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It Sounds Like You’re Growing

October 26, 2018 by AskAboutKarate

I recently read an article in Inc. Magazine by Jessica Stillman about Yale University research on the Comfort Zone. The article stated that if you’re not OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE you’re not learning. And it said that stability shuts down your brain’s learning centers.

I also recently saw a TED Talk titled: COMFORT CAN RUIN YOUR LIFE. The presenter, Bill Eckstrom, had discovered that growth only occurs in a state of discomfort.

But this idea goes against what many of us want in life. We don’t want to be uncomfortable. We want things to be EASY and we want things to be COMFORTABLE.

Now I don’t think these studies are saying that we have to be outside our comfort zone all the time. I think it’s saying that if we want to learn and grow then we have to consciously put ourselves outside our comfort zone.

If you haven’t sensed it already we do this to your child all the time. None of what you will see your child doing or hear that your child is learning would be possible if we didn’t put them outside their comfort zone.

So when your child comes to you, and he or she will, and tells you that karate is too hard, that they are struggling to keep up, that they can’t do it, that they’re too tired, that they don’t like it, and that they want to quit.

Just nod knowingly, smile and say to your child, “It sounds like you’re growing.”

And then, parents, say to yourself… ‘YES! The training is working!’

Marty Callahan has spent his life understanding and improving the lives of students both young and old. His passion led to the founding of Shotokan Karate Leadership School in Santa Rosa, CA in 1981 with a dream to awaken the extraordinary leader in his students. Having inspired, taught, coached, supported, and trained over 15,000 students in 40,000 classes in Santa Rosa, Marty has become Sonoma County’s preeminent martial arts leadership instructor. His students, hundreds of whom have gone on to become leaders in their chosen fields, appreciate his engaging, student centered approach to teaching and they believe you will too.