Believe that You Can. Decide that You Will

I hear a couple of phrases from students on a regular basis:

I can’t.

And –

I’ll try.

What they don’t realize is that when the say these kinds of things they’re only defeating themselves. What we think becomes reality.

When we think we can’t do something, no matter what other stories we may tell ourselves, we make failure become reality. It’s a vicious spiral of frustration.

There are variations on this sad theme:

I can’t find the time to practice; I’m just too busy; I’ll try to get into class; I can’t make it in to class, etc.

On the flip side, if we tell ourselves that  we can, and we will, that becomes our reality and we make real progress in our ving tsun.

It’s a fact that kung fu takes a lot of deep practice. That’s what kung fu means – hard work over  a long stretch of time, like a lifetime. It takes daily practice. In order to have good skill, a practitioner must change this mindset around their practice.

If you think with a negative, I can’t  mindset you’ll just keep finding things to fill your time, and you won’t practice. You can’t, “FIND” the time, you must “MAKE” the time. Change the I can’t into I can and I will.

I will make the time for my daily practice.

I will make it to class today.

If you are always waiting to find the time to practice, you never will. You have to MAKE the time to practice. Set your intention in your mind. You might ask yourself, how you’ll feel if you don’t do your practice. Because it’s all a matter of priorities. If it matters to you, you will MAKE the time to do it. All kinds of things come up that you don’t have time for, and yet you do them. Think about it. How do you want to spend your time? What kind of person do you want to be? Ving tsun has the capacity to transform every aspect of your life for the better but you have to do the work, wishing won’t make it so.

Practice of ving tsun must be a daily thing you do, like brushing your teeth. Finding the time is self defeating. Make the time. Make that commitment to yourself.

I also hear phrases like this during practice:

I can’t do the technique.

I’ll try to do my form better.

Again, if you believe you can’t, you will never try harder.

Kung fu practice is hard. It does take a lot of time and effort. Don’t make it harder on yourself with these self defeating phrases.

My students hear me say this all the time:

“ If you want to have good ving tsun, you must take the I can’t and I’ll try out of your vocabulary.”

It’s true. See for yourself.

Remember Yoda’s famous line, “ Do or do not. There is no try.”