Quitting is Under-Rated

I recently hit my 25th anniversary as a Sensei for Sanchin-Ryu Karate. For twenty-five years straight, I’ve held my own classes and the experience has fed me in ways that have been massively rewarding. One of the questions I have been asked by newer Instructors is why people leave their dojo and/or cease to study. There have been numerous occasions during my first 20 years where I had a hard time tolerating the loss of a student. I would reach out to my instructor, the Chief Grand Master, and he would aide with some perspective. What I realized was that I had created an association of how I felt about myself and my worth based on what someone else did …

VIDEO: Chris Yonker, Performance Alchemist, on Mastering Your Emotions

In this video, Chris Yonker gives insight into the first steps to take in mastering your own emotions. When asked, most people would say they are in control over their emotions but the truth is that it doesn’t happen all the time. We often give up the control we have over our emotions based on the people around us, our environment, and our programming. We can reprogram ourselves to know how to turn the switch of our emotions on and off, to be connected or disconnected. Both are useful and even necessary at times. Awareness of how we feel and accepting responsibility for those feelings are two of the first steps to regaining control of your own emotions.

VIDEO: Chris Yonker Speaks on Ditching Distraction – Why We Need to Retrain Our Brains to Focus

In this video, Chris Yonker explores the ideas around focus and concentration. In today’s society, your ability to master your focus is imperative to your success. Due to the abundance of ongoing distractions like cell phones, text messages, email alerts, instant messages and more, people today have conditioned themselves to not even have the ability to focus and have become addicted to distraction. We are programming ourselves to concentrate on things in “bite-size” pieces of time and are unable to sit still long enough to concentrate. So, what can you do? Chris challenges you to retrain yourself to be focused, be present, be mindful and be in the here and now. The practices of yoga and meditation are hugely beneficial …

VIDEO: Chris Yonker Speaks on Spiritual Energy and Core Values

In this video Chris Yonker explores the idea of spiritual energy with an excerpt from the book “The Power of Full Engagement” by Jim Loeher and Tony Schwartz. He talks of spiritual energy not in the context of religion, but as a connection to a deeply held set of values and a purpose beyond our own self-interest. What is your life purpose? What do you hold as your personal value? Replenishing our spiritual energy is a vital resource in our lives and an area where many executives and entrepreneurs tend to not delve deeply enough. How will you take your unique strengths and assets and invest them in others in a greater way? That is what spiritual energy is about.

VIDEO: Chris Yonker on How We Run Our Minds

In this video, Chris Yonker turns your thinking to how you are running your own mind. He uses an example from his experience as a karate instructor of young children to break down the importance of being self-aware. Most people go throughout their day without thinking about how they are thinking. But who really runs your thinking? Are you truly aware that you run your own mind? Much time is often spent wondering about the future or dwelling on the past, and not tuned in to specifically what we are doing in this moment. Chris encourages you to be more conscious of how you are thinking and to consistently ask yourself if you are tuned in or not.