Wednesday 29 June 2011
The age old need to set goals and strive to succeed is no new thing – Martial Artists of ancient times knew they had to have a plan for success before they could succeed. As we do in Martial Arts today – or at least good Martial Artists do today – we have to start by believing that we can and should succeed in life. Believe that you deserve to achieve and succeed – to be successful – or more successful than you currently are in whatever part of your life that may be.
So often I hear people say to get out the paper and pen and start writing down goals, but this list so often gets left to become a scrap piece of paper that will have as its greatest claim to fame the next entry into your garbage can. Ever had a few of these pieces of paper lying around? Only to gather dust and not get looked at again? With lines and lines of goals to achieve – and no time to achieve them in? Or it gets behind the fridge magnets and starts looking so tired hanging on there you’ll put it out of its misery by quietly slipping it into the kitchen garbage bin.
Just start by imagining success, the type of success that you want, the things that you want to achieve. If you believe you can actually reach whatever it is that you define as success – and you truly believe that – and you’re not just kidding with yourself – and you can imagine in your mind how you might get there – then there’s a chance it might happen!
You see … writing it down doesn’t make it happen, nor is it the first step in getting it to happen. In Martial Arts we believe that to visualise what might happen before we go ahead and put in the hard work will give us a better chance to get the results we are looking for. I guess we are mapping out a path – or plan – for belief and success in the achievement of our goals. No physical work is needed at this stage – just some relaxed thinking. However, very focussed thinking is the key here. You have to visualise and believe it before it can happen otherwise it becomes a long lost pipe dream.
So this will take some thinking, some practice and lots of thought. Many ideas will get in the way – the “what if’s” and “what could be’s” – and these will distract you for some time. Keep at it until you see some clarity. It may take hours, days or even weeks to get past this step one of goal setting. But it’s the most important step. So don’t give up and make sure you persist!
Try lying down and breathe slowly to clear your head for some good old fashioned visualization of the goals you want to achieve to take you down your special path to success. The more you visualize or dream them, the more you will believe – then the greater chance to achieve!
Let’s use an example of how we, as Martial Artists, can set goals. One of the great ways to improve your Martial arts ability is through the “Hamadang” or technical tournament or display in front of an audience. The Hamadang is so essential in the development of the all round Martial Artist and so this is a great area to set goals in. Hamadang is the traditional name for a “technical display or competition” where people come together to demonstrate their expertise in a range of Martial Arts technical moves. Participation in a Hamadang is a crucial part of ones development as a Martial Artist as it provides a range of technical disciplines for a Martial Artist to “test their skills” at.
The exciting disciplines or events of the Hamadang include Poomse, Timber and Tile Breaking, Self Defence, High Kick and Fly Side Kick. There are also more freestyle aspects of the wonderful events of Poomse and Self Defence known as Creative Poomse and Creative Self Defence. We have members who prepare extraordinary displays in these events that you will find so exciting.
So which events should I choose to set goals in? Well, why not start with your favourite event or events. For example, some people really like the idea of participating in the board breaking event, but might be worried that they may not be able to break their boards. In this case we use our goal setting technique of visualization or imagining yourself breaking the boards in front of an audience. The idea here is to really get right into the moment and imagine hearing the clapping and cheering of the audience once boards are broken, and imagine the slow motion video of your foot going through the boards with your amazing Axe Kick or Jump Back Kick technique. With this kind of visualization, or imagination, you can start to believe you could actually do it.
Some Martial Artists, however, are reluctant to participate in a Hamadang. The main reason is they do not have the confidence or self esteem to be able to get themselves to make the first move to nominate to participate in the event. So this is where families and friends have a very important role. Make sure that if you are a family member or friend, take the time out to talk about the Hamadang and why it is so important and set aside some family time to attend the event, making sure to reinforce that self improvement, participation and effort are the key, not the result of where they placed in the demonstration against other Martial Artists.
Great Brisbane Martial Arts schools Like Factor10 go to a lot of trouble to teach members how to set realistic goals. How to improve beyond the self imposed limits we often put in place. How to achieve a Factor of 10 or more beyond that which is imaginable.
So don’t forget to make the effort and get your Hamadang or Yellow Jacket Tournament entries in at reception for the next event – it’s an absolute must for the development of goal setting skills for the developing Martial Artist – and it’s also a great family day out. Happy goal setting!
Dream! Believe! Achieve! (Lauren Burns Taekwondo Athlete Sydney 2000 Olympic Games)
