Goals

Last night, Reagan and I earned our first stripes on our yellow belts.

I knew Reagan would earn hers. I wasn't so sure about myself.

We've been in the yellow belt class for 4 weeks now and we have been working on Form 2 the entire time. We've also been reviewing Form 1, which is necessary because you can forget parts of it.

In the beginning, Reagan and I struggled with Form 2. I remembered how we struggled with Form 1 in the beginning and kept encouraging Reagan that we could do this. Form 1 looked impossible at first. And we learned it. We could probably perform it in our sleep...or at least with our eyes closed.

Form 2 looked impossible at first. New stances, new blocks, new twisty motions. But we practiced. We practiced in class, we practiced at home, and we practiced with a friend of Reagan's from school who got the hang of it before we did. We watched it on my iPhone (there's an app for everything!!).

We asked the instructors over and over to show us, one more time, how to fold, how to turn, how to remember which way to fold and turn. They were patient. They were helpful.

And we practiced. Reagan got the Form down before I did. I even opted, in one class, to do 10 push-ups rather than attempt Form 2 and mess up and have to do 15 push-ups.

The goal had been set. We were being assessed over Form 2 on May 27. We had to know it.

So we kept practicing. We practiced together, we took turns, we critiqued each other. We concentrated on others when they were practicing. I'm telling you, this was really hard for me. (I already mentioned that Reagan got this down before me, right?!) I would get one part of it, then forget another part, then forget all of it when I had to perform it by myself.

But, you know what? In the end, we did it. We performed it, two at a time, in front of our instructors and we did it. Reagan nailed it. She is good at this karate stuff.

I felt like I messed up one punch, but that might have been the adrenaline washing away my memory. In the end, I was awarded my stripe for Form 2.

It feels GREAT to have set a goal (learning Form 2 and earning a stripe for it) and accomplishing that goal.

Makes me realize that I need to set goals for other areas of my life. If I can set one karate goal and accomplish it in 4 weeks with a lot of practice and concentration, then how else could my life be affected by goal setting?