“Fortune favors the bold.” - Virgil, Roman poet
The best martial artists are bold but not reckless. Most times, when we think about the difference between being bold or reckless, we only think about the outcome. If someone is successful, then we consider them bold but if they fail, then we think that they were being reckless. To a martial artist, boldness and recklessness are really about one’s level of training and development. A popular Japanese idiom is tandaishinshou (胆大心小) which means “to be bold and courageous, but also careful and meticulous.” This idiom is similar to the legendary basketball coach, John Wooden’s assertion that one should “Be quick but don’t hurry.” Essentially, there is a difference between quickness and hurry just as there is a difference between reckless and bold. Boldness and recklessness both have conviction and passion, but boldness has a sense of structure, planning, and decisiveness. From a martial arts standpoint, the bold martial artist has to be more developed so that they are able to be more decisive and strike just at the right moment. A reckless martial artist needs no training and typically attacks haphazardly out of passion and impetuousness. Roman philosopher Seneca said, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Understanding this, luck is having the ability to do the right thing at the right time. Therefore, there is a higher likelihood of success when we are bold because to be bold a martial artist has built themselves up so that they are able to act appropriately when the time is right. Bold also doesn’t mean to not feel fear, but rather to move in despite being afraid. Thus, there is a sense of composure to a bold martial artist. In the dojo, one way we are unknowingly teaching ourselves boldness is when we practice irimi (入り身) movements. Irimi means to “move forward.” Every time we move forward either into the attack to parry or redirect or when we initiate an attack, we are teaching ourselves how to act boldly. In the beginning, our timing will be off, or we won’t be skillful enough and so we will have to force the technique and so we will appear reckless and most times won’t be successful. Later, with time and training, we become more skillful, and our sense of timing becomes more developed. This preparation enables us to be bold enough to do the right thing at the right time and thus, we are more likely to be successful. Eventually, the boldness we learned in the dojo begins to have an influence on our daily lives and we see this boldness come out in everything we do. In the martial arts and in life, train yourself to be bold enough to meet and overcome any adversity with skill, poise, and meticulousness. A martial artist is bold but is never reckless.
Today’s goal: Go forward and be bold but don’t be reckless.
Watch this video to better understand boldness.