I saw the following statement on a “Motivation Monday” segment from a newsletter I subscribe to…
Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
…and while the obvious reaction is to dismiss this statement out of hand as just some motivational platitude and then move on with the day, I paused this morning to make a snarky comment in relation to Silat…
“‘Failure is not fatal’? Really? You’ve never tried fighting with a knife.”
However as I thought that, something in me stopped even longer and thought about that some more, especially in relation to the phrase about courage…
It is the courage to continue that counts.
…and what that means to Bledek. How would you actually ‘continue’?
Because the reality is that fighting with knives (or really anything where failure can result in death) is actually ‘final’, if you want to increase your chances of survival you need to be able to train in an environment that’s exactly what is described above:
- An environment where you’re never under the delusion that a single success means that you’re ‘done’.
- An environment where making a mistake (which is the cornerstone of real learning) is not the end — in other words, making a mistake is just a part of the process. Where it’s just another step on the path.
- An environment that challenges you — where it does take a degree of courage to continue. In other words, did a mistake or failure force you to be honest with yourself? It’s not easy to be confronted with shortcomings on a regular basis. Many people will just try to avoid those situations again, instead of learning how to improve and then actually put in the effort to keep trying. It’s the ‘courage to continue’.
Perhaps a different way to look at something that is often passed over as shallow.
Guy
Colorado Springs, CO. U.S.A.
I like the message in this post. I agree that we need to be comfortable with working through mistakes to refine skills, confidence, and understanding.
I think there might be another level of this idea to explore. If, heaven forbid, I should ever find myself in a life-or-death conflict and I am hurt during the struggle, I want to maintain the mentality that I haven’t lost, it’s just something that happened and I need to keep striving. How can we cultivate that mental fortitude?
Alan
I really appreciate this one! One of the many reasons I have joined the Silat practice/family is to deepen my understanding of movement to booster my job as a gymnastic fitness instructor. I also happen to be the vault specialist on our competitive team. Vault, similarly to fighting with knives has the potential to fail fatality if the athlete is unprepared.
What shows up for me here is a well thought out place for me to stand when I am coaching to allow me to set them up for success not just on vault but any challenges that they might persue.
Thanks again Gurus
Sarah