I can still hear the electronic tune playing in my head from throwing a strike on my 1981 Coleco Bowlatronics handheld…err lap held…bowling game. There were some missing parts, the battery holder flap was missing and you had to hold the battery in a very specific spot to make the game work. Careful not to sneeze or the game will reset! I believe there was a light or two burned out. Yet, I played the crap out of that game. My old (1940s?) mini pool table made with a metal frame, chalk board-like top, mini wooden pool cue sticks and wooden pool balls, was a little worse for wear. The table became unattached and had to be glued back in place the best we could. We lost one stick. We lost a few of the pool balls so we replaced them with marbles that weren’t quite the same size or weight. Yet, I didn’t care as I pressed on to be a mini pool master! 

I could go on and on with examples of broken toys as most of my toys were hand me downs from my father, brothers and cousins or bought for 25 cents at a local garage sale. So most of these toys had broken parts and missing pieces, but I didn’t care. I loved them. Even today most of my equipment at my studio is donated or bought off of craigslist and missing pieces. Some of my standing heavy bags no long stand, others are stuck on the lowest height. Even at my home much of my stuff is a bit worse for wear. My computer that I’m typing this on stops me every hour to pop up a screen asking me to type in a number to authenticate my Windows program that came with the computer and I have no number for, so I just click through and cancel out and resume my writing, only to have it pop up again an hour later. I’m guessing most people are in the same boat.

A phone that doesn’t run an app properly or has a cracked screen, a car that constantly has the check engine light on because it’s too expensive to fix, a favorite coffee mug that has a crack in it, and a grill in which the ignition button no longer works so you just throw numerous matches in there trying to light it making sure you stay at a distance as when it lights, it all but explodes in flames for a moment…now that I’m typing that out, maybe I should invest in a less deadly grill… Anyways, most of these are normal things.

We don’t get that bothered by things that aren’t in perfect condition. We expect things to slowly break or lose a piece and just plow through with using them until they completely break. So I have to ask…why is it when we have a stubbed toe that we cancel all plans to go to the gym or martial arts classes? We have this tendency to only attend these things if we are in perfect condition. 

I’ve heard all of the excuses over the years. “I’m not in good enough shape yet to do martial arts, let me get fit first”. “I’m under a lot of stress right now in my life, let me deal with that first before doing classes”. “I’m not talented enough to learn martial arts”. “I’m too old for martial arts”. “My ankle is a bit sore, let me rest it tonight and return to class next week”. “The universe hasn’t shown me a sign yet to begin classes.” All ridiculous excuses that I hear regularly. Martial arts doesn’t care about any of these things, nor should you. Those who are out of shape, under stress, untalented or too old, are the ones who get the most out of martial arts. If taught and trained correctly, it will make you more physically fit, reduce stress, develop skill and help ward off the effects of aging.

You know the person who gets the least out of martial arts classes? The physically fit, talented, confident young person who usually just adds their black belt to their overloaded trophy case. While I enjoy having those talented students, it’s about 1% of the students I get and most typically stick around for a short amount of time before moving on to the next adventure. The students who tend to fill my classes are the ones that feared joining the most, believing they weren’t good enough or would do poorly. Those are the students that tend to dramatically improve their lives and overcome obstacles in their lives.

Have a sore shoulder, broken foot or some other injury? Use that to be a better martial artist! The assumption is that we can’t do our normal material when we have an injury, so we must halt our training. NO! Martial arts is about self-defense. Do you think an attacker is going to hold off on attacking you just because you have a sling on or a cast on your foot or because you have a headache? NO!!! Training when you are “broken” is absolutely crucial! You have to learn to get around injuries and headaches and stress when learning self-defense or you’ll be useless if you ever have to use your training in a realistic situation. People don’t get attacked when they are most ready to be attacked. They are attacked when they least expect it and are least prepared for it. Watch nature videos sometime and tell me which zebra gets eaten. The young, strong, healthy zebra that runs faster than the rest of the pack? Or the one that has broken leg? Maybe if that zebra would have taken the time to train with me while injured, it wouldn’t have gotten eaten…just say’n.

With all of this said, there is one time you should never go to class and train. That is when you have a contagious illness. No one wants to have what you have, so stay away. Beyond that, however, make it to class! Stop finding reasons to not go to class or the gym, start looking for reasons to go.

There is a great quote by Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, “If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” In a way, this fits this article well. If you wait for the stars to align and you to feel perfect and ready for training, then you’ve waited too long…and will most likely be waiting forever.

We are all full of broken pieces and are missing parts. That’s what makes us unique and interesting. We must accept this and deal with it rather than pushing off all the important elements of life until we are fixed. It’s not going to happen. We weren’t meant to be fully fixed, only improved. We were meant to figure out how to deal with our brokenness, not wait for it to go away before starting the race!