Be Willing To Take a Punch And Learn From It

I’ll admit that at first glance boxing, Muay Thai, and MMA doesn’t look like much of an art or a science. It looks likes the kind of fist fight that tends to happen on the play ground, men’s locker room, or at a bar. Truth is, the more you know about the actual technique, precision, range, and speed that is takes to successfully land a punch the more you appreciate any form of fighting as a sport. I like to describe fighting as a chess match with punches. But in order to play the game you have to be willing to take a punch.

I encourage students and fighters to ask their training partner why they were such an easy target. I have been taught to ask people to help point out why a particular punch was landing. Was I dropping my hands? Am I opening myself up for counters when I launch an attack? Is my technique flawed? Or is my timing or footwork off?

It could be so many things that lead to why you get hit. You have to be okay with that. It is part of the sport. If you don’t want to get hit, maybe boxing isn’t your sport and the closest you will get to fighting is a couple of Wii nun chucks. But when you get hit you should have the humility and teachability to ask what went wrong.

The same happens in any position of leadership. You are going to do something wrong and a lot of times it feels like catching an overhand from a heavy handed heavyweight. As a leader you can’t just shake it off and act as if making mistakes is okay. You can’t keep fighting a fight where you are letting your opponent land strikes consistently without being able to recover from it.

The best fighters and some of the best rematches and trilogies of all times have involved fighters who have gone back, studied their tapes, and corrected their weaknesses and worked on executing their strengths.

Leaders, you are going to make mistakes. You are going to make decisions that you shouldn’t have made. You are going to fail someone. Are you going to learn from it? Are you going to shrug it off and keep making the same mistake? Or are you going to ask your staff, friends, family, and those closest to you for input so that you can lead better?

Fighters who test their chin by repeatedly taking heavy hits don’t last long. Leaders who repeatedly make poor decisions quickly lose the respect of those under them. Take a punch, but learn from it. Acknowledge a weakness, but seek to strengthen it.

What is one weakness that if changed would have significant impact on those you are leading?

Lessons learned after 2 years of marriage

Two years ago on a Saturday afternoon, I stood in front of the most beautiful woman I know and committed to loving her before our family and friends. Today, I celebrate two years of a lifelong journey with my wife and it has been absolutely wonderful.

I have learned a lot about her, myself, and the faithfulness of God. I came into marriage thinking I knew what married life would be like. I had ideas, thoughts, plans, and a vision. Well, lets just say that I was very uniformed for what was to come. The first year of marriage was like a crash course on how selfish I was/am. It was hard to let go of the single man I was for 23 years. It was hard to come home from work and find out that instead of rest I would punch in for my role as a husband. I have had a lot of my preconceived notions about marriage changed. Not only have they changed, they have been exchanged for something better. A life that is not centered around me, but around my wife and the good of our family.

Lewis Smedes wrote about his commitment to his wife in an article, “My wife has been married to seven different men, and all of them have been me.” He was trying to get across the fact that men and women change in marriage. The more your are married, the more you shed off ideas that move forward “my” agenda for what would best serve “our” agenda. I thank God for my wife and all that she has been to me. The love is sweet, our commitment has been tested, and our promise has been proven.

Here is a humorous take on what I just shared.