In todays’ society we expect so much so quickly. There is always so much pressure on ourselves and people around us to gain immediate results, no matter what the venture maybe.
Our concept of time has changed dramatically; I often hear comments such as, “I have been training for so long now, it’s been almost three years,” and “I have given myself three months to see if my new business can make big profits,” and “it’s time to find a new job, I have been in this same job for two years, it’s been too long.”
We have been programmed to perceive twelve months (for example) of time and commitment to an activity, venture or relationship as such a long period of time, and we become bitterly disappointed when we interpret that we are not getting what we want in that short period of time.
Some of us are always searching for things such as ‘6 minute abs’ or a ‘6 weeks fitness challenge’ or a ‘2 weeks to overhaul your business’. As attractive as these may be, if you become the type of person who perceives that six weeks is a long journey, you will miss out on many real benefits that comes only from committing yourself to countless hours and years to a venture.
You may find yourself jumping from one fitness program to the other in a matter of weeks, moving from one job to the other searching for the dream job, going from one relationship to another very quickly, never really receiving the true lessons, learnings and rewards that comes only from long term commitment and dedication.
Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers states that it takes 10,000 hours for someone to master a topic.
If you feel that you have indeed become a person who is programed to jump from one thing to another very quickly and you would like to reprogram yourself for long term commitment and success, dedicating yourself to a venture that requires long term commitment and dedication may be the answer; martial arts being a great vehicle for this.
Ancient practitioners of martial arts would devote their entire life time to master their chosen art. When you frame your mind that you are dedicated to something for a life time, frustration melts away because you have made a decision to go over the necessary actions over and over again, you are not expecting results in an unrealistic length of time, you become more open to learning because you are no longer in a hurry, you no longer have to compare yourself to anyone else because your journey becomes your own, you become less critical of yourself because you understand that five years (for example) is still such a short period and that you have so much more to learn, you learn to drop your ego because you trust that you have time to surrender to the process and result will come… so paradoxically (seemingly) framing your mind to dedicate yourself to something for a lifetime will allow you to get results quicker….
Robert Kyaw