Anchored to Your Center

One of the core principles of the ancient martial art of Aikido is Nen, loosely translated as “one-point.” If the center of a warrior’s body is anchored to the ground through a solid fighting stance, it is very difficult to knock him over. 

Michael Veltri, the author of the book The Mushin Way to Peak Performance, uses this as an analogy for business and life. He discusses how valuable it is to know one’s center in order to make good decisions. When we’re clear about who we are and what our mission is, we speak with authenticity and act with integrity. We see next steps more clearly, and are better able to pivot when curveballs come our way. Others can tell when we are speaking from our center, and are more likely to support our vision.  

Michael also shares the importance of guarding ourselves from being knocked off-center. For example, if we allow our email to update automatically instead of manually, we can easily be pulled away from the project we meant to work on. If our notifications are enabled on our phones, we will have a much harder time maintaining a deep presence during conversations with family and loved ones.

This week, I invite you to apply Nen to your life, asking: 

How clear am I on what my one-point is? That is, around what does my life orbit? If it is unclear, what would I need to do to gain greater clarity? 

How much do I tolerate getting knocked off-center throughout my day? If there were one thing I could do to guard my center better, what would that be? 

God bless,
Dan 

P.S.- To learn more about Michael Veltri and his work at Catholic Leadership Institute, you can read his bio here, or check out his personal website.