Today is the day I had set in my training goals to review my progress and have Master Brinker look over my training journal.

As I reflect on the last 2 months (I began on July 1st), I am confronted with the fact that I am not where I had hoped I would be. Granted, I have had successes, but one goal in particular is bothering me; tai chi.

I had set quite a few goals for myself to have completed by October 31. These goals included 150 push ups a day, 150 sit ups a day, learn the spear form, perfect my fan form and learn the tai chi long form. So far I have kept up my push ups and sit ups ( I do 160 of each now), I have learned the spear form and have been pushing forward.

But, the tai chi form is still on my to-do list.

Tai chi has never been my favorite part of Kung-Fu; I've never really liked it. However, I know it is good for me. The benifits to one's flow, centering, balance, etc. are tremendous and I should be all over it, but I'm not.

So, as I sit here reflecting, I'm trying to come up with a good excuse as to why I've been avoiding it. Truth be told though, I have only myself to really answer to when it comes to achieving my goals, so why bother trying to find excuses anyway?
I need to stop focusing on the problem (Oh my gosh I haven't learned it yet! I've been lazy and procrastinating and how the heck am I going to learn all this?!?) and focus on the solution (you can do this...think!).

Here it goes:

Tai chi action plan

step 1: Define the goal
I want to be able to make it through the entire tai chi long form without stopping or getting help. I will utalize the following resources: fellow black belts to learn from and the video to fine tune.

step 2: Motivation
I will have to stay motivated and focused if I want to succeed.
options: start a tai chi log
train with a buddy
reward myself when I succeed

choice: I will keep a tai chi log of my progress and will reward myself when I have learned it. The reward is yet to be decided.

step 3: Practice
I need to actually buckle down and practice this if I'm going to succeed.
options: practice once a week
practice once a day

choice: practice once a day. I'll do it once a day at least.

step 4: Deadline
I want to have this completed ultimatly by October 31.


This action plan takes effect as of tomorrow, September 1st.

There, a solution has been created, now I just need to follow through with it.