One thing that stood out to me when I was reading the popular book How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie is the advice to remember people’s names and use their names when talking to them. Indeed, one thing that leaves an impact on me when interacting Continue Reading
David Paprocki
How Do You Feel About Sparring? If You’re Intimidated by it, Read On!
How do you feel about sparring? While some people absolutely enjoy getting to spar, others absolutely dread it when the instructor says that it’s time to put sparring gear on. Some even get to the point where they are absolutely terrified. Why is this? And what does that mean for Continue Reading
The Importance of Having a Student Mindset to Being a Successful Leader
I was organizing a regional training clinic with a high ranking individual in our organization as our guest. As a 4th Dan, I always feel awkward telling very senior masters what the plan is and giving them instructions. I’m sure many other 4th Dans would agree with me. I very Continue Reading
Preferences vs. Correctness: How Should We Judge?
In the martial arts, especially when we are at a rank closer to black belt, we begin to be exposed to other instructors and other ways of doing things. Sometimes this will align with the way our instructors taught us to do things and other times it will not. Every Continue Reading
Dating Advice for Martial Artists
It can be easy for those that are immersed in martial arts or any other niche hobby or lifestyle to fall into the trap of thinking that they need to date someone that follows that same lifestyle or does the same activity. After all, how can our significant others really Continue Reading
A Fact About Good Leaders
I was reading The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C Maxwell, and one thing that he mentioned in the course of the book really stuck with me. He mentions that bad to mediocre leaders have followers underneath them while good to excellent leaders have and create other leaders Continue Reading
Just Get Started: The Importance of a First Step
One of the most daunting things in life is starting something new. It can be starting a new martial art, starting a blog article, or starting a project at work. While getting started and taking the first step is easily the most difficult thing to do, it is the most Continue Reading
The Necessity of Training with Others and Connection
When we are training in the martial arts, we must appreciate each and every opportunity that we have to train with another person and we must respect that opportunity. We need training partners to get 100% of what we need out of our training. This is very obvious when it Continue Reading
Sonder: A Key to Empathy and Sympathy in Martial Arts and Life
Sonder: a word that is found in John Koenig’s The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, a dictionary of made-up words for emotions that we feel but can’t quite explain, has a profound connection to the martial arts. Sonder is defined as “The profound feeling of realizing that each random passerby is Continue Reading
Don’t Negotiate Against Yourself: Ask For What You Want!
I remember one Saturday afternoon after finishing class in the city, my students and I had planned to go share a meal together in Chicago’s Chinatown. In the past, going to eat dinner in Chinatown was a relatively easy thing. We would go to one of our favorite restaurants and Continue Reading