Author: Eric Wong

When I first conceived of this article, I was sitting at a café, working on the overall structure of my upcoming Shoulder Flexibility Solution, tweaking it to make it flow logically and seamlessly.

I sat at a table near a south-facing window that looked out across downtown Toronto.

In the distance I could see the CN Tower and its pointy head jutting up into the clear blue sky.

If you’ve never visited Toronto, this is the #1 tourist destination as evidenced by the hoardes of Asian tourists scrambling out of buses to quickly snap a picture while throwing up a peace sign before quickly scrambling back onto said bus to be scuttled off to the next background.

My mind was getting scrambly so I sat back in my chair and sipped carefully on my Americano while staring at the tower.

As I sat there, sipping and staring, I began to imagine everything that went into its erection (lol).

Yes, I am immature.

Seriously though, it’s a 500+ metre high (1800+ ft) building that took over 3 years to build and that hasn’t yet crumbled or toppled over.

I began to picture the blueprints drawn up and consulted on by numerous architects and engineers, the digging of the site to lay the foundation, all of the heavy machinery involved, the transport of the materials to and fro, the electricians running wire and the tower being built block by block, up and up until its completion in 1976 as the then highest free-standing man-made structure in the world.

CRAZY~

Without a doubt it deserves its labeling as 1 of the 7 modern wonders of the world.

Now, think about how it first began.

Not when the project broke ground, but its genesis.

Not sure what I’m talking about?

Well, it’s the same way EVERYthing in this world begins.

It doesn’t matter if it’s the CN Tower, the building (or vehicle) you’re in right now, the device you’re reading this on or even the underwear you’re wearing (if you’re not commando).

Are you ready for it?

From NOthing comes EVERYthing.

But that’s not all.

There’s something in between.

And here’s what it is:

An IDEA.

That’s it.

EVERYthing in this world first started with an idea.

It could’ve been generated by one or many, but ideas are the starting point for EVERYthing.

So what ideas are you holding for yourself right now?

What are you building?

If you don’t have any, you’d better get some, otherwise, your life will be determined by the ideas of others.

We’re always under pressure from outside forces imposing their ideas onto us, whether it’s the government directing what side of the road we should drive on (not necessarily a bad thing), advertisers trying to get us to buy their wares, bosses pressuring us to stay late to finish “one little thing” or even little babies screaming and protesting to get their idea of comfort satisfied that includes you rocking and bouncing until you want to pass out.

Ideas are the most powerful forces in the world and we are the only thing that gets in the way of our ideas coming to fruition.

We do this through DOUBT and a lack of trust in the ability to overcome obstacles.

Think back to the CN Tower and everything that went into its creation and how many obstacles and unknowns there were.

If at any moment DOUBT was allowed to grow into inaction, I would not have been staring at the tower that sunny morning nor would I have written this article.

BUT IT WAS NOT.

All doubt was eradicated and destroyed and creativity was used to overcome obstacles, actions were taken and momentum was built until this monstrous building was complete.

I don’t know what you want to achieve and I don’t know what your obstacles are or where you’re doubting your ability to achieve as much…

All I do know is that if you have an idea, you have the ability to make it happen.

If you don’t believe me, that’s OK, it doesn’t mean it’s not truth.

It’s waiting here for you to grasp, whether that’s now or later.

Got it?

GOOD.

My work is done for the day.

Back to making my ideas come to life.

PEACE~

E

… discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own.

The first time I read this quote was back in 2004 when my buddy Matt gave me the book “Tao of Jeet Kune Do” for my birthday.

I’ve read the book cover to cover 5 or 6 times since and continually refer to it when looking for inspiration and wisdom.

This is such an important concept to live by however, I feel it’s often misinterpreted and/or mis-applied.

Here’s why:

Someone can read this and think, “Cool! From now on I’m gonna take things (info, instructions, lessons, coaching) and take what I want from it and integrate it into my way of doing things. YEA!”

But this is not the way to apply this wisdom properly, nor is it the way Lee applied it in his own life and training.

JKD is based on years and years of Lee’s training in Wing Chun.

It’s this MASTERY of one thing that allows for effective integration of other systems and philosophies (or ways of being, thinking and acting).

Only then, you’ll be able to take the new teachings and compare them up against what you’ve already mastered, which will reveal how and when to change things up.

So the wise course of action is to follow the advice or instruction or lessons of whomever it is you’re learning from, follow it to a TEE and follow it for a SUFFICIENT duration, whether it’s an amount of time, # of reps or whatever.

Only then will you truly know, that is, the combo of your mind knowing the concepts plus the testing of applying it, seeing how it works and getting feedback, that you can take what’s useful and then discard what is not.

All too often people take a little bit here and a little bit there and what ends up is a mish-mash, kinda like taking 1/3rd of a roast chicken recipe and 1/3rd of a chocolate brownie recipe and 1/3rd of a salad recipe and mixing them together.

The final result isn’t nearly the same as the full recipes stacked on top of each other.

So in martial arts, develop mastery in a discipline before trying to integrate other ideas into it.

In training, follow a single coach for at least a full program of theirs to see the results of his entire system since it should be designed synergistically (mine or anyone else’s – just stick to ONE).

This is simple but not necessarily easy, especially because of the vast amounts of info coming at us everyday.

So simplify your life and minimize the “noise” coming at you and you’ll find your results will not only improve, but you’ll be more at peace.

Trust me as I speak from experience as I used to subscribe to dozens of newsletters and found my mind so jumpy that it was causing me anxiety.

But since I’ve streamlined and now follow only a few key mentors, I’m more relaxed, efficient, effective and I even have more free time.

And when it comes to fitness, if that one person you choose to follow is me, then I’m humbly grateful and I promise to do my best to help you reach your goals.

Eric