Day12.254 Almost a Ten

A turning point in his eyes I can see.

Conducting a martial-arts kick, spin, punch drill in our cold garage dojo this morning I asked him to rate his last effort. Scale of 1-10.

He looked at me with beads of sweat taking forehead formation, and replied with a shrug of shoulders, a ten I guess.

A TEN? I bellowed to his reply.

That was absolutely, 100% dead-solid perfect?

Well no.

Re-rate it then please.

Maybe a nine? he asked sheepishly.

The front kick was with as much velocity and accuracy as possible and your spin was with impeccable, flawless and graceful power?

Well I did lose my balance there.

Yes, you did.

And you thought nothing about it at the time, thinking that it was OK as long as no unit of measurement or closer inspection was pending, just another rep. Right?

Sensing that this was a special opportunity, he shakes his shoulders, eyeballing my glare to gauge his need for depth, honesty and factual level of reply.

Well….

Are we getting closer to the real number?

Seven?

70%?

Six?

It was a six? Are you asking me or telling me?

Telling.

Are you telling the truth as deeply as you understand it?

Yes.

Are you sure?

OK it was a five.

So there is room for improvement?

Yes.

How do we do that, go from a five to a six?

Practice?

What kind of practice?

Hard?

No.

Long?

No.

A light comes on and he looks at me with bright, clear and sincere hazel eyes.

Focused.

Do it again I say steadying the body bag. Go.

Snap, snap, snap and pop.

How was that?

Better.

Why?

Focus.

Go shower and get ready for the rest of the day. Nice work. Big lesson here.

He springs up does a 360 mid-air spin and heads for the door, turning, joyously to say,

THAT was a ten.

Almost.