Dear Students, Teachers and Friends,

I hope you have the opportunity of wishing the 14 students that are
testing for their black belt this Friday good luck. Although making
black belt is really only the beginning of advance training, it is a
great accomplishment, and all those that make this goal should be
indeed proud of their accomplishment. Good luck black belt
candidates!

Quotes of the Week
MARK TWAIN:
There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish
things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first
group is less crowded.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT:
It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the
strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done
better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives
valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the
great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a
worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if
he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall
never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory
nor defeat.
From a speech given in Paris at the Sorbonne in 1910





Lesson of the Week

Koudou Keikaku – Action Plan

The great General Sun Tzu once wrote that the mark of a great
warrior was not one that won 100 battles in 100 encounters, but it
was the one that controlled the environment so well that war never
broke out in the first place was the mark of a great warrior. He
also stated that conflicts are best resolved early, before they
fully materialize. This is the sign of a proactive warrior, and is
achieved through perfect awareness and fully thinking through each
action before you begin.

Everyone should realize that writing down ones goals are the key to
success in any endeavor but it does not stop there. Once you have
written your goals down, you must develop an action plan to make
sure you reach your goals. Whether you are creating a wish list for
yourself, or designing a battle plan for defense of your nation, the
process of thinking on paper is the key. Every detail has to be
thought of in advance, and all contingencies considered.

Once each detail is considered, one needs to prioritize each step in
order of importance and a time line is developed for achieving each
step. By carefully following each detail by level of importance,
huge gains can be achieved in relatively short time frames.

The mark of a great leader and martial artist is the ability to have
the foresight to see the consequences of his or her actions before
he or she implements them, and makes his decisions accordingly. A
good leader uses this ability to shape his destiny and maintain
control of the world around him. This is known as Black Belt
Excellence.

Respectfully,
Terry Bryan