KICKIN' IT! BLOG

Have courage and achieve your goals.

I had a conversation with a friend last week and as we spoke, it reminded me of the importance of courage. If you want to achieve your goals, you need to have courage.

My friend and I hadn’t spoken in a long time. After catching up, inevitably, we got on the topic of how our schools were doing. When he asked me, I said “We’re doing GREAT!” Students are training regularly and improving and as a result there’s a bunch of students receiving new belts this week. I then asked him how he was doing and it was completely the opposite. I couldn’t help but feel for him and it reminded me of the message of the week.

It’s all about developing self-control.

If you’re going to achieve anything great, you’re going to need to start developing self-control and patience.

Part of my job as a teacher is having uncomfortable conversations. This week, I spoke with a parent about their child’s progress and it was exactly that. The conversation was uncomfortable because I had to tell them that their child wasn’t ready to move up a rank. As we spoke, we came to an understanding that this wasn’t anybody’s fault. The fact was that the child wasn’t mature enough and there is very little you can do to help that. Accepting that takes self-control. Not trying to change that, takes patience.

Believe in yourself. I do!

If you believe in yourself, anything is possible. It’s optimistic and hopeful, but I believe it to be true.

I was speaking with a student this week, and we were talking about them achieving their Black Belt. As we spoke, I got the feeling that they didn’t have a lot of faith in themself. They really questioned whether or not they’d be able to achieve their goal, and that broke my heart a bit.

Be Hopeful. Be Optimistic.

How we start every class – Student Creed

Opportunity vs. Obligation

The idea of opportunity vs. obligation blew my mind last week and now I’m looking at things totally differently and it’s GREAT.

I was speaking with a friend of mine and during the conversation, I was complaining about how much time it takes to keep up with email, phone calls, and all the jobs like that. Once I was done complaining, he pointed out that I should stop complaining and look at things differently.

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Your attitude determines your altitude.

When I first started training, I remember my teacher really being hard on us in some classes. Not yelling and screaming, but pushing us really hard. During those classes, he’d always tell us that attitude determines altitude. At the time, I knew what he meant, but it didn’t mean much to me. As I’ve gotten older, that has certainly changed.

Last week was our first week back holding classes in the school and it was…

Anticipation is the best

Let me tell you something. Birthdays and holidays just aren’t that great. I love the days BEFORE those days. The days leading up to birthdays and holidays are my favourite. Anticipation is the best.

In December, my daughter and I were walking to school and talking about Christmas. It was snowy and cold and she was talking about all the things that we were going to do over the break and then she explaimed…

Strong convictions, loosely held.

Strong convictions, loosely held. I remember hearing someone say that and I loved that idea.

A friend and I had a discussion last week about something that I feel pretty strong about. After a quick discussion, I finally accepted the fact that we weren’t going to agree. Then, this week, a friend and I came across a problem and we both proposed different solutions. Over time, we presented our opinions, how we felt and why and eventually, we agreed on a totally different solution. It wasn’t my solution and it wasn’t his, it was somewhere in the middle. I was proud of how both of us worked together and found a solution together. It was actually a better solution than either of us had suggested.