The Most Important SAT
Hello!
Grandmaster Stephen Del Castillo of Krav Maga Martial Arts here, and happy Monday. I want to come to you with a very important message today on the importance of your SAT. Now listen, if you went to college or you’re going to college or anything around college, you’re probably thinking of the SAT as the Standard Aptitude Test. And I know that back when we were young, man, that was an important number, right?
And there were all kinds of people to help you get your best on it and it was a big deal taking that test. And don’t get me wrong, the SAT is important if you have a specific goal to get into a specific college, and that’s an important number to the college. But I got to tell you, all these years later after 55 years of life and 30-something in leadership and 40-something in the martial arts and 24 being a small business owner and entrepreneur, this morning on my knowledge walk, I was walking around my lake and I had been listening to some great stuff as I do.
(That’s the nature of the knowledge walk, that I listen to great material, usually on Audible, as I’m walking.) But then I took it off and I just started thinking and I thought about the importance of SAT, of the SAT, of our SAT. It’s not the same SAT, but it is the most important SAT for most of us because in whatever capacity of leadership you are, whether you run a small business too or you run a team at your work for your career or you run a team for something else or you run a family. Whatever level of leadership, whatever role, whatever roles and goals you have as pertains to leadership, and even if we’re only talking about self-leadership, depending on the season of life that you’re in, this SAT is the most important of all. So let’s get to it.
The first one is your schedule. Your schedule is one of the most important indicators of the quality of life that you will have because time is either something that serves you or something that happens to you. And if you have ever used the language or heard people use the language of, “Oh, I’d do that, but I just don’t have the time,” that’s victim mentality around the idea of time. Everybody has the time, it’s just a question of what you do with your time. And that’s why it’s so important that you have a good planner where you really plan your goals every day and your targets and the specifics of what you’re going to do that day and each block of that day. You got to tell your time where to go.
One of the best decisions I made many years ago was to start at 6:00 A.M. because I get so much done between 6:00 and 9:00 before I get in here to affect the rest of the day. And you’re already high energy and because you’ve already accomplished things. You’ve accomplished your mental and physical exercise. And so you’re in an attitude and an energy that will exude positivity around those around you for the rest of the day, and that makes it a great day. So the first thing, young people, I’m going to talk to the young people. By the way, it applies to the old people too, but you know. Since I’m only 55, I’m going to talk to those younger than me. And it’s this. Take control of your schedule. And here’s the first thing you got to decide if you want to get serious about it.
First thing you got to decide is what time you’re going to go to bed each day because what time you’re going to go to bed each day will dictate the rest. You need a certain amount of sleep. You’ll wake up after that certain amount of sleep. If you get to bed at a decent time, you’ll wake up early. If you wake up earlier and you have scheduled that time, you’ll be more productive. So the first, most important thing in the SAT is your schedule.
The second one that I want to talk to you about may really be the first in importance and is your attitude. Our attitude about anything effects everything. We have to have a positive attitude, an attitude of expectancy and an attitude that we’re in charge, an empowered attitude. I hate it when I hear the language of victim mentality. Anytime you place blame for your condition on anything and anyone outside of yourself, you’re not in control. So the most important part of attitude is to take control. Take control of your attitude, take control of your time, take control of your life.
And not only that, but we have to have an attitude of expectancy that we’re going to get what we want. Remember, energy flows where focus goes. And if you focus on what you don’t want, you’re going to get more of what you don’t want. Instead, focus on what you want and put massive action and massive energy in that thing. It’s a positive attitude. Listen, a positive attitude works in so many ways. Right now I’m talking about the positive attitude that moves us and moves things, but here’s another positive attitude. I was in Publix yesterday, and this is just my way, I’m this way all the time, but this gentleman older than me stopped me and he said, “Hey, sir.” He said, “I just want to thank you. You are so kind.” He said, “You don’t see a lot of that anymore.”
And it was small stuff. I had put the thing down so he could put his stuff down. And I had said, “Sir,” and caught him and just addressed him with respect and spoke and smiled to him. And then when I got to the cashier, I called her by name and talked to her about how her day was going. And so this is all he had observed. But he had a positive attitude that affected my positive attitude. I had a positive attitude that elicited that in the first place. You get more of who you are. Become the most positive person and surround yourself with people who that resonates with and you’ll create a more positive life, which leads to the T.
The T is a team. And we could be talking about the team we lead, like I was talking about earlier, but it’s also just the team that you hang around with.
The late great Jim Rohn said, “We become like the five people that we associate with regularly.” It’s such an important thing to understand. Associate with people that inspire you and empower you and push you and challenge you and that are positive and make you more positive as well. So much of this stuff comes from within, but I got to tell you, what comes in from without is important too. And that’s why the team that we associate with is the third most important thing. Now, by the way, in closing, I am going to plug in my tribe at Krav Maga Martial Arts. You know who you are and you know that what I’m about to say is true, that the attitude, the empowerment, the team and tribe that we have here will help you become the best and highest version of yourself.
So choose to get us on your schedule if you’re not already training with us. Come on in for your two-week free trial and orientation and let us prove to you that what I’m saying is true. And whoever you are hearing this, if it was a useful reminder, let me know that. But most importantly, just go out and do it. Take control of your schedule. Take control of your attitude. Surround yourself with a great team. Make it a great day, which becomes a great week, which becomes a great month, which becomes a great life. We can do this.
Prepare To Live; Empower To Lead!
Grand Master Stephen J. Del Castillo
Founding Master Instructor, Krav Maga Martial Arts
TampaKravMaga.com StephenDelCastillo.com
About Grandmaster Stephen J. Del Castillo: Grandmaster Del Castillo is the founding Master Instructor of Krav Maga Martial Arts and has been empowering lives in Pasco and Hillsborough Counties since October of 2000. He is a 7th degree Blackbelt, MBA, author, mentor and success coach, a US Army Veteran and a proud father and grandfather. He is married to Ms. Barbara Del Castillo who helps him run the school. Grand Master Del Castillo began his training in the early 80’s and has high level blackbelts in Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Premier Martial Arts and Krav Maga Martial Arts as well as experience in kickboxing, Jeet Kune Do and Jiujitsu. He has high level instructor certifications from BBSI, IKMF, and KMG and has been featured in numerous Martial Arts publications and also Success magazine. He was a competitive sport karate and American Kickboxing instructor until he enlisted in the US Army where he served in the 82nd Airborne Division, where he won an Army Green to Gold scholarship and proceeded to ROTC and the University of Tampa. He was commissioned in 1992 and went on to serve in Germany with the 3rd Infantry Division and then in several other posts in the US until he left military service to pursue his dream of creating KMMA in 2000.
The Krav MagaMartial Arts Headquarters is in Lutz, FL at 1900 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., 33549. Krav Maga Martial Arts serves Lutz, Land O’ Lakes, Wesley Chapel, and surrounding areas.
See stephendelcastillo.com for more information and to order my book, Developing Your Superpower, Meditations on Mastery, Volume 1.
Also, check us out on Fun4TampaKids & on Go2Karate.com