Photo Credit: Bene16
As a busy software developer and martial art hobbyist, I rarely have enough time to entertain the proposals, projects and invitations I receive from fellow bloggers.
Of the time I can spare, I have dedicated a good percentage to outspoken criticism of martial arts excesses, leading some traditionalists to ask why I bother at all.
Today, I shall kill two birds with one stone: I am starting a meme dedicated to taking myself down a notch.
I am lazy. Though I have received instruction from some world-class martial artists and Tao* masters, I have recently been squandering this precious inheritance, by spending more time working on this website than in furthering my personal practice. My bad.
I am a bad communicator. I have wrongly prioritized the pursuit of truth and accuracy over positivity and social grace, alienating those who expected only praise for their efforts. My message has been obscured all too often by hurt feelings. Sorry about that.
But my greatest flaw is probably that I am too smart, strong and good-looking. For this, I make no apologies.
Anyway, I now call upon my fellow bloggers to propagate the meme. Honest self-assessment is critical to personal growth, but if you don’t want to flagellate yourself in public, just go ahead and criticize me instead. I can handle it.
Tristan Loo, Synergy Institute
Priscilla Palmer, Personal Development Demands Success
Dave Chesser, Formosa Neijia
Galba Bright, Tune Up Your EQ
Black Belt Mama
Erin Pavlina, Spiritual Wisdom for Conscious People
Anmol Mehta, Mastery of Meditation, Kundalini Yoga and Zen
(…and anyone else I’ve crudely neglected to mention…)
Ladies and gentlemen, the floor is open. After writing your entry, maybe you can tag three of your own favorite bloggers to keep it going?
*Clarification: By Tao, I meant xiu dao, big Tao, not just tricks of the trade.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Receive free updates by email or RSS
Loading ...
13 responses so far ↓
1
Aaron - Personal Development Partners
// Nov 21, 2007
HA! Nothing like taking yourself down a notch before someone else gets the chance. A little honest self-assessment is good for the soul.
I’m sure I could come up with at least 3 things that others would not consider to be wonderful traits, and maybe I’ll put together a post about it.
I don’t know, though – I’d hate to lose my image of geniality…
2
Tristan, Life Coach
// Nov 21, 2007
Hi Chris,
As a presenter, I’ve found that self humility by expressing personal flaws is one of the best ways to create rapport with the crowd. Sure, I’ll participate in your meme. I got more than enough “flaws” to fill a blog post
3
Black Belt Mama
// Nov 21, 2007
This couldn’t have come at a better time. Posting every day this month is KILLING me!
4
Lori O'Connell
// Nov 21, 2007
I try to write on my blog at least every other day, but now that I’ve more than doubled the amount of training I’m doing, well, between that and my full time job, I now have a very minimal social life. Arrgh!
5
Priscilla Palmer
// Nov 21, 2007
Thanks for the tag! I’ll write something as soon as I can. Please be patient as I am working on 4 huge projects currently and balancing the holidays as well. I promise I’ll get to it though.
I’d love for you to participate in my book project! If you are interested you can find the details at http://priscillapalmer.com/priscillapalmer/2007/10/16/book-submission-request-article/
6
Formosa Neijia
// Nov 21, 2007
Chris, most of your self-criticisms come across as “I’m sorry I’m so great.”
“I have wrongly prioritized the pursuit of truth and accuracy over positivity and social grace, alienating those who expected only praise for their efforts.”
This quote, in particular, was a bit self-serving. Don’t you think?
7
Chris
// Nov 21, 2007
I respect your interpretation.
8
Chris
// Nov 25, 2007
Black Belt Mama’s Confessions
9
[Mat]
// Nov 26, 2007
I like the zoolander pic. Too smart, heh?
Good day.
10
Tristan Loo, Synergy Institute
// Nov 27, 2007
Chris,
My blog post is up: http://www.synergyinstituteonline.com/pressroom.php?press=193
Thanks for letting me participate!
11
jen_chan, writer MemberSpeed.com
// Dec 4, 2007
I think it’s important that we look at ourselves with honest and admit that we are not perfect. Unless we do this, we can never really improve ourselves. It’s not easy to take ourselves down a notch especially when we are so used to praises and have a larger than usual ego. Still, it’s an important part of growth. We need to know our weaknesses in order to convert them into strengths.
Formosa Neijia - Exploring Chinese martial arts, spiritual practices and healing arts » Roasting myself // Nov 21, 2007
[...] myself By Dave Chesser So I’ve been challenged by Chris over at the Martial Development blog to do a sort of self-roast by listing three shortcomings. He’s listed his, and he’s [...]
Help spread a meme… « A Room With A View // Nov 26, 2007
[...] spread a meme… Chris at Martial Development asks that you help spread a meme by listing three embarrassing personal confessions. Here’s [...]
Leave a Comment