustment is made and by heading once again in the right direction, everyone gets where they're going because the pilot sticks to the flight plan.

Most people don't have a flight plan and it gets difficult to know when we're off course sometimes. But for the most part, through inherent feelings, or our social upbringing, most of us know what we're supposed to be doing to succeed in our lives, and that's our flight plan. Everything else is a distraction.