CATALYSTS

WEEK OF 4/6/26

 

What is a catalyst?

Basically, it’s a thing that causes another thing to happen.  In chemistry the definition is significantly stricter, but commonly used it has a pretty loose meaning.

Catalysts can often be boring, commonplace, and uninteresting things.  But in the right circumstances, they can create massive chemical reactions or even change the course of history (the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 is often cited as the catalyst for World War I).

So, what’s the point?

There are habits, behaviors, and other things in our lives that may not have much significance or effect on their own, but their value lies in their ability to catalyze into bigger and more transformative habits and behaviors.

I’d argue that Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu are incredible catalysts for health and fitness.  Realistically, you are not going to get incredibly strong or trim from the muscular demands or caloric cost of training these arts by themselves.  There are better ways to burn calories and develop strength directly.

However, the nature of martial arts is that it starts to leech into other parts of your life.  It catalyzes you into someone that sleeps better, that eats better, and that (hopefully) makes better choices all around.  Into someone who sees their body for what it is: an incredible machine capable of incredible feats.  It teaches you that what you once thought of as your fixed boundaries are nothing more than rusty doorways that need a little elbow grease to break through.

The fault, however, lies in when we don’t recognize the relationships between those catalysts in our lives and the results we aim to achieve (or maintain).  It’s all too easy to toss them to the side.  I’ll give you an example:

When I’m running regularly, everything falls into place.  It’s not because running somehow accomplishes a certain fitness goal that’s unachievable by everything else I do, but it does create a certain change in my attitudes, my behavior, and my outlook on things to the point that I am eating better, sleeping better, and making better choices.  Jiu Jitsu and Thaiboxing do this for me as well.

And this is why I always make time for them, even when I don’t want to.  Even when I’m uninterested in them (yes, it happens from time to time).  Because I know that the value in the doing is not just in what’s directly received, but in the catalyzation of some higher state of being that guides me towards the lifestyle, mental clarity, and physical qualities I want to possess.

Point being: identify your catalysts.  Nurture, protect, and value them.  They have an incredible power to move you forward even when you’re feeling stuck.  Sometimes it’s the little things that make the big things work out.