Just do it....

Last night at the advanced class at Jiu-Jitsu there were five of us present.

Of the five, four have Black Belts in other arts. The only student without one will earn hers within the year.

We do have other Blue Belts who just happened to be away. None of them has a Black Belt or is close to one.

Kinda funny who was there and who wasn't.

I read a great t-shirt recently that said, "A Black Belt is a White Belt who never quit."

I stopped training for about ten years once; at least I claim I did. In those ten years, I spent one summer studying Japanese swordsmanship, four seasons of fencing, and a year of Karate training. What kind of quitting is that?

I then re-started in Karate, found it wasn't enough and added in Jiu-Jitsu.

This year I dared all my high school students to do a Thirty-Day Challenge. That's where each picks something to add or subtract from their life, and does it for 30 days. If it doesn't work out, they can quit after 30. If it was the right thing, they keep doing it.

You can do anything for 30 days.

That's really all it takes to become a Black Belt.

Join a class, and force yourself to never miss in that first month. If something really unavoidable pops up, add some time onto the end of the 30 days to compensate. Keep going.

After 30 days, admit to yourself that it wasn't hard to maintain really good attendance. Look ahead. When is your first Belt Test supposed to happen? Likely it's still two or three months away. If you're up to it, stretch your Challenge to reach and pass that test. Just keep training.

I bet you'll pass. So now you get a dandy coloured belt to wear. If you haven't been enjoying Karate, this would be a fine time to move on, but I bet you've been enjoying it.

Don't quit. Keep training. Don't miss classes without a darn good reason.

After a year, look around. Where are all the people who started with you? I bet most are gone. Maybe they're all gone. The athletic guy? The flexible girl? They are gone and you are not. What was the trick? You kept coming. You didn't quit.

I did this for four years, and earned a Black Belt.

Now I'm doing it in Jiu-Jitsu. It still works.