Success, Power, and Freedom

(With thanks to Mark Morgan Ford)

Many of us got into martial arts training with the goal of becoming successful, powerful, and free ( as opposed to living at-risk, being weak, and feeling dominated by others). Would you agree?

The first step towards the goal of success, power, and freedom is learning how to think like a successful, powerful, and free human being. Discover how successful, powerful, and free human beings do what they do, and then figure out and study how they think, and you may be able to upgrade your thinking to where you to have the kind of life successful, powerful, and free people enjoy.

Some Investigated Observations

From a lifetime of studying successful, powerful, and free people, here are some truths I’ve found:

1. “Average” people are concerned with protecting their ego. When faced with a problem they do not truly understand, they pretend to be an authority and leap into action without finding out what anyone else knows. People with a success oriented mind ask questions unceasingly. They have no ego when it comes to learning. They know that more knowledge leads to more power.
2. “Average” people have a consumer mentality. They see some hot new thing and dream about owning it. People with a success oriented mind have an entrepreneurial mentality. They look at what everyone else longs for and think, “How can I produce something similarly desirable in my own work?”
3. “Average” people are wish-focused. They have a dim hope of magically making money without having to work hard. People with a success oriented mind are based in awakened reality. They constantly analyze their own success and comparatively consider how they could learn from the success of others.
4. “Average” people resist change. They accept the status quo as “what is and must be”. People with a success oriented mind engage change. They see in change new opportunities to make things – even good things – better.
5. “Average” people , when confronted with a challenging idea, think of all the reasons why it might not work. People with a success oriented mind see the potential and disregard possible problems until they have a clear vision of how it might succeed.
6. “Average” people react in surprise. People with a success oriented mind are ahead of the curve proactive.
7. “Average” people look at a successful and accomplished person and block their own power with comments like, “That woman’s just selfish” or “That guy’s a sell-out.” People with a success oriented mind ponder, “So, what’s their secret?” and “How can I do that?”
8. “Average” people justify and even glamorize their failures. They look at successful people and twist that success into some sort of negative thing, as though success and power are somehow shameful things and being weak and dominated are to be admired. People with a success oriented mind stay focused on the benefits they seek by way of sharing something of value with others.
9. Most importantly, people with a success oriented mind feel no guilt over living with the comfort, dignity, and elegance that come with being a successful, powerful, and free person. Rather than believing that suffering is noble, they think, “If I’m alive, alert, aware, and awake, I can create the means to live the way a human being is supposed to live.

Study this list and honestly assess your own impulses. Identify the good habits you don’t have and practice developing them. And one more way to begin living like a successful, powerful, and free person: Instead of thinking of this process as tough work, think of it as a fun adventure.