Blog
Who’s Got Time?
We always complain about time that there is no time. That’s true when you consider the many things we have to do and the time constraints which we live by. But living is also about doing 
the things we want to do. It’s too easy to use excuses to put aside the things we love to indulge in but how many of us care to admit how much time we waste on the things that give us nothing in return?
The other evening, I spoke to one of our young Brown Belts, Ibrahim, and his father about how he needs to put in a lot of work in his education but I would like to see the same dedication to his martial arts training. That energy should go hand in hand because if we learn to concentrate and focus through our martial arts training then that should be channeled in other areas such as study.
If time is your biggest concern then you will miss out on the things you always wanted to do. If you fight time, it will be eventually become your enemy so work with it, by managing it. How many times have we heard people working (or have worked) 2 or 3 jobs? In my case I was also teaching 4 martial arts classes a week. I didn’t even give it a second thought. I just didn’t waste the time, that’s how I did it.
But there are so many dedicated people out there in the martial arts and I can tell you their life style and time constraints would be no different to anybody else’s. These are the people who understand and have their lives in order setting aside special time for their personal interest. Sometimes, we work too much just to impress our leaders/managers or a means to make more money. Impressing someone does not last a lifetime and making extra money only means you are going to spend more of it if you get the chance to do that in the little spare time you have, anyway.
At the end of the day, you need to juggle between job, family/social life and special interest. How successful will depend if you start weeding out excuses and realise not everything you do should be dominated by one thing.
GA
Thou Shall Not Miss Out Class
Picked up my very good friend, John Will, on Friday from the Airport and then straight to Newport for a BJJ seminar. I had to sit this one out on the sideline but it was just as enjoyable as participating – practicing my mental skills. Then we went to dinner for big steaks. John was figuring out how I could make better use of my crutches up and down the stairs because YouTube was no help.
Next morning we parked the car to do coffee at GJ’s. I was starting to whine about the crutches and I had a little laugh when John said he would piggy back me. He came around to my side of the car ,on the crutches, and I was starting to get worried and expecting him to say, ‘hop on my back’. Luckily, that didn’t happen; must’ve been a gee-up. Anyway, John did a great job taking care of me. Whe we arrived at Newport, a little late, I told John to make his way to the school whilst I park the car because I didn't want him to be any more late than we already were. As I was reverse parking I saw John standing behind the car and guiding me in then helped me out onto my feet! They're the little things that give a person big character.
Then it was our turn for a seminar at West Pennant Hills. I was not allowed to be the ‘water boy’ and John had me, this time, participate. I’m glad I did, what a great seminar! There is no 
such thing as ‘too many seminars’. When I want to get good at something I have to do more than one thing. The seminar is not like a regular class. The content provided is from years of experience; you are not going to find it from books or YouTube. Imagine doing a technique one thousand times over, usually in battle, just to find out which is the best way to do it. I prefer, “PLEASE JUST TELL ME (I haven't got time to try it out a thousand times)”.
A seminar is like a church gathering or special event. There’s a purpose to it all and the people attending want something from it. Once, again, I take my hat off to the people who came from the ACT, Danny Weir, Ben Langford (& his student) and our own guy, Storm. These people must be very 'religious'.
The seminar you miss or any class, for that matter, is not going to be every repeated again because each one is unique. It's not like a movie when you cancel the morning session for the evening.
I only believe in choosing the best persons for seminars. It's all about improving everyone of us because martial arts is an ongoing quest for knowledge.
John and I had a good discussion about the miraculous recoevery of his son, Ronin, who was stabbed to death recently (literally). It's absolutely amazing to hear the whole story how this young pulled through beating the odds, one in 10 thousand chance of survival.
GA
Accidents do Happen
Another mishap and little setback; this time my motorcycle fell on my foot fracturing a couple of bones whilst wheeling it out of my garage. The irony is I clock up almost a thousand kilometres per month and something simple like this to happen to you is hard to accept. Victor came to the rescue (it’s great to have friends like 
him) and took to me hospital to have it put in plaster. You take it for granted when you see somebody on crutches. That is hard work! You’ve got to pre-plan everything, something as simple as looking for a hair brush or making a cup of coffee in the morning. Then the hard part, how to use the stairs, YouTube didn’t help; the advantages of living in a double storey house!
When people demonstrate a martial art skill, you may not necessarily want to learn it but it’s usually difficult to appreciate the amount of time put in to learn that skill, not unless you live through the whole process of understanding what it takes to achieve that. I am living the process right now.
A handicap, such as this, makes you more conscious because you can’t afford to be absentminded which could mean a lot of hard work if you forget where you leave your wallet or keys. This is no different to a handicap in the martial arts. In other words you have to slow down things in your mind to make sure every step of the way in your pre-plan is going to get you where you want to be. This is the right mindset of a BJJ student.
It will mean a few weeks off training but I can still get to my classes. I'd like to lead by example and hopefully make students be a little more conscious when they feel the urge to take the night off.
All goes well, the plaster comes off next week which will be replaced with a removeable brace. Anybody is quite welcome to put their foot in plaster for tomorrow’s seminar. John Will promises there is something he can show me on the mat tomorrow morning which doesn’t require the use of my legs (?).
GA