“Never, ever go forward with an idea without actually testing it on the consumer first” Karen Bilimoria – Cobra Beer.

Supermarkets are hard to break into. Use someone who already has a relationship with them to get in the door. Or make your product provably superior in tests and be very persistent

First to market is often over rated. Many businesses are late to the market and beat established competitors. For example Facebook wiped the floor with Myspace. It is more important to have a superior offering and to execute well rather than be first.

People want something that is authentic and speaks to their actual desires. People don’t like products when it feels faked or manipulated. Teens for instance tend to be turned off by products that are overtly targeted at teens. The targeting needs to be about genuine value.

A product has to deliver on the promises of its communications.

100% commitment is easier than 98% commitment. At 98% you are still leaving options open. You are expending energy deciding on what to do. There is a tug of war on what to do. (eg on diet etc, watching youtube etc). There is decision fatigue. There is a difference between decision and decision fatigue. Instead you what to go 100% and you never have to think about it again. This frees up your energy.

The Intelligent Investor: Focus on long term future cash flows.

Starve distractions… starve compulsions.

• Planning and visualisation.
• Prepare yourself for the next day and visualise the next day.
• Block out hour by hour the next day.
• As you plan the visualise what will happen.
• The two main causes of procrastination being: 1. Overwhelm. 2. Not knowing what to do.
• Find the tiny hinges that open huge doors.
• Reduce friction and make the good things easy.
• Focus on what is important.

• Allows you to get full rotation and so get full power and reach.
• Useful point about bend in front knee. Can’t be over bent or locked.

3 Twists. Leg twist – rotates the body weight. Hip twist extends the leg. Body twist keeps you facing forward as the leg twist would otherwise turn you away from target.

Push up onto toes to allow rapid rotation. Push chest up to reduce moment.

Keep body upright. Hold your other arm behind your back to stop you bringing your body into the technique.

“Aliveness” is the element that is missing from most traditional martial arts (including karate). Practicing against an actively resisting non-predictable opponent is what is going to let you develop the skills necessary to be effective. All the martial arts that have combat effective students (eg BJJ, Boxing, Mauy Thai, MMA, Judo etc) incorporate some form of live drills into their training.

Learn the relevant template(s), but then practice them in a such a way so as the uke is actively trying to achieve their own goals, which usually mean trying to prevent you achieve yours.

It is important to get away from drills where the attacker throws a single technique and then the defender does 5 or 6 moves well the attacker stands there as a dojo dummy.  You can be passive on the first few attempts well someone gets the technique but then you have to move on from this.

When you only have passive partners or depend on solo drills like kata you have a potentially inaccurate sense of what will work or not. Even if you can make moves work you do not learn when to use movements against an opponent. Sometimes knowing when to do something is as vital as knowing how to do it.

A basic drill for this would be to have an attacker throw a swinging punch.   The defender wraps the arm of the attacker and strikes.   But the person throwing the punch does not allow the arm to be wrapped or rips it out as soon as it is wrapped.   This forces the defender to wrap the arm effectively and strike fast and then adapt to whatever happens next. ffffffffffff