(This photo was taken at my Birthday party. Tough girl! )
I love martial arts! I always wanted to be tough and learn martial arts and even had a desire to learn how to shoot a real gun! I started taking the classes few years ago and then stopped right before the birth of my kids. My kids called me “Russian spy mommy” when they saw mommy practicing her moves. We joke about it quite often in our house.. Few months ago I went to a self defense seminar where my son’s three instructors were giving a 60 min lesson to women in our community, and I was quite surprised how many women wanted to be in that class but only few of them showed up. Sounds familiar? I am sure it does. Let me tell you more.
Well, when I got to class I was quite nervous, and did not know if I could do what they taught; though, I took Martial Arts few years ago, and I realized it was time to get back in to get that cool boost in self esteem. I saw few familiar faces of few moms, and I felt more safe just to know that I was not a crazy mom who wants to learn how to fight bad guys. I hope I will not have to do but what I want to do is to share the principles I learned from the class that were so profound and so simple that I had to write them down and share with you..
Life does not have to be so complicated as well as your business. Unfortunately, we often do complicate our life, and then we wonder why we are so worn out and cannot enjoy every moment. Because we are such complex we think we must complicate things!!! I do not think so….what about you?
Life does not have to be so complicated. Keep it simple!
One lesson I learned is that you donot have to fight that big guy in order to win. The knowledge is the power. You must learn how to be aware of your surroundings and find areas where a big guy cannot outperform you and honestly it is your mind and your knowledge of certain strategies. He may be bigger and can conquer anyone but he may loose in a fight with you because you know more. How often we are intimidated by big dawgs in our industry?
We often give up before we even try
We often give up because we find excuses of not having enough money, enough time or we are not good enough.. For whom? I think Jack Canfield in one of his books said that when you were 30 you were afraid of what people thought of you; when you were 40 you just wondered of what people thought of you and when you reached 60 you realized nobody really cared and you have wasted time comparing yourself with others. I would agree on that with Mr Canfield.
My Business Tip: We all have the same destination in mind but we might take the different paths. Acquire knowledge of who you are first and then use it as your weapon in your business, the same way you would use it if you had to fight 250 pound guy on the street. You might not beat him up with your fists and knock him down, but you might affect the outcome with your knowledge of his reactions to certain things. That is how business works. Do not fight competition. Do not fight big dawgs. Respect them. Let them be big dawgs in their niche, in their business.
You need to be you today. Stay in your flow and do not change its direction. We often try to change and be somebody else and we force ourselves to jump on the a different path hoping it will take us faster to our final destination.
1. Acquire knowledge– it is your POWER.
2. Learn about your competition and find what they are NOT doing and you can add to the marketplace. In PR we give our unique story about the same issue the competition is talking about. We present our points of view and engage into discussions.
3. Do not fight them but respect them. Never bash your competition. It is tacky and what you wish to others you wish to yourself. I often see that media uses PR stunts and negative PR to create more buzz. It might work for some but it is unprofessional and cheap.
4. Discover your strengths and weaknesses and work on them. Use them to your advantage. You can create balance.
5. Be in the flow and do not change that flow. Do not try to complicate things when it does not need to be complicated.
6. Protect your knowledge. It is your best asset.
7. Have fun and learn to play the game! In a business we must approach everything with the right attitude.
Have an awesome weekend my friends!
Tatyana Gann
