Yin vs YangThe Battle for Success in Life

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Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on Twitter.

Every Monday is personal development through Jiu Jitsu…

“Sometimes your the hammer, sometimes your the nail.”

This is a saying everyone at my Jiu Jitsu school knows. My instructor is a big fan of repeating it because it sums up exactly what Jiu Jitsu is all about. In Jiu Jitsu, MMA, and in life, in order to truly master something, you must understand all aspects of it. You can not possibly master Jiu jitsu without understanding what it’s like to be both the hammer and the nail.  Read more... (855 words, 1 image, estimated 3:25 mins reading time)

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Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on Twitter.

Normally, today’s post is about personal development through Jiu Jitsu. However, today is not just any other day. First off, it’s Groundhog’s day. Secondly, in a few short house I will be leaving my 20s behind, and passing into the next phase of life otherwise known as my 30s.

Thirty years ago today (2/2/1979), at 1:22 pm, a 22 inch, 9 pound, 2 ounce bundle of joy arrived. I was the first child in my family, and the only male child for a long, long time. To celebrate this Yinvsyang style, I felt like writing a personal post to myself about what it’s like to look back on 30 years, and what to look forward to.  Read more... (494 words, 2 images, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

I swear on my life itself, if you don’t read this post in its entirety, stumble and comment on it, I am going to find you wherever you are and we will see if you EVER dare skip through a post of mine again. You HEAR me?! Now GET TO IT!

10 years ago, that probably would have been my approach as a blogger.

I had that bad of a temper. I could not deal with people thinking they were getting over on me, or someone who thought they were better, smarter, faster, stronger, or whatever.  I was ready to fight over anything, because I thought that was how I had to be.

Then, right after my freshman year of college, a strange twist of fate occurred.  Read more... (1039 words, 2 images, estimated 4:09 mins reading time)

In Jiu Jitsu, life is all made pretty clear right on the mat.  You can always tell if a new guy is going to last by the way they handle competition.  Those who thrive on winning, and throw temper tantrums when they lose, never last too long.  Instead of learning the most consistent ways to be effective, they spend the entire time trying to find cheap, lucky ways to win.

The people who last in Jiu Jitsu typically react to winning and losing exactly the same.  If you looked at their face right after a match, you wouldn’t be able to tell the outcome.  They lose, they move on.  They win, they move on.  Either way, they are just happy to be competing.  Read more... (536 words, 1 image, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

This past weekend, I was in Cape May, New Jersey for the first time.  What a beautiful, wonderful place pulsating with history.  A little known fact about Cape May is it is the only ‘entire’ town to be declared a historic landmark in all of the USA.

Cape May is also a beautiful beach town and America’s first summer getaway.  Perfectly located where the Delaware Bay feeds into the Atlantic Ocean, it is a town that benefits tremendously from its thriving sea ports. It was at one of these where my wife and I purchased tickets to take a boat out to see dolphins and other animal life.  The tour took us out of the cape and through the nutrient rich waters off the southern tip of NJ, until we finally found a group of dolphins.  Read more... (693 words, 1 image, estimated 2:46 mins reading time)

It is very rare in life when an athlete who is the absolute best ever to compete in his sport also happens to be one of the most influential human beings of his time as well. There are not many that come to mind, if any.

But that’s probably why they are not referred to as….. ‘the greatest of all time.’

Siddhartha is an extraordinary book written by Herman Hesse. I read it while I was in college after reading an article in the NY Times about a guy on parole who straightened out his life in prison mostly because of this book. I decided to give it a try.

It was incredible. It truly opened my eyes to what life was all about. The best way to describe the feeling is ‘enlightenment’. I would recommend it to anyone. And today, I am going to use one of the central themes of the book as a quote for the day….

“Knowledge can be taught, but wisdom comes from experience“

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Experience is one thing you can’t get for nothing. – Oscar Wilde