Trying Your Best - Are You Really?

Trying your best. That means different things to different people. For some, trying their best on a test means answering every question, for others it might mean studying hard the night before, but for some - and this is probably very few, I'll admit - it meant going home every night from school and reviewing the notes, making up sample questions and tests, practicing and reviewing often so that when the final exam came, there was no question that would stump them.

Obviously, what we define "our best" to be, can be very different.

How hard we try usually is determined by what we want from our end results.

That person who studied every day for a final exam that was still months away was obviously looking to achieve a very high mark whereas the student who didn't study is more likely just hoping to pass.

When it comes to karate, trying your best differs from one person to another as well. What is it that you want to get out of your training? Do you train hard when you want to grade and then slack off all the rest of the time? Or are you always trying your best?

You can't expect to become the next Karate Kid if you are not trying your best. What you put into your karate training is what you'll get out of it. Therefore, if you thought that by the time you reached green belt, you would be proficient at round house kicks and you find you're not, or that your kata would feel stronger and more balanced and it's not, or that you would have finally wrapped your head around the Japanese terminology, and you haven't; take a look at how hard you are trying.

If the only time you think about karate is during class, your progress will not be as fast as someone who spends their spare time at home reading their handbook or practicing kata.

If you want to be the best, then you have to try your best. It won't happen any other way.

It really is that simple.