Actually I just made up the #62, but the behavior is not fictional.
The behavior is the internal voice that tells you that you will never be good at martial arts because you made a mistake. A great example of this behavior is the Chris Farley Show. (for those of you that don’t recall, here is an example, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNBIyGxV7Ek)
The negative thinking of, all or nothing, is an absolute killer. You will know this behavior by these words rattling around in your head, “Always, Never, Can’t, Every Time.” All or nothing thinking is associated with negative thinking. “Oh, I always do that!” when you make a mistake, or “I’ll never get that right.”
Here is a little reveal for you students out there, we instructors know that when you verbalize a comment like, “I’ll never get it right.” You have said in your mind so many times during your internal dialogue that you are comfortable in verbalizing the thought. Saying such a thought means you believe it, and want us to believe it as well. When these words are uttered by you, you might notice by our slumped shoulders we know this thinking is now deeply embedded in your psyche.
So for those of you that use final, broad, and wildly inclusive words in your negative internal conversation, just stop it. You need to be relentless in driving those words out of your thought process. Hunt these words down, stalk them, kill them immediately, with no remorse. Here is the tip, do not use; Always, Never, Can’t, or Every-time. Dig them out of your thinking. Replace them with phrases like: “This is difficult.” “I haven’t succeeded yet.” or “I’ll get this right soon enough.” You get the idea.
So there you are, Martial Arts Training Tip #62, the title is fake, the contents real.
