Today, the Martial Arts Association I’m a part of hosted a black belt and higher level degree test for 80 candidates.
Each earned their way onto that testing floor from years and years of consistent hard training and well displayed martial arts culture / respect.
And each outlasting many of their peers who started on the same journey with them. Maybe only 1% makes it all the way from white belt to black belt. And maybe .01% makes it to the higher degrees. Their dedication carried them forward to a place where most never travel.
And so it is with everything we do in life.
There’s nothing wrong with stopping something you’re no longer passionate about or choosing to explore other areas of interest. But, do that too much, and you’ll never get to travel to that place where only the smallest of percentages get to.
What you pick doesn’t matter per se… what matters is that you pick.
And that you give what you pick your absolute best shot… through thick and thin… when it’s sunny outside and when it’s rainy… when you’re feeling lazy and when you’re feeling on top of the world… when you’re feeling low and when you’re feeling unstoppable…
Traveling the distance is what gives us roots. It’s what gives us depth. It’s what gives us wisdom.
Miyamoto Musashi said, “To know ten thousand things, know one well.” …And this is what he means.
Go deep in one specific domain and the rest of the universe reveals itself. Submit to your lazy nature and dilly dally your way from one thing to the next to the next… and you’ll forever only understand what’s on the surface.