We all go through different phases of life, and with each different phase of life comes different priorities. In David Brooks’ How to Know a Person, he describes these as different “Life Tasks”. One of the key things to really seeing and understanding someone is to understand where they are at in their life, which of these life tasks they are currently enduring, and how this is affecting their goals, and behavior. When it comes to our martial arts training, we can understand our colleagues or even students more when we understand where they are in life. In my last article Make the Effort to Understand Those That Are Different From You, I discuss understanding the physical limitations or advantages of others and how it will affect their technique. In this article, I will be discussing how different phases of people’s lives will affect why they train and what drives them to continue.
The first Life Task that Brooks mentions is the Imperial Task. The Imperial Task is typically one of the first Life Tasks experienced early in life. In this task, people strive to find their own agency through competition, rivalry and status (Brooks 193). When we look at those that are in this life task in the martial arts, we can think about those students that really enjoy competing in tournaments. Competition is what motivates them to train, and they foster rivalries with other students even when it comes to sparring in class or doing forms side by side. Pertaining to Tang Soo Do students, I picture those in their youth to young adult years. Sure older adults do still compete, but they compete for different reasons and have a different attitude/mindset for competition. Most people move on from this phase of their life, and really, moving on from this phase of life is necessary to mature and collaborate. In the organization that I belong to, those that are 4th dan and above are not allowed to compete. The reason lines up with the need to move beyond this Life Task. At a certain point, competition should not be the only (or foremost) motivation or priority.
The next Life Task that Brooks explains is the Interpersonal Life Task. The person that is experiencing the Interpersonal Life Task will place utmost importance in relationships to the point that their relationships define who they are (Brooks 195). The person in this Life Task may train for the social aspect. You can read more about the social aspect of martial arts in the article that Yoshi wrote here. In a different interpretation, this person may train, but may prioritize spending time with friends/significant others instead of going to class. At the end of the day, if these relationships fall apart, this person will feel destroyed because their relationships are their entire personality. How many of us have witnessed someone stop training because their friends stopped training? My guess would be many!
Moving on, Brooks then mentions the Life Task of Career Consolidation. The person in the phase of Career Consolidation will be driven with the motivation to master something letting nothing get in the way of accomplishing that. Whether it be training, work, or parenting, this drive for mastery in something meaningful to the individual will keep them happy, focused and motivated (Brooks 198). If Career Consolidation applies to training, this student will train not in pursuit to win a tournament, but to achieve technical excellence. When I think about someone that is in the zone of Career Consolidation, this quote from Sidney N Shure, founder of Shure Incorporated, a company known for their microphones and audio products, “We know very well that absolute perfection cannot be attained but we will never stop striving for it.” This student will prioritize devoting time to perfecting technique, but will do it for themselves and their own progress.
The last Life Task that I will discuss today, is the Generative Life Task. Those in the Generative Life Task will seek to make an impact in service to the world (Brooks 204). This person will want to give back and create a better environment for those around them. In some cases they are paid to do so, in other cases they do this on a volunteer basis. This is the student that decides that they want to help out in class on the smallest scale. On a larger scale this is the student that will open a program of their own or contribute in organizing regional events. This practitioner wants to provide for the generation to come and this is what motivates them in their training.
Which phase of life are you in right now? Which phase of training are you in now? They may be the same as each other or they may be different. In understanding your phase of life/training and the phase of those around you, you will get to know their “Why” and thus you will get to know them. In knowing them, your training or instruction to them will be more productive.
Sources:
Brooks, David. How to Know a Person. Random House, 2023.
