Dec 1, 2019

5 Ways Martial Arts Can Make You A CEO

Martial arts has proven time and time again to be a powerful influence in people’s lives. It brings out the absolute best in us, allows us to discover our abilities, and unlock our true inner greatness.

One of the ways martial arts impacts your life is by enhancing your talents, both in your personal and professional lives. It can turn you from being an ordinary achiever into a guru capable of running a global organization – just ask ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.

Let us take a look at five different ways martial arts unlocks your potential to become a future business leader.

#1 Martial Arts Cultivates Leadership Skills

Leadership is the ability to guide your peers, colleagues, fellow citizens, and most importantly, yourself to the path of success. It is a skill that is latent in every individual, living deep inside of every one of us. But to truly harness its power, leadership is an essential skill that must be developed.

Through martial arts, you gain the experience and selflessness needed to become a leader. It is commonplace for martial arts practitioners to share knowledge and experience with each other.

As you work with peers along your martial arts journey, training provides opportunities to demonstrate your skills, showcase techniques, and guide others to achieve the same results.

“Jungle Cat” Muhammad Aiman has embraced his role as a leader and a constant source of support for his teammates at Bali MMA. It is little wonder that the Indonesian outfit has grown to become one of the premier martial arts gyms in all of Asia.

#2 Martial Arts Turns You Into A Team Player

Martial arts conditions you to work and function in a group. Contrary to popular belief, martial arts is not some solo undertaking that you go through alone.

Yes, there are instances in training when you are placed in situations of self-discovery to complete a certain task, but what you must not forget is that no one is expected to do it alone.

This is one of the most important lessons martial arts teaches – that being part of a team means working together to achieve common goals.

After all, you will always need to work with different partners in training and communicate to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses to best realize your mutual goals. In this way, martial arts helps you to become a better team player.

Multiple-time Muay Thai World Champion Elias “The Sniper” Mahmoudi was encouraged by a strong team of family members at Mahmoudi Gym to realize his dream. The French-Algerian warrior never stops learning and even travels to Thailand frequently to perfect his craft.

#3 Martial Arts Trains You To Solve Problems

Regardless of your profession, whether you sit at a desk for nine hours a day in a typical office setting, or you are out in the field getting your hands dirty, critical thinking and problem-solving are an essential part of how to overcome the obstacles faced in daily life.

Martial arts trains you to become a critical thinker by allowing you to discover solutions to various physical and mental situations.

In disciplines such as judo or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, practitioners encounter many instances where the solutions to certain problems are not immediately evident. But by making use of every skill and technique learned, they can mentally form equations and physically execute them.

Sam-A Gaiyanghadao is the perfect example. He has dominated at the highest level of Muay Thai for years using his problem-solving skills in the Circle.

#4 Martial Arts Builds Mental Toughness And Discipline

While a great deal of martial arts deals with physical and athletic development as human beings, it is also an exercise for the most important muscle – your mind.

As you will learn early on in your martial arts journey, the majority of the obstacles you face in training are mental. Physically, it is easy to enhance your capacity through constant conditioning, but solving problems requires mental toughness, as is the discipline needed to attend training and push your limits every single day.

Not only does martial arts develop your physical well-being, but it also sharpens your focus and improves your concentration. As a result, you will be more inclined to push through obstacles, and less likely to fold under pressure or panic in the face of adversity.

Gurdarshan “Saint Lion” Mangat may have been inspired by legends of the sport to become a mixed martial artist, however, his journey was far from easy. Mangat had to give up a cushy corporate job, but he found the strength to persevere and now competes in the world’s largest martial arts organization.

#5 Martial Arts Makes You A More Positive Person

Through training in martial arts, your entire well-being is affected, which makes you a more positive person.

Martial arts has a multitude of effects on personal development, ranging from health and wellness to mental and spiritual enhancement. Thus, constant training leads to a more positive outlook on life, as you get used to winning personal victories, and realize that only positive thinking will get you through a rough path. Nobody ever succeeded by telling themselves they couldn’t.

Positivity is infectious, and it can influence anything and everything around you, including your career. The result is an improved lifestyle. Through martial arts training, you can discover a great deal about yourself and what you are capable of achieving. You are introduced to your limits and then taught how to shatter them.

Trained as a boxer, Sovannahry “The Sweet Savage” Em struggled to transition to mixed martial arts. The Cambodian-American star was discouraged but continued to hone her craft, and eventually, her effort paid off.