Two Steps to Mastery

We live in a society obsessed with instant gratification. People want results now; they don’t want to have to wait. How many times have you clicked on a web link and started feeling frustration arise in you if the link hasn’t loaded within 3 seconds? Or started a new diet and checked the scale the next day to see if you have lost any weight? As a society, we want things now, and we don’t want to work for it. We are bombarded daily by leaders in their fields who have the wealth we want or the skill we want or the figure we want. But we don’t see the years of struggle they have gone through to get there. 

As a martial artist, I have seen many students over the years begin training, wanting to transform into better versions of themselves through Kung Fu. I have also seen most of them give up because the reality has quickly set in about the hard work that is required and the life changes they must make to meet their goals. 

The secret to becoming adept at any skill is perseverance. There will be failures, there will be pain, there will be tears, and there will be obstacles. As you train the most significant obstacle you will face is yourself. Your need to feel comfortable, your need to feel in control and your need to feel skilled. The problem is, training in martial arts will continuously take you outside your comfort zone, you will feel you have no control, and you will feel you are not good enough. At this stage, you, the student have a choice, persevere and become better or give up.  In my own training, I choose to persevere.

Becoming a Kung Fu Master, or an adept at any discipline can be summed up in two simple steps. 

1. Begin
2. Don’t Give Up

Many people take the first step, but it is the second step where the vast majority of people falter. After taking the first step there will be many times when you fall on your journey, it is these falls that condition you and help you change. Just make sure when you fall, you don’t stay down. Get up and keep walking. 

​As the old saying goes,

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.”

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