As Human Beings we like to compartmentalize things and create categories etc. it’s how the brain organizes all the information that it holds, and how it is able to recognize, process and assess new pieces of information so quickly. It is also how certain things such as phobias work/operate e.g. a snake is a long, curvy thing, so are hoses, electrical cords etc. A quick glance that sights a garden hose, can create an emotional response that noticing a snake would.

Attitudes however are different to pieces of information, and yet we have a tendency to categorize these as well. We convince ourselves that giving up in one area of our lives, is restricted to that area and that in others we wouldn’t, or we make excuses for ourselves, explaining that what we gave up at, wasn’t really important – if it wasn’t important to us why did we start it? We may look at others around us, succeeding at the things we find difficult and have to work so hard at, and say to ourselves that things are easy for them, and that we are justified in walking away and/or admitting defeat; that we will find something else to succeed at – I see this all the time with people coming to the school and hoping that “this time” they have found the thing they can be good/excel at, only to walk away and either give up that hope, or go to another school, and repeat the same process.

Giving up is always a choice (and one that everybody has), and often the consequences of doing so are small. You stop doing continuous push-ups in part of a class, and there really are no consequences, in fact there’s an instant reward for doing so – the exhaustion and fatigue stop. But the real reward is lost and a negative attitude/behavior is reinforced. Determination and Tenacity are best built where there is a choice and where there is an absence of fear and punishment. You must want to continue, to push yourself forward, despite the odds against you, regardless of what everyone else around you is doing. Quitting is a choice, and so is continuing.

We must all develop a zero-tolerance approach to this, in both our training and our lives. We must not excuse ourselves in one area, in the belief that we wouldn’t in another. An attitude is an attitude, a state of mind a state of mind. We have a tradition in our school of “recycling” belts – this is something that I took from my Judo school. I first studied Judo at a traditional school, where it was taught that the belt’s position when tied is over your “center”, which contains your KI, or spirit/energy, and that some of this is passed into the belt. When you pass your belt on to someone when you move up a belt (inheriting somebody else’s belt who has gone before you), you pass some of your spirit on to them.

When you train, without giving up, you are developing and building your own spirit, and one that can be passed on to others, to help them develop the same tenacity and determination. When you pass on your belt to the person following you on this journey, make sure it has been well drenched in sweat, hard work, and contains a part of your spirit you’d like to pass on.

Congratulations to everyone who graded and received their new belts this week.