1. This.... is going to take a long time
One story that I remember clearly was listening to the senior BJJ black belt at the gym talk about a student of his that had just received his black belt after a very long time, and he described this guy in a very interesting way.
When he spoke about this guy, he talked he said that the guy was the “perfect example of the guy that just never stopped turning up” he wasn't the best he wasn't athletically gifted, he wasn't the strongest nor had the best technique, but this guy just never stopped coming to training.
He turned up every day did the work, did the sessions and, in the end, became a black belt; something that not many people will achieve in their life and how did he do it. Consistency, Repetition and Dedication.
2. Find what you love – and don’t BS yourself.
You have got to be studying or training in an area that you're really interested in. It's no good you know learning C# first if you want to be a UX designer and the skills that you need to get better are design skills - like the universe is telling you what you need to do so just listen.
Just because everyone is watching the UFC doesn’t mean you need to learn MMA – if you like Kung Fu…Learn Kung Fu.
Just because everyone is jumping on board with a new programming language or framework – if you like C++ … Learn C++ the results will come from your effort.
Because if you choose something you aren’t passionate about you aren’t going to do the sessions and if you don't do the sessions you're not going to be able to take on the information - not to say that you can't through sheer willpower force yourself to learn these things because sometimes that's not only important but nessacery but don't let that be your guiding principle.
It’s also OK to admit you were wrong and thought you liked something, just know that everything is hard and at some point, you will feel like giving up – that’s normal. Don’t confuse don’t like with it’s hard.
3. The mind will give way before the body will.
One of my favourite books that I’ve read over the last year is the book “Can't hurt me” by ex-navy SEAL David Goggins. Also check out Joe Rogan talking to him here
Goggins is the only person to have completed Navy SEAL training, Army Ranger School, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training. He has completed two Navy SEAL Hell Weeks, run 100 miles in 19 hours, run 135 miles in just under 26 hours, done over 4,000 pull-ups in 24 hours (a Guinness World Record), and completed the Ironman World Championships in just over 11 hours.
Goggins entire life is about pain and struggle and learning how to overcome mental weakness and the limitations we put on ourselves. Goggins once broke his leg during a selection course but instead of giving up he tapes his foot rigid and kept in the fight. This is an example that most people can’t relate to that easily, but the lesson is simple.
It is physically possible to continue long after you first start to experience discomfort and the only way that you can learn that is by putting yourself in that situation.
So, get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Programming and Martial Arts have this parallel thing where it seems really hard, and it seems like there's this huge barrier but oftentimes it's our negative self-talk and self-limiting beliefs that are getting in the way of us achieving our best.
4. Don’t measure yourself against the best person in the gym, measure yourself against yesterday
I think looking at this probably from a beginner's POV the first day when you step into any kind of gym boxing gym BJJ Muay Thai we as humans tend to measure ourselves against other people and that's not helpful.
Without question do not measure yourself against or allow yourself to be discouraged by someone who is a professional or who has many many years more experience than you do.
Be kind to yourself and realistic about where you are in your journey but don't let that be an excuse for not pushing yourself and not improving on your yesterday.
5. Learn to enjoy the journey or you will never be happy at the end
Martial arts, programming these are lifelong journeys.
If you never enjoy turning up to the gym or don't like the martial art you've chosen or you're miserable learning the latest front-end framework or practising algorithm solutions or listening to you know programming podcasts or whatever, it's likely that when you get to where you think you wanted to be you'll be miserable because.... let me save you the suspense....there's nothing at the end – it was only ever the journey and what you enjoyed, the friends you made, experiences you had along the way.
Thanks for reading
Ben