Kung Fu Fondue Principle: Begin...

Kung Fu Fondue Principle: Begin by "Eating That Bug."

Many of you may know that I ate a bug (a few of them) during our annual fondue party on New Year's Eve. I had 2.5" black crickets and bamboo caterpillars to munch. From that experience, I have discovered a truth that perhaps could benefit you in your journey of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The night that I ate bug(s), my first impulse was to wait to eat the bugs. But, my bug-eating cohort prompted me to eat the bug first - as a kick off to the evening. Looking back, this approach, to eat the bug first, was as wise as a wushu champion, because I really didn't want to eat the bug. However, I went through the trouble of searching for the bugs, I bought the bugs and I committed to people that I would eat the bugs. It's like those things in your life that you've committed to doing, you've told people around you that you are going to do the (fill in the blank), you know you should do them, but you delay, delay and don't do them. Sometimes doubt begins to creep in and you don't do the deed. Most of the time, the "thing" is something you should do, but is simply not fun, easy or entertaining -- so it doesn't get done (at least by you).

The Begin by "Eating that Bug" Principle basically says that if the first thing you do in the morning is eat a bug, then you will have the satisfaction of knowing it is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long. And your "bug" is your most important task. Now there's two issues to address. The first one is if you have two bugs to eat, eat the ugliest one first and the second issue to that is if you have to eat a bug at all, it doesn't pay to sit and look at it very long. In my case, the cricket won the ugliest of them all contest. So, the cricket was downed first. I also, didn't spend a great deal of time staring at the creepy critter. So a key to Kung Fu (Excellence) in what you do is to plan every day the night before, in advance, and set priorities. And then say, "If I can only complete one task on this list before I was to be called out of town for a month to visit the Wudang Mountains, which one task would it be?" And whatever that is, it becomes your "bug" -- the next morning discipline yourself to start in on that task, the most important thing on your list, and do only that until it is complete. Let me know if you can develop that habit, and if it helps you. I hope this principle will play a small role (perhaps bug-like) in your attempt to take full control of your life, and gives you a personal feeling of pride, accomplishment, discipline and achievement. It is one of the most important of all lessons to learn, and one of the hardest things to implement if anybody has tried to do it.

CAP