I STRIVE.
I AM NOT A QUITTER.
Testing. No one likes to do it. As prepared as you try to be, as prepared as you Can be, there’s always that chance that things might not go as planned. I try to make sure that everyone is Too ready, to ‘stack the deck’ for each test, but the Real purpose of testing isn’t just to give a student the Yea or Nay, but to give them Serious and Specific information about their current state of knowledge, technique, and experience.
Testing. It can most obviously be a cause for celebration, but it must most definitely also be an Opportunity to Strive for Greatness. To put a Fire under yer Butts to rev up those engines and speed down that road of Perfection Through Trial. You learn so much more when there’s something to lose. How many times have you heard “what’ll you give me if I -” You’re willing to work that much harder when there’s something to gain. Passing a test is the promise of learning new moves, new techniques, new principles and concepts. For Me, ‘thasWussup’ 🙂
Testing! “If at first you don’t succeed …” Says SO MUCH MORE in my mind as an Instructor than it Ever did as a Student regardless of what next or newest level of understanding my advancing rank and experience had achieved. It really is about the perseverance, or as I like to say in class “Perseverance in the face of Adversity”. Anyone who’s attempted something new, with those feelings of anxiety and ‘oh my gawd, what if I fail’ and tried Anyway knows what I’m talking about. I mean, you just keep going until it works out. No mystery there, you just do it. Some people are motivated by desire to excel, others to excel beyond others. I think the desire to excel beyond your previous bounds and limitations is really the only true goal worth striving towards. And it definitely offers much greater rewards than just being better or more advanced than the guys next to you. In those instances, you’ve called someone else’s potential the uppermost limits of your achievable potential, even if yours could be so much higher. Be Your best. Stand on Your skills. Make your Own Way through your martial journey finding victory on your own merits and when it’s time to face what might become failure – it’ll be on Your terms. And it’ll be Your choice whether you accept failure, or continue trying to achieve victory in the midst of turmoil. It will be the result of your strengths that when your weaknesses seem to take hold that you try One More Time. And Win-!
What it boils down to very simply is one of two things:
You Test, you Pass. You Work Hard. You Test Again. Eventually, Personal Perfection. Or
You Test, you don’t pass. You Work Hard. You Test Again. Eventually, Personal Perfection.
Regardless of how many times it’s Easy, Regardless of how many times it’s Hard, Regardless of how many or how few times it takes, Every Time You Try Again MATTERS. You only ‘fail’ when you Refuse to Try Again. If you try again – that means that It’s Not Over Yet. Not by a LONG Shot!
