In order to succeed in the martial arts one must have a long term vision or goal; a vision that keeps the mind focused and maintains training momentum.

Without a vision of where you are going, there will be no way to get there.

However, and this is a really big however, the vision does not have to be specific. Instead, it should be generalized and broad.

For example; a vision/goal that is too specific would be one such as, "I want to be a black belt".  The possible result of this specificity is that once you make black belt, any black belt, that you'll subconsciously "quit" AND that without being aware of it your mind will tell you, "OK. I made black belt.  I made that specific goal.  It's time to do something else now".

Or,  you’ll tell yourself that you made the goal and now you can kick-back and go lazy with the eventual result that you’ll become frustrated at no longer progressing or become bored with the routine of “just going” to class, and you'll quit.

This is a way (one of many) of how the human mind works.  Because you set only a small, relatively short term goal, once its' accomplished and once it's done, you move on.  Unless one is very, very self-disciplined it is extremely difficult to get ramped back up, to get re-motivated and then set another relatively short term goal and to go back into training.

Many motivational experts who are Western trained will recommend setting a series of short term goals as a means of reaching a large one at the end.  The problem with this however, IMO, is that you are still setting short termers' so now you have to discipline yourself to go thru' a whole series of short termers' to get to the big one.  I don't see the difference here because all you've really done is to set a whole series of opportunities to quit.  I prefer the Japanese method of setting a goal so far out you can never finish it with the result being you get further down the road to that impossible-to-reach goal than the folks who set all the short term goals ever could.

By setting a broad, generalized goal such as "I want to learn everything about Aikido that I possibly can, you will never be finished.  Every time you make another promotion, every time you learn a new kata, you have advanced but since you know there is more to learn and more to achieve, you are still hungry for the knowledge and you stay with it.

Every time you go to the dojo and train, you advance, achieve and progress forward and, you feel good about it because you know there are always other hills to climb and other achievements to accomplish.

Over time you realize that training in Aikido, indeed in any true martial art, is a process of gradual, steady learning without end and with no specific goal other than to learn everything about Aikido that you can.

Aikido is a process; not a goal in and of itself.

Aikido is a process of improving your life. It's not an end to anything.

It's only a means to self-improvement without an end (unless of course you are so smug and arrogant that you think that you are just perfect like you are and that there is no need for you to learn anything new or to work to become a better person).

Try having and raising kids and you'll understand this better.  Having children make will make an honest woman or man out of you. How could you ever tell your kids that they should just stop where they are and not learn, improve, progress?  Answer is; you can't unless you engage in massive self-deception or are egocentric.  So, if you can't tell your kids (to quit learning) then you shouldn't tell yourself that you should either.

This is how I became Hanshi and now run one of the largest dojo in Houston, TX.

I went to class on a steady weekly basis and never thought about any promotion. Other than Shodan, every one after that came as a surprise because I was so focused on training that I became myopic about grading and really didn't pay that much attention to it.

I only thought about wanting to learn everything that I could and only considered becoming more skillful. I just followed the steady process of training, of keeping a positive attitude and of not worrying about where I was going; other than to learn everything about Aikido that I could.

I'm still here after 40 years and every time I step on the mat, every time I watch a class, every time I teach a lesson, I learn something new and hopefully become a better person.

Aikido ……….. a process of learning without an ending.

July 10th, 2008 (orig. pub. April 2007)