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To master martial arts is a somewhat arduous and unrelentingly repetitive process. You turn up at the dojo, you do what you do and then you leave until the next time, perhaps clocking up three or four sessions in a week. You do this for long enough, over a period of years and eventually – when you’re old and grey – you become so proficient at your art that you can then be considered a master of it, i.e. you possess a complete understanding of and high degree of skill in, your art.
So is that all it takes to master a martial art? Just put in enough time and eventually you will get there? Well, yes and no. Yes because you have to put in many years of hard practice and study; no because there is more to this process than just turning up at the dojo every so often for years.
The mastery process can be reduced to an almost mathematical formula if looked at from just a time- served point of view. Based on the fact that a technique must be performed at least ten thousand times in order to master it I did some number crunching in a previous article that gives a rough guide of how long it actually takes to master one technique based on these numbers and in effect it takes years.
There is a way however, that you can greatly reduce the time it takes to gain mastery over your technique or achieve any other training goal you set yourself for that matter. It involves you coming out of autopilot and being a bit more conscious about your training. In effect it involves training smarter and here are some steps to help you do that:
Step One: Create a strong desire. Before you begin it is imperative that you create a strong desire for success within yourself. This means getting clear in your head exactly what technique or techniques you are going to be working on and why. There is no point turning up for training and going through the motions for the sake of it, thinking that your progress will take care of itself by virtue of the fact that your just turning up for practice. Maybe you’ll get half-way good this way, but you’ll never master anything with such a half-hearted approach. The motivation has to be there. The drive to succeed has to be there.
To find your motivation you have to ask yourself this question: Why am I doing this? There may be various answers to this question, depending on what and how many techniques you are concentrating on. In some cases the answer to this question may be obvious. You may be training for an upcoming grading that requires you to learn a whole set of techniques or you may be training for a fight, in which case there would be certain techniques you would have to be proficient at in order to stand any chance of winning. In these cases you just remind yourself every time you train that you are doing so for a grading or a fight or whatever and you keep that reason in mind at all times, making it your central focus.
Other times you may have nothing in particular you have to train for, in which case you have to look deeper into yourself and find out why you are training in the first place. Are you training for self-defence, for the sake of mastering the art or some other reason? Whatever your reason, find out what it is and make it your main motivation, your focal point when you train.
My main motivation when I train is just to master the art of Kempo Ju Jitsu, to become the best I can be at it. Within that I also usually have other motivations such as working towards my next belt or trying to master a particularly difficult technique or kata. Regardless of what I am working towards I am always very aware of why I’m working towards something, otherwise I just wouldn’t be focused enough to succeed.
Your reasons for training have to be important enough, and meaningful enough to you that they create within you a strong desire to succeed and thus motivation enough to keep yourself training over a potentially long period of time. Having a strong desire to achieve something, be it just to master a particular technique or win a fight, will give you enough momentum to carry you along towards success. Without a strong enough desire your motivation will eventually wane and you will not succeed.
So decide what it is you have to train for, sort out why it’s important you have train for this and then keep that desire to achieve alive within you until you reach your goal.
Step 2: Make deadlines. Having a deadline to work towards is important because it gives you extra focus and lends weight to your motivation. If you know you have to achieve something by a certain date you are more likely to push yourself that little bit harder so that you do make the grade by that date. In a way you’re putting yourself under pressure, but in a good way, just enough to create a sense of urgency in yourself that reminds you that you are in the process of actually trying to achieve something and not just coasting aimlessly along.
When you give yourself deadlines be realistic about it. The bigger your goal the longer it is going to take to achieve that goal. For instance, if your goal is to master a particular kata then such a goal could take anything up to a year or more, and that is with solid practice. Your deadlines will therefore depend on how much work you intend to put in to achieve your goal. Performing your kata everyday will obviously greatly reduce your deadline. Performing it only twice a week will extend it. So base your deadlines on the amount of work you intend to put in.
Having set dates for achievement will also allow your subconscious mind to get in on the act here as well. If your subconscious thinks you must be proficient by a certain date then it will do everything it can to make sure that this will be the case. The help from your subconscious can be quite dramatic, with things happening to help you along and everything generally going your way. I must emphasis however, that help from your subconscious is directly dependent on how much work you put in yourself. If you cannot be bothered, then neither will your subconscious. So be disciplined and work hard from the get-go.
One last point. Deadlines are not set in stone. Although you should try and adhere to them as much as possible it is okay if you go over a deadline. If you don’t achieve what you set out to do within the allotted time it does not mean you are a failure; it just means you have either been unrealistic with your original time frame or you are just not ready for that level of success yet. In either case, just make another deadline, based on what you already know. And if you miss that one, just make another one and keep doing so until you do succeed.
Step 3: Make a plan. You’ve decided what it is you want to achieve, you’ve decided when you want to achieve it by. Now it is time to make a plan of attack, and by that I don’t mean a whole detailed strategy. You’re not going to war, you’re just trying to make yourself more focused on what it is you want to achieve. Of course there is nothing stopping you making very detailed plans if that’s what helps you along. I’m just saying it isn’t necessary to do so. The main purpose of making a plan is to show you what it is you need to do in order to get where you want to go. So let’s say your goal is to pass your black belt grading. Ask yourself what you have to do in order to get that belt. Obviously you will be working of a syllabus, which is a kind of plan in itself. You will know what techniques you’ll have to perform and what your skill and understanding levels should be at this stage. You now have to ask yourself exactly how you are going to get to this stage. How many times a week are you willing to train for, and for how long? Will you train at home as well as in the dojo? Will you enlist the help of a partner? Will you have to increase your fitness levels just so you can make it through the grading? What are your weak points, what techniques will you need to spend that little bit more time on in order to be up to scratch on the day? These are the types of questions you should be asking yourself.
It does not matter what you want to achieve in your training. The same types of questions have to be asked of yourself. You have to know where you currently stand in terms of your fitness levels, skill levels etc., in order for you to know where to go from there. Asking all these questions will give you a better idea of what it is you need to be working on if you stand any chance of getting that belt, mastering that kata, winning that fight and so on. Immerse yourself in what you are trying to achieve and leave nothing to chance.
As I’ve already mentioned, the amount of time you are willing to spend on working towards your goal will directly affect the deadlines you make for yourself. Most people want to achieve their goal as quickly as possible, but this can only happen if you completely immerse yourself in what you are doing and dedicate yourself to it one hundred percent. The more work you put in, the quicker success will come. Of course you have to build your goals around your existing lifestyle and it is not always possible to change your existing commitments such as your job or your family, so you just put in as much time and effort as you can afford to. Just be aware that you get out what you put in. So be realistic about your expectations.
Step 4: Enlist the help of your subconscious mind. I mentioned using your subconscious mind earlier when we talked about creating deadlines, but there are also other ways in which you can get your subconscious mind to help you out and one very important way to enlist its help is by employing visualisation techniques.
For those of you unaware of what visualization techniques are, quite simply they are a way for you to use your imagination to help you achieve your goals by creating a movie of sorts in your mind, a movie that depicts you, in as much sensory detail as possible, actually achieving the goal or goals you have set for yourself. So to use a previous example, if your goal was to get your black belt you could imagine yourself being handed that belt by your examiner, or you could imagine yourself having a perfect grading were you do everything right. As you see all this in your mind, imagine also how you would feel at the time, what you would say, who else would be there to witness your achievement. Also be specific about where the grading will take place, what sounds would there be, how would the venue smell? All of these little details go together to make up a vivid depiction of success in your mind. Conjure this depiction of success as often as possible throughout the whole time you are working on your goal and eventually you will come to feel like you have already achieved what you’re working towards. This is because your subconscious mind will do everything in its power to make these visions a reality. It’s like having your own dream-making factory upstairs and the best thing about it is that it works, just as long as you back up your visualizations with action. You can imagine how things will be all day long but if you don’t do anything concrete to bring about results then your visualizations are not visualizations but daydreams and daydreaming will get you nowhere.
It is important that you are relaxed before you begin to do any visualization technique so spend a few minutes beforehand in a comfortable position, either lying down flat or seated comfortably on a chair, allowing all your muscles to relax, breathing deeply and rhythmically, telling yourself to relax, telling your mind to calm itself. When you feel relaxed enough, proceed with your visualizing.
Another point I’d like to make about visualizing is the importance of not trying too hard at it or taking it too seriously. You will most likely struggle for while, trying to conjure images that just won’t come no matter how hard you try. Again, relax; try to have fun with it. Even when you picture yourself training, see yourself enjoying it, feel yourself enjoying it.
Steve Pavlina in his article “Regretting Tomorrow” also made the point that when you visualize you should concentrate on how you would feel as if you had already achieved your goal, in the present moment as opposed to some point of in the future. By projecting into the future you are telling yourself that your goal is a wish that will never be fulfilled, so keep yourself rooted firmly in the present while visualizing, but picture the present the way you want it to be now.
Positive affirmations are also a good way of keeping yourself focused on success and what you want to achieve, as well as being a good way to counter any negative thoughts you might have in relation to your goals. Constantly tell yourself that you have achieved your goals, that you are a black belt, that you have already won the fight, that you are a master at kicking or punching or whatever. This helps to reinforce your visualizations and make it easier for your subconscious mind to eventually manifest the things you want to achieve.
Step 5: Keep the faith. Throughout the whole process of achieving the goals you set for yourself you will undoubtedly come up against a lot of negative opposition, either from your own mind in the form of doubts and fears and insecurities or from the negative comments and behaviour of other people who for some reason do not like the fact that you are trying achieve something.
If you maintain faith in yourself and faith in the process of achievement itself however, you will find it easier to stand up against all the negativity you come across. If you believe absolutely that you will get that black belt or win that fight or master that kata then you will eventually do so, no matter what other people or certain parts of your own mind tell you.
Unwavering faith and devotion to your cause will carry you through any opposition and it will provide you with the strength of mind to overcome any setbacks that you may encounter along the way.
All of the above steps, taken together, will help you achieve any goal you set yourself in your training. They are tools already in your possession that you should be using to accelerate your training and to project yourself into the realms of mastery. Switch of the autopilot and start thinking and engaging with your training.
Don’t just train harder. Train smarter as well, and master martial arts.
