Yorkshire Academy of Korean Martial Arts
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Perseverence
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Yorkshire Academy of Korean Martial Arts
Perseverence
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The 5 Tenets of YAKMA     
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Whatever goals we are seeking in life it is very unlikely we will reach them without perseverance. I have met many martial artists who were extremely talented but got bored or distracted and stopped training. As a result they never achieved the targets they set out for. Often it is a good idea to decide on your goals and make a written plan of how you intend to achieve them. This has the effect of focusing our mind on the goals, we will cover goal setting in more detail in a future article. There are many reasons why people fail to persevere, one of these is the frustration caused by lack of results, i.e. they don’t feel they are getting anywhere. People tend to want instant results and are over eager to arrive at their desired destinations such as achieving a black belt. It can help to remind ourselves that we should enjoy the journey and not just focus on the destination. Negative influences often cause people to quit. You will find many times in life when you are trying to improve yourself, people will try to discourage you. They may be “well meaning friends” who give the outward impression of caring but their main concern is keeping you down at their level. It may be someone who is jealous and undermines what you are doing by laughing at you. It may even be the little voice in your head (the chattering monkey) trying to convince you that you’ll never make it. 
Whatever negative influence it is, believe in your abilities and know that if you keep trying you will succeed. Keep reminding yourself of the reasons behind your goal, imagine what it will be like when you achieve it. Also try to cultivate friends with positive attitudes who will encourage you when things are tough or the doubts set in. Setbacks are another reason for quitting. It is important when we are unsuccessful in something to remember that a person who never made a mistake never made anything. We should use the knowledge gained from our errors to guide us in future attempts. Thomas Edison who took hundreds of attempts to invent the electric light bulb was once asked if he got disillusioned by his failed attempts. He replied “I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward”. Looking at things from this perspective makes us realise we can only fail if we quit. From time to time you may find things are tough physically or mentally when you train, perhaps you will feel tired, bored, out of breath, confused, etc. You should adopt a positive attitude and recognise that these things are only temporary, remind yourself that if you persevere you will not only improve in class but your attitude to things outside the class will be strengthened. 
“That which we persist in doing becomes easier --- Not that the nature of the task has changed, but an ability to do it has increased.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.” -Samuel Johnson
Next time you think of quitting because you are tired or whatever other reason, think of Michelangelo who took 4 years to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. What if after the first few attempts he had said, “My wrist hurts I think I’ll quit. Or if after his first unsuccessful attempt to invent the electric light bulb Thomas Edison had given up. No it’s not always easy, if it was we would all have achieved wonderful things already. But always remember that people who achieve enormous success in life do so by persevering. If you “keep on keeping on,” you too will become a member of this small band of people who succeed in achieving goals that most people only dream of
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