Go no Sen – Before it ended – Sen no Sen – Before it started
The concept of being proactive is indeed a martial concept that has been handed down for thousands of years. The great Sun Tzu wrote,” The greatest general is not one that wins 100 battles in 100 encounters, but the one that controls so well that war never breaks out, now that’s a great general.”
Originally taken from the Japanese art of swordsmanship, the idea of timing was based on the timing concept of Sen – that split second you became aware that you were in danger. Go no Sen would define a technique used in defense after you were attacked while Sen no Sen would define a technique used to defend yourself at the exact moment you were attacked or even right before.
Modern teachers use the term Sen-Sen no Sen to define those actions you use to be proactive and prevent an attack from forming in the first place.
These techniques can range from locking your doors to not visiting certain parts of town at certain times. Personally, it is taking responsibility for one’s own actions and planning ahead of time for what you want to happen. Like a great general forming his battle plans in his war room, the modern warrior plans his thoughts and actions in order to achieve his end goals.
As we negotiate our way through uncertain and unprecedented times, we should take the opportunity to sit down and spend time setting our goals and making a list of the things you we would like to accomplish over the next 12 months.
In a future lesson I will include (later this month) my work sheet for goal setting. I encourage everyone that wants to improve his or her productivity and become more successful to go through and work through the process. To do it correctly may take hours, but in the long run, it will allow you to achieve more in a short period of time than most people achieve in years.
One of the keys to martial arts mastery is being proactive and creating your own future through goal setting and strategic planning. Or you can be like most people, and simply go with the flow and react as things happen to you. It’s a choice to set our own direction or in this case, not setting goals and planning is a choice as well.
Wishing you all the best for future success.
Jeff Ader
Hanshi
U.S. Director: OSMKKF
範士 ジェフ エイダー
