One of the biggest obstacles I’ve faced in martial arts hasn’t been a difficult opponent.
It hasn’t been a challenging technique.
It hasn’t even been a tough workout.
It’s been my own ego.
Now, when most people hear the word ego, they picture someone loud and arrogant. They imagine the person who has to prove they’re the toughest person in the room or the instructor who refuses to admit they’re wrong.
That certainly exists.
But I’ve learned there’s another kind of ego that’s much more subtle.
It’s the voice that quietly says,
“I already know this.”
That one sentence has probably prevented more growth than anything else.
The longer I’ve been involved in martial arts, the more I’ve realized that learning isn’t the difficult part.
Unlearning can be.
When I first opened Impact Martial Arts, I taught what I knew. As the years went by, I attended seminars, trained with instructors from different backgrounds, studied other martial arts, competed, pressure-tested techniques, and continued asking questions.
Something interesting started happening.
I began changing things.
Sometimes it was a small adjustment to the way I explained a technique.
Sometimes it was replacing an exercise with one that produced better results.
Sometimes it meant removing something from the curriculum altogether because I had found a better way to teach the same principle.
If I’m honest, that wasn’t always easy.
It’s much more comfortable to keep doing what you’ve always done.
After all, no one likes admitting that something they’ve taught for years could be improved.
But that’s exactly what growth requires.
One of the promises I’ve tried to make to myself is that I’ll never protect my pride at the expense of my students.
If I discover a better drill, I want my students to benefit from it.
If I learn a more effective way to teach a concept, I want to use it.
If pressure testing reveals that a technique doesn’t work the way I thought it did, I don’t want to defend it simply because it’s familiar.
I want to improve it.
That’s one of the reasons I believe so strongly in pressure testing.
Pressure has no interest in protecting our opinions.
It simply tells us what’s real.
Over the years, there have been techniques that looked great during cooperative practice but didn’t hold up the way I expected once resistance was added. There have also been techniques I underestimated until I saw them work consistently under pressure.
Both experiences taught me something valuable.
Neither one hurt my martial arts.
Only my ego.
And honestly…
I’m okay with that.
Because my goal has never been to prove that I was right.
My goal has always been to become better.
I think that’s one of the greatest responsibilities we have as instructors.
Our students trust us.
That means we have to keep growing.
Not because our old methods were worthless.
But because our students deserve our best—not our past.
I’ve met instructors who proudly say they’ve been teaching the same way for thirty years.
Personally, I hope no one ever says that about me.
I hope thirty years from now I’m still making adjustments.
Still asking questions.
Still refining.
Still learning.
Because the day I believe I’ve got nothing left to improve…
…is probably the day I stop improving.
Ego says,
“I already know this.”
Humility says,
“Show me again.”
I’ve learned that only one of those voices leads to growth.