High Floor

I used to be a student of Krav Maga.

If you're not aware of what that is, Krav Maga is a fighting system designed to get the practitioner out of physical confrontations as safely as possible.

My wife got the membership for me as a gift. I learned a lot, gained so much confidence, and a 1-hour Krav workout is one of the best workouts you'll ever have.

I would up earning a yellow belt. Then I stopped because of a shoulder injury. I was working my way back into form and then the pandemic put an end in-person classes. I haven't been back since.

Of all the amazing things I took away from my training, one in particular has made a huge impact in my daily outlook.

One of my instructors would always reinforce the idea that you play like you practice. He pushed us to train hard because if we ever needed to use these skills out in the wild, it would be to protect ourselves from someone who was really trying to hurt us; not a friend in class.

Here is what he told us: You will rarely reach the heights of your potential, but you can always count on hitting the floor of your training.

Read that again. That quote hit me like a brick.

It brought clarity. Reaching my ceiling doesn't happen every day. Whether it was in sports, the classroom, or at work. Times when I did something that was truly amazing, which was made possible by skill, talent, and training. Every time it happened, I knew it. It felt different and amazing.

The idea of a high floor is a great tool for life in general. Especially helpful for children and teenagers, as it can be part of a foundation that creates the kind of lifelong habits that can help create a happy and successful life.

When it comes to preparing for college, a high floor will serve the student well. Here are some great ways for students (or anyone) to pave the way toward looking great to the colleges they are targeting.

Eat The Frog

This comes from a famous book by Brian Tracy, titled "Eat That Frog". The basic premise is to start with the most distasteful task first. That way the rest of your tasks will be easy to knock out.

Accountability Groups

I am like so many others on this one. If there is a task I need to do, I will often procrastinate and get to it eventually. But let's say a friend of mine, or my boss, is relying on me to get that task done within the next hour. In that case I can be counted on to get it done on time.

Why is that? I don't know. Maybe that's for another post. But I, like so many others, thrive off of accountability.

Just Start

I love this quote, which is credited to the legendary Amelia Earhart:

"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward."

Once you realize that the hard part is starting, it becomes easy. Wait? All I need to do is start? Yes. Once you get going you enter a flow and it becomes much much easier. So just start.

Please let me know thoughts on this.