I can tell I didn’t spend enough time stretching last night after my workout, and/or didn’t drink enough water. My body was a bit angry with me this morning. I think it is a good thing I’m writing all this down so I can improve my training over time.
Today’s inspiration is linked to the theme of the month for me, and that is around courage. Over the years, I have seen many people come through the door with similar stories of having low self confidence/esteem. As part of our leadership training, we strive to have rapport with each student. One of those ways is by telling personal stories. To me, the most important part of using these stories is to make sure I am being authentic. I have also had people close to me tell me that one of the ways to show authentic leadership is to be able to share some vulnerabilities, so here goes. I am hopeful this can help people identify that at some time in the past, I have had very similar insecurities and fears they have. I was that person that came through the doors with low self esteem in mid November, 1991 at UMD in Duluth. I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know if I could do it. I was convinced I was not good enough. I was freaking out that first class. I felt like I didn’t belong. But here was the thing that was different. Everyone there told me “Yeah I remember that first time. I was scared too. It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there, but you’ve got this. We’ve all been there, and we will help you.” Brene Brown also has a quote; “You can choose courage or you can choose comfort, but you can’t have both”. I am so proud of all the people that in various circles in my life have chosen courage. These brave people I’ve encountered chose courage, dared to defy the people trying to keep them down. You ARE good enough and you ARE worth it. I look back at that one choice in 1991 I made that forever changed my life. You can choose to change your life too.
Today’s workout
Theme of the day – Confidence
Training qualities – Breathing, Relaxation and Rhythm
Today I woke up feeling good. I’m glad I had a rest day to let things recover a bit. Time to get back after it, and ask myself for more.
I chose the image above today for my motivation because if we don’t choose to motivate ourselves, why would anyone else? When we talk about goal setting in class, we encourage students to do two things. First, we ask them to write them down and put them in a place they can be seen every day. Most students chose to write it on a post-it note and put it on the mirror so that each morning they can read the goal while brushing their teeth and getting ready in the morning. The second thing we ask is that they share those goals with others. If you have the opportunity to do amazing things in your life, I strongly encourage you to invite someone to join you.
In class, we also talk about integrity. For our younger students, we talk about doing the right thing, even when no one is looking. For our adults, we talk about honoring our commitments. When that isn’t possible for whatever reason, we need to go back to them, explain why and try to renegotiate. When we are asked to train or do something on our own and are given specific requirements, we need to be mindful to bring our discipline and integrity. In our Legacy program, where we train future instructors, Master Niska would tell us that we will never know who is watching us. We will never know who comes to the school just to see us and copy what we do. We are asked to always be mindful of the impressions we make on others and conduct ourselves accordingly.
Challenge for today: No matter when or where, always bring your ‘A’ game, because you never know when it’ll open doors for you.
Today’s workout
Theme of the day – Discipline
Training qualities – Pivot, bend knee/solid sole, hand position, body alignment
Apparently, last night I discovered some core muscles that haven’t been properly worked in a long time. Wow, today was a little rough getting up, but SO worth it! As part of my training, I’m building in rest and recovery days and thankfully today is one of them.
Today, my motivation is more mental than physical and was a day of introspection, reflection and visualization. Yesterday, I reflected upon making choices to do our best, even when it is hard. Today’s image inspires me in so many ways. I think we sometimes convince ourselves we don’t deserve or can’t achieve that goal and we lower our expectations. We settle for less. I have had people in my life that have really shown me that if you match your conviction to your dreams, you can then make those commitments to yourself. With that internal commitment comes the courage to share those dreams with others and take those first steps. The people you share your goals with will hold up the mirror, remind us of those commitments to help hold us accountable and cheer us on when the inevitable stumbles on the journey occur.
To those that are afraid to fail, I’d like to share a story that I tell in class. It is extracted from a TED talk by Simon Sinek. In it, he states that the most important things in life we learn are by failing. Walking, talking, eating and relationships are all improved and developed by failing. If we are afraid to fail, we do not apply the appropriate convictions to our goals and dreams, settling for less in the process. No one in the world can care about your dreams and goals more than you. It just doesn’t work. As I’ve said to many preparing for Top Ten, Districts, or that next rank promotion…. “How bad do you want it? What are you willing to give to achieve it?”. What would you pursue if you knew you could not fail? Sometimes instead of asking “why”, ask “why not”.
I actually felt pretty good this morning when I woke up. I’m glad I spent a little extra time stretching out last night after my workout. One of the things Master Niska told me is how important it is to listen to your body. Also, as I age, I’ve needed to change how I train, and I am finding new meaning to the things he has told me over the years.
Today’s inspiration comes from a saying I’ve used in classes many times and is a quote from Bobby Robson. There is no such thing as perfect, but when I think about this quote, I’m reminded that humans are creatures of habit. When I talk about this in class, I often follow it with a reminder that how we train and practice things is a choice. Naturally, for me this is a follow on from yesterday’s motivation around choices. We choose the quality by which we do anything. Do we consciously ask ourselves if we are doing our best? If we aren’t doing our best, are we making choices to change that?
Today, I dedicate my training to all the 2nd degree black belts, as the philosophical meaning at that rank is: “With your noble character, you will develop a new permanence in your life”.
Today’s workout
Theme of the day – proper technique
5 min light general warmup – jumping jacks, walking lunges, etc
50 squats balancing on a Bosu ball
20 full power round kicks each leg on heavy bag
20 full power front kicks each leg on heavy bag
20 slow (2 second) round kicks each leg
20 360s
100 Russian twists (50x to each side) with 10 lb weight
Today I woke up feeling a little less stiff than yesterday. I’m glad I was able to loosen things up last night in class and get a little stretching in.
I woke up thinking about what would motivate me today, and I recalled a quote from Henry Ford and I attached it to this post. The mind is an extremely powerful tool. We can overcome fears of failure, take the most courageous steps, and accomplish things that we never dreamed possible. We can also give up and allow self-doubt to limit us. I think sometimes we take for granted just how impactful our personal choices are. We get to make choices every day. We cannot change any of our past choices, so all we have is to accept those consequences, learn from them and use that wisdom for future choices. Choose wisely.
The other major motivator for me today relates to one of our students at the school. I had a conversation with one student last night about perseverance. Although the current set back he encountered was difficult for him, after our conversation, there was a near immediate choice to not let that affect his training and preparation. It was a very proud moment for me seeing him respond so well and for his awesome attitude the rest of the night. Today’s workout is dedicated to him.
