Are you a Ninja?

Are you a Ninja?

You don’t need to answer that.  I already know that most of you reading this are not Ninja’s, not in the literal sense of the word anyway…

The real question is, do you have what it takes to be a Ninja?  Whether that’s in your business life or family life, being a Ninja means being able to focus on your goals and achieve them no matter what.  You see, if you want something bad enough, why should you let anything get in the way of that?  Of course, there are limitations to this mindset such as morals and laws, which, should obviously be adhered.

Marianne Williamson once said, “Our self-perception determines our behaviour.  If we think we’re small… we tend to behave that way.  If we think we’re magnificent… we tend to behave that way. “

How we think of ourselves is often the central force of what stops us achieving our goals.  Common thoughts are “I’m not good enough”, “I wouldn’t be able to do that”, and when we face the tasks at hand it turns in to “I’ll try” or we walk away from it completely.  “I’ll try” is just the same as walking away, you have already decided that you are going to fail.  Now you are just giving yourself more work and re-affirming the negative thoughts you had in the first place.

Board Breaking as a metaphor

Breaking a board with your bare hands is an opportunity to listen to the thoughts in your head.  To be fully aware of the negative voice that is telling you that the board is too thick, you are too weak and no way can you do it.  Instead, tell yourself that you can do it.  Tell yourself, “it is only wood and I am strong enough”.

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right.”

Often when people approach board breaking they have already seen some people breaking it and that is enough possibility to allow them to break it.  “If she can do it, so can I”.  However, some people approach the board and are openly saying “I won’t be able to do this” or “I’ll give it a go but I don’t think I can”.

The important part of this exercise whether you break the board or not is to be aware of the thoughts in your head – the positive and the negative.  Think about other times in your life when you hear those thoughts – what are the outcomes then?  Do you let negative win or do you simply tell the negative thoughts to shut-up?

“Psychologists tell us we think 50,000 thoughts a day…between 1,000 and 5,000 thoughts in a single hour. Many of those thoughts are about ourselves and about our performance, about our lovability, our capability and our significance. So the key is to control those thoughts, making certain they’re always positive.” – Jack Canfield

Breaking barriers

Board breaking is an excellent way to look at the barriers in our life, the thoughts that hold us back from achieving our goals.  Of course, these barriers could also be physical.  No matter what though, they are barriers and you need to work out how you are going to deal with them.

“There comes a time in a man’s life when to get where he has to go – if there are no doors or windows – he walks through a wall.” – Bernard Malamud

Using a thick marker and writing your barriers on the board before your break it will give you an experience that you can easily recall when you are faced with new barriers.  Breaking that board with your own hand, seeing your barriers broken in two is a powerful and empowering experience.  The sense of joy and adrenaline you will feel is second to none.

So, should you do it?

Of course you should.  You already know it is possible and hopefully you can see how powerful an experience it can be.  With the proper training and guidance breaking a board with your bare hand is achievable and a lesson learner.