Want to Be A Master? Then You Have to Become Your Own.

Sadly, there are many ways to gain the title of master in the martial arts.  Some are more legitimate than others.  The title is not actually encouraging anyone to promote themselves to high rank, declaring themselves the grand poobah of their new, hybrid system.   Believe it or not, I am talking about one of the more legit processes.  Of course, to become a master should obviously also include a lot of training and dedication.  And while I am still not sure if I deserve the title which my rank supposedly equates to, I know enough to know there is still one more important aspect to mastery.

Dr. Yang often relates a Chinese story with the lesson that is the equivalent to teaching a man to fish.   A young boy approaches a Taoist immortal/alchemist and says, “Excuse me sir, is it true that you can turn rocks into gold?”

“Why yes, son, it’s true.  Do you want a piece of gold?”  the sage replied.

“No, old man, I want your trick!”

I often relay this story to people getting ready for black belt.   The relevancy being that on the test, we as instructors can no longer help them.  If their distance or height of their break is off, or if they are making an error in technique, or if they are making a mistake in a form–we can’t give them nuggets anymore.   They need to have taken our trick and made them their own.  They need to recognize the problem and fix it on their own.   Honestly, shouldn’t a black belt be able to self-adjust on their own?

One of the focus points we frequently reference to our students is the ability to coach yourself.  They have heard us explain what is expected a million times; ultimately they have to hold themselves accountable and do it right without us telling them.    I recently read a coaching book that promoted a similar idea:   What if coaches could prepare their teams but weren’t allowed to intervene during games?   No time outs or drawing up plays.   Could the players think like coaches on their own on the field?

 

Yes, not doubt some of our students could follow the routine of a class and do “something.”  But that is merely being able to follow the format of the game.  Hardly the self-critical eye of a coach who sees strengths and weakness, strategy to win, etc.  Ultimately, a martial artist should be the player-coach, because in a true self defense situation, you certainly can’t rely on someone being there to help you or tell you what to watch out for.     Even martial sports are artificial in that sense if you have a coach or a corner to help you.  And in training, we certainly want instructors to help engineer our/your success.

But success doesn’t always come at first or even quickly.   There are many clichés for this:  trust the process, embrace the grind, to be master you must master the basics.  But it is true.  According to Gladwell in Outliers, it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become world class.  But let’s not worry about getting to that number just yet.   More importantly for the now, you need to embrace the journey.  To train to be master you must invest in loss along the way.  Lose matches and learn from them.   You will have setbacks. Be resilient and not be afraid to fail.  Fall down seven, get up eight.  Don’t worry about ranks or outcomes, worry about improvement.   As the book Dual Goal Coach explains trusting the process, people who focus on mastery (of the skills) perform better than those focused on the scoreboard with less anxiety and more enjoyment.  People focused on mastery are less focused on choking and better on resiliency.

Or let me make a little more simplistic and blunt.   Want to be a master some day (or how bout we start with your next black belt)?  Then stop doing the same mistakes you have been told to fix a dozen times.    Or stop working hard and fix things only when it is time to test, and then start coasting along so much that you have regressed to as bad or worse by the time the next test comes around.  Notice our top students coming in early or staying late to work on things?  You want to be like them, but you don’t need to do that?  Rethink that.

In many areas or hobbies in my life I have taken the initiative to educate myself. Now, I certainly had mentors to help along the way, but that typically also included a lot of reading and study on my own direction.  As you go through the ranks, but especially at black belt, we purposely make the journey more self-directed.  Some of the material is less frequently reviewed.  It is your job to remember it—even if you have to write it down or ask someone else to review it with you.  We will be glad to help you, but you have to take the initiative to seek out the knowledge.  It has to come from you.  In anything in life, before others will acknowledge your mastery, first you have to both master yourself (overcome your inadequacies) and be your own master instructor.

Your Personal Journey from Another Person’s Eyes.

 

When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” 

 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain until I return, what is that to you?  You follow me!  —John 21:21-22

              You will often here it stressed that martial arts is a personal journey of growth.  And I whole heartedly believe that.   People come to the arts for a variety reasons and goals: fitness, self-defense, relaxation, wellness, focus, self-discipline, community, confidence, etc.   Some thrive in competition, some don’t.  When done right, martial arts can help you BE MORE in just about any realm of life.  Of course, depending on a lot of factors, your mileage can vary.   And while we can remind people about the personal journey, sometimes we still get caught up in comparisons.    It is understandable—if for no other reason but to have a gauge or benchmark for our own progress. But this rant may also give you a different perspective to help you be introspective.   We will discuss this from the instructors’ standpoint.

The challenge as instructors is to find the balance between remaining as objective as possible and still taking some individual challenges into account.   It is hard to ask a woman who took the martial arts up at the age of 50 to have the same jump kicks as a twenty year male who has grown up in the arts. There is a big difference in athletic ability between two otherwise comparable individuals, let alone a case like that.  But at the same time, if you do an art that is known for kicking, then you must be able to adequately represent that.   Drawing the line on what is adequate is the challenge.

Breaking can be especially challenging for those who are smaller in stature.  One of the issues we had with the old organization is rigid guidelines based on age and gender but not on weight.   Mrs. Yoshida wrecked her body going through board requirements meant for someone with at least 50% more mass.   I can’t tell you how proud I am of her last mini-herculean feat, but it came at a price that we don’t want for our other students. But on the other hand, if the minute they start to struggle we start giving them allowances, they will never be challenged to improve their technique, increase their speed, etc.    There has to be a balance.

In short we don’t want to start making excuses for students, because as soon as we do that, they will start making excuses themselves.  Rather, we prefer to show them that we have faith in them that they will find a way to prevail.  We have had lots of kids with learning disabilities learn the same forms my college students do.   However, I will also admit there are some considerations we do take into account.   We can try to make some allowances for students with extra challenges.  The kid who has been at their rank for 6 months or even a year might not have the best test in the world, but they got close enough and have shown indomitable spirit along the way.  I am inclined to reward the kid who was miles away from testing but absolutely busts it to be ready, IF I feel that I can.  So progress, improvement, and dedication go into the decision process.   You will get less consideration if we don’t see effort—either in class or an effort to change or improve.

As stated previously, it is natural to look at others for a means of comparison. Maybe the person you are comparing yourself to has mitigating circumstances like we discussed.   It really doesn’t matter, because it is none of your business.  If they pass their test and you don’t, still none of your business.  To paraphrase the verse from John:  If I walk over and give the person to the left and right of you black belts, what is that to you?   You, get back to training.  Their progress and whether they are a good or black belt is none of your concern.  Your only concern is your own progress and being the best martial artist you can be.    And that is what the instructors are also concerned about in regards to you.    We don’t always care whether you look better than the person beside you.   We care that you look better than the you of yesterday.  We don’t always care about who is the best in the room, but who in the room is performing at their personal best.  Our job is to make you the best black belt that YOU can be.

We don’t want our students to be obsessed about rank—either how quickly they are getting theirs or who is passing whom.  But at the same time we want them focused on progress (which rank does symbolize); otherwise, they are just adrift in class.   They should have a goal and purpose while here.   Again, it is a balancing act.   Case in point:  When Mr. Mike Dodge started BJJ here, I was one of his instructors.   We have both grown a lot in the art, but Mr. Dodge focuses on it when my attention is divided among several arts.  Now Mr. Dodge outranks me!  But what is that to me?  My job is to continue to improve myself in the art at a different pace, and I will get there eventually.

While we strive to be fair but understanding with all of our students, we might get it wrong occasionally.   Sorry about that.  But again, unless you are the student or an instructor, it isn’t your concern, nor do you likely know the full story or have the expertise to even have an informed opinion.   We can all spend less time looking to the left and right us and more time looking inwardly.   And as is frequently the case, we can take the lessons from on the mat into the world and apply it in many areas of our life.