Deja vu’s & Cliches

I probably attend more seminars than anyone in Australia which are usually relevant to my training needs and probably helpful to students.  As an Instructor, one has to be prepared to walk into these seminars as a student which might be difficult to do, as a Black Belt, because it may take away the shine off some people’s ability stepping into unknown territory.  My attitude is 'I don’t go to seminars to do or show what I know, but learn what I don’t know' which will usually mean making mistakes and feeling a little clumsy but that’s all part of the learning process.  The cliché, ‘take one step back to move two steps forward’ is very true.  

Another year has passed (talk about Déjà vu) and when you look back at the last 12 months, you would hopefully, feel satisfied what you have done and learnt.  Twelve months ago, I'd never thought I would have finally ‘conquered’ the Black Belt complexes, logged over 800 hours in BJJ and did a number of Kickboxing sessions with Sensei Benny and Kyoshi Norton (we are talking about training with the best here), on top of my training in Karate-Jitsu. 

I said to Richard, “Although we have done a lot this year, that's not really enough”, so I'm looking forward to an even fuller year in 2011.  If you back up off the accelerator of a motor vehicle, you will slow down.  If you back off in your martial arts training, you will also slow down, without even realising it.  It's really easy to waste time and procrastinate, and come up with excuses but the minutes are ticking away.  I still get phone calls and emails from old students (including Black Belts) wanting to come back.  I have only one thing to say to them, "Don't tell me, surprise me."
GA