Attack Your Goals With Buakaw Intensity

Now, what does this have to do with you and your life?

Good question. Let’s take a little trip over to a serene banana leaf field in the outskirts of a rural village in Thailand. What if I were to tell you that these banana trees are magical and have an ability to self-generate regardless of what happens to them, in fact they grow back stronger after being knocked down.

Now that we’ve got the moral aspect out of the way. No further objections agreed? Ok, now kick the tree. Kick it again. The goal here is to fully knock the tree down. Keep going.

Wait a minute, what’s that you say? This tree is too difficult and you want to try the one four rows down that appears a little easier. Ok, go for it. After three heavy roundhouse kicks you again change your target tree to one appearing slimmer and weaker than the one you are currently kicking.

This cycle continues until we’re left standing in a banana tree field frustrated with painful throbbing shins and not a single tree kicked down to show for it.

Now if we change out our banana trees for our goals in life, I think we really have something valuable to learn from Buakaw and his approach.

If we look at the beginning of the clip, Buakaw appears extremely motivated to take this tree down. He begins throwing strikes at the tree with full force. However, even after receiving several devastating kicks it appears that the tree is still holding up at the base. Yet, Buakaw has resolved in his mind to go after this tree (goal in our case) with everything he’s got. By the end of the clip it cannot be debated, unquestionably, Buakaw’s goal has been achieved.

In life we experience the early stage motivation as we begin to kick our tree down, but quickly become discouraged after not seeing our initial efforts produce immediate results. I have done this more times than I would like to admit. Conversely, the greats of our generations and previous generations did not fall victim to this mistake. In today’s hyper connected social media, email pinging, text message flooding, Netflix and chill world, setting out to accomplish a goal and following through to completion is becoming a lost and forgotten art.

Does that mean we should all delete our social media accounts and move to the Himalayan hills to live as monks? Of course not. But, we should be investing the time that we are blessed with towards our goals with Buakaw style persistence and intensity.

Studying for a big exam coming up? Put the hours in to study with Buakaw style persistence and intensity. Looking for a new job? Don’t just send a couple resumes out here and there. Go after that job you want Buakaw style. For that period of time don’t watch T.V., turn off your cell phone, forget about the world and put in a full Buakaw style session of going after your goal. Don’t change your target until you achieve what you set out to accomplish.

At :30 seconds into the clip you can see Buakaw switch up his approach to accomplishing his goal by throwing a couple of punches in there following it up with even harder kicks. I truly find value in those times we find ourselves trying so hard to accomplish something, (losing weight, waking up early, starting a business, etc.) and become extremely frustrated when the results don’t immediately show up.

Here, we can learn from Buakaw that your if your initial approach doesn’t work then change it up. Try a different approach to the same goal. Seek out new information, get a training partner, hire a mentor, set 3 alarm clocks, all while refusing to drop your intensity.

An excellent way to plan this is by sitting down and really taking the time to get a clear vision of your goal. It should be specific down to the smallest details, then write them down. It’s a basic principal but it’s surprising how many people keep goals “up here” (pointing to their heads) and not physically written down.

Something different happens in the mind when you write down your goals in detail. It’s like setting a perfect road map to follow, while you kick ass along the way like Buakaw. Do this on a regular basis, not just on New Year’s Eve, like we’ve been trained by the mainstream.

Every week, or even better every day, review those goals you want to achieve and go after them with everything you’ve got. I hope to see you out in the banana field soon, with your shins as tough as Buakaw’s.

Until next time, keep pushing and progressing.