Enthusiasm, or the Fire in Your Belly
Ever hear the term "Honeymoon Period"? It applies to that initial enthusiasm that someone feels when they experience new things they are interested in. It's a period where everything is exciting, interesting and fresh. There's a level of assumption, as most people have preconceived ideas they bring in with them, but they will are like sponges, soaking up every detail and experience with a longing for more. It is during this period where negatives are often overlooked or just not given as much attention as the positives.
In martial arts, this is when the new student surrounds themselves with the art they are starting in. They attend as many classes as they can, often arrive early and stay late. Their eyes are wide open, their faces flipflop between deep concentration and wide eyed, silly grins.
There is also a common saying that goes, "The more enthusiastic one is in the beginning, the less enthusiastic they will be later". I don't necessarily agree with that, but I will say that my experience has shown that those who come in with an unusually high level of enthusiasm tend to be the ones who don't stick with it for any real length of time. Their drive is shallow and only in their mind, instead of a deep drive that comes from the heart and burns in their belly.
When the "Honeymoon Period" ends, the truth begins to reveal itself. Relationships take work, we all have our quirks, our shortcomings, and personality traits that may not be so compatible. In martial arts, we realize just how much work and commitment is involved in order to progress and reach success. There could be travel involved. Driving over an hour every week can wear on you. Having to work all day, then fight traffic to go to the dojo to spend a couple hours in uncomfortable, maybe painful, exertion is hard to do every week. Maybe life is busy, with children, soccer games, dinner, and other demands, making it challenging to try to fit in classes. Maybe you have hit that plateau in training and begin to think that you are just spinning your wheels, making all the efforts you put in to attend training suddenly not worth the results.
The battle is real, folks. We all have gone through this and continue to go through this. When you leave the "Honeymoon Period" and are faced with the real truth of what being a martial arts student entails, it is normal to experience a drop in enthusiasm. It is normal to begin to doubt yourself or the path you're on. When that happens, you begin to look for external reasons or sources to try and stoke your fire back, to provide the enthusiasm you are missing.
We all have done this. You don't totally feel like training. You know you need to train, so you go anyway. You put on your keikogi slowly and begin loosening yourself up, but often end up in conversation or just sitting/standing there. Then, the bow-in and training begins. But, something is different. You slag off a bit, you don't jump into the warm up rolls. You wait and file in behind others. Then, no matter what you're working on, you do it with lackluster effort, a lazy kind of movement and stop after a few repetitions. The "that's good enough" excuse creeps into your mind and keeps you from going farther, doing more and getting more.
When you were in the "Honeymood Period" of fired up enthusiasm, there is no "good enough". When there's a break in training, you are still talking about training, even still actually training on something, and you ask questions. The "good enough" filter is almost non-existent.
Does any of this sound familiar?
Unfortunately, this drop in enthusiasm actually happens after one reaches certain rank levels. You especially see it when one reaches certain milestones. In the case of martial arts, it often is Shodan (1st degree black belt). But, it also happens at Godan (5th degree black belt), Judan (10th degree black belt) and Jugodan (15th degree black belt). We can all agree about the dangers of putting too much importance on rank. Yet, once someone reaches a certain milestone rank, the enthusiasm drops soon after.
All of these different examples portray the same toxic condition - "Enthusiasm Depletion". It is the single most effective killer of a martial artist. Without refueling one's level of enthusiasm, results will suffer and, eventually, the student will stop training.
So, what do we do when we are experiencing "Enthusiasm Depletion"?
First off, your enthusiasm, your fire in the belly, is entirely self-produced. You control the dial. Stop looking to someone else or something else to create it for you. With that said, however, surrounding yourself with those who are motivated and fired up about training will dramatically help you. Being inspired by others is important. We all need it from time to time. At the same time, we also inspire others. It's mutually beneficial to be passionate and motivated, while surrounding yourself with others who are also passionate and motivated. It creates a dynamic relationship of self-fueling drive. We all go through ups and downs and that relationship helps keep the wind in everybody's sails to make it through. I'm thinking of "bufu", or "martial wind".
Second, and this is related to the first, limit your exposure to those who are toxic, those who lower your enthusiasm or keep you in your depleted state. I mean this with all sincerity here, but if you are in a class where the students (and maybe teacher) are all suffering from this "Enthusiasm Depletion" month after month, year after year, you may have to consider going to a new class or teacher. You can't stay motivated if the rest of the class and the teacher are all negative, unmotivated and lazy. Take responsibility for your own training, beginning with who you train with.
Third, have a realistic understanding of what you want from your training and what it's going to take to get it. Then, have a realistic understanding of where it fits in your life. Family comes first, always. Your job comes first, always. Other life things can have higher importance than training, such as your spiritual or religious practices, a friend in need, home repairs and improvements, and so on. But, also have a realistic understanding to know when you are allowing unimportant stuff to interfere with training and lower your ability to achieve your goals. At the same time, some things may be important, but can be done before or after your training. If you are motivated and fired up about your training, you will find a way to get it done, to prioritize and schedule accordingly.
My family and friends know that Thursday nights are dojo nights, when I teach my class. They know that I won't be available, so they don't plan events during that time. Our family knows dinner is served early enough to allow me to get the dojo ready and train. I don't eat heavy before class and there's always some leftover if I need more after class. It's a part of our weekly schedule and I can count on one hand the number of times I've had to cancel class in the last few years due to some unforeseen event that caused me to not be able to teach.
Yet, there are those who always seem to have something come up that prevents them from training. I'm not making judgement, just pointing out a fact.
When one goes through "Enthusiasm Depletion", suddenly everything and everybody becomes more important than training. The universe is a crazy thing. It amazes me that when your motivation, your passion, your enthusiasm is low, that's when work runs late, children are sick, the car breaks down, and all sorts of other important, but seemingly random things, suddenly slam into our lives and keep us from training.
Again, I'm not making judgements. I know life is hard and often it just kicks us in the gut (or lower). The difference is in your enthusiasm for training. For those who have low enthusiasm, these events can become almost a kind of relief. They become convenient excuses to miss training. Every time we allow this to happen, every time we come up with reasons to not train (instead of reasons to train), it becomes easier to keep doing it. Weeks become months and months become years.
It's funny how many people have stopped training, yet still belong and participate in martial arts social media sites, blogs and forums. What's stopping them from training in something they obviously still hold an interest in?
So, back to solutions. Besides what I've already listed, what else can we do to reignite or stoke that fire we once had? How to we go from "Enthusiasm Depletion" to "Enthusiasm Overload"? There are many things you can do, but none of it matters if you don't choose to be enthusiastic. There are literally hundreds of thousands of self-help books out there. They are still the most successful sellers in the book industry. Yet, people continue to buy book after book, as if each one is a good read, but doesn't actually transform their lives. These people keep looking to a book, ink on paper, to change their lives.
But, it's only when the person decides to change and begins making those changes that real success begins to happen.
So, no matter what solutions are out there to help you with your enthusiasm, none of it matters unless you simply choose to be enthusiastic - then do something that builds on that. There are more people who are enthusiastic about training, but don't actually train, than there are those who are enthusiastic about training and actually train. I don't mean show up once in a while, or swing a sword around their back yard for fun on some weekend, but those who actually go to class regularly and consistently and train with a real teacher.
One thing that will help me when I find myself feeling like I'm losing my motivation, or feeling like I'm just going through the motions, is to look at my "why". We all can lose sight of why we train. Maybe the original reason no longer applies. Maybe your reason was based on some image that wasn't based on reality ("I want to be a ninja!"). Maybe your reason was too broad, with no measurable level of achievable success ("I want to learn self-defense").
I find that the more specific I can make my "why", the more motivated I become. For instance, I wanted to improve my ability with a sword. So, I bought myself a metal training sword (mogito) and trained with those who are knowledgeable and skilled with them. I learned basic things like how to carry it, hold it, draw it and cut with it. I spent hours on basic skill sets and motions, until I could see measurable results begin to appear in my ability. Since there are many kata in our training which involve a sword, I also became better at those kata. My enthusiasm grew because I now had a new level of knowledge and skill to apply in training. That is just one example, but you can see how this works. Maybe you want to really improve your ability with a weapon, or your Kihon Happo, or your Uke/Tsuki/Keri, or Ukemi, or the Gyaku Waza, or whatever. Pick something and focus on that until you have achieved a quality of improvement that gives you satisfaction. Then, continue with that or pick something else. Just define your "why" to something that is tangible and achievable.
Without having a clear goal, your enthusiasm becomes dependent on non-tangible things. Usually it's the experience of the training, rather than a result. For instance, there are those who are motivated to come to class only when class is entertaining. They are excited to show up because of the social element or entertainment value. Class is just a good time, not a learning opportunity. Often this can be the fault of the teacher and I've been guilty of this from time to time. Too much joking around, too much talking, too much demonstrating and not enough focused training of the students. When the instructor focuses too much on entertainment, then the "why" to keep training becomes clouded. Students lose their drive and enthusiasm to train, because the environment isn't offering enough opportunities to achieve measurable results in skill level.
Anyway, I put out a lot of different ideas on this topic for you to consider. Maybe you are going through it now, feeling "Enthusiastic Depletion" in your training. Maybe you are in a school with people who keep you feeling that way. Maybe it's just you. Maybe you lost your "why". Maybe you need some soul-searching. Or, maybe you are the one motivating others. Maybe you are the one not motivating others. Whatever your situation, we all go through them. The trick is to identify it, find solutions and put them into practice. That's what keeps your training alive, so you don't stagnate and become another statistic of those who allowed their training to suffocate and die.
One of the most common admonitions we have in the Bujinkan is "Keep Going". This doesn't just mean to keep doing what you do. Don't just go through the motions. Rather, I encourage you to keep your fire burning bright, be drawn to class with a passion for training, know when life is in the way and when toxic people are influencing you into stagnation - and make changes accordingly.
Instead of just saying "Keep Going", tell yourself "Stay Motivated And Keep Going!".
