How do you motivate people? I find this question especially hard and I've been thinking about it lately. It's easier to motivate colour belts I think if you can give them a good ideal to strive for, if you can impress them and inspire them with what it is to be a black belt. But for that to work, us black belts have to work harder than them. We can't just coast on our past successes. We need to constantly be working harder than the cue belts.
We can only inspire them if we can do things they can't do.
This is where I've been struggling. One of my goals this year has been to become a better kicker. I know what it takes to be good at kicking....I can describe the steps, talk someone through it and point out areas for improvement in others. But something I haven't been good at is demonstrating and that's the most important part. How are white belts going to believe that they have to achieve a certain position or kick height if I can't do it. That's what I want to fix.
That's what we all have to fix.
As black belts it's easy to ride the rank. Part of this stems from the fact that when you get your black belt, you are somewhat on your own when it comes to training. You get one class a week and, if your like me, most of your time at the kwoon is spent teaching, not training.
In order to maintain and exceed our currant level, we need to train outside of the kwoon on our own time. Just coming to class isn't enough.
It is easy to just sit back though and say, "I've achieved my black belt.....the student's should respect my rank." But they won't anymore if we all suck.
We need to take pride in what it is we do. We need to hold ourselves to a higher standard and realize that what we do define's what a black belt is to the new generation of students. I know no one sits there and says, "I want to make the rank look like it's nothing special." But the truth is that we've been saying that anyway through our lack of action.
Student's can tell who trains hard and who doesn't, it doesn't take a genius to tell.
I guess what I'm trying to say is each of us needs to be someone who is physically inspiring. Being a great human being isn't enough if you want to inspire the students. The question we should be asking ourselves when we tell a student to do something is...can I do that?
If not....why not?.....and then fix it.
Basic numbers: 102 pushups, 101 crunches, 102 kicks, 5 reps tai chi, 5 reps broadsword, 3 miles
Acts of kindness: complimented someone, brought someone a drink, gave the dog some pets
Today I consumed: a bowl of cheerios, some vegetables, half a turkey and cheese sandwich, an orange, a Lara bar, a grilled cheese sandwich with a bowl of soup, a beer, a cup of coffee, 2 cookies and 9 glasses of water.
http://tiffany-anotherday.blogspot.ca
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