Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome
The George Orwell quote, “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever,” might sum up the way many of us have been feeling recently. Every one of us has had to make changes and sacrifices, which includes conforming to different rules and structures that we never saw coming.
This year has been the equivalent to navigating an obstacle course. We had cooked up plenty of goals for our school, but have had to find a different way to achieve them. One of them included teaching our fourth year at the National Conference for A Girl and A Gun (AGAG). We have been privileged to teach a great deal of our current and future online curriculums at their conferences in the past. These have included everything from Shooting Fitness, Unarmed Defense, Knife Defense, and even Improvised Weapons. At this conference, we planned to unveil the Flexible Weapons Course, which we have had in the works for over five years; but of course, everything had to change due to COVID-19.
There is a saying in the Marines, “Improvise, Adapt and Overcome,” which sets the stage as the perfect mindset for our situation. It is something we have tried to embrace through each challenge we’ve faced here, and precisely what AGAG did with their Conference. In just under two months, they moved their entire multi-day conference to a completely digital format. As instructors, we gathered our material and organized it into video courses as well as set aside time for interactive and virtual Q&A Sessions. What amazed us here at Martial Way Legacy was the fact that the vast majority of attendees showed their commitment and support. They accepted the situation, adapted, and rose in massive attendance!
Thankfully we already host a multi-level Knife Defense Course and a Self-Defense Course online; however, we’ve never taught an entire pre-recorded workshop before. Adapting to this format has allowed us to film both the Improvised and Flexible Weapons Courses set to release from Core Concept Coaching soon. At the same time, we were able to arrange important pieces to cast a bigger vision for both our current and future students. See what we mean in our Intro Video below.
Many of us crave to put this whole experience in our rearview mirror; however, we must count our blessings. We have had the chance to spend more time around the people we care about doing more of what we love to do. We have also learned the deeper meaning behind Bruce Lee, the founder of Jeet Kune Do’s quote, “Be like water.”
Mother nature shows her adaptability in the power of a flowing river. When it rains, the water level rises to a point where it can displace or even wear away an object. In contrast, when there is a long period between rain flow, the water level drops; but the river remains powerful. It stays persistent, adjusting around whatever obstacles get in its way.
We must be like the water of a river and “Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome” what is in front of us. Will this situation be the end of us, or will it be the launchpad for us to rocket ourselves to the stars? Will we be the same, better or worse than we were before?
When we can finally move beyond this situation, what will we have to show for it? Will we be further along than where we started? If you were to grade yourself right now, where would you be? Better for the time you have been blessed with, the same as you were, or worse? Ask yourself the hard questions and then set a plan in motion. We have so much we can learn from this year. Keep flowing and keep going. We are almost there.
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Guro Larry, Sonja, Lauren & Tori St. Clair
Martial Way Legacy
"A Compass to the Preservation of Bruce Lee’s Philosophy and Legacy"
http://www.martialwaylegacy.com
512-821-3637
