Perseverance, why is this so important in martial arts, and why do we at MAC think it’s a great quality to have?
The oxford English dictionary says:
‘Persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.’
Furthermore, under the origins of the word it says this:
Middle English: from Old French, from Latin perseverantia, from perseverant- ‘abiding by strictly’, from the verb perseverare
In martial arts there is one way to obtain that black belt.
PERSEVERANCE
When I started my black belt journey that end goal seemed a long way away, I mean a really long way away, I couldn’t get the techniques, my fitness didn’t seem that good, I just didn’t seem to fit in properly. But with the help of MAC I knew I could get further than I’d originally thought, and now I’m a chief instructor 3rd Dan black belt. Did I find it easy? No. Did I sometimes feel like staying at home? A definite yes. There are many questions like these that I could put up here, but the most important question:
Did I give up? That is a definite no.
Sometimes it’s hard to see the end of the journey, that’s where you need a friendly helpful environment to help guide you on that path and adjust your bearings a little. However, everything you need can’t come from other people, you need that perseverance to keep driving you forward to a better you and a clearer view of that end goal, the black belt.
The ‘I CANT’ moment
Everyone has had those moments when in your mind it just keeps saying ‘I can’t do anymore’ or something along those lines. It’s usually a very convincing voice (and often comes in several sneaky forms) that promises the world if only you just stopped what you was doing. Things like ‘You can skip this one’, ‘You deserve a good rest’, or ‘I’ll make it up next time’.
The problem with listening to those doubts though is that every time you allow it to win you strengthen it and it gets even more convincing the next time ‘You skipped last time and nothing bad happened so why not again’.
The life of achievement that was promised is never seen and your dreams fade into nothing.
However, the great part comes if you just persevere just a little to start, and feeling that success drives you forward and gives you a strong foundation to push yourself even further in achieving your goals. This is definitely the ‘CAN‘ moment, and this is when you know you can achieve anything as long as you put your mind to it and just keep going.
Here at MAC our goal is to get every person that joins to that goal of the black belt, and so part of that goal is to help you help yourself, if you have a specific goal that you want to achieve let us know and we will help you as you reach for that black belt.