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Imagine for a moment that you were a highly successful financial investor. You were always on the lookout for great opportunities that will give you a sizable return on your investment, better known as R.O.I.  Let’s say that you were only interested in investing if you could make at least 20% or greater on your investment. Anything less than that and you wouldn’t walk away…you’d run away as quickly as possible.  One of the greatest ways to become wealthy, is to spend less than you earn, then save and invest the remainder. The better R.O.I. you are able to create, the faster your money grows. The more money you can save, the greater amount you can invest. Combine a higher amount invested with a greater R.O.I. and soon you’ll begin to see the benefit of compound interest and eventually you become financially independent. Great thought isn’t it?

What’s worth more…time or money? I can guarantee you that if Bill Gates was on his death bed, he would give away his fortune to have another 10 years of life. Time is the one thing that makes us all equal. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Oprah Winfrey have as many hours in a day and days in a week as the rest of us. I say this to remind everyone of the true value of time.

Are you investing, spending or wasting time? Have you taken a good look lately at the various ways you could invest or spend your time? My encouragement is that you look at yourself as an investor and find as many ways possible to maximize your R.O.I.  Simply take a look at your current rituals and habits to see if any of them may allow you to gain a better return on investment.

Do you invest enough time in you? Are you reading daily and investing time in self-development? Are you writing out your goals and reviewing them on a regular basis? Are you investing enough time into the relationships that can truly make a difference in your life? Are you planning out your days and weeks to focus on high value activities or do you find yourself living on Facebook?  It’s so easy to waste time. Almost as easy as it is to waste money. The challenge is that suddenly a crisis arrives and there isn’t enough of either.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say that they either have lots of time on their hands and no money to enjoy it…or, they have the money but no time to enjoy it. My recommendation is to design your life so you have both. That is you have time to enjoy the better things of life and can also afford them. How do you this you may ask?

The answer is pay yourself first…   Almost every financial guru on the planet will tell you to pay yourself first. Meaning to have 10-20% of your income set aside for savings and investments before you have the chance to spend it elsewhere. I’m suggesting you do the same with time. Schedule an appointment with yourself every-day. Do this to plan, to think, to read, to train and to invest time in your most valuable growing asset=>YOU!  If that means you have to watchless TV…aren’t you worth it? If that means you have to spendless time with a friend online or on the phone…aren’t you worth it? I’m not suggesting that you shut yourself off to the world for hours on end. I am suggesting that you schedule time for yourself every-day to allow yourself sufficient time to keep growing and improving in the areas that you want to accelerate your progress and growth. Too often, we allow the phone -or- instant messages -or- the demands of others to interfere and take over our lives. Not a good idea!

Maybe you need to get up a little earlier to fit everything into your day. Maybe you need to get to bed a little earlier so you can get up a little earlier. Maybe you just need to schedule an appointment with yourself, just like scheduling an appointment to get a haircut…and then respect yourself enough to keep the appointment.

My suggestion for you is simple…take a few minutes to see if you are getting the best ROI possible on the 24/7 gift you have been given.  Become a highly successful investor of time and money…always look for ways and opportunities to gain the greatest return on your investment.

Power Control (Him Cho Chung)

When I speak of power control I am talking about having a command of the release, restraint, and relaxation of energy. In this case, I am talking about control over explosive energy that starts in the Dan Jun area and is channeled to the target area using visualization (Moo Sang) and conscious intent. It is the ability to transfer focused power from its source to the intended target area or the restraint to stop just short.

Tension and Relaxation ( Shin Chook)

Understanding hyung and being able to perform at a very high level requires mastery of breathing (Ho Hup) and timing in the accumulation and release of energy or power. Similar to an ocean wave as we inhale using the contraction principal we reach the apex of our ability. When we release we expand or transfer our power and energy to the intended target area. This process of tension and relaxation or contraction/expansion is used in all areas of our martial arts training.

Speed and Rhythm Control (Wan Gup)

For a form or hyung to come to life, it must have proper timing. The coordination and patterning of moves at rates appropriate to the sub-sequences in a form is what we call tempo. The ability to execute the proper tempo of a form is conditioned over time as the student moves from initial muscle memory stage, to acquired muscle memory stage, to refined muscle memory stage. These stages of development are necessary for the forms practitioner to eventually be able to perform the hyung in a state of mushin or mind-no-mind. This concept is sometimes referred to in the western world as being in the zone or demonstrating at mastery performance level.

Have you ever noticed how some people are always so eager? They’re eager to learn and grow; Eager to train and improve their skills and conditioning; Eager to help and serve others; Eager to work productively and get ahead. Eagerness is an excellent quality to possess. In Tang Soo Do, when you display an eager attitude, it opens doors and creates opportunities that you may not experience if you lacked eagerness.

Have you noticed when you show an eager interest in others, they tend to show you the same. This is often referred to as the Law of reciprocity. When you’re eager to train, your teachers, classmates and training partners will want to share their eager attitude with you as well. When you are eager to serve and help others, you’ll find more people eager to serve and help you as well. In this way as with most things, you become magnetic and attract what you put out. On the opposite side of the coin, is the person that dreads everything and anything. They always see the dark aside of everything and constantly moan and groan. They talk about the things they dislike and share their woes with co-workers and friends. They’re what is known as a buzz kill. If you’re feeling good about something, they want you to see their dark and negative view. They seem to take pleasure in bringing the energy level down instead of up. They can kill a positive buzz in no time. Negative people brighten up the room when they leave it. Don’t be a negative person.

If you want to become the best you can be in your martial arts or anything else for that matter, get around other people with the same goal. If you want to excel in your career, talk with other people that are also eager to grow and make positive progress in life. Eagerness is a state of mind…

Cambridge Tang Soo Do would like to congratulate the following students for successfully completing the Spring 2014 testing cycle: