Managing Failure: Formidable Fighter, #10

By Martina Sprague

We can learn a lot from failure. Failure, when studied, brings enlightenment. One of the greatest pitfalls of group martial arts training is failing to ask: “What can go wrong?” Combat in any form or way is a potentially dangerous activity. There are only you and your opponent on the field of battle, whether it be a mat in the training hall, a ring in the center of a ten-thousand person audience, or a dark back street somewhere near home or far away. The years you have spent training in the martial arts have not made you immune to failure. There is somebody out there who is better, stronger, smarter, tougher, and more vicious than you. The years of martial arts training under your belt have failed to make you invincible. There is no guarantee that you will perform according to textbook standard. At best a failed technique can cost you loss of face; at worst it can cost you your life. The study of failure is therefore an important part of your self-assessment. Formidable Fighter: The Complete Series, a compilation of all 14 books in this series, is available in both electronic and print format.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Martina Sprague
• Release date: Apr 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386449058

Martina Sprague

Martina Sprague grew up in the Stockholm area of Sweden. She has a Master of Arts degree in Military History from Norwich University in Vermont and has studied a variety of combat arts since 1987. As an independent scholar, she writes primarily on subjects pertaining to military and general history, politics, and instructional books on the martial arts. For more information, please visit her website: www.modernfighter.com.

Book preview

Preface

The Formidable Fighter Series is a series of booklets for martial artists desiring to learn the concepts that create formidable fighters in the training hall, competition arena, and street. Each booklet is between 5,000 and 10,000 words in length and includes fighting scenarios, training tips, and illustrations. Managing Failure, the tenth booklet in the series, deals particularly with how to critique martial arts techniques to gain understanding of what works in a real scenario and when. Since the advice is not style specific but explores the underlying concepts of personal combat, it is applicable to students of most martial styles.

Failure, when studied, brings enlightenment. When we address failure, we gain insight into how to avoid it and, more importantly, what to do should we suddenly find ourselves at the losing end of the confrontation. Good training makes allowances for failures and prepares you to win. If you follow the instruction and tips in the Formidable Fighter Series, you will learn how to develop your physical strength and mental tenacity and triumph as a fighter in the training hall, ring, and street.

Succeeding is not really a life experience that does that much good. Failing is a much more sobering and enlightening experience.

—Michael Eisner, 1942- , CEO of the Walt Disney Company, 1984-2005

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Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.

—Henry Ford, 1863-1947, Founder of the Henry Ford Motor Company

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Go on failing. Go on. Only next time, try to fail better.

—Samuel Beckett, 1906-1989, Irish Playwright, Novelist, and Poet

We can learn a lot from failure. Failure, when studied, brings enlightenment. One of the greatest pitfalls of group martial arts training is failing to ask: What can go wrong? Start by recognizing the truth of the matter: Combat in any form or way is a potentially dangerous activity. So-called secret martial arts techniques that turn wimpy men and women into super(wo)men don’t exist. Every claim to supernatural power in the martial arts has been debunked. Instead of wasting your time on this sort of nonsense, look the truth in the eye: There are only you and your opponent on the field of battle, whether it be a mat in the training hall, a ring in the center of a ten-thousand person audience, or a dark back street somewhere near home or far away.

Although they may have made you wiser and hopefully stronger, accept the fact that the years you have spent training in the martial arts have not made you immune to failure. The world’s population is roughly seven billion people. Accept the fact that there is somebody out there who is better, stronger, smarter, tougher, and more vicious than you. In fact, if you look hard enough, you can probably find that somebody right in your hometown, maybe even in your own neighborhood. The years of martial arts training under your belt have failed to make you invincible. There is no guarantee that you will perform according to textbook standard; not in the training hall, not in the competition ring, not on the street, not in any situation. Not now. Not ever.

At best a