After some good talks with the co-ordinator at the Brooklyn Community Centre in Wellington and having found another like-minded Iaidoka, we will be running an introductory Iaido workshop on the 19th June. More information and registration at: www.wellington-iaido.com All going well, regular weekly classes should be starting in mid to late July. UPDATE: Thanks to those who attended the workshop last Saturday, keep checking back for regular training times TBA. read full post

A couple of weekends ago I made a trip to Christchurch to attend a full day intensive Iaido training day a the Canterbury Kendo Club. We spent the first half of the day teaching all the Kendo students a little Iaido as many of them have never tried (and have usually seen us Iai people practicing our strange moves lol). It was a really good experience to teach, rather than learn or practice, it really tests how much you really know about the art you are practicing.  I taught the first kata of the Seitei set, Ipponme Mae, a very important one as it is always the first one you learn when starting out in Iaido. Sensei Eynon Philips has always told me that knowing this kata inside out is like knowing ALL kata as it contains all the elements that make up all kata. I think I must have done this kata 100's if not 100's of times now over the last couple of years of training! The rest for the day was spent training and perfecting our kata and of course doing the ever popular "make up your own kata" kata, a lot of fun! Since moving to Wellington, I have not managed to find an Iaido club to train at as of yet. Despite enquiring at a few martial arts stores (who all seem to say "yeah someone else asked about that a few months back").  So I am looking into starting the Wellington Iaido "study group" under guidance of the Canterbury Kendo/Iaido teacher and hopefully talk more with the other Sensei at the Auckland Kendo club (where I attended the very first NZ Iaido seminar last year). What I am really hoping to achieve is to bring together all those people that may have trained in the past or are looking to start in Wellington.  I still am yet to find a venue, though the Brooklyn Community Centre is looking promising. So this is a call out to any one in the Wellington area interested in training in Iaido.... get in touch! Email: iaido@camfindlay.com It will be great to get something going and build the art of Iaido in New Zealand even stronger! UPDATE: I have been speaking with the Brooklyn Community Centre in Wellington, they seem very open to the idea of setting up Iaido classes at their venue! Will continue to update once I have met with them and organised some dates and times for possible training sessions. read full post

Last Thursday and Friday (8-9 Oct) I was lucky enough to be part of the very first national New Zealand Iaido Seminar held at the Auckland Kendo Club in of course.... Auckland. It was a 2 day intensive training, grading and a good opportunity to network and meet the others throughout New Zealand swinging a sword in this age old martial art. The plans moving forward are to start building numbers and really promoting Iaido in NZ and I am hoping that I can add my knowledge of social networking and online communities to work towards this. Thursday saw a full day of training and learning some new kata in the Kendo Federation Seitei Iaido which consists of 12 kata (I know up to number 11 at the moment!) It is interesting learning from others as each teacher does seem to put their own knowledge and spin on each kata.  At the end of it all I think gathering as much knowledge as you can from as many teachers as you can and then combining that with what feels natural with your own movement and focus is the way to go. Thursday evening I dug deep despite extreme tiredness and a rather painful toe injury I performed the best I could at the grading and came away with a 2nd Kyu (ni-kyu) grading! A jump of 8 grades as I had been previously ungraded. Friday saw more training and a Shiai (competition) and something even more fun... getting to invent our own kata! The "build your own" kata concoctions were all very interesting with one of our (chch) dojos students ideas using an umbrella as a sword took it top marks. The 2 days were a great challenge that everyone who attended met and got something out of... Before I left for Auckland I flicked to a random page in my copy of Yamamoto Tsunetomo's "Hagakure" (a classic Japanese warrior code text) and thinking back on it now it shared some insight into the days ahead, it read:

The talented rise to the challenge- There is a saying, "As the water rises the boat rises". When a person of talent ... encounters a difficulty, his [or her] heart rises to meet the challenge, and the greater the challenge the more he [or she] is spurred to take it on. - Hagakure, Book 2, Line 42

Rather fitting I think! A big thanks to all those at Auckland Kendo as to all those who attended the Seminar. Look forward to next year! read full post

For those in Auckland next week and interested in Japanese swordsmanship be sure to check this seminar out.

The Auckland Kendo Club is hosting this event for all NZKF Members currently training in Iaido or for members who would like to try this art for the first time. Date: 8th & 9th October Location: Auckland Kendo Club, 165 Pilkington Rd, Glen Innes Start time: 9am – 5pm Drinks provided Meal out on Thursday night Seminar Fee $30 Grading – Thursday night at 6pm / up to and including 3 Dan For more information please contact either – Brent Hansen – brent.hansen@frucor.com 021 352 605 Alan Stephenson – kendoalan6@hotmail.com 021 677 364

See more about the Auckland Kendo and Iaido Club read full post

Here's a little something I just came across for the rainy season. A katana (Samurai sword) umbrella! Ward that nasty weather away the samuari way. This goes on my halarious xmas present list if anyone feels like getting me one ;) read full post

I brought up the "5 whys" exercise back in the lecture 2 post last week but to recap the basic idea is to think of an important event that has occurred in your life and ask yourself why that was important. 

Then take your answer and again ask yourself why that answer was important. 

Repeat 5 times.

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I have some idea about where I am going at the moment but as far as a super clear "Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal (BHAG)" I think I need to spend some more time discovering and exploring my ideas more fully. In an earlier journal question rant I spoke about my passion for online communities and part of me is leaning towards exploring this path more.  I have helped a few people set up their own online communities through custom strategies so perhaps one BHAG could be to become more well known for my ideas around setting up and managing these communities and look at doing more consulting and freelancing. I do intend to look at writing up a case study or two around some of the work I have done with others on their online communities and look at following up to see how engaging with their community has helped drive their businesses. I also spoke in an earlier question about my ideas for products and businesses (I still need to go buy a notebook to get all these ideas down).  So again I find that this could be a possible future direction for me.  On a more personal BHAG there is also some part of me that would like to take a trip to Japan and perhaps study more about my martial art, Iaido and learn some Japanese language and culture. One thing is for sure that I do have options, I think some more time spent looking into my ideas and then deciding on something to focus on that fits in with my values will lead me to a clearer picture of what my BHAG is. Perhaps my BHAG is to do all the things above?, or work out someway I can integrate online community, with entrepreneurship and Iaido or Japanese culture? I think that it is part of the joy of life anyway, trying things, learning and heading towards a better sense of the right path for me. What is that cliche line? "It's the journey, not the destination..." read full post

I think to "up" my level of self-responsibility I will need to take more time to explore my ideas more fully and following through on them.  Though in saying that I have recently had the idea of blogging my university paper journal questions which was an idea I spent some time going over in more details and acted upon and made it happen using some easily found tools on the web available to anyone. I'm also hoping I can use this platform to deliver my final Personal Development Plan assessment due later this year. Having this blog space acts as something to help increase my personal leadership as I now have a space to get ideas down and spent a little time each night thinking and writing about topics I'm either learning about or am passionate about. I have also taken up Iaido classes (which is great for the spirit and promoting a calm, reflective mind) and play a little indoor football once a week with a great team of friends.  Again these are all activities I envisioned doing and stood up and started doing them for no reason other than enjoyment & building spirit, body and mind. So rather than this being "what would you have to change?" it has become more "What have I changed recently and started in motion?". I'm not sure how you would quantitatively measure self-responsibility but hopefully the more I contribute, share and write on my blog, commit to training and get involved in a bit of team play, the more I can hit that magic 20%. read full post

Last thursdays lecture covered a lot of ground in terms of what it is a "leader" actually does either in a position of leadership in an organisation or more importantly I think personally. Those 4 main tasks being 1. Envisioning 2. Engaging 3. Enacting 4. Creating a Hi-Performance Context or Environment I hope to write more about these point individually in a later post. We ran through a very interesting exercise during the lecture called the "five whys" exercise.  Basically you pick an important event in your life (Or for an organisation a statement about what the organisation does).  You then ask "why is this important" 5 times each time asking why the the answer to the previous "why" is important.  Eventually you will get down to what is really important or a core value and purpose for that event or statement you stated with. For example, the important event that popped into my head when asked was winning my Iaido competiton a few weeks back.  I was asked by another student "why was that important" and the flow went as such: I won my Iaido Competition > Important because: I was able to successfully apply some skills I had learnt > Important because: I enjoy learning new skills and knowledge > Important because: I have a thirst for new knowedege > Important because: Learning is most likely a core value for me etc etc The plan is to try this exercise on serveral import moments in life so far and try an boil down those core values that have threaded their way throughout my life and whether what I am doing now aligns with them or whether I need to start making a move to something different. Development questions for this week were:

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Righto here are the questions Tom Matthews proposed last week:

1. Name one thing/activity you could do that would make a difference to your management/leadership ratio? 2. How self-responsible are you in your life? 3. To be 20% more self-responsible, what would you have to change? 4. Complete the 'survey packet' (handed out at the lecture) and record your reflections on your present levels of engagement and service.

Will need to have a quick refresh through the notes from that lecture which was talking about differences in historical views of leadership to new ideas and theories of what a leader is. Most importantly it seems that personal leadership is most important...as how can one lead others if one cannot even lead oneself properly. The ideas of the 3 stages of "Waking up", "Standing Up", "Making Choices" and "Self-Responsibility" i think really resonated with me... I feel I have always had a great deal of self awareness and if I want to get something done I put things in motion and do it. Deciding to head back to university after 7 years of doing other things and working was one of these personal leadership moments. Anyway... class tomorrow I need to get some reading done!  Tom seems to have posted up a personal values questionnaire on the university intranet which looks like it could be something interesting to fill out and see what the tests say I value... I will attempt to blog post on the above questions over the weekend, hopefully after Iaido training when I am always at my most relaxed and focused... perhaps I will attain some secret enlightenment of Ki Ken Tai no Ichi... then again... I think I need a lifetime of practice before that kicks in. read full post