A 10 year-old reminded me of some great advice.

A student came to class last night to work on her kata. She had recently been half-striped, she wanted her full stripe and so she came to do a private lesson with the goal of receiving the other half of her stripe. During her lesson, she performed her kata and when she finished, Jacob and I looked at each other in amazement at how much her kata has improved.

This student is a dream student. She comes to class regularly, does her two classes, tries hard, does it with a smile and then goes home. Nothing more, nothing less. Same thing every week.

While watching her train during her lesson she reminded me of perhaps the best training advice I ever got. It’s advice that DRASTICALLY changed how I train. I got the advice from a martial artist that I really respect and his advice was this…

Don’t train too hard. Do it in moderation.

When I was younger, I LOVED training at a really intense level. I loved training at 100%, full intensity. The problem with this was that sometimes I’d get hurt or sometimes, I’d just get sick of my training and when that happened, I’d take some time off.

When I’d take time off, I’d inevitably slide backwards a bit and see my skills diminish.

Now, when I train, I train at 60%, 70% and if I’m feeling really wild, 80%.

As long as I train within that range, I’m great. I can train regularly, see improvement and most importantly, I can ENJOY my training…JUST like that student that’s trying to earn her stripe.

This week’s message is…

If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please.

We’ve all had the experience of doing something that we initially love WAY TOO MUCH and eventually having the love of it fade away. Perhaps had we taken it a little slower, that would have never happened and so this week, as you go through the week, take a look for the things that you are perhaps doing TOO MUCH and see if you can dial them back a bit. If you do that, hopefully that love that you have for it will never fade.

Now, you may be wondering…DID SHE EARN HER STRIPE? Not yet but I guarantee you that she’s going to soon.