You won’t stick with it if you’re trying to be someone else. Be you. Your only measure is yourself.

Look at your past successes. Express thankfulness for everything you have accomplished. Past you would be amazed with where current you is now.

When we put on our uniforms, it signals to our brains that it’s time to train. It reminds us that we’re martial artists. We’re dressing as the person we want to be. When we tie on the black belt, we show up as a black belt.

The consistent starting ritual signals to our mind that it’s time to train. And it’s the endorphins from physical movement that ease the stress and put us in the moment.

All my students, younger and older, use their meditative breathing time to center, recover, and prepare themselves for more training. The simple breathing pattern teaches how to focus on your breath. It teaches us how to slow down. It teaches us how to be present.

Like training with our masters to get our training back on track, we need to regularly check in with what’s important to us to keep our lives on track.

Just like when stances improve when we use our strongest muscles, so too will life improve when you figure out how to utilize your strengths. The more you can do working from your strengths, the more naturally you will move through life.

For seminars, tournaments, tests, we prepare as best we can. We might feel nervous or excited, but regardless the day comes. We show up and do our best. Things probably don’t go as planned, but the planning helped us be prepared to react to what does happen.