Working hard or hardly working.

  Well I have probably brought this up before but becoming a black belt is not easy. Actually getting any belt in martial arts takes time and effort. There are always some people who will work harder then others. Sometimes it may be a factor of age, maturity, injury or schedule conflicts. Nobody can understand how life may interfere with the desire to train more than myself. What I cannot understand is people who choose to follow this path but do not devote a enough amount of time to it.  Sure, everyone has an off-day or may have difficulty with a specific area. People need help all the time. None of this is an issue overall to any instructor, provided you are putting in effort the rest of the time. What can try on an instructors patience is the students who don't put in the minimum until two to three weeks before a test, then want extra help to make sure they meet the requirements and can move on in the process. The study of martial arts is an ongoing process with each step building on the previous steps. When at a lower belt level it may be possible to cram for the test and get away with it. This however will likely come back to haunt you, especially when striving for that black belt.  No matter how many times an instructor may warn students of this impending trouble some people just don't want to believe it will happen to them.