Today as I was listening to the Joe Rogan podcast, I heard something that really stood out to me, and I wanted to share it with you guys.
Joe and his guest (Katy Bowman, episode #601) were discussing disturbing trends in health and fitness. Specifically, they were discussing "quick fix" diet pills. Bowman said that what she found most offensive about these kinds of products is that they ignored "the reality of change." That reality, she stated, is that change requires time and effort.
Change=time+effort
So elementary, and yet incredibly profound.
We live in a quick fix society. Very few of us are willing to put in the time and effort required to produce real change in our lives in any area; be it our physical health, our Jiu Jitsu, our addiction, our marriage, etc... Name the arena, and we could probably use quite a bit more discipline.
One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone says to me, "Man, I wish I could just come up here and do Jiu Jitsu all day, but I got a real job," as if I rolled out of bed one day and acquired my Brown Belt on a whim. I changed and improved as a practitioner through time and effort. Lots of each. Much of it uncomfortable. But this was the cost, and I was willing to pay it.
There is no magic pill. There is no secret sauce. There are no secret techniques or magical teachers that have the tricks that will set you apart from everyone else. There is only time and effort. The longer the time and the greater the effort, the more profound the change.
There are no overnight successes.
Everyone is crazy over Eddie Cummins right now (rightfully so, might I add). But he didn't magically become a lethal footlocker over the course of a week. Change came to him, as it does all, as a result of time and effort.
As I heard Renzo Gracie eloquently state it once, "You have to be the nail for a long time before you get to be the hammer."
So Ronins and white belts, take good courage. You don't have to worry about finding all the secrets on YouTube anymore. You don't have to spend your money on the newest DVD hoping that it will have the technique that finally gets you that coveted Blue Belt. Those things are nice resources and really helpful, but they are not the magic pill.
Do you want to improve your marriage? It took 10 years to let it fall apart, it won't get fixed overnight. Time and effort are your friends. Do you want to lose weight? It took you 10 years to gain that 40 pounds, don't expect to shed it in a month. Time and effort.
This is the great gift that the martial arts really give those of us who truly embrace them: excellence as a result of discipline. The mats don't lie, and they expose us all as products of our own time and effort.
Here's to hoping that 2015 is a year of tremendous positive change in all of your lives. Whatever change you need in your life can realistically be achieved, no matter how far-fetched it may seem. The question is, are you willing to pay the price to achieve the dream you dream? It really is a simple equation.
Change=time+effort
Brandon Mccaghren
Joe and his guest (Katy Bowman, episode #601) were discussing disturbing trends in health and fitness. Specifically, they were discussing "quick fix" diet pills. Bowman said that what she found most offensive about these kinds of products is that they ignored "the reality of change." That reality, she stated, is that change requires time and effort.
Change=time+effort
So elementary, and yet incredibly profound.
We live in a quick fix society. Very few of us are willing to put in the time and effort required to produce real change in our lives in any area; be it our physical health, our Jiu Jitsu, our addiction, our marriage, etc... Name the arena, and we could probably use quite a bit more discipline.
One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone says to me, "Man, I wish I could just come up here and do Jiu Jitsu all day, but I got a real job," as if I rolled out of bed one day and acquired my Brown Belt on a whim. I changed and improved as a practitioner through time and effort. Lots of each. Much of it uncomfortable. But this was the cost, and I was willing to pay it.
There is no magic pill. There is no secret sauce. There are no secret techniques or magical teachers that have the tricks that will set you apart from everyone else. There is only time and effort. The longer the time and the greater the effort, the more profound the change.
There are no overnight successes.
Everyone is crazy over Eddie Cummins right now (rightfully so, might I add). But he didn't magically become a lethal footlocker over the course of a week. Change came to him, as it does all, as a result of time and effort.
As I heard Renzo Gracie eloquently state it once, "You have to be the nail for a long time before you get to be the hammer."
So Ronins and white belts, take good courage. You don't have to worry about finding all the secrets on YouTube anymore. You don't have to spend your money on the newest DVD hoping that it will have the technique that finally gets you that coveted Blue Belt. Those things are nice resources and really helpful, but they are not the magic pill.
Do you want to improve your marriage? It took 10 years to let it fall apart, it won't get fixed overnight. Time and effort are your friends. Do you want to lose weight? It took you 10 years to gain that 40 pounds, don't expect to shed it in a month. Time and effort.
This is the great gift that the martial arts really give those of us who truly embrace them: excellence as a result of discipline. The mats don't lie, and they expose us all as products of our own time and effort.
Here's to hoping that 2015 is a year of tremendous positive change in all of your lives. Whatever change you need in your life can realistically be achieved, no matter how far-fetched it may seem. The question is, are you willing to pay the price to achieve the dream you dream? It really is a simple equation.
Change=time+effort
Brandon Mccaghren
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