One thing that stood out to me when I was reading the popular book How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie is the advice to remember people’s names and use their names when talking to them. Indeed, one thing that leaves an impact on me when interacting Continue Reading
Martial Arts Competition and Why It’s Important
Going through the ranks, I never felt that I was competitive or particularly looked forward to tournaments for the medals. Initially I tolerated them as a way to socialize with others from around the region, but beyond that I did not have any aspirations of winning 1st place or becoming Continue Reading
How Do You Feel About Sparring? If You’re Intimidated by it, Read On!
How do you feel about sparring? While some people absolutely enjoy getting to spar, others absolutely dread it when the instructor says that it’s time to put sparring gear on. Some even get to the point where they are absolutely terrified. Why is this? And what does that mean for Continue Reading
Creating Positive Habits for Positive Change
I remember reading something in high school that stated ‘it takes 21 days to make or break a habit’. This made sense to me; I grew up Catholic, so every year there was a period of time, Lent, where we fasted and chose something to give up for 40 days. Continue Reading
The Importance of Having a Student Mindset to Being a Successful Leader
I was organizing a regional training clinic with a high ranking individual in our organization as our guest. As a 4th Dan, I always feel awkward telling very senior masters what the plan is and giving them instructions. I’m sure many other 4th Dans would agree with me. I very Continue Reading
Clean Home, Clear Mind: Good Organization Leads to Good Training
In the WTSDA, we have what are called the “14 Attitudes”, fourteen sayings that are used to help focus the student in their training. The fourteenth attitude states, ”Cleanliness is required after training. Keep yourself and your surroundings clean” (Shin, p.57). Many of the other 14 attitudes deal either with Continue Reading
Push Yourself and Know When to Stop
One of the best things I didn’t expect to gain from training in martial arts is an increased mentality regarding my abilities. When I first started, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do the same things my instructors did. I just assumed that they knew everything, and were Continue Reading
Preferences vs. Correctness: How Should We Judge?
In the martial arts, especially when we are at a rank closer to black belt, we begin to be exposed to other instructors and other ways of doing things. Sometimes this will align with the way our instructors taught us to do things and other times it will not. Every Continue Reading
The Meaning of Politics in Martial Arts
You may have heard the saying, “when you put 2 people together you have a disagreement, when you have 3 or more people in the same room, you have politics”. The same can be said for martial artists; if you ask ten different people how a certain sequence in a Continue Reading
Look at Things From the Other Perspective
Before I was passionate about martial arts, my main hobby was music. The first job that I wanted was to be a rock star, so I began playing guitar as soon as my parents let me. I played in a handful of bands over the years, learned from many different Continue Reading