Level 2 Self-Control: Controlling your environment
When I was young, I enjoyed riding my bike on sandy roads and locking up the back brake so the rear of the bike would skid 90 degrees. I often bloodied my knees because I was a risk-taker — that is, a normal kid.
When I became an adult, I no longer indulged in this risky behavior. I had a job, a boss, and a paycheck, and — afraid of bloodying myself — I avoided asking for a raise. Too risky. Might be viewed as a squeaky wheel.
What happens to us as we grow to adulthood? When we were kids we took risks; we learned new skills, discovered new talents, strove to control our environment. We looked at assuming control as part of growing up. Adulthood was to be a time in which we lived by our own rules rather than responding like experimental rats to bells ringing and the appearance of the lunch tray. So what if we bloodied our knees?
Welcome to adulthood, in which we think things to death, answer to the ringing of phones and pagers, and the whims of bosses, and rarely act out our dreams.
The Key:
Learn to control your environment, whether in combat or in life.
How do you control your environment? First, look for ways it can be used to your advantage. For example, in a tournament, start by always making sure you get the side you want before the fight. This is important, because most martial artists “lead” with a particular leg. I always began a fight with my right leg out front and kept that leg out front most of the time. When I chose the side I would occupy during the match, I chose the side that had the center judge looking at my back while I was leading with my right leg. This way, the center judge could not see points my opponent scored to my body as effectively because he was looking at my back. This is a simple but effective control of environment.
I also developed the strategy of moving toward my opponent, pushing him toward the edge of the ring. When he got close to the edge, he would invariably glance toward the line. That was my cue to launch a flurry of attacks. I have scored countless points using this environmental distraction.
The Key:
Study the environment in which you spar and compete to look for environmental elements that you can turn to your advantage.
While point fighting is a very controlled and predictable environment, the need for self-defense often crops up in strange places — once I was up on a ladder installing an alarm system when I needed to defend another person from attack.
As part of the Daily 8 training exercises (see the Daily 8 section below), you will look for ways to take control of your environment and make it work for you. This is not just for combat.
Outside tip: You can exert this level of self-control at work, too. Not fond of your work environment? Learn to control your corner of it. Most people who work in an office could make the work environment better just by rearranging their desktops. If you work in construction, something as simple as a bucket bag to make your tools more accessible could save you an hour a week and decrease stress. Let’s say you’re a computer professional — are there tools you could be using that could do part of your work for you, thereby giving you more time and helping to create a more relaxed environment?
We are creatures of habit. We go through our day without pausing to look for ways we can control our environment. Just opening our eyes should reveal endless possibilities.
We are often careless. Carelessness wears a thousand faces, meaning, it can manifest itself in a variety of ways from losing track of how many drinks you’ve had, to being involved in a fender-bender, to failing to win sports contests you have the ability and physical strength to win. Bottom line: Carelessness is a lack of self-control.
The Key:
Take a look at yourself with a keen eye for areas in which you are careless. Think about what adjustments you’d make.
But isn’t carelessness the same as risk-taking? No. It’s not. Carelessness occurs any time you do anything without paying attention. It’s more likely, in fact, to happen during mundane, habitual tasks that we feel are low-risk because we know them so well.
When you exert Level 2 self-control, you are aware of what you’re doing at all times, whether it is the first or thousandth time you’ve done it.
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