Thread: Training goals
View Single Post
Old 08-25-2008, 02:54 PM   #10
mathewjgano
 
mathewjgano's Avatar
Dojo: Tsubaki Kannagara Jinja Aikidojo; Himeji Shodokan Dojo
Location: Renton
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,276
United_States
Offline
Re: Training goals

Quote:
Michael Lewis wrote: View Post
I'm interested to hear about people's approach to goal-setting in Budo, are they specific or general and how are they measured? Without them, is there a danger that we get into a kind of 'cruise-mode' on the Way?

When I was a white belt, my personal goal was clear in front of me: to become shodan. Things are not so tangible from the middle dans perspective. I'm not convinced that continued test-passing is a useful goal and I try to keep in mind the meaning of Budo.

The general purpose of my Budo training is to improve my character and try my best to apply aikido principles in daily life - to blend with and extend kindness to family, friends, colleagues etc. However, these are hardly training goals, and improvement in them is difficult to measure. I can only conclude that my training has no goals at the present time.

I'd be very interested to hear others' thoughts on this.
My main goal these days is to get to train, but working two jobs and having a wife who plans everything months ahead of time makes that often difficult.
That aside, my overarching goal in Aikido is to better myself that I may better the world around me, whether it be in physical defense, developing a hard-working character, etc. My goal in life has long been to help in as broad a manner as I can muster and I feel Ueshiba Aikido reflects this same goal. After that it's great exercise and a fun way to spend a couple hours of a day. It keeps my body in shape, my coordination sharp, and my mind relaxed...can't ask for much more in something. These are some of the things that I plan on working on in my future training of Aikido so i guess they could be called goals.
Take care,
Matt

Gambarimashyo!
  Reply With Quote