What Becoming a Martial Arts World Champion Taught Me About Business

I was 32 years old when I started practicing Hwa Rang Do, a Korean martial art. I had no athletic background. I was a computer scientist who had spent most of his life behind a desk.

My teacher was Master Taejoon Lee, the son of the founder of Hwa Rang Do. And what he did for me — what he does for all his students — is one of the most profound things I've ever experienced.

He didn't teach me to fight. He forced me to become a champion.

"He didn't wait for me to feel like a champion before training me like one. He forced me to exhibit champion behaviors until I had no choice but to become one."

The Champion's Environment

Master Lee created an environment where you had no choice but to perform at a high level. The training was demanding. The standards were non-negotiable. And the community of students around you was constantly pushing you to be better.

He didn't ask you if you felt ready. He didn't wait until you were confident. He put you in situations that demanded champion-level behavior, and then he held you accountable to that standard.

Over time, something remarkable happened: the behaviors became habits, the habits became beliefs, and the beliefs became identity. I stopped thinking of myself as someone who was trying to become a champion and started thinking of myself as a champion.

The World Championship

In 2010, I competed at a major world martial arts tournament. I stood across from opponents I was convinced would beat me. Opponents who had been training longer, who were more athletic, who looked more like champions than I did.

And I won. Gold medal.

Not because I was the most talented. Not because I had some secret technique. But because I had been forced to train like a champion for so long that I had become one — whether I felt like it or not.

The Business Application

This is exactly what I try to do at AttractionMarketing.com. We don't just teach tactics. We create an environment that demands champion-level behavior from our students.

We hold people accountable. We surround them with others who are achieving at a high level. We give them mentors who have already done what they want to do. And we force them to exhibit the behaviors of a successful network marketer — even before they feel like one.

Because here's what I've learned: you don't become a champion and then start acting like one. You start acting like one, and then you become one.

The environment makes the champion. Every time.