Week 16 of 16 · Test Cycle 2. This lesson is part of The Black Belt Mindset, the character curriculum every new Mile High Karate student begins with, by Grand Master Stephen Oliver and Grand Master Jeff Smith. Every week stands alone, so a student can start with any lesson.
| Black Belt Success Skill | All Eight Together (Black Belt and Beyond) |
|---|---|
| Black Belt Quality | Lifelong Learning and Leadership |
| Principle of the Black Belt | All six Principles |
| Key Word | BEYOND |
| Live the Creed | All four lines of the Student Creed |
“Learning is a constant process of discovery, a process without end.”
Bruce Lee
The Big Idea
A Black Belt is not the end of the road. It is where the real journey starts.
On this page: Read the chapter · Workbook lesson · For instructors: Mat Chat
Read: The Black Belt Is a Beginning
Here is a question I ask every new student: “What do you think happens after you get your Black Belt?”
Most people say something like, “I’m done!” or “I’m an expert!” or “I can stop!”
I understand why. A Black Belt is a big goal. At Mile High Karate, it takes about 48 months of steady training. You pass informal tests, a formal test, and a written test. You finish a community service project. Then you go to the mountains for our Black Belt Retreat. When you finally tie that black belt around your waist, it feels like the top of the mountain.
But I want to tell you a secret my teacher taught me. The Black Belt is not a finish line. It is a starting line.
Sixty Days
When I was a young man, I worked as a head instructor and branch manager at the Jhoon Rhee Institute in Washington, D.C. I was going to college at Georgetown University at the same time. I worked for my teacher, Grand Master Jhoon Rhee, and next to Grand Master Jeff Smith.
The Institute was very successful. It was producing hundreds of Black Belts. But when we looked at what happened after the belt test, we found a big problem.
On average, a new Black Belt kept training for only about 60 days after earning the rank. Then they quit.
Sixty days. After years of training.
How could that happen? Students had worked so hard. They had sweated, struggled, and never given up. Then, right after their biggest success, they left.
Grand Master Rhee figured out why. The students had been told the Black Belt was the goal. So when they got it, there was nothing left to reach for. They had arrived at the finish line, so they stopped running.
The Goal Is Always One Step Ahead
Grand Master Rhee fixed this with one simple rule. He taught us that you can never let a student’s goal be the rank they are about to earn.
He explained it like this. A brown belt’s goal can’t be First Degree Black Belt. The goal has to already be Second Degree Black Belt, before they even test for their first.
I have taught that lesson for decades. It is one of the most important things I know. And it doesn’t just work in karate.
Here is a kid example. Imagine a student whose goal is to make it to 5th grade. They get there and think, “Done!” Now imagine a student whose goal is to finish high school and go to college. When they reach 5th grade, they think, “Good. Next step.” Which student keeps learning?
Here is an adult example. Picture a person whose goal is to lose 20 pounds for a wedding. They hit their goal, the wedding happens, and the weight comes back. Now picture a person whose goal is to be healthy and strong at 80. They hit 20 pounds and keep going, because their goal was never just the number.
Whatever goal you are working on right now, add one more step past it. Then you will never arrive at a dead end.
That is why we call it Black Belt and Beyond.
In Their Own Words
“I once thought that getting my 1st Degree Black Belt meant that I knew Karate. Now I understand that it is only the beginning. … My goal after earning my 1st Degree is to become a 2nd Degree Black Belt. I want to become an instructor and teach Karate to other people.”
Jim Nieman, Black Belt essay
All Eight Together
Every Black Belt at Mile High Karate learns eight Success Skills. They are not just for karate. They are for school, work, family and the rest of your life. Here they are, all together:
- Goal Attainment and Positive Self-Expectancy. Expect good things, and work to make them happen.
- Definite Commitment. Decide for sure. “Maybe” means no.
- Unshakable Character and Personal Honesty. Know who you are. Tell the truth. Own your actions.
- Visualization. See it in your mind before you do it.
- Total Self-Confidence. You can do what you are willing to work for.
- Positive Self-Talk. Make the voice in your head a coach, not a critic.
- No Excuses. Take 100% responsibility for your results.
- Positive Respect. Good manners, respect for others and respect for yourself.
Each one is strong by itself. Together, they are what a Black Belt really is. The belt is just the sign on the outside.
Black Belt Success Skill
All Eight Together. A winning Black Belt doesn’t use one success skill at a time. They use all eight, every day. They set a goal and expect to reach it. They commit for sure. They stay honest. They see it before they do it. They believe in themselves. They talk to themselves like a coach. They make no excuses. And they treat everyone, including themselves, with respect. This week, you will write one “I am” sentence for each of the eight skills. That is your Black Belt Self-Talk Script. Start today: read your script out loud tonight, and then every day for the next 30 days.
Live the Creed
Student Creed: All four lines of the Student Creed
Principle of the Black Belt: All six Principles
You know the whole Student Creed now. Say all four lines out loud. Then say the six Principles of the Black Belt: Modesty, Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Courage and Indomitable Spirit. A Black Belt does not stop living the creed after graduation. That is what “Black Belt and beyond” means. The creed is not something you finish. It is something you keep.
The Black Belt Retreat
At Mile High Karate, every new Black Belt finishes testing in the Colorado mountains. For many years, our Black Belt Retreat was at SilverCreek, near Granby. Then it moved to places like Keystone and Breckenridge. Today it is three days in Breckenridge.
The test is hard. For many years, the testing part ran about 48 hours from start to finish. In 2007, there is a photo of me teaching 150 Black Belts in their 43rd straight hour, at 8,500 feet above sea level. That’s high enough that the air is thin and you get tired faster.
Every year at the retreat, I sit down with the new Black Belts and their parents. I ask them a question:
”If I gave you $1,000,000, would you give back everything you gained on the way to your Black Belt? The confidence, the discipline, the friendships, the goals you’ve reached?”
By 2007, I had asked 487 new Black Belts and their parents that question. Every single one of them said no.
Think about that. What you are building right now, one class at a time, will be worth more to you than a million dollars. Not the belt. The person you become while earning it.
The Black Belt Extravaganza
A few weeks after the retreat, our new Black Belts walk across the stage at the Black Belt Extravaganza. We have held it every year since 1990, and I have been at every one. There are demonstrations and performances, and the new Black Belts receive their belts in front of their families and the whole school.
I want you to come, even if you are a brand-new white belt. Sit in the audience. Watch the new Black Belts. Picture yourself up there. It is one of the best ways to set your own goal.
But remember what you’re watching. You’re not watching people finish. You’re watching people start.
What Comes After Black Belt
At Mile High Karate, the journey keeps going after the Black Belt. There are more degrees of Black Belt to earn. Second Degree usually takes about 30 more months of training. There is the Black Belt Club, with three levels of reading and training. And there is the Leadership Team, where students grow in three stages:
- Team member — you learn to work well with others and help the team.
- Leader — you learn to guide and encourage other students.
- Teacher — you learn to teach, so you can pass on what you know.
That’s how Mile High Karate has always grown. Students become assistant instructors. Assistant instructors become instructors. Some instructors go on to lead whole schools. Our students don’t just learn karate. They learn to lead.
We have promoted more than 1,000 Black Belts at Mile High Karate. The youngest was 5 years old. The oldest was 76. Every one of them started as a white belt, just like you. And the best of them understood, on Black Belt day, that they were only getting started.
From Grand Master Smith
Grand Master Jeff Smith has been in the martial arts since 1965. He became a world champion. He is a 10th Degree Black Belt and the Chief of Instruction at Mile High Karate. And he is still learning and still teaching.
He likes to compare training to going to school. In his words: “You don’t go to college to drop out as a freshman.” Nobody signs up for college just to quit after the first year. You go to finish, and then to use what you learned for the rest of your life.
He also explains goals with a picture of the horizon, the line where the land meets the sky. “You’ll pick a point,” he says, “and as you walk towards that point you can see farther.” When you reach your first goal, you can see the next one. That’s how a Black Belt grows.
Grand Master Smith says, “If you get to black belt, you now have lifelong skills for a higher level of discipline, respect and confidence.” Lifelong. That means the Black Belt isn’t just for now. It’s for the rest of your life.
Black Belt and Beyond
This week is graduation week. Some of you will earn a new belt. Every one of you will take a step closer to Black Belt.
Graduation is the payoff for the work you’ve done. But a Black Belt never stops at the payoff. Before you tie on your new belt, you will already know your next goal.
This week, you will finish two things in your workbook.
First, your Black Belt Self-Talk Script: one “I am” sentence for each of the eight Success Skills. Some students read their script at graduation. All of you will read it out loud every day for the next 30 days.
Second, My Goal Beyond Black Belt: your target date for First Degree, your target date for Second Degree, and what you want to do after that. Join the Leadership Team? Become an assistant instructor? Teach a white belt the way someone taught you?
Write it down. Sign it. Share it with your family and your instructor. Then come back next week and start the next step. That is what Black Belts do.
How a Black Belt Does It
- Name your next two goals today. Say out loud your next belt AND the belt after it, before you go to bed tonight.
- Set your goal past Black Belt. Always know what comes after the goal you’re working on.
- Stay a student. Even Grand Masters keep learning. Never think you know it all.
- Help someone behind you. Show a newer student the way. Teaching is the best way to learn.
- Come to the big events. Watch the Extravaganza. Picture yourself on stage.
In Class This Week
Key Word: BEYOND
Instructor: “Where are you going?”
Students: “Black Belt and beyond!”
In class, you will stand in a Winner’s Circle. One at a time, you will step in, deliver your strongest “I am” sentence with a kiai, and the whole class will answer, “Yes, you are!”
This week’s challenge
This week’s challenge: finish your Black Belt Self-Talk Script and read it out loud every day for one week, then keep going for 30 days.
Say It Out Loud
I am a future Black Belt, and my Black Belt is a beginning, not an end.
I am always working toward my next goal.
I am becoming a leader and a teacher.
I am learning for the rest of my life.
Words to Know
- Retreat: a special trip away from home to train, learn, and test.
- Degree: a level of Black Belt; First Degree, Second Degree, and so on.
- Success Skill: a habit of mind that helps you reach your goals.
- Leadership: guiding and helping other people do their best.
- Horizon: the line far away where the land seems to meet the sky.
- Lifelong: lasting for your whole life.
For Parents and Adult Students
The most important thing you can do as a parent is talk about Black Belt as a beginning from the very first month. Instead of “When you get your Black Belt, you’re done,” say, “When you get your Black Belt, you’ll be ready for the Leadership Team.” Bring your child to the Black Belt Extravaganza every year, whatever their rank. It is the best goal-setting event we have.
This week, sit with your child while they write their Black Belt Self-Talk Script, and post it where the family will see it every day. Write a script of your own and read yours alongside theirs. Adults, set a goal that reaches past First Degree, such as Second Degree or becoming an assistant instructor. People who aim past the finish line rarely stop at it. Our oldest new Black Belt was 76. It is never too late to begin, and it is never too late to keep going.
Remember
- The Black Belt is not a finish line. It is a starting line.
- Always set your next goal before you reach the one you’re working on.
- The eight Success Skills, all together, are what a Black Belt really is.
- What you gain on the way to Black Belt is worth more than a million dollars.
- You don’t go to college to drop out as a freshman.
Workbook Lesson: Week 16
Print the full workbook below, or answer these on paper. Young students can have a parent help them read and write.
1. Words to Know
- Retreat: a special trip away from home to train, learn, and test
- Degree: a level of Black Belt, like First Degree or Second Degree
- Success Skill: a habit of mind that helps you reach your goals
- Leadership: guiding and helping other people do their best
- Lifelong: lasting for your whole life
2. Fill in the Blank
- The Black Belt is not a finish line. It is a starting .
- Grand Master Rhee taught that a brown belt’s goal should already be Degree Black Belt.
- Grand Master Smith says, “You don’t go to college to drop out as a .”
Answers
1) line; 2) Second; 3) freshman
3. Think About It
- Why did so many new Black Belts at the Jhoon Rhee Institute quit after about 60 days?
- Which of the eight Success Skills is your strongest? Which one do you most want to grow?
- What are the three stages of the Leadership Team? Which one sounds most exciting to you?
- Teens & Adults: What is a goal in your life that you should extend one step past the finish line?
4. Black Belt and Beyond: this week’s goal step
My Black Belt Self-Talk Script and My Goal Beyond Black Belt
Module 8: Graduation and Black Belt and Beyond
Write one “I am” sentence for each Success Skill. Keep each one present tense, positive, specific and about you. Then write your goal beyond Black Belt.
- 1. Goal Attainment & Self-Expectancy — I am (ex: I am earning my Black Belt by ____.): ________________
- 2. Definite Commitment — I am (ex: I am committed. Maybe means no.): ________________
- 3. Character & Personal Honesty — I am (ex: I am honest, and I own my actions.): ________________
- 4. Visualization — I am (ex: I am seeing my Black Belt day every night.): ________________
- 5. Total Self-Confidence — I am (ex: I am able to do what I work for.): ________________
- 6. Positive Self-Talk — I am (ex: I am my own best coach.): ________________
- 7. No Excuses — I am (ex: I am responsible for my results.): ________________
- 8. Positive Respect — I am (ex: I am respectful to others and to myself.): ________________
My Goal Beyond Black Belt
- My target date for 1st Degree Black Belt: ________________
- My target date for 2nd Degree Black Belt (about 30 months after 1st Degree): ________________
- ☐ Join the Black Belt Club
- ☐ Join the Leadership Team
- ☐ Become an assistant instructor
- ☐ Teach a newer student what I know
- ☐ Come to the Black Belt Extravaganza every year
After my Black Belt, the person I am becoming is: ______________________________
Signatures: Student, Parent, Instructor
5. Activity: My Goal Ladder
Draw a ladder with five steps. On the bottom step, write the belt you have now. On the next step, write your next belt. Keep going up until you reach Black Belt. Then add one more step above Black Belt and write what comes next for you (Second Degree, Leadership Team, assistant instructor, or teacher).
6. Home Challenge: Read My Script Out Loud
Finish your Black Belt Self-Talk Script on the next page. Every day for one week, read it out loud, standing tall, in a strong voice (a mirror works great). Then keep going for 30 days. A parent initials each day. A completed, signed week earns an attitude stripe.
Do it 7 days in a row. Track each day (I read my Black Belt Self-Talk Script out loud). When every day is done and a parent signs off, turn it in for an attitude stripe.
7. My Self-Talk
Pick the strongest sentence from your Black Belt Self-Talk Script and write it here. This is the one you will say at the Winner’s Circle.
8. Live the Creed
Say the whole Student Creed and all six Principles of the Black Belt out loud. Then write which Principle you will work on most after graduation, and why.
For Instructors: Week 16 Mat Chat
A 3–4 minute line-up lesson built on the Hook, Teach, Story, Ask, Commit formula, with a discussion guide for every age on the mat.
Objective: By the end of this Mat Chat, students will be able to explain why the Black Belt is a starting line, name their next belt and the goal after it (including a goal beyond First Degree), and say one “I am” sentence from their Black Belt Self-Talk Script.
Prepare:
- Write the eight Success Skills on a poster or whiteboard so students can see them during the Teach.
- Recruit a Black Belt or Leadership Team helper to share their own goal beyond their current rank.
- Clear space for a Winner’s Circle and have workbooks or Self-Talk Script pages available.
The Mat Chat (3–4 minutes)
Hook (0:00–0:30). Students, here’s a question. What happens after you get your Black Belt? [Let two or three students answer.] Some people say, “I’m done!” or “I’m an expert!” I understand why. A Black Belt takes about 48 months of steady training. Tests. A community service project. The Black Belt Retreat in the mountains. It feels like the top of the mountain. But here’s a secret. The Black Belt is not a finish line. It’s a starting line.
Teach (0:30–1:30). Our key word is BEYOND. And our Black Belt Success Skill is all eight together. Let’s name them. Goal attainment and positive self-expectancy. Definite commitment. Character and personal honesty. Visualization. Total self-confidence. Positive self-talk. No excuses. Positive respect. Each one is strong by itself. Together, they are what a Black Belt really is. The belt is just the sign on the outside. You use all eight, every day. That’s why a Black Belt always knows the goal after the goal. First Degree, then Second Degree, about 30 months later. Then the Black Belt Club and the Leadership Team: team member, leader, teacher. As Bruce Lee said, “Learning is a constant process of discovery, a process without end.” A Black Belt never stops being a student.
Story (1:30–2:30). When Grand Master Oliver was a young man, he was a head instructor and branch manager at the Jhoon Rhee Institute in Washington, D.C. He worked for Grand Master Jhoon Rhee and next to Grand Master Jeff Smith. The Institute was producing hundreds of Black Belts. But they found a big problem. On average, a new Black Belt kept training for only about 60 days after earning the rank. Then they quit. Sixty days, after years of work! Grand Master Rhee figured out why. Students had been told the Black Belt was the goal. When they got it, there was nothing left to reach for. So he made one rule. A brown belt’s goal can’t be First Degree. It has to already be Second Degree, before they even test for their first. Grand Master Smith says it this way: “You don’t go to college to drop out as a freshman.”
Ask (2:30–3:15). Is the Black Belt a finish line or a starting line? (A starting line!) Why should your goal always be one step past the belt you’re working on? (So you never stop!) Which Success Skill is your strongest? (Visualization! No excuses!) Turn to a partner and say your next belt, the belt after it, and one goal past Black Belt. [Give pairs 15 seconds.] Hands up if you named a goal past Black Belt.
Commit (3:15–3:45). Here’s your 7-day home challenge. Finish your Black Belt Self-Talk Script in your workbook: one “I am” sentence for each of the eight Success Skills. Then read it out loud every day this week, standing tall, in a strong voice. A mirror works great. Don’t stop at seven days. Keep going for 30. And write your goal beyond Black Belt right next to your target date. Where are you going? (Black Belt and beyond!)
Call and response
Instructor: Where are you going?
Students: Black Belt and beyond!
Key Word: BEYOND
Discussion Guide
Aim: Help every student, at every rank, set a goal one step past the belt they are working on, and see the eight Success Skills as the real meaning of Black Belt and a lifelong toolkit for school, work and family.
Little Dragons (ages 4–6)
- Can you point to your belt and tell me the color of your next belt?
- Can you show me how you could help a brand-new white belt? (Show me a bow, a stance or a high five.)
Kids (ages 7–12)
- Why do you think so many new Black Belts at the Jhoon Rhee Institute quit after about 60 days?
- Which of the eight Success Skills is your strongest? Which one do you most want to grow?
- The Leadership Team has three stages: team member, leader and teacher. Which one sounds most exciting to you, and why?
Teens and adults
- What is a goal in your life (school, work, health, family) that you should extend one step past the finish line?
- Grand Master Smith says, “You don’t go to college to drop out as a freshman.” Where have you seen people stop right after reaching a goal, and what happened next?
- Who taught you something important on the mat or in life? How could you pass that on to someone newer than you?
Listen for:
- The Black Belt is a starting line, not a finish line.
- Always set your next goal before you reach the one you are working on (a brown belt aims at Second Degree).
- The eight Success Skills together are what a Black Belt really is; the belt is the sign on the outside.
- After Black Belt comes more learning and leading: Second Degree, Black Belt Club, Leadership Team, teaching.
Follow-up questions:
- What would reading your Self-Talk Script out loud look like at home tomorrow? Where and when will you do it?
- What is the goal after the goal after your Black Belt?
- Which Success Skill will you need most on the days you don’t feel like training?
Coaching cautions
- Newer students may feel far from Black Belt. Keep the focus on “your next step and the one after it” so a white belt feels as included as a brown belt.
- This is graduation week, and some students may not be graduating. Avoid comparing who is or isn’t testing; praise effort and every student’s next goal.
- Don’t let “Black Belt and beyond” sound like pressure. Frame goals beyond First Degree as exciting choices (teaching, leading, helping), and let students choose their own.
If the room is quiet: Have your helper share their own goal beyond their current rank first, then go around the line and ask each student to say just two words: their next belt and the belt after it.
Into the Mat Drill
- Mat drill: Winner’s Circle: students stand in a circle. Each one steps in, delivers their strongest “I am” statement from their script with a punch and kiai, and names their goal past Black Belt. The class answers together: “Yes, you are!”
- Leader role: The Black Belt or Leadership Team helper shares their own goal beyond their current rank to open the discussion, then goes first in the Winner’s Circle to model a strong “I am” statement.
- Open next class: Open next class by asking students to raise a hand if they read their Black Belt Self-Talk Script out loud every day, and have three volunteers read their strongest sentence and remind everyone to keep going for 30 days.
Black Belt and Beyond: Module 8: Graduation and the Black Belt and Beyond Invitation
Checkpoint: DEADLINE: belt graduation date. Qualified (A, A, A) students move to the Black Belt and Beyond conference.
- Feature one final Black Belt essay or performance at graduation; have volunteers read their completed Black Belt Self-Talk Script.
- Present the “Black Belt and Beyond” Special Invitation to qualified students, followed by the Application, the Million Dollar Bill Letter and the Black Belt Q&A.
- Book Black Belt and Beyond conferences. The 16-week curriculum restarts at Week 1 for the next cycle.
Adult and parent tip: Parents: post your child’s Self-Talk Script where the family sees it daily, and write and read a script of your own alongside theirs. Adults: set a goal that reaches past First Degree, such as Second Degree or assistant instructor.
Teaching tip: Ask each child to name their next belt AND the belt after it. Celebrate the kids who can name a goal past Black Belt. Remind families about the next Black Belt Extravaganza and encourage every rank to attend.
Download the complete books (PDF): The Black Belt Mindset · The Workbook · The Instructor’s Manual
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