Think Like a Black Belt in Business
We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate our 600th blog post and podcast, then to talk with one of our favorite people. Jim Bouchard has been active in martial arts for 25 years, and has been inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He’s a speaker, coach and author of two books, including the newly released book, Think Like a Black Belt.
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600 posts & shows, congratulations!
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Another book…congratulations to YOU! We just love this concept of thinking like a Black Belt…and you don’t need martial arts experience to get something out of this book, right?
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No, not at all. In fact, these are universal concepts. I think one thing that is special about martial artists is that it’s an integral part of our practice that we look at these characteristics, but anybody can do that. The message is this, if you don’t have these basic characteristics and mind set traits in your life, it’s going to be very difficult to employ any kind of system for success.
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One of the things that struck me while reading this book, you say that “Black Belt is a philosophy of action.” If I’m a sales person, I can understand how I practice, but how do I practice if I’m the bookkeeper or somebody like that?
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Oh man, you practice if you are the janitor! You know my colorful resume, that’s one of the jobs I had, and years later I can look back and see it was a job that taught me so much. Leadership is important at all levels whether a janitor, a bookkeeper, or even a clerk at a burger joint. It’s a matter of learning your craft or trade, and learning the traits that make it a special job. All jobs are special because you’re involved in the success of the organization; you’re involved in the customer experience. When I use the janitorial job as an example, people will tell me “Well no one sees what that person does, nobody recognizes that.” Absolutely not! When you walk into that organization’s lobby and you see it is spic and span lobby, that’s part of their branding. So that janitor has to take a leadership role. He or she does that by doing excellent work, by being proactive, and by mentoring new people. People at any level in their workplace should be employing these ideas…especially if you want to move up.
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In your book, you say courage is one of the key components of leadership, and you cite some research that shows people fear other people more than death!?!
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Yes, we fear looking stupid and speaking in public more than death. It does take courage to share our ideas, and to present them. Courage isn’t the absence of fear…that’s stupidity, actually! Courage is your ability to face those fears and do what you need to do. That can be a learned trait, but it does take training and practice.
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Using the Black Belt mindset, could you give some suggestions for anyone who is facing a fear right now? It’s not easy to get past it, so what are some suggestions you can share based on your experiences?
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It’s not easy and isn’t that the rub? Here’s where Black Belt mindset is so important. I’ll equate it to my life in the ring…my short, un-illustrious career as a boxer. People ask me all the time, “Did it hurt, were you scared?” and I always say YES! We do so much to avoid pain, but pain is part of it. My message is this…it is tough sometimes, it’s not easy, you’re gonna take your knocks…but you are not going to have victory unless you get in the ring. You’ve got to start with a decision. Then we can backtrack and mitigate that fear by accepting smaller challenges, attainable goals, and work from there.
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Great advice Jim, and your book is chock-full of them. Where can people get your book?
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My website, That Black Belt Guy, is the best place and that’s where my blog is too. It is a like living book club where we’ll talk about the concepts in the book and how to apply them in life, so jump in there and let’s have some respectful debate.
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Find Think Like a Black Belt on Amazon.
Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00600-062410.mp3
