not win friends and influence people, much less progress with your training. Being egotistical requires a lot of mental energy. Judo requires a lot of mental focus and humility to learn the techniques, and benefit from the life lessons that are yours, should you choose to accept them.
During the many years that I have been involved in Judo, I have encountered many rising stars - naturally talented athletes, whose egos, unfortunately, turned them into quickly burned out comets. Please don't come to class thinking you have to impress anyone. Just come to practice knowing that the real lessons are there if you want to learn them, and no one is there to judge you as a person based on your "technique". Just come and be your authentic self.
This was a hard lesson for me to learn. When I was younger I was one of the students that had the best technique. Even when I joined USMATC people continued to tell me how good my technique was. It wasnt until I actually saw G.M. McMurray promote Master Payne that I understood. She was very humble about it and G.M McMurray was very proud. I wanted and continue to aspire to be like you and G.M. Payne. I learned that day that being humble is a path that would one day lead me to being a better martial artist, instructor and person. Ego has a funny way of putting other people down. If you are humble, you can teach a person how to feel good about themselves and that not everyone has the same skill level, but as long as they do their very best...nothing else can compare to that.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input. You have learned one of the most important concepts we strive to instill in our students so that they can get "out of their own way" so to speak and not only have continued success in Martial Arts, but in life goals as well.
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