Martial arts: how to never stop improving

Master Kongling All, 6DKF philosophy, 6DKF School 2

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When a belt becomes a blindfold

Whether we are instructors or students, sometimes degrees, belts, trophies and all the other types of “recognition” risk blocking our capability to grow.

Note – This article has been asked by one of our Core Course practitioners on Patreon (see how to attend our home study classes here Learn Kung Fu online: a beginner-to-expert course).

The fact of having reached a more or less important goal often reduces our humility, creating a sort of “distance”:

Between us and others
Between our style and the others
Between teaching and study
…

The problem is that there is nothing more counterproductive for a martial arts practitioner.

The fact of being proud of our effort is not negative by itself but if this means the loss of humility, then it automatically becomes the biggest obstacle for real martial growth.

No matter what level we are at, humility is the foundational component of anyone wanting to learn anything.

Those who delude themselves that they have mastered a martial art are only deceiving themselves: the truth is that they have only decided to stop learning. A serious practitioner is the one who (socratically) realizes that the more he / she studies, the more he / she realizes how limited his real knowledge and abilities are.

A note by Master Kongling – About this, there is a very beautiful phrase from Li Lianjie (for all, Jet Li): “When I was ten, I’m afraid of my teacher; twenty, I began realize teachers are just people like everyone else; thirty, I started to think the significance of being a teacher; forty, I appreciate every teacher I met; now I’m fifty, everyone is my teacher”.

What should the goal of a non-stop martial arts growth?

The wrong perspective

In practicing martial arts, our aim should not be:

To reach a certain belt (they are only an occasion to systematize our preparation, read Kung Fu exams: online graduation)
to demonstrate something to others (read Wrong motivation: demonstrating something to someone)
To master a certain skill to perfection, even this is wrong (it is impossible and uselessly frustrating)

The right perspective

What we have to prove we only have to prove it to ourselves: the real goal must be to always understand how to improve our current level of preparation (all the rest will come automatically and at the right moment).

Only with this mentality we will last long and be able to grow every single lesson, hour and minute (read Motivation: from passion to self-discipline): with the maniacal idea of always doing better than the previous execution (no matter how much).

Final notes

A few conclusive thoughts:

We have to understand that learning never ends, there is always someone better than us, there is always someone who has something to teach us, there is always a right way and a wrong way to be absorbed by our martial spirit, comparisons to be made, steps back to do (etc.)
We need to constantly have the humility to admit that all we firmly believe could be completely wrong; only the blind arrogance to think of being at the top of the mountain can prevent us to improve and grow
Let’s not allow the road we have traveled to preclude us from the one that is yet to come; we have to continue to seek and exploit experience; only those who are defeated have a direction and an incentive to become better
For real or not, who always wins has no way to go on and is destined to gradually decrease his / her skills; the point is that our thesis must each time be subjected to the fire of doubt and never preserved
…

In the next article of this series, we will deepen the right training mindset (read The right training mindset).

In-depth video courses

Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu Exercises – The core practices of our school to build real martial skills
Mind self-control hacks – How to improve and exploit the capabilities of our mind to reach our goals
How to build strong self-discipline – How to develop the key that grants us access to all the other goals

In-depth articles

Motivate ourselves – How to build the mental energy we need
Warrior’s self control – The point of view of a real warrior

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

What does a belt mean to you?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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