On my very first black belt cycle in 2020, Master Lloyd was my mentor.--This was back when it was Covid and we had to do Saturday morning black belt classes outside, wearing masks, in Grandmaster Evins' parking lot (uphill may I add).--I was doing a mentor session and Master Lloyd told me something that still sticks with me to this day. "Practice doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent." If you do something wrong in a poomsae, self-defesense, kick, whatever it is and you keep doing it incorrectly, it will make a bad habit. Bad habits are hard to break and I'm sure you'll find 1 if not many that you have throughout the cycle. Whether its not rechambering correctly, kicking the wrong way, doing the wrong move in a poomsae 100 times, it doesn't matter...but if you practice it the right way, with the intention of doing things correctly, regardless of how basic it may seem, thats what is going to get you through black belt testing...the good habits not the bad. All this to say, don't just go through the motions, actively think about what you are doing because there is always something to fix.
Anyways, I didn't have time to journal yesterday but it was good. Today was pretty awful. Group 2 was difficult to deal with and they definitely wore me out. Hopefully some good rest tonight will do the trick. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! ~ Peyton