How To Be A Better Student
Being a better student isn’t as easy as it sounds. It revolves around three major areas or zones in your life, which include what you do in your martial arts school, at your home, and of course, “in the wild.”
At your martial arts school, there are a great many ways you can be a better student. First and foremost, you have to show up. This step alone guarantees you 80% success towards all your goals. Due to the current pandemic, showing up to your school might be in person, on Zoom, or even training via Facebook Live. Whether you attend class in person or a digital format, you should arrive or log in early, which will allow you time to prepare mentally and physically for your training. If you are arriving in person, extra time will also give you a chance to follow any current health and safety protocols, as well as customs or administrative tasks your school does for each class. Currently, at our school, we are hosting a Summer of Fun Contest, so this time also allows our students a chance to “Check-In” and continue to earn more raffle tickets towards prizes all summer long!
Once you are ready for your training session, you can socialize with your fellow students and instructors. Time like this is precious because you get to know your martial arts family more in-depth. You can lend an ear to each other, offer advice, and even start warming up and reviewing training from a previous class. These are all great primers that help you turn off the outside world and put you in the perfect training mindset.
Staying attentive during class and being a better student includes helping your classmates develop with you. There is no doubt that when you share the martial arts, it puts you in a position to learn and retain information better, as well as build your confidence in your abilities and knowledge.
Depending on how your session is structured, you will have time to take notes. At the end of our Private and Semi-Private training sessions, we like to do a recap of the class, which gives you a chance to photograph, write, and even type details from your lesson.
Once your training session is complete, there may be a chance to learn more by participating in something many generations have done before you. Ages ago, it would take you years of just sweeping the mats before you earned a chance to learn a single technique. Adopt this mindset by offering your time, energy, and discipline to clean up the training area so that the next person can enjoy their training just as much as you did. This concept builds camaraderie as well as the self-discipline that carries into other areas of your life. It gives you more time to bond with your training family and offers you a chance to continue drilling and developing as well.
Now that you have some great material from your training session, you have to take it with you. If showing up for class brings you 80% closer to your goals, practicing away from your martial arts school will be the remaining 20%. The 80-20 Rule states that 20% of what we must do will bring us 80% of our success, therefore practicing away from your martial arts school is the remaining key to achieving your goals.
Create a training space or zone at home and block out some time each week for your home practice sessions. Your aim should be to train both mentally and physically, which will include everything from journaling, rewriting notes, and cataloging material, as well as working on attributes such as flexibility, endurance, speed, and strength. While training at home, be sure to include time to work on your diet and meal prepping, as well as hydration and rest. These are all parts of exploration in building your self-discipline, which will take you far beyond what you think you can accomplish in every area of your life.
If you had the golden cure to someone’s illness, would you share it with them? If you are practicing martial arts, then you would probably agree that it offers a great many cures to our illnesses. It helps create discipline when there is none. It gets us active and gives us something else to focus on in our lives, which combats a multitude of health issues and problems that many people face all over the world. You most likely enjoy the art you are practicing and the school you are training at, so why would you not promote it? Take the love for your school and the passion for your goals and share them “In The Wild.” In the digital world, we now live in, you can “check-in,” recommend and even write reviews to let people know why your school is the place to be. You can also share your school’s website, Youtube, and even social media content so that outsiders can have a glimpse of the excitement you feel. Since training in the martial arts will be a part of your journey, you can document your progress as you practice, perform, and excel through challenges and struggles. You can include these in your posts, messages, photos, and more, which will motivate other people to get up and do something to better themselves.
You can also go “old school” by proudly “sporting” your school’s t-shirt, bumper sticker, or anything else you can think of that will bring attention to your home away from home, and the family you have grown so fond of during your journey to self-improvement. These actions will go farther than just bringing attention to your martial art school. They will help others see that it is possible to start, practice, and perform well at anything they want to do. It will motivate them to make a change in their life with or without martial arts. You could be the beacon of light and hope that will change those you come in contact with both physically and digitally.
It is easy to find areas we can all work on from the lists above. Start with one thing you can do right now to be a better student. It could be as simple as wearing your school colors, sharing content, showing up early, or reviewing notes. Collectively, if we all start to fill in these gaps, we will grow together and reach all-new levels both inside and outside our training in the martial arts.
#FightTheGoodFight
Guro Larry, Sonja, Lauren & Tori St. Clair
Martial Way Legacy
"A Compass to the Preservation of Bruce Lee’s Philosophy and Legacy"
http://www.martialwaylegacy.com
512-821-3637
