Part of the reason for me starting this site was to bolster my enthusiasm for Wing Chun. I used to suffer a lack of motivation to go to class. Once I got there, I would have a ball - the problem was in getting myself to leave the house. It's not because I'm lazy: quite the contrary. I probably have far too many interests and they are all vying for my time. It wasn't uncommon for me to have arguments in my head on my drive home from work, one side putting forward the pros and the other side putting forward the cons of going to class that night.

The Wing Chun Demons In My Head

Check out the schizo banter in my head:

• "My Wing Chun is improving, I should ride the wave and go to class and get even better"
• "My Wing Chun is improving, so it's not that important if I miss tonight's class"
• "I went on Saturday, so I don't need to go tonight (Monday)"
• "The house is a mess, I really need to clean it - and it has to be tonight"
• "I'm knackered after a gruelling weekend of booze, so I'll stay in tonight"
• "I'm really motivated about making origami paper ducks so I should stay in and make the most of that motivation"

Sadly, the demons in my head were mostly on the side of missing Wing Chun classes. This is why I had to use different methods to boost my Wing Chun motivation.

Top Tips To Improve Wing Chun Motivation

The following tips are not specific to Wing Chun, but are universal. You can apply them to other areas of your life.

• Do more. Yes, I know that sounds odd, but the more I do, the more I like it. I'm sure you will be the same. Also, the better you get, the more encouraged you will feel.
• Look back and see the progress you've made. Credit where credit's due, you've made progress. You're further down the path than you were even mere months ago.
• Watch inspiring videos, with talented practitioners in them. Youtube hosts a smorgasbord of Wing Chun idiots - but there are also some geniuses too. Watch them and feel inspired.
• Project forward and imagine how good you will be in 2 years time. In 5 years time. If your future self could travel back in time, your present self would get its ass kicked big style. It might get dirty. Better your future bad ass self stay the hell where it is because it's so damn dangerous.
• Be healthier. Drink less alcohol (I don't mean become a monk), eat better foods, get enough sleep, do regular exercise. All these things conspire to make you feel better and the better you feel, the more you will want to engage with the world.
• Find other interests that complement your Wing Chun habit. For example, this website serves that purpose for me - and helps keep me interested. Interestingly, my classes often provide food for thought on this blog.
• Make contact with other people who have similar interests. I've emailed a couple of Wing Chun martial artists on youtube already. I'm not saying you should go and stalk these people too, but other ideas are to get together with classmates and practise outside of class. Our club has a regular class meal every month and its good to maintain regular contact with other members of our kung fu family.
• Vary your practice. I, for one, probably don't change my routine as often as I should. There are so many things to practise; one model I might follow is to focus on just a few techniques for maybe a week and then choose different techniques for next week. This way my routine doesn't become stale. Also, think about different ways to employ the same technique i.e. different applications. For example, take footwork.  I can practise the dummy form I know, but I can also improvise moving around a fictitious opponent and really concentrate on my steps. As a further variation I can then introduce some hand movements (gaan sau, kwan sau etc) to spice it up. Variety being the key not just to maintain interest, but to improve skill too.
• Make use of any friendly (or not so friendly!) rivalry that exists between you and your partner. For example there are two colleagues that come to my mind. One uses too much strength, and is sometimes quite reckless with his flailing fists. I use this  to spur me on to become better so that I can withstand and deflect his brute force attacks more subtley - in the Wing Chun way. So he motivates me to train more and work harder. The other guy has been learning Wing Chun for only a year but he has improved (and still improves) tremendously. I like this guy and think he has a good attitude. He really gives me a run for my money. I don't mind as much if he gets the better of me, because he is using good technique and not brute force. Nevertheless, I still use the experience to motivate me to improve my skill. He is improving so fast that I really have to train regularly and be on my toes.
• Go to seminars/workshops and use them to spur you on. You don't want to show yourself up in front of all those people you don't know, do you? Get training!
• Prepare. You can do this on two levels:

1. You can prepare what you will train the day before you actually train. This means that you don't run out of stuff to do halfway through. A few times I've been scratching my head thinking about what I should do next and instead of continuing, I've just left it at that and stopped training that day. Don't give yourself time to think. Plan every minute of your training. Now I arrive at the gym and I know I'm going to spend 15 minutes on a warm up, 15 minutes doing Tsum Kiu, 20 minutes doing Siu Lim Tau and then 25 minutes on turning exercises.
2. The other level involves planning your training that week. Plan to go to class Monday and Wednesday and also to train one hour before work Monday to Friday. If you do this, you won't give yourself the chance to choose the Inaction Due To Uncertainty option.

Motivational Success

The above tips have really worked for me, so I hope they'll be of use to you. The thing I've done that has helped me most is restructure my training timetable. I used to squeeze 15 minutes in before work started, and think that that was enough. Now, I schedule in an hour before work and stick to it religiously. Because it's consistent and substantial practice, I can actually feel myself improving and that makes me feel like I want to do more.

I've also started chi sauing with people outside of class and that helps with the training you can't practise on your own.

Another big motivator is the upcoming Wing Chun residential. I don't want to get destroyed by the daily 90 minute siu lim taus that are on the cards, so I'm putting the hours in now.

Let me know if you use different ways to motivate yourself and I'll steal your ideas, publish them here and take the credit