To become a karate master takes time--and especially, passion.
We all like shortcuts. Saves energy, saves time. Delayed gratification? Life is short. You need to get your 10,000 hours in. There is no shortcut for that. Or is there?
Let me share with you a simple secret to achieving mastery sooner rather than later. Choose your profession wisely. Make your passion your profession. Why?
By making your passion your profession, you will be spending at least 40 hours a week doing it. Do the math. Those 10,000 hours will take a lot less time than someone who does it as a hobby. A bonus—you are getting paid to become a master.
For example, I have been teaching martial arts professionally full-time since 1994. At five days a week it has been a much quicker learning curve than someone who dabbled in it, maybe training once or twice a week. For most of those years I trained outside of class in other martial arts or doing private training. I have never looked at this as work, to me it was great fun.
How do you discover your passion? For me it was simple. I went back to high school, even grade school and tried to remember when I was happiest. It sprung out at me without a great deal of thought—the athletics field. Physical education, recess, lunch hour, after-school sports. I spent every second chasing after balls or people, never sitting still for a minute. I still remember Mom reading the report cards from school, always a variation of the same theme, “Matt has a hard time being still and concentrating”. I still find it difficult to stand still. Why fight it? I now move for a living. A master? Maybe, but there is always something new to master.
A Shortcut on the Road to Mastery is an original post by Sensei Matt Klein.
Excellent way of putting being a master into perspective.
Thanks for your comment and for your visit KCTKD.
Great sensei well put
As a wise man once said,
“I am learning to understand rather than immediately judge or to be judged. I cannot blindly follow the crowd and accept their approach. I will not allow myself to indulge in the usual manipulating game of role creation. Fortunately for me, my self-knowledge has transcended that and I have come to understand that life is best to be lived and not to be conceptualized. I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies. To be certain, every day there can be a revelation or a new discovery. I treasure the memory of the past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude.”
Good post! It’s rare that one can find a job that pays the bills and is also their passion. I envy those that do. I work in higher education and probably like 70% of what I do. Of that 70% I’m passionate about 30%. There is another 30% that absolutely stinks!
🙂
Funny because a good friend of mine is a religious studies professor and he is totally passionate about all that he does. He’s achieved what you have achieved.
I thought about switching careers but am not sure what I’d do. I am fairly specialized and at 44 it’s almost too late to do anything drastic…
My math and science skills are average. If I were better at those things I might try going back to school and become a veterinarian or geologist (totally obsessed with volcanoes).
As for martial arts, well, it’s a case of a lot too late. If I would have taken things more seriously at 22 I’d be higher ranked. I made up for it in my late 30s but it’s still not enough for me to feel comfortable teaching. It remains a great distraction that has spiritual and physical benefits.
Thanks Shandor. Yes, growth and discovery is what makes life worthwhile. Misfortunes are a necessary part of that as they build character and make us who we are. Thanks for your insights.
Hi Bob. Even in a career that you are passionate about, you cannot like every element of it. As a business owner, I hate the paperwork and tax red tape. There are other elements that I am not fond of either, but the time on the mat or teaching floor make it all worthwhile for me. At 44, I consider you a youngster, so don’t sell yourself short. If you had started martial arts as a young kid you might be burnt out by now, so look at the bright side! I got a very late start myself, not really starting it seriously until I was 26.
I also was very interested in becoming a veterinarian, but science and I did not get along either. Thanks for your visit.
I like that Matt… yes whatever did not fall through the prism or adult responsibilities that we liked tended to be real. So often as adults we lie to ourselves about what we like.
Totally on-board with mastery of a subject faster if it is also a passion. 🙂
Hi John! So true, life is too short to live without being true to ourselves.
One of the things that attracted me to martial arts early on is how endless the road is.
To be able to constantly sink yourself into it and challenge yourself, that’s a passion worth pursuing!
Thanks Matt for your insights. Yes, I believe when the martial arts cease to be a challenge, it will be time to move on to something else. It is the one constant for over half of my life.