This post is the fourth entry in my Karate Life Lessons Series, a collection of posts that examines how lessons learned training in the martial arts translate into other areas of life as well. You can read the previous entry here.

I noticed something while I was training the other day. I realized I can do something that I’m not sure I could do before I began my training. See, I train with a good group of people in my dojo, and I like to have fun and laugh a bit while I train.

But the dojo’s a place of training first, and socializing takes second stage to that goal. What I found interesting though, is that I could go from laughing one moment, to completely serious and full intensity the next, and then back again, like flipping a switch.

Great. Who cares?

Stay with me for a sec, we’re going to go off on a bit of a tangent to make the point.

Boot Camp Versus Special Forces Training

If you’ve ever spoken with someone who’s been through boot camp with the army, you probably know it’s intense. It’s made to weed out the weak and instill discipline in those who remain. Drill sergeants need to be the way they are in order to get new recruits to understand both how to behave and why it’s important.

With boot camp, everything is regimented. Every detail is decided for you. New recruits need to learn that the army is no joke. You’re training to serve and protect, and peoples’ lives can hang in the balance.

So why, then, is special forces training not approached the same way? There is no drill sergeant breathing down your neck, telling you how to speak, how to stand, or how to be. Seems counter-intuitive, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t special forces training be more intense, and not less?

The answer is both yes and no, and it has to do with discipline.

New recruits usually need to be told exactly how to stand, speak, dress, act, etc. They come in not understanding the full nature of what they’ve signed up for. They need to develop the discipline necessary to set them up for success working as part of an important team, one where organization and order can make the difference between victory and defeat.

Once they’ve learned that discipline though, they begin to internalize it. And this is the turning point. This is why a drill sergeant in the typical sense is no longer required when it comes to further training.

By that point, recruits already know the importance of discipline. It becomes part of them. They no longer need someone to breathe down their neck to get serious, and they no longer need to be outwardly serious all the time. It comes from within.

Now, back to karate.

New white belts typically act one of two ways.

They either come in with a face on, nervous about how to act and therefore serious all the time; or they come in ready to joke around and have fun, completely unable to dial it up when the training calls for it.

I’m pretty sure I fell into the first camp there.

I was serious all the time. Joining a new dojo is nerve-racking, and I wanted to show people I was there to train hard and learn. Over time though, I learned that you don’t have to be outwardly serious all the time to train hard. These days, I laugh and joke with my dojomates… but when the time comes to train – be it walking through the basics or demonstrating a kata or takedown – that switch flips in an instant.

It’s a balance that I think comes with experience. And the skill applies to other areas of life, too.

In business, experience teaches you that even the best poker face and most expensive three-piece suit can’t hide a lack of discipline and performance. What you wear and how you speak isn’t nearly as important as what you do.

The same idea is behind why I have so much respect for a chef that can run their kitchen without resorting to Gordon Ramsay-style yelling and swearing all the time. Not only has the calm chef internalized the concept of discipline, but they’ve taught their team to do the same. People work with speed and precision not because they’re being yelled at to do so, but because they just get that there’s a job to be done.

Wrapping it Up

You set yourself up for success in life if you can master the concept of discipline. By all means laugh and have fun – life is way, way too short not to! But when you’re working at something, be it your job, an art like cooking, photography or karate, or a task at home like gardening or renovating, approach it like you mean it. Give it your all, commit yourself to it. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well, is it not?