Your Most Important Job
Hello, KMMA friend, tribes, students, families, all of you. And even if you’re none of those people and you found me anyway, welcome.
Today, I want to talk to you about an important, important idea, and it’s about developing our calling, the thing that is the fire inside, the thing we are called to do, our passion, our purpose, our calling in ourselves and in others. And I’m going to tell a quick story. I’m going to talk about three or four sources that got me thinking on this thing recently. And the first one’s going to be somewhat surprising to my followers and tribe because you know I read a lot, you know I study a lot, you know I lead a lot, but sometimes, believe it or not, I watch TV too. And my wife and I, confession, sometimes we’ll sit around at night for that, because I have a three-hour block of quality time with her every night before I go onto goal-setting and planning for the next day. And in that three-hour block, sometimes we’ll watch an hour or two of TV, and one of our favorite shows is Blue Bloods. I just love the leadership lessons that are coming out of that from the great fictional Frank Reagan, great character.
Anyways, in this particular episode that we were watching last night, it made me think on this message because what happened was that he ends up, father gets shot severely, he’s in a wheelchair now, so he’s not on police force any more. And the kid didn’t show up to the hospital. So when Frank was exploring it, what he ends up finding out is that this kid never really wanted to be a policeman. He tells him, this young policeman, this kid, tells the police commissioner who is Frank Reagan, he says, “I never really wanted to be a policeman. I did this because my father did it, and so-and-so did it, and so-and-so did it. It’s what I was expected to do, and that’s why I did, and I didn’t go to the hospital because I just could not handle being around all the brothers-in-blue stuff.”
By the way, it’s a great episode, and Frank comes up with an amazing way to serve this young man while the young man not letting down his father. But what a shame, as fathers, I’m a father, and I know that none of us ever want our kid to do what we think they should do for the rest of their life, because we know that’s not where happiness is found. They have to figure out what they’re called to do. I know that my kids grew up in the dojo. I know that what they learned here in the dojo, that’s this Black Belt Leadership Academy, we call it a dojo in the martial arts, if you don’t know. I know that the things that they learned and the tools they developed will serve them well for the rest of their life. At this moment in time, it’s true that my 19-year-old, Sensei Winston, is still working with me here. He’s a head instructor at this school.
But Shihan Harley did too, and Shihan Diego did too, and those are their martial arts titles, but of course, I’m talking about my oldest son, my middle son, and my youngest son. And they developed the black belt foundational superpowers of focus, respect, discipline, confidence, gratitude, and vision, and those things are serving them well. The two that have moved on, those things are serving them well in their life, just like so many black belt leaders. I’m going to stop on that right now because I got to finish my point.
See, the second place that I got a validation that this was something to talk on again this morning, because I was doing my morning knowledge walk around the lake, and I was listening to a new great book, which I highly recommend, by Michael Michalowicz, called “All In”. And I got to tell you, and I love those kinds of books, because this one’s about developing a team, a professional team that’s all-in on the mission, that cares for the mission as much as the owner does, as much as the founder does. And I was like, “Wow.” I mean, of course, that’s all of our dream, and I got an amazing team here, by the way. It’s one of the many, many things I’m grateful for and we always do.
But he said something very specific that I thought applied to this message. He said, “When you interview most entrepreneurs, they’ll always say that they’re living their calling, they’re living their purpose, they’re living their passion. And what they do is actually an important part of their identity.” He said, “Unfortunately, when you interview most employees, they will simply say…”
And again, I do not think this is the case with my amazing professionals on Team KMMA, by the way. I think that they are living their purpose, passion, and calling and mission. Those are ones that are full-timers and that have decided to make this a career and even the ones that are part-timers are passionate and purposeful about what we do, and I’m so grateful for that. But all that was an aside because Mike Michalowicz was talking about the norm. And the norm is that people are just living as Henry Thoreau said, lives of quiet desperation. They’re doing something they’re not called to do. So when they’re interviewed, they say, “Just working to make a living,” something like that. “I’m just working, just making a living.”
It’s less common that an employee says, “I’m living my calling, my passion, my purpose.” So by the way, that was for me. I was like, when I heard that, I was like, “Challenge accepted.” I want everyone on my teams to know that what they’re doing makes a difference, that they’re appreciated. That when we say that we develop confident, competent black belt leaders prepared to survive and thrive in any situation and empowered to lead where they’re at and into their futures. Well, number one, they are those people so they know it’s true but number two, I want them to know, like they know that and they’re doing their life’s calling or find out they’re not, and then do what is that. Which is really the purpose of this message. And by the way, finally, it’s chapter seven of my book.
See, this book that I wrote during the Pandemic, so it’s been a few years now, and it was my first book, and then I had spent my whole life wanting to write a book. And by the way, I’m writing my second one now, but this book honestly was just kind of like a playbook for what we do here in my calling. We develop confident, competent black belt leaders and see, the first six chapters are the first what I call, the foundational black belt superpowers. They’re foundational because they serve someone well in whatever they’re called to do. Doctors, lawyers, military leaders. My oldest son is a cybersecurity specialist. Whatever someone is called to do, those foundation black belt superpowers will serve them well and help them be great at their calling.
But chapter seven of the book is about discovering and developing your own calling. And in this particular lesson, I want to give a challenge to all of us leaders, all of us fathers and mothers and entrepreneurs and other business team leaders, wherever your leadership lies. Not only do we need to ensure that we are living a life of fire, a life on fire because we are living our passion and purpose, but we got to help others do the same. We got to help those that follow us, our children first, and then our teams. Discover what it is they’re called to do. Even within their passion and their purpose, like helping people understand what part in the mission they’re supposed to do so that they live a life where when they get interviewed, they say, “Wow, I love what I do. I am this…” Hopefully they say something like, “I am a father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, son, daughter, sister, brother,” and all these other things that they identify outside of their work. But they also say, and I am this.
Mine says, “I am a dedicated martial arts professional who develops confident, competent black belt leaders”, because then it’s exciting to get up every morning. It’s exciting to go to work, and as someone once said, “If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life,” but it’s beyond even just loving it. It’s knowing that you’re making a difference. It’s knowing that you are fulfilling your calling. It’s one of the most important things that we can do, personally and as leaders for those that follow.
Prepare to live and power to lead. Have a super fantastic, meaningful day.
Grand Master Stephen J. Del Castillo
Founding Master Instructor, Krav Maga Martial Arts
TampaKravMaga.com StephenDelCastillo.com
p.s. i hope to see you tomorrow!
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