Busy and engaging day

Today was one of those very busy days.  One of those days when everything you need to get done get's done and it feels like an hour's past when in fact it's been nine.  Today was one of those days and I really enjoyed it.  I worked on a infographic for my marketing course, completed a bunch of chapters in one of of managment courses, got in some Spanish practice, wrote this blog and even managed to record eveything I ate.  It's got me to thinkning about my I Ho Chuan requirements and where I've wasted a lot of time this past year.  

This year was a struggle to say the least and it was 100% my own doing.  Nothing got in the way of my training and commitments other than myself.  I wrote about it in my previous blog and how I didn't priortize my Kung Fu like I should have.  I got on that slippery slope and I never really got off.  Sure I slowed down the slide a few times but I never really stopped and gave my self a course corretion.  I should have pulled out my I Ho Chuan promises and reviewed them becuase when I looked at them today I realized that I had worked on almost all of them.  The problem I found was I didn't record any of the progress on my personal requirements so I felt like I wasn't progressing and down the slippery slide I went.  All I found along that slide was dissengagment and resentment.  

I'm working on this years goals and to be honest a few of them are going to be carry overs from my 2021 year.  They're more tangible to my life than they actually were in 2021.  What I've realized this past year is I need to do a better job setting goals both big and small.  I'm the most motivated when the goals are motivating to me and when the smaller goals line up with the bigger ones.  A HUGE goal of mine is to finish my business degree so that I can position myself for an ex pat role.  The big goal is the move, the smaller goal is earning my degree and the even smaller goal is finishing my second year.  I could and should even break them down into even smaller goals of credits by mid year 2022 and courses completed.  This is something I haven't done a good job with as I've floated along the "ego cloud" thinking I was smarter and better than I am.  I realize now that this isn't the way forward for me and if I want to get where I want to go I have to put the effort in and the discipine required to get there.  

Days like today are motivating and I'm capturing the essence of it by writing.  Today was a good day.

Mr. Repay  

The power of the streak

I've been learning Spanish for a few reasons.  It's one of my I Ho Chuan goals from years past, secondly I've always been intrugued by the Spanish language and thirdly it's part of my preperation for a move to South America in the future.  I've been using Duo Lingo as the main tool for this of which I really enjoy the platform.  What's really interesting about it is how it tracks and uses streaks to keep you motivated to learn.  If I miss a day obviously the streak is over and I have to start again.  I don't loose the progress I've made but I loose the postivity of the streak.  The app also has a leaderboard of everyone that is learning a new language.  The top ten people with the highest points accumulated over the seven days span get's promoted to a new higher league.  

There are so many similiarities between the aproach that Duo Lingo takes and SRKF.  We have stripes and belts that signify our progression to the next level just like Duo Lingo has with accumulated points and rewards through out the week.  Right now I'm on a 18 day streak and I will made sure that even on Christmas Day I got some language training in so that I didn't lose the streak.  I used to take the same approach with my Kung Fu.  I used to be so rabbid about not missing a class that I would leave Calgary at certain time just to make sure that I made it to Stony in time to get to my class.  I'm looking back at these times and I'm actually jealous of MYSELF if that's even possible?  So I have to ask myself "why"?  Why was I so motivated as a lower cue belt to never miss a class and right now I'm struggling to attend classes regularly?  What's changed in me?  The answer is priorities.  With Duo Lingo I'm making it a priority becuase I have a goal of one day working in country that only speaks Spanish.  I know that If I can't comminucate I can't get afforded that opportunity.  I'm extra motivated by that goal and I can visualize my self in that opportunity that I've desired for a very long time.  

When I think about my Kung Fu back then I was visualizing that Black Belt.  I was seeing myself on the stage at the New Years banquet in front of Sifu Brinker and all of my family and friends giving my speech.  Telling everyone what Kung Fu has done for me and being there with everyone that helped me along the way to realize that moment.  Over the past years that vision has faded, replaced by other things that have taken a higher priority than my Kung Fu.  I'm taking a hard look at this past year and looking at the new year.  I have to be brutally honest with myself, can I visualize myself as a black belt like I did those years ago?  If so then I can't break the Kung Fu streak because it's a high priority in my life.

Mr. Repay

That glass rock.

It's no surprise that over my 10 years of training at SRKF I've hid under my own fair share of glass rocks. Every time I would hide under that rock it was because I was withdrawing from something. Various reasons and excuses went through my mind for the reasons for hiding under that rock. But make no mistake I knew and actively hid when I should have did the opposite.

Recently a colleague of mine was supposed to come out to Alberta and spend this week with me in the market. There were some warning signs that not all was right with him. Well today I finally found out that he wasn't coming and we had a bit of a conversation as to why. The similarities that I saw with his actions yesterday we're all too similar to mine at times. He withdrew and ignored my phone calls and texts because he felt embarrassed. In my opinion there was absolutely no reason to feel embarrassed but yet he felt like he was letting me down and instead of communicating with me he withdrew. This was a light bulb moment for me because I'm done the exact same things I've just never seen it from this perspective before. How can I help? How can I be a friend and mentor to him? How do I share all the different times that I've withdrawn and the effect that it had on me with him?

I'm personally going through another tough time. I've been traveling and working a lot over the past 5 weeks and I've prioritized that over my kung fu. I haven't necessarily fully withdrawn but because I haven't attended class I can feel the pull of that withdrawal. Going through the past few days with my colleague has brought some perspective to my own withdrawal and inspired me to write. I've been embarrassed at times because I haven't been at class and I also feel that I've let down my I Ho Chuan team. I do know that I don't need to feel this way because my team mates are awesome like minded people.  I need them to pick me up when I'm down and many of you have!  I want to be that same person to my colleagues so that I can help him persevere and get stronger through this experience.

Mr. Repay