Martial Arts World News Magazine - Volume 23 | Issue 3

THE WARRIOR WAY
Pressure and Choice In
Motivation
by Grandmaster Bill Clark
By asking yourself a series of questions, you not only discover what your true
motivation is in life, but you can use it to create pressure on yourself to perform. Wait a
minute! Aren’t we trying to get rid of pressure? Well, it all depends…
Not all pressure is bad; some pressure is good. Good can motivate
you into taking positive action on things that are important to
do. The physical definition of pressure is: A force that pushes or
urges… but we also define the word through the emotions we
assign to it in our lives. So the emotional definition of pressure can
mean a constant state of worry and urgency.
As my dear friend, Dr. Jenny Susser - an extraordinary
sport psychologist specializing in human
performance, says: Pressure is just pressure! How
you feel about it is what makes the difference –
to empower you or defeat you. Choose!
The Power To Choose
We have the power to choose. We all
feel pressure in our life, personally,
professionally, spiritually, with
our health, wealth, family,
pets, responsibilities, community,
success, failure…
but some of us deal
with it much better
than others. So I’m
going to propose
to you that your
response is heavily
influenced by
your relationship
to your goals and
motivations in life.
If you are on track, it’s almost impossible to be knocked over
when pressures mount. Instead it can make you even more determined
and can take your motivation to a whole new level. I think
about world leaders and business icons who were unstoppable,
came back from bankruptcy or unspeakable events in the world.
And I think about people and friends who’s bout with life-threatening
illness totally reframed their sense of self and motivation to live
fulfilled lives.
When life is relatively comfortable, your motivation is lower –
you’re not as hungry as when you were younger, fitter, healthier,
poorer. Motivation is also low when you don’t have a compelling
reason or reward to do it.
GRANDMASTER BILL CLARK is a 9th degree black belt and a former PKA Fighter of
the Year. He is widely considered one of the top experts in martial arts business with over 50 years
of leadership and innovation, having been inducted into almost every Hall of Fame in the industry. He
is one of the largest multi-school owners in the world.
100 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 23 | ISSUE 3
Photo (right) by anutr tosirikul