So many people talk about how discipline is what gets you through doing the things that you really don’t want to do. While discipline has its place in martial arts, the military, diets and every day life, it is only the beginning of making a real change. The Marines taught me this as the definition of discipline: Instant and willing obedience to orders, respect for authority, self-reliance and teamwork. Sir.
For children, we try to make discipline a little more down to earth: Discipline is doing what you know needs to be done, even when you don’t want to. Brush your teeth, pickup your clothes, etc. When it comes to martial arts or any other activity that requires constant practice, the same idea applies. You know you have to practice to get better, but some days, you just aren’t feeling it. That is where discipline has to become habit.
A habit is something you do because you can’t fathom not doing it. Brushing your teeth every morning because mom made you do it all of your life. Habit. Washing hands after using the restroom. Habit. To turn something into a habit, you have to do it repeatedly over a period of time. To turn practice into a habit, you have to make it something you do for a long period of time. How do you do this?
One thing to understand first is that time isn’t going to make itself available to you. You have to schedule out a block of time to practice, even if it’s ten minutes. Put it in your calendar, make it a task on your phone, whatever you have to do to give yourself that reminder, ‘Hey, it’s time to practice.’. Then do it. But but but, I can hear you saying. Here’s the thing, like children, our minds are often focused on right now. Instead of asking what we want to do right now, we have to tell ourselves what it is time to do. Think of your job. There are quite a number of people who would rather not be doing what they do for work, but they do it anyway because they know the consequences may be dire indeed. Like your job, you schedule your time to practice, your time to brush your teeth, whatever it is that needs to become a habit.
You know you better than anyone. If you know that ten minutes is going to be too much to schedule, set a timer. Start with 2 minutes. That’s it. If you feel like going longer, then do it, if not, your two minutes of practice is done and maybe next week you can make it three minutes, and so on until you make practicing for ten minutes a consistent habit. We will talk about knowing what to practice next time.
Until then, train hard,
Head Instructor Shawn Morris