Street scene - Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
A training seminar of National Safety Associates (NSA)
Kyuzo Mifune and Matsutaro Shoriki (both 10th dans judo)
By: Ali Ismail
0778-842 5262 (United Kingdom)
aliismail_uk@yahoo.co.uk
"DON'T WORK HARDER - WORK SMARTER"
Hard work is not the only ingredient in the cake of success
As I did not have much to do a few weeks ago I sat down before our family computer and typed the words “judo +video” on Google to see what would happen. Thus I encountered the judo 10th dan Kyuzo Mifune in action in his old age.
It was an hour-long film and now I have now watched it several times. It is amazing. This was a man in his very late seventies or early eighties dealing with much younger, heavier experienced judomen with complete success.
Mifune himself was slightly built and relatively lightweight. Yet, the young men could not handle him at all. They did everything in their power to throw the octogenarian but the attempts nearly always either aborted at inception or failed to complete. On a few occasions the old man was thrown but, astoundingly, after landing on the tatami he stuck out a leg, planted it in his opponent’s stomach and threw him.
Judo is a Japanese word that translates as “the gentle way” but anybody who has had one or more judo classes under his belt can confirm that there is, in usual experience, nothing gentle at all about judo. The experienced ones are strong and use a great deal of power to get done whatever has to be done.
Still, it was, is and will remain “the gentle way”, in name as in deed. Clearly, there are things that are known and that can be done at the pinnacle of judo which are as above the level of the average judo club member as high-level accountancy is above the level of the bookkeeper.
To approach my subject from another direction, I can confirm that in the early 1990s I was involved in a multi-level marketing company based in the USA that was in the good habit of training its participants. There were other flaws with that particular outfit but training was not one of them.
One successful person after another would walk onto the stage at the Chelsea Hotel and transmit the secrets of his success. Many of them I listened to and remembered, even though my own involvement with that company was a failure.
The advice that was repeated most often and by the most people was “Don’t work harder – work smarter.” That goes against the ethos of the traditional working classes all over the world who think that hard work alone brings success.
True, hard work does bring success, but is that the only ingredient in the cake of success? Most decent people work hard. I do and you probably do. Are we all equally successful? No.
Many of the most successful professionals and business tycoons are, if anything, a little bit on the laid back side. When was the last time you spoke to a tense and nervous prominant chartered accountant or big businessman?
Despite the fervent belief of the working classes, it is probably the case that other factors get some people to the top of the tree and keep others down.
Back to Mifune. My surmise is that the young Mifune started judo by using a tremendous amount of force in standing judo (throws) and groundwork (low-level fighting) and in so doing acquired a vast amount of skill in the physical handling of heavier opponents, so much so that in his enfeebled old age he knew how to maximise his efforts to such an extent that much younger and much heavier black belts could in no wise prevail against him, no matter what they did or tried to do.
Make no mistake about this. I am not advocating sloth or carelessness at all. I am just pointing out the fairly obvious fact that effort, all by itself, is not enough to deliver the goods.
Another example is the piano beginner. He usually flies all over the keyboard and outputs a poor playing standard but a concert pianist produces a stupendous performance with less movement and effort.
In the socio-economic sphere there is a tremendous difference in the average incomes of the nations of the world. The World Bank reckons that in 2004 the average income per capita in Luxembourg was $56,230 and for Burundi $90 per capita. Do the people of Luxembourg work 625 times harder than the people of Burundi?
Faced with the preceding data, most of our readers will agree that that is almost definitely not the case. I have not visited the Grand Duchy or Burundi but common sense informs me that the good citizens of the former place are probably relaxed, easy going achievers and deliverers while the suffering people of Burundi are probably striving away and making all kinds of efforts with pitifully little to show for it.
The CIA sums up the economy of Burundi as follows:
“Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly agricultural with more than 90% of the population dependent on subsistence agriculture. Economic growth depends on coffee and tea exports, which account for 90% of foreign exchange earnings. The ability to pay for imports, therefore, rests primarily on weather conditions and international coffee and tea prices. The Tutsi minority, 14% of the population, dominates the government and the coffee trade at the expense of the Hutu majority, 85% of the population. An ethnic-based war that lasted for over a decade resulted in more than 200,000 deaths, forced more than 48,000 refugees into Tanzania, and displaced 140,000 others internally. Only one in two children go to school, and approximately one in 10 adults has HIV/AIDS. Food, medicine, and electricity remain in short supply. Political stability and the end of the civil war have improved aid flows and economic activity has increased, but underlying weaknesses - a high poverty rate, poor education rates, a weak legal system, and low administrative capacity - risk undermining planned economic reforms.”
The same agency says of Luxembourg’s economy:
“This stable, high-income economy - benefitting from its proximity to France, Belgium, and Germany - features solid growth, low inflation, and low unemployment. The industrial sector, initially dominated by steel, has become increasingly diversified to include chemicals, rubber, and other products. Growth in the financial sector, which now accounts for about 28% of GDP, has more than compensated for the decline in steel. Most banks are foreign-owned and have extensive foreign dealings. Agriculture is based on small family-owned farms. The economy depends on foreign and cross-border workers for more than 30% of its labor force. Although Luxembourg, like all EU members, has suffered from the global economic slump, the country enjoys an extraordinarily high standard of living - GDP per capita ranks first in the world.”
The desperately poor farmers of Burundi probably, if anything, work harder than the salary and business income receivers of the Grand Duchy but have little to show for it, I opine.
Back to Mifune. My reckoning is that during his very first judo lesson, when he was completely clueless, he was like the workers of Burundi. He probably made monumental efforts to throw or to pin down his opponents to no avail. His opponents did not oblige by letting themselves get thrown or pinned.
Enter Mifune’s teachers. They would have been judomen of experience who took a liking to the lad and imparted to him all they knew. He learnt and after a while cottoned on to how to economise his efforts to the end: minimum effort > maximum result. By the time he got to the stage where I was able to see him in action as an elderly 10th dan on film he was most probably like the economically active denizens of Luxembourg.
“No man does it by himself” goes the song. I am not advocating membership of the YMCA either, by the way. The Beatles had a song entitled “With a little Help from my Friends.” They had plenty of help on their way up.
One well-known secret of success is to surround oneself with truly successful people and, in the event of their not wanting to associate with you, to put oneself in contact with their influences. If you want to be a first class thriller writer then read Frederick Forsyth. If you want to write third rate science fiction then make sure you read Michael Moorcock. We become like our influences.
The neighbouring countries of Luxembourg are: France, Germany and Belgium. The neighbouring countries of Burundi include: the Congo (of civil war fame) and Rwanda (of ethnic massacring fame). Luxembourg benefited from the prosperities of the surrounding regions while Burundi suffered from the plights of its neighbours.
Someone who had noticed that I was struggling in life once gave me a book by Stuart Wilde entitled The Trick to make Money is Having Some. Wilde writes at the beginning: “Money is a thoughtform.”
He carries on later: “How many times have you been told that to make money you have to work hard? Who told you that? The people who told you were the ones who had experienced life as hard. They wanted you to experience it the same way so that you could join them and they wouldn’t get lonely. The people who try to sell you on the struggle of life are those who, by virtue of that struggle, know little about how to make it. Best not to use them as advisers.”
I do hope I have helped our organ's loyal readers to prosperity and abundance. That is why I have written this.
As I did not have much to do a few weeks ago I sat down before our family computer and typed the words “judo +video” on Google to see what would happen. Thus I encountered the judo 10th dan Kyuzo Mifune in action in his old age.
It was an hour-long film and now I have now watched it several times. It is amazing. This was a man in his very late seventies or early eighties dealing with much younger, heavier experienced judomen with complete success.
Mifune himself was slightly built and relatively lightweight. Yet, the young men could not handle him at all. They did everything in their power to throw the octogenarian but the attempts nearly always either aborted at inception or failed to complete. On a few occasions the old man was thrown but, astoundingly, after landing on the tatami he stuck out a leg, planted it in his opponent’s stomach and threw him.
Judo is a Japanese word that translates as “the gentle way” but anybody who has had one or more judo classes under his belt can confirm that there is, in usual experience, nothing gentle at all about judo. The experienced ones are strong and use a great deal of power to get done whatever has to be done.
Still, it was, is and will remain “the gentle way”, in name as in deed. Clearly, there are things that are known and that can be done at the pinnacle of judo which are as above the level of the average judo club member as high-level accountancy is above the level of the bookkeeper.
To approach my subject from another direction, I can confirm that in the early 1990s I was involved in a multi-level marketing company based in the USA that was in the good habit of training its participants. There were other flaws with that particular outfit but training was not one of them.
One successful person after another would walk onto the stage at the Chelsea Hotel and transmit the secrets of his success. Many of them I listened to and remembered, even though my own involvement with that company was a failure.
The advice that was repeated most often and by the most people was “Don’t work harder – work smarter.” That goes against the ethos of the traditional working classes all over the world who think that hard work alone brings success.
True, hard work does bring success, but is that the only ingredient in the cake of success? Most decent people work hard. I do and you probably do. Are we all equally successful? No.
Many of the most successful professionals and business tycoons are, if anything, a little bit on the laid back side. When was the last time you spoke to a tense and nervous prominant chartered accountant or big businessman?
Despite the fervent belief of the working classes, it is probably the case that other factors get some people to the top of the tree and keep others down.
Back to Mifune. My surmise is that the young Mifune started judo by using a tremendous amount of force in standing judo (throws) and groundwork (low-level fighting) and in so doing acquired a vast amount of skill in the physical handling of heavier opponents, so much so that in his enfeebled old age he knew how to maximise his efforts to such an extent that much younger and much heavier black belts could in no wise prevail against him, no matter what they did or tried to do.
Make no mistake about this. I am not advocating sloth or carelessness at all. I am just pointing out the fairly obvious fact that effort, all by itself, is not enough to deliver the goods.
Another example is the piano beginner. He usually flies all over the keyboard and outputs a poor playing standard but a concert pianist produces a stupendous performance with less movement and effort.
In the socio-economic sphere there is a tremendous difference in the average incomes of the nations of the world. The World Bank reckons that in 2004 the average income per capita in Luxembourg was $56,230 and for Burundi $90 per capita. Do the people of Luxembourg work 625 times harder than the people of Burundi?
Faced with the preceding data, most of our readers will agree that that is almost definitely not the case. I have not visited the Grand Duchy or Burundi but common sense informs me that the good citizens of the former place are probably relaxed, easy going achievers and deliverers while the suffering people of Burundi are probably striving away and making all kinds of efforts with pitifully little to show for it.
The CIA sums up the economy of Burundi as follows:
“Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly agricultural with more than 90% of the population dependent on subsistence agriculture. Economic growth depends on coffee and tea exports, which account for 90% of foreign exchange earnings. The ability to pay for imports, therefore, rests primarily on weather conditions and international coffee and tea prices. The Tutsi minority, 14% of the population, dominates the government and the coffee trade at the expense of the Hutu majority, 85% of the population. An ethnic-based war that lasted for over a decade resulted in more than 200,000 deaths, forced more than 48,000 refugees into Tanzania, and displaced 140,000 others internally. Only one in two children go to school, and approximately one in 10 adults has HIV/AIDS. Food, medicine, and electricity remain in short supply. Political stability and the end of the civil war have improved aid flows and economic activity has increased, but underlying weaknesses - a high poverty rate, poor education rates, a weak legal system, and low administrative capacity - risk undermining planned economic reforms.”
The same agency says of Luxembourg’s economy:
“This stable, high-income economy - benefitting from its proximity to France, Belgium, and Germany - features solid growth, low inflation, and low unemployment. The industrial sector, initially dominated by steel, has become increasingly diversified to include chemicals, rubber, and other products. Growth in the financial sector, which now accounts for about 28% of GDP, has more than compensated for the decline in steel. Most banks are foreign-owned and have extensive foreign dealings. Agriculture is based on small family-owned farms. The economy depends on foreign and cross-border workers for more than 30% of its labor force. Although Luxembourg, like all EU members, has suffered from the global economic slump, the country enjoys an extraordinarily high standard of living - GDP per capita ranks first in the world.”
The desperately poor farmers of Burundi probably, if anything, work harder than the salary and business income receivers of the Grand Duchy but have little to show for it, I opine.
Back to Mifune. My reckoning is that during his very first judo lesson, when he was completely clueless, he was like the workers of Burundi. He probably made monumental efforts to throw or to pin down his opponents to no avail. His opponents did not oblige by letting themselves get thrown or pinned.
Enter Mifune’s teachers. They would have been judomen of experience who took a liking to the lad and imparted to him all they knew. He learnt and after a while cottoned on to how to economise his efforts to the end: minimum effort > maximum result. By the time he got to the stage where I was able to see him in action as an elderly 10th dan on film he was most probably like the economically active denizens of Luxembourg.
“No man does it by himself” goes the song. I am not advocating membership of the YMCA either, by the way. The Beatles had a song entitled “With a little Help from my Friends.” They had plenty of help on their way up.
One well-known secret of success is to surround oneself with truly successful people and, in the event of their not wanting to associate with you, to put oneself in contact with their influences. If you want to be a first class thriller writer then read Frederick Forsyth. If you want to write third rate science fiction then make sure you read Michael Moorcock. We become like our influences.
The neighbouring countries of Luxembourg are: France, Germany and Belgium. The neighbouring countries of Burundi include: the Congo (of civil war fame) and Rwanda (of ethnic massacring fame). Luxembourg benefited from the prosperities of the surrounding regions while Burundi suffered from the plights of its neighbours.
Someone who had noticed that I was struggling in life once gave me a book by Stuart Wilde entitled The Trick to make Money is Having Some. Wilde writes at the beginning: “Money is a thoughtform.”
He carries on later: “How many times have you been told that to make money you have to work hard? Who told you that? The people who told you were the ones who had experienced life as hard. They wanted you to experience it the same way so that you could join them and they wouldn’t get lonely. The people who try to sell you on the struggle of life are those who, by virtue of that struggle, know little about how to make it. Best not to use them as advisers.”
I do hope I have helped our organ's loyal readers to prosperity and abundance. That is why I have written this.
THE END
This article was published in the 27th July 2006 issue of the Bangla Mirror, the first English language weekly for the United Kingdom's Bangladeshis, read all over the world from the Arctic to the Antarctic
posted by Ali at 3:16 AM
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