If you had the opportunity to change in your life for the better, would you take it?

At first that seems like a really simple question, and the answer should be “of course!”, but then we get to the part where people think, “well yes, I suppose, but what will it entail? Will it be hard work? Will it mean I have to give up all the stuff I like?” etc etc…

This is the biggest problem we all face when trying to achieve our true potential is the social con- ditioning that to reach exceptional standards is beyond the reach of ‘normal’ people.

There is a saying which goes: “if you want something to change about your life, then you must first change something about your life.”

Ask yourself this question. Just how much to you need to change in your life to make a significant difference to you?

Most people assume that it is a lot, and that it will require a huge amount of effort on their part. I put it to you that there is something you can do right now, it will take no more time than it takes you to read this newsletter, and this one thing can make a huge difference to the rest of your life.

Have I got your attention now?

What if I made a suggestion that by changing one tiny thing, just by adding one word to your vocabulary you could turn your whole attitude around…

When faced with a challenge in your life, how do you approach it? If your usual response is to think “I can’t do that because…” then immediately you are focused on the negative. This will affect your whole attitude towards the situation in the future and your chances of success are greatly reduced.

So how about we change that one tiny thing… Lets simply change the “I can’t” to “How can I?”, for example, instead of thinking “I can’t kick head height because I’m not flexible enough..”, change it to “how can I increase my flexibility to achieve my goal of kicking head height?”.

The moment you make this important change in your thinking something amazing happens. Your subconcious starts to work on the problem, starts looking for a solution. Even if you are not actually thinking about it at the time your subconcious is...

Immediately you have made a very important distinction, to focus on the solution is a positive step, and this means that you have now categorised this challenge as a positive thing and that gives you a huge advantage from the start.

Never focus on the problem, always on the solution, you will be amazed at the difference it makes!

Sometimes life throws us a curve-ball and we have to miss a few classes.

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure”

When that happens it’s easy to feel a bit ‘out of the loop’ and though it really shouldn’t be a problem, sometimes our subconscious takes over and starts playing silly games with your confidence, and it seems to get harder and harder to get back in the dojang. If you’ve ever been in that position, I bet a few of these thoughts have gone through your head:

“I’ve not been for ages, I’m so unfit it’s going to hurt when I go back”

“I’ve forgotten everything!”

“Everyone else has learned a load of new stuff and I’ll look daft because I can’t do it”

“They’ll all think I’m useless for not training”

Trust me, we’ve all been there, and I’ve heard all these B.S. excuses a hundred times over the years.

The simple fact is thats just our silly subconscious talking. The same one that makes us procrastinate about all sorts of things.  Sure, you may need to take it steady for a couple of classes to ease back into a routine, but other than that you’ve got nothing to worry about.  Worried about what others are thinking?  Think about it, how much do you worry about other people’s training?  The simple fact is, we miss you when you’re not there, and the only thing we’re likely to be thinking is “hey I hope they’re ok and back training soon”.

There’s a very simple solution if you’ve missed some training and want to know how to get going again.  Take a top from Nike and JUST DO IT!  All you need to do is take that first step back into the dojang and you’ll soon realise that you had nothing to worry about.

We’re looking forward to seeing you soon!

Hey team,

Wow, the past year has flown by, it doesn’t seem like five minutes ago I was writing ‘happy new year’.

Did you make any goals last year? Maybe you set some new years resolutions. If you did, did you stick to them? I’m guessing for a large group of us probably not, but rest assured you weren’t alone!

Do you know why most people’s new-years resolutions fail?  It’s because as a society we’re conditioned to the fact that “nobody sticks to new years resolutions”, or “they’ll be forgotten by the end of january” etc. If your whole life you’ve heard things like that it’s going to be pretty hard to break the mould isn’t it?

Japanese Kanji characters for KAIZEN

So, instead why not try a different plan this year, and don’t just make short-term resolutions, but instead commit to one simple principle of Kaizen– aim to just make small improvements every day.  If every day you do one small thing to improve your health, a small ‘chunk’ of time on a project, one good deed for someone else etc. after a while they all add up.  You couldn’t jump to the top of a mountain in one step, but you could climb it one small step at a time..

Now I know I rattle on about it a lot, but how about trying one thing, spend a bit less time on Facebook and try visiting our discussion forum instead!  At the last count there were over 11,000 posts in 700 topics with some really interesting discussions about all kinds of topics relating to martial arts, fitness training and personal development.  Everyone is welcome to join, it’s free and it’s a great place to keep in touch and share in your passion for the martial arts.  Parents are welcome to join too!  We would love to see some contribution from you guys on there :-)

Check it out at: www.blackbeltacademy.info/forum If you’re not a member yet just click on the ‘register’ link at the top, pop in your name and email and we’ll get you online right away!

As we’re approaching our christmas break I’d just like to take a moment to express my gratitude to everyone for their support over the past 12 months.   Firstly, thank you to everyone who contributed the very touching testimonials which led to two very special awards for me at the GIMA training weekend, promotion to 6th Degree Black Belt and GIMA Instructor of the Year.

I would especially like to thank Shirley Williamson and Robbie Hirst for their fantastic support in class. They really are the unsung heroes of the Academy that keep things running smoothly behind the scenes and allow me to focus on the teaching. If you’ve not done so recently, please take a moment to thank them personally.  Thank you also to all the parents who support their children and ensure they’re in class nearly every lesson, to the adult members who turn up regular as clockwork and even those who can only make it once in a while, you all inspire me every day, and you are the reason I do this.

Until next year, KAIZEN!

Master Olpin  관장님 리차드