Axiom 66: True Victory is Victory Over Oneself

"Eight forces sustain creation:

Movement and stillness

Solidifcation and fluidity

extension and contraction

unification and division"

-Morihei Ueshiba

Success in life is usually a result of mastering the same types of skills that a black belt in martial arts exhibits. If you have ever practiced martial arts you will probably recognize that many of the previous Axioms are present in martial arts.

Here is a list of just a few of the skills that a black belt in martial arts will have mastered:

• Self-Discipline
• Patience
• Respect
• Humility
• Calmness
• Power Over Earthly Desires
• Controlling One's Energy
• Meditation
• Concentration
• Observation
• Honestly
• Integrity
• Finding One's Path
• Control Over One's Body & Mind
• Timing
• Reflexes
• Controlling the Energy of Others
• Perfection through Repetition
• Goodness
• Hard Work
• Positive Thinking

These are just a few of the important things that a martial arts master will excel in to become unbeatable. However, there is one final skill they possess that is key to making it all work: synergy. It is the ability to put many skills together and execute them together consistently that makes them so great.

If you have read the previous Axioms and practiced them you must now start to think of them as a whole instead of individual skills. While you may find some success mastering a few individual skills you will never achieve greatness unless you know how to put all of your skills together at once. 

Axiom 65: You'll Never Graduate

"No one can defeat us unless we first defeat ourselves." -Dwight D. Eisenhower

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." -Bruce Lee

When I finished my undergraduate degree in 2003 I didn't attend the graduation ceremony. It was just as if I was in school one day and then not in school the next day. Some of my friends seemed puzzled as to why I didn't care about taking part in the graduation ceremony. I could have cared less about walking across the stage in a cap and gown to receive my diploma.

I watched as my fellow alums bought invitations, their cap and gowns, and their whole family talked with excitement about attending the ceremony. To me it just seemed like a waste of money and an inconvenience to ask my family to sit in a crowd and watch in boredom as thousands of other people walked across the stage. I had my degree and that's all I cared about.

When I finished my graduate degree a few years later I didn't attend that ceremony either. Once again people asked my why I wasn't going to participate. I finally thought about it since my excuse of "I just don't want to" didn't seem to pacify everyone.

So here are my real thoughts:

If you want to go to your graduation ceremony with your family and celebrate more power to you. I think it is important to celebrate your successes in life in whatever way suits you. However, for me I did not want to embrace the finality of finishing school. I will never graduate. I will always be a student. 

Although I received my diplomas. I don't feel like it is over. I still feel like one day I may step foot back into the classroom. This was the feeling that I wanted to leave school with. The feeling that my education is never over.

How you finish one step in life will determine how you will start the next step in your life.      

Some Random Original Quotes

Years before I wrote my first Axiom I would occasionally jot down my thoughts whenever possible. It was, and still is, my way of figuring things out in the world. What started out as tiny fragments written incoherently in a journal eventually turned into the Axioms I later wrote about. 

I went back recently to look at a time about 12 years ago when I was finishing my undergraduate degree and starting graduate school. It was a time of immense self-discovery and learning for me. 

Below are some of the interesting quotes I wrote down ten years ago:

"Happiness means you don't own an alarm clock."

"People work hardest when the challenge is the greatest."

"Great people lead by example, not words."

"Words are meaningless illusions cast by the soul."

"If you call out to God in a time of need, does that mean he doesn’t care? Or does it mean he cares too much?"

"Two men are wealthy. One is admired, and the other is despised. Why is this?"

"Sometimes it is better to be lucky than smart."

"Nothingness is the greatest pain we face. Even God cannot stand to be alone."

"Adversity helps bring about happiness and satisfaction."

"Man is mortal and immortal. All of his actions should bear this in mind."

"True fulfillment can only be reached for and sometimes touched, but never held permanently."

"People are never satisfied unless they are satisfied with being unsatisfied."

"Finding million dollar ideas is not the problem. It's executing them."

"You will never get big-time results if you are a small-time thinker."

"Being poor is a choice, just as being rich is. Poor choices + poor mindset + poor time management will always = poor results."

"The rule of scarcity: If people read my works when I’m alive they might be amused. If they read them 100 years from now they might think I’m a genius."