Learning to Live the Dream
I got up early this morning and headed over to the Chamber of Commerce building in downtown Ann Arbor. Professor Hafner, my Karate instructor and business coach, presented his seminar, "How To Go From Where You Are To Where You Want To Be". I've taken the seminar a few times before, but I always feel re-motivated when I hear him speak.
His class covers a lot of the same ideas mentioned in Jack Canfield's "Success Principles", but that is where the similarity leaves off. The thing that makes the seminar truly powerful is Professor Hafner himself. Reading the concepts is one thing. Listening to and interacting with someone who has applied these principles in his own life makes the possibility of achieving your dreams seem that much more real. He practices what he preaches and his life is a (very successful) mirror of that practice.
The main goals of the seminar are to create a five-year plan for yourself and to learn the techniques to become the person who grows into that plan. Professor Hafner actually shares one of his plans with the class. I've known him for a while now, and it always surprises me how close his present life matches that plan that he crafted long before he reached his current level of success. I myself took the class about four years ago and while I may not have achieved every goal that I set myself (yet), I've hit enough of them. Looking back, I'm actually shocked by not only how much my life has changed, but also at how easy it was.
And don't think I picked things that seemed like a breeze to do. If the plan doesn't scare you, then you aren't dreaming big enough. I made that mistake the first time I took the course. I kept my dreams small and completed them within the year.
If you have the opportunity to attend one of the Professor's seminars, whether it be this one on goal-setting, or one of his others on entrepreneurship, running a business, or raising "Rock Solid" kids, register now. Don't wait and don't you dare miss it. His last message in this seminar says it all for me.
"In my life, I'm painting a masterpiece and I will settle for nothing less."
So, if you absolutely could not fail, what would you want to achieve?
6 comments:
I really wanted to make that seminar but had some last minute deadlines that popped up preventing me from taking a few hours to learn about it.
Sounds very inspiring
Hi, Ross
Very inspirational. I will try to find out about the next time he does one of these and post it here.
So Keith Hafner's "Karate" is really Tae Kwon Do??
That's correct. We use "Karate" as a generic term for the martial arts. Actually, Tae Kwon Do is the primary style taught there (the Chung Do Kwan school specifically), but we also teach a smattering of weapons, boxing, jujitsu and other grappling, aikido, iaido, kempo, and arnis. I'm probably forgetting one or two others that I've learned over the years. Each style has its own strengths and weaknesses and we try to provide as well-rounded an education as possible.
You call him "professor"
Does he have a professors degree from an accredited college?
I'm also curious about your "smattering" of other styles.
Do any of the instructors have Black belt ranks in them, or do you take a seminar or weekend class to learn them?
@Anonymous: His title is "Professor" because he is a 7th degree Black Belt in the US Chung Do Kwan Tae Kwan Do Association. At 8th he becomes a Grand Master. I refer to him as "Professor" because I am his student.
WRT the other styles, different instructors have different skills. As far as I know, I am the only instructor to have earned a formal rank in a different style (Kobudo). WRT the techniques from other styles, I couldn't tell you from where they originated. Perhaps some came from seminars and visiting Masters. Others may have come from personal study (for example, one of our current Master instructors has an interest in grappling and pursues it outside the school).
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