Quotes Part 2

“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries and predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” – William Faulkner

I love this quote because I can relate to it. I used to do karate tournaments and I remember being told to go out and look better than my competitors so I could win- and most times I did. However, when I did lose I would always try to replay my form in my head, to look for where I could have gone wrong. The tournaments taught me what this quote says: to not focus on beating others, but to actually work on beating YOURSELF.

Perhaps you have set a goal and you are working hard to reach it, but you keep getting discouraged by people around you who are doing better than you. Don’t set your goal to beat the people in your way, but if you beat them go further. Set your own example so that others have something to work at and so that you have a constant goal trying to beat yourself.

A perfect example of this for me is the game Temple Run. For those of you who don’t know what Temple Run is, it is a game where you are running through a temple and you have to jump, duck, and turn left and right for a long period of time. As the game goes on, your character moves faster. When you die after your first run, you are shown your high score. It is human instinct to want to beat the score and not give up on the game, so I find myself incessantly playing it for almost an hour trying to overcome my score. Sometimes I will compare scores with my friends, but I am more motivated to beat my own score rather than theirs.

I agree with this quote 100%. I think that there is always room for self improvement and that trying to be the best “you” you can be is great. I have a karate test coming up for my 2nd degree black belt- it will test me both mentally and physically and definitely push me to my limits. I know that physically I am ready because my teacher would not put me up for a test if he didn’t think I could complete it, but I am still nervous. I have a lot of mental blocks about it that I need to get rid of- I know that in the test I will be focused completely on myself and being the best I can be.

In the test, it isn’t about beating others. It’s about pushing yourself and being better than you’ve ever been before. It’s about pain and pushing to get what you want- having enough strength to full apply yourself and take what you’ve worked so hard for. And after you’ve gotten your belt? You have the next rank to prepare and strive for. In karate, there are constantly new goals and new challenges- if you look for them.
What are your goals? Do you agree with this quote? Do you think you are currently being the best person you can be, or do you still have challenges to complete?

Maddie