Next time you’re frustrated because one of your karate kids is acting out in class, struggling to perform to their level or just having trouble concentrating, instead of giving them a hard time, stop to think for a moment that they may just be having “a bad day”…

You’ve had them.

I have them.

Everyone does.

Yes, even karate kids have bad days too.

As instructors we sometimes forget that, and demand students do better no matter what.

We all know that our performance is affected by our mental and emotional states. We feel good, we do better. We feel tired, overwhelmed or stressed and we become irritable and our performance suffers.

When kids have bad days because they’re overwhelmed with homework, stressed out about acne, angry at their siblings, or emotionally hurt from being bullied at school they simply aren’t going to perform to their potential no matter how hard you push.

When you notice that one of yours is suffering, give some encouragement instead. Put them in a “can do” frame of mind. Empower them to achieve and watch the shift in their mental state and subsequently their performance.

(For more about mental state affecting performance read this article I wrote a few years ago – https://www.karatetips.com/articles/mentalstate.asp)

Oh… and as always you’re comments are welcome below!

– Jason