All Frosting, No Cupcake

Guilty confession: as a child, I used to sneak spoonfuls of frosting right out of the container and eat it. Doing this gave me a sugar rush like no other, and it was always soooooo much sweeter than just eating the cake. In fact, I used to just lick the frosting off of my cupcakes and then leave them there, much to my family's disgust....since I'd usually wipe out the tray and leave them with a bunch of freshly-licked cupcakes.

In the 21st century, we live in a specialized world where we can have whatever we want, exactly how we want it. In fact, if you really like the frosting that much, you can walk down to the store, buy your own can, and have at it until your pants don't fit right and your head hurts. You're entitled to it, if that's what you really want.

Sadly, this is also how many people view the martial arts. Even within my own school, where I'm busily preparing for BJ Penn's Live Like a Champion Project and gathering my team, I have students who want pieces of the program, and are reluctant to sample anything other than the frosting. Even though I've reinforced that the FIRST stage of living like a champion is a physical transformation, and the prelude to something more, some are unwilling to reach beyond that. Physical training is all they want, and all they're willing to commit to.

That's no different that licking off the frosting. I'm used to this.

I get students who only want to fight...
...who only want to exercise.
...who want weapons training.
...who want self-defense training.
...who want to lose weight.
...who want to control their stress/anger.
...who want to feel more confident.
...who want better flexibility or strength or endurance, etc etc.
...who want to have something fun to do.
...who want to wrestle.
...who want to dance and trick and flip like the movie guys.
...who want (insert benefit here).

And I provide that and a thousand other things too. It's all part of the recipe.

Throw away your assumptions. Most people only catch a fleeting glimpse of what I really do, align it with their perceptions, and then use this sliver of information as the basis to make a decision....without actually looking.

All frosting, no cupcake.

(Perhaps this also explains a lot of other issues in the world and in our lives. Food for thought.)

I've learned a lot from the mistakes of my childhood. I've eaten more than my fair share of frosting, but I've also spent my life learning how to bake an amazing cupcake. I'm going to continue to find ways to make it better, and in the process, I will share all of this with you so you don't need to spend a lifetime retracing my steps. I provide this service for virtually nothing other than your commitment to "live like a champion", achieve "black belt excellence", strive to attain "mastery", create a meaningful life, or whatever metaphor drives you.

The cost: eat the whole cupcake.