Guardian Academy of Martial Arts

Leader Program Download in pdf.

Guardian Academy - Next Level Guardian
“Leader”

Leader is an Eight+ Month Program that includes the following:
Reading
Audio/Video
Individual Activity
Example Leadership in Class

READING* - with 1+ Page Reports per Book
Choose Four from the Following:
360 Degree Leader - John C. Maxwell
Leadership Gold - John C. Maxwell
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey
Awaken the Giant Within - Anthony Robbins
In Extremis Leadership - Thomas Kolditz
Developing the Leader in Your Child - Tim Elmore.

Choose 4 more books of your choice

Suggested: Any of the books from the above list you did not choose.

Suggested for Parents:
Anything by John Rosemond.

Suggested for Financial Leadership:
Cracking the Millionaire Code by Mark Victor Hansen and John Allen,
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill,
Anything by Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad series).

Suggested for All Leaders:
Anything by John Maxwell, top recommendations:
25 Ways to Win with People
21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz,
The Laws of Lifetime Growth by Dan Sullivan and Catherine Nomura.
Anything by Stephen Covey, top recommendation:
8th Habit

* An Unabridged Audio Book Qualifies as Reading, an Abridged Audio Book Qualifies as Half a Book, but does count as having read the book. If you did all four required books by Abridged Audio, you would have six more books to read. If you use audio books, it should be due to schedule limitations, not because you “don't like reading.” You may use nonfiction books you are reading for school as four of the books. Focus your report on information you learn from the books that are useful for leadership.


AUDIO/VIDEO - with 1+ Paragraph Reports per Audio/Video program
24 Hours of Audio Listening (each hour of Video counts as 2 hours Audio)

Suggested for Financial Leadership:
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Lessons from the Richest Man Who Ever Lived by Steven Scott
Your Secret Wealth by Jay Abraham
The E Myth Seminar by Michael Gerber

Suggested for All Leaders
This I Believe by Vic Conant
Leadership Mastery by Dale Carnegie Foundation
The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale
Achieving Credibility by James Kouzes
Anything by Anthony Robbins
Anything by Brian Tracy

Suggested to Build Confidence
The Maverick Mindset by John Eliot
One Small Step by Robert Maurer
The Science of Self Confidence by Brian Tracy
The New Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz

Suggested for Students
Accelerated Learning Techniques by Brian Tracy and Colin Rose
Quantum Memory Power by Dominic O'Brien
Suggested for Speakers
Stand and Deliver by Dale Carnegie Foundation
Communication Mastery by Tony Jeary

CUSTOMIZATION OPTION: You may trade out one book for two audio or video programs of 6CDs or 4 hours of DVDs or more. You may trade out audio programs for books, with a standard one book replaces 6 CDs of audio. If you are reading more lengthy books, see an instructor for approval.

INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITY

AOK Books: 2+ Acts of Kindness Books
(one book = 1,000 Acts of Kindness recorded)

Every Single Thing Every Single Month - practice all your material every single month. Even triple Black Belts can complete this with two practices a week for fifteen minutes a practice. You can do this before and after class on training days and comfortably finish every single thing every single month.

Master Of… - One or More things to focus upon as your expert item. Practice some set of things 1,000 times in eight months. Some long items, like Sword Form, only need 500 repetitions. If you choose an area of expertise, such as all four technique sets in Karate or both trimesters of material for a weapon in Kobujitsu, you only need 250. At 1,000 reps over 8 months, it's less than 5 reps a day!. Just 5 to 10 minutes!

EXAMPLE LEADERSHIP

The Fundamental Principle of Example Leadership is “Be the Example.”
Example Leadership includes the following basics:

Uniform - Always be in full uniform. Make sure your uniform is clean and neat. Wear an appropriate training shirt. Tie your belt properly.

Protocol -The Protocols are a language, and every element has meaning and purpose. Practice them accordingly.

Training - Train in every class with the express purpose of improving your insight and your physical skill. Be focused and attentive in class, showing respect to leaders and instructors. Honor your art.

Positive Power - Compliment others frequently. Accept compliments graciously. Provide “feed forward” about how to improve (NOT “constructive criticism”!) to help people move forward.

Helping - Be helpful to leaders and to the dojo. If you are two or more ranks above rank on someone, correct (feed forward) them if a mistake is being made. (Exception: Adults in their 30s or older of Advanced Yellow Belt or higher may correct (feed forward) minors of higher ranks).

Decisive - When leading, make decisions in 10 seconds or less. Always be ready for your turn leading, and have a “default plan” if you are high enough rank (Yellow Belt) to be asked to lead.

Example Leadership - No matter your rank, be a great example of a student of that rank. Train the way a student ought to train. Stand the way you should stand, using the physiology of confidence and self-discipline. Move the way should move, with authority of yourself and certainty. Use the powerfully positive, enthusiastic vocabulary that inspires you to be more and do more. Compliment, encourage and contribute meaningfully to every class so the class is made much better because you showed up!


GETTING AHEAD
These are NOT requirements for Leader, but you can Get Ahead by taking advantage of opportunities or getting things started sooner.
Competition - “Martial Artist” requires competing in at least one tournament in at least one event. You do not need to win. The point is that you compete, taking your skill in something and testing it against others. (Jujitsu-only students are exempt from this requirement.)
Bible Reading - “Christian Disciple” requires reading the entire Bible cover to cover, starting in Genesis and reading straight through to Revelation. Most people find this takes about one year of daily reading.
If you have already done so at least once, you have already fulfilled this requirement. If you have never done this before, starting immediately gives you two years to complete the entire Bible. For your first time through, use a translation that is easy to read. The New King James, New International Version, and New American Standard Bible are written in more contemporary English than the King James (written in 1611 English).

PURPOSE OF THE LEADER PROGRAM

Less than 20% of people will read even one non-fiction book after college age their entire lives. More than half the time, a book is started and not finished. The most common place to stop is at the end of chapter 1! Yet in the ranks of the super-successful, the multi-millionaires in the world, superstars in most fields, and those who quickly move forward in their career - THEY read an average of a book a month.

The super-successful, up and coming, multi-millionaires and experts also listen to audio programs. The most common method is to listening to audio programs in the car on the way to and from work. They feed their mind with useful, inspiring information to learn, grow and move forward in their life, relationships and career.

Having a Plan for Growth is critical for anyone who is leading or wants to be a leader. The most significant leadership anyone will ever do is raise children. Parenting is leadership. Most people find the most difficult person they will ever lead is - themselves! Learning and growing are essential to success in all areas of life! Otherwise, we spend our lives improvising!

All of us impact the lives of others. We can be an inspiration or an excuse. By a single act, we may affect whole generations. A key lesson Soke Scot Conway teaches in his marriage courses came from a single interaction with a young woman in the late 1980s. We have no way to know how often one thing we say or do will affect someone's life, and possibly affect other lives through them. The average person touches the lives of thousands of others in meaningful ways.

Leadership is the process of Influence. It starts with ourselves. Leaders go first. Leaders model what they expect others to do. A Sensei is a Leader because the word means “one who has walked a path and can show others the way.” So the first person we must lead is ourselves. We model obedience and following so others can see how to follow others. We discipline ourselves for good character and personal growth so others can see how to grow and how to behave. When we influence others, we do so for their own benefit and for mutual benefit, modeling generosity and caring.

“Leader” is about being worthy of being followed. “Leader” is blazing a trail that others can follow. It is a chance to be in front, to make decisions to help others and get comfortable thinking about creating value for others. It is a chance to lift the limits of your leadership skills so you will be more effective, more powerful, and a more worthy leader than you are when you start. It is about decisiveness, confidence, and learning to truly value the progress of others.