The little things make us

Sweat flew as I twisted on my left foot and my gloved fist smacked the Thai pad with an orgiastic thud.

Sweat hung in the air as the thud reverberated across the gym, folding into the echo of other thuds from other women twisting on their left feet and smacking the pads with their left hands. And then, their right.

Remember those great scenes from Rocky? The first Rocky movie. As the hook landed on Rocky’s jaw, sweat arched and flew, in slow motion.

I was in a movie all my own, but my opponent was tougher than Apollo Creed. My opponent was me — and my lack of experience and skill.

But I have Rocky’s drive — as do my training buddies, and coaches, at Pacific Top Team.

I am 60 years old. I just started Muay Thai, a nasty form of kick-boxing. The age range in my all-female class is 13 to maybe 45. I could be their grandma or mom. But who cares? I like this. No, I love this.

Why, my friends ask? Seems rather out there for someone “like me.” I love it because of the need for absolute focus and, with that focus, the rapid improvement in skill. I can see me changing mentally and physically.

There are several questions I ask myself:

• How would a person who wants to excel at Muay Thai behave?
• What would she do?
• What would she think?
• What goals would she set?

Because, given my age, time is not on my side. I want to get good, and I want to get good fast.

What is it about Muay Thai that appeals to my entrepreneurial brain? Building a business requires focus and skill. Like Muay Thai. Building a business takes time. But that time can be reduced by applying focus to develop more skill.

How would a person who wants to excel as an entrepreneur behave?

She would have clarity of purpose.

She would stay in the constraints of that purpose. She would have focus. She would know what she was doing and why she was doing it.

Then, the dream can begin to be realized.

• What needs to be done to prepare for the day?
• How would she interact with the people who are supporting this purpose?
• What will she have accomplished at the end of the day? What good will result from these efforts?
• What can be done tomorrow to advance the cause with more ease and speed?

For the past 20 years, I have hammered into my home family and work family the expression: How you do anything is how you do everything.

This message is burned into my subconscious. How I play at Muay Thai is how I play at home and how I play at work.

I have spent time reflecting and defining how a person my age would need to train, eat, sleep and think to excel at Muay Thai.

I actually wrote it down.

I thought about muscle tone across my trainer’s shoulders and wondered, what does a person need to do to achieve that?

Twenty push-ups at every bathroom break? Then, 30?

Maybe I need to get advice.

I am considering a new business venture with partners. I have been reflecting on how I need to act in a partnership to make it successful; what do we need to agree on to maintain focus, clarity and peace within the group.

Just like I ask my Muay Thai coach for suggestions as to how to improve, I ask people within this unfamiliar business space for suggestions, recommendations, thoughts and concerns.

I love the parallels between personal and work experience. It gives me comfort and direction when either world becomes muddled.

For now, I’ll go practise a round kick.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.