Being Tough vs. Effective



I was listening to an interview with Rickson Gracie and he said something that I thought was pretty insightful. He talked about the difference of being tough vs. effective. Being tough, Rickson stated is about your mentality. Being effective is about your skill and technique.

I suppose you could describe those two things by using other words, however the point that I got out of it is that you can be tough and not efficient or effective at something. Efficiency and effectiveness comes out of proper strategy, tactics and technique.

Obviously, one should strive to have toughness, efficiency and effectiveness. And, lets not forget ethics. What is the intent behind why you are doing what you are doing?

Being tough is good, however being tough, efficient, effective and ethical in everything that you are doing in life gains much better results. Not to mention it enables you to have a better chance to not only survive the long haul, but maybe even enjoy the ride a little more. 

In martial arts / tactical training try to learn how to accomplish things with less effort and violence whenever possible. How can we be more efficient and effective rather than using only toughness to try to compensate for lack of strategy, tactics and proper technique?

Now when the sh*t hits the fan in life, do whatever you need to in order to accomplish what is necessary (within ethical parameters of course), be it survival, business or brain surgery. However when you are training, try to learn the knowledge and skill necessary to help you accomplish things more efficiently and effectively in ways other than just the brute force of "trying harder." As a matter of fact, sometimes being tough and/or trying harder isn't enough. 

 So what are you doing to become more efficient, effective and ethical in those areas of your life that you want to excel in? Change your perspective to look at the situation differently, so that you can leverage not only your toughness, but all attributes at your disposal. Work smarter and harder, be tough and effective!

 Keep going!


Best,
~Craig


 

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