What Ignites Your Soul?

On the way back home today after a hard 90 minute session of Muay Thai, I reflected on why martial arts always makes me so happy even after all of these years. I just finished a 30 minute run, 5 minutes of shadow boxing, 5 rounds x 5 minutes of hard padwork with multiple-time Muay Thai World Champion Penake Sitnumnoi, 2 rounds on the heavy bag, 300 sit-ups, and 100 push-ups. I can’t do what I used to do, but I still feel so blessed to be alive.

The biggest misconception about martial arts is that it is about fighting and violence. Yes, it teaches you how to kick ass and how to defend yourself in real life. But, self-defense is only the surface of what martial arts teaches. The true essence of martial arts is the journey of continuous self-improvement mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Through the practice of martial arts, we inherit confidence, mental strength, courage, tenacity, work ethic, humility, compassion, integrity, kindness, respect, honor, discipline, and much more. And friendships born in training are often more real than other relationships. All the bullshit societal stuff like job titles, social status, education, etc evaporates on the mats. In training, we are all equals. It is a beautiful and powerful thing to be able to share the tough journey of unleashing our potential together.

Above all though, martial arts empowers us with an unbreakable warrior spirit to conquer adversity in life. No one is perfect and no one is meant to be. We all fall down. We all make mistakes. We all fail. We are all simply on a journey to be the best version of ourselves possible. You see, I don’t believe that we were put on this Earth just to live an easy, comfortable life. For me, life is not about buying fancy cars or luxury things or social status. No, I believe that we were put on this Earth to unleash our potential so that we may give back to the world more than we receive. Martial arts has the incredible ability to change lives, to turn weakness into strength, to mold fear into courage, and to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Martial arts is what I love. Martial arts is who I am. #gratitude

Chatri Sityodtong is a self-made entrepreneur and lifelong martial artist from Thailand. His rags-to-riches life story has inspired millions around the world on BBC News, CNN, Financial Times, Bloomberg TV, CNBC, Channel NewsAsia, Harvard Business School, Sports Illustrated, and many other major media. He is currently the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of ONE Championship, Asia's largest global sports media property in history with a global broadcast to over 1 billion potential viewers across 118 countries around the world. Forbes most recently selected Sityodtong as one of Asia's next generation tycoons. He was also named "Asia's King of Martial Arts" by the Financial Times and the “Most Powerful Person in Martial Arts in Asia” by Yahoo! Sports and International Business Times. He is also an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at INSEAD, Europe's top business school. Sityodtong holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Tufts University.