Let’s face it, everyone hates being wrong about something you thought you knew. What makes it worse is if the person who corrected you makes you feel bad about it. While you can’t control what others say, you can control how you respond to them.
What’s important is to not double down and get defensive, turning it into an argument; then neither person learns anything. You may really believe you are correct and want to defend yourself, which you can explain to them, but something to keep in mind is if the person correcting you is speaking from personal experience or a more informed point of view. If you still have doubts you can research it later, but in that moment It’s our responsibility to set aside our ego and listen.
I have a very eager beginner student who wants to try a lot of advanced moves that he sees the black belts practicing. He’ll usually just watch and then try and mimic the movements on his own, which I don’t necessarily stop, I just later explain that those moves have nuanced energies and motions he and his body won’t understand yet.
He’s been practicing his tornado kick (jump 360 round kick) a lot to where it’s great for an orange belt! But the other day he was trying to convince me to let him speed break a board with it, which is a very difficult technique I’ve really only seen a handful of young black belts do, who all limped away afterwards. I was trying to tell him that I know for a fact he will injure himself if he tries, and he was quite stubborn about it. No matter how well you may think you have mastered something, if you have someone with years of experience advising you not to do something, especially for safety reasons, it is wise to listen.
After a few weeks of him asking over and over again, I finally let him try the break…with a sparring foot gear on for protection. I knew he’d break at least a toe if I didn’t give him that padding. He finally realized after seeing for himself how hard the skill was and how he needs to improve a lot before trying something ambitious like that.
Remember, it’s okay to be wrong! Admitting it to yourself is the hardest part, but it will help you grow once you accept it.
