Hello everyone, this question is mainly about martial arts but if any of you have good life experience to share aswell it will be really appreciated!!
Ok, well for a start i am trying to figure out what to do with my life, i have considered becoming a writer, film director, reflexologist/holistic healer, and many other careers, but i think my main problem resides in my lack of interest with any of the normall 9 to 5 jobs, you know the paperwork, and the directing would be brilliant, but i consider it to be mostly directing and not enough vision and control over what really matters, plus it would be incredibly hard to get the funds and support up to become a serious director.
so in my confusion about my life, i have figured out i want to expeirence many things, go to different new countries, see if any other cultures or ways of thinking will find me the answers that i seem to be looking for.
for this i will need money, and maybe if i become a reflexologist, you know and other alternative therapy like that, i can get enough money to do what i want and to find the path right for me, that so far i have only been given intense teasing glimpses of.
my main question to everyone, is, how does it pay finance-wise being an instructor of jkd? is there any way that becoming a jeet kune do instructor can finance a whole life, without a supporting job? because if it's possible i would love nothing more than to do it, and with the proper guidance, i know theres nothing i can't achieve.
because if it's possible, i can do any old job until i have enough money to train full-time or part-time in jkd, and then the world's my oyster.
failing this i shall become a taoist monk or something like that and emigrate to the east.
i hope some people can relate to my problem, because it seems as though life itself has questions and ansers that i need to find, and if i don't get the power to seek those questions, those answers, and the knowladge and experience i want, then life would just be a passing dream to me, as unimportant and sadly longful as the car that a dog can never catch up to.
thanks in advance if any of you reply,
Jowan
Okay let me explain this. So many things in life never go as they are planned. The first thing you need to do is #1 get an education. GO TO COLLEGE.
Working in all the glory of movies, tv and or writting etc.. all that is great if you can make it work. But you still need an education. Doing something you love and making the best of it and raking in a living for it is everyone's dream not everyone does it but most can work with it.
I always knew I wanted to work in Law Enforcement. I wanted to be an FBI agent or some form of GOVT official. Never made it that far because after I got older and joined the military then I realized I needed an education. I went back to school out of high school got an education in criminal justice and from there the doors opened.
As for martial arts making a living from it im not saying its impossible, but its very hard to do.
Martial arts is simply a hobby its not a job. Making a living off of a hobby is hard to do anyway.
So many get caught up in wanting to be a good instructor but first things to remember there what have you done to prove you can make what you do work? Most JKD guys dont fight or enter competition so they really have no truth in what they teach. Its all heresay. So what you beat up a guy who picked on your little brother that doesn't mean your now ready to be a JKD teacher. As in most traditional arts the same lies true. The guys that make martial arts work for them spend endless hours working out, fighting in the ring, and has a endless paper trail of fights they've won. In my line of work I know what works and what does not work I use it everyday. I fight damn near every day but I still do not think like those animals who enter these octogon rings etc...
YOu have your whole life to prove your good enough to teach JKD in the mean time get an education and worry about the now and endure the future.
Thank you for the reply, though i don't think you understood quite what i was saying. I can do anything i want to. it's deciding what i want to do that's troubling me.
you say you don't think like those animals in the octagon, well i can think however i want to think to do whatever's nessasary, my problem lies in what would make me truly happy in this world. im not saying an education is bad, but a person can do any job they want, an education just allows the employers to see what you're actually like. western society makes you think u need an education to do what you want. and it isn't my dream to rake in the money, do what career is the best and find it easy, nothing like that, in a way i think i need to go on a path of spiritual enlightenment, though that idea has been badly stereotypicalised recently. it seems as though everything i want to do eludes me.
thank you for your knowladge about martial arts instructors, i think you are right that it is a hobby before a job.
Jowan
One of the main problems with trying to be a fulltime martial arts instructor is the fact that even though your intentions are good, the bottom line is still this: You have to depend on other people to do what they say they will do! It is sometimes hard to retain students, and then there is getting those that do stay to pay you like the are supposed to (right amount, on time, etc.). If not for the fact that I have an organization and seminars, there is no way that I could get by just teaching martial arts! I also have a job as Head of Security for a nightclub, which occupies three to four nights per week. This pays me very well, plus it doesn't interfere with my teaching or seminar schedule. Maybe you would like to consider some job that would allow you the time to teach, and the possibility of getting to apply your knowledge in a positive way.
Both previous bits of advice is very good. I whole heartedly agree with the points made.
I would say to you Jakep, that getting into any industry is hard. I have a friend who is a script writer and director. Which sounds great, but he also works in a theatre to pay the day to day bills. Its an incredibly tough industry. You have belief in yourself, that is good. However you have to ask yourself, how much you want it?
The thing you have to remember is it wont happen over night. Have met met a few actors who have had parts here and there, but are working as stage hands to pay the bills, this goes for the scipt writers, directors etc. You will have to be prepared to do that yourself.
You are still young. Go to Uni and study about how to make films. I appreciate you think you do not need to, and indeed a lot of individuals do not, however it is a good way to learn about the industry. Its not just about being creative, it is a buisness. If you wish to be succesfull within it you have to understand it.
I can understand your point about wanting to do many things. However, if you do not want to go mad, or waste the energy trying to do everything. Just pick one dearest to your heart and go for it 100%. I know you been talking about writing and directing for a while. So I say do it. It will be a struggle, but you gonna die one day anyway so just get out there and take each obstacle at a time.
Network, learn from people, go to Uni get them to fund a small project for yourself. Do not spend your life thinking about it, go out there and do it. If you wanna do reflexology go ahead and do it, but do not kidd yourself by thinking you can do anything then end up doing nothing.
There are those people who talk about it and there are those who do. If you aint done it do not talk about it. Belief is not always enough.
Thank you Lamar and Kjax, i appreciate that going into the martial arts teaching career is very hard, and may not pay the bills, neither will script writing or directing, as i have realised that unless my heart is 100% in it, then it will be more work and little benefit. i believe that learning about my spirit, mind, and body are invaluable to me, and are as close as possible to what i can do to fully actualise myself and i feel if i do these things i will worry less about what path my life takes because i will be confident in myself that i have achieved what i set out to do, and have become powerful, not in the 'proving myself', insecure sense of wanting power for its own sake, but for showing myself i have the ability and desire to make things happen, to be the captain of my soul, as some old poet said.
i believe jkd is the closest thing to fully expressing my body, my mind, and my spirit to a certain extent, and for my own reasons and own interpretations of what jkd is to me. i shall be confident in what i set out to do, and ot me, it really wont matter from now on, as long as i get enough money to exist in this society, (as deranged as it may seem sometimes!), and to fund my future training in jkd, as i have not been training for a while due to the fact i realised iw as learning from books, and really, if anyone's reading- don't waste your time and resourses with books! there is NO substitute for a teacher, and as i have none i shall get the means to find one and train my heart out.
maybe then i will have some peace that i am doing eveyrthing i can. and my philosophy and writings on life will become easier then, and clarity will become my friend, for a change
thank all three of you for your advice, my problem isn't solved, but i now have a focus for myself, and even if this focus is tainted or unrealistic, it will make my life more enjoyable and expressive while i am working toward it. i will feel free to express what i wish.
now my next task is learning to astral travel, i 100% believe in this ability, and have understood that if i can learn and refine my skill, it is possible to have no less than 3 bodies, 2 immortal, to fight with. it's really all about vibrations, and energy. that's all it is, but i wont go into this now as i believe many of you will mock my knowladge
lamar, tac sifu, and kjax thank you for the advice again, it is good to have a different perspective on things, and to have a goal for the future.
just one more question-
i am 5'6, and i haven't got the longest limbs in the world, so is it possible for me to ever reach incredible levels of skill, if i put the work in? i mean bruce lee was 5'7, but i have no means of ascertaining his actual physical skill as he's aparently dead.
is it possible for me to ever become a competant or even extraordinary physical exponent of jkd?
Jowan
I will have to disagree with you about books! Whether or not you can learn from books depends on (1) your abilities to comprehend what you are reading and seeing and (2) whether or not the author of the books really knows the subject. I have learned as much from books as I have from time spend with instructors, but then I also have a very high I.Q., and I easily comprehend what I read and see! I can look at a technical photo sequence in a book and then turn around and DO IT to someone! But then you also have to take into consideration the actual training that I have had with instructors that enables me to fully understand what I am looking at! Instructional videos and DVDs can be extremely useful also, as long as they have the necessary depth to the material covered! A video/DVD that is extremely in depth is like a private lesson that can be taken over and over with the instructor! Never discredit ANY source of learning, as they all have their place! I still buy every book/video/DVD that I can get my hands on in regard to Jun Fan Gung Fu, Jeet Kune Do and Wing Chun Gung Fu! Even the Chinese and Japanese books! I can't read them of course, but some of them have excellent technical photo sequences that are quite easy to follow!
Kjax, why did you use my name to adress Jowan???
Thats blastphemy!
Well, at least I know SOMEONE'S thinking of me.....(sigh)
Anyway, Jowan......
I would genuinly like to know about this astral ability you talked about;
I recently talked with a friend who has undergone some fairly radical spiritual changes, and in doing so, I realised that although I don't really comprehend and/or agree with some of what he said, I could still make more effort in learning from people objectively.
I won't go into detail, but some of the things he talked of involved 'Working', which is apparently conversing with the inner voice that ties to command us to act in certain ways, according to him, all negative.
He also appeared to have certain disagreements with the Buddhist way of enlightenment, and had some fairly diverse views on planes of existence.
I would REALLY like to hear about how you came to these decisions and indecisions in your life, please email me if you don't wish to air this to the forum.
(****goosestadium@hotmail.com BTW)
Briefly, about the career stuff, I can relate to you quite directly;
I have always been very artistically driven, always trying do ride that intabgible feeling of something OF me, that's simply BIGGER than me.
The way I've been exploring that in the past couple of years is in music;
Now, I'm not big headed,(though I am magnificent!), but I am aware that I have some serious talent in certain areas.
I don't really practice, but I can beatbox the arse off a donkey!
It's not like it's THE thing that I want to do, but I can't deny that I'm better than a lot of the competition, and if I put my mind to it, I could be pretty succesful.
Personally I find it a bit limiting, but in order to follow my dreams of just making music, I have to do the trendy beatbox thing, basically the groundwork for my master plan!
This is similar I think, to your stance on education.
I'm in a college music course now, but it's not about the grades for me, it's about learning.
In order for me to be totally liberated from the conventional and the less interesting, I must first understand it.
My advice is take the conventional education route, because you can do all the things you want as well, whilst making life easier for yourself down the road.
NEVER SACRIFICE YOUR CREATIVE NATURE, but be prepared to sew a seed or two, for life down the road.
Jakep speaks the truth. NEVER let your creativity die. I have faced the same quandaries you are going through right now, and truth be told, it is not easy deciding what you are going to do. Once that has been settled, the real kicker comes: how do you go about accomplishing the things you have set your heart on? Like every one else has said, education comes first. Echoing them further, sometimes things do not go as planned. The fact that you want to do so many things may help with that. Sometimes some peoples' movie/writing careers shoot off: others flop or don't even gather steam, despite their best efforts. So while you go to school to study writing/cinema or reflexology( or all of them if you have the constitution) you can try to implement whatever plan you come up with, and if it does not work, you may have something else to fall back on. The most important thing to stress I think is persistance. You may not succeed the first few tries, but keep trying. Either you will eventually succeed, or you may finally realize you are seated on a dead horse, in which case you can change your plan of action accordingly. And do not be afraid to experimant with other interests; you may find your "calling" a little later on through that. Nonetheless, I wish you luck Jowan. Peace.
This message has been edited by Zub-Zub on Sep 22, 2004 10:11 PM
I read this original message and couldn't believe how similar it was to the struggles I've been through these past few months. I, too, have aspirations of becoming a screenplay writer. Maybe not a well-known hollywood bigshot, but I really want to expand my creativity onto several short films. I have a keen love for artistic creativity and poetry. There are already several ideas floating around in my head that I have been toying around with. My suggestion to you [pertaining to the directing/screenwriting route] is learn the basics. I've been going to the bookstore on average about 3-4 times a week this past month. Each time I went I would collect books on Writing/Screenplays/Directing and I would briefly thumb through them and take important notes. It would be my little research project. Through this I learned about what is to be expected in the film/writing industry. Going in blindfolded, only knowing that it sounds fun, can be a real heartbreaker when you learn of all the work involved. In order to successfully pursue a path in life you must do a bit of research to keep you on your toes. Look up interviews with other screenplay writers and directors. Browse through books and find out how to write and format a screenplay. Collect valuable information regarding this career path. After you've done your homework you may then practice on what you've learned. Create a simple story idea in your head and write a 30 page script for it (the average is 100-120 for a feature-length film). Then go over it again and edit the dialogue and action sequences. Pretend like you are about to direct this; practice, practice, and practice!
Keep up your education as well. It wouldn't hurt to take a few english classes, and maybe creative writing as well to start helping your juices flow. Meet new acquaintances with the same interests as you. Be it Writing, Directing, Reflexology (I'm not sure what this is, actually), and anything you are interested in. Myself, I am interested in Psychology/Writing/Directing/Scriptwriting... those are several paths that I have open to me. Each one of them will have their struggles and obstacles, but I know that if I open my mind and motivate myself; I will succeed. There's not a question if or how. Self-Esteem and Confidence is key. You have to believe in yourself. That's what life is about. It's not about making money or becoming famous; it's about discovering who you are, and what you enjoy doing. It's about meeting interesting people, doing interesthing things, and through all of this you learn more about yourself. No matter what path you take, as long as you are fully aware of everything around you; you will succeed. Even if you do direct a movie and it's a flop, atleast you've learned something in the process; something you know to do differently next time. Through the good and bad we always learn new things.
As long as you enjoy doing it, that's all that there needs to be said. Spread your wings and fly; the world's the wide open sky. Good luck out there.
As for me... I'm still learning. I'm 19... I still have alot to learn about alot of things. I'm just glad that I've learned alot about myself in the journey so far. And I will continue to learn until the day I die. Death is inevitable, and just as much unexpected. Live every day to the fullest, don't live with regrets, don't hold anything back. Okay, I better stop now before I get philisophical again.
