C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Never, Never, NEVER Stop Training Don't worry, this image will make sense shortly. I was raised by parents from East Texas.  I say this at the beginning so that you can be as bemused—or perhaps befuddled—as much as I am that my mother, Texan through and through, has a deep, abiding, and often (for me, at least) confusing love of all things British.   British movies, British novels (my mother is a novelist, so that might be part of the problem), British mysteries whether in print or screen (small or large), British tea; well, the list could go on and on and on.  She even has a deep love for the Royal Family, which is the most confounding of all to me, and which I gladly point out at a lot of July 4th celebrations.  As a Texan myself, who has made his home in Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, and (mainly) Alabama, I’m proud that my ancestors fought the British, and kicked their tails back “across the pond.”  But, hey, I’m also proud of my ancestors that fought...

  The "Secret" of Success A student once asked Jigoro Kano, “What is the secret of Judo?” Kano replied, “Never stop training.” Kano’s quote is so pithy and simple—as wisdom truly should be—that we may not realize the depth of attainment behind the words.  We also tend to outright dismiss quotes such as this as something so obvious that we already know it.  At least, we think we know it.  But do we?  When I first read it, for instance, my initial reaction was to tell myself inwardly, “well, of course you can’t stop training.” I began martial arts training when I was 9 years old.  So by the time I was 15, I (like most teenagers) was pretty sure that I was a world-renowned expert on, well, just about everything .  (But, especially, martial arts!)  And if I had read the quote back then—and I may have, but I don’t remember it—I would have taken it to mean “train every single day” or to “train as often as you possibly can.” Never stop training, fro...