On October 18, 2014, 30 students from Cambridge Tang Soo Do attended the 9th annual New England Regional Championships in Dover, NH. I would like to personally thank all the Cambridge competitors for supporting this great event and especially Masters Robin and Brian Hebert for hosting the championships at their new Dojang.
A special congratulations goes out to Mr. Oleg Khodko and Mrs. Noelle Drewicz for becoming, yet again, this year’s grand champion in the male and female division.
TANG SOO!
To have loyal friends, you must be a loyal friend. To be trusted, you must be trustworthy. In life, every person has two paths to choose from: loyalty or disloyalty, honesty or dishonesty.
The shortsighted embark on the disloyal, dishonest path, and in doing so, they burn the bridges of trust and support behind them. The wise travel along the loyal and honest path, for they know loyalty builds bridges that often brings life-long devotion, love and support. Character and trust will always rise above money and fame. You must learn to honor your commitments. Whether you do or don’t will ultimately result in your success or failure in life.
In the Martial Arts, loyalty is a tremendous advantage that can accelerate your success and achievement. Because it combines your strengths with a powerful team of resources. Nothing attracts loyalty greater than a history of honoring your commitments. By the same token, broken promises lead to distrust and failed relationships. Your word is your reputation. When you say one thing and do another, you sabotage your reputation.
Integrity Pledge:
- If you make a commitment…honor it.
- If you make a promise…keep it.
- If you set a goal…achieve it!
Champions develop the Habit of Loyalty!
A 1% improvement over time leads to an iterative but transformational outcome!
Most of us love the immediate gratification that comes in the early learning cycle. Many quit when they don’t have this immediate and positive feedback loop, making delayed gratification one of the hallmarks of long term success.
Lifelong learners come to appreciate the incremental improvements inherent in “progress not perfection”, expect the non-linear nature of growth (more circumferential than linear), and know if they persist that the natural troughs and plateaus in their training will be followed by the next upswings and vistas in their development IF they persevere.
A Black belt is a white belt who never quit. A lifelong learner has a black belt mentality in all areas of their life where there is “no failure only feedback” and the ‘growing’ comfort with failing-fast and forward leads to perennial growth!
Besides being creatures of habit, we are all emotional beings. Most of the actions you do or don’t take is based on your emotions. The key is to learn to control your emotions so they don’t control you. Another huge benefit you’ll see from your Martial Arts training is that you develop. Positive Self Control over your emotions. You begin to understand more ways that you can influence your emotions, putting you in the driver seat. If you’ve ever lost control of your emotions, this usually means you got really mad, sad or allowed your emotions to be in the driver’s seat of what you said or did. With training and practice, you can and will gain control over your emotions and this will allow you to excel in your training and your life.
“Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own mind.” – Roosevelt
What you focus on the most can have a positive or a negative impact on your thoughts and emotions. The more you direct your focus and thinking patterns, the better control you will have over your emotions. Thoughts lead to feelings, your feelings lead to your actions and your actions always determine your results. Improve your thinking and you will improve your life!