Kicking Butt in Kung Fu and in Life!

Chapter 1 - It is easier to start something than it EVER is to finish!

What you need to know from the very beginning is that this book is for those people who are willing to fight. The lessons come from both my life journey and my 7-year path to getting my black belt in Kung Fu. Neither has been easy, and both have kicked my butt. Most of the time I didn't see the falls coming, but they came and came often. This is life and this is what we will face.

Life isn't easy and either is getting a black belt in Kung Fu. While I know there are programs out there that hand out black belts, mine wasn't one of them. For me, I would never have signed up for one of those. If I was going to get a black belt, it was going to count. It was going to stand for something. It was going to prove something deep inside of me where the real bar for greatness lives. The testing process alone is 9-12 months of showing up, working hard, getting feedback and showing improvement. If you don't, you won't pass. If you don't, the testing goes longer. This gives you an insight into who I am. I am much tougher than I look and I have learned about strength I never even knew existed.

Know from the start that when you decide to do something, that is the easy part. Anyone with a dream can start something. Anyone can sign up, begin to show up. That is when people are cheering you on, that is when it is exciting. That is when you are being driven by enthusiasm, and people around you are interested. Actually, that is true because at the beginning no one is threatened by your potential success because really very few people will expect you to achieve your goals. Most people will expect you to do what they have always done. Start something new and then drop out.

This is when you will find out what you are made of. Will you keep going when it becomes really hard? Will you keep going when life gets in the way? Will you keep going when you feel really down because you aren't moving ahead as fast as you believe that you should? Or will you do what most people do and start coming up with excuses? Will you start the long path of justification that is at the forefront of every human failure?

Hey if you choose that path, you will be in great company. You will have far fewer injuries and bruises too. You will stay in that comfortable range of human mediocrity, where far too many in life choose to stay, and you will live a life less than what God created you for. There is nothing sadder to me than watching people with true greatness inside of them justify not using it.

I have watched so many people I love quit on life. Yes, they are still here, but they are the ones who have let life win. They are the ones who allowed tough circumstances to define them. They are the ones who fell in life and who refuse to get up.

As a Christian, I refuse to do that. Why? Because that would mean that the sacrifice that Jesus made for me on that cross would have been in vain, and for me, that is not an option. If you know me, you know I am a fighter. I push hard. I am determined, and if you have sparred with me, you know I am pretty scrappy too. There is one thing I have promised my children over and over again when life has been really hard for us. What did I promise? That I will never, ever give up.

I can't tell you that I will achieve every goal that I set for myself. I know that isn't true. But what I have promised God, my children, my husband and myself, is that I won't ever stop trying. I won't ever stop pushing with all that I am, and I will always do my best to encourage every single person around me to do the same.

I am not just talking about Kung Fu either. I am talking about fulfilling your life's purpose. Kung Fu has taught me to be strong, but it serves mostly as an analogy for achieving what is important in life. You are meant to achieve greatness. You were created to be amazing. You are not less than anyone else on this planet and you need to believe that.