Manage your Successes to Make Room for Even More Success!
I’ve just completed a 6-week study on straight stab with my advanced programming groups. They worked hard, attended classes, did the work, and achieved unforeseeable success. There is a buzz in the group now.
Some didn’t believe this would happen; some didn’t believe in their abilities to achieve. Now, there is a palpable energy in the group. Students are willing to believe in ways previously out of touch for many. Success breeds success, as they say.
A few days ago, I stopped class to say a few words. I’m sensing the subtle celebration that’s continued into the classroom. It’s warranted, but it’s also unproductive. The common Krav Maga phrase meant to preserve focus, don’t get happy, comes to mind. I share my experience with the class with the hopes this will provide a useful perspective.
Celebrate
First, I start by telling everyone how AWESOME their efforts and results have been in this relatively short training period. I share that the live blade defenses they are making are black belt level exercises – even though I’m working primarily with yellow and orange belts. I reassure them that what’s come to fruition is superb and worth celebration.
View the Extraordinary as Ordinary
Second, I offer a measure of caution. We can only celebrate for a short time. We must quickly and actively transform our individual mindsets so that what has seemed extraordinary will soon seem entirely ordinary – as uneventful as taking out the trash on Monday morning. Without this mindset, we will miss the massive growth just ahead in the future.
When live blade defenses are seen as nothing more than a job that needs done – that’s where something extraordinary is achieved. In viewing the extraordinary as simply as a mundane task, we blow through barriers and make room in our minds for even more amazing growth that must be followed again by a similar shift in mindset – until nothing in our self defense training seems extraordinary. And, in this mindset, our defenses will be optimized and seen as a host of effective tools.
Manage Negativity
Finally, when you move into the appropriate mindset as you achieve more in your training, you will find that the voice in your head that questions everything and provides negative feedback will come calling again. When this happens, know that you have achieved much and that the lessons and skills you’ve worked so hard to acquire are real and a part of you now.
In short, manage how you see your successes to make room for even more!
Gabriel
I miss training with you sir. I should be done with Angola sometime this year, I look forward to getting back in class. Great article.