“What Is Your System?”

Five months ago I was in Atlanta being inducted into the BKF Hall of Fame, an “Ancient Alpha Warrior,” someone who has been in the arts for more than 47 years. I thought I was there to receive an honor. But sitting at the dinner table with men of great accomplishment, none of them were speaking of how wonderful their skills were, or the battles they had fought and won. The conversation was about their schools, their students. What they were giving back to the world. And the conversation came around to me. “So, Steve…what’s your system?” Not “what have you learned” but in essence “what have you synthesized and created from your life experience?”

In other words…”what are you giving back?”

Very different question. I fumbled with the answer. And still am, just a little. But I have a glimmer. And God willing and the river don’t rise, by the end of 2020 I’ll have clarity.

I know, 2021 is technically the first year of the new decade. But I’m going to consider 2020 that “first year.” My business. and I want to apply that question to my entire life, not just the arena of martial science.

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That said, I look at the next decade and realize that I have a chance to architect an absolutely critical phase of my existence. And planning out the first year, 2020, will be the cornerstone. Get that right, and the rest will come smoothly. So my Christmas present to myself is planning that first year out. To that end, I’ve got a display-sized white board in my office, divided into 12…