In some martial arts schools, progress is defined with belt ranks. Students learn new things, test, and then receive new belts. It’s a shiny process. Everyone loves receiving something new. But I’ve asked myself before, and now I’ll ask you:
Do belts equal progress? Which is more important: a pile o’ belts? Or real progress?
![Pile o' belts.](https://i0.wp.com/nwschoolofmartialarts.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Belts2-300x215.jpg?resize=300%2C215&ssl=1)
We believe that black belts should be good at martial arts. But at a certain point in everyone’s martial arts career, the rate of technical progress slows. Progress depends greatly on the students’ self-awareness (age/maturity), effort, attendance, and perseverance.
That being said, I realize that it can seem discouraging not to move up in belt rank for a long time. So I’d like to share several other ways I define progress–ones that I think are much more meaningful than a rainbow of belts.