Dean Chin's Jow Ga Kung Fu Federation

“The first step to becoming a good teacher of the art is to first become a good student of the art…”

My upcoming book is on the art of teaching the martial arts, and I have a chapter dedicated to the art of learning the martial arts. This is something we often overlook because too much attention is spent looking forward. From the time most of us enter a school, there is talk about rank promotions and of course–the ultimate promotion: Achieving the Black Belt or its equivalent, certified teachers of the art. There is no fault in pursing rank, we all do it. However, focus must be on learning and excelling at the art first. If we place our priority on achieving rank, we risk skipping skill altogether as an endeavor and place all our emphasis on certificates and acquiring new knowledge.

By the way, a note: Acquiring new knowledge is not the same as achieving skill, nor does it mean one has excelled at those skills.

See, in growing organizations, we teachers of the art can often be in a rush to promote the next wave of teachers. This is the good fight. But in doing so, we may also promote new generations prematurely, and it becomes a quantity over quality dilemma… We may have plenty of chapters and grand-students under many certified teachers, but their skill is mediocre at best and they do not represent the best we can produce. This has been my criticism of the Traditional Chinese martial arts community for decades–that we have a lot of people doing a lot of TCMA styles, but so few are doing them well. Generations of certified instructors turn over with the change of the seasons, which can be good for business while not being good for much else in the way of martial culture.

As you read this entry, I want you to consider your own goals and practices in how you learn as well as how you teach. Hopefully the result will not offend but inform, will not feel accusatory but inspire, and will give you more ammunition to achieving your goals in the martial arts in the best way possible. Grab a cup of coffee and possibly a pad and pencil, as this article will run long. Look out for part II.

In the study of any new skill, we will all be faced with learning accelerators and learning barriers. The quality of your learning experience will be based on how much you grasp from the learning accelerators and how much you avoid the barriers.

Learning Accelerators

Learning accelerators refer to practices that help the student gain the most out of their learning, whether learning in a class or learning through media.

• Intellectual humility – A key element to learning, this is what is meant by the “empty your cup” expression. When learning, we must have both the belief that there is much to learn as well as understanding that we don’t know much about the subject we are studying. If we lack this humility, we bring with us many things that will block us from learning–prejudgments, biases, even having low regard for knowledge that can be beneficial. In the martial arts we often proclaim ourselves humble, while arrogantly declaring that we are learning said martial arts with a stated desire to only learn this part or that part. With the “Absorb what is useful” attitude, we determine that we can decide with little to no knowledge of this art we are learning, what is useful and what is not useful. When we are intellectually humble, we shed ourselves of this notion and learn as a novice–even though we may have plenty of prior experience in the art. Several times in my life, I have undertaken new styles after achieving instructorship in other arts, and found very valuable gems of knowledge in their basics. Surely, I would have missed this information if I was too arrogant to even pay attention to the basics. Understand there is wisdom in every art, every school, and under every teacher–and if we are patient and open to learning, we will be taught that wisdom. We must also understand that we do not possess all knowledge, nor do we have knowledge of all arts. If you truly understand these two things, then you are ready for learning. If you do not, you will most likely close your eyes, ears, and mind to the information when it is presented to you. You might also alienate those who have the information and might otherwise be willing to teach it to you. True to the saying, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear–having this attitude demonstrates that you are ready.
• Patience – It would seem that we shouldn’t need to mention this accelerator, but you would be surprised. We often imagine that one could acquire great skill after a few lessons or a short period of time. Take for example, the movie Karate Kid (or any other victim learns martial arts then beats the bully movie), where a young Daniel San spends a short amount of time with Miyagi Sensei, and then is able to defeat longtime practitioners of the art. The more you learn the art, the faster you may expect to learn new arts (or new skills). There is a name for this bias–and I don’t remember the name–and patience is the remedy for it. Just as you didn’t learn any other skill the first time you took a lesson, don’t expect it to happen in the martial arts. Understand that some skills may come easy, others will take some time. Give yourself this freedom; give yourself time to learn, understand, practice, and become proficient. Lacking patience in learning is like being impatient in gardening; one wouldn’t plant a seed and then expect fruiting the next day. Good things take time.
• Deliberate practice – There is a saying that practice makes perfect. I disagree. Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect. As with the last accelerator, give yourself time to rehearse and learn new skills, and then don’t neglect the need for deliberate practice: Mindful, goal-oriented, and detailed practice. This requires that every skill you practice is broken down into the most minute of details and each piece is developed deliberately with each practice. This is quite different than regular practice, where one is pursuing overall skill through higher repetitions. Rather, deliberate practice demands that each practice session has a specific goal in mind–perhaps training for speed, balance, minute pieces of the technique, endurance, etc. Not everyone has the patience nor the wisdom to practice this way, and it is considered a higher level activity. Add it to your repertoire, and you will see your development increase with leaps and bounds.
• Distraction-Free Environment – While practice should be performed in a distraction-free environment, learning often is not. We learn in classes where there is small talk, music, spectators, classmates, even environmental distractions like outside traffic and noises. If this is the case, we must develop our own versions of blinders and ear plugs–mentally block those things out, position yourself in the classroom closer to the teacher, become “that guy” who doesn’t engage in small talk, etc. If learning at home, I would recommend that you scheduled your time in study and practice. Have a designated place for your practice. Let your family know that you are not to be interrupted between the hours of your learning time. Shut off the phone, opt out of music, don’t even record yourself unless you are doing so for a specific reason. Doing this may be ritualistic, but it tells your brain to put 100% of its energy on one thing. It allows you to take note of every aspect of your practice, every word of the instruction, to notice details you may otherwise have overlooked and missed. Even if it improves your learning by 5%, that is 5% better than you would have learned otherwise.
• Rinse Your Cottage Cheese – This is a term coined by author Jim Collins in his book Good to Great, to describe a philosophy of fierce discipline and a commitment to even the smallest of details. In his studies of greatness, Collins recalled an interview with an Iron Man athlete who, in spite of burning 5,000 calories a day, still rinsed his cottage cheese before eating it. Rinsing cottage cheese rids it of a very small amount of fat, and most people would likely see it as a waste of time to save such a small benefit. However, if one is so committed that he would rinse his cottage cheese–his level of commitment is several levels above what others have, and this gives him an edge. In your own martial arts education, what small details do you look over? Perhaps you may find many areas that are even of a tiny benefit to your education, but it is a benefit nonetheless. We may be looking at consistency in training, amount of practice time, areas we focus on in our practice, small mistakes and shortcomings we live with rather than eliminate (see Kaizen, next item), adding resistance or more repetition, the possibilities are endless.
• Kaizen – A Japanese term for “improvement”, normally a business term but can be applied anywhere. Kaizen is a commitment to improving every day, regardless of how small. An example of Kaizen can be shrinking parking spaces in a parking lot by several inches (and designating spaces for large vehicles elsewhere) in order to fit 30 more parking spaces for more vehicles. In the martial arts, we have shortcomings that we often live with. Think of each time you heard a longtime practitioner talk of not being a good kicker, or wishing to gain some muscle for more power, or how kata isn’t his strong point. Imagine if these martial artists endeavored every day to eliminate those shortcomings and weaknesses; how good would he or she be a year from now if they worked on those things 365 days even if only 5 minutes a day! 5 minutes may not sound like much, but in a year that is 1,825 minutes spent on that one thing–or 30 hours of practice. A small amount goes a long way if you understand commitment and consistency.
• Develop Thick Skin – One of the things the martial arts is supposed to do is make us tough. We might develop strong bodies, but if our feelings are easily hurt, can we really call ourselves “tough”? Part of the learning process involves receiving feedback–negative feedback–that may come in the form of criticism, corrections, or the knowledge that we are not as good as we think we are. It is important, then, that we are receptive to information both negative and positive that will help us in our journey to learning. Sometimes, we can handle constructive criticism from our teachers, but not classmates or onlookers. We may also receive this feedback from judges in a competition in the form of a loss or kind suggestions on how to improve our performance. For those of us who are on social media, we may receive criticism from commenters. Notice that I called them “commenters” and not “haters”, as they are often called. If we are easily offended, we may miss some valuable insight that would help us improve, even if they come from a “hater” on YouTube. The key here is to accept assistance from whatever source it comes from, even if it is from a source that we dislike.
• Get Mentorship – It is said that the only shortcut in the pursuit of mastery was to have a mentor. A mentor have traveled the road we are traveling, made the mistakes that we will make (or are making), and they can guide us to help us avoid pitfalls and barriers as we learn. Mentors do not necessarily need to be teachers, nor do they need to be someone who studies the same system we do. They can be classmates, older peers in other schools and systems, anyone who has knowledge that we do not, can help us in our journey. They can be with us for a part of our journey, or they can be one of several people helping us with our journey. Refer back to the last entry to get the most out of this accelerator. We need not submit ourselves to everything they offer, but beware if you reject any of it because you might be making a mistake. As with our teachers, we must also exercise intellectual humility with our mentors as well.
• Make Use of Private Instruction – Group learning is good, but we should also make use of one on one, private instruction. This will give you focused, detailed learning you most likely wouldn’t receive in a group. All of the teacher’s focus will be on you and your needs, and gives you a good opportunity to ask questions at will as well as tailor the learning towards your goals. Even if you have to pay extra, this is highly recommended and will put you several steps ahead of where you might land if you hadn’t.
• Get a Training Partner – For a training partner it is recommended that you find someone who has had the same training you have, whether they have had more or less learning than you have. If you are engaged in distance or at-home learning, a training partner is vital to this process. Training partners give you real, hands-on practice as well as a second set of eyes/ears/hands/feet/brain on your education. This is a second set of notes, a second perspective on the material learned, a second opinion, instant feedback, and at least one additional set of skills to hone your learning on. Having a training partner also has an additional benefit: You now have someone holding you accountable for what you do outside the classroom. Left to your own devices, it will be too easy to skip practices or tone down the intensity of your practice. With a training partner, you will find it easier to stay motivated and to keep the intensity high. You also have someone to keep you sharp and someone to compete with. However, you cannot have just anyone for a training partner–iron sharpens iron but stone sharpens iron just as well. The key is to have someone just as committed, just as intense, and just as motivated to self-improve and excel.
• Journal – This is a must-have: Document your journey! Record your output in practices, keep notes on things you have learned, ideas to pursue, goals you have set for yourself, everything. Journals are important (again) to hold you accountable, remind you of how far you have come, to serve as a map to guide you for the future, and a motivator. As a teacher, this will be an invaluable resource as it will be your reference for when you put your students through the program to duplicate what your training has done for you. In the area of training plans and class curriculums, you will have concrete evidence of what it took to give you the skill level you have achieved–and whether or not any changes should be made. One day, when you are old and a revered master, your journals might be a treasured heirloom for your students and grandstudents.

Stay tuned for part II, where we will discuss the barriers to learning. Thank you for visiting my blog.