As you practice and plan for any potential conflicts, one of the most important things you can do it break it down into steps.
If you’ve ever seen the movie The Last Samurai, you’ll remember a couple scenes where Tom Cruise goes over the upcoming battle in his head, move by move. Once the actual fight happens, he knows exactly what to do because he already went through each step and each next move.
We can (and should) do the same thing. Rather than just thinking of winning, we should think of exactly how.
By saying to ourselves “first I’m gonna, then I’m gonna” we can make a plan that actually is a plan.
As we see the details in our head, we can figure out ahead of time if one move will lead to the next, or if it will not be effective.
Sometimes we don’t know how well something will work till we try it. And we don’t want to find out that something doesn’t work in the middle of a fight. We really want to limit ourselves to actions that have the highest chance of working.
So as you practice in the Do Jang, or just imagine scenarios in your head, make sure you list the steps. First I’ll do this, then I’ll do this. He’ll probably do this, which will set me up to do this.
Remember, the best plans are actually planned.
