The Yin/Yang Syndrome
Posted on | April 1, 2010 | 1 Comment
There is a lady I see at the gym every morning riding the stationary bike. I mean EVERY day since I began going to this gym in 2000. She is there when I arrive and still peddling when I leave. You would think she would be in great shape, but she isn’t even close to achieving the fitness level she could attain. I mean no disrespect, but if you saw her you might question if she exercised at all and you might even think someone should recommend a fitness regimen to her. I know what you are thinking – how can this be? It’s because while she may be on the bike every day, she isn’t focused on her results. She peddles as slow as possible, at the lowest level, never breaking a sweat. She reads to occupy her time. When she gets off the bike, her heart rate is only a few beats higher than her resting rate. After I asked her recently about how her training was going I learned she is fully capable of training harder. She told me she works out every day, but she said she can’t seem to increase her level of fitness due to inheriting her father’s “slow metabolism”.
Then there is this guy I see at the gym at the same time, however his story is quite different. He is in amazing shape and if you saw him workout, you would understand why. He is completely focused and he trains with incredible intensity. Recently he broke his leg in a car accident. You would think that would have slowed him down. Instead, he just worked around it. He told me he was going to use that time to work on some of his weaker areas he’s been meaning to strengthen anyway. It is amazing what attitude, focus and a little hard work can do. Although these two people share the same gym every morning, they operate light years apart from one another. I call the comparison between these two the Yin/Yang Syndrome.
I see this Syndrome in the Martial Arts business as well. For example, last summer I went to the MAIA convention in Las Vegas, as I do every year. About half of the school owners I talked to told me that they were having a terrible year and the other half told me they were having one of their best years ever. Most of those who were having difficulties were able to list many reasons for the problems they were having. They passionately defended their reasons as if they believed the success of their school was completely out of their control.
The other half of school owners I spoke with, the ones having a great year would admit to having challenges, but they didn’t dwell on them. Instead, they were mindfully spending their time on solutions. They understood at a core level that they might not be able to control the wind, but they CAN adjust the sails. They inherently knew that they alone held the key to their success.
I’d like to say that I’m personally above complaining and that I’m always focused and working hard, but sometimes I am not. I am tempted at times to run my business like the lady at the gym rides her bike. Fortunately, I have an amazing team that helps me and we have seen what happens when we peddle hard. What about you?
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About Dave Kovar
Mr. Kovar has been teaching Martial Arts professionally since 1978. Dave is a multi-style Black Belt who has been committed to ever-improving his Martial Arts skills. He updates this blog to provide tips and insights to martial arts instructors around the country. To learn more, click here.
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April 4th, 2010 @ 12:40 am
I agree with your article in some ways because your attitude determines your altitude. I have also found that your economy determines your altitude.
People not renewing because they can not afford lessons, job losses, people holding back on spending etc… are areas I have faced in the last few years. My phones are not ringing off the hook as well.
When I ran a variety of promotions, some parents were supprised at how little turn out came from what we were working on. I just told them that even giving away free seminars, parties, or whatever does not always bring people in.
I liked it when they were not happy with the results and said we need to do something more like giant ads in the local paper. Their unacceptance of poor results makes me feel good about pushing ahead. I know better than to waste money on things that used to work but I sure have been doing marketing in many different ways never anticipated before.
I have had to become much more aggresive on the marketing campaign than ever before. I can’t sit on my bike and plod along. You really have to create your own results or end up sitting still on a stationary bike. Not too much fun.
I have to post on my own blog now. I will have to join the martial arts blogging community. Have a great day!