Saturday, January 31, 2009

"Failure" and Opportunity

Lots of people think very negatively about failure and mistakes. But a mistake is an opportunity to learn. Do not feel defeated about a goal you failed to reach, instead look back at what happened, look at where you struggled, where you succeeded. Every failure, every mistake is an opportunity to improve.

The only real failure is to give up. You're cementing your own defeat.

We're coming up on the big trial time: February and March. Most people give up and quit, and lock in the big failure. To succeed, just hold on. Just keep going. A black belt doesn't become a black belt by a single superhuman act. They do something entirely human every single day. The biggest deciding factor in a black belt is determination.

Karate is not made for people who are superbly athletic. It's not made for big men. They don't need to defend themselves. It's made for common people. Most black belts are not people with special coordination skills or exceptional physical skill. They are people who do not give up. More often than not, someone with 'talent' will give up when karate gets too difficult. Since they have natural talent they've never had to struggle. At the first sign of difficulty, they quit. Black belts persevere.

You can all be black belts. The goals you have set are are difficult, but they are not impossible. You can do it!

3 comments:

  1. Take it frmo me. I was incredibly uncoordinated for most (40 years) of my life. I have gotten more coordinated through karate. Also, I have seen first hand the ones who get through karate so easily quit when the going gets tough. Mr. Karate calls me the essence of indomitable spirit.

    :)
    Marie

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  2. I've been told I should do ju jitsu from a friend who is into that--he says I am built low to the ground (ie short and fat! :)) and that I'd be good at it. I'm totally uncoordinated and he knows this but has always said I'd be good.

    Really though for all of us, it's about muscle memory and the opportunity to build it. I am a well above average (and have even been described as advanced) skier but I can trip over my two feet!

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  3. This is a great analogy - we can all be black belts in whatever we're trying to accomplish. I like that. Great post!

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