You can not be in the martial arts for a long time without hearing at least one Zen story.  The one that I really like and one that totally changed my life in the martial arts is the story of the student who wanted to become a master. 

 Once there was a monk who was very skilled, and very talented. He wanted to become a master, so he went to see the Zen Master, to study under him. He went to the Zen Master and he bowed to him and said, I want to study with you to become a master, how long will it take? The Zen Master said 5 years. The monk said, 5 years, okay, but I am very very good, I will learn very quickly, how many years will it take me? The Zen Master said 15 years. The monk said 15 years! But I won't sleep! I won't take breaks! I learn very fast, I will work harder and tire less than any of your other pupils, how long will it take me? The Zen Master said 25 years.  "How is it each time I say I will take work harder, you tell me that it will take longer?" the boy asked. "The answered is clear. When one eye is fixed upon your destination, there is only one eye left with which to find the Way."

 In October I will be celebrating my 28^th year in the martial arts.  It is hard to believe that time has gone by so fast, yet I still remember first stepping on to the floor, like some people, wondering how long until my black belt.  In the beginning it seemed like it would be a goal I would never attain.  I had no coordination and I was so skinny that a quick change in the wind could knock me over.  It was at that time that I figured that once my contract was up, I was done.  When I told my friend about this, his uncle, who also became a teacher of mine, told me this story.  It was then that I took my eyes of the "prize" and just focused on the training without worrying about the end result.  Hours turned into, days, which turned into weeks, which did turn into years and before I knew it through both good and bad times, my perseverance paid off and I reached what I was hoping for.  Now it was easy to preserver when things were going well, but the true test was when things didn't go so well.  I had a choice of either quitting, hoping something will just happen, or making it happen regardless of what it would take.  I chose to make it happen. 

 There is not such thing as smooth sailing.  Whenever things start to take a turn for the worse, we tend to focus on all of our problems as being on big problem which, in turn, starts to make our overall goals seem too overwhelming based on the circumstances that we are in.  An example would be a school owner who is trying to make a livable profit at his school but is being swamped with student enrollment being down and student retention being down.  It seems to the owner that the only thing up is the cost of running the school.  When this happens you must remember this question; "How do you eat an elephant?" The answer is simple; one bite at a time. 

 Instead of looking at it all as one giant problem, you need to break it down into smaller bites that you can work on.  Above all, you need to keep working.  Remember perseverance is not just standing still hoping that something good will happen.  Perseverance is moving forward towards you goal and making things happen regardless of any obstacles you may face.