80% of success is just showing up

Woody Allen once famously said: "80% of success is just showing up".

Okay, that may be an exaggeration. Of course if you just show up and do nothing, you won't get any success in whatever it is you want to do. But one thing's for sure, if you don't even show up, your success rate will be 0%.

Judo is a tough sport to master. You have to have sound technical knowledge. You have to be physically fit. You have to be agile. You have to be strategic. But before you can achieve any of that, you have to show up for training.

When I first started judo, there were about a dozen other beginners who showed up for the first lesson. After three months, there were only five or six left. After six months, only two or three. By nine months, I was the only player who was still coming for training.

I went on to become national champion and twice represented Malaysia in the World Championships (even placing 13th in one of them).

As a white belt, I wasn't familiar with Woody Allen or his famous quote but I was fully cognizant of the fact that every training I missed was a missed opportunity to improve my judo. So, I never missed training.

Quite often when I teach beginners, they would come up to me, looking frustrated at their inability to throw anyone, and ask: "How can I improve my judo?" I always answer the same thing: "Don't miss training."

Perhaps some of them might think I'm being flippant or dismissive but my simplistic answer is absolutely the single best piece of advice I can give any player (beginner or advanced) who wants to improve their judo: Don't miss training.