Motivation question for all contributors

[Bob Hubbard]

Many of you are going on your 3rd, 4th, possibly 5th decade in the arts. Those of us just starting out often face distractions on our journey. With the ever increasingly frantic pace of life, and all of its distractions, what has kept you motivated to continue your training and how have you overcome the demotivators that have been thrown in your path?

[TheGoldenOne]

Many of you are going on your 3rd, 4th, possibly 5th decade in the arts. Those of us just starting out often face distractions on our journey. With the ever increasingly frantic pace of life, and all of its distractions, what has kept you motivated to continue your training and how have you overcome the demotivators that have been thrown in your path?

Speaking for only myself, I would say my excellent instruction from great instuctors that knew what they were doing and interest in the Art. I always had/have a passion for the Art (American Kenpo) due to its practical approach and reinforcement of material based on logic vs. tradition. It has given me much in the past 35 years.

Motivation has never been a problem, the love of learning, knowing, understanding then expanding is quite exciting. Then to share this with equally interested individuals is even more exciting. I love it. The Challenge is great but the desire is there to share. "Stay on target..... stay on target....."

GD7

[Rob Broad]

I know we have more contributors so it would be great to see what keeps them motivated.

[Doc]

I know we have more contributors so it would be great to see what keeps them motivated.

When Parker was alive it was easy. I hung out with him and he was a powerful motivator and teacher full of fascinating information and a plethora of dirty jokes to keep you in stitches.

Since his passing my promise to him to continue with what he taught me and to "Spread the Gospel" and always share what I was taught, has been paramount, and is the reason I have avoided commercialism.

[Celtic_Crippler]

I'd like to ask a related question of the contributors if I may.

For those that had direct instruction from Ed Parker, what characteristics or personality traits did he possess that you yourselves try to emulate in order to keep your students motivated? ....other than telling dirty jokes. lol

[John M. La Tourrette]

>Many of you are going on your 3rd, 4th, possibly 5th decade in the arts.

Martial arts? Kenpo Karate? Motivation? This is what I do!

Let me tell you something about Mr. Parker. He was a natural kinesthetic.

I am also have a natural kinesthetic dominant sensory system. The study of the martial arts has sharpened those kinesthetics to a high level. I love those new and higher levels of awareness.

By that I mean I am very good at tactile (touch), and at propioceptives (balance & distancing). So was Mr. Parker.

I can “feel” distances. I use the 5 elements of balance for everything I do, walking, martial arts, motorcycle riding, driving, shooting, knife throwing, arnis, etc.

Practicing the Kenpo “flow” and combining that flow with “healing energies”, with NLP and with psychological self-help technologies has enabled me to widen the gap even more by adding such things as “time distortion” and “energy flows” to my technologies.

So exercise in Mr. Parker’s Kenpo (it all came from Mr. Parker) gives me training experiences that hone my senses in a manner that feels good, that evolves my spirit, which enhances my creativity, and leads to higher intellectual development.

>Those of >us just starting out often face distractions on our journey.

Distractions come because of differences in criteria. By that I mean, the things that are important to you.

For example, today I just finished giving a 5 days Intensive at 12 pm. I was burned out. I took some of the European clients out to lunch, then I came back to teach some of my black belts, starting at 3 pm.

I was tired, but not so tired that I couldn’t work out.

And working out, doing something I really enjoy causes my Radiant Healing Energy Circuits to become activated.

That activation is a healing energy, a necessary energy for me today because of the pressures of the 5 day Intensive. So my training them in Kenpo energized me and refreshed me. For me doing Kenpo is a form of the fountain of youth.

Mr. Parker also loved Kenpo, and he loved to do it and to write about it and to talk about it to those that had the same love.

So for Mr. Parker, Kenpo also triggered his Radiant Healing Energy Circuits and was a positive thing for his mental attitude and spiritual growth.

>With the ever >increasingly frantic pace of life, and all of its distractions, what has >kept you >motivated to continue your training and how have you overcome the >demotivators >that have been thrown in your path?

When I was young, many women wanted me to go with them instead of working out. My general rule is, “never go by a day without training. And if I go out and party a bit, to go out AFTER I’ve worked out”.

Some of my ladies didn’t like that. My choice of fun activities angered quite a few of them and we’d go our separate ways.

I am also a high digital by nature. So was Mr. Parker. That means we share the same type of brain function that leads to analytical behavior. By his example, I learned to research and analyze what was good and what was not good (for me) in the martial arts, including Kenpo Karate.

For example, I personally do NOT like the neutral bow. Mr. Parker loved it. Mr. Parker had BIG shoulders, and a BIG upper body with short stocky legs.

I have average shoulders, am a bit lanky, and I have long, flexible legs.

We are different body types. My pants don’t fit him and his pants don’t fit me. And we both wore pants.

When I told Mr. Parker my reasoning about NOT liking to do the neutral bow and what I did instead, the reasoning was logical and valid for him also.

When I face the opposition I want to always control the “set-point” and the “twitch point”. If you are standing in a neutral bow, your control of your quick adjustments is not as fast nor as centered for movement as is the modified “natural centered stance” where you use ‘hot rocks’.

There are 9 different simple closing gaps (without counting the combinations), and the secret one is much more easily done from the “natural non-assuming” fighting stance that it is from the neutral bow.

I am into fast acceleration, multiple strikes and angular attacks.

After I explained, then showed Mr. Parker what I did and why I did it, he agreed that my point was a valid point. I loved his open mindedness.

After I’d written my first 5 books I got a brain-storm of a title that I knew would be a best seller. I also knew there was only one person that should write that new book. So I called up Mr. Parker and told him about my idea. It was an idea about a book along the lines of Joe Haym’s book, “Zen in the Martial Arts”. And that was how Mr. Parker’s book, “Zen in the Art of Kenpo” (Zen Kenpo), with all of its neat sayings, came about.

Motivation?

There are two simple types of motivation. You have the stick and you have the carrot.

It is a rare breed that stays in any martial art for a long period of time.

Most new students (about 90%) quit within 30 days, if taking group lessons.

If taking private lessons from a good trainer, about 80% of new students will last a year, if there is also a binding contract involved.

Napoleon Hill, the author of “Think & Grow Rich” (1937) thanked the Lord for contracts. Back in the early 70’s he signed a contract for a home study course in advertising. After a month, he got lazy, bored and dis-illusioned with that home study course. They politely told him that they didn’t care if he quit or not, but they were going to get paid.

So he finished the course.

That course became the pivotal point for his successes for the rest of his life.

Sincerely,
Dr. John M. La Tourrette

[Steve W Spry]

Self Motivation is not an ability, for ability alone breads boardroom. Motivation comes form personal desire, through your desire you will develop abilities. Thought these abilities you have gained personal achievement. If you are motivated and stimulated to achieve, that's all the motivation one needs. Remember If you train like a Champion you will be a Champion. Because "CHAMPIONS BREED CHAMPIONS".

Steve Spry
EGM

[stone_dragone]

First off...Welcome to KT, Mr. Spry!

As for the topic of the OP, to paraphrase Lombardi quote - For me:

"Being motivated to train and improve isn't a sometimes thing, it's an all-the-time thing. Staying motivated is a habit. Unfortunately, so is quitting."

There have been long stretches where finding the motivation to train or work out was harder than others for me. It has become so ingrained in what I do that I can't not-train. I started when I was old enough to make a commitment and still young enough to build a habit.

In honest self assesment, if I were to have started training 10 or even 5 years after I did, I don't know if I would still be in it or if the world and life would get in the way too much. God has provided me both the health and opportunity to continue and I do my damndest to not take it for granted.

How do I work around obstacles...I either use what I've learned physically/philosophically/spriritually in the martial arts to solve the problem or use what I learn in the new problem to improve my personal art in the same areas.

My .02

[MarkC]

I don't know about motivation, as such, for myself. I've been training for 31 years this summer, and it's just a part of my life, part of who and what I am.

[jdinca]

Only starting the second decade myself. It's an important part of my life.

[Z-Rex]

Just started on my 4th decade. My only complaint is I wish I was independently wealthy so I could train more.

• It's who I am. I like the training, teaching and the people.
• Love mixing it up and hitting and getting hit.
• Love working the stuff I am good at to make it better.
• Love getting out of my comfort zone even more. You know, learn something from another system that feels odd or awkward and work it to the point it feels like its a part of you.
• Where else will I feed the inner beast and not get arrested?

[Bob White]

Knowing that perfection is never obtainable but progress always is if you work for it. As a martial artist it is our responsibility to try and improve our skills. Coach John Wooden has a simple formula for success b+c+u=success. Basics, conditioning, and unity. If we don't work continually on our bio mechanics our skill level will suffer [basics]. If you do not keep in good physical condition your survivability suffers as does your performance [conditioning]. If you don't train with other motivated and skilled partners you will not grow and stay sharp [unity]. Don't settle for mediocrity and don't quit trying to improve. If you do these things would you ever get tired of doing kenpo.
Respectfully,
Bob White

[Matt Barnes]

Traipsing through my 3rd Decade, right now it's my mentor and my training partner. They give me direction and challenge. It's motivating to need to work out in between to survive the next workout.

[Bob White]

I see that I had responded to this thread a couple of years ago. I still feel the same way about motivation but it's interesting because there are so many aspects to our art. When I was younger it might be getting ready for a competition or a test that made me train harder. I had been involved with athletics my entire life and all other sports had seasons. Karate was every day 12 months a year and it has been since I started teaching full time in 1968. I had always responded to training better when I was working toward a goal but as the years have gone by I keep trying to just get better. i have to work twice as hard to be in half the shape as i was 30 years ago but I do the work. As I approach 65 I will not let what I can't do, interfere with what I can do. Now that I am older my motivation is to finish strong and God willing, I will.

[Lightning Ram]

My motivation is to stay in shape as I get older, I see a lot people that are having a hard time with this. I took a few years off to take care of my father before he passed and found out it doesn't take long to get out of shape and easy to forget forms and techniques. Also learning that I'm not young anymore and takes longer to heal and easier to pull a muscle. So I give myself better rest time. I also will be learning new things as time rolls on.

[Kenposoldier01]

Many of you are going on your 3rd, 4th, possibly 5th decade in the arts. Those of us just starting out often face distractions on our journey. With the ever increasingly frantic pace of life, and all of its distractions, what has kept you motivated to continue your training and how have you overcome the demotivators that have been thrown in your path?

Well, in all honesty I am as addicted to Martial Arts as any heroin addict is addicted to heroin but what has kept me going outside of this severe addiction to the high I get from Martial Arts is the unreachable goal I set for myself. I may ultimately die before I achieve my goal but I don't care about the end I simply love the journey. My goal of course is to have absolute, undeniable Martial Mastery in the kind of Martial Arts I consider worthy of study, that is those Martial Arts designed and taught for unrestricted life or death combat. I consider anything less a joke and waste of time. I also firmly believe that attaining Martial Mastery is a never-ending journey of improvement, I cannot reach a level where I have arrived or attained perfection because no matter how ridiculously amazing you become with any skill set you can always improve yourself.

The danger comes when you reach those levels so much higher than those around you that they start to praise and regard you as a Master or Grand Master or look at you as the full embodiment of what they wish to become as Martial Artist. It is to easy to let it go to your head. It is easy to stop working hard and retire satisfied with your achievements. The same dangers apply to those who have had a few hundred fights and reached a point where they dominate everyone they face, between that and teaching less experienced people that they can beat with ease fills their heads up so much that they act like and sound like they know everything. We talk about keeping those students who are in their first decade of training motivated but those at the higher levels are in the most danger.

Just because you put on your faded Martial Arts Uniform and your faded black belt with or without stripes and walk into your very own Martial Arts School where you have hundreds of students on the waiting list just to take lessons from you the "legend" does not mean that you are still on the journey, that you are still sticking with your training, what many of these "legends" are doing is retiring on their Martial achievements, teaching to stroke their egos or even teaching to pass on what they know but they are not motivated to seek improvement and frankly you can't motivate people for long if you yourself are not motivated to keep going. Do you still have that hunger? Do you still feel that fire burning inside you that drove you to train through blood, sweat and tears year after year or do you think that one life time is enough time to "arrive"

[mmcdevitt]

What motivates one does not necessarily motivate another; which can be surely seen here. I am new to this forum, fairly new to Kenpo; but not to the Martial Arts. My motivation is not to attain goals, fitness, ranking, followers, etc. It is simply (although nothing in the arts is simple) to keep improving my very small level of knowledge and skill in order to pass it along to current and future students of the art. To give them avenues of self-discovery that might not have been available before. Everytime we pass our knowledge on and it is learned, we too become learned. Passing on your knowledge and helping others grow, what better motivation could there be?