I quit!

When you first start something, everything feels new and progress comes fast. You can't wait to do it again or with Martial Arts get to your next class. Then it gets harder, progress slows down. Sometimes it feels boring. When you feel that there's nothing wrong it just means you're out of the novelty phase and this is where growth happens.

In the novelty phase of anything your brain floods with dopamine, everything is exciting, improvements feel instant and motivation takes care of itself. Eventually the dopamine drops, progress feels slower and the fun fades a little. This is where most people quit. Not because they can't improve anymore, improvements are smaller and just as important but it doesn't feel as good as it did at the start.

Every time something feels hard, you make a choice. And that choice builds one of two muscles:

• The resilience muscle: You stay. You push through. It's hard and you do it anyway. That discomfort becomes your foundation and next time, the wall is a little lower it's easier to stay disciplined and keep going.

• The quitting muscle: You stop when it gets uncomfortable. That feels like relief in the moment but every time you do it, quitting becomes easier and staying becomes harder.

Both muscles grow with use. You choose which one you're training and which one your kids are building.

When the excitement fades and progress feels slower, your brain is actually doing its deepest work. It's building real neural connections through repetition and effort the kind that stick. The early phase feels good but the later phase is where you actually become good. The discomfort isn't a signal to stop. It's a signal that real growth is happening.

6 Practical Black Belt Tips

1. Be aware of the phase you're in - When something feels hard or boring think about why. Have you just come out of the novelty phase, are you in a plateau? Being aware of the phase you're in helps take away it's power to make you quit

2. Ask yourself can't or won't? - When you feel like stopping, ask yourself am I stopping because I physically can't or because I don't feel like it in this moment

3. Last set! Best Set! - Whatever you're doing, training, a task, a conversation make the end or the last rep look like the first one or even better

4. Look at how far you've come - When progress feels slow, look at where you started. The gap between who you were and who you are now is proof the work is working even when it doesn't feel like it

5. Remind yourself why you started - What inspired you to start something in the first place? Was it to improve fitness, mental strength, learn something new, boost your confidence

6. Do something hard everyday - The more we work our resilience muscle the stronger it gets. Exercise, challenge your brain, get up early. One thing everyday

Black Belt Mindset Takeaway

Motivation gets you started. Resilience keeps you going. The students who reach black belt or the people who reach any goal aren't the ones who always felt like training or doing something they're the ones who do it anyway. Every time you push past "I don't feel like it" is a deposit into the person you're becoming. You can't always control how you feel. You can always control what you do next. 

Be Awesome