Something To Look Forward To

I start by saying I'm an optimist. If I've portrayed myself correctly, I would hope that this is stating the obvious. I always have something to look forward to and when I'm not looking forward to something, I'm learning from something that went wrong in the past. I prefer to be looking forward. It's exciting, planning and preparing for the future. That's why every December I start getting excited for the banquet and demonstrations. The kick-a-thon ends and I suddenly have a new goal. I start listening to music and watching my students more closely to spot their hidden talents that I can expose on stage. After that I have a week to plan the kids sleepover for Chinese New Year and then we start preparing for the tournament right away, followed by summer camp and new students in September. It's the same every year, but we just keep getting better.

Following this year's banquet and demonstrations I took out the videos from past years. It is incredible to see how the performances have changed. I for one am not fifteen anymore and you can see improvements in each year. I have higher expectations of my students and hope that they are setting higher goals for themselves as a result.

Why do I bring this up? Every year I get excited about this and we do the same thing, but we do it better. Why not apply this same way of thinking to my everyday training? Right now I am getting excited about Tai Chi and looking forward to the day when I don't have to ask Sifu Robertson what comes next in Part 4. And who knew that doing Tai Chi in my condo with all the lights off, alone on a Tuesday night, while listening to RnB would be enjoyable. I didn't know until yesterday and now I am excited to go home and practice again tonight. I'm looking forward to it.

So instead of looking at practicing as something I should do because I know it will make me stronger and a better martial artist, I am going to get excited about it and make sure that it is something I want to do for myself, just because it feels good. I encourage every one to take this approach, especially with the Tiger Challenge just around the corner. Make practicing something you love to do and set some easy goals so you are always being reinforced. If blackbelt is your only goal you are going a long way without anyone patting you on the back. So build in some minor goals, and not just stripes on your belt either. Make it your goal to get your heels down in Kempo and then celebrate when you accomplish it. You're able to set your mind to something and then accomplish it, and then find something else to be excited about. Life is a lot of fun when you are always excited. It takes an exceptional amount of energy, but it's worth it.