Hi, I began to notice a rather worrying thing last week, and it involved people around my age, some older, some younger and the lack of will power and determination they have. I had been reading through some posts, talking with some friends and it hit me. It seems like people today are getting more and more impatient. I mean, take for instance when i was watching TV earlier, i noticed an advert which showed a new kettle which boiled water in three seconds. Now thats much like the life of people today. People want everything, and they want it now! But if it starts to feel as if they are going to have to work hard and dedicate themselves they pick up these small, insignificant stupid little excuses to quit. I must admit, i have done it in the past. I've joined an after school club then just because i wasn't automatically brilliant at it i made up excuses like "its boring" or "i'll go to the next class" which then was the next class and the next etc etc. But it seems like when your doing it you dont actually notice it. Its the same with people and diets. They go on them all determind with the classic "thats it im going to do it now!" then after a week, they mess up and resort back to their old ways. So basically this thread is about times when your training, or any other life passions or goals are getting you down. When you feel like saying "I cant be bothered", and hopefully we'll get less threads made week in week out about how this no longer offers what this person wants, what else can they try. Yes i've been guilty of it before, but i've had a hard reality check, and im glad its hit me fast and hit me good! Never before have the words 'shut up and train' ever felt so true and right to me! So yeah, sorry about this rantish thread but hopefully some good can/will come of it.
I think when you're just starting out in the martial arts you might as well experiment with everything you can get your hands on. I did Taekwondo with the same instructor for about 6 years. But what was awesome about him was he always introduced something new. He studied with a genuine Praying Mantis Kung Fu Master and would introduce mantis grabs into our Tae Kwon Do. He brought in Aikido, knife self-defense, FMA, ninjutsu, etc. We didn't even use the TKD stances--all our footwork was JKD. We'd do the traditional stuff, but at the end of class (or after class more often than not) he'd show us all these different techniques from all these different arts. So, I can understand why people would want to quit a place if they were just doing the same thing over and over. After about 2 years of kicking and punching, these arts do indeed become boring. I certainly would not have stuck with my teacher for 6 years if all we did was basics, kata, and TKD sparring. Variety is good, keeps you challenged with new ideas and methods, and keeps you open to new things. I get a lot of criticism for moving around a lot, doing different arts but not sticking with them for long. As I get more experienced in general, I find I want to bounce around less and less becuase I have learned what works for me, what style of teaching brings out my best, and what to avoid. Everyone is different. Some people are lucky and connect with what they need at the right time, and become real masters at it. Others have to keep searching--I think as long as you're doing SOMETHING healthy that you enjoy, you're fine whether you stick with it for five years or five months. Just be honest with yourself: why am I quitting? Do I have valid reasons? What am I going to do instead? Do I have a major weakness that this art is exposing, that I need to face and stick with to overcome?
Forty plus years training and cross training. The one lesson I learned? Down eight times up nine. ANYONE can quit!!! regards koyo
Pysm0n, There is no need to become angry or frustrated. Its peoples choices. Some people are meant to succeed and other unfortunately aren't at some things. I agree with you, people are becoming more impatient these days. There are many ways on how to tackle impatience, yes martial arts is one of them but dosn't work for all people just like fishing. Maybe those people that you are talking about that get bored or impatient need to go onto another martial art or do something completely different. Thats what I think anyway.
As Koyo points out, quitting is easy. Staying comitted to see something through to the end is hard. MA training should be about pushing yourself further each and every day. To do the same thing today as you did yesterday is stagnation and not progressive. Many people fail. Not because they tried and failed but because they did not try.
Determination is a good thing. But unquestioning students allow McDojos to flourish. If you ever feel what your being taught just isn't working then one way or the other you need to do something about it.
Thank you, could not have said it better myself. THe McDojo is the path for the impatient. That's why they do so well. Never take for granted your training, never worry about is the art you chose the best, and never worry about what other people do. Your training, regardless of your instructor, is only limited by you. If you feel you aren't being pushed enough, it is up to you to move to a different school, style, talk with your instructor and have them up the anty...whatever. As far as which art is best, who knows? Nobody I imagine. Regardless of how good you are, remember that there will always be someone out there who is better, faster, stronger, luckier, are any number of other factors that could make you question your training. Forget about it, and train. What other people do is their issue, you need to do what is right for you. If you stick with MA long enough you will see far more people come and go than you will ever see come and stay. Stay on track my friends...it's worth it. Best to you all, Brian
Ok, Sorry about how this thread came across. I DONT mean people should choose something then do that forever more no questions asked. My issue was with people who dont give the art a fair chance. Those who attend the first lesson, go for a few months then as soon as its time to really work and commit they quit to do something else. And for people who want to descover 'the perfect art' i think it should be less about searching endlessly for which art is perfect and seriously sitting down thinking what you want out of training and pick the art or arts that give you that. I've done for a few months what is the general advice for newbies here on MAP. I've attended almost every club available in my area that i originally thought was interesting. This i would HIGHLY recomend, it gave me a strong valuable insight straight away into what the style of the art was like within that club. Obviously i can't say "i did one lesson of wing chun, therefore i can comment on what all wing chun classes are like", i do however now know what i want out of my art, and where i can find it. However its when people pick an art and dont want to really give the proper time and training it takes to get good and quit thats the issue.
I'm of the opinion that the boring painful non stop reps. build you into the better Martial Artist over time. New students who have never done an art before might develop bad habits and never gain the proper structure a good solid MA'ist usually has after a few years training. Everyone always says "it's all about the basics". When in actual fact people are quick to learn something new. Without refinement of the basics your foundation will amount to nothing. Sadly this day and age is the era of the consumer. And if demand isn't met the schools go out of business. Hence the Mc dojo phenom. Different people quit for different reasons. I think the most common is unrealistic expectations. Most people want the fantasy and want the "ten easy lessons" way until the painful and boring reps. or getting punched in the face happens and then the excuses for not training set in. It is what it is.
I call it a phase people who train go thru..start off with lot of enthuisiasm then gets boring then you come back later..the good thing is training will always be there for you paul [Posted by 222.152.102.241 via http://algart.net/ww This is added while posting a message to avoid misuse. Try: http://webwarper.net/webwarper.exe Example of viewing: http://webwarper.net/ww/~av/lycos.com ]
In my own experience, It's not just if your impatient or not, because as humans we are all hard wired to be impatient(The MA training is the reprogramming), and short tempered with things that take time. It's how you apply that anger and impatiency. Back when I had trouble doing push us, I wanted to do more than the normal. But I could barely do one proper one. So even though I had to be patient in taking the day after day practice nonetheless, I used my impatiencey to say "I can't wait to do ten in a row! I dont wanna wait, so instead of doing only 1 like I can so far, im GONNA do 2!" and eventually I would. Humans always have those annoying hard-wired emotions, but ya gotta just find away to use them to your advantage! (btw, I can now do plenty of push ups, of all kinds and styles!) -Yusuke
