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90% rule
In the book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown
maintains that a 90% rule can be applied to most situations.
The rule is intended to facilitate good, clear decision making and remove
dithering.
Applying the 90% rule
Imagine that you ranked any situation on a percentage scale... Buying a new coat?
Start by applying some criteria:
How does the coat look aesthetically?
How comfortable is it to wear?
Is the coat the correct size/fit for your body shape?
Does the colour suit your skin?
Is it waterproof?
Is it warm?
Is it easy to clean?
Will the style date?
What do you plan to use the coat for?
How functional is the coat?
How often do you plan to wear it?
How versatile is the coat?
Can you afford the coat?
Do you want to pay this much?
How badly do you want it?
Is the coat precisely what you were looking for or an approximation?
Will you look back in 1 years time and be thrilled to own this coat?
Feel free to add your
own criteria.
Now score each question as a percentage, then calculate the overall
percentage for all the questions.
If the coat is a clear 90% score, then why not buy it?
If the coat is less than 90%, then keep looking.
Learn to focus
The purpose of the 90% rule is to discriminate between the things we sort-of
want (or settle for) and the things we feel genuinely passionate
about.
Instead of investing our energies arbitrarily,
we become more selective.
It is all about focus.
Standards?
This is not actually about high standards; either
ours or the students.
It is about passion.
Passion
Passion is a condition of focussed creativity.
Channelling emotion into a positive
action can imbue the activity with a
vigour that would otherwise be lacking.
A passionate person has imagination and drive.
They exude a sense of purpose. They are highly motivated and do not need to be
prompted/reminded/coached/praised.
The myth of multi-tasking
Multi-tasking is a jargon word appropriated from the computer
industry.
It refers to the process whereby the computer rapidly flicks from one
activity to the next in quick succession.
When a human attempts this, they typically become vague,
stressed and diffuse. Single-tasking is now considered to be far more productive and
realistic.
Discriminate
You cannot be passionate about absolutely everything.
In practice, you would get nothing done.
Selectiveness removes the extraneous; enabling you to put more energy
into fewer endeavours.
How well do you know tai chi?
The 90% rule should be applied to all aspects of
learning tai chi.
Ask yourself: how well do I know this
exercise/drill/form
movement?
Apply some obvious criteria.
If the answer is less than 90%, keep studying, ask for guidance and be patient with yourself.
Self-assessment
We encourage our students to
self-assess.
This inspires people to take responsibility for their own progress and be
honest about how well they know the material.
Should we do not agree with the student's
opinion, we simply ask for
proof.
If they know the applications, they can perform them readily and easily
against any opponent.
Tai chi fighting method
If your knowledge of any facet of
tai chi is less than 90% you cannot use it in realistic combat.
When you factor in fear, surprise etc, your chances
of giving it your best will drop considerably.
You may lose 50% of your skill from panic alone. If your knowledge of a particular application was only
so-so to start with, can you afford
to lose 50% and still apply the skill?
At least with 90% or 100% ability in class, you can afford to lose a lot
in real life and still potentially deliver a meaningful
response.
100%?
A lineage candidate would need to exceed
expectations in all areas of consideration in order to be accepted.
Anything less than exceptional would be doomed to eventually
mediocrity and failure.
90% in everyday life
The 90% rule ties in nicely with the willpower exercises
explained in the book The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal.
Instead of giving in to impulse and skilful marketing ploys, you mentally
take a step back and weigh up the situation.
How passionate are you about what is on offer?
Anything less than 90% is a waste of time
and effort.
This approach can be applied to pretty much everything in life.
I want to age with strength & dignity
If you want to age with good fitness,
how passionate are you? Self-assess.
Apply the 90% rule.
Your response should then be balanced with the concrete reality of your
actual commitment.
Balance wishful thinking and talk against action.
This is the truth of your convictions.
The trade off
Yin/yang is all about the act of
balancing.
It also recognises that most things in life require some sort of exchange.
For example: if you want to get good at tai chi, you will need to practice
every day.
This will mean training tai chi instead of doing something else...
There has to be a trade off. e.g. you give up an hour of TV and do an hour of
tai chi instead.
You cannot do both.
When Banzan was walking through a
market he overheard a conversation between a butcher and his customer.
"Give me the best piece of meat you have," said the customer.
"Everything in my shop is the best," replied the butcher. "You cannot find
here any piece of meat that is not the best."
(Koan)
Priority
The 90% rule can help you to determine what your priority is.
Priority is an interesting word.
It means that which comes first. You will note that priority is not plural.
The word 'priorities' is a contradiction in terms; you cannot have several
things that come first.
Tai chi priority
In tai chi, your fitness comes first.
Without good fitness you cannot train the
martial art or enjoy everyday life.
And if you do not practice, your fitness will not
improve.
Page created
11 September 1999
Last updated
16 June 2023
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