The Action Plan

“Rather than giving up, as many ordinary people do, he will use his ordinariness to correct his errors, which is essential in the process of attaining mastery” Mastery, by Stuart Emery.

This next year of the I Ho Chuan may be a defining year like no other.  But, like all the others, a work schedule will inevitably complicate the process.  This is not a problem if I can define a well thought out plan of attack for this year.  Here are a couple of thoughts that come to mind.

First, I am going to define my goals.  I need to have a clear understanding exactly what I want to correct in the time that remains for the year of mastery.  Determining each and every improvement required in my Kung Fu is the life long journey that I will be on, however, this is where the success coach comes into play.  Now, I am a person that has a very high appreciation for people who offer there time in my accord, but strangely I rarely will reach out for help.  This has to change.  I am going to mine the resources I have available at Silent River somewhat selfishly and seek out the mentorship that is available.  With help, I will be able to drastically narrow my focus to a realistic amount of improvement for the most crucial requirements.

Once defined, I will systematically attack these required changes, and once again tap the help button on occasion for the most efficient way to improve.  Now, times away from the Kwoon on a work cycle are going to happen, but here is the plan.  Video.  Dropbox.  Critique. That simple.  Utilize video for review and really tackle the issues.

Now onto another point.  Seek incremental improvement.  I will not be throwing all items on the plate at once.  For me, the most successful way to iron out details is one item at a time.   Dividing my focus over too many items at once is not productive.  This is where the coaching can come into play once again. 

There are roughly 10 more months in the year of the sheep.  Past experience has proven there will be a great many highs and an equal number of lows.  “Reality Checks” as was explained by Sifu is part of the process of beating the lows.  When things get down and dirty, I will be calling in reinforcement.  Often, a low can encroach very sinisterly and all too often I am not even aware of it.  This is the importance of the blog, and as equally important the blog readers.  I am asking a huge favour in this respect, if you read a blog of mine and see something that might indicate struggle, I really hope that you would reach out.  Sometimes an uplifting comment can be the difference of swinging perspective into the right direction. 

Maybe my Dad or Grandpa used to say “make hay while the sun shines”.  My highest level of engagement is when I am home.  This is roughly January through to middle of May and varies as the fall encroaches.  Spring, summer can get busy…. So as I have always suggested, when I am home I focus on getting to the Kwoon as often as possible.  Taking advantage of the Pandamonium events, demos, forms seminar and so forth whenever possible results in drastic advancement.  I will use these times to my advantage, kinda like booster pads to get ahead of the curve before the work tries to stagnate any progress.

Reflection will be key throughout the year.  Evaluating where I have come from and where I am going will be a constant thing for me.  Reground and regroup, analyze the goal and stay dynamic.  Change what is not working and move forward.  This may be the best plan for now, but it may not be 3 months for now.  Since flying by the seat of my pants (I prefer to call it adaptability and being dynamic!) comes pretty natural to me, this should be easy!