Author: Zamai (page 27 of 49)

July 28, 2024

Tai Lung: Never Crumble When Things Fail

Tai Lung is a complex villain in a simple story.

The wisest lessons can come from the simplest stories. In 2008, DreamWorks produced a timeless movie, “Kung Fu Panda,” which highlights the dreams of a clumsy giant panda named Po, as he tries to learn Kung-Fu while saving his village from the rampage of the savage snow leopard Tai Lung.

Rewatching Kung fu Panda made me realize this movie had everything.

A great storyline. Well-developed characters. Memorable lessons.

And the greatest lessons of the movie are learned with a focus on Tai Lung, the main antagonist of the story.

The Leopard, The Legacy

Understanding Tai Lung

Whether as an upgrade of Tigress, a direct counterpart of Po or as Shifu’s fallen student, Tai Lung was a great villain.

Before the beginning of the movie, Tai Lung was in prison, and we get to know more about him from his escape from prison.

His ferocity. The quickness. His ability to make clever decisions. And his full mastery of kung fu.

As the story goes on, Tai Lung takes on the furious five (a group of his former kung fu master’s greatest students). He overpowers them with ease. His domination was so epic that Po trembled with the fear after hearing this encounter.

Yet in the final battle, this ferocious snow leopard loses to an easygoing big fat panda. Not because Po was quicker or stronger. Tai Lung lost because of three fundamental ideals

Read this to the end. There is a lot to unpack.

The Dangers of Pride and Entitlement

Shifu trained Tai Lung at the Jade Palace, raising him to believe he would become the Dragon Warrior.

However, when Oogway (Shifu’s master) denied him the title, the snow leopard revealed his true dark nature. He rampaged through the Valley, which led to his twenty-years in prison.

Tai Lung’s seething rage and fury did not fade, even after spending so many years in prison. His pride and arrogance did not leave him. Tai Lung’s entitlement mentality made him become the worst version of himself.

We see it clearly on his first encounter with Po:

Tai Lung: Who are you?
Po: Buddy, I... am the Dragon Warrior!
[bows over, panting from the stairs]
Tai Lung: [incredulous] You?
[laughs]
Tai Lung: He's a panda! You're a panda! What are you gonna do, big guy? Sit on me?
Po: Don't tempt me.

The eventual downfall of Tai Lung came from his denial and underestimation of Po.

Tai Lung also did not learn humility. And this virtue he lacked led him to crumble under the weight of expectations.

Crumbling Under the Weight of Expectations

This weight was not entirely the fault of Tai Lung.

Shifu filled his student’s head with the idea that he was destined for greatness. And gaining the dragon scroll was meant to be the physical representation of greatness of his years of kung fu training and mastery. Shifu also seemed to move on and never visited Tai Lung during his 20-year incarceration.

I know it’s not easy but Tai Lung should have moved on as well.

His next goal should have been simple. Focus on growing and improving yourself mentally, rather than seeking more strength and waiting for appreciation. Yet, Tai Lung allowed the weight of expectations to crush him.

Because of this weight, the former kung fu prodigy failed to understand and overcome the curse we are learning next.

The Ferocious Antagonist of Kung Fu Panda

The Curse of Seeking Validation

Next to Oogway, Tai Lung is virtually the most skilled and dangerous Kung Fu Master alive.

The snow leopard had immense physical strength, was able to punch and tear his way through numerous armored opponents. He was a kung fu prodigy from childhood. The prodigy was the first student to master all one-thousand scrolls of kung-fu.

Yet he had a fatal flaw.

This flaw is perfectly seen in the snow leopard’s dialogue with Shifu after his prison break:

Tai Lung: [growls] I rotted in jail for 20 years because of YOUR weakness!
Shifu: Obeying your master is not weakness!

Tai Lung: You knew I was the Dragon Warrior! You always knew! 
But when Oogway said otherwise, what did you do? What did you do? NOTHING!

Shifu: You were not meant to be the Dragon Warrior! That was not my fault!

Tai Lung: Not your fault? Who filled my head with dreams? 
Who drove me to train until my bones cracked? 
Who denied me my destiny?

Shifu: It was never my decision to make!
[gazes at Oogway's shrine and picks up his staff]

Tai Lung: It is *now*. Give me the Scroll!

Tai Lung’s ultimate goal was to be the Dragon Warrior and be handed the Dragon Scroll, which he firmly believed was his destiny.

Despite his heartless and insensitive exterior, Tai Lung was naturally unassertive and insecure as well. He never believed in himself to start with, and needed the Dragon Scroll to believe.

Ironically as long as he could not believe in himself, he could never win against Po.

Believe in yourself

As an adult rewatching Kung Fu Panda, there are questions gleaned from the movie to understand yourself better.

Can I stay humble when winning?
Am I afraid to change my path when it is no longer sustainable?
Do I still search for other people’s approval to validate my success and experiences?
Are these dreams mine or someone’s else?
Is anybody denying me my destiny?

There are so many questions to ask yourself.

The answers are right there in front of you. It comes no matter what you do. It is like what Master Oogway said: One often meets his destiny on the path he takes to avoid it.

Just believe in yourself. Don’t fight or seek it in someone or something else.

July 7, 2024 / 0 Comments

Locked In: 6 Reminders for how to Finish the Remaining Year

For someone to be locked in is an act or instance of becoming unalterable, unmovable, or rigid.

But this is opposite of what we do when it is the middle of the year. Whenever we get to July in any year, there is always the tendency to slow down. Or go with the flow. After all, what was not done from January to June might not happen in July or the rest of the year.

Please don’t think like this. The year is not over. We are in halftime. You still need to maintain momentum. Staying locked in is an important process in doing your best this year.

Stay Locked In

I love how Topsy-Kola Oyeneyin (TKO) puts it. This is from her newsletter.

If the first half was challenging or disappointing, that’s okay; it’s an opportunity to start afresh. If it was great, congratulations! Now is the time to build on it – don’t lose focus. Either way, don’t fixate on the current score; you’re playing for the entire game, not just the half, and the game isn’t over yet.

This is like how football players get to rest for a few minutes after the first half and before the second half begins. In those minutes, their coach comes to encourage his players to ensure they get the victory they need.

It is July, and you are in the same position too. So, before you go back in full gear, here are 7 reminders on how to stay locked in for the rest of the year.

Be consistent

Don’t abandon the goals and dreams you wrote at the beginning of this year.

Keep transforming your goal into simple regular habits by building rhythms and routines that work for you. Create and maintain checklists that break down your goals. Then take notes to measure your progress.

When you consistently work towards a goal, you are more likely to succeed.

2. Maintain Focus

This is what allows you to completely concentrate your entire being on a specific activity to achieve it.

When doing your daily tasks, be present in the moment. Treat everything you do as important. From big things to the little things. The better you focus when you do the little things, the better you’ll do in big stages.

Stay focused and keep moving forward.

3. Build privately

This is what I call a magical life – build in secret, celebrate in public.

Living a magical life for the rest of the year is learning a secret recipe to success. Your life is hidden in plain sight yet accessible only to a chosen few. Don’t confuse noise for success. Take deliberate quiet actions, rather than announcing your intentions to the world.

This is a rare art form you must learn to adopt.

4. Increase your chances of getting lucky

Life is in cycles and seasons will always come back and go.

This means you will have several opportunities in life to experience breakthroughs. Before these breakthroughs arrive, work hard and learn to recognize and act on opportunities. This is how you create your own luck.

Because Luck happens when preparation meets opportunities.

5. Love People

85% of your financial success comes down to your personality and how you treat people.

Be friendly. Don’t criticize, complain or condemn. Give honest and sincere appreciation. Always show empathy and put yourself in people’s shoes when communicating with them.

Learn to love people, not the way your school mates, novels and movies taught you, but the way your creator tries to teach you everyday.

6. Keep leveling up

You are the main character in your life. Act like it. I love how this quote put it:

Become the greatest your bloodline has ever seen. Then pass it down.

The quest is simple. Improve yourself. Prioritize your health and goals. Take actions daily and build relationships.

That’s 6 already, but there’s a 7th culled from Ecclesiastes 12:13, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

The Fear of God is important… to ensure that while you plan on finishing this year strong, you are also looking at the bigger picture (your life) as well.

Stay Locked In, my friend. The world awaits your legacy.

July 1, 2024

Lucky Break: Once in A Lifetime Opportunities are Overrated

What does it mean to have a lucky break?

On 29^th May 2024, football fans were shocked when Bayern Munich the biggest club in Germany announced their newest club manager. A popular sports media agency carried the announcement with an headline saying “the World has officially gone mad.”

Apparently, this manager is inexperienced. Just four years of coaching experience. And one of those years was spent in the English second division.

His only European campaign ended in a Conference League qualifying loss. He has never coached in a Champions League game.

In corporate terms, it’s like a multibillion international company hiring for the role of their managing director. A position that demands decades of experience and influence.

Then this company gives this position to a young man who has only managed a small startup in a local city.

This man does not appear to have the capability or achievements to get the coaching role.

But this is what the available data indicates.

Stay with me. There are important lessons to be learned from this appointment.

Vincent Kompany. That’s the name of Bayern’s newest manager. He is not at fault here, even if it feels like a massive jump.

At 38 years old, Kompany is still a promising manager with the potential to become a great one. After a few seasons at mid-level clubs, he should be able to refine and expand on his ideas, and then he could be prepared for a position as important as that of Bayern Munich. However, it all seems to be happening much too soon.

From a wider angle, it highlights the mess Bayern were in. This ‘multibillion dollar organization’ blew through their managerial targets after asking their current manager to leave the club.

They were left with a manager who appears underqualified and unprepared for a job of this magnitude. Months of searching Europe for possible targets. Pursuing big names, and repeatedly failing. All efforts were in vain.

Getting a Lucky Break

When Preparation Meets Opportunity

“If you are very skilled in a field, you will notice when a lucky break happens in that field.” – Naval Ravikant

A “lucky break” is often seen as a stroke of good fortune. However, those who are skilled recognize these breaks because they understand the context and the implications of the opportunities presented.

When a prepared individual encounters an opportunity, they can take immediate and effective action. This ability to act quickly and appropriately can create what seems like “luck.”

It looks like Vincent Kompany already knew about this one.

His managerial credentials don’t jump off the page. Kompany first became player-manager at his boyhood club, Anderlecht, in 2020. The club legend was tasked with bringing the sleepy giant back to the top by the Belgian team, who offered him a four-year contract.

Anderlecht finished fourth in his first season in charge. He also finished third in his second season while making the Belgian Cup final. Kompany then accepted a coaching job at Burnley.

His first season was historic as the team played delightful playing football. Burnley topped the Championship, winning the league with 101 points – becoming the first team to hit triple digits in nine years.

To be frank though, it felt Kompany was doing something great with Burnley.

Small club or not, the quote of “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity”

I understand that his next season with Burney was disastrous, that saw them finish 19th in the Premier League, being relegated back to the Championship.

But his “lucky break” came at the right time.

LESSON 1: THERE’S ALWAYS A COMEBACK

Life is in cycles and seasons will always come back and go.

Therefore, everyone in life would experience significant life changing opportunities.

You will have several opportunities in life to experience breakthroughs.

Before these breakthroughs arrive, have a combination of hard work and the ability to recognize and act on opportunities.

Like Kompany, this combination is essential in becoming the best option for successful breakthroughs

Will you be prepared when your own lucky break comes?

When Opportunities are already missed

At the start of 2024, Bayern Munich decided to rid their previous manager before the season ends. With this strategy, they believed they could get a head-start on finding the best candidate to take over.

Their primary target was the manager of their domestic rival club. It was Bayern’s tradition to bring anyone who threatens their dominance in their league to their club and it was believed that their primary target would carry on that tradition.

After all, they were the biggest club in their country. It was not to be, though. In retrospect, this was a messy strategy.

Because of this rejection, Bayern were then left scrambling for other options. They turned to the man they had sacked only 12 months previously in controversial circumstances. This man rejected them too.

The German giant began a second wave of search. Rejection. Upon. Rejection. All potential candidates turned down the role. Because they had signed new contracts with other clubs. Or personal reasons.

And this is how the biggest club in Germany ended up with a manager of a relegated club in England.

LESSON 2: DON’T BE ANGRY IN THE FACE OF REJECTION

“Even the migratory birds are punctual to their seasons.] Yes, the stork [excelling in the great height of her flight] in the heavens knows her appointed times [of migration], and the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their return.” – Jeremiah 8:7 AMPC

You might have missed some opportunities in the past. Or gotten rejected.

This does not mean you get angry or bitter in those times. Rather look at them as learning opportunities

It is like what an old king once said, “The stone which the builders rejected eventually becomes the chief cornerstone.”

Rejection might just be a step in fulfilling your destiny. So don’t be careless in the times of abundance. Don’t be afraid in the times of leanness too.

This is all for my end.

Will Kompany be successful at Bayern Munich? We don’t know yet.

That’s your homework to find out as the year goes on 😉.