Three Ways Traditional Martial Arts Try to Teach Patience — and Why It Doesn’t Work - By Sensei Liam Musiak

I often hear that traditional martial arts “teach patience”.

I don’t agree — and this is why.

It’s my belief that patience isn’t something you can teach or learn in the way people claim.

Patience is a choice.

You either choose to act patiently, or you don’t. No amount of enforced waiting creates that trait for you.

Traditional systems try to manufacture patience in three main ways — and all three fail, especially when tied to grading.

1. Time-based promotion (forced waiting)

This is the backbone of most traditional grading systems.

You are told:

• You must wait X years

• You must attend X classes

• You must not question the timeline

Regardless of:

• Skill level

• Knowledge

• Readiness

• Teaching ability

• Or real-world effectiveness

The lesson is supposed to be:

“Waiting builds patience.”

What it actually builds is endurance of delay.

And this is where the grading system becomes deeply flawed.

Over time, less skilled and less knowledgeable individuals rise to higher ranks simply because they’ve been there longer. Not because they are better — but because they outlasted others.

Meanwhile:

• More capable people are held back

• Faster learners are slowed down

• Critical thinkers are labelled “impatient”

Let me be clear:

Time does not equal experience.

Time does not equal skill.

Time does not equal knowledge.

Time does not equal patience.

Time does not equal maturity.

Time is neutral.

It’s what happens inside the time that creates those things — not the passing of years itself.

Waiting because you have no choice is not patience.

It’s compliance.

2. Repetition without consequence

Another common method is endless repetition:

• The same basics

• The same kata

• The same drills

• Often with little pressure or progression

The belief is that repetition and boredom “build patience and character”.

Sometimes it builds discipline.

More often, it builds mental disengagement.

Students learn to:

• Switch their brain off

• Follow instructions without understanding

• Stop asking questions

This doesn’t develop patience — it develops tolerance.

Someone can repeat the same material for 20 years and still lack:

• Adaptability

• Decision-making

• Calm under pressure

• Real understanding

Repetition without consequence doesn’t create growth.

It creates stagnation — and then that stagnation gets promoted because enough time has passed.

3. Hierarchy, silence, and obedience

Traditional dojos often teach patience through enforced hierarchy:

• Don’t question the instructor

• Don’t challenge the syllabus

• Don’t compare systems

• Don’t ask “why”

Accepting this quietly is framed as maturity.

In reality, it teaches submission, not patience.

Silence is not patience.

Obedience is not patience.

Someone can be impatient, frustrated, and resentful internally — while appearing “patient” on the outside because the system demands silence.

That isn’t inner growth.

It’s suppression.

And again, those who comply longest — not those who understand most — are rewarded with higher rank.

Why none of this actually works

These systems assume:

• Waiting automatically creates inner development

• Authority guarantees wisdom

• Longevity equals depth

None of those are true.

You cannot force someone to become patient.

You can only force them to wait.

And waiting without choice does not build the quality people claim it does.

My belief (clearly stated)

Patience is not something you:

• Teach

• Install

• Or delay into existence

Patience is a choice.

It exists only when someone has the ability to act — and consciously chooses restraint, control, or timing.

If someone is “patient” only because a system prevents them from moving forward, they are not patient at all.

They are compliant.

Final truth

Traditional martial arts didn’t fail because they valued patience.

They failed because they:

• Confused patience with waiting

• Confused obedience with maturity

• Confused time served with competence

And those confusions are exactly why less capable people often end up holding the highest ranks — while more capable individuals are told to “wait their turn”.

Patience is a choice.

Growth is intentional.

Time alone does nothing.