Actions Breed Habits Breed Character
My teacher, Grandmaster Jeff Smith, always says that “good habits are hard to make and easy to break, but bad habits are easy to make and hard to break“.
Of course I often say it too, as do all my students who are Sensei at the school; ’tis how wisdom passes down.
But of course you know this to be true even through experience and observation.
Were it not, all people would have all the healthy habits that they wanted and none of the harmful ones that they did not.
But the evidence does not support that; and that’s because my teacher’s saying is true.
So what do we do about that?
We must take consistent action over time- to break the bad habits and to develop the good ones.
It’s what our character development program at Krav Maga Martial Arts is all about, by the way.
Students practice healthy eating, reading, acts of self discipline, martial arts homework, job list and, our most recent addition, “turn it off”, in which the student replaces screen time with some more positive, productive and healthy alternative.
There are character stripes for these practices, and students need at least five to test for their next belt; but most are doing many more, because they also earn medals and trophies for their acts over time.
These positive practices start producing positive habits- and positive habits produce a positive life.
In his book, Make Today Count, John Maxwell, writes: “You will never change your life until you change something you do daily…. Every day of your life is merely preparation for the next. What you become is the result of what you are doing today…. The way you live your life today is preparing you for your tomorrow.
So our actions done consistently enough over time become habits, our habits create our character, our character creates our action…
it’s how and why, as Aristotle said, that our actions reveal our character.
Our character development program helps.
The way we do at KMMA is especially helpful to kids who are still in their formative years; we are helping them develop the character that will help them lead happy, healthy and productive lives…
You can do the same to yourself, if you’ve the inclination and Discipline to do so.
1. Choose a bad habit you want to change, and/or a good one that you want to develop.
2. Practice daily and reward yourself as you do.
The rewards don’t have to be great; they just have to feel good. You want to replace whatever pleasure you are gaining by the unhealthy habit with a new pleasure that you associate with the new healthier one.
It can also help to focus on the negative repercussions of the negative habit that you want to change, and really feel that.
(Tony Robins does a great job explaining how to do that in his book Awaken the Giant Within if you’d like to learn more about that.)
For now, just start with the simple challenge I gave above:
- Choose one unhealthy habit that you wanna break and one healthy one that you want to develop.
- Create a plan for replacing the one with the other.
- Do that, and give yourself small, meaningful rewards along the way.
Do that again and again and your Discipline and ability to do that will get better, stronger, faster over time; but start with something easy.
And, if you’d like some help, for yourself and/or your kids or whole family, my team and I would love to help!
Click here to begin your 2 week free trial and orientation!
Prepare To Live & Empower To Lead!
Grand Master Stephen J. Del Castillo
Author, MBA & 7th Degree Blackbelt
Founder & Chief Master Instructor,
Krav Maga Martial Arts
p.s. don’t forget the Parent’s Night Out tonight form 7:15-9:15. Students, their guests, and ALL community kids are welcome! Kids have fun and fellowship while parents get the night out. Pizza, obstacle course, martial arts and leadership games and they’ll be creating some cool mother’s day projects too. Call 813-948-4844 to RSVP, or just reply to the email.
p.p.s Certified Instructor Training (CIT) tomorrow too! Can’t wait to sow into my current and future Sensei! Here’s the agenda.
| About Grandmaster Stephen J. Del Castillo: Grandmaster Del Castillo is the founding Master Instructor of Krav Maga Martial Arts and has been empowering lives in Pasco and Hillsborough Counties since October of 2000. He is a 7th degree Blackbelt, MBA, author, mentor and success coach, a US Army Veteran and a proud father and grandfather. He is married to Ms. Barbara Del Castillo who helps him run the school. Grand Master Del Castillo began his training in the early 80’s and has high level blackbelts in Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Premier Martial Arts and Krav Maga Martial Arts as well as experience in kickboxing, Jeet Kune Do and Jiujitsu. He has high level instructor certifications from BBSI, IKMF, and KMG and has been featured in numerous Martial Arts publications and also Success magazine. He was a competitive sport karate and American Kickboxing instructor until he enlisted in the US Army where he served in the 82nd Airborne Division, where he won an Army Green to Gold scholarship and proceeded to ROTC and the University of Tampa. He was commissioned in 1992 and went on to serve in Germany with the 3rd Infantry Division and then in several other posts in the US until he left military service to pursue his dream of creating KMMA in 2000.
The Krav MagaMartial Arts Headquarters is in Lutz, FL at 1900 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., 33549. Krav Maga Martial Arts serves Lutz, Land O’ Lakes, Wesley Chapel, and surrounding areas. See stephendelcastillo.com for more information and to order my book, Developing Your Superpower, Meditations on Mastery, Volume 1. Also, check us out on Fun4TampaKids & on Go2Karate.com |