This past Saturday, I stepped into the ring to battle.

At 47 yrs old, I was the geezer in the ring at the Muay Thai fights. I also did something pretty stupid – I barely warmed up before my first fight.

Throughout the day, I was helping judge the Little Dragons, the youth, and the teens.

By the time I realized my division was soon to start, I had to run up, get my gear on, and scatter to get the old joints and limbs stretched out and warmed up.

Add to this, my typical stressing out process I go through before a tournament, and I did NOT feel prepared.

There were 6 of us guys in the division.

My name was called, and I stepped in and looked up to the young ‘un I was about to battle. He was at least 6” taller than me – had long arms and long legs.

We started the fight, and he was way too fast for my liking.

My legs felt like they were 200 pounds each, and I just felt sluggish and slow.

I lost the first fight.

Now to strategize what I needed to do for the next battle…

WIN.

In order to do that, I needed to refocus (getting right of the butterflies), to do some things differently (the one ref told me the only reason I lost the first one was not doing enough of certain Muay Thai techniques), and I needed to out-score the upcoming youngster.

Which I did!

2 more fights – 4 more rounds – and 2 straight wins.

I took a 3rd place for the tournament, and came out of it smarter, with some bangs and bruises to remind me of the lessons learned.

As the saying goes, you win some, you lose some.

As long as you are learning from BOTH, you are way ahead of the game.

I have BIG aspirations for myself in business, and in my Muay Thai training/tournaments.

2016 is going to be my best year yet!

But in order to do both, this lesson need to be locked in and become part of my daily rituals (as they should be for yours, if you want to step up your game for the coming year):

* Accept that fear IS part of the game. If you aren’t uncomfortable, then there’s something wrong. You are getting cocky, letting your ego rule the roost. You NEED fear to push you!

There’s a great Muay Thai fighter I follow that writes a lot about fighting (she’s had 130 professional fights in Thailand in the past few years – more than any other Western woman OR man, ever).

She just wrote this (her name is Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu of 8 Limbs US):

“There’s nothing amiss when you feel nervous for a fight. But if you obsess over it and try to avoid the feeling, like swatting the flies, you’re putting a great deal of energy into something that you don’t have a lot of control over. If you accept the fear as part of the process and just be sure not to hold on to it – acknowledge its presence and its purpose but focus on more important things, like things you can control – then you can still experience the feeling without being pestered by it; it’s not a buzzing fly but the tickle of a feather.”

WHY is this important for your business?

Because fear is a necessity!

If you aren’t fearful about what you’re doing in business, you aren’t doing enough.

If you let the little things get to you, rather than focusing on the BIG PICTURE, then you’re completely distracted from the big moves your strategically thinking competitors are taking.

You need to TAP INTO that fear…seek it out (by doing bigger things – more often)…and learn to use it to your advantage.

In my fights, I was still feeling the fear as I got further into the fights, but I was controlling it – I was letting the fear actually fuel my punches and kicks.

I was using fear as an advantage.

Which is what YOU need to do too!

You don’t need to get punched in the head like I do 🙂

You just need to act, and behave like a warrior, and use fear as a competitive advantage.

Let your fear of doing massive things become your predominant point of focus.

It takes practice!

NOW… think of the biggest thing you want to accomplish in 2016.

Does it make your stomach TURN and TWIST?

Butterflies?

If not – you need to take your goal and ramp it up 10 TIMES.

If you DO feel that fear, that uncomfortable zone, those butterflies…then GOOD.

THAT is the right place to be.

Work and sit in that fear.

Learn to use that fear to FOCUS your efforts.

Use that fear to AMPLIFY your efforts.

Then reap the rewards.

My personal goal for Muay Thai is to go to Worlds next year (in the Masters Division – all old geezers like me).

THAT makes me scared beyond words.

I need to do SO MUCH WORK to get there!

I need to spar 3 times a week with tough competitors for the next year.

I need to up my conditioning TIMES 10.

I need to qualify at Provincials first – then Nationals next – to even be CONSIDERED for Worlds.

At 47 years of age – kind of a big thing I need to do here…and stay un-injured through all of this.

In my business, my goals are JUST as grand!

I’m using Story Playbook ideas to take my businesses to similar elevated levels too *(if you haven’t gotten into the Story Playbook world yet – https://www.storyplaybook.com, WHY NOT? It’s simple – it’s cheap – ad it’s PACKED with ideas to elevate your business and life!)

Just ONE of the ideas I am sharing in the December edition – and in the special report coming out December 1st – shows how to use unexpected and unusual story angles to start a business, grow a business, or sell a business.

Are you with me?

Do YOU want to create an EPIC story for 2016? One that you can share with your friends, family, and clients?

Then STEP UP, step into the ring with me, and let’s make this battle next year your best performance yet!

And it starts right here – https://www.storyplaybook.com

Troy