It sounds slightly ludicrous to claim that martial arts alone can change your life in such a drastic way that it is the complete solution to achieving any of your goals. While you may be correct in some capacity (martial arts is not a guaranteed fix to goal setting and achievement), martial arts will teach and sharpen some skills needed to be the type of person who sets goals and reaches them (or kicks them in the face).
It’s safe to say that pretty much everyone agrees that martial arts teaches self-discipline. Daniel Larusso didn’t “wax on and wax off” for half of a movie for us to miss that point. Sure, attending a martial arts class isn‘t going to make your instructor’s car any shinier, but you really will learn self-discipline. This isn’t entirely because you have to learn to control the power in which you kick others. Don’t fret; martial arts isn‘t solely focused on fighting. However it does require a sense of discipline in that you have to show up, give 100% effort, and be ready to take on the challenges of the day in whatever capacity that means during class. This could mean something as simple as refining your motor skills, learning a new block or strike, pushing your mental limits trying to memorize a set pattern of moves, putting your physical limits to the test with workouts, learning how to do a particular board break, or even a combination of all of it. Not to mention that you have to focus and pay attention during class. Sometimes just doing that alone exercises self-discipline in ways that physical challenges do not.
Self-discipline couldn’t be mentioned without the matter of perseverance. Think about it: can you truly achieve a goal (big or small) without persevering? No, probably not. To quote the great Theodore Roosevelt, “Nothing worth having comes easy.” Your goals are obviously worth having. Martial arts teaches perseverance in a sneaky way. Mostly because the sport in its entirety is a challenge. Students don‘t always get things on the first try and if they do, it is rare that they consistently get them afterwards. Skills take work and practice. Also, a black belt is not achieved in a day, or a month, or even a year. These things take time to get and thus perseverance, when you might not realize it, is born and cultivated.
I’m sure everyone reading this has gotten this piece of advice or something similar to it: make short term goals to help meet your long term goals. Well guess what martial arts does? If you were to ask any student no matter the age what their goal was in martial arts, you would probably get the same answer across the board: black belt. They might have additional goals like flexibility, improved coordination, or learning cool kicks, but the goal of black belt tends to be pretty universal to all martial artists. If you just have the goal black belt in mind, that can seem pretty daunting. It‘s a long way away and can seem intangible when just beginning. That’s why there are other belts in between and a well-paced curriculum to learn to get there. Those are small, shorter term goals that eventually add up to the big, long term goal. It makes even the impossible seem more likely and achievable, and that‘s exactly the kind of thinking we need to adopt when it comes to any goal we set in life.
So is martial arts the answer to your New Years resolutions? It can certainly help! If you want to try a class out for yourself or learn more about our programs, check out our website: www.seosmartialarts.com or give us a call 706-629-7367
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