Spirit First, Technique Second

Fighting spirit. We all think we have it, right? But could you be losing your spirit little by little even though your skills are getting better and better? Here’s why I ask…

We just held a tournament at Dawn Barnes Karate Kids, where I serve as Program Director. The tournament brings out the best in everyone… and sometimes the worst. Either way, it’s a valuable learning experience. Not just for the kids, but for me!

This time around, I learned a lesson from a student named Steven. Steven is a great kid. He’s quiet, but always has a mischievous smile on his face. He also takes his time and is careful to perform his techniques correctly. For sure, Steven is a thinker.

Steven competed in three events, but at the end of the day, when the time came to award trophies, he did not win anything. Steven headed home wearing three participation medals around his neck.

Of course, we’re all still proud of him. Just the fact that he was brave enough to compete makes him a winner. Blah blah blah.

But Steven didn’t see it that way. He didn’t cry, but it was clear that he was upset… and confused.

His father saw it, too. In a beautiful moment of parenting, Steven’s father patted him on the back and said, “It’s okay, Steven. You did everything right. The other kids were just jumping around.”

When I first heard Steven’s father say that, I thought he was a sore loser. But the fact is Dad was speaking the truth.

The other kids were jumping around! Their technique was sloppy! Steven really did seem to do everything right!

But he lost. Not once, but over and over.

How is this possible? How can someone doing everything correctly lose to someone doing everything incorrectly?

The answer is simple…

Doing the right thing is the wrong thing when it’s not the main thing.

You see, Steven’s father wasn’t telling his son the whole truth. The whole truth was that little Steven wasn’t doing everything right.

What did he do wrong? Steven forgot the main thing about competing in a tournament—winning.

If you want to practice doing things correctly, do it at home or in class. If your main focus is doing things correctly at a tournament, or heaven forbid, a real fight, the odds are you’re going to lose. Here’s why—

When it comes to competition or survival, the main thing is winning.

That’s right—I said it. Winning is the main thing.

I know that may sound immature, or unsportsmanlike, or against the code of bushido, but it’s true. Maybe winning doesn’t matter when you’re playing soccer, or basketball, or darts, but in a fight for your life, winning is everything.

Losing means losing your life. Losing your life means you don’t get to play again. Sure, you can argue that no one truly “wins” a fight, but grow up—you can win a fight and you should.

If you’re attacked and you can protect yourself and maybe a loved one, and make it home safely, then you, my friend, are a winner.

That doesn’t mean I would call Steven a loser, but let’s not sugar coat it—he lost at the tournament. He’s still a great kid and a great student, which is why, like his father, I want to encourage him to keep training. But my point is that telling him that he did everything right is not going to help him. Instead, he needs to know—

There is more to martial arts than just doing things right.

The truth is that technique will only get you so far. To be your best, knowledge and skill must be led by spirit. Fighting spirit.

Without spirit, it doesn’t matter what you do, or how good you are doing it, the odds are good that you’re going to lose to someone with less skill and more spirit.

Don’t worry. I’m not about to go off on some new age rant about the power of our spirits. I’m not a hippie. I believe putting all of your faith in spirit is just as dangerous as putting all of your faith in knowledge and skill.

You can follow your heart and still end up alone. You can follow your passion and still end up broke. History has proven time and time again that neither the heart nor the brain is always right. And don’t get me started on intuition! UGH!

The trick is to find a way to balance the powers of your heart and brain in every part of your life; to coordinate your spirit and skill so they work together, not separately.

To be our best, we have to figure out when it’s time to feel and when it’s time to think… and be ready to take action on both. I can sum it up like this—

There’s a time to color inside the lines, a time to color outside the lines, and a time to tear up the coloring book and draw your own picture.

Now, even though spirit is just as limited as knowledge and skill, for the sake of argument, if I had to choose between being highly knowledgeable and highly skilled or being filled with fighting spirit, I would choose fighting spirit all day, every day. Here’s the reason—

You can do something incorrectly and still succeed. You can also do something correctly and still fail.

For example, in self-defense, you can successfully protect yourself even if you execute techniques improperly. You can also execute techniques properly and end up dead. Sorry, but doing things right does not guarantee success.

This is not breaking news. The father of modern day Karate, Gichin Funakoshi, put together a list of 20 precepts or instructions to guide the training of his students. Item number five on that list reads as follows—

Spirit first, technique second.

The way I read that, Master Funakoshi was telling us to focus on what you want first and how you’re going to get it second. He is telling us that techniques are just tools. And tools are worthless if not used in the service of a task.

Think about the martial artist who brags about knowing 100 kata or forms, but then gets beat up in sparring. Think about the martial artist who spars well in class, but gets beat up on the street.

That second one may sound familiar if you read Are You a Real Fighter or a Studio Fighter. That’s where I admitted that for years I was guilty of being a technique collector instead of a fighter. I was the poster boy for thinking too much, asking too many questions, and obsessing over technical details.

But don’t worry—I got over it! I think.

Sure, I still ask questions and pay attention to details, but I also practice letting my spirit lead the way. I practice trusting my instincts and following my feelings. And boy, what a difference that makes!

Like Gichin Funakoshi, Bruce Lee had something to say about all of this. I shared this quote in 7 Lessons I Learned From Bruce Lee and I’m going to share it again here.

In the Tao of Jeet Kune Do, Bruce wrote—

“Too much time is given to the development of skill and too little to the development of the individual for participation. Training deals not with an object, but with the human spirit and human emotions.”

In other words, spirit first, technique second.

It seems so obvious, doesn’t it? So, then why do we forget it? Why do we make life so difficult?

Take martial arts, for example. When you focus on spirit, fighting is simple—hit the other guy until he stops hitting you. But when you focus on technique, fighting is complex.

How should I hit the guy? How might he hit me? How can I be more efficient in my movements? How do other styles handle this?

Before you know it, you’re trapped in your head. You drown in a deluge of what-if’s. You get swept away in a torrent of how-to’s. The fires of your fighting spirit are flooded with philosophy, forms, and fitness routines. Your brain fills with information and experience while your soul spills out all of its grit, passion, and creativity.

Now, I presume this problem sounds familiar to you. I figure if you’re reading this, then you’re the cerebral type. You don’t just sweat and forget. You enjoy studying and reflecting about martial arts… and that’s great!

In my opinion, that’s what makes you a martial artist and not just a macho goon. But the problem is that smart people put so much attention on learning and perfecting techniques, they forget the purpose of learning them in the first place!

You may be a master of Tai Chi, a champion of Karate, or maybe you just nailed your last belt test, but what would you do if someone grabbed you by your throat?

What would you do if you were on an airplane and the guy next to you pulled out a box cutter?

What would you do if you came home and found a loved one being beaten by two attackers?

Ask yourself any of these questions and you’ll notice something interesting… every answer begins with a feeling, not a technique.

The first feeling may be fear, panic, or pain. If you freeze there, you will remain a victim of that situation.

But that’s not you. You’re a fighter!

Your fear and pain give way to anger and outrage. You feel a duty to do something. You’re fueled by a responsibility to protect yourself and others. Your spirit rises and you feel compelled to take action.

It’s only at that moment, that you’re faced with a question—what do I do? Your heart calls upon your head and hands to do something. Feeling leads to thinking.

Spirit first, technique second.

This is why I love James Bond. James Bond is driven by his mission. He wants to win and doesn’t care how.

As a result, he’ll drive a car with no tires, fly a plane with no wings, run over the heads of crocodiles, jump a motorcycle from one rooftop to another… whatever it takes to get the bad guy.

Now, I realize James Bond is not a real person, but to me, he represents the perfect balance of spirit and technique. And like James Bond, you can keep fighting even if you’re not the best shot, the best puncher, the best driver, or the best anything.

Stay driven by your mission and trust yourself to find a way to make things happen.

There are countless examples of real-life people who are just as inspiring as James Bond. I’ll give you one—my wife, Kate.

Kate is a born fighter. She was also a two-time All-American soccer player in college and the leading scorer on the team. Impressive, right?

Well, it’s even more impressive when you find out that her position on the field was sweeper. That means, except for the goalie, she was the farthest player away from the other team’s goal.

So, how in the world can a defender be the highest scoring player? I’ll tell you how… because Kate didn’t care about her position, she only cared about winning.

If she got the ball, Kate would run it and shoot it. Even as a freshman, a senior player once came to her before a game and asked for advice on the team’s strategy. Kate told her, “I don’t know what you’re going to do, but I’m going to put the ball in the net.”

Spirit first, technique second.

That’s not to say that Kate didn’t have any technique or respect for her teammates, it’s just that her first concern was winning—everything else was secondary.

One more thing about Kate. When we first started dating, I dropped by soccer practice to say hello. As I walked up, I saw the other girls warming up with all kinds of cool tricks with the ball. It was like a circus act.

Knowing that Kate was a star player, I asked her to show me some of her tricks. She just snorted, “Who cares about that? You don’t score with tricks.”

Lesson learned. Kate prioritized spirit over skills… and that’s why her picture is hanging in our college’s Hall of Fame.

It all sounds so simple, right? Spirit first! But it took me years to truly understand and accept it.

Even today, if I’m not careful, I can get preoccupied with doing things right. When that happens during sparring or rolling, I lose.

The crazy thing is I learned the limitations of technique before I ever met Kate. I was just too stupid at the time to understand what I was learning.

When I signed up for Tae Kwon Do, I’d already been training in my garage for a couple of years, which meant I wasn’t a typical beginner. I knew how to throw a punch and a kick. That gave me confidence. And when I say confidence, I mean I was an arrogant jerk.

When I hit the mats, I looked around at the other students and felt sure I could beat all of them. There was one student named Antonio, who appeared to be the easiest to beat.

Antonio was a grown man and I was a teenager, but I still felt superior to him in every way. I was faster, stronger, taller, and more experienced. Plus, he wore thick glasses, which made him seem even more vulnerable.

I almost felt sorry for the guy… until we sparred.

The first time we sparred, Antonio punched me right in the mouth. I couldn’t believe it. I rejected the punch as a lucky shot. In my mind, his technique was terrible, so it shouldn’t even count.

Antonio had no skills. He did nothing right. He charged in like a bull, his stance was wide open, and threw wild punches. And he was beating me! Class after class.

I was just like little Steven at the tournament. Even though I was doing everything “right”, I didn’t know how to win.

I see this all the time in martial arts. An aggressive beginner will beat an intermediate student simply because the beginner fights with spirit, while the intermediate student fights with technique. The beginner tries to win, while the intermediate student tries to do things right.

I talked about this in Faith: The Knockout Secret to Success. In that article, I suggested that it’s the beginner’s blind faith in their ability, plus their total ignorance of technique, that frees up their senses to create and seize opportunities.

It’s like when someone asks me to play a video game. I don’t play video games, so I just start hitting every button, over and over, as fast as I can. Why? Because over time, I’ve learned—

Doing lots of something is better than doing lots of nothing.

Unfortunately, I didn’t appreciate the power of spirit and blind faith back then. My ego and my intellect got in the way.

Of course, these are the dramas of beginners and intermediate students. Advanced students aren’t restricted by a lack of spirit or a lack of technique. Advanced students are capable of balancing their mind, body, and spirit, which empowers them to beat both beginners and intermediate students.

So, my message today, if you’re someone who takes pride in doing things right, is that technique alone won’t save you. You must develop your spirit.

But that’s easier said than done. Developing your spirit is the greatest challenge of all. Why?

Because you can’t develop your spirit without revealing your soul.

You have to face your fears, your limitations, and your vulnerabilities. You have to admit that you don’t always have the answer. You have to accept that, even when you do everything correctly, you can still die.

You have to believe that your best move may be something you’ve never done before. Your have to trust yourself to create new techniques in the midst of chaos.

When your training is focused on developing spirit, the questions are not centered on what you know or what you can do, they’re centered on who you are and what you believe.

When you train your spirit, you challenge your identity and force it to change. And change is never easy. That’s why so many people hide behind the security of technique and avoid it.

Don’t be one of those people. Don’t hide behind technique. Don’t define yourself by a degree or certification. Don’t worship the gods of knowledge and skill when they refuse to bless you with success.

Instead, give yourself permission to be imperfect. Allow yourself to do things wrong. Train yourself to break the rules when the need arises. Train yourself to be unpredictable. Train yourself to win.

It may sound a little over the top, but no kidding—one of the greatest breakthroughs of my training and life has been the discovery that technique is overrated.

The truth is a little spirit is more powerful than a lot of technique.

You know the saying, “Where there’s a will there’s a way.” Think about it. The will to do something comes before finding a way to do it. No one ever said, “Where there’s a way, there’s a will.”

So, what do you will?

Set your goal. Name your cause. Define your mission. Then seek the tools that will help you achieve success. Just be sure to never mistake the gathering and polishing of those tools as a mission.

If you’re not sure if any of this talk applies to you, let me ask you this—do you have everything you want? Is everything working out for you?

If you love your work, but you’re not making any money, then your spirit is strong, but your business plan is weak. If you’re making money, but you hate your job, then your business plan is strong, but your spirit is weak.

How about your relationship with your husband or wife, boyfriend or girlfriend? Don’t presume that by doing things “right”—holding hands, buying a gift, remembering a birthday– that your partner feels loved.

Instead of going through the motions of love, make it your mission to pay attention to what makes your partner truly happy. That will open the door to a million new, far more effective ways to show your love.

In short, make it your life’s work to find the balance between the heart and the head.

For all you thinkers out there, that means you must welcome chaos into your life as much as structure. Yes, you should plan and practice, but when better opportunities appear, you must train yourself to see them and take them.

In martial arts, I may practice a kata movement thousands and thousands of times, but if my spirit is screaming at me to grab a chair and smash it over a bad guy’s head, then I should pick up that chair and smash it over his head.

The big lesson is that maps are not the same as journeys. Plans are not the same as battles.

Whatever your mission in life, remember that your goal is to be effective, not just skillful. Your goal is to be successful, not just smart.

In that spirit, I hereby challenge you to stop thinking so much. Stop focusing on doing things right. Stop defining yourself by rules and traditions.

Focus on what you want, not how you’re going to get it. Focus on the destination, not the directions. Focus on getting things done, not getting things right.

The time is now to jump into the fight and start swinging. Be prepared to throw away your plans if that’s what it takes to win.

Accept it—if you depend on your mind alone, you’re more than likely going to lose. You’re going to end up on the floor, with a bloody lip, whimpering, “But I did everything right!”

If that happens, don’t give up. Catch your breath, make a new plan, and try again.

But this time, be confident enough to make improvisation part of your strategy.

Be brave enough to color outside the lines or to draw your own picture.

Be strong enough to smash through every wall, and run over every head, that stands between you and what you want.

Spirit first, technique second. That’s the secret to success and a happy life.

This article is based on Episode #37 of the Fight for a Happy Life podcast, “Spirit First.”