On the battlefield of yesteryear there were two predominant types of techniques and principally two types of close combat weaponry that were necessary to both realize the technique while simultaneously shaping the technique. Each of these two types of technique were based on efficiency and they were:
1) Techniques that were designed to cause rapid and massive blood loss (and used sharp weapons to do so) and,2) Techniques that were intended to cause a massive and overwhelming amount of immediate shock (and usually used blunt weapons).
As ghastly as it may be for us to sit safely at home or in an office and consider this, the fact is that in the time between mortally wounding an opponent and that opponent actually losing consciousness, it was entirely possible for him - if strong enough and pumped up with adrenaline - to kill his own killer. It wasn’t enough therefore to simply deliver a blow that would eventually cause death. The key was to deliver blows that would immediately render an opponent unable to fight or strike back. Those blows therefore needed to ensure either massive blood loss or massive shock or, preferably, both (a sword, as well as being a badge of rank, was particularly suited to achieving both). The aim was to finish the fight as soon as it had started. Given the press of bodies on the battlefield an enemy warrior was never difficult to find and would always be close by, so messing around with one would leave you vulnerable to his friend. Everything had to be efficient. If it wasn’t you life was forfeit. The battlefield was a Darwinesque arena for the survival of the most efficient.
In today’s martial arts weapons of any type are taught far less than the unarmed forms. It is illegal in most countries to brandish a weapon of any kind in the first place and if you were to actually use that weapon, even in a case of self-defense (except perhaps when your life was endangered), you would end up in prison for a long time. Grappling arts remain popular and they concentrate on creating shock (by twisting or breaking bones or using severe throws to the ground) or gain victory by causing an immediate loss of the flow of blood to the brain or constricting an opponent’s breathing (through strangulation or choking techniques). Striking arts, such as karate, kung fu and tae kwon do, focus mostly on techniques that will cause shock to an opponent by punching and kicking. Although the life-or-death nature of the martial arts has been lost it is still possible to train with the same approach to techniques that fosters combat efficiency (though you must stay within the parameters of the law if you apply the techniques in a real fight).
Martial arts then are a study in efficiency and that concept of efficiency is found within each and every martial art and is applicable to each and every martial art.
This insight raises the question of how do we use this concept in our lives?
A Personal Example
I was prompted to write this blog entry after a comment I received about some details I wrote up about on another site detailing my newly emerging interest in Forex trading. In that entry I talked about my Forex news site and how I had created a win-win-win situation. This is a personal study in efficiency. My point in writing this is to highlight how a concept I learned in one dimension of my life (martial arts) is directly applicable to a different area of my life (currency trading and making money).
My FX site grew out of my recently re-discovered interest in Forex trading and my need for current knowledge about the exchange rates (yen to dollar in particular) to day trade export oriented stocks on the Japanese stock market. Several months ago, after the Yen/Dollar exchange rate hit 90 yen to the dollar the G-7 nations expressed their dissatisfaction with such a rate of exchange. My wife and I quickly made some money as immediately after this announcement the Yen/Dollar rate changed but, perhaps more importantly, this event told me that if the exchange rate hit that figure again I shouldn’t expect it to go much lower, if at all. I began watching the exchange rate more closely and, sure enough, it did reach around 90 yen to the dollar once again; this allowed me to redo my previous trade and make a nice profit in a short space of time. But my interest didn't stop there. The volatility of this period also affected many of Japan’s premier companies, and Honda in particular, as these businesses continue to export heavily to the US. So, as I was absorbing information early in the morning in any case prior to the market opening at 9am I decided I would open a new site giving concise news summaries and see if others were interested.
The result of this efficient use of the information I study every morning is now this:
- I have a web site that is growing in readership every week (and I make money from this).
- I am able to use the information I absorb on selected days to day trade export related stocks (and I make money)
- I am in a position to monitor shifts in the exchange rates (and I have and continue to make money from this).
- Furthermore, the bank we have our mortgage with here in Japan allows us to use our savings to cancel out interest fees but, importantly, we do not have to hold these savings in Japanese yen. The money we made when we went long against the dollar not only made us money through profit but also by holding the US dollars in the bank we didn’t have to pay back as much interest as we would have done without funds saved (so in effect we are making money simply by holding money in our account). We were able to repeat the same process with the Aussie dollar and are now back in the US dollar.
Now consider this:
I have absolutely zero financial training or education. Effectively I have four sources of income, three of which are directly connected to the information I study everyday (and the fourth – the decreased interest fees – automatically benefits when we make money because by increasing our savings through profit we simultaneously decrease out interest repayment), and all because I am able to make efficient use of that information. I could perhaps even add a fifth source as my adventures in the Forex market and stock trading give me something relevant and beneficial for people to write about in this blog…which helps promote my site and attracts more readership. A sixth source would be the conversations I have had with coaching clients (some of whom are based here in Japan) who are in a very good position to take direct advantage of my knowledge (at their own risk: I am not certified to give this kind of advice). Many of these clients have already earned back my coaching fees (and more) by doing nothing more than listening to what I told them, taking the time to think about it and arranging for the buying of dollars.
Now I’m not telling you this to make myself sound cool, I’m telling you this because I wasn’t taught this at school or while taking an expensive finance-related course at university. It isn’t specialized knowledge. I learned about efficiency and its application through martial arts; and you can do the same through the following exercise.
Applications
The concept of efficiency can be applied to any and all of your endeavors. In fact, as a skill and concept it is directly applicable to many of the issues that people have problems with that draw them into personal development in the first place. Financial goals, as my own example shows, can begin to be achieved through greater efficiency. Time management problems can resolved through the more efficient use of time. A promotion at work can be yours if you become a more efficient worker or your business can become more profitable by running it in a more efficient manner. Gain greater health and fitness through the efficient selection of foods and efficient work out schedules. Your knowledge and expertise can be enhanced through the efficient selection and study of particular materials and so on.
Exercise
In this simple exercise you will use the Zen Circle as a teaching device to open your mind to the idea that a concept – in this case efficiency – learned in one arena is transferable to other areas of your life and endeavors. Get yourself some paper, a pencil and an eraser and draw the circle. Within the circle write the word ‘efficiency’. The circle here represents your sphere of efficiency; it is the skills and techniques in your life in which you are already efficient. What is outside the circle are all the other aspects of your life which have not as yet been touched by your new insight into using your resources in an optimal manner.
Take a moment to look over the circle and what it represents. When you are ready erase the line that marks the circle so that what is inside is also outside; there are no limitations. Free your mind from the false belief that your study of efficiency is only relevant to one part of you and that it is instead applicable to everything you do that makes you you. Consider this as you look at the word ‘efficiency’, now no longer contained but instead without limit.
A more general exercise is for you to choose one thing that you love doing. For me it is karate but you it is most likely something completely different. It doesn’t particularly matter what vehicle you use to discover and express efficiency, but choose one activity (whether done at work, around the home or in your free time) and begin fully concentrating on that interest with the intention of making your performance more efficient, whether physically or mentally. As you do this you will also find yourself making the activity more your own and more of an expression of yourself. This is totally natural and is something to be encouraged.
As you learn different lessons in efficiency, begin to use the concept in other parts of your life (an extension of the Zen Circle detailed above) and see how your results are affected. Identify any areas of your life that you feel you need to work on and start examining your problems from the view of taking a more efficient approach. Hopefully using this methodology will help you out; and the lessons you learn from these experiences can be fed into other areas of your life, always making yourself more efficient.
The important point is to transfer your knowledge and experience of efficiency from one form to another. You don’t have to learn anything new as such, you just need to learn how to reapply what I am sure you already know; and as you deepen your understanding of efficiency in one particular domain, reuse that insight wherever it is needed.
No divisions, no limitations.
Train hard, live easy.
