TKD and Business
Liz King of Liz King Events asked me how TKD has helped me in business on her blog, “Confidence & Risk Taking” . Here’s what I said:
To be candid–I am a very complicated wacky woman and needed something to keep me moving that would take up enough mental space so that I was actually absorbed with that took my full attention. I found that taekwondo allowed me to literally be consumed for an hour and i would emerge realizing that i had been concentrating and fully focused without thinking about business or anything else! It was totally refreshing! What I started to learn is how to turn off the mind so that when it was time to turn ON the mind for business, that I wasn’t exhausted. I was refreshed and ready to concentrate on the issues at hand. TKD also helped me to start to not to second guess myself as a woman… which I think we all do and is terrible. I got a better mindset of making the decision, taking action and moving forward. If action is wrong, then make new decision, take action and move on. I started to eliminate the worry and found I had a lot more time and was far more productive!
TKD also helps with overall health which always makes you feel better. I am a recovered bulimic and have body dysmorphia and had to just let go of looking at myself in the mirror and assessing myself on appearance. Instead, I started to focus on actual health: what do I feel like, what is emotional state, how strong am I , how much endurance do I have, what level of energy do I have? These were new metrics to me and TKD really helped me to practice assessing myself based on these concepts. Since TKD is a never-ending journey and there is no end to learning, this helped me to stop working with an expectation of completion and instead focus on enjoying the journey. I found that I stopped living in expectation of the next event and instead, living more in the moment.
My Grandmaster’s philosophy is “nothing is impossible” which he derived while behind Communist lines in N. Korea as a black beret left to survive for weeks in the hills in enemy territory. Despite his military training, he teaches “passionate perseverance” and teaches students to walk through life with grace and humility. His info and article on his philosophy is here: http://www.myustma.com/index.php/cms/about_us Very very interesting man!
I also forced my best friend, who had never done a sport in her life, to take TKD. She was scared to death and didn’t think her body could do it. She had zero confidence in her body. 3 years later, she got her black belt and changed the entire course of her life. She credits TKD and her best friend who wouldn’t let her give up and had total confidence in her.
The other thing I’ve learned in TKD is that you are never alone–there is always a community waiting for you to join them. I think this is an important business principle–as businesses have to focus more and more on people–human capital–the culture and organizational behavior of an organization is going to be more and more important. Treat people well–don’t treat employees as worker bees–don’t treat colleagues as competitors. It’s a different way to operate and brings the level of excellence up and makes positive attitudes de facto.
After all, we can only do our best when we are safe, healthy and interested!
