Where My Training Is At

As I mentioned before, something I’m working on is becoming more consistent with my training. That’s not the only thing, however, I am working towards. This blog will serve as a bit of a catch-up for my progress lately. 

Aside from my consistency, I have been working largely on instructing and my teaching. I have been trying to play a bit of a bigger role in the classes, and I’m working on developing senses of awareness, engagement, and strategies that help me connect to the students. 

A strategy I have found that works relatively well is displaying excitement over the students accomplishments. This isn’t faking excitement; it’s simply displaying it. I believe this has been a way of showing that I care, that I am in engaged in their training, and that I am invested in their developments, all while catering to who I am as a person and my natural strengths. 

Something else I have been working on is still my intent, although that has been modified compared to my goals last year. Teaching my sword form has been great for me; it has allowed me to take the intent that was existing in my mind and verbalize it, as well as making sure I physically embody it. I believe I have gained a far better understanding of my sword form because of it and I am extremely grateful for that. 

With that said, if anyone wants to teach a section of their personal form to someone to see if it helps with their understanding for it, please reach out. I’m more than willing to learn. 

70% Simon

Do you ever have so many blog ideas, but they never see the light of day? And you just don’t blog? And everything seems to be just blegh? That’s kinda where I’m at. 

While there’s lot I want to talk about, the target of this blog will be my recent undertaking to better understanding my limits. As many point out to me, I lack the ability to limit myself properly. I don’t recognize my own limits, nor do I respect them. Mental and physical fatigue, physical wellbeing, patience, etc. All very abused elements of who I am. 

The downside to going “100%” is that it isn’t maintainable. There’s burnout, recoil, recovery, all those nasty things. It can result in inconsistent showings and overall, a decrease in ones general reliability. That’s the thing I hate most. 

I want to be reliable. I want to be relied on. 

I have to earn that, obviously. To be reliable, I need to be consistent. That means consistent and frequent fluctuations from 100% to 30% and back up to 100% are no good to anyone. The fix? 70% Simon. 

I am working on maintaining a consistent 70% Simon. As Sifu Rybak told me, a consistent 70% Simon is far favourable over a drastically inconsistent 30%-100% Simon. This means taking breaks. This means slowing down. This means taking it easy. Not just in Kung Fu, but with every balance I have. Work, personal, home, so on and so forth. 

Once I can maintain a consistent 70%, my goal will be to maintain a consistent 71%. It’s a long game, I think, and one will take lots of mentoring and reassessment. After all, it’s not like I know the difference between my 70% and my 100%. Maybe that’s the first step?