Prepare

Prepare

To prepare is to bring forth, to make ready, to make suitable, to train or learn. All of these things are to prepare. All of them are correct applications when it comes to working toward your goals. Preparation brings you closer to your goals. When it comes to achieving your biggest goals and dreams nothing can match the preparation of your plan. Without your prepared plan you cannot take proper action.

Preparation is a key to success. In order to achieve your goals, you must write down a clear and specific plan. A clear and specific plan is like a blueprint for a house or a map for finding a location. If you don’t write out your plans, they will become easy to forget.

You will hesitate and doubt that you will achieve your goals. Preparing your plan for achieving a goal is similar to breaking a brick. When you look at a brick that you want to break with a punch in martial arts you have to prepare your mind by focusing through the brick. If you prepare by focusing through the brick it will break. If you only prepare by looking “to” the brick your hand will break. Just like you prepare your plans for achieving a goal. Your plan must have prepared steps to help you all the way through the goal. Focus through your goals with the right plan or you will always fall just short of achieving your goal and hurt yourself.

In order to proceed with your plans, they must be well organized. Such preparation saves time, energy, money, reduces stress and convinces your unconscious mind that you can carry out your plans. You will enjoy going after your goals even more when you are prepared.

The Dissatisfied Stone Cutter

There was once a stone cutter who was dissatisfied with himself and with his position in life. He always dreamed of being something else, someone more important. But he never prepared to reach any goal. One day he passed a wealthy merchant’s house. Through the open gateway, he saw many fine possessions and important visitors. “How powerful that merchant must be!” thought the stone cutter. He became very envious and wished that he could be like the merchant.

To his great surprise, he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever imagined, but envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself. Soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession. “How powerful that official is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be a high official!”

Then he became the high official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the people all around. It was a hot summer day, so the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence. “How powerful the sun is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be the sun!”

Then he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and laborers. But a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below. “How powerful that storm cloud is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be a cloud!” Then he became the cloud, flooding the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone.

But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind. “How powerful it is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be the wind!”

Then he became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, feared and hated by all below him. But after a while, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it - a huge, towering rock. “How powerful that rock is!” he thought. “I wish that I could be a rock!”

Then he became the rock, more powerful than anything else on earth. But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the hard surface, and felt himself being changed. “What could be more powerful than I, the rock?” he thought.

He looked down and saw far below him the figure of a stone cutter. He finally learned a lesson about reaching your dreams. You must prepare. Without preparation no dream can become a reality.

Setting Yourself Up for the Best Results

In Martial Arts, your technique, abilities, and overall performance depend on how you prepare. A philosophical approach to preparing well in Martial Arts is through ‘No Pain, No Gain.’ You prepare yourself for class by stretching and warming up. This is to prevent injury and to give your body a wake up call. By preventing an injury, you prolong your ability to endure. By waking up your muscles, you strengthen them, as a way to help them further endure as well.

On top of preparing yourself for Martial Arts success, enduring the pain and hardships of training can then prepare you for the rest of your life. From one preparation, you enter another. Whether it be at school, home, out for your friends, or in training, you have to prepare yourself for challenges and prepare to prevent danger and trouble. You can always connect your life struggles back to the struggles of your training, then use those same inspirations and motivations to help you overcome adversity anywhere.

Setting Yourself Up for the Best Results

In Martial Arts, your technique, abilities, and overall performance depend on how you prepare. A philosophical approach to preparing well in Martial Arts is through ‘No Pain, No Gain.’ You prepare yourself for class by stretching and warming up. This is to prevent injury and to give your body a wake up call. By preventing an injury, you prolong your ability to endure. By waking up your muscles, you strengthen them, as a way to help them further endure as well.

On top of preparing yourself for Martial Arts success, enduring the pain and hardships of training can then prepare you for the rest of your life. From one preparation, you enter another. Whether it be at school, home, out for your friends, or in training, you have to prepare yourself for challenges and prepare to prevent danger and trouble. You can always connect your life struggles back to the struggles of your training, then use those same inspirations and motivations to help you overcome adversity anywhere.