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thumbnail of Alberto Cairo

There are no scraps of men

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This is a TED talk.  You can see this and many other talks that inspire and capture the imagination at http://www.ted.com.  there are a range of topics including technology, business building, entertainment, and science.

This is an awe inspiring story told by Alberto Cairo, a physiotherapist who leads the International Red Cross’ orthopaedic rehabilitation work in Afghanistan.

He’s spent the past two decades in this war-ravaged nation, far from  his native Italy, helping an estimated 100,000 Afghan landmine and accident victims learn to find the strength within themselves to not  only walk, but also to hope, again.

In a country where the  disabled are generally given pity but no rights, Alberto found a way through micro-loans, positive discrimination schemes and home schooling, to give tens of thousands of disabled Afghans a job and a sense of  dignity and pride.

This has nothing to do with financial planning, business coaching or business building but it does have a lot to do with empathy, care, kindness and respect for other human beings.  We could do with a lot more people like Alberto Cairo in the world today.

Learn The Art of Peace

Check out Griffith Aikido at http://www.griffithaikido.com.au.  Aikido is a highly refined Japanese system of self protection.  It is a martial art where the ultimate aim is to not to fight or to hurt an opponent, but to develop inner peace and hone a positive spirit.  As we all come to learn, the only real control is self control.  As O Sensei once said, “True victory is self-victory.”

This mysterious art is practiced all over the world by people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.  It’s teachings are metaphors for living life as well as positive business building, regardless of circumstance or adversity.  We actively promote peace, one student at a time.

Gary Weigh

Business building

Aikido Instructor

A true peace of mind product

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Business management tips

Is there really a product or service that offers peace of mind?  In the conventional sense, there are plenty that represent one less thing to worry about.  But actual peace of mind – the type with calmness and peacefulness without dissension, distraction or self conflict?  Not so many!   Martial and meditative arts spring to mind.  Regarded as leisure sports and pastimes by those that don’t practice these arts, I would recommend them as first class ‘mind development products’.

More specifically, their practice actively engages a process of developing a strong and positive mind.  For me, the art is Aikido, a subtle Japanese art commonly referred to as the art of peace.  It is actually the art of not fighting – internally as well as externally.  It is an art so refined that it actually doesn’t work unless the mind is calm like a millpond and the body is relaxed under both stress and movement.  That makes it a hell of an art to master, or even to be reasonably good at, but it has some mind-blowing development aspects (pardon the pun).

Try it sometime and watch your business boom!

Practicing the art of business

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Business building

In the Japanese art of Aikido it is subtlety, timing, practiced positioning and advanced state of mind that make the art work.  We follow this philosophy when approaching the challenges of business building.  Even in the art of business, practice doesn’t make perfect.  Perfect practice does.  At first the  student merely learns the outer forms of techniques.  I say ‘outer forms’ because it is all about first principles and gross movements; about where to put hands and feet.   Over time, the inner forms begin to emerge even though plenty of mistakes are made.   The mind and body finally get it together and begin to act as one.  What used to be the outer forms now become instinctive blueprints. 

Smaller and more subtle movement begins to emerge, taking the place of bigger movements to achieve the same, if not better, result.  Principles of leading, blending, centeredness and control, all driven by strong positive Ki extension finally begin to make sense.  Individual techniques give way to a calm, relaxed and well practiced way of doing things.  Aikido is a great metaphor for practicing business.

Emotional business management – Aiki principles

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Photo courtesy of Spiral Photography

Besides being a business coach and educator, I am an enthusiastic Aikido practitioner.  Over time, I have seen Aiki principles working in practice enough to know that it has application across the full range of human emotion and interaction.

I firmly believe that the principles of Aiki have a valid place in the highly competitive and egotistical world of business, which of course is where I make my living.

Business is merely a subset of life, except for the addition of two powerful factors – money and power!  These two ingredients have enormous potential to alter human behaviour.  They are catalysts for greed and competition and can bring out the very worst in people.

Aikido is known world wide as the art of peace.  It is a defensive, non-confrontational, non-competitive Japanese martial art driven by calm and relaxation, with care for the wellbeing of the opponent inherent in the art.

The introduction of Aiki principles is about applying concepts of peace to business interactions, but at the same time having effective defensive skills to deal with any difficult situation.

Aiki is a powerful addition to the personal strategic business arsenal.  In essence, it is maintaining a peaceful mind when competing and fighting are the easier options.  It is extending and injecting the power of calm and relaxation into all things.

You may have to do some Aikido training to appreciate it but you will realise what an overwhelming advantage the power of Aiki really is.

Aiki emotional management has immediate and obvious benefits for business.  It lowers deadly personal stress levels and plays a direct and positive role in business productivity and performance.

There are three (3) basic main Aiki principles of peace to observe when interacting with others on a business basis.  They are:

  • Respect (for self and others)
  • Self control (rather than control over others)
  • Being centered (a state of balanced, calm alertness)

There are many more Aiki principles that are applicable but they all flow from these basic three.  These principles are a must for powerful business interactions and positive results.  I will discuss each Aiki principle of peace in more detail in future posts.

For more reading about Aikido and its many life secrets, visit my other blog at:

http://www.aikido-secrets-to-calm-success.com

If you are starting your own business or even considering it, you should read my book “Recession Riches and wealth” at:

http://garyweigh.com/recession-riches-and-wealth

Many thanks to Dean Miscamble of Spiral Photography specialist in martial arts action photography.  Visit

http://www.spiralphotography.com.au

Until next time

Gary

Emotional business management – the Aiki way

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Photo courtesy of Spiral Photography

In a recent blog article, It’s ok to be emotional,  I talked about the issue of bringing emotions to work and how it is generally frowned upon in traditional work places.

In a series of follow up articles, I would like to explore this issue a little deeper.

The fact is that business owners, managers and employees all bring their emotions to work.  Like it or not, human emotions are here to stay as long as business is based on human interaction.

What is not widely appreciated is that the human emotions many bosses want banished from the work place can actually be the foundation of good business interaction.  The secret lies in understanding it and self managing it.

As I pointed out in my previous article, Emotional Intelligence (EI) Researchers have found a direct correlation between high EI and effective leadership, team success and employee performance.

Emotional Intelligence is an awareness of one’s own and others’ emotions and the ability to control those emotions and influence the emotions of others.  Those who have high levels of emotional intelligence are generally happier with them selves and suffer less stress.

I would like to introduce a new concept to the discussion of emotional business interactions.  It is called Aiki-emotional management and its principles are derived from the art of Aikido.

Aikido is a Japanese martial art whose origins can be traced back to the feudal era of the Samurai.  It is a purely defensive martial art that has an inbuilt care for the wellbeing of the attacker.  Although it can be dangerous and even lethal, it is not a fighting art.  It is known throughout the world as the art of peace.

Aikido, in its simplest translation, means ‘the way of joining energy’ – ‘Ai’ (join), ‘ki’ (energy) and ‘do’ (the way).

Care must always be taken with the absolute meanings of words which have been derived from symbols, in this case Chinese and Japanese kanji, because they represent ideas rather than literal translations of the components.

Nevertheless, the principle of ‘Aiki’ describes an idea of oneness and harmony in the midst of conflict.  In aikido, it describes the notion of blending rather than clashing.

One of the secrets of Aikido is that it requires a completely calm mind and relaxed body to execute it.  Size, strength and speed of an opponent don’t matter in the slightest because force is never met with force.

The idea of oneness also includes oneness of the self.  The coordination of mind and body and making positive human connections through the extension of ‘Ki’ energy are central to the art.

Aikido is all about balance, timing, movement and self control.  The energy of another is welcomed, co-joined and redirected, usually to the ground or to immobilization.  To deliberately injure another person in anything other than the most dire and extreme circumstances, is considered a failure.

There are no competitions in Aikido, only regular practice.  It is often referred to as an internal art because it is considered to be a personal journey of learning whose principles have wide application in everyday life.

In the next article, I will continue this blog journey of applying the hidden principles of Aikido to the emotional human being at work.

For more reading about Aikido and its many secrets, visit my other blog at http://www.aikido-secrets-to-calm-success.com

If you are starting your own business or even considering it, you should read my book “Recession Riches and wealth” Go to the recession riches and wealth page on this blog.

Until next time

Gary