Living with the “right now” generation

The top of the mountain

🥋⏳

I honestly start to feel a little old. Or it could be a little wiser.

I clearly see the difference between my parents’ generation, mine, and my students’. The latter is totally used to have things right now, at this very instance. For instance, you open a website and you want it to load instantly. You desire something and you buy with Amazon Prime so it gets delivered tomorrow. Who can wait 3 days?

My problem is, the youngsters expect the same when learning a skill. Be it skateboarding, painting, guitar playing or in my case, learning martial arts.

I, as a Haidong Gumdo instructor, need to remind my students about this on a regular basis. It is not a sprint race but a life of working and continuous learning. These concepts they’re not very familiar with. Believe it or not.

If you think about it, really. How could you properly learn how to use a sword with dexterity in a short period of time? There’s no such thing 🙅‍♂️ The ancient warriors or modern warriors, both needed years of training.

Yes, ok we’re not warriors in this modern era but you could use apply the analogy to anything you do. If you want to do it properly, you will have to invest your time. You will need to work hard and have the dedication to continue learning until you achieve mastery. If that’s what you want.

At this age when teens have every option available… How do you make them stay and learn with you for many years?

How do you engage them to prevent them from giving up and taking up something else when things turn out to be difficult?

They could easily try many hobbies, sports, and activities (any of those would be equally if not harder than learning the way of the sword).

Teach them to slow down a little 🧘🏻‍♂️ This is basically my weekly challenge at the school. Sharing these moments with students who were born in the right now generation.

💡 Any tips?

Ricard

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