Think Like a Black Belt: All is Metaphor

I recently earned my red belt in Combat Hapkido, the latest step in a what has been a winding, decades-long quest for a black belt. Anyone who has practiced martial arts can attest how we are all told early on “it’s not about the black belt. It’s about the journey!” Such sage wisdom is often met with eye rolls by those of us caught in the throes of black belt lust. But I have some newfound perspective that suggests those sages may be on to something. Hear me out.

One evening in class, our sensei was teaching us about one of the foundational concepts of hapkido, called the harmony principle. If an opponent is pushing you, they do so with an instinctual expectation that you will push back - that you will meet their force with opposing force. Hapkido exploits this instinct by employing a seemingly counterintuitive strategy. When they push, you pull. In doing so, you gain the element of surprise and then can use your opponent’s own momentum against them. 

As I reflected on the harmony principle, I realized I had heard a version of this concept before. In the classic How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie presents a scenario in which a salesperson is trying to convince a client to break loyalty with a competitor brand. The salesperson approaches the task by criticizing the competitor and proclaiming their own product to be superior.  But as Mr. Carnegie points out, this sets up a potentially antagonistic situation where the client feels their judgment is being questioned, causing them to perhaps even defend the competitor! The better, if counterintuitive, approach would be to find ways to genuinely agree with the client’s positive assessment of the competitor. This disarms the client, establishes rapport and trust, and presents an opportunity to exert greater influence.

The connection between these concepts finally dawned on me: the harmony principle in hapkido and the sales strategy discussed by Dale Carnegie are the same! They represent different manifestations for different applications, yes. One is physical and the other, mental. But they refer to the same, universal truth!  A lightbulb flipped on. It was as if Pat Morita himself smacked me in the head with a car wax cloth. I now see that it’s possible to take underlying principles from one discipline and apply them to another: A beautiful song, with its musical hook, rhythmic tension, and melodic resolution, can serve as a blueprint for achieving emotional effect within otherwise unrelated fields, such as training design.  A delicious recipe, with the right balance of ingredients, subtle flavors, and visual appeal suddenly provides unexpected inspiration and insight into managing client relationships. Once you realize that all is metaphor, you are able to access untapped wisdom and apply it to any area of your life.  

I can’t help but feel that this may be at least part of what those sages have been alluding to all these years. Perhaps a colored belt really is inherently meaningless. The real treasures are those precious insights you gain along the way. You don’t have to be a black belt or even a martial artist to train your mind to think like one. You need only to open your mind to seeing past the surface of things. As for me, I have a long way to go before I earn a black belt. But for the first time I’m beginning to appreciate that it may in fact be about the journey, after all.