Congratulations to the Baltimore Ravens for winning the Super Bowl! After the game, one of the players, Bernard Pollard, was interviewed and what he said tied in extremely well with our theme of the month, Personal Responsibility. In this interview, Bernard Pollard acknowledged that mistakes were made during the game which cost the Ravens and that he took responsibility for some of them.
"Yes, man. We had to weather the storm. It’s one of those things where, you know, things didn’t go right. We messed up here and there and I know – we all, we didn’t play perfect and I take responsibility on some of those plays. I really do. We all – eleven guys, man. Our whole team. Man, this is crazy man. We thank God for this." – Bernard Pollard, CSNBaltimore Interview
All too often, people try to weasel out of taking responsibility for their actions. People lie, blame others or try to ignore their mistakes in hopes of not getting caught. Lying or avoiding responsibility never turns out well because the truth invariably comes out. It’s refreshing to see someone acknowledge his mistakes and move on. Pollard didn’t blame anyone else and he didn’t dwell on his mistakes. As a result, you know he’ll work that much harder next time to avoid making the same mistakes. Truly, those who are mature enough to take responsibility for their actions are worthy of our respect and trust.
Although taking responsibility for your mistakes is an extremely important part of personal responsibility, it is also vitally important to take responsibility for ensuring your success in life.
As you get more advanced in your Hapkido training, especially as you get beyond Black Belt, the training and material requires that you take more responsibility for your own training. From White Belt until Black Belt, you are directly taught each individual technique and your responsibility is simply to master the specific material taught. Your level of mastery of that material is reflective of how much work you put into it by taking responsibility for your work ethic. After Black Belt, the training becomes increasingly about applying concepts to your techniques. Rather than being shown each specific motion, you are taught a concept that you must then figure out how to apply to everything you know.
The higher up you go in rank, the more responsibility you must take. At 1st dan, you are introduced to some concepts, but also taught a number of advanced techniques directly. By the time you get to 4th or 5th dan, just about all of your training is about applying concepts that you must explore yourself. That’s not to say that your instructors, your success coaches, won’t help you if you hit a road block, but to truly master the material, you must work your hardest to figure out as many of the techniques using those concepts yourself. Discovering the techniques yourself gives you a greater mastery over them than if they are simply shown to you because they become engrained in you. They become a part of you.
At any given colored belt up to Black Belt, you learn roughly 12-17 techniques. To apply a concept, however, you are effectively learning each of your techniques all over again, and figuring most of it out for yourself on top of that. Sometimes you may get discouraged when you are trying to discover how to implement a difficult concept to your techniques, but it’s when the training is hardest that you will see the most growth, just as in life. At the same time, discovering techniques for yourself, making them your own, is far more exciting and rewarding than just having new technique after new technique shown to you because they become yours.
Ray Lewis has often talked about how if you want to be successful, you have to take responsibility and make it happen. That isn’t to say that you should walk alone in life. To the contrary, walking alone is a far more difficult and less rewarding path than sharing the experience with others. Your friends, family and success coaches are there to support you, but at the end of the day, you have to do it yourself. Teachers can show you the way, but you must walk the path yourself. This is true in Football, in Martial Arts, in school, at work and in life.
Below is a speech Ray Lewis gave at Elon University about the importance of taking responsibility for your success that I’d strongly encourage you to watch or read, and then think about how you can apply what he has to say to your training and to other parts of your life.
"Yes, man. We had to weather the storm. It’s one of those things where, you know, things didn’t go right. We messed up here and there and I know – we all, we didn’t play perfect and I take responsibility on some of those plays. I really do. We all – eleven guys, man. Our whole team. Man, this is crazy man. We thank God for this." – Bernard Pollard, CSNBaltimore Interview
All too often, people try to weasel out of taking responsibility for their actions. People lie, blame others or try to ignore their mistakes in hopes of not getting caught. Lying or avoiding responsibility never turns out well because the truth invariably comes out. It’s refreshing to see someone acknowledge his mistakes and move on. Pollard didn’t blame anyone else and he didn’t dwell on his mistakes. As a result, you know he’ll work that much harder next time to avoid making the same mistakes. Truly, those who are mature enough to take responsibility for their actions are worthy of our respect and trust.
Although taking responsibility for your mistakes is an extremely important part of personal responsibility, it is also vitally important to take responsibility for ensuring your success in life.
As you get more advanced in your Hapkido training, especially as you get beyond Black Belt, the training and material requires that you take more responsibility for your own training. From White Belt until Black Belt, you are directly taught each individual technique and your responsibility is simply to master the specific material taught. Your level of mastery of that material is reflective of how much work you put into it by taking responsibility for your work ethic. After Black Belt, the training becomes increasingly about applying concepts to your techniques. Rather than being shown each specific motion, you are taught a concept that you must then figure out how to apply to everything you know.
The higher up you go in rank, the more responsibility you must take. At 1st dan, you are introduced to some concepts, but also taught a number of advanced techniques directly. By the time you get to 4th or 5th dan, just about all of your training is about applying concepts that you must explore yourself. That’s not to say that your instructors, your success coaches, won’t help you if you hit a road block, but to truly master the material, you must work your hardest to figure out as many of the techniques using those concepts yourself. Discovering the techniques yourself gives you a greater mastery over them than if they are simply shown to you because they become engrained in you. They become a part of you.
At any given colored belt up to Black Belt, you learn roughly 12-17 techniques. To apply a concept, however, you are effectively learning each of your techniques all over again, and figuring most of it out for yourself on top of that. Sometimes you may get discouraged when you are trying to discover how to implement a difficult concept to your techniques, but it’s when the training is hardest that you will see the most growth, just as in life. At the same time, discovering techniques for yourself, making them your own, is far more exciting and rewarding than just having new technique after new technique shown to you because they become yours.
Ray Lewis has often talked about how if you want to be successful, you have to take responsibility and make it happen. That isn’t to say that you should walk alone in life. To the contrary, walking alone is a far more difficult and less rewarding path than sharing the experience with others. Your friends, family and success coaches are there to support you, but at the end of the day, you have to do it yourself. Teachers can show you the way, but you must walk the path yourself. This is true in Football, in Martial Arts, in school, at work and in life.
Below is a speech Ray Lewis gave at Elon University about the importance of taking responsibility for your success that I’d strongly encourage you to watch or read, and then think about how you can apply what he has to say to your training and to other parts of your life.
Transcript:
"There’s something – there’s a spirit that grabs me, right? And it’s in every one of you guys. But the question is – how much time are we wasting? I just came out of the gym for three hours this morning. I got five hours of sleep. That’s it. Every day of my life I’m trying to find a different way to get better.
Now coach didn’t tell me to do this. Remember we on lock-out. So I ain’t training for football – I’m training for a lifestyle. I’m training because I say to something that I want to be the greatest to ever do it – and I’m not done yet. That’s inside of each one of y’all – right there (points to player’s heart) – each one of you. But the question still remains. How much time will you really waste? If I looked at my clock; you looked at your phone – time never stops for no one! It’s the one thing God don’t give us. [Thunder Strikes; Ray Lewis points upward] And it’s your time. It’s your time. And now the question is what will you do to make sure it’s your time? When your time is ready, will you be ready?
That’s what I do man. That’s all I do. That I believe every time I step on that I never cheat one of my teammates – ever. I never let one of my teammates take a break on me, and I never take a break on them. But man you guys got an opportunity to do something right now. And when you wake up in the mornings don’t let your alarm clock be the only thing that wakes you up. Makes sure you wake up with God on your mind. Make sure you fall to your knees with your face on the floor and say ‘thank you for another opportunity’ – not just to wake up, but to be a top athlete. ‘Cause some people can’t see, some people can’t walk, some people can’t hear – but you’re gifted. Strap on some shoulder pads, put on your cleats, we all know what that feeling feel like – there’s no feeling in the world like it. So now how thankful would you give back to that? Every single day you got to master your craft. That’s what it’s about!
Millions of kids across this country man – this one shot – harsh reality: one percent makes it. One! I heard from everything that I was too small, I couldn’t do this, I couldn’t do that – okay and. But nobody’s ever stepped in that room with me to get it done. That’s what I’m challenging each one of you men today – don’t let coach always have to tell you what to do! Find a way to do it yourself! So that he gets ready to text you and when he get ready to question you about what a defense should be or what an offense should be, you already got the answers! [Thunder Clap] That’s when you start having a real meeting. That’s when the coach appreciates coming in a meeting. When before you play your next game you know your opponent better than your coach knows the opponent. It’s just competition, right? So when someone says ‘oh are you ready to beat them?’ Why!? I ain’t found a man that will out work me. You might out run me on the fourth, but you ain’t going to fine to out root me for 60 minutes. I doubt that. Ain’t because I got anything nothing special – the only thing I got special on me is my mind to be special.
Greatness is a lot of small things done well, stacked on top of each other. School work. Yes ma’am, no ma’am. Pants pulled up over my waist. Small things that make greatness. So when someone finally sees you, they represent you as a King, because you walk as a King. And until you set your mindset to think like a King, then you stay where everybody else is at. And that’s a place I didn’t want to stay. I wanted to go way beyond that. And that’s what I’m still chasing to this day. That’s the only reason I was in the gym earlier this morning. That’s the only reason I was – whatever it is; I don’t know what it is today, but if I can change one life today, just by telling you to be different, do something different, and take God with you I don’t know wherever you go, then do it! Then do it! And when you do it, let your name be worth more than your bank account. When you’re finally ready to go home, make sure your footsteps are remembered. That’s the only reason you guys respect me the way y’all respect me. That’s it. Because I made up my mind to chase Him, and really nurture my craft. Really nurture my craft. I’ve never been the biggest, the fastest, the strongest or nothing. Nothing! All I had was work. All I ever had was my work ethic.
At nine years old, I took a deck of cards – which is now three decks of cards – and I took a deck of cards and I’d flip over a card, and I’d do six; flip over another card if I get a Jack, Queen, King, I’d do ten. If I get an Ace, I’d do twenty-five. Flip over a Joker, I’d do fifty. I mastered that. At nine years old! That deck of cards has now turned into three decks of cards. If I brought my bag in here, I’d show you those same three decks of cards that I travel with every day of my life. ‘Cause the only thing I know is that I can’t take a break. Don’t ever let a day go by that you waste, cause that’s a day that you’ll never get back. These are the moments we’re talking about.
I just want to say to you guys, thank you for letting me come speak to you, because there’s some spirit that drives in this room that one of you guys, one of these days is going to go back and say ‘I remember our conversation, and now I’m there’, because the next man will be that next man. Knowledge is to be gained, and passed along. That’s all I’m trying to do today. I’m trying to pass some type of knowledge to somebody else, that’s going to grab it.
I grabbed it differently. I love my Father with every inch of my heart, but I grabbed it because I didn’t have a Father, so all I could grab onto was my relationship with God. My Mom worked three jobs, my Mom was never home. So mine was different. My grime, my taste in my mouth was different. I ain’t never have money – never!
Now is the time; I started that at nine. You guys are way older than that, so y’all can’t waste no more time. You gotta make up your mind to do anything you want to do. And don’t let nobody – nobody – tell you what you can’t do.
You can look at my story – you can look at Michael Jordan’s story – and when the coach said you’re not good enough, he went and made himself good enough, simply by work.
So I’m not here to tell you no secrets, I’m here to tell you the only thing I know how to do is work. And the only reason I get up and work everyday the way I do is to honor God blessing me to be able to do it. That’s why I keep grinding and that’s why I want to spread…
I really wanted to see you guys play today – of course, you know it’s basketball season and we gotta watch basketball – and don’t want to disrespect basketball, but there’s something different about when you put a helmet on and strap up a chin strap – it’s a different type of contact, and that’s what I was waiting to see today. Of course we can’t do it right now, but…
But man, I just wanted to tell you guys ‘thank you for the opportunity’, you know and uh, I’m an open book. Coach will have some way to get in contact with me before I leave, and I’m an open book to tell you guys, don’t ever walk through life alone. Don’t ever do it alone. That’s the longest walk you’d ever take, is by yourself. Take someone with you. Take somebody with you… Alright? Thank you. [Applause]
Champions on three! Champions on three!
One, two, three ‘champions’!" – Ray Lewis
"There’s something – there’s a spirit that grabs me, right? And it’s in every one of you guys. But the question is – how much time are we wasting? I just came out of the gym for three hours this morning. I got five hours of sleep. That’s it. Every day of my life I’m trying to find a different way to get better.
Now coach didn’t tell me to do this. Remember we on lock-out. So I ain’t training for football – I’m training for a lifestyle. I’m training because I say to something that I want to be the greatest to ever do it – and I’m not done yet. That’s inside of each one of y’all – right there (points to player’s heart) – each one of you. But the question still remains. How much time will you really waste? If I looked at my clock; you looked at your phone – time never stops for no one! It’s the one thing God don’t give us. [Thunder Strikes; Ray Lewis points upward] And it’s your time. It’s your time. And now the question is what will you do to make sure it’s your time? When your time is ready, will you be ready?
That’s what I do man. That’s all I do. That I believe every time I step on that I never cheat one of my teammates – ever. I never let one of my teammates take a break on me, and I never take a break on them. But man you guys got an opportunity to do something right now. And when you wake up in the mornings don’t let your alarm clock be the only thing that wakes you up. Makes sure you wake up with God on your mind. Make sure you fall to your knees with your face on the floor and say ‘thank you for another opportunity’ – not just to wake up, but to be a top athlete. ‘Cause some people can’t see, some people can’t walk, some people can’t hear – but you’re gifted. Strap on some shoulder pads, put on your cleats, we all know what that feeling feel like – there’s no feeling in the world like it. So now how thankful would you give back to that? Every single day you got to master your craft. That’s what it’s about!
Millions of kids across this country man – this one shot – harsh reality: one percent makes it. One! I heard from everything that I was too small, I couldn’t do this, I couldn’t do that – okay and. But nobody’s ever stepped in that room with me to get it done. That’s what I’m challenging each one of you men today – don’t let coach always have to tell you what to do! Find a way to do it yourself! So that he gets ready to text you and when he get ready to question you about what a defense should be or what an offense should be, you already got the answers! [Thunder Clap] That’s when you start having a real meeting. That’s when the coach appreciates coming in a meeting. When before you play your next game you know your opponent better than your coach knows the opponent. It’s just competition, right? So when someone says ‘oh are you ready to beat them?’ Why!? I ain’t found a man that will out work me. You might out run me on the fourth, but you ain’t going to fine to out root me for 60 minutes. I doubt that. Ain’t because I got anything nothing special – the only thing I got special on me is my mind to be special.
Greatness is a lot of small things done well, stacked on top of each other. School work. Yes ma’am, no ma’am. Pants pulled up over my waist. Small things that make greatness. So when someone finally sees you, they represent you as a King, because you walk as a King. And until you set your mindset to think like a King, then you stay where everybody else is at. And that’s a place I didn’t want to stay. I wanted to go way beyond that. And that’s what I’m still chasing to this day. That’s the only reason I was in the gym earlier this morning. That’s the only reason I was – whatever it is; I don’t know what it is today, but if I can change one life today, just by telling you to be different, do something different, and take God with you I don’t know wherever you go, then do it! Then do it! And when you do it, let your name be worth more than your bank account. When you’re finally ready to go home, make sure your footsteps are remembered. That’s the only reason you guys respect me the way y’all respect me. That’s it. Because I made up my mind to chase Him, and really nurture my craft. Really nurture my craft. I’ve never been the biggest, the fastest, the strongest or nothing. Nothing! All I had was work. All I ever had was my work ethic.
At nine years old, I took a deck of cards – which is now three decks of cards – and I took a deck of cards and I’d flip over a card, and I’d do six; flip over another card if I get a Jack, Queen, King, I’d do ten. If I get an Ace, I’d do twenty-five. Flip over a Joker, I’d do fifty. I mastered that. At nine years old! That deck of cards has now turned into three decks of cards. If I brought my bag in here, I’d show you those same three decks of cards that I travel with every day of my life. ‘Cause the only thing I know is that I can’t take a break. Don’t ever let a day go by that you waste, cause that’s a day that you’ll never get back. These are the moments we’re talking about.
I just want to say to you guys, thank you for letting me come speak to you, because there’s some spirit that drives in this room that one of you guys, one of these days is going to go back and say ‘I remember our conversation, and now I’m there’, because the next man will be that next man. Knowledge is to be gained, and passed along. That’s all I’m trying to do today. I’m trying to pass some type of knowledge to somebody else, that’s going to grab it.
I grabbed it differently. I love my Father with every inch of my heart, but I grabbed it because I didn’t have a Father, so all I could grab onto was my relationship with God. My Mom worked three jobs, my Mom was never home. So mine was different. My grime, my taste in my mouth was different. I ain’t never have money – never!
Now is the time; I started that at nine. You guys are way older than that, so y’all can’t waste no more time. You gotta make up your mind to do anything you want to do. And don’t let nobody – nobody – tell you what you can’t do.
You can look at my story – you can look at Michael Jordan’s story – and when the coach said you’re not good enough, he went and made himself good enough, simply by work.
So I’m not here to tell you no secrets, I’m here to tell you the only thing I know how to do is work. And the only reason I get up and work everyday the way I do is to honor God blessing me to be able to do it. That’s why I keep grinding and that’s why I want to spread…
I really wanted to see you guys play today – of course, you know it’s basketball season and we gotta watch basketball – and don’t want to disrespect basketball, but there’s something different about when you put a helmet on and strap up a chin strap – it’s a different type of contact, and that’s what I was waiting to see today. Of course we can’t do it right now, but…
But man, I just wanted to tell you guys ‘thank you for the opportunity’, you know and uh, I’m an open book. Coach will have some way to get in contact with me before I leave, and I’m an open book to tell you guys, don’t ever walk through life alone. Don’t ever do it alone. That’s the longest walk you’d ever take, is by yourself. Take someone with you. Take somebody with you… Alright? Thank you. [Applause]
Champions on three! Champions on three!
One, two, three ‘champions’!" – Ray Lewis
