General George Patton stated a maxim of war:
Fixed fortifications are monuments to man’s stupidity.
Patton knew, as all great warriors know, to stand still in a fight and refuse to move is a fool’s strategy. It’s common sense that a moving target is much harder to hit than a stationary one. So why do many fighters refuse to incorporate movement and motion in their fighting strategies and styles?
The Karate Institute of America’s fighting strategy is founded on movement. As one of our maxims states: The mover controls the fight. Why? Because the opponent must keep adjusting to the mover’s movement and, therefore, he becomes reactive rather than proactive—a failing strategy. Movement will also confuse and frustrate the opponent, keeping him imbalanced and brain-locked.
In life, when confronted with challenges, we must be mentally adroit and proactive, not reactive. We must not become fixed fortifications when problems arise or assailants threaten. We must attack them. Don’t let them control us. Waiting around for problems to fix themselves or assailants to attack is a failed tactic. We must move, adjust, adapt, attack, doing whatever it takes to beat the opponent, i.e., the problem. We must avoid becoming a “fixed fortification” and be smart, movement-oriented, and attacking the problem/assailant until victory is attained.
