One More Time

Whenever I hear my instructor, Grandmaster C. S. Kim, say one more time, a smile will come across my face. Let me explain.  

The one more time concept is all about doing something again and again until we get it right. It’s going back and understanding the skill. This often time goes from one more time to several more times. Most people don’t like repeating something. However, the positive results speak for themselves.  

My encouragement for everyone is to use this concept inside and outside of the dojang. Is there something that you are doing that needs several more reps to get it right? It takes patience to achieve the quality that we are after.  

As you go throughout your day, put this concept into motion. By doing it one more time, we can be our best. When I hear the statement, “One more time” from my instructor, I realize that we are not necessarily doing it once more. We are on the path to improvement. However many “one more times” are needed.

Need More Patience???

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could pick up more patience from the store? Or even better yet, we could put it on our Amazon Prime reoccurring shopping list. It magically just shows up at your front door each month. Waaa-la! If it were just that easy, right? We can all use some extra patience. How can we get more? Let’s take a look.

Start Small – If you are lacking in the patience department, start working on being successful with the little things. Little by little, you will build your patience for the bigger situations.

Have a Plan – Having a plan will be a huge help in this endeavor of improving your patience. Make an agreement with yourself to walk away, take a few calming breaths or just remember this person or situation is not worth you getting upset over. When you start to feel like your losing your patience use your plan to help you not blow your stack.

Balance – When we are getting good rest, eating right and exercising, we feel more balanced. Lower or take away one or all of these and we are setting ourselves up failure. Get your rest, eat healthy and don’t skip your workouts. Doctors orders.:)

Patience is a virtue, and it takes some work. By starting small, having a plan and living a balanced life, we will develop more patience. The journey of improving your patience starts with yourself. Best wishes to a more patient you!


Taking Steps Toward Your Goals?

How are your goals going for 2021? Writing down our goals can be really exciting, but it’s the next step that most people struggle. It’s getting started. Need some help? Keep reading.

Make a Plan – Working on your goals without a plan is like trying to find your destination without a map. When developing your plan, make sure to be realistic in your approach. Small doable steps is a smart way to help you get started. Too big of action steps can often lead us to not doing anything at all. Keep it simple.

No Excuses – A million other things will creep up when it’s time to work on your goals. Don’t let your excuses stop you. Leave your excuses in the dust, and rise above them. Make the time to work on you. You are worth it.

Start With the End in Mind – Getting started is half the battle. One trick that I’ve found that works really well is thinking about how it’s going to feel after completing the goal. Just the simple action of taking steps toward my goal feels great. Focus on that feeling. Start with the end in mind.

This is your year to accomplish your goals. Make a realistic plan, don’t give into your excuses and start with the end in mind. Best wishes in your journey of becoming the best version of yourself. See you at the top!

Time to Reset

Here we are again. It’s the beginning of the year. The time of year that we usually start or stop certain activities. Hopefully, we can all start positive habits to replace the negative ones.

Looking back to lessons from the past year, we can use the knowledge gained to help us make better choices. We all have our mistakes and regrets. It’s what we do with them that helps us to be a better human being.

It’s like pressing the reset button. It’s a fresh start. A new chapter in our life story. How will we be different this year than last? What areas of our life do we need to improve? Are their relationships that need mending?

As we gaze into the unknown of another year, I hope that we can all agree that we want to be better. Perhaps, it’s just being a little kinder, more patient with ourselves and others, smiling more often and being more present.

One of my favorite quotes comes from an agricultural scientist and inventor, George Washington Carver. His words of compassion has resonated with me for many years. “Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the wrong. Sometime in life you will have been all of these.”

Got Goals? Make them SMART

It’s that time of year again. You know, when we all start to figure out what we want to accomplish. So what goals do you want to reach in 2021? Maybe it’s to improve your fitness, relationships or financial situation. Whatever your goals are this year, let’s make them SMART Goals.

Let me explain.

S = Specific
Smart Goals are very specific. If you want to accomplish a specific thing, you will need to articulate it. Write down your specific goals, post them in a visible location and read them daily.

M = Measurable
Smart Goals are also measured. In other words, create a chart or system that helps you track your progress toward achieving your goal. Visibly seeing your progress on your chart can be a source of motivation to keep you going on your quest to improvement.

A = Achievable
Smart Goals are attainable. When creating your goals, we want to be challenged but not to the point where we won’t hit the mark.

R = Realistic
Smart Goals are ones that are realistic. Can we achieve the goal with the right amount of resources and time?

T = Time-based
Smart Goals have a start and finish date. When a goal has no end, we often times will put it off. It will give you more of a sense of urgency and motivation to accomplish your goal.

As we wrap up 2020, let’s start the new year with goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based. Now, that’s being SMART.

GoT sTrEsS???

Have you ever noticed how the most joyous time of the year is often the most stressful time of the year? Our stress can often times be avoided, and be replaced with joy.

Here are my top 3 tips to help us deal with stress.

#1 Giving is Living – slow down and look at what we are doing as a gift vs as a chore. The best gift is that of giving of ourselves. Giving brings about joy in our heart. Give-Give-Give.

#2 Just Say No – overloading ourselves with too much can be a big contributor to stress. Pace yourself and know your limitations.

#3 Don’t Skip It – with the hustle and bustle of the Holidays, you need to be sure to stay ahead of the stress with your workouts. If you don’t workout, try taking a walk for 10-15 minutes each day. Another idea is to take a minute to take some deep cleansing breaths.

We all have stress in our lives. Don’t let if overwhelm you. this season by giving, saying no and not skipping those needed workouts.

Are You a Finisher?

Doesn’t it feel great to finish something that you started? Were you able to complete many of your goals from last January? As we begin to approach the end of this very bizarre year, let’s finish strong.

Taking inventory of goals that we set out to complete is a great idea. Careful to not start beating yourself up for the area(s) that you fell short. We are simply shining a light of encouragement to finish what we have set out to accomplish.

I’m all about the life filled with goals. It gives us direction on where we want to go in life. In the pursuit of improving ourselves, don’t lose sight of the beauty of life around us.

The 10th Article of Tang Soo Do states, Always Finish What You Start. As we finish the year, let’s follow this great advice of being a finisher. It all starts with one step. You can do it!

Learning

Learning new things can be both exciting and frustrating. With the right approach, we can really enjoy the process of learning and growing ourselves in the martial arts and in other areas of our life.

As you know, the martial arts is a skill. It takes quite awhile to understand and apply the knowledge gained. We’ve all heard the 10,000 hour idea. It takes 10,000 hrs to achieve a level of mastery with a skill.
When most people hear 10,000 hrs, they get overwhelmed. How about we shift our focus from a long term goal (10,000 hrs) to a more doable short term goal (20 hrs). Studies have shown that individuals that performed 20 hrs of concentrated practice have experienced a sense of getting good at a particular skill.

How about we apply this idea to our Tang Soo Do training. As you begin to learn new skills this week, make a plan to consistently work on these skills outside of class. If you want, the 20 hours can be spread out over the next two months. Chart your hours and see when the magic starts to happen for you.

Obviously, we need to be patient with this process of learning. Be present with your listening and watching when learning. Ask questions when something doesn’t make sense to you.

To make it fun, try video taping your experience. Start with Day 1 and video your new skill. Throughout the process, you will begin to see your transformation.

This week’s goal is to continue developing a mindset of loving to learn. Be patient, be creative, get help and most importantly enjoy.

Attitude of Gratitude

Don’t you just love the month of November? The fall weather is slowly making it’s way to the Gulf Coast. We don’t experience the changing of leaves like the northern states, but we gladly welcome the reprieve from the hot summer months. Of all the great things this month has to offer, I believe Thanksgiving is at the top of the list.  

Family and friends gathering together. The tempting aromas saturating the house throughout the day. Throwing the football in the backyard, and watching the Lions lose again (sorry Dad). Of course, eating way too much food. The laughter, conversations, the memories being made that we cherish forever. The inevitable food comma that we all succumb.  

With all the great things about Thanksgiving, the reminder to slow down and be thankful is so needed. Obviously, we don’t need to wait for this wonderful holiday to be thankful. It’s a 365 days a year kind of thing.  

My encouragement for everyone this week is to do a daily gratitude challenge. Here’s how it works. As soon as you wake up in the morning, start with I am thankful for ________ (you fill in the blank). It doesn’t have to be a 10 page list, but include the important ones like health, family, friends, another day, etc.  

Throughout the day, express to others your gratitude for them. When we start to feel the stinking thinking creep inside our head, immediately shift your focus to your gratitude list. When you finish your day, think about all the things you are thankful.  

It doesn’t take much brain power to find the things we don’t like. With everything happening this year, we can easily get sucked into a negative worm hole. Like anything, gratitude will take some effort at first. Through effort and mindfulness it will become a wonderful habit. As Thanksgiving approaches, let’s all embrace this idea of an attitude of gratitude.

Testing

With testing right around the corner, I thought it would be a great idea to discuss testing and ways we can make it more enjoyable.  

Prepare for Success – by consistently practicing and attending class, you are setting yourself up for an enjoyable testing experience. Things like suitable rest, hygiene, exercise and nutrition are also important contributing factors to your success.  

Visualize Success – this is a very powerful tool. Highly successful people use it all the time. Picture yourself doing well on each aspect of your exam. We tend to gravitate toward where we focus. So why not focus on doing exceptionally well.  

Be Present – instead of focusing on the part of your exam that you are concerned, try shifting your focus to whatever you are doing in the moment. If you are in ready stance, make your ready stance the best it can be. Being in tune with the now allows us to be better now.  

If you are stressing about your upcoming test, just let it go. Pour your energy into doing the work, visualizing success and giving your best on each aspect of your exam by being present. It’s time to turn stress into enjoyment.  

Best wishes on preparing for a successful exam. You’ve got this! Tang Soo!