With a purpose...

I have been traveling throughout life without too much of a purpose for many years. The purpose of this blog is to put in words some of the thoughts going through my head as I explore my journey as an executive of a small company called The Satori Group, my training in the Art of Ninjutsu, taming and conquering my personal finances, home ownership, and generally trying to live a more balanced purposeful life.

I have recently studied a form of martial arts called Budo Taijitsu at the dojo called Bujinkan Tonbo Budo Taijitsu. The word Budo comes from the combination of two Chinese kanji characters, "bu" meaning war or martial, and "do" roughly meaning way or path of. The word Taijitsu has a rough translation meaning "body skill" or "body movement". So the martial art form of Budo Taijitsu has a literal translation of "the body skill/movement in the way/path of war". We train with the mentality that it is best to not have to fight but in the circumstance that you ever are in a fight (martial/war situation), the main priority is to end the fight as quickly as possible. Much of what we have learned so far
Budo Taijitsu consists of learning from 9 different ryu (schools of discipline). 6 of the ryu's are based in Samurai disciplines and the other 3 are based on the disciplines of the Ninja. So technically it is more closely tied to Samurai disciplines but I always like to say that I'm training to be a ninja :)

There are a few qualities that are parallel between attempting a successful martial arts training, the successful building of a company (level of success is still a work in progress), and in trying to live a balanced life in general. The first important quality I believe that stands out is to have the discipline to carry out the commitment of whatever it is you are attempting. I cannot achieve success in my training, I cannot help to build a successful company, and I cannot live a balanced life without first having the discipline to carry out the commitment of doing so.
Patience and perseverance are also important qualities to have that parallels the three things. Not to say that things won't happen quickly or to refuse rapid progress if things do happen quickly, but patience is important in the times that progress does not happen rapidly and perseverance is very important at those times as well. I have to embrace the mentality that everything that is worth it for me to do that may require a lot of time to achieve a satisfactory result. I must display the patience to accept the many times that progress is not made and show the perseverance to fight through the many times I will be frustrated at the lack of progress.
The ability to have an open mind and the willingness to learn is also very premium. In business I always like to think that I am adaptable because of my ability to approach new ideas with an open mind. I always believe that progress, in many different aspects of life, is not made because of close mindedness and the mentality that there is nothing that can be learned from somebody with a different idea.
You must also do everything with a purpose. In my training in Budo Taijitsu it is very important to concentrate on the purpose of my movements, and do not use wasteful actions unless it serves a purpose (i.e. misleading my opponent). I want my actions as an executive to serve a purpose; granted that this is not always the case but it is a goal that I strive for. Most importantly I want my life to serve a purpose, I want my relationship with people to be purposeful, I want to meet people and have them think that it was not a waste of their time but rather that there was a purpose involved in our meeting.
If I do not write again before Christmas I wish you a Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays to everybody!