A lot of problems in life arise because of a phenomenon that I call “local redundancy”. I remember a few years ago, in jiu-jitsu, my finger joints began to ache unbearably. I started every training session by building an “exoskeleton” of band-aids for each finger. These “crutches” helped only partially.
Analyzing the reason, I realized that during fights I clung too tightly to the lapels of other people’s kimonos. Either because I didn’t want to let go of a position I had already lost, or because I tried to perform techniques solely by using my arms, I overstretched my fingers. A dangerous asymmetry emerged as a consequence of my opponent’s explosive effort with his whole body against my ten fingers. According to science, the destruction of material under overstress is the logical outcome. Having found the “root of the evil,” I began to involve my legs and back more often in the attack, as well as to let go of what could not be held. Pretty quickly the pain went away, and I forgot about the ritual of “mummifying” my fingers.
It’s the same in business. A top manager tries to solve an acute company problem with just his department, without calling for help from his colleagues. Or the founder’s brain is already exploding from the excessive operational routine, but he keeps saying, “No one will do it better than me”. Or it is high time for the company to part with the old one and find a new business model, because the market has changed and there is no future for the familiar technology/approach/product. Local redundancy always leads to trauma — the company loses an anchor client because of a top manager’s mistake, the owner burns out and loses interest in his business, and the weakened company is taken over by competitors.
The Buddha said: “Your suffering is caused by your resistance to what is”. Sometimes important truths enter us faster through the gates of the body rather than the mind. That’s why I love Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Yours sincerely,
-Alexander
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