DO YOU WANT YOUR CHILD TO DO THEIR CHORES EVERYDAY AND LOVE IT?
Whether you are a child, teenager, or adult, we all have chores and tasks that we have to do day in and day out. Unfortunately, most of the time, these tasks aren’t the most exciting and are easy to skip or forget about. In his book, Chop Wood Carry Water, Joshua Medcalf explains how to fall in love with the process and how to capitalize on doing the “small things”. On our mat, we emphasize the importance of discipline.
Discipline is doing what you need to do even if it is hard or you don’t feel like doing it. On the mat, this discipline comes in the form of making it to class twice a week, practicing your techniques on and off the mat, and showing respect and focus outside of the dojo. While it may be hard, this is how champions are made! Instead of focusing on the end product, we focus on the process. Instead of focusing and worrying about the good grades, the run times, or even Black Belt at the end of the road, we focus on what we must to do get there instead. By focusing on the process, you will see more progress, have more motivation, and have a better time while doing it! Here are a few tips from the book to help you fall in love with the process and maximize your potential this year:
1. Don’t skip the inches! If you have ever shot at a target, you will know that technique is everything. If your technique is off by even the slightest inch, you can miss the target completely! That is why every inch and every little thing in your technique matters. This is the same in life, every small task, chore, and “inch” matters! If you skip the small things, you will not achieve the big ones!
2. Be a Good-Finder. In the book, we learn that our brains process around 11 million bits of information per second. But we are only aware of about 40 of those bits. This means that we are only aware of .000003% of what is actually happening around us! Our brain is already blocking the majority of everything else out, so why are we still focusing on everything that is bad and negative? If we want to start falling in love with the process and becoming happier, we need to look for the good and find the small things that are going right!
3. Follow the principles. At the end of every principle is a promise. At the end of every feeling is nothing. If you live by your feelings, things will not work out, since feelings always change. Sometimes we go to bed feeling amazing, but we wake up feeling miserable, for no reason at all! If you follow your feelings, your growth and your goals will be hindered simply because you woke up feeling a certain way. When you live by a certain set of principles though, you are protecting yourself from your feelings and stepping into an area of great potential. For example:
I don’t feel like working out day. The principle says you reap what you sow.
I don’t feel like giving my best today. The principle says to always give my best, even when I am tired.
I don’t feel like being happy today. The principle says to speak life and not death.
4. Plant the Seeds. The book talks about the process of growing bamboo. Many people love bamboo trees and bamboo wood, but little know about growing bamboo. After finding the right soil and planting the bamboo seed, you must faithfully water the soil every day. After three months, nothing happens. After one year, still you see nothing happen. Even after watering the soil every day for three years, still nothing happens! What people don’t see is beneath the surface. Beneath, there is a massive foundation of roots spreading throughout the ground preparing the bamboo to rapidly sprout up. So, after five years of watering the soil and seeing nothing, the bamboo tree finally sprouts up to over 90 feet tall in just over a month! In life, people want the huge 90-foot bamboo tree, but they do not want to water the soil every day without seeing any growth. But rest assured, keep watering and keep doing the process, because it is what is happening beneath the surface that really matters!
Respectfully,
Mr. Josh Sivel
Underground Martial Arts and Fitness Center
Self-Defense, Strength, and Success Instructor
2nd Degree Black Belt