 Welcome to Queers to Success, which is live on the ThinkTech live streaming network series weekly on Thursdays at 11am. We are your hosts. My name is Danelia, D-A-N-E-L-I-A. And I'm the other half of the duo, John Newman, welcome to today's show. The goal of this show is to provide professional and personal development tools and profound insights on how to achieve success in life, career and or business. Vanessa Perez, CEO of S3 Career Consulting, was our guest on our last show and her words of wisdom can be accessed on Newman Consulting Services website, NewmanConsultingServices.com or our landing page, Danelia.org. Joining us today in the studio as our guest is Mr. Burton Richardson, founder and president of Jet Kundo Unlimited, abbreviated JKD Unlimited. Mahalo for joining us today. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. Good to see you. Good to see you. What are you talking about? Thank you. Well, we only have a limited amount of time, so we want to give our viewers and listeners all of the time we have with you. They can have with you. All right. Share with them if you will a little about JKD Unlimited and what prompted you to start the business? Well, Jet Kundo is what Bruce Lee started and it was not just a martial art, but it was also philosophy. It's really a philosophy of success because Bruce Lee's whole idea was how can we do this martial arts and make it as effective as possible, only using what works, testing everything to see what really, really works instead of everything being theoretical. And so taking that in the martial realm, the physical realm, and then changing that over and using the same principles, say, oh, if we can figure out how to make this work against someone who's trying to knock you out, then you can take that in everyday life. Because if you think about it really, martial arts is the art of overcoming obstacles. That's it. And what are we doing in everyday life? Overcoming obstacles. That's it. That's what it's all about, right? So it's an art of constantly looking and trying to develop ourselves and figure out what is it that we need to do, what kind of training, how can we develop ourselves physically in martial arts and also most importantly mentally to think better. So what you're saying is that the martial art is just not learning how to punch people, it's learning to think and digest situations and responding versus reacting. That is correct. Responding instead of reacting. Reacting means they are in charge because you're just reacting to what's happening. Responding is making an intelligent decision and choice depending on that situation, that obstacle that's presented. All right. Very relevant for this show. So we've got a lot to talk about. Yes. You're widely considered by the media commentators and other martial artists to be one of the world's leading proponents of functional self-defense. So what led you to actually get involved initially in martial arts? I grew up in a place called Carson, California, which is a great place to grow up because you grow up without blinders on it. Because a lot of, like many places, a lot of really wonderful people, but then you have that certain percentage that are really, really bad. So I grew up, I just got to see some bad things and unfortunately I experienced some very horrific things myself. And so that really got me to be able to defend myself. And so that's what really started it. And fortunately, as I went on, I had an opportunity to go to my instructor for a long time, for 37 years, to his school. And I saw it. And I was just like, oh, this is it. This is what I want to do. Well, you know, it's interesting because a lot of us have childhoods that were challenging. And you can either use that, you understand that that determines your course in life, whether you use it for positive or whether you do it for negative. Thanks, absolutely. The Darren Hardy says our adversity is our advantage. If we use it for that, right? We can also take our adversity and say, oh, I'm a victim. Poor me. Look at what happened to me. But you can also say, you know, that made me stronger. Yeah, that's absolutely true. OK, Burton, your devotion to the martial art is absolute. And your credentials are impeccable. What was the pivoting moment in your life to say that you wanted to make martial art your life's work? And what are your goals? OK, well, as far as making martial arts my life work, kind of interesting how it worked because I was suffering from this thing called ulcerative colitis. So it's a very, very rigorous, terrible, makes you really sick digestive system. I didn't actually know what it was. And when I finished college, I went to USC and I was a biology major and writing and literature honors program, finished that as well. And when I was finished, I was so sick. I mean, I was almost dead. And then a couple of my friends that were a year ahead of me were already in medical school, which was where I was headed. And they told me this is so much harder. And I thought, you know what? Because the stress really took this, I said, I'm going to die. So give me, I'm just going to take one year and I'm going to do whatever I feel like. And that was martial arts. Well, 37 years later, I'm still doing it. But yeah, so it's been a, it was a great thing. Somehow I was so rock bottom and I was depressed. I was just, I was a mess, right? I was living in just abject poverty. I was living in a little camper trailer that was about the size of where we're sitting right now, just this table and out of a dog and cat hospital in downtown LA. And I lived there for five years. I took care of the dogs and cats at night. And there was a time, I say this because it's relevant to people who are trying to make their way there. I remember sitting there and thinking of my future one night after being there a couple of years, I could not visualize a way out of that trailer. I thought I was going to be there the rest of my life. But fortunately, I had my mentor, Dan Inosanto, who was Bruce Lee's best friend and training partner, and just being around him, the positivity, and he got me reading books, reading Bruce Lee's philosophy, reading other people's success philosophy, and little by little, and chunk, chunk, and wow. That just tells you how important it is to have a great mentor. Great mentors, that word mentor, when I think of it, there are so many people who can have mentors. I want to tell everybody out there, these two people have made such an incredible difference in my life and my wife. No, just unbelievable. We were on this great path, we were having great fun, and we were doing this, right? Living in a nice place in Nuanu, and they invited us up to their place one day and they're great, all of a sudden they said, okay, let's have a talk. And they opened our eyes, they showed us, we were, no. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. These people are wonderful, right? Well, blessings and gratitude, because you are as well. And it takes good people, you know, and giving and giving unconditionally and having that attitude of, I'd like to be a person that gives. That's what you are, you're both what you both are. And the other thing with mentors is you have to actually take what they say. Yes. And do it, because that was the hard part, like, oh my gosh, you were there right. We never thought of that, all right? But thanks to them, we're really well off. Because most people look at philanthropy as, well, I want to have enough money to do things. No, it's about doing whatever you can do to help and unconditional help, giving unconditionally. And that's what you do as well. So I don't want you to be so modest because you and your family are beautiful and you touch the lives of many. Many, that's the idea. We try to make people's lives better, that's it. So you're the book author of several publications. You've been inducted into the Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame and Inside Kung Fu Magazine Hall of Fame. You're also a Black Belt Magazine's 2015 self-defense instructor of the year. And you're also awarded the best right choreography at the Action on Film Festival. So, you know, through all of this, you talked a little bit about the challenges, but what are some of the challenges that you encountered in your quest to be the best you can be? There are constant challenges. And again, back to that simple concept, if people can take away the art of overcoming obstacles, it's what, you know, the obstacles are coming. It doesn't matter, you know. It's like this, have you ever seen this thing where here's my plan. I start here and I go to my goal. This is what actually happens. Exactly, exactly right. Exactly right. Where is it going? But we just have to keep going. You know, just keep going. I've had the health, some health issues, which just auto me. I eat very well, I really take care of my body and that's that, but you know, even with all that, bang! You know, I'm in the hospital last year for a long time. But we just have to just keep going. And have the faith. That is going to be alright. Because it's going to be alright. Whatever's supposed to happen will happen. And through every adversities you've said, you grow stronger. And as long as you don't let it bring you down. I mean, all of us have our moments where we just kind of lose that faith for a fraction of a second, but you've got to get that back. As soon as you recognize it, find somebody you can talk to, where you were, so that you can keep on that path. That's the discipline. When we talk about discipline in martial arts, a lot of times people think discipline is standing in a stance, not moving. Discipline is the mental discipline. That's right. When you feel yourself going into the wrong thinking mode, it's the discipline to say, oh, it's easy to just go feel sorry for yourself. That's the easy thing to do. But you know when, like say in grappling or something, if somebody is sitting on your chest, mounted on you, that's not the time to go, oh, poor me, what happened? I don't deserve it. No, this is time to get to work and get out of here. That's right. That's what's not true. Absolutely. Talking about mentors and mentorships, I want to ask you and to share with our audience, who was the most, who were some of the most influential figures that inspired you in the martial artistry? Yes. So Bruce Lee was one of my first people who inspired me. It turns out he was Kato in the Green Hornet way back when. And I love that TV show. I remember that show. People were like, what are you talking about? Millenians? Right, right. I was like Batman and Robin. Right, right. I love that show growing up, but I didn't realize it was Bruce Lee until many, many, many years later. He had a mask on. Oh, yeah, exactly. But then Dan in Osanto is really my main inspiration. I must say, I have so many instructors because I go and try to train with as many people as possible. They all inspire me. But Dan in Osanto, here's a guy who there is nobody in the world that knows more about martial arts than him. Not even close. No one close because he just I mean, he's been at it for 60 years or so. Maybe actually more like 70 years. And he is just such an incredible, incredibly dedicated to learning himself. He's constantly training and learning and taking private lessons himself. And 80 years old, then he goes to somebody in their 30s to learn from them. That's who he is. There's humbleness and understanding that no matter how old you are, you're constantly learning. And behavior is taught. Learning is taught. And you have to be humble enough to let someone teach you. Yes. It's very easy when, for example, when I first became an instructor, after a little while, it was like, oh, you know, hey, I know what I'm doing now and this and that. And then you go through a little while and you go, oh, wait a second, maybe I don't know so much. And then, I think it's really valuable to have that humility because then you just constantly improve. Right. So we're going to take a short break. This is Keys to Success on the Think Tech Live Streaming Network series. We're talking with Burton Richardson, founder of JKD Unlimited, regarding Keys to Success. My name is Danelia D-A-N-E-L-I-A. And I'm the other half of the duo, John Newman. We'll be back in a minute, so please stay tuned for more Keys to Success. Aloha, this is Kirsten Baumgart Turner. I host Sustainable Hawaii every Tuesday at noon on Think Tech Hawaii. Live streamed at ThinkTechHawaii.com and we also appear on Olelo. We would love to have you join us for many of the interesting Think Tech shows that we have dealing with really important issues that impact all of us in Hawaii as well as nationally. On Sustainable Hawaii, I try to bring up the issues that are most pertinent to those of us on all of the islands and also to help connect people. I'll give people a chance to look at what people are doing and see how they can plug in and get active. Hi, I'm Tyler Cevota, and I was actually a guest host on Carl Campania's Think Tech Hawaii show, Movers, Shakers, and Reformers. And I think you should tune in every Wednesday to find out more about what it is. That's all. Take care. Welcome back. This is Keys to Success on the Think Tech live streaming network series. We encourage you to call our hotline at 415-871-2474 to join our conversation or tweet us at ThinkTechHIV if you have any questions or comments. We've been talking with Burton Richardson, founder of JKD Unlimited. My name is Danilia, D-A-N-E-L-I-A. And I'm the other half of the duo, John Newman. Welcome back to the show. And I think my other half would like to ask you a question. Yes, I would. So martial arts takes incredible focus. It's not just about fighting, it's about a lifestyle with many components. So how do you align your body, mind, and spirit to create inner peace? Yeah, that is a great question because for me, success, when we talk about success, it's really fulfillment, isn't it? So true. Right? It's not the car or the house or this. It's the fulfillment. And so if we are on the right path and we're doing what we should be doing and we're helping other people, I think for most people you can get that fulfillment. And so through martial arts, at first you're learning and it's a little bit selfish because it's all about you learning and then when you become an instructor and you get to start sharing, or if you're a good training partner and you're helping someone that's a little behind you, now you're starting to give. And I just think it's really about doing the right thing because we know when we start to do something that's really not right we know. Yeah, we know it in here. We know it inside. So we have, that's one of the disciplines of martial arts is doing the right thing. Not just making the right move at the right time but in everyday life, doing the right thing every single time. You never take the shortcut. You never go oh you know, no one's going to know I'm just going to do this. No, you say you know, I will know. So integrity is everything. Integrity, because then internal integrity, what they say integrity is doing the right thing when nobody else is around. That's right. So that's what we strive to do so that you yourself can look at yourself in the mirror and go I'm happy with myself. And you know what body, mind, spirit, everything goes like this and you feel fulfilled and you're content. Well done. Enjoy life. Okay, share with our viewers the differences in approach when you teach young children versus adults. You know the main difference that's say is attention span. That's number one. Attention span. Don't we know it? Yes we do. Be parents. But I would say that's the same main thing so that's why I keep when I'm teaching children, which I don't do too often I do teach some kids we do it very short periods I have some of my students teach some kids classes as well and they keep it shorter so that keep the attention span. But what's interesting is a lot of times say okay the adults just in there we grind it out and all the kids we have to make it fun for the kids. Like no you have to make it fun for the adults too. You know how to discipline? Make it fun. Instead of willpower. Willpower is finite. You only have a certain reserve of willpower once you use that willpower up off you go. So if you keep it fun so you don't have to keep dipping into that willpower makes it so much easier. When I was younger I did not like running, jogging and then the Walkman came out and I was like how old are we? You go again. Running was fun. I can listen to music while I'm running. So you've had the opportunity to work with some of the masters in martial arts which you've already mentioned. What have you learned from the masters? One common thread. Well first of all I'll say a very high standard of excellence. Very high standard. There's a reason this like wow this is an incredible master. They don't settle for pretty good or very good. They only settle with absolute excellence and we can't ever get perfection but by striving and you know that thing oh that's good enough. No not good enough. Never good enough. And so that is one thing. The second thing that I learned that they all have in common is courage. They really are courageous. And courage as we know is just acting. Doing what we should do when we're afraid. And again John and Denelia really helped us have our mindset and when we were able to buy a second house to do a rental property that was scary. Yes. But I seriously I took your advice and then I went in and I thought like some of the great masters I've trained with I think you know what they would just you have to step in and do it. And trust that it's going to be okay. You're going to figure it out. They're going to be challenged but you will figure it out. It's interesting because fear stops us from moving forward in life so much and we're allowing ourselves and we all experience it at one time and some of us experience constant fear but you know you really have to mentally that's why it's so important to key in mentally with your heart, your spirit, your mind to overcome that fear and just trust that it's going to be okay. So back to courage. Exactly. Courage overcoming fear and one thing when things go bad because things go bad, right? It's very important to understand the difference between disappointment and discouragement. Disappointment means oh I feel bad I wish that would have happened that I didn't know. I'm disappointed. Okay you can be disappointed. Discouragement is when you allow yourself to lose courage. And you need courage to go forward so we cannot allow ourselves to get discouraged. Disappointed? Okay. And what you're saying is allow. You have to do it and that's why that when you talked about the absolute devotion it has to be there. No matter what. You can't allow yourself to back up and to regress if you know it's right and what you need to do. And that's what we teach with our students in class. Some of them have come from books of life. Really had some hard times. We really work with them to get through that mentally and to start believing in themselves and believing that it's going to be okay. It's interesting to see what happens when things start changing for them then there's a whole different level of fear like oh my gosh this stuff works. Now how am I going to deal with this? It's working. It goes back to the point about be careful what you're at. You might get it. I've seen that your question that we asked all of our guests when they come on and you pretty much touched on it but I'd like you to go back to it if you would share with us your three success, most the top success habits if you will. Success habits. One I would say do it now. I have that thing running in my head because we always want to put things off. It's do it now. Can I tell you a quick story? Sarah and I decided years ago we're going to go through Tony Robbins of course. I've done it before, right? We've all done this, right? We're going to do it. So we start listening every morning. We're listening and listening and somehow guess what happened? One day we didn't. That turned into a week. It turned into a few months, six months. So we said okay we're going on a trip. We're going to be in the car. I'm taking the tapes. We've been putting it off. And Tony goes welcome back. Now we're going to talk about procrastination. It's like it was made for you. And that's the way I know it's not true. So do it now. That would be the first thing. And then a little bit every day. Just keep at it. Just keep chipping away at it. Chipping away at it. We have a tendency to go okay I'm going to get in shape. I'm going to go out and lose 20 pounds today. No it's not going to happen. We just have to keep chipping away at it. It's called commitment. Thirdly Thirdly, have fun. We have to make it as fun as possible because we're here having fun. We can go through life with this like I got to do that. Do whatever you can to make it enjoyable. Because life is long. They say life is short. It's the longest thing we know. It's short if you just want to sit in that chair. For those who say it's short aren't getting up moving around doing what they need to do to enjoy their life. Enjoy it. Have fun with it. It's interesting because we've mentioned John and I have been married for many many years. 34 years. Many many years. One of the things that we've talked about the fact that we just really enjoy each other. We laugh a lot. We really have a good time with each other. I truly believe that's one of the reasons why we are where we are because just like you said you have to have fun along the way. Life is meant to be enjoyable. It is. People tend to think that life they have a false sense of what life really is. There's no such thing as perfection. We have to argue. We have to yell a little. We do have to. We have to. That's why I'm sorry. When you punch you exhale. We have to do that. But the thing is you have to go back to why are you together. You have to commit to unconditional devotion. That's what it is. Once you do that and Danil and I just skip off beat just a wee bit we have a rule we can't go to bed mad at each other. Beautiful. Of course he's the one doing the apologizing. We know that. We all know that. You know this Tom it's so quickly. We're out already. We're out of time. We have to wrap it up. Alright. Thanks to the Newman Consulting Services webpage NewmanConsultingServices.com and landing page to nillia.org. Thank you to our viewers and listeners for tuning in. Thanks to our broadcast engineers Daniel and Robert McLean and to our executive director I will get it right. Producer. Thank you for joining us today and sharing to success. Thank you for everything you've done for us. Thank Tech Keys to Success. We'll be back Thursday at 11 a.m. We ask that you tune in again and ask your friends and family to do so as well. My name is Danelia D-A-N-E-L-I-A. And I'm the other half of the duo, John Newman. And leaving you today, we'd like to leave you with a quote from Walt Disney, it says, all our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. Thank you all. Aloy! Aloy, everyone.