The Origins of Aikido

kido is a name which is created by linking three characters in Japanese. Ai means joining, Ki refers to spirit and do means way. By taking these three terms together you get the essence of the art of aikido. Aikido can then be defined as a form of martial art which joins the spirit in order to find the way. In the 1930's - 1940's this was officially accepted as the definition as the true name of this martial art.

Aikido emphasizes techniques that do not damage or kill people unlike other different forms of martial arts. These skills and movements which are taught are created in order to divert a person's focus or immobilize that person. Most people prefer this discipline because it is a peaceful and harmonious compared to aggression and conflict. Morihei Ueshiba who developed the martial art believed that the control of aggression without any resultant injury was the art of peace.

Ueshiba is also O sensei, which translates to Great Teacher in English. He created aikido from the founding principles of Daito-Ryu -Aiki-Jujutsu. He also made use of the different techniques of the yari, the spear; the juken, (a bayonet); and the Jo, (a short quarterstaff). Something that separates Aikido from other different martial arts is that Aikido uses hands as weapons and the individual has no use for weapons.

When Ueshiba was a child he focused a lot on physical fitness and conditioning due to the fact that he had vowed to avenge the death of his father. He studied different martial arts including those with weapons and those without. This is one of the reasons why this particular far eastern martial art is such a diverse and multi-disciplinary field.

Despite all his knowledge Ueshiba wasn't satisfied because he felt that something was missing. This was where he found religion in the hands of Onisaburo Deguchiof the leader of the sect of Omoto-Kyo in Ayabe. It was Deguchiof who taught him to take care of his spiritual self. With the combination of the spiritual and his cumulative knowledge of martial arts led to formation of Aikido.

By associating with Deguchiof he also go to meet the ruling and military elite as a martial artist. Due too this connection he then established a spiritual discipline and transferred this teaching to different students. These students over time developed their different styles and additions to Aikido.

Aikido is a diverse mélange of the various styles of Jujitsu and some other techniques of other arts such as sword and spear fighting. Ueshiba was an expert in all these arts. This martial art combines certain joint locks and techniques which are employed in Jujitsu and movements that the body goes through whenever you're fighting with swords and spears.

Aikido was brought to the west by Minoru Mochizuki when he came to France in 1951. He introduced the aikido techniques to students who were learning judo at the time. In 1952, Tadashi Abe came to France as the official Aikikai Honbu representative. In 1953, Kenji Tomiki made a tour through the United States while Koichi Tohei stayed in Hawaii for a full year where he set up a dojo and taught Aikido. Aikido then spread its influence in United Kingdom. In the year 1965 this Japanese discipline was introduced to Germany and Australian and now it exists all over the world.

Aikido and The Art of Cold Calling

Imagine being in a crowded concert or bar. All of a sudden, a fight breaks out between two men who’ve had too much to drink.

You happen to be a few steps away, and the next thing you know, one of the men turns to you and looks as if he’s going to take a swing at you.

What's your first instinct? Most of us will do one of two things. We’ll either try to step away, or we’ll raise our arms to deflect him and fight back, which can result in harm to you or to your attacker.

But if you were trained in Aikido, the Japanese martial art that focuses on diverting an attacker’s energy, you could quickly diffuse the situation by immobilizing him without harming him in any way.

In essence, you’re diffusing the energy that he’s using to try and attack you in a way that takes the conflict out of the situation.

Unlock The Game and the philosophy behind Aikido have many similarities. Traditional cold calling and selling are designed to focus only on the “close” by presenting -- or in too many cases, “pushing” -- your solution onto prospects, sometimes even when they’re not interested. But if you focus only on your goal of making the sale before having a discussion about the problems that you can help your prospects solve, something happens.

They start feeling that you’re “attacking” them. After all, you’re a stranger to them, and when you start talking about yourself and your solution rather than about them and their specific issues, you immediately trigger their suspicion and cause them to start “pushing back.”

This pushback is the resistance or energy that Unlock The Game teaches you to diffuse. Then both of you can quickly “get on the same page” and open a natural dialogue that will let you determine whether it makes sense for you to work together.

Let's look at the cold calling experience.

Suppose you’re at your desk and you receive a call from someone who says “Hi, my name is Jack Johnson, I'm with XYZ Company, and we’re a full-solution provider of...” Is your first reaction to welcome and be open to his call? Or do your mental defenses immediately kick in and you shut down against this stranger “salesperson”?

Probably the latter, especially if you sense that the caller is focused on his interests and not yours.

That’s why this old-school cold calling approach triggers the resistance and negative energy that prospects immediately throw your way.

The Unlock The Game way to make a successful cold call -- "successful” being defined as not triggering rejection -- is by beginning your call with, “Hi, my name is Jack, maybe you can help me out for a moment?” That simple question is a very natural way of beginning a conversation with a stranger.

But you can't just read this word for word, like a script. It won’t work. That would be like an Aikido instructor teaching a first-time student the physical movements before he or she has learned the philosophy necessary to carry them out.

The same applies here. First you need to integrate a new Mindset that changes the goal of your call from making the sale, or getting an appointment, to engaging the person in a natural two-way dialogue.

To do this, your voice has to be low-key. You have to avoid communicating any hint of typical “salesperson” enthusiasm, or any sense that you’re trying to direct the conversation to an end goal. Once you integrate the Mindset, all this kicks in naturally.

So, if you want to succeed in prospecting and cold calling, become aware of how you might be triggering the resistance or energy that instinctively causes prospects to push back against you. Keep in mind that this process will work only if you fully integrate the Mindset so it feels as natural to you as breathing.

In short, if you’re using any form of traditional selling, you could be triggering a resistance every time you communicate with your prospect. But if you learn this new Mindset, along with words and phrases that remove any conflict or tension from the relationship, you’ll have taken your first steps toward your black belt in unlocking the cold calling game!

Martial Arts

Martial arts refers to various self-defense techniques, usually unarmed combat, based on skills developed in ancient China, India, Korea and Tibet. Some of the popular martial art forms include karate, kung fu, judo, tai chi chuan, sumo wrestling, aikido and tae kwon do, among others. However, in the contemporary world, martial arts are not only used for self-protection but often focus on spiritual aspects, as well as increasing self-confidence, assertiveness and concentration.

Martial arts are generally characterized according to the fighting styles i.e. striking, kicking, grappling and throwing, and weaponry. Kung fu and karate, a popular martial arts form, use striking techniques that include kicks, throws, dodges, holds, leaps and somersaults. However, tae kwon do, which originated in Korea, employs kicking, punching, and various evasive techniques. Meanwhile, grappling and throwing techniques are used mostly in sumo wrestling, aikido and judo. In sumo wrestling, huge men attempt to force each other out of the ring or bring each other to the mat by employing various grappling skills. Aikido is considered to be the gentlest martial art, and is not practiced as a competitive sport. On the other hand, judo, a popular wrestling form, attempts to turn an attacker’s force to one’s own advantage by using throwing and grappling techniques. Some martial art forms also use weapons like in fencing, banshay, Iaido, etc.

In Asia the teaching of martial arts still follows the Confucian cultural tradition of teacher-disciple apprenticeship, wherein a student is trained in a strictly hierarchical system by a master instructor. However, martial art forms in Europe are more in-tune with contemporary technology and are used as an extension to modern-day warfare. In the US, Native Americans had their own martial art forms which became obsolete with the passing of time. However, European colonists and Asian immigrants brought their own martial arts such as boxing, fencing and wrestling, which gained considerable popularity.

Traditionally, martial arts were used as a self-defense system. However, in the contemporary world, the fighting form is not only modified into various sports forms, but some of them are also used in dance-like settings as a popular style of self-expression.