KICKIN' IT! BLOG

Go for it!

I had this student start class last night and they said to me that they’d been thinking of taking karate for quite a while. They had been humming and hawing over it, tiptoeing around the idea, balancing the pros and cons. However you want to say it, they finally started last night, did a fantastic job and I think they really enjoy their time.

Afterwards, I thought about what would have happened in 5 10 15 20 years, had they not tried it? What if in that time frame, they end up with these big regrets?

Frustration is an essential part of success

This week’s MOTW is born out of me trying to put together the MOTW.

No matter what you are working towards, at some point you are going to hit roadblocks or bumps in the road and so this week, as you go through the week, understand that being frustrated by them is part of the process of achieving what you want.

Effort over talent – ALL DAY LONG!

I had this student here years ago and his name was Matthew but we all called him Matty P. Matty was a great student, not a great athlete, but a great student. Achieving every belt was a great effort for him but as he went up through the ranks and the challenges became more intense, his effort grew as well.

A parent this week made an off the cuff comment and said…

Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness

Last week a student came to class and we got talking about his training. He’s a student that I really like a lot and am always excited to see in class and so when I discovered that he hadn’t been sparring because he was scared of it, I instantly wanted to help him get over that.

As we spoke about his training and sparring, we came up with some ideas and strategies that we could use to help him get back on track.

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.

Education is continual

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I come from a line of really amazing women.

My grandmother was an amazing artist that sewed, knitted, played sports with me and taught my mom how to ride a bike even though she had no clue.

Make mistakes!

For all of us, undoubtedly, our greatest learning moments come when we make mistakes.

When we make mistakes, screw up, drop the ball, as long as we pay attention to what’s happened, we will learn from it.

Nature provides exceptions to every rule.

When I was young, I would daydream about my life as an adult. I designed a lifestyle where every decision was easy because everything was black and white.

Everything fit perfectly into their spots.

The importance of caring.

A funny thing happened to me in class once and it made me realize something really important.

A student was trying for their first stripe, they didn’t meet their physical requirements and so they didn’t receive their stripe. This doesn’t happen often, but it certainly happens.

Why do we all do this? It doesn’t make sense.

There’s a funny thing that happens in the martial arts. Ask any martial arts teacher and they’ll back me up on this…

In fact, even if you’ve never trained, I guarantee that you’ve done it too.