Be first. It's an old maxim that I believe can first be attributed to boxing, at least that is the first place I heard of it. Hit your opponent first. Get in there. Score first. Attack! The applications to all martial arts should be obvious, but the concept also applies to life.

Sitting in a sales meeting, in a warm room, I remember drifting off to the velvety sounds of quarterly projections by my manager and then being abruptly stirred upon hearing, "It's best to get something on the board right away. It will help you get your momentum going for the month!" Well, it was something like that, anyway. After all, I had just woken up. Regardless, it was another example of being first. And it was an application far away from the mat.

Most people will likely agree: it's better to be ahead than to try to come back from a deficit. Once the momentum is going in your favor, for some reason, it seems easier to keep it up. My unscientific opinion is that it is easier to build on success than failure, though as many readers will attest, we have to know how to work equally with both.

It is when lessons learned through martial arts are applied to our lives that we begin to see their power. Punch first. Hands on first. Get the sale on the first day of the month. Be proactive. Be industrious. Be first.