July 31, 2026
How to punch above your weight
Confession:
I beat my son.
Clarification:
In a karate tournament last week ;-)
What’s interesting about this is that he’s objectively better at karate than I am.
- He’s faster
- His legs are longer
- He has better endurance
- He’s significantly more flexible
- He can do much more advanced kicks
In fact, he won last year’s tournament, and I came in fifth.
So how did I win this time?
By being more strategic.
To explain how, I have to back up for a sec and tell you a little bit about karate tournaments.
The only thing that matters in a karate tournament is getting more points than your opponent before time runs out.
You DON’T get points for style or talent or flashiness.
You DO get points for landing a punch or kick on your opponent.
And in this particular tournament, a simple punch to the stomach counted for just as many points as a fancy 360 spinning hook kick to the head.
So...
IF the objective was to score more points than my opponent before time ran out...
AND a boring punch counted for just as many points as a fancy kick...
AND my opponent was better at karate than me in virtually every way...
THEN I had to pick a strategy that gave me an edge by using his strengths against him.
Which was this:
Run away until I saw openings to score with simple punches while he wore himself out chasing me around the floor doing amazing kicks.
Boring?
Heck yeah.
Kind of embarrassing, actually.
It almost felt like cheating.
But when time ran out, I was ahead by one.
Here’s the thing...
If you are laser-focused on your objective and don’t get distracted by what everyone else might think, you might be able to get what you want with a lot less energy than you expected.
Yours,
—J