“There is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself.” - Miyamoto Musashi
The goal of all martial arts training is to learn self-discipline. Jishuku (自粛) or “self-discipline” is like a muscle but I am not talking about Bruce Lee or Jean Claude Van Damme type muscles. Discipline is like a muscle in the sense that it needs to be constantly worked out or it will atrophy. When our discipline atrophies, we lose the ability to achieve our goals. Perhaps that is why when someone needs to work hard to achieve their goals people say that they must “exercise discipline.” Discipline is the ability to muster the strength to push ourselves to do things that we don’t necessarily want to do to achieve our goals. However, discipline is different from other character traits that other successful people might have like: time management, tolerance, willpower, or habit. Those traits all require discipline to some degree in order for them to come into fruition. If something is easy, convenient, comfortable, or we are good at it, then it doesn’t require any self-discipline. Also, if something is inconvenient, uncomfortable, stressful, or hard, then it requires a tremendous amount of self-discipline to accomplish it. A while back in swordsmanship class, Watanabe Sensei said, “Proper grip usually means proper posture and a balanced center which enables us to create an effective attack.” In Japanese, one’s grip is referred to as tenouchi (手の内). Gripping a Japanese sword is different than holding something like a baseball bat. Tenouchi refers to holding the sword with the palm of the hand or as much as the palm as possible which can be difficult or uncomfortable. That is why in swordsmanship they say, “Our hands conform to the sword, the sword does not conform to our hands.” Interestingly, tenouchi wo miseru (手の内を見せる) means “to reveal one's true intentions.” Thinking about this, gripping the sword then becomes a metaphor: to have the discipline to do something properly is difficult but will ultimately lead to achieving our goals. In life and in the martial arts, if something doesn’t challenge us, it doesn’t change us. The best martial artists know this and that is why they are constantly seeking out challenging ways to exercise their self-discipline.
Today’s goal: Discipline yourself to do something every day that you know you don’t want to do but that you know will help you achieve your goals. If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.
Watch this video of former Navy Seal Jocko Willink discussing discipline