Greetings:
I hope you had a wonderful weekend.
I did, for sure. A tiring one. A long one. But a great one.
For today’s Marvelous Monday issuance I want to share something with you before I get into today’s topic.
On Tuesday’s I will start a new segment called Tatami Tuesday. #TatamiTuesday will cover all of my Martial Arts related activities and more specifically, the things that we learn and encounter on the tatami (the judo/jiujitsu mat). On Tatami Tuesday I will also try to give you a peak inside of my dojo at Tampa Florida Judo and also discuss some of the finer points of coaching education and athlete development.
So, please also look out for my issuance tomorrow.
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Marvelous Monday
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One of the most difficult areas to access in life is the inside of the “winner’s circle.” It does not matter if you are looking at the last people standing at the end of a hard wrestling tournament or the top finishers in a high school track meet. No matter what the level of competition, there are winners and there are losers. The question that keeps most of us up at night is, “What separates the winners from the losers?”
The default answer is always, “hard work.” But just saying “hard work” is the answer negates the true work, luck, timing, and many other variables that are needed in order to achieve success.
If your desire is to be better than other then you have to be a little bit different than others.
You have to be a little bit different by doing….. “the little things” with the utmost adherence to detail.
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The Little Things
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When things don’t seem to be going right the first thing that I ask myself is, “What Are The Little Things That You Are Getting Wrong Rhadi?”
I remember when I was playing football in college at Howard University and the coaches used to always hammer home, “Do the little things right and big things will happen!” There was rarely a practice when the coaches weren’t hollering, “The little things gentlemen! The little things!”
In my martial arts coaching career, I am internationally known for my ability to make huge gains in a short period of time. Through the intense study and utilization of the deliberate practice method I have learned how to marry this method with the whole-part-whole teaching method and create massive amounts growth in skill acquisition and technical expertise. I do this by adding depth to ones repertoire and not the breadth. As a matter of fact, I’m known for actually reducing the amount of techniques that one uses in order to gain a high level of mastery in a few areas. And then that mastery can then be applied to many other areas.
When this is done and when it is done correctly under someone who has studied and knows the method, growth happens quickly. And what you find out is that the growth happens in the ‘little things” not the big things.
On a personal level, when I am having an issue or a problem I fix the little things in my life first.
Here’s what I do:
- Wake up early in the morning.
When I have an issue or a problem, it’s usually because I’m lacking discipline. The first thing that I do is get up early in the morning. - Workout in the morning.
When I have an issue or a problem, it’s usually because I’m lacking discipline somewhere. My life has always been ordered and I have operated my whole life as an athlete. When things get out of order, I recalibrate my life my recalibrating my lifestyle. At heart I’m an athlete. So no matter if I get up early and walk for 30 minutes to an hour or go to the gym and do a hard leg day, the bottom line is that I must train. - Pray
When I have an issue or a problem, it’s usually an internal one that is present in the spiritual realm and it’s manifesting itself in the natural realm. So after waking up early, exercising and taking a shower, the next thing that I do is meditate and/or pray. - Write
After praying, I then try to take the things that I have been praying on and thinking about and also the things that have been revealed to me during my quite time and then I write them down. - Feed The Mind
Then I usually listen to an audiobook, some motivational speeches, a sermon or some inspirational music and then I attack the issue at hand.
These are the 5 steps that I take. And if I do not do these things on a regular basis then things get out of order. And as disciplined as I would like to think that I am… I get out of order too.
I can tell you right now that I did them this morning except for the exercise because today was a “rest” day after doing 30 days of 60 minutes of cardio (which I absolutely disliked but did it for the sake of being disciplined).
And please understand this. THESE 5 THINGS create big shifts in my life. The first one makes me go to bed earlier and forces efficiency in my day. The second one causes me to make better choices in terms of my eating. The third one helps me treat people better and stay positive. The fourth, helps me feed my family. The majority of my business endeavors requires writing and there’s not better way to work on writing or get started writing, than writing. And the fifth step recharges me right after I feel like I want a break after the fourth step.
These “little things” help me do the “big things” in life. And when I do the little things well in these areas, then I can attack the other issues. Marriage issues, monetary issues, children issues, parent issues, real life issues, etc.,.
So, if you do not have a list of “little things” please feel free to use mine as you work on getting one of your own and start making the big things happen for yourself today.
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Closing
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Thank you so much for reading this post of the #MarvelousMonday series and I hope you found it encouraging and I also encourage you to pick up my book which is available on Amazon, “Coffee With Rhadi.”
And of course it is available on Kindle and Audible and in paperback as well. 🙂
Blessings from here to there,
Dr. Rhadi Ferguson
P.S. If you have not taken the time to donate to the Red Cross or the donation outlet of your choice, please do so. This hurricane season has damaged many areas from the southern part of the United States to the Caribbean and Mexico. I just ask that you make a small donation today.
P.P.S. If you are interested in making huge gains in an area of your life, please take the time to visit Dr. Ferguson Coaching Program page.