There are many indicators that can show us how our technique is or how we can improve it. One such indicator that I like to look at in myself or tell my students to focus on is the positioning of our toes. The positioning of toes is a tell tale of the rest of our body mechanics. It can tell us if we have our hips in the correct position, and even if we are compensating our lower back muscles in our technique. It can tell us if we are directing power in the correct direction or even if we are using the correct contact surface for a strike. Toe positioning can make a great difference in the successful execution of a throw or takedown. When practicing rolling, the direction of our toes is the direction we will roll in. If our toes are crooked, our roll will be crooked. I am sure there are other technical things that require proper toe positioning that I did not mention!
While obviously I am encouraging you to focus on your toes in every technique and in every way possible, I am also conveying to you a symbolic message: Even the Smallest Things Matter! The position of a very small body part can and will make a world of difference.
Similarly, in your vocational or avocational lives, there can be very small yet significant indicators that something isn’t quite right or there is something very small causing larger issues for us. What is one small thing that you can work on either in your training or in your life? When we fix these small things, we can see tremendous improvements in our performance.
