Resolutions II – Self-improvement

As usual, when the new-year is close at hand articles about “how to reach you goals” are all over the place. Every blog, flog, news site, papers, magazines, etc. have something to say about the subject. Earlier today I read a list of rules on how to achieve your objectives in the new year, and I though I should get a list like that on my blog, so I started to think about who would be the ideal expert on success from who I could get ideas to help you. Well… Everyone knows I’m usually not very sympathetic to ancient techniques, because I believe that we live on an age where absolutely everything that was ever done before has already been improved and made more efficient. On the other hand, I couldn’t let myself do just what everybody else is doing, talking about modern “eyes on the prize” techniques. Instead, I decided to take my advice from a legend: Mr. Myamoto Musashi.

Who was Musashi, and what does he knows about success? Well… imagine this: you are son to an renowned “rural fidalgue” japanese family, born amidst the Tokugawa period. During a rough childhood, your parents instruct you in the martial arts in a very… erm… intense way (it’s said that Musashi’s father threw knives at him when he missed a kata). At nine years old, you become an orphan, and is raised by your uncle – a priest. Rebellious as a teenager, your only goal in life is to follow the Bushido and become the greatest warrior that could ever be; many samurais are in “pilgrimage” all over japan searching for lessons and challenges through which they can gather fame in order to become valuable assets to the warlords, and, when you’re just thirteen years old, you manage to defeat one such samurai using not more than a chunk of wood. A while after, you too take on your own pilgrimage, searching for valuable duels all over the country. It’s a profession where the only alternative to victory is death! Yet, somehow, you outlive all expectations and, after over sixty duels (and a few participations in war fields), you are still alive! and more, you’ve granted yourself enough reputation to be desired as a master by the richest “lords” around. At age 59, astonished for having lived so long and maybe feeling that death is on it’s way, you look back at your life, all the wars, all the reckless duels (sometimes with more than one opponent at a time), and all the privileges you’ve managed to gather. With all this in mind, you say “Holly cow!!! How did I do that?!”, and you retire into a cave to try and answer that question.

So, there! The guy knows about success. The book that came from those years in the cave speak mostly of kendo and his sword techniques, but, also, of principles of success that can be applied in the lives of any one. It is the book that many great executives keep on their bedside, and, of course, as any book that executives actually read (sorry folks, just a joke), it presents a small list of practical rules – not that practical, really, since they demand a whole lot of discipline, but, well… it’s a list of rules.

1- Do not think dishonestly.

2- The way is in training.

3- Become acquainted with every art.

4- Know the ways of all professions.

5- Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters.

6- Develop intuitive judgment and understanding for everything.

7- Perceive those things which cannot be seen.

8- Pay attention even to trifles.

9- Do nothing which is of no use.

Can you follow those advices? I even try, but I’m doing a lousy job. Anyway, it’s at least worth to know they’re there.