I don’t disparage anyone that wants to be something. The thing is, you can’t just go be anything you want when you want. You have to work to become, there is no free pass to just be. You have to have real talent, develop real skill, and put in real work to actually be something. No matter how many motivational quotes you read, how many videos you watch, or how many fancy posts you post – the only way to become is to do.
As a coach, I started young. I started being serious about training others when I was 22. But, I had been training since I was 6 and at 22 I was deep into a professional career as a combat sports athlete. I didn’t win a few local things and call myself a master. My passport was full of stamps because I was traveling the world training and competing with and against the best. I had the audacity to be a coach at 22 because I was doing the work and I was getting real results for the people I trained. I have never called myself master and I never will.
This is not some old vs young debate. It has always been this way. People try to come into a field with little to no credibility and try to take over. Many feel that they can talk a good game and act as if with the right crowd to develop a business. Truth is that they really can. The other truth is that they will be exposed in time.
20 years later I am still here doing what I do and doing it well. The same people that talked shit 20 years ago are still talking it. But here is the thing, I am the only one still in the business. All the old guard that criticised me for breaking with tradition are out of business. A few are training in their backyards but they are not making a living or have a student base anymore. This is what happens when you fight to keep things as they were because you can’t keep up with where it is all going.
Work is the thing that separates the great from the good. I don’t think I am great but I am working on it. I know that nobody can outwork me, so I have a chance. I don’t ever let myself feel like I have made it, I am always climbing. We celebrate the victories and get motivated by the defeats but we are never out and we never reach the top of the mountain. This is a life of struggle so we embrace the grind.
To those that want a shot at me and my people, bring your A game. We are grinders, we don’t quit, and I am an old man in a young person’s game for a reason.
Brian Wright