Back to basics!
This is a beginning technique. Anthony is currently working on higher level material than this but he knows the value of going back to basics.
Always bringing the basics up with you is the path to success in Shou’ Shu’. As well as in anything else you are trying to achieve.
If we forget the basics and do not develop them as we go then eventually we are working from a weak foundation. Or at least a foundation that is too weak to support our new knowledge. Since we have nothing to stand on we can’t reach up and therefore we are stuck.
Conversely, if we work basics just as hard as the new shiny object then we give the new shiny object value. Without the basics, it is nothing more than theory. Not practical, not applicable, and useless.
Bringing the basics up and working them just as hard as the newest thing is rare. It is one of the few things that separates those that have massive success from those that have little success.
When Shifu Liz Weaver tested for her black belt under Da’ Shifu (she was the last to do so) a high ranking black belt who was trying to deride her credibility said “Her lower material is way better than her advanced”. His tone clearly stated that he was trying to discredit her.
I felt a heavy weight in my gut. I had trained her hard. She had trained hard. Even Da’ Shifu had spent a great deal of time and effort training her. (Which was just one of the sources of jealousy, no other black belts got this attention from the Grand Master). We wanted to be so proud of her and here was this piece of doo doo thrown right into the middle of the celebration.
Then I looked at Da’ Shifu and I said:
“Isn’t that the way it should be?”
He smiled
Then he laughed
Then he put on his mighty Da’ Shifu face and in his tone that said to everyone that this statement would be the final word, he said
“Damn right, I wish they were all that way”
Then he walked off to put his arm around Shifu Liz so he could parade around his newest black belt.
I watched from a distance with that feeling of pride that drives my entire life. The feeling of seeing one of my students suceed.
Moral:
1) Basics, basics, basics
2) Be proud of other’s successes
Both of those things make the world a better place