I would like to hear some of your thoughts on this. Kenpo students especially, but all is welcome.

I found this article and thought I would post it:

DID YOU WORKOUT TODAY?

Are You Using The 80-20 Rule of Self-Defense? - Part 1

By Randy LaHaie

————————————————————————————————————————

What have you done today to improve your ability to defend yourself? What have you done today to make yourself smarter, stronger, and more resilient? What have you done to satisfy your fundamental human need to feel safe and secure? What new habits have you adopted since the last self-defense seminar you attended or article you read?

***** The 80-20 Rule *****

This article is about “THE 80-20 RULE OF SELF-DEFENSE” The 80-20 Rule has been used in just about every field from selling to personal relationships to time management. 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers. 80% of your problems come from 20% of the people in your life. 80% of your results are produced from 20% of the activities you schedule into your day. Catch my drift?

In self-defense, the 80-20 relationship is between “Theory & Practice.” Your ability to defend yourself is determined 20% by what you know and 80% by what you do.

***** The Myth of Knowledge *****

Reading a book or article on weight lifting will not make your muscles grow. Learning proper exercise mechanics from a personal trainer will not ensure life-long fitness. Sitting through a lecture on chess, understanding it’s history, the name of each piece and its’ pattern of movement will not make you a competent chess player. Knowledge is inert until you convert it into competence through practice.

***** The Myth of Styles & Programs ******

There are no superior martial arts, only superior martial artists. Whether you consider yourself a martial artist, a kick boxer, a street-fighter or just someone who wants to “get fit and stay outta sh#&!”... there is no best self-defense package out there. There are no quick fixes, magic techniques or secrets.

People can spend a lifetime waiting to find (or blindly following) the “right” self-defense system, the best seminar, or the ultimate book. There isn’t one. People often select the system of their favorite martial art celebrity or even action movie star. They are missing the point. Anyone who is good at anything is good because of the 80-20 rule. They are good not because of what they know but what they have done with that knowledge… they got good by balancing theory with practice.

80% of the benefits of a good book, article or self-defense seminar results from what you DO with that knowledge AFTER exposure to it. Don’t get me wrong, feeding your brain with valid, realistic, self-defense knowledge is crucial… essential in fact, but it’s what you do with that knowledge that impacts your ability to protect yourself.

——- Sidebar——-
“Protecting yourself” is not isolated to warding off violent attacks. The benefits of self-defense training include protecting your physical health, your mental health and your emotional well-being.
——- Sidebar——-

***** The Myth of Guru’s *****

Don’t defer your knowledge, opinions or skills to a guru, instructor, master or coach. YOU are solely responsible for your personal safety. YOUR knowledge and competence is all that matters. YOU must think for yourself, evaluate the merits of new information and decide how to incorporate it into your life. Seek out the best instruction you can find but realize that it’s what YOU do that makes the difference.

***** Put The “SELF” in Self-Defense *****

Why do you think we call it “SELF” defense? A good instructor (or self-defense resource) is the 20%. He or she can’t think for you, train for you and won’t be there to defend you. Accept full responsibility for seeking out valid sources of self-defense info and instruction (the 20%) and discover or design training and practice methods (the 80%) to “buy and pay for” the benefits of such knowledge.

So… I’ll ask you one more time… Did You Workout Today?

==================== So What? =======================
The focus of the Protective Strategies is NOT to provide you with inert, nice-to-know self-defense information. It is to supply you with the 20% and encourage you to accept responsibility for the 80%. The quality and validity of the information you are given is important but what you do with it is crucial.

Here’s an assignment. Acknowledge that the path of self-defense training is a never-ending cycle of 20% learning followed by 80% practice. You are never finished. Ask yourself, “What can I do today, right now, to contribute to one of the Seven Components Of Self-Defense?”

——- Sidebar——-
If you don’t remember what the “Seven Components Of Self-Defense” are, refresh your memory by re-reading an article at: http://www.protectivestrategies.com/components.html
——- Sidebar——-

I’ll give you some specific examples of actions you can take within each of the components in *** Part 2 *** in the next newsletter.

Take care, train smart and stay safe…..

Randy LaHaie
Protective Strategies

What have you done today to improve your ability to defend yourself?

Protective Strategies

I spent 4 hrs at the Range doing CMMS drills.

“Protecting yourself” is not isolated to warding off violent attacks. The benefits of self-defense training include protecting your physical health, your mental health and your emotional well-being.

Love this quote! This speaks to a personal epiphany that has been in the works for several years but which seems to be gaining steam for me lately for various reasons. This may come across as bitter. It is anything but that. My journey from self reliant to whipping post to self respect is coming full circle, and it’s the realization that I don’t have to accept other’s interpretations or meet their expectations that is allowing me the freedom to relate in a healthy manner with the people in my life. These days, if the relationship’s not healthy, the out phasing is going into overdrive.

The mindset of a compliant individual vs. an assertive individual manifests itself in every aspect of personality, posture, activity and reactivity. Having been both in my lifetime, the latter my natural bent and the former beaten into me by my failure to protect myself from a bad relationship, I have to say assertiveness, self protection and self preservation are much more comfortable-though not always the easier road. Finding my way back from the desolation of compliance has been a long, difficult road on which I find myself taking three steps forward and two steps back. However, the refusal to allow my definition of self to be anything other than what I choose it to be and the gradual rebirth of my refusal to be bullied and/or manipulated in any way is something that is coming back to me, and it feels good to see larger and larger glimpses of my old self. The process has been arduous, even painful and full of unexpected-spontaneous (and annoying) tears, and it has forced me to reevaluate everything and everyone I have allowed to impact my life. Like the quote says, protecting myself requires that I fiercely defend “me” from assaults of all types, physical, mental and emotional. It’s not about having a backbone or being able to throw a punch, it’s about having self respect and setting personal boundaries that demand that, even if you don’t respect me, you better not F with me in any of the above arenas. That’s what I’m coming back to. It is probably making people like me less, but I am no longer the nice, smiling, compliant, scared little people-pleaser I have displayed in recent years. That is a good thing. I need to take care of me the way I see fit, including carefully choosing when and with whom I trust and allow myself to be vulnerable. All this must be coupled with a compassion for others that stops me from becoming a self absorbed monster. The knowledge that I have a clean conscience, despite erroneous and ugly meanings that others may place on my actions or words, allows me to look in the mirror and be at peace with what I see. The un-victimizing of me is becoming extremely empowering.

Nicely put Go_I, nicely put!

Go_I!. You and I are a lot alike, I totally get where you are coming from, and had the same experience with a bad relationship. My visit home for Christmas made it crystal clear to me, why I moved here. There, I was a doormat. Here, even if I start to have those feelings, I have to remember that I am in charge of my life, and I need to show my children how to be in charge of theirs. Self defense requires being able to defend yourself against any and all attacks, whether they be physical or mental or emotional. Sorry Sifu Dan, I know you were looking for Kenpo type answers, but I really feel strongly that you need to be able to defend yourself against any type of attack. Whether it’s physical or not.

No need to be sorry, this is exactly what I’m looking for. It’s all about Self Defense.

I think it’s perfectly fine to carry a knife when you’re walking around at night. I, like you also like to carry a knife on me when I’m out at night, and for good reason. I’ll tell you a story that happened to me, when I was sixteen and walking around at night with a knife
Heel Tastic Review

Solomon - 05 January 2010 12:46 AM

I think it’s perfectly fine to carry a knife when you’re walking around at night. I, like you also like to carry a knife on me when I’m out at night, and for good reason. I’ll tell you a story that happened to me, when I was sixteen and walking around at night with a knife

Normally the spam is just stupid, but for some reason this struck me as funny.  “I too carry a knife. When I walk around.  At night.”  Particularly for an ad for whatever Heel-tastic.  I was expecting it was an ad for a knife flashlight pedometer combo: “The Ped-Knife-lite!!  SEE where you are walking AND stabbing!!”

TexasPatrick - 05 January 2010 05:13 AM

Solomon - 05 January 2010 12:46 AM

I think it’s perfectly fine to carry a knife when you’re walking around at night. I, like you also like to carry a knife on me when I’m out at night, and for good reason. I’ll tell you a story that happened to me, when I was sixteen and walking around at night with a knife

Normally the spam is just stupid, but for some reason this struck me as funny.  “I too carry a knife. When I walk around.  At night.”  Particularly for an ad for whatever Heel-tastic.  I was expecting it was an ad for a knife flashlight pedometer combo: “The Ped-Knife-lite!!  SEE where you are walking AND stabbing!!”

It beats having to duck-tape your maglite to your knife-hidden-in-your-shoesole!

So, another story: A few months ago took an evening stroll with two of my nieces. They are in their early 20s. We were at a park, very lovely, but not in the best section of town. It started to get dark earlier than we expected. I started talk about safety preparedness and self-defense. But one of my nieces said, “Don’t worry - I have my whistle!” So it takes her a minute or so to dig through her zippered outerwear to produce some toy whistle given to her from some women’s organization. Apparently the understanding was that if she was being mugged or raped, she should just pull out that whistle. I said “We need to have a chat ...” & we had a lovely conversation for the rest of our walk.  [Now we need to get some real training; should’ve done that as a Christmas gift.]

I too carry a whistle. When I’m alone. At night.

tulatel - 05 January 2010 12:40 PM

I too carry a whistle. When I’m alone. At night.

You need “knifelight” the knife that lets you see who you’re stabbing. When you’re walking.  Alone.  At night.  Walking alone at night.

I think it’s very unkind of y’all to make fun of the english of a deleted for violation of anything remotely resembling socially acceptable language spammer for whom it is probably a second language. There is no tongue-in-cheek smiley, it would go here if there were.

Metric - 05 January 2010 02:00 PM

I think it’s very unkind of y’all to make fun of the english of a deleted for violation of anything remotely resembling socially acceptable language spammer for whom it is probably a second language. There is no tongue-in-cheek smiley, it would go here if there were.

Her/His English was perfectly fine for walking home.  In the dark.  With a knife.  Perfectly fine.

I haz a whisle-knife-lite. Don’t be stealing my whisle-knaif-lite! (At nite)

TexasPatrick - 05 January 2010 02:25 PM

Metric - 05 January 2010 02:00 PM

I think it’s very unkind of y’all to make fun of the english of a deleted for violation of anything remotely resembling socially acceptable language spammer for whom it is probably a second language. There is no tongue-in-cheek smiley, it would go here if there were.

Her/His English was perfectly fine for walking home.  In the dark.  With a knife.  Perfectly fine.

It is night..I am laughing so hard. Water. came. out. my. nose!