What is up guys? My name is Bill Jones. I am the head instructor and owner of Top Level Martial Arts in beautiful, downtown Cuyahoga Falls. It is a wonderful, beautiful morning, again, a little chilly but that’s to be expected in mid-November. I am also the co-host of Black Belt Tips, a martial arts and pop culture podcast put out by myself and Mr. Edward Whitney. It’s a great podcast. You can download that on iTunes and Google Play app, or Google Music Play app. You can also use other things, as long as they draw from that same source, you can listen to us. Check us out. It’s called Black Belt Tips. You don’t have to be a martial artist to listen to it.
Today’s mini cast, for those of you who haven’t heard these, what I do with these mini casts is I talk about the things that I feel black belts do. What I mean by black belt, I’m not talking about necessarily black belts in martial arts. I’m talking about people who are black belts in life. You ever been around one of those people who you’re just like, “Man, this guy’s got it all figured out.” They’ve just got it all. They’re successful. They’re happy. So, I’ve been fortunate enough in my life to meet ton of these types of people. What I like to do is talk about some of the things that they do in life, and some things I’ve gleaned off of them over time.
Today, or actually, let’s talk about last time. Last time, we talked about the idea that perfection is the enemy of done, that if you wait until the timing is perfect for everything, or you’re always waiting, that’s all you’re ever going to do is wait. We talked about that last time. This time, I want to talk about a second part of that. So, perfection is the enemy of done. But, then there’s a second part you always have to think about, and I’ll get to it in a minute. But, I want to tell you a story real quick.
When I was in the army, we were learning how to fortify positions, and dig trenches, and make sure that when you do this, you do it with intersecting fields of fire, and there’s specific ways to do things. But, we had this idea that you need to constantly be improving your position, and what that means is obviously you don’t just dig a hole and then stand in it, because the enemy is going to come at you, and all they’re going to see is the top of your head poking out of a hole, and that’s not good. So, you were always trying to improve your position. The goal was to make it look as natural as possible. You’d find foliage from out in the woods, and kind of put it around your position in a way that makes it look like it blends in with everything else around you. Then, that foliage, because it’s usually dead, would die, so you couldn’t just have all this lush green and then your dead foliage, and then more lush green. It makes it really obvious where you are. You always had to be working to improve that position. The grenade holes in your foxhole needed to be better. There’s always something to fix.
I think this is a really important thing in life as well, and in business, and in anything that you’re trying to become successful at. So, this idea is good enough never is, all right? So, if perfection is the enemy of done, so in other words, I’m that soldier, man, I need a foxhole, boom, boom, boom, stuff starts going down. It’s like okay, this is going to have to work for now, okay? It’s not perfect, but it’s going to have to work. I’m going to have to use it. I’m going to have to start using it. If I wait for it to be perfect, I’m probably going to get shot doing it.
Instead, I start using it. But, then good enough never is. You’re always improving your position. Have you ever met that person? Maybe it’s like a housing project, like a project in your house, and it’s like okay, we’re going to do the floors. You get half of it done, and it’s like, well that’s good enough. Then they take a break, and then it just stays like that forever. Or, maybe there’s cabinetry in your house. You want to put up cabinets, and then never put the doors on them. You know what I mean? You just have this bunch of empty cabinets with no doors. That was the start, that perfection is enemy of done, so it wasn’t perfect. That’s okay. But, then you have to understand that you need to constantly be improving your position. Good enough never is. Once you’ve started, you have to continue improving.
Think about any business, any successful person you’ve ever seen, they constantly strive to improve whatever it is they do, because successful people, black belts in life, they understand that success is not a stagnant place. Success is something you work at daily, and you constantly have to improve yourself, your product, and everything you do to maintain success. This is why Top Level Martial Arts in Cuyahoga Falls has become the number one martial arts school. I was at Giant Eagle, which is a shopping center for anybody who’s maybe not in our area, I was there. I had one of my shirts on. They’re like, “Oh, you’re at that top level martial arts place.” I’m like, “Yeah, I go there.” I didn’t even tell them who I was. I didn’t tell them I own it. They’re like, “Yeah, I’ve heard in Cuyahoga Falls, if you do martial arts, you do it at Top Level Martial Arts.” That floored me. I was like, I’ve never heard that. That’s amazing. That’s the reputation of the company I run. That’s amazing.
It’s not all me. It’s because I’ve hired amazing people who do great things. It’s because I follow the idea that good enough never is. It will never be good enough. Nothing is never good enough. That is a challenge because you will get tired. You will run yourself ragged sometimes, but that’s what you have to do if you want to succeed at whatever it is. Parenting, okay, good, you got the kids that bike, now go teach them to ride it. Oh, they can ride it now? Great. Teach them to jump off the ramp. You’ve got to keep going. Good enough never is.
All right, guys. I hope this has been helpful. If you’re looking for my podcast, again, it’s not the same kind of tone as this. It’s more fun, and Ed and I kind of just banter back and forth for an hour. Definitely check that out. It’s Black Belt Tips on the Google Music Play app, I always forget what it’s called, and then also of course on iTunes. Then, if you’re in the Cuyahoga Falls area, you want to stop buy and meet us, and talk about martial arts, I’d love to talk about that with you, or just chit chat. Have a great day, guys. I’ll talk to you soon. I’m going to come at you with something special next time, so definitely tune in for the next one. Have a good one.
