Good Morning,
Today’s blog is all about LEVEL 10. Do you know what a Level 10 is? A Level 10 is about performing or doing something at the very best of your abilities both physically and mentally at the moments you are suppose to be at a Level 10. This means you are always striving to work at your very best and will not accept anything less. Performing at a Level 10 all the time will allow your Level 10 that is now to improve. In order to improve you need to push yourself at the Level 10 so that you can improve and not start to decline. Improvements can be made every minutes, every hour, every day, every week, every month, and etc,.It doesn’t matter when or how much you improve at what rate. Your goal is to keep improving your Level 10. Strive to make your Level 10 today a little better than what it was yesterday.
Okay let me put the Level 10 concept into Taekwondo/Martial Arts for a second. How can I be a Level 10 in Taekwondo? Well for starter I have to be 100% focused on my training when I am in class or training session. I focus on improving my skills, improving my concentration, and improving my focus. I only focus on what I am suppose to do in my class or training session. I do not let what is going on outside of the dojang to bother me. I don’t care what is going on in the waiting room or what other students are doing. I am focused. When I am performing the actual techniques we are working on I am focused on doing the best of my abilities so I can improve those skills. When I am kicking I make sure I chamber my knee up real high and kick as high as I can. I know if I practice low kicks I will never be able to kick high. I make sure I have proper chambers for my punches and blocks. I focus on snapping out all my techniques with speed and power. I will not merely put a technique in place. I know I must execute strong wide stances to have power. I must Kihop loudly to let out the power from my core. When I am sparring I am trying to improve the skills of my partner and myself. That means I have to challenge both of us otherwise I am not being a good partner and therefore wasting the time of my partner. I will never merely just walk through techniques. Laziness will only lower my self confidence while displaying excitement and performing at my best will give me more self confidence.
I just recently did some filming for one of my projects and I found that when I was doing my patterns slowly without any really excitement and effort that it was boring, and did not give me any satisfaction. I myself really do not understand how anyone can just walk through a pattern. It drove me nuts. I truly believe that how I train and perform in Taekwondo will carry itself over into other aspects of my life. If I am disciplined, focused, and work hard in Taekwondo that I will be the same when I have to do office work or while helping someone else. This is called taking your Martial Arts out of the dojo and putting it into the real life.
Okay let’s take our Level 10 and apply it to something else besides martial arts. How about being a Level 10 as a teacher? Are you preparing good lesson plans? Are you teaching lessons with enthusiasm and engaging the students into the lessons? Are you promoting the love for education and not merely having students remember facts? How passionate are you about teaching? Are you challenging your students to improve themselves?
Or how about the example of working in an office at some sort of job where you provide a service to customers. Are you providing the customer with the best service you can provide within your ability? Are you striving to improve the quality of the services you do? Are you taking the time to really know your customers? Are you managing your time wisely between all the sales, paper work, appointments, events, dinner functions, meetings, and what not? Are you using your day planners effectively? Are you continuously learning new things to improve all aspects of your job. Are you stuck in a routine or are you striving to improve and make your career more enjoyable? Are you better at your job today than what you were last week?
Okay so does everyone kind of see what a Level 10 is and how it applies to you? Level 10 applies to all areas of your life. Put in your best effort and you will see some improvement. Put the effort into learning how to improve and apply what you learn and you will see greater improvement. Doing so will only improve the quality of your life. If you disagree with me then prove me wrong.
Master Jonathan Field