Playing a Bigger game

Tonight the Power Ball lottery awarded 1.5 Billion dollars to a individual in Chino Hills California. 

 People all around me have been talking about their dreams of what they would do with 1.5 Billion dollars and it got me thinking about vision and dream building.  Too many times we sell ourselves short in the way of believing what we can achieve.

This article is about setting goals outside of your comfort zone. 
It is a challenge to do something BIG with your life. 
Author:  Tammie Lawrence 
Golden Tiger Marital Arts

I recently heard a challenge from Fabienne Fredrickson, founder of Client attraction school.  "If you absolutely could not fail and money was not an object what Great thing would you do, for free, all day along?"  What would you do that would change peoples lives and be happy to do it all day for free? It really got me thinking bigger.  How could I use my business as a tool to help families in a much bigger way?  Changing our thinking is a life altering event.  In fact every person in history who accomplished greatness had a shift in thinking.

In the many years I have taught martial arts I have shown students to overcome challenges.  The first step to overcome any challenge is belief. Belief has to do with your mindset.  

Today in class one of the beginning adults was asked to do 10 kicks without dropping his leg.  After 4-5 kicks he dropped his leg.  His instructor sympathized with him and said, "I know it is hard."  I have to tell you that I almost came unglued.  This student is extremely talented and he was more than capable of doing 10 simple kicks.  He just didn't believe he could do it.

Our first company core value is "Believe"

• Believe in people
• Believe in others until they can believe in themselves
• Believe in the system

I promptly told the student with great passion and belief, "You can do 10 kicks!"  "Your very talented."  I gave him 2 tips on his technique and a little push when he wanted to quit.  He did all 10!

Guess what happened next.  His brother stepped up and did 10 the first time!  He saw that it was possible and did it.  This is the power of having great coaches and friends who will challenge and give gentle pushes when needed.  I then delivered the powerful lesson we teach in our studio.  The mind tells the body what to do.  You can actually make your body do things that will amaze you. Disciplining your mind will train you to accomplish great things.  

As entrepreneurs we have the awesome responsibility to lead our companies, help people and do great things in our communities.  So my question to you is what would you do with your company if the sky was the limit?  I challenge you to dream bigger as if you had 1.5 Billion dollars to fund your dream.  Share your BIG dream in the comments below!   Let's inspire one another towards greatness. Who will join me?

Tammie Lawrence is a 5th degree black belt and the Owner/ Master Instructor at Golden Tiger 

Martial Arts located in San Bernardino, CA.  She has been teaching Marital Arts since 1987. Tammie is passionate about adding value to the community and enriching lives through the martial arts. You can learn more about her programs by visiting the website:

www.martialartsGT.com

Have you every wished you could clone yourself in your business?

This blog is about instructor training.  One of my goals as a studio owner is to develop amazing staff. I want to empower people to come beside me and teach with passion.  For many years I have worked long hours with no time off.  A few of years ago I really focused on creating a business that would deliver some freedom of time instead of a glorified JOB.  For business owners who are looking to create the same thing and want to brainstorm ideas and solutions feel free to email us at: info@MartialArtsGT.com  

Have you ever wished you could clone yourself in your business?  I have had this wish more than one time! 

Over the last 4-5 years I have been working on creating excellence in our staff training systems. We spent relentless hours creating "How to manuals"  for everything in our business.  The results were disconcerting.  People were learning how to do things but I was still dealing with lazy work and bad attitudes.

I read at least 40 books on management and while the material was helpful I still was struggling with high turn over and low morale.  I found a great little book called: 

 Crucial Accountability  

"Behind the problems that routinely plague our organizations and families, you'll find individuals who are either unwilling or unable to deal with broken promises. Colleagues break a rule, coworkers miss a deadline, friends fail to live up to commitments (or just plain behave badly), and nobody says a word. Nobody holds anyone accountable. With repeated infractions, individuals become increasingly upset until they finally do speak their minds, but they do so poorly--often creating whole new sets of problems.

Research proves that mishandled disappointments aren't just morale killers, they're institution killers--diminishing organizational performance by 20 to 50 percent and accounting for up to 90 percent of all divorces".

As I applied the principles I realized that I lacked the skill set to motivate and hold people accountable.  I began to dig into accountability conversations and evaluating my conversations every single night.  I ask myself what did I fail to address.  

I realized that I lacked a skill set called soft skills so I googled classes on soft skills.  I watched classes at Harvard business school, Stanford business school and London school of business. 

Every day I have been evaluating my skill sets looking at what went well and what went not so well. Although I'm still far from where I want to be positive things ares starting to happen.  There is a shift in the culture.  

Now some of the principles that I read in all of the management and "change the culture books"  are working.  Perhaps it is time for that MBA I put off when I went to the Olympics?  What skill set is holding you back from reaching your full potential.  Feel free to share below.  




Tammie Lawrence is a 5th degree black belt and the Owner/ Master Instructor at Golden Tiger www.martialartsgt.com
Martial Arts located in San Bernardino, CA.  She has been teaching Marital Arts since 1987.  Tammie is passionate about adding value to the community and enriching lives through the martial arts. You can learn more about her programs by visiting the website:
www.martialartsGT.com

Why I love owning a Martial Arts studio

It is winter camp time today began with early drop off at 6 am.  I rolled into the driveway around 10 pm after staying to help with the evening classes.  

Although I'm completely exhausted my spirit overflows as I think about how grateful I am to have the privilege to work with wonderful children and families.  

Day camps are a time to create memories with students and have good clean fun.  I can play and be silly as we go non stop visiting different places each and every day.  

 It is also an opportunity to work on social skills and attitudes.   It is humbling as a teacher when I think about how I get to influence and develop the future leaders of our great country.  As I crawl into bed this evening my only thought is,  "This is why I love owning a marital Arts studio."