How Krav Maga Can Make You A Better Entrepreneur And Leader
A few days ago I came across this quote: “Power has to come from the inside out, not the outside in. Forget about the other person’s power. First, learn to control your own power. Second, learn to control your opponent’s power. Third, learn not to be controlled.”
This quote instantly made me think of Krav Maga and how it empowers the individual, how it gives him or her the power from the inside-out. I then started to ponder on the life applications Krav Maga has besides the obvious (self-defence) and one seemed to illuminate: business.
Sensing an important connection, I started sketching out some ways in which Krav Maga can make you a better entrepreneur, leader and even employee.
Krav Maga builds your confidence, increases your self-esteem and self-respect.
Self-defence is a great outlet against bullying. “Bullying?” you may be thinking, “Isn’t bullying between kids? What does it have to do with the business environment?” Well, I believe that in the workplace the bullies are still there, they’re just grown ups now. Whilst you are likely not going to get physical with a work colleague/client or partner, gaining more confidence and improving your self-esteem will help you stand up for what you believe in.
Increases your focus, gives you self-control and mind/body coordination
In order for you to learn the skills you are being taught, you have to exercise superior listening skills. This will benefit those who aren’t adept to paying attention as they will have to listen and pay attention to the instructor’s directions, and focus on learning. In business and even at the workplace we experience competition. If you are not focused on your goal, someone stronger and more focused will take it from you. Krav Maga teaches you how to control your mind and body in extremely challenging, stressful and dangerous situations. With every technique you master, with every principle you really understand and with every scenario drill you get through, as time progresses, you will train your mind into really believing in yourself. Though this process you’ll gain a ‘hawk like’ focus.
You will learn to deal with and embrace failure
Most of us can’t excel at everything. Failure and not being good or perfect at something is a normal part of life and we have to accept it. Krav Maga will teach you that things will not go your way every time and while learning, you will get punched, kicked and bruised. While it hurts, you will learn and build on that failure, you will learn to make yourself stronger, to get up and never give up. The same in business, if you fail, you’ll take it and learn from it, but the next day you’ll get up and start over again stronger and wiser.
You will learn to control emotions, especially anger
One of the most important factors in self-defence and in Krav Maga is to stay calm and collected in dangerous situations, because when you lose control of your emotions, your judgement and reactions are impaired. Along the learning process you will likely get frustrated at times: maybe you can’t understand a principle or execute a technique properly, or you get paired with someone who is technically better, more aggressive or a stronger fighter. In these stages of learning you figure out that anger and frustration can impair your Krav Maga training, and that you must learn to focus this energy in specific ways. You will take this into your business life: getting rejected and treated unfairly in business and things getting out-of-control is pretty normal. Getting frustrated and having emotional outbursts will only make it tougher to get things solved and won’t take you anywhere.
Instills a sense of respect, humility and a willingness to learn
When going to self-defence classes you will be required to show your instructor and your training partners respect. As instructor and students, we bow to each other as an official respect to one another. Then it’s expected that the student will do exactly what the instructor asks, willingly without distraction, without interruption and wholeheartedly. While some will find it demeaning at first, you will learn that being of lower ‘rank’ is an important lesson to learn. Once your ego gets out of the way you will open your mind to learning, which strengthens the relationship with your teacher and training partners. You will then discover that in Krav Maga and in business too, egos are best left at home. People will like you more and better opportunities will present themselves as you’re much easier to approach.
Krav Maga relieves stress
Life can be challenging: work isn’t always smooth and things can go wrong. We work the late hours and get stressed, tired and anxious. When this happens, we can guarantee that there is no better remedy than kicking and punching the hell out of a bag! While practicing your Krav Maga you will be able to release that built up stress and anxiety. Combined with the endorphins released from the physical activity, you’ll find it a healthy and beneficial way to relieve stress. There you have it! If self-defence was not a good enough reason for you to take a Krav Maga class, you can now think about the fact that it might make you a better employee/entrepreneur/leader. Do the research, try a class, immerse yourself in a program and Krav Maga will help you to be safer, stronger, healthier and more successful.
This blog post was written by our Senior Instructor Kurt Colpan.