The Chinese martial arts have an expression, chi ku, which means to “eat bitter” or “eating bitterness”. It is frequently used by the master to express to the students training under him the fact that if they want to become masters of the art in their own right, they must suffer first. The training is often very rigorous, both physically and mentally demanding. It can also be extremely boring and repetitive sometimes as the trainees must perform the same movement patterns and work though the same solo exercises over and over again in order to burn it into their nervous systems so it becomes part of them. This is the only way to do it.
Certainly this type of training is not for everyone. Yet for those with the physical and mental fortitude to endure the long years of training and hardship, the harsh realities of becoming great, the rewards are vast. The students develop formidable body skills and enourmous amounts of mental toughness. For those that make it, they realize the training was intense, but they made it through. They are now the masters.
As Jim Rohn famously said – There are only 2 pains in life. The pain of discipline or the pain of regret.
It’s your choice. Suffer a little now, endure the training, endure the hardships, endure the life adversity, and then look back knowing that you have walked through it and achieved your goal on the other side.
Or, be afraid of the hardship and pain and decide to back off and stay where you are. The pain of discipline is avoided, yes, but what you don’t realize is that the pain of regret weighs much, much heavier and is in fact the greater of the 2 pains.
Eat bitter now and be able to endure physical and mental hardships in training. Endure hardship and succeed. The rewards are so sweet!
I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’
– Muhammad Ali
