Becoming strong does not mean that things get any easier. It means that you can accomplish more – but you still have to work your ass off – go home sore – get up tomorrow wondering why you don’t just quit – and then do it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The amount of effort one can expend before giving up. Let’s call it willpower. Tenacity. Spirit. Balls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The brute force one can bring to bear on a task. Let’s call it strength. I’m talking about the martial arts here – so let’s stick with strength. More generally, we might call it talent. Chops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The manner in which you approach a task. Let’s call it intelligence – though that’s a loaded term. I’m looking for a better one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The repertoire of skillz that you bring to the table. Let’s call them skillz. Techniques. Level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What you manage to accomplish is some multipler of these four factors. It’s not that the Olympic athlete finds it *easy* to do what they do. It’s that they combine force, will, intelligence, and skillz to their best advantage. Good coaches get this and tune the formula to maximum effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have limited but growing technique at the martial arts. My raw strength is not great. However, I have a pretty good will and I’m clever. So I get by. I rolled today with men much, much stronger than me. Every single one of them. There was some sort of navy seal pull-up contest after the workout that I don’t even want to talk about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of the white belts don’t have much technique. Some tapped because I got a solid choke or stuffed an elbow in their sternum and let them lean on it. I looked for those moves (on three guys today) because they were bigger than me, stronger than me, but seemed to be relying on strength – which frequently means that they’ve been able to muscle people around in the past. That means their will might be weak and a bit of pain might do to them what *nothing* in the world will do the wiry, leathery dude with a quarter inch of callous on his knuckles and the crooked nose – i.e: make him give up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others bested me for the first few rounds – and then I started winning because I had been letting them burn their strength before deploying mine. If I smell smoke coming off your skin, I’m gonna give you a cardeo workout and see how long you last. I may not have built massive strength – but I’ll go all day. Go on. Tire yourself out. That’s intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others – I couldn’t find a weakness – and I’ll be thinking about it and replaying our rounds for the next couple of weeks until another opportunity presents itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some are simply monsters across the board – and I was humbled that they worked with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The best were doing me a favor – letting me figure out why they kept winning until I changed my game – and then finding another thing to work on until I figured that one out. I used to think that was a jackass move – to beat me the same way five times in a row. Now I know that it’s an opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The line from the guy running the class was “training is 50% helping your partner and 50% improving yourself.” I believe that. The one, single, standalone, no BS quality of the best martial artists I’ve met is that they know in their gut that by helping me they help themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Strangely, that’s also a truth from the Buddhist teachings I’ve read. It all comes together<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I got a minor injury today. Naturally it was from a white belt. The black belts rarely injure you. They have control – and they want that 50% that comes from working with a good partner. I try really hard to be a good partner – and in return I’ve trained with some amazing people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is also true in my work – except I’ve got technique – and strength might be better stated as ‘persistence’ or talent. In my domain – I’m better than in this cross-class warrior stuff. I find things easy in my work that most people find quite difficult – so I go further. Perhaps I *am* that guy running the class and letting someone else work their stuff against me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Einstein said something along the lines of “Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So if you look at me and think I’m a wuss on the mat – perhaps I am. I’m training my will. I’m working on strength – and I’m not there because I imagine that I’ll ever compete for a national title. I don’t imagine that my raw talent set will take me to the top of the game – I’m playing to the top of my effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you look at me and think I’m a success in my career – perhaps I am – but I’ve got it level set to “just as difficult as I can stand.” Anything less would be laziness and a waste of the massive good fortune I experience. I found it hard to improve my skillz any more – so I’ve started training willpower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n