From Default to Design: Unleashing the Power of Intentional Living
Larry St Clair
Some days, we strut through life, whereas others, we are lucky to dog paddle and keep our head above water. Whether it's the theme song we skip down the street to or the ocean we are drowning in, we create our world by design or float through it by default.
“You can only have two things in life, reasons or results. Reasons don’t count.”
Training to scuba diving offers many standard operating procedures (SOPs) for everything, including assembling gear, buddy checking it, creating a dive plan, entering the water, and even worst case, what we do when we get low or run out of air. In an out-of-air situation, the SOP would be step one to find the closest dive buddy and buddy breath their air. If they are too far away, step two is to execute an Emergency Swimming Assent (ISA), kicking for the ceiling and breaching the water for air. This plan is set up and trained so that every student knows what to do in this situation if it happens. Training includes steps to almost guarantee that this never happens, but with any solid plan, there must be contingency plans if the unforeseen happens.
By design, a scuba diver has a plan of action and knows what they should do to be safe in the sport; however, without one, the diver might default to reacting by swimming for the top of the water too soon, or worst, they might stop and do absolutely nothing but take their last breath.
Designing a plan for anything creates a forward vision, allowing a chance to plan and train for action steps that produce better outcomes over defaulting to reactionary impulses or locking up paralyzed by analysis. Design equals action, and typically default equals no action or reaction.
Action always consists of a thought process premeditated to the situation we are in at the time and is overall the aim to achieve more in our lives. As we try to make sense of our world, things happen. Time moves over, around, and through us like a flowing river. We know we cannot create more time nor control it, but we can take or give time to things that will make a difference in our lives. Like casting a rock in the pond and creating ripples, we should work harder on designing our lives and the things around us, but what if there is a way to leverage both concepts of design and default to create a better world around us?
At Martial Way Legacy, every program has several processes that are in place to help our students reach their goals. In our Private Lessons, we create individual journeys through multiple training structures to actively turn a student from just working out to training for higher objectives, whether in fitness, self-defense, or martial arts. In our Kickboxing MMA Program, we develop five-week progressions that start with foundation movements and build toward a series of scenario-based and variable-based training to help each student progress. With our Tigers Youth Martial Arts Program and adult Advanced MMA Program, we develop a four-week testing cycle, building both age groups through the mechanics to acquire and apply new and challenging techniques.
By default, in all of these programs, every student can advance and benefit by just showing up. The question a student has to ask themself is how hard they will push in each training session. Some days, we have enough fuel in the tank to fly around the world, but other days, we are lucky to make it up the stairs. If we allow ourselves to only react to that feeling, we will skip a training day, which isn’t the plan. Every step leads us toward the waypoint in our journey to achieve more, but if we don’t step forward, we don’t move toward anything. In fact, it takes more energy to move from inaction than it does to stay in motion. Even if we aren’t feeling it that day, we must plug in and allow the plan to work for us.
If we start with a goal in mind and create a plan of action, we are designing our future toward an intended definite purpose. Then, all that is left for us to do is consistently move forward. With that consistency, we can create a series of default actions that help us reach our goals. Balancing these two concepts together, we’ll reach higher goals and make more waves to create change in our world.
Speaking of changing our world, join us in our Food Drive this holiday season as we try to make a difference in our community by helping others. Donate food or dollars for a free month of training and earn a chance to win a FREEYear of Training on us! Click HERE to participate.
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