A good martial artist focuses on the process rather than the outcome. Most martial arts are a do (道) like Karate-do, Judo, or Aikido. Do means “way.” With this understanding, the study of a martial art is a journey. However, many mistake studying a martial art as a means to an outcome and that outcome is typically centered around winning or losing. Seeing things this way, creates a win-loss mentality where everything is either a win or a loss with nothing in between. Focusing on winning or losing is part of the journey but it is just a momentary stop. It can become pathological and turn into a bad habit if we stay in this mindset too long because constant winning or constantly focusing on winning breeds ego and causes the winner to become short sighted. The monk Shunryu Suzuki said, “In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few.” People tend to think that Suzuki Sensei’s quote means that the expert is able to bare down and focus on the one thing which leads them to success. However, this quote is in support of having a shoshin (初心) or “beginner’s mind.” In the beginning, a student has wonderment and is in awe of the vastness of the art. Later, they become jaded and lose sight of all the things which initially drew them to the art. Therefore, what this quote is alluding to is that a person with an expert’s mentality or, in this case, a person who focuses solely on winning can get tunnel vision and begin to overlook the little things. As human beings, we tend to think in terms of black or white and with a winning or losing mindset, we tend to think that when we win, all things that have happened were good or are “wins.” When we lose, we tend to think that all of things we did were bad and are “losses.” This thinking is too shortsighted, and we lose the perspective that even though the outcome was a loss, there still might be things that went well in the process. Focusing on the outcome can be self-centered because we think things are happening to “us” and thus we take it personally. When we focus on the process, we can see other things and people and see all the steps which led up to this moment which may or may not have gone well regardless of the outcome. For instance, the other day, two students did something which resulted in a loss of money. My initial response was to get angry. However, when I sat back and examined the process, I realized that both of these people were doing something to be nice to other people. Therefore, it was a good deed regardless of the outcome. Because I was able to look at the process, I was able to not make it personal and see that there was good even though the result was bad. In today’s society, many are caught up with being a “winner” but this creates an all or nothing mentality where everything will be either a win or a loss. This mentality only contributes to our suffering because like most things in the martial arts and in life there are no absolutes. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet says, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Therefore, nothing is totally 100% good or bad. A good martial artist is able to understand this and thus they try to examine every aspect to see what works or didn’t work regardless of the outcome. When we focus on the process, we can see much more than just ourselves.
Today’s goal: Don’t make it personal. Try to see farther than yourself.
Watch this video of Seth Godin to better understand the process.