One of my talents is the ability to spot talent.
It’s the coach in me.
Once I had a real estate client who had three boys. Ages 13, 12, and 10.
All three were football players and on the very first day we met, I challenged the dad and said, “I’ll bet you I can guess their ages and what position they play.”
Dad lined up all three boys and I went down the line guessing the age and position.
“He’s 13 and a receiver. He’s 12 and a offensive lineman. He’s 10 and a defensive lineman.”
I was right on all three counts. Mom and dad were amazed.
Although guessing the age was impressive, they marveled that I correctly guessed each position.
The secret? In sports, each position has an ideal body type.
Body type determines your position.
I have three business friends, all named Ryan. The Three Ryans! Lol.
One is an ex-football player.
Another is an ex-basketball player.
Yet another is an ex-baseball player.
Before I really got to know each of them, I already knew how they would approach business.
Like I did with the three boys, I predicted their three individual approaches by the sports they mastered.
You see football, basketball, and baseball players have different mindsets.
Football success requires extremes. Intensity. Force. Violence.
Basketball success requires intensity but more fluidity. Grace. Touch.
Baseball even more fluidity. More Grace. More touch. Loose. Free and easy.
Sure enough these three business friends approach their lives exactly how I’d anticipated. In business, and in life, which approach is best?
Violent intense force?
Grace and fluidity?
Bruce Lee, maybe the best known martial artist in history, advocates for the Yin and the Yang.
In the book, The Warrior Within–The Philosophies of Bruce Lee, Yin is described as weakness and soft. Yang is strength and speed.
Yin is dark. Yang is light.
Moon and Sun.
Negative and positive.
Bruce Lee suggests that every situation in life is different and requires a unique approach.
Some situations we’re required to be soft and understanding. Other times require us to be assertive.
As in sport, life also requires us to be prepared to play offense and defense.
Bruce Lee and the Three Ryans all live by and teach the athletic position.
The athletic position is the universal position of balance. Head up. Knees bent. Butt down. Hands up.
Ready to defend. Ready to attack. On balance. Ready to go left or right, forward or backward.
Once we metaphorically get into the athletic position, our intuition, our instinct, and our inner voice dictate the course of action.
The way of the warrior.
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