 We've talked about what it's like to test for a belt rank and what to expect and how to prepare, but what happens if you fail? So I was recently talking to a very close friend about their concerns for an upcoming black belt test and that conversation combined with several recent conversations with many of you maybe want to address this topic today. Not only were some of these discussions about upcoming tests, but I had a couple of private conversations with viewers who were in doubt of the rank they already had and they weren't quite sure if they deserved it. Talking about belt ranking in the martial arts is like navigating through choppy waters. There is no set global standard and it's almost always subjective and personal. Because of this I can understand feeling uncertain and in a way I think that can be productive. It shows a desire to step up and do your best and represent your art, school or rank to the extent of your ability. The expression that you are your own worst critic often holds true, especially in the martial arts. We talked in previous episodes about what to expect in the black belt test, but I think the topic of failing the test and not just the black belt test, but any colored rank is a little bit of its own challenge. First and foremost, it feels horrible. There's no reason to sugarcoat it, but not passing the test sucks. But if it happens, then there are pretty much two ways you can respond to it, positively or negatively. You can be positive and use this as an opportunity to grow and improve or you can get mad and divert down a road of passing the blame or taking it as a personal attack. I know of a student at a school who was testing for their brown belt and they had felt that they earned it, but the instructor felt different. The student did not know their full material and what they did know, they were not performing to the expected level, so they were denied the rank and told to keep working on it. Well, that student chose to quit the school and attempted to smear a campaign to discredit the instructor in the school. Not exactly a great display of character, which we'll come back to in a second. But not passing the test doesn't have to be a huge deal or be taken as a personal attack. I've been there and just about everyone I've trained with has as well. In my early days of Kempo, we had a simple stripe test every month and you simply showed up to those days and tested with the material that you had. If you knew your curriculum and you could perform it, you got a stripe or belt if you're at that point in the curriculum. But if you didn't, then you didn't get a stripe and you got a chance to try again the following month. Now, there were a couple of times that I didn't get a stripe. I just wasn't ready. And that's part of it. And I really want to make this distinction. There is a big difference between not feeling ready and not actually being ready. And deep down, I think that most people can tell that difference, not feeling ready as in having doubts or nerves or wondering if they know the material well enough or could I be doing next was the better or is the instructor going to be happy with my performance, etc. All of those feelings are perfectly normal. Most people aren't comfortable with the spotlight and it's completely natural for anxiety to come into play. But here's the secret. Most of the time. And of course, I can't speak for every school, but most of the time your instructors aren't looking for a perfection. If they are asking you to test to begin with, then that usually means that they feel you are ready. So part of the test is already passed. They've seen you work your material. Your teacher knows how you perform for a formal test. It's more about seeing how you perform under pressure. The test is more about your character, your focus, your attitude, your determination and your problem solving. Well, we would hold tests for the kids classes. I wasn't worrying about the kids doing the techniques perfectly. No, I was more focused on what they did when something didn't go as planned. If they're okay, perhaps didn't respond the way that they were supposed to or if they made a mistake in the form. Did they freeze and lock up or get mad or give up? Or did they make the decision on the fly to adjust and keep going? A student that can alter their technique on the fly based on the sudden given change shows more skill to me than the student who can make a technique textbook perfect. Several years ago, I was sitting on the panel for a junior black belt test, which just meant that our students were graduating from the kids curriculum and beginning to work on the full adult curriculum. But it was a big deal to the kids. We had this one girl who breathed through the test and she was able to perform the self defense on her partners and her forms look good. And she did very well during the sparring session. The snag actually came at the end ceremonial part. We would have the kids break a board as the final part of the test. It wasn't hard to do. It was just a single one inch pine board and it was more of something satisfying for them to finish with. This girl got hung up on that. She hadn't broken boards before and she was unexpectedly hesitant, worried about being unable to do it or hurting her hand. She knew how to punch correctly, but she got inside of her own head and she would try but not put any follow through into it. And she held back and of course the board wouldn't break, which only added to her anxiety. To make the spotlight hotter, everyone, including her family was there watching her. She needed this in order to pass. We encouraged her. We talked her through it, but after a couple of attempts of not breaking it, her hand really was starting to hurt. So she switched hands after about five minutes of everyone holding their breath. She finally stopped focused, slowed her breath and then she drove to that board. And I'll tell you hands down, despite everything she had performed during the previous five hours, that five minutes was her real test. We knew she was ready to pass, but seeing how she handled herself in that moment of high pressure and anxiety only confirmed it. So your instructors aren't just looking at your technique. They want to see your focus, your effort and how you handle the challenge or what you do to improvise in the moment. So there is a difference between feeling ready, having doubts and such, but it's different when you really aren't ready. If you haven't covered all the material or if you don't understand it enough to make changes or if you're just trying to cram in preparation in order to force the test, you know it and you know it feels different. When I was testing for my secondary black belt, I had spent 11 years up to that point prepping. School changes, instructor changes kept delaying it. But when it was time for me and another student to test, we were having black belt review sessions with my instructor a week before the test. Well, a third student who was a brown belt and felt he was ready to test just started showing up to these reviews. And it was a little bit awkward because we could clearly see he wasn't ready. He didn't know half of his form and he was freezing and blanking out on most of his techniques. My instructor indulged him for the first two review sessions. But at the third, after freezing up halfway again through the Cata, he stopped and said, you know what, sir, I'm not ready to do this. My instructor nodded and said, I'm really glad you said something because at the end of today, I was going to tell you not to come back tomorrow. So you know deep down if you know the material or not. But if you do tests and you don't pass, it's OK. It's natural to feel frustration and disappointment, but this is an opportunity to improve. The first thing to determine is why? Did you not know your material? Were you too apprehensive? Did you have a bad attitude? And if you truly don't know, then ask the instructor what you can improve on and focus for the next time. And that's the beauty of it. As long as you can remain constructive about yourself, there's a next time. You know, it's not like trying to pass the bar exam where you have limited attempts or if you don't pass, you're never going to. You get to practice and try again. And to be honest, while it's not as common, some instructors really will fail the students for the wrong or unfair reasons. My first instructor was purposely not passing one of his assistant instructors, the black belt, because black belts were paid more to teach. So he was purposely denying him rank, despite the fact that his assistant was the best martial artist at that school. So there are situations where it's not your fault if you fail, but you are accountable for your own training. So if you truly believe that this is the experience you're having, then this is an opportunity for you to make a positive change. This is a chance for you to decide if this is the path you want to take or try another school. Failing the test grade can be a learning moment if you allow it to be. A belt is just a piece of cloth. You put the meaning in it, not the other way around. Thank you for watching. I would love to hear about your testing experiences, both good and bad, and what you learned from them. Also, check back in again next week because we're going to flip to the other side of the coin and talk about being an instructor who needs to fail the student.