Positioning.

Positioning as a concept can be applied across the whole of life. Good positioning means that the next action or stage will be easier (or possible) than from bad positioning (or impossible). The best advice from any film is ‘best block not be there!”. Miyagi (please original Karate Kid only) has hit the nut on the head here. If you do not want to be hit do not be where you can or will get hit. General self defence training starts with awareness of where to be (positioned). You can avoid many places, people and situations that minimise the risks, this is obviously a life lesson too. The other overt element here is to hit well you need to be in a good position. So if you want to be effective in an action you need to get good positioning. In the physical world you need to use footwork to get into good positions and out of bad. Here it is described partly by range, how close you are and there are various weapon ranges of peck effectiveness. Artillery can be a long way away but spears have to be the distance from the tip of the spear being behind your opponent (probably safe to call them an enemy here!) with you holding the spear two handed in front well you get the idea. For a punch you need to be closer to the target, within a straight arm away to hit but closer for maximum power. Find a teacher to get more comprehensive instruction. Throwing a punch two arm lengths away does not work!. Positioning also would include facing the right direction and the position between you and your opponent if you are behind them it’s much easier to attack then and harder for them to defend. All physical skills have best positions to be effective, once you get good at positioning the other skills are much easier, and much more effective. A good position does not involve over-stretching or being cramped up. As in tennis you may hit the ball away where they cannot reach or right at them so they cannot get the racket there. Your position in tennis is where your stroke can be performed easily to produce a good (position improving or winning) shot back.

For most sports and martial arts getting the learners to practice positioning is a challenge to move them towards the effective methods rather than the glamorous, obvious and ego boosting elements. Additionally those that have natural advantages like being the biggest abuse those advantages making it hard for others but also limiting themselves for when others learn to beat these natural advantages (by positioning). Also the abuse can lead to dead ends and injury. Also others get upset and a re-motivated to take your advantages away by increasingly severe means. Being ready for change so that you can adapt requires a ready position. Like the not getting hit approach to positioning the same skill can be applied to avoidance if you cannot resist the temptation then remove it somehow. If you cannot keep your hands out of the cookie jar then do not have a cookie jar at home. If you have fallen into an addiction then find the triggers that make you want to feed it and try to avoid it.

Positioning is not just physically being in the best or better space and time to do anything is a goal and a performance enhancer. So timing your actions for when you are in a good position to both do them but also capitalise on the next moment. Some examples of good lucky positioning were all the Oil barons who were the right age for the boom time. The billionaires (opr oil workers) before were not oil Barons and the billionaires (or oil workers) after were not either. The same happened with the technology billionaires all around the same age for when the opportunity appeared. One aim is to be in a good position to take advantage of any opportunities. In society being rich is a good position, being from a good family, going to the right schools etcetera gives many advantages. There are opportunities that can only be taken advantage of if you are in a good position already. Others you have time to get to a good position.

The general lesson is to be in good positions as often as possible. So the punching example is to get into a position where you are right in front of a target with no defences and close so the punch should not miss (see any blooper real for how misses are still possible). The position for the punch will also help for the next situation where your punch has or has not landed. If you jump in to hit then jump out again you cannot do anything else! Expand this concept to other ideas of positioning in time or in social situations.

The next lesson is to plan to be in the best position in fact failure to plan is about position. You need a long term plan to be as often as possible in good positions. Life is better if you are in a position of good health, better education and friends with the right people. For most things in life it is already known whet the good positions are you need to plan for getting into these. Maintaining health is relatively straight forward and known. Education can be gained in many ways. As well as finding the best positions and planning and then acting to get to them, being realistic about which positions you can get to. Many people want what they cannot have. Here you have to recognise it and choose a different path where you can get into good positions.

Good habits are trying to start well as as Kelly Starrett says about squatting it’s like you enter a tunnel as you start to squat and to change to a good movement to a bad is easy but going from a bad movement (knees in duck feet) to a good is at least unlikely if not unknown. So a good set up is vital. This extends universally, so to achieve your goals get into a good set up position and do not compromise. So if you want to get a job find the best position and get into it, if you want to learn a skill set up a good position to learn it. Compromising by trying to learn the basics in a pressure situation does happen but the vast majority fail and are not remembered and those that succeed usually have paid a price that dooms them later. A good example that is analogous to many others is that any one who is overweight can lose weight but few do. Out of every 20 children who are obese 19 become obese adults. The trick is to stop the obesity before it starts. Poor education follows the same poor health pattern. Anyone who beats the long odds often finds it hard to cope with the new situation.

Gaining good position is a worthwhile tactic to make life easier but nature also gives a hand. With lucky birth you may be in a better position for a lot of things and genetics may have given you better positioning for some areas which can be seen as talent. As well as physical dimensions and attributes, mental abilities make some things easier and others hard. Some realistic assessment of what these factors mean towards different skills or activities will help see if getting a good position is likely when another has advantages that are unlikely to be surmounted. Then it’s time to get creative and see the bigger picture and look for a more suitable (likely to succeed) goal or approach.

Planning is a key element as luck and panic management later rarely works beyond survival. Developing skills (under progressively more stressful conditions) and moving to better positions in peace time means war is less likely and you are more likely to not lose (at least!). And then hopefully to thrive in the peace.