Martial Arts vs. Martial Artists

I constantly encourage my students to train at home as much as possible. The short period of class is not nearly enough.

One of the “trainings” I mentioned recently is reading and applying information from the book, “Atomic Habits.” It is one of the very best books I have read in years. Highly informative and life altering if applied.

A themes that really caught my attention was the issue of identity or how we view ourselves. The example that was given was the following:

Someone asks 2 people if they want a cigarette.

Person A says, “No. I am trying to quit.”

Person B says, “No. I don’t smoke.”

The results were identical. The meaning underneath the answers were completely different. Person A is still a smoker who happens not to smoke. Person B is a non-smoker.

I see this in martial arts quite a bit. There are those who “do” martial arts. They may participate for a while but eventually quit. Or move on to another art. . . and then eventually quit that one too. Why? They are “too;” that is, too old, too tired, too busy or too (fill in your favorite excuse here) to train. But that is not the truth. The truth is, they did martial arts. They were never martial artists.

Martial artists may miss a class here and there. They may take a family vacation or have more work than they could handle on a given day. But they always return. QUIT is an evil word, to be avoided at all costs. Martial arts have become part of their DNA. When they open a door or mow the lawn, they are doing so as a martial artist. Regardless of weather, topography or any other factor, they finish the job.

Because that is what martial artists do.

When I started martial arts in 1985, this attitude was much more common than it is today. Why?

One word.

Boredom**.

It can be boring for some to do the same movements over and over and over. And over. Thousands and thousands of kicks and punches and rotations until it become a neural network. Then, you do thousands more. Rinse. Repeat.

It can be difficult, tedious and mind numbing. So people who do martial arts, quit.

Martial artists continue because at the end of the road called Boredom is a little Cafe. You only stay for a while until you get back on the road but this Cafe is quite unique. It is filled with mirrors. Everywhere is a reflection.

When martial artists walking inside, the mirrors are filled with smiles. Your own. Your students. Your guests. Your spouse. Your friends. Your family. Your neighbors. Your patients. All of them have big, wide, ear-to-ear smiles because they recognize that because of your willingness to walk the road of Boredom, everyone’s lives have become better.

Because that is what martial arts can do.

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** James Clear, author of Atomic Habits states, “The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom. We get bored with habits because they stop delighting us. The outcomes becomes expected. And as our habits become ordinary, we start derailing our progress to seek novelty.”