On discipline.

What does it mean to have discipline? And where does it comes from?

Discipline is doing the things you know you need to do despite not wanting to do them (kinda like chores). I went to every Kendo practice for about two to three years. I would rarely miss practice, I even showed up sick. And guess what? I improved drastically during that time. It’s easy to go to practice when you’re in the mood, when your training mate is going to be there as well, or when you’re healthy and well. But it’s those days that you are mentally drained and beyond tired, those days that you didn’t feel like coming to practice, to train, those are the days that count the most, and it might be one of those days that you will have your breakthrough.

Currently, I have Jiu-Jitsu at 5:00 in the morning. I never thought that I could wake up to make it to practice at such an ungodly hour and be competent at work afterward (I have yet to fall asleep on the job). But not only have I been able to keep up with it, but it’s also now a habit to wake up early on the non-Jiu-Jitsu days. It’s incredibly tempting to stay in bed when it’s cold and you’re still sleepy, but I haven’t regretted any days that I’ve gone to training yet.

Why is discipline so important? We all know what we should do. We all have a plan, a goal, or a dream that we want to become reality. But along the way, we get sidetracked. We lose track of our goals and dreams. A day turns into a week, weeks into months, months into years, and then, if you’re fortunate, you wake up on your fortieth birthday and wonder what have you done with your life? Maybe it’s not that bad, but learning to be disciplined helps us stay on track and attain our self-actualization.

I was most disciplined when I was learning Kendo because I went to all the practices. In my Kung Fu training, I’m ashamed to say that I am not the best student when it comes to attendance or training at home. I’m getting better with Jiu-Jitsu and have been going to 2 out of 3 practices a week. As for Muay Thai, I haven’t smashed a pad in forever. I hope to get better and am starting with small steps first towards configuring my martial training into my life so that it will be seamless.

My Kendo Sensei once told us that we should really value the time we get to train with each other. “This could be the last time I’m training with you and you with me. We should always put our best foot forward.” That really struck me. Another event that led me to attend practice regularly was when my Kendo Sensei was training to test for his Nana-Dan (Seventh Degree Black Belt) test. I was only a Shodan at the time and there was little I could do to help. Our san-dan (third-degree) black belts were never there to help my Senei train. So I made it a goal to always show and help with what I can. Those months of helping Sensei greatly improved my Kendo. I’m happy to hear that he recently passed his 7th Dan exam.

Some quotes that I use to motivate myself are: “Tomorrow starts today.” “There is no tomorrow!” “Get up, dress up, and show up”.

Once you show up, the rest will fall in line. Don’t let that voice in your head persuade you to miss practice. You’ll be glad you went. I’m always glad I went.