Promotion Self Esteem

5/13/2014 8:37:32 AM
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Promotion Self Esteem

Hi Felipe,

I'll just keep my question short since I know you are a busy person. I was recently promoted to purple belt after getting my first gold in blue belt. I did not have any white belt competition experience and got promoted too soon. On my blue belt life, I had 4 competitions where I was eliminated on the first round, and this 5th one which was a major event in my area, I finally got to win the gold going for 3 fights. I felt so happy as I was finally getting the hang of competing and suddenly I can handle all the pressure and perform the game I want and I knew that from there on I can compete more with a very good performance in the future. 

But during the podium my instructor awarded my with a purple belt, for some reason, I don't feel like I deserve it. I only won the gold once and still wanted to to prove myself in future competitions. My self esteem is really low right now, as this would mean I would need to enter the purple belt tournament without even being able to finally prove to myself that I am ready to move out of blue.

I was hoping you could share some of your thoughts with this. 

Thanks!

5/13/2014 12:08:53 PM
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Re: Promotion Self Esteem

It's really interesting that as I read your message, reminds a lot of what I was thinking every time I go promote to a new belt. I never felt that I was ready.
To give a example, when I was brown I started to have some good results on local tournaments, I was building my confidence up and out of the blue I got my black belt. I didn't feel ready at all. My first year fighting the WORLDS as black belt I lost in the first round and the champion on the brown belt was a guy who had lost for me a couple months before. At the moment, I felt even worse. But just a year later I won the World as a black belt, beating the champion of the year before...
If you were my student, I would be very happy if I decided to give you the belt and you were feeling like you were not ready yet. Your teacher probabily knows you are ready and the fact that you feel you have to improve more is the ignite to keep growing.
I don't know your game, but I have the feeling you will do just fine. Even if the results are not what you expect at first, dont allow that to put you down. The color belts are just experience for you to become the best black belt you can be. Enjoy the path!

5/16/2014 11:01:34 PM
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Re: Promotion Self Esteem

Thank you for your very inspirational reply, I hope that someday I could enroll online and maybe you can help me give some feedback with my game. 

5/19/2014 2:43:47 PM
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Re: Promotion Self Esteem

Would be a pleasure to help. Have you try some of the videos?