“How long does it take to be good?”

Every instructor in every martial art has heard this line from an eager student.

This is sadly more prevalent with the later generations in today’s world and you really can’t blame them as we live in an age where everything is extremely fast or instantaneous: food delivery, information, two-day shipping.

It’s therefore only natural that people will be looking for what I call the cheat code. You’ll often see these people walking into a class only to leave after two or three classes.

Sadly too, there are plenty of people on the market who, for a few bucks, will tell you what you want to hear

Of course systema is not something that will suit everyone and that’s kind of a given, that’s understood.

However whether you’re contemplating picking up a martial art (any martial art), playing music, learning any skill, please remember that they will not be instantaneous. You will not become good in two weeks. If you are then you’re a prodigy and Mozarts are in the upper 0.001 percent of the population and they generally come few and far between.

Instead of contemplating the outcome, contemplate the journey, enjoy every step of it.

In all martial arts that I’ve practiced, I retain much better memories of training of the people I’ve trained with: their skills and experiences they’ve shared with me and as sharing goes, I’ve also enjoyed sharing my experiences and skills. This has sometimes been painful both for them and myself but looking back, the smiles have always outnumbered the frowns.

Do not focus on how good of a martial artist you’ll become, how many people you can beat up (there will always be bigger fish), whether this martial art is better than that other one.

“From the point of conception
To the moment of truth
At the point of surrender
To the burden of proof

From the point of ignition
To the final drive
The point of the journey
Is not to arrive
Anything can happen”
Rush – Prime mover

As Kevin Secours said it best: evolution is a process it’s not a finality.

If you worry about the end result, you’ll miss a whole lot of what your journey has to offer.

How long does it take to be good ? Simply put, your whole life.