Your Most Important Formula For Success ...

By Sifu Marcus Santer

Where:

U = Understanding
A = Action
E = Experience
D = Doubt

Let me explain ...

U = Understanding

As a counseller I knew U was important. E.g. the realisation that our thoughts create how we feel, how we feel influences the types of actions we take which ultimately equals the results we get in our lives.

Sometimes (but not very often) U on its own can be enough to cause great change in our lives. But notice I didn't say positive change, I'll explain why a little later. However most often U on its own isn't enough and it's very common when you don't know this formula to spend most of you life accumulating more and more U (also known as knowledge) I certainly did anyway. It's a great way to become a scholar, but without A, it's mostly just theory.

If you're a martial artist U is important, but if its all you take to a fight you’re in deep trouble - quickly! If all you do is keep learning, you will always be a student.

A = Action

This is where the magic starts to happen, when you add A to U. I have a dear friend I call "Action Man". He's very successful (in all areas of life). Decades ago I couldn't understand why he was successful and I wasn't. I was smarter than he was (I had bits of paper to prove it), I "knew" more, was better educated in some of the areas he was making progress in, I was better looking and modest too =). But when it came to results, I was 1000's of miles behind him. How could this be?

You guessed it. It was because I was not adding A to my U. Action Man's U was not as great as mine, but only at the start. Now read this bit carefully, because I learned this the hard way.

By adding tons of A to his U his U quickly surpassed my own

Continue reading to find out why (it's to do to with E).

Action Man would have an idea, gather a little U and then add MASSIVE A. So he gained lots of E. I rarely took action and was stuck as the worst kind of scholar - lots of theory but not much E.

There is however a but to this.

A on its own is ignorant, by ignorant I don't mean bad or stupid. Ignorance means "not knowing", it's not just A that's important, it's the right kind of A that makes the difference. When A is informed by U success follows swiftly.

E = Experience

There is a saying that there is no substitute for experience. Once you have your own direct experience you become your own driving force. I agree with it. U + A always leads to E (though maybe not always the E you wanted!). Here are 3 examples:

Understanding how Qigong works, learning Qigong and then practicing, practicing and practicing (taking Action). You discover from your own Experience the benefits of Qigong.
You Understand there are 4 basic hand attacks and 4 defences against those attacks, with these 4 defences you can overcome ALL hand attacks. After 3 months of practice, practice, practice (taking Action) you test your skill and discover from your own Experience that you can handle hand attacks with a level of competency that is inspiring to you.
Your understanding of how mortgages work is increased by an article you heard on the radio. Taking Action on this Understanding you visit your mortgage provider to confirm and Experience the delight of discovering you've found a way to knock 7 years off your 25 year mortgage. (Apparently if you make 13 payments a year, instead of 12 you can knock 7 years off your mortgage. But please don’t take my word for it, check it out for yourself because I’m not a financial advisor and I’m not qualified to give financial advise so don’t believe a word I’ve said.)

Personally, I will never forget the experience of Clare saying to me, unprompted, after 3 months of practicing Shaolin Qigong:

"Marcus, I don't know what it is, but you're just so much nicer
to be with these days, you don't fly off the handle at every
little thing and you're just so much more relaxed"

This Experience was critical to my continuing to practice Shaolin Qigong. I was nearly ready to quit as I wasn’t aware of the changes in my own behaviour. This comment from my wife wiped out a lot of doubt I was experiencing, which leads nicely onto ...

D = Doubt

Make no mistakes about it Doubt is your enemy. Doubt can sometimes be so strong that it prevents you from even beginning to Understand. I know this from personal experience, when people first read the list of benefits to be had from the practice of Shaolin Cosmos Qigong, they often have so much Doubt they instantly think: It's too good to be true, therefore it cannot be true. Strange but true.

Scepticism is completely natural for anyone embarking on anything new that can enhance their life. Why is this? Because anything that is outside of your current set of beliefs will cause you to be sceptical.

It is a natural first reaction, you have fears and doubt that Qigong (or Shaolin Kung Fu) can really work because it is not a part of your model of how the world works. Being sceptical is okay, as long as you are open minded enough to shown a different way that can help you get better results than you are already getting.

Even when you've overcome scepticism, Doubt can also lead to you giving up. I think the hardest part of Shaolin Cosmos Qigong for new students is right at the start. Because your Doubt about it working can be so large that it can win the battle. The scales are tipped in favour of you giving up.

The hardest part of my practice was right at the start, over 8 years ago. I've also witnessed this in most of my students. You can have U, you can add A, but if you don't get the E (or proof) then D can make you give up. One of the problems with practicing Qigong is that it can take a few months to really get the type of E that keeps you going, because it's not a 30 day miracle cure.

I have found that if I can help to keep students inspired until they have their own Experiences, then the balance shifts. Once the balance reaches a certain point, practice easily becomes a part of daily life and no longer something they have to force themselves to do.

This is why I created a series of "Support Letters" and encourage my students to use a Progress Chart, because I have found this really helps them to get through the hardest part of their practice. Once you begin to have direct E, D begins to lose its power over you.

In A Nutshell ...

Understanding, plus Action taken on that understanding leads to Experiences. These experiences lead to a reduction in doubt.

Now pay attention because this is where the formula really gets interesting!

This formula is cyclic. Once you start to reduce doubt, you open the door to new, and deeper Understandings. Action taken on these new Understandings leads to more powerful Experiences. These stronger experiences get rid of even more doubt and so the process continues on and on.

My Personal Experience With This Formula

If you'd have told me in 2000 that Shaolin Qigong was probably the best way to have health, vitality, longevity, mental clarity and spiritual cultivation, I simply would not have believed you (too much Doubt) I had no understanding of this concept and I wasn't interested in those things.

But I had heard of using this thing called 'internal force' to hit someone so they didn't get back up again, as a martial artist I was very interested in this and I'd read a few books to increase my Understanding.

When I saw a course advertising to teach amongst other things 'internal force' and when I saw this course was taught by a 4th generation Shaolin Grandmaster I couldn't get to Segovia in Spain fast enough!

Fortunately I've always been very lucky and Sifu re-educated me and gave me a complete Understanding of the full value of cultivating 'internal force', it changed my life. Also Sifu was such a powerful proof of what he was teaching that I was able to borrow his Experience to help get rid of some of my own doubt.

So I returned to England, with my new improved Understanding. I added the recommended Action given by Sifu and enjoyed my practice. When Clare shared her now famous words with me, I got my first taste of personal, direct Experience (accept no substitute!). This reduced the Doubt I was starting to feel and increased my Understanding and inspired me to continue taking the Action advised by Sifu and lead to even deeper experiences, getting rid of more doubt.

This process has been going on and on now for 8 years (though I was unconscious of it for the first 6 years), I’ve used this formula to improve my own practice, my own teaching skills and most importantly my enjoyment of life and all the wonderful things it has to offer.

Where The Formula Came From ...

I was first made aware of this formula through a conversation with Sifu over lunch during Summer Camp 2007. The formula was introduced as we were discussing Spiritual cultivation. But like most formulas, techniques, skills and strategies I've encountered from Sifu, they are equally relevant to Shaolin Arts as they are to your personal or business life.

In the original context that this formula was introduced to me, when you have completely eradicated all Doubt in your practice, Sifu reliably informs me that you gain Enlightenment, merge with the Cosmos, or return to God. Is there a more noble pursuit?

Final Point To Consider ...

I'm not saying you are like this, but I'm certain you know someone like this: someone who is getting lots of Experiences they don't want. This normally happens when we haven't deliberately chosen a direction or a purpose for our lives.

We pick up random Understandings (+'ve and -'ve) from the media, we take (often unconscious) weak Actions on those half Understandings and mis-understandings and we get all kinds of unwanted Experiences in our lives as a result. These kinds of Experiences also lead to a reduction in doubt, which then become certainties, but the kind of certainties we don’t need. Like the certainty that we have no control over our lives, certainty that we’ll never succeed etc.

Do you know anybody like this?

The antidote is to choose what you want your life to stand for, to choose what results you want, to choose what direction you want to move in and then use this formula.

If you're new to the idea of aims and objectives, i.e. creating your destiny, then you’ll find this link: Route of the Masters complements the material in this article significantly.

And, if you are already experiencing the joy and exhilaration of living your life "on purpose" then please ignore this point!

Other Resources Of Interest

3 Requirements For Success - the method, the teacher, the student
Path Of The Masters -start the journey to living your life on purpose.

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