Discouraged ?

You've been focused. You've been disciplined. You've made the effort, day after day, month after month, year after year. You've given your best, then gone back and given some more.

And yet, you're still not there. Some days the goal seems closer, other days the goal seems farther away than ever. How do you keep going? Indeed, why should you keep going?

Because much of the value of your goal is not in the attainment, but in the pursuit. Certainly the attainment is important. Yet if the end result could be had without the effort, of what value would it be? You're striving toward a goal. Results certainly count. Still, you've already reaped many of the benefits even though the desired result is not yet within reach.

Do you want to continue learning, growing, gaining strength and enjoying the positive benefits of your focused, disciplined actions? Or do you want to give up after already investing so much? That's your choice, but either way, you're ahead of where you started. And when you continue on your sure and determined path, doing whatever it takes, you will eventually reach the desired destination. Keep going, not so much because of where you'll end up, but because of what you'll make of yourself in the process. - Ralph Marston

THE POWER OF COMMITMENT

When you commit to Taekwon-Do training, you commit to achieving a Black Belt. It is best to adopt that mentality as early as possible in your training. Then, nothing less than earning a Black Belt will satisfy you. A program that requires similar commitment is University. When students enroll into a University program, they usually don’t do so with the intent to take a couple of classes and then drop out. University students enroll because they want to graduate someday as experts in their field. In Taekwon-Do, achieving the rank of Black Belt is just like graduating from University. If you stop training at some belt in the middle of the ranking system, that’s just like dropping out of University. Furthermore, earning a Black Belt is just like earning a four year degree from University. They both require ton’s of determination, patience, sacrifice and discipline. But, as you have heard a thousand times before, "all good things come to those who wait" . Taekwon-Do training is highly indicative of that phrase. There’s nothing like the feeling of earning your Black Belt. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to relate to this if you are not already a Black Belt. You simply can’t know how truly great it feels until you’ve experienced it yourself. Likewise, you can’t put on a white lab coat and a stethoscope and feel the prestige that a doctor feels when he goes walking in to a hospital. You must work hard for honours such as these and earn the right to enjoy them. But I’ll assure you that it is well worth whatever sacrifices that you have to make in order to get there.
Good Luck !!!