How can I help you accomplish the impossible and achieve your goals?
“There isn’t enough time.”
“The task is too difficult.”
“There aren’t enough resources available.”
“The timing just isn’t right.”
“It has never been done before.”
“It’s impossible.”
All of these statements are probably true. You can accept them as such and do exactly what you are doing now, exactly what you have always done, and get the results you have always gotten. No one will bother you. No one will push you. No one will question you for waiting until you are ready, until the timing is right, until things calm down a little bit, or until you have more help. You can rest easy knowing that logic and practicality are on your side.
If, however, you insist on moving forward anyway, if you refuse to accept your circumstances as inevitable, if you demand of yourself that you must level up in spite of everything working against you, and if you will not accept what is and what has always been in the face of what can be, speak up. Say something. Do something. If you are honest and sincere, if you refuse to be denied, someone will be watching and he or she will stand with you to face and overcome the odds that are against you. Together, you will accomplish the impossible.
That is leadership.
“As in life, so too in budo. As in budo, so too in life.”
-Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu