Ability vrs Passion
Genius
It is comforting to believe that a person who has achieved remarkable success in their area of expertise must have been born with some special ability. It lets us off the hook for achieving less than remarkable success. Of course, historically there have been true geniuses that were exceptionally intelligent or gifted or truly creative in some area: Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Sir Isaac Newton, Warren Buffet, Stephen Hawking, to name a few. Einstein himself said, “Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.”
Thomas Edison, regarded as the most prolific inventor in American history, famously said, “genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” As an inventor, Edison thought about problems in a unique and unconventional way. However, more than just having a clever idea, innovation requires hard work and lots of trial-and-error to bring the idea to fruition.
Sōke Kaichō Kinjō is an amazing martial artist, but he denies that he has more innate ability than anyone else. He says he simply worked harder than everyone else. Kōburyū today is a living, evolving martial art because Sōke Kaichō Kinjō did not limit himself to the conventional. He had the passion to think deeply and creatively about the martial arts and the courage to advocate for change.
“There is a difference between a fighter and a martial artist. A fighter is training for a purpose: he has a fight.
I’m a martial artist. I don’t train for a fight. I train for myself. I’m training all the time.
My goal is perfection, but I will never reach perfection.”
Sōke Kaichō Kinjō, Founder of Kōburyū
Passion
Passion is the drive to go the extra mile, even though the path may be long and at times tedious and discouraging. More than talent, the karate student who hopes to master a martial art must have passion.
Passion burns brightest when everything is new and exciting. Synonyms for passion like enthusiasm or excitement express the potentially fleeting nature of passion. The beginning student is often brimming with passion for karate, talking about it constantly and dreaming of mastery. But passion is a flame that can gutter and go out. Will the student be able to sustain all that breathless passion when they come to realize that training is mostly sweat and very little glory?
As a word, passion has been greatly overused. Job interviewers roll their eyes when they see passion on a resume. Instead, they want to see what you have done with your passion. In short, passion without action is just talk. A better word than passion might be zeal. A zealous person is passionate, but also has the drive and commitment to make the effort that is second to none.
Feeling Unmotivated?
Everyone wants to succeed, but it’s easy to become discouraged. Sōke Kaichō Kinjō recognizes that even the zealous martial artist will occasionally feel the same lack of motivation as everyone else. The difference is that the zealous martial artist has developed the self-discipline to show up despite feeling unmotivated. If you only do the work when it’s convenient or exciting, then you’ll never be consistent enough to achieve remarkable results.
Feeling Inadequate?
Don’t be discouraged by a lack of natural athletic ability. In Sōke Kaichō Kinjō’s experience, the immensely talented student often does not last long in the martial arts. With the ability to easily handle whatever is thrown at him or her, such a student can become complacent with their innate skill level and not make the extra effort to improve. Lack of physical ability can be overcome by hard work. Though clumsy at first, the average person who devotes themselves with determination will grow – maybe slowly but definitely surely.
An old Japanese expression compares knowledge to a thin piece of paper. If you put one piece of paper on the floor it does not add height, but paper after paper, height begins to build up. You need many pieces to reach a great height. One bit of knowledge isn’t much, but after time the pieces will start to add up. Take your time. Be diligent. Once the basic movement is there, keep practicing and adding layers to your skill level.
Perseverance
The fable of the tortoise and the hare is a tale of perseverance conquering sheer talent. The steadfast but plodding tortoise conquers the inherently speedy but over-confident and lazy hare in a foot race.
The Tortoise and the Hare
There once was a speedy hare who bragged about how fast he could run. Tired of hearing him boast, Slow and Steady, the tortoise, challenged him to a race. All the animals in the forest gathered to watch. Hare ran down the road for a while and then and paused to rest. He looked back at Slow and Steady and cried out, “How do you expect to win this race when you are walking along at your slow, slow pace?” Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell asleep, thinking, “There is plenty of time to relax.” Slow and Steady walked and walked. He never, ever stopped until he came to the finish line. The animals who were watching cheered so loudly for Tortoise, they woke up Hare. Hare stretched and yawned and began to run again, but it was too late. Tortoise was over the line. After that, Hare always reminded himself, “Don’t brag about your lightning pace, for Slow and Steady won the race!”
An Aesop Fable