And on this day...

Government of the people by the people for the people has not perished from this earth.

A President-elect could certainly do worse than to model himself on Abraham Lincoln.

To quote Wil Wheaton:

I wasn't expecting it, but the historical significance of the moment totally overwhelmed me, and I will admit that I got something in both of my eyes when I voted for Barack Obama. I've voted in every election since 1990, and this is the first time I've ever felt genuinely hopeful when I cast my ballot, instead of resigned.

and later that same day:

I just called Ryan at school and told him to look around, because he'll want to remember where he was when Barack Obama was elected president.

Tae Kwon Do and Leadership

I'm of two minds about this essay: I think I make some pretty solid points and I'm certainly sincere. However, I let myself get stuck under too much time pressure to really put any polish on the document. If only I had infinite time and a spherical chicken of uniform density....

Oh well, on Saturday, NumberOneSon and I will fall off the log again.

The topic of this essay is supposed to be about leadership and Tae Kwon Do. As I look at it, it's more of a loosely-connected series of thought fragments. Not my greatest work but the realities of RealLife have been something of a load lately. It may be late, it may be choppy but it's done!

Let the essay commence:

A discussion of Tae Kwon Do and Leadership

Submitted by:
Axiom

In partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the rank of 2nd Dan in Tae Kwon Do

8 October 2008

The core of leadership

Integrity is the core value of leadership. It is central to every form that we see in our lives. Sometimes this means that we are self-critical and sometimes that we should feel justifiable pride in our accomplishments. Sometimes, we must be critical of others and sometimes we have the chance to shower praise on those that deserve the accolades.

Fundamentally, leadership is impossible without this foundation of honesty and integrity.

Dedication

In that vein, I dedicate this test to the memory of my grandfather who was the epitome of integrity and was devoted to the service of others throughout his life. I honor his memory and strive to be a credit to his example in all ways.

Leadership starts with you

I realized several years ago that, if I had to pick the most important single word that summarized what Tae Kwon Do has meant to me, it would have to be “balance.”

I feel more physically balanced every day. I am stronger than I was several years ago both statically and dynamically. I can lift a heavier load and swing a heavier sledge hammer (these sorts of skills are in fairly high demand at our house). I also know more about what my body is doing and I can jump higher, hit harder and land lighter.

Mentally, Tae Kwon Do is key to my daily mental and emotional balance. The dojang is a place where I can put all of my daily frustrations to good use. The pads do not mind that I am using them as an outlet for any of the emotional baggage that I happened to bring with me.

In fact, I find that if I am away from class or if I am unable to find time to practice on my own, I feel very out of balance. Even people at work have learned, "when Axiom starts to lose his relentless optimism, it is time to send him to the base gymnasium to kick the heavy bag."

What I learned this year

One of the points that Grand Master Hong has strongly emphasized is that the first degree black belt is not a stopping point. I have to agree: this past year has certainly been the most fun that I have ever had in Tae Kwon Do. If you leave right after receiving the first black belt, you will miss out on all of that.

For example, one of our masters pointed out in one family class that one of the most important characteristics of the black belts was how relaxed they are on the mat. I am sure that there is a long list of reasons of why that might be the case. Here are some that are true for me.

I understand the basics of all the moves that we regularly practice. I know where I want my feet to be, how I should chamber my kicks, how to fall properly and so forth. These days, my focus is on doing these things well and, as the master has said, the key is to learning to performing these moves well is to, first, relax. For example, I had to give up the bad habit of always trying to kick as hard as possible. Speed, power and precision will come with practice.

This year, I have also learned that I can finally do more than one thing at a time. I understand how to flow one move into another. The combination kicks are a perfect example of this: after years of practice, I understand how to continue from one kick and step right into the next move as a continuous flow rather than a series of discrete, awkward and frustrating steps.

Of course, in the spirit of honesty and integrity, I have to remind myself that while I understand how to do these things, I still need plenty of practice before I can do them well.

Testing is fun

Sometimes, leadership is about changing the minds of those around you. For example, in talking with other students this year, I have tried to push the message that testing is fun. It is straightforward, finite and immediately gratifying.

The black belt tests might seem scarier. There is certainly more material that you are responsible for than at any other test but, frankly, it is exactly the same stuff that you have been practicing for years. Sure, you might have to read your essay in front of a room full of people but, truly, is that harder than breaking boards?

Besides, it is a great feeling to know that everyone in the room wants you to succeed.

Leadership at work

My role at work is fairly complex. Without getting into too many details, I am what is sometimes called a matrix manager. I work with a pool of people across many different projects that literally span the globe. My job involves helping those people get their jobs done, usually by eliminating whole classes of problems and distractions before they can happen. Frankly, I haven't been able to predict how a single work week would go since I started working with this group and I certainly almost never get to spend any time in my "comfort zone."

For example, I was recently out of the country with a small team visiting another facility and, as we were setting our hardware up at the front of the briefing room, I asked the project manager who would be doing the days briefing. She answered, "You are. I figured that it would be all you for the whole week."

So, in the next 30 seconds, while I formulated my presentation plan for the rest of the week, I was thinking "compared to this, black belt testing will be a breeze!"

Tae Kwon Do parenting

There is very little about Tae Kwon Do that requires every aspect of leadership like parenting does. My boys and I have been studying Tae Kwon Do together for enough years that it is very hard to remember the days when we did not already know our evening's schedule a week ahead of time.

As a Tae Kwon Do daddy, I always have to struggle to keep my mind on my own time in class and not get wrapped up in thinking about how they are doing. Frankly, that has always been my poomse weakness. When NumberOneSon and I test together, as soon as I think about how he is doing, I make a mistake.

On the other hand, I am always thinking about how my performance and my actions in class. Am I performing to my best ability? Am I setting a good example?

Finally, I think I have temporarily adopted every child in the family classes at one point or another. OtherBoy and AnotherBoy have seen this up close: our practice sessions rapidly left pure rehearsal of our choreographed skit and were dominated by Korean terminology, quiz questions and one-step-sparring. Why? Because I am a daddy and I want their tests to go smoothly. I can't not do what I can to help.

Redefine success

Sometimes, leadership requires us to seek out opportunities to fail. We need to seek out personal challenges, fail to achieve them, make a plan for success and ultimately achieve victory. Sometimes, this requires us to redefine our milestones and points of success along our path.

About two months ago, I started working through the optimistically labeled “six week program” at www.hundredpushups.com. In theory, some people are able to start this program and then, six weeks later, immediately pound out 100 pushups in a row.

I have to admit, I am not one of those people.

I can currently only do between 40 and 50 pushups comfortably in a single stretch. I am currently rerunning the week four schedule. However, there is an interesting aspect of their plan, though: the last step of week four requires you to complete over 160 pushups in less than ten minutes. In effect, I am exceeding the difficulty of my ultimate goal and, really, I need to learn how to ramp down rather than work up.

I look at this as a perfect example of how you can always redefine success: while I would like to be able to able to say that I can pound out 100 pushups in a row, I have already demonstrated I can do far more if I allow myself more time and do them in smaller chunks. Said another way, I have already achieved my goal of higher upper body strength and, over the next few weeks, I will continue to work on my stamina.

Relentless optimism

Sometimes, leadership is all about recognizing when others surpass your instructions and advice. We can just stand back and watch it happen.

For example, my boys are years ahead in their fitness, schooling and general confidence in how things are going to turn out in life. I know for certain that I never in my life had the entire girls cross country team cheering my name as I ran towards the finish line!

That image of NumberOneSon's last race nicely summarizes my entire philosophy: relentless optimism with a smile.

Next essay will be forthcoming

Along with all the other fun, NumberOneSon and I will be on the hook for another essay for our Ee Dan test. We are required to discuss "Tae Kwon Do and leadership." Funnily enough, I'm feeling the opposite problem of most people: I think I may have too much material.

Leadership? Hello, I'm a Dad! I'm on the hook for leadership all the time!

This is going to take some editing....

NumberOneSon just finished his first race

This year, NumberOneSon joined the cross country team. No encouragement or pressure from me - the school decided to open up the team to the six graders and he decided "why not?" So, after first trying distance running a week ago, today they had their first race against several area schools.

Key points from his first race:
1. He wasn't first and he wasn't last.
2. As he came out of the woods before heading into the final curve, several parents turned to me and remarked "he's not out of breath?"
3. He really sprinted into the finish to put a solid capper on the day.

See? This is what Tae Kwon Do does for you: it gives you the confidence that you can try anything and that your well-developed cardiovascular system will carry you through. You won't be at the front in your first race but you won't be last, either.

Good job, boy!

Pushups are kicking my ass.

I've been trying out hundredpushups for the last few weeks for some reason that seems lost to me in the haze of pectoral and triceps stiffness that now dominates my life. The claim of their program is as follows:

If you're serious about increasing your strength, follow this six week training program and you'll soon be on your way to completing 100 consecutive push ups!

I'm going to have to agree that, at least for my fitness level, their schedule really and truly does seem to put you on the path to being able to do 100 push ups in a row. Fundamentally, the idea is to treat push ups as if they were a form of bench press, where you vary the number of repetitions rather than changing the amount of weight over time.

So, three times a week, I head over to the gym at work and slog through a series of sets according to their schedule. During each week, the number of repetitions per set increases but so does the recommended rest period between sets. There's also this important note at the end of each week:

Just repeat the week you struggled with until you're strong enough to move on to the next level - I promise it will be worth your while!

And, I admit, I believe it. That said, I don't have to like it. I'll be repeating week 3 which, among other torments, expects you to end the week by doing at least 121 push ups within a period of about ten minutes. This is working from the "Advanced" column and, since I'm a stupid man, I'm not willing to demote myself to "Slightly less advanced" for an easier workout.

Given that my arms collapsed on me a few of times this week, I'm going to have to give it another go.

Benefits-wise, I noticed something today that really surprised me: push ups help my poomse. See, I have fairly weedy arms: I'm stronger than I look when it comes to picking up heavy things (I have two rapidly growing boys after all) or whacking things with a sledgehammer, but my arms don't convey a whole lot of oomph when it comes to punches and blocks.

After three weeks, I don't feel like I have Popeye arms but I definitely do notice a certain snap that comes from a stronger core and upper body. Koryo, for instance, has quite a few chops that have, in the past, felt more like friendly waves (at least from the inside). Now, I feel more of a sense of "it would be best if you never hit someone this hard unless you really wanted them to be hurt ... possibly very badly."

In all, I heartily recommend hundredpushups, especially if your second dan test is looming on the horizon....

You have got to be kidding me.

If you follow the sport, you've seen this story: Kicked out: Cuban banned for life

Honestly, I don't think that the Tae Kwon Do judges were perfect this year. Frankly, they're never perfect. I challenge you to name any sport with perfect judges and / or referees. Sometimes calls go "our" way and sometimes they don't.

But this was a guy who was arguing with a clock! He was up by a point and only had a minute and two seconds to go in the second round. He could have gotten up on his feet after 59 seconds, wobbled around on his broken toe for a minute, made it to the break and then taken some time to put a little more tape on it.

Look, the rules say "you get a minute for medical attention." When Su Li-Wen was reduced to basically lifting herself up off the mat with her face because her knee was in such awful shape, the referee told her coach to stay out of the ring. She had had her time but still wanted to keep fighting. If she was able to get up and get back in the game under her own power, he was going to let her do it. If not, he was clearly going to award the match to Croatia.

Angel Matos and his coach clearly never bothered to think about those mystical concepts called "rules" or "common human decency." Seriously, if you're going to kick someone in the head because you don't have the sense to watch the sixty second clock count down, you shouldn't be allowed out in public.

I don't think I'll be showing the boys that video. What a travesty. Great job, Cuba. You must be very proud.

If you aren't watching, you should be

If you aren't watching the Olympic sparring videos online, you should be. The quality of the videos and interface are frankly excellent. I also love the fact that you can watch the match essentially raw. There's a little bit of text commentary but it's very nice that you don't have to listen to a talking head when you'd rather listen for the smack on a hogu.

And no matter who you're rooting for, you have to be impressed with the sheer heart of Su Li-Wen in the 57 kg class.