Trust and Black Belt Experts
Snippets of a learning conversation…
“I’m not ready to get my black belt, I don’t know everything I need to. I don’t want to take the test, I’m scared.”
She’s 12, do we push her to do something she doesn’t want to do. No. We made sure that she understood this..
She didn’t have to do it alone.
We said…
“You aren’t ready to take the test today.”
“You are ready to start the journey to being ready today.”
“Remember who you have to help you.”
“Sensei Kendall and Sensei Joe.”
“Your friends who already have black belts.”
Everyday she goes to the dojo, she is consulting her experts. The guys who have coached hundreds of kids and adults through the test.
We talked about trust.
“The experts will do their job and get you ready in time.”
“Just show up, they will know what you need to work on, just do the work that they advise you to do.”
“Each day you will get closer to being ready”
“They will figure out what you don’t know and make sure you work on it.”
“You are not in this alone, you have a class full of students who probably feel the same way.”
“Start to do the work and see if you don’t start feeling better prepared everyday. If you feel this way closer to the test, then of course you don’t have to take the test if you don’t want to.”
One week in, she wants to go to the dojo everyday. She recognizes that she is learning. She knows that it isn’t all on her shoulders. She asks her brother to run her through her forms.
“I’m enjoying it more now that I go more.”
It’s ongoing.
It’s good.
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Thanks for sharing this story with us. Sometimes the most important step is just showing up when you feel unsure!