As I was walking to work today I remembered my Karate days (I always think of strange things when I walk and I must look even more strange as I am often smiling with no obvious reason). As I envisioned myself fighting, I froze the image (I have a very vivid imagination) to the falling part. Every person training in martial arts has to learn how to fall. And there is a lot of falling flat on the floor involved. If you don’t know how to do it properly, when you actually fall there is a great chance to injure yourself (hit the head on the ground, sprain your wrist, crack your ribs…not trying to scare you here, just giving the odds).
Same with life. There will be many cases where we will “fall”. We need to find the strength to stand back on our feet. I remember a series of interviews I watched some time back. A number of very successful entrepreneurs were asked to give their opinion on what they considered the most important skill that one should have to do business. The answer that stuck with me was something along the lines “the most successful people I have met are the one who recover from falls the quickest. You should be able to take the falls. What makes the difference is how quickly you stand back up and start walking again”.
Learn how to fall people. It won’t always be graceful but no matter how hard the impact is or how much it hurts we need to stand up. Now straighten your back and walk!
