Tatakai

In the beginning I would like to apologize for the delay and also I would like to apologize for the long post and I hope that it will be worth your time.

As we’ve seen from the results of the survey that the choices differ for each point some of the choices were selected due to past experience for the participant some were selected according to instinct and some were selected according to logic analysis of the situation anyway all the participants made their choices to ensure that the results of this meeting will be for their benefit and that is natural, since I’ve mentioned that it is a very important meeting that would affect your entire life so it is natural for a person to do his best not to mess up, BUT (and that is a big but) as might be seen by the results of the survey that everyone have done their best but not their all and that is also natural it is not because that they r careless at the contrary I believe that whoever to be put in such situation will try his all to ensure his success BUT (and that is another big one) is he really trying his all? Is he really doing everything that can be done?

A great samurai once said “When fighting an enemy and your sword is broken hit him with your hands, if your hands r cut press him with your shoulders and if your shoulders r cut bite him with your teeth” many people may find that a bit extreme well I think the contrary since if I may add “if your teeth r damaged kick him with your legs and if your legs r cut then keep your eyes fixed on him as u honorably pass away regretting nothing”.

Now what could make a person go that far? And how can anyone go that far? Well it is simply that when u r fighting for your life or what is really important to u (more important than your own life) u should not hold back and about how can he do it well that was the samurai of these days was trained, lived and died for.

Now everyone must be wondering, “What the hell does that have to do with the survey” well the situation that I’ve requested the participants to imagine themselves in is the situation of a very important business meeting that their future depends on, in other words it is a situation similar to that of the samurai in a battle since in both situations the person is fighting for what is important to him and in both situations the person should not give up till he reach his goal.

Now let’s get back to the survey, for the first point that concern the preparations for the meeting the majority had chosen to focus on the subject of the meeting focusing on ones self and that may work out most of the times but not all of the times since we can’t forget the influence of the other people in the meeting since by knowing their strong points and week points u would be able to control the flow of the meeting to your interest.
The second point is when having extra time before the meeting. The majority selected to do a second check for the points u r going to propose while others thought that it will be a waste of energy to do the same thing twice and that u should rest to be fresh when going to the meeting (well in my opinion that it depends on the level of confidence in your primary preparations).
For the third point which is the dressing up for the meeting I may say unfortunately we live now in a world that the appearance is more important than the person himself so u should be well dressed for the occasion but that will fall also in the field of knowing the likings and dislikings of the people u r meeting with.
For the forth point which is about how u r feeling before the meeting. Well if u worry u won’t get anything of that, if u convince yourself that u won’t succeed in order not to get disappointed if u get rejected then u’ll probably won’t succeed and that is due to the fact that when u set your mind to losing your motivation will be decreased to minimum since u’ve put in mind that it is OK to lose and u’ll actually lose but when u convince yourself that it is a peace of cake and that u’ll surely succeed then u’ll think high and work reach your goal no matter what since u won’t settle for otherwise and for that u would succeed.

The fifth point, which is about your state inside the meeting room. A lot of people may think that whether u sit at the same level with the others or a bit lower will not be an issue but I assure u the contrary and if u want to make sure of that then the next time that u have a conversation with someone sit in a chair that is lower than the chair of the person u r talking to and u’ll notice in a while that your spirit of arguing is starting to get weaker and that u start to lose motivation while when u r on the same level or higher (I mean the level of height u r sitting in) u’ll get a boost of confidence that will dramatically helps u in your argument.

The sixth point, which is about the level of your defense when the people u r meeting with starts to attack a weak point in your proposal. Many people may think that it is OK to acknowledge your opponents abilities and allow him to take that point against u but unfortunately that won’t do in our life, why? Simply because if u give your opponent an inch then he will take a mile, he may acknowledge your honesty but how is that useful to u if your proposal is going to turned down.

The seventh point, which is in the case of failure. Let me quote from the new Rocky Balboa movie (yeah even I didn’t see that coming) “it is not important to be able to take hard punches but most importantly how u’ll deal with them”. I’m glad that no participant in the survey had chosen to give up after being turned down and that indicates that the world is not as decayed as I thought it is…;D

Now how can a person make the right decision let’s say not all the time but most of the time especially when u can’t afford to mess things up? Well I’ve mentioned many similarities between the situation at hand and that of the samurai in battle and that wasn’t for nothing since life itself is nothing but a constant battle whether battles with outer opponents (people in a meeting) or with inner opponents (fears and desires).
(When I say life is but a constant battle I don’t mean that u should live your life with force and violence at the contrary a great samurai once said, “The real victory is the one u win with your sword unsheathed”)

Some people doesn’t realize this fact or may be chose not to, they just choose to drift through life without having to stand for anything they choose to live a simple easy life and try to run away from any hardship that would meet them in life thinking that they r living a happy life with nothing to disturb them. Well it is enough just to call them drifters.

Now how to prevent yourself from becoming a drifter? The world is a scary place full of pain and hardship and it is possible that at one point of your life u become tired of all that and think how nice it will be just to run away and just to drift through life. Well to prevent that all u have to do is to write down your goal, what u believe in and your principles. It will be your code of honor (just like the Bushido to the samurai) and try to remind yourself from time to time of that Bushido of yours. Whenever u r about to make a big decision in your life u just have to remind yourself of your Bushido and u’ll find out how easy it is to make that decision, whenever u meet a fearsome foe u just have to remember your Bushido and u’ll meet him heads on. In summary once u set your mind to it and know what u r fighting for u’ll be able to move with determination and confidence to accomplish your goals not letting anything getting in your way.
Well this is one of the techniques that would help in our constant battling (LIFE) and I think that I’ll discuss the other techniques in other posts and in the end I would like to thank all the people who had participated in the survey and thank u for reading this post I hope that it wasn’t as boring as it seems to be…