This is a short letter to my younger self.
I know you’re determined.
I know it’s hard.
I know you feel weak.
I know you feel behind.
I know you think that having that black belt around your waist will give you proof that you are not so weak, that you have excelled, that you have accomplished something.
I also know that you don’t want to feel like a fraud.
I also know that you’d rather be a terrifyingly strong white belt who never got promoted, rather than a “black belt” in name who constantly gets his ass handed to him.
So slow down.
Work on the basics.
Take it one step at a time. Define the 80-20, and the 80-20 out of that, and make that the primary focus of your training.
Become so good at it that you can do it without thinking. It should be automatic.
For Judo, that means first building a deep understanding and practical grasp of kuzushi. With the right kuzushi, you could take down an elephant.
You think it will take you a long time, but I’m telling you that you have no idea how time works.
When you focus obsessively on something, the results quickly accumulate. Obsession can fit 3 years of aimless progress into 3 months, even if the training time is way less.
So show up, give yourself over to the basics, try to stay a white belt as long as you can, and watch yourself achieving in months what you thought would take forever.
