I started teaching martial arts, because of it’s profound impact it’s had on my life. I want to share this experience with others. I was in the express lane for failure. Martial arts gave me the tools to change lanes. I want my students to have these tools.
Over the years I have taught over ten thousand students. I have seen many of them grow to not only become extraordinary martial artists, but extraordinary people with successful relationships, jobs, and businesses. I’ve also have seen a lot of students with wasted and unused potential. Many quit when training got hard, others let life beat them down, and some were because of my inadequacies as a coach.
We can’t always gauge our success by our wins, we must also look at our failures. So years ago I began to seriously study what separated those that made it from those that didn’t- Not just in martial arts, but in all areas of life. Here’s what I found:
Winners have a bigger “Why”
Your reason to DO more, to BECOME greater has to be BIGGER than the obstacles in your path. Martial Arts is a great vehicle for personal development. You can learn discipline and humility. You can develop self-control and confidence. You can learn to conquer fear and thrive in adversity. As long as your “Why” is BIG enough.
If your reason to lose weight isn’t greater than the comfort of your couch, you’ll stay fat.
It’s easy to compromise when your “Why” is weak. Sometimes just looking good in a bathing suit isn’t enough to wake up early to go to the gym. Shift your focus to how being healthy will let you live longer and give you more quality time with your family. For motivation go to Walmart and watch all those obese people riding around on scooters- then ask yourself is getting off the couch worth NOT ending up like them?
In our self defense seminars, people usually start out joking and having fun. Then we explain in graphic detail several real life rape cases. We explain how everyone fights back in the beginning- but the ones that make it through these horrifying ordeals are the ones who had a “WHY” big enough. They have a child to live for, or a spouse that depends on them. Their reason is big enough to keep fighting no matter what!
We explain their chances of surviving this type of situation is directly related to their “Why”. After that everyone gets very serious. They begin to train with a purpose. No more joking, they realize they are fighting for something bigger than themselves. They have a reason bigger than themselves to fight for.
Defining your “Why” is as important as defining your goals. It must be personal, it must be emotional, and it must be powerful.
I challenge you to re-examine your goals and ask yourself, “Why?”
See you on the mat.
Coach Epps
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