Complacency is their greatest enemy

Another big week has passed, and once again our members have shown what true training is all about—working towards goals, supporting each other, demonstrating skills, building resilience, and using their training to navigate the challenges life throws their way. Inside the dojo we grow stronger; outside, the world often tries to weaken that strength. Society is quick to push instant gratification, shortcuts, and quick fixes—especially on our youth. But everyone who trains here knows the truth: anything worthwhile demands effort, sacrifice, and honest hard work.

Last week I explained to my students that they have two options when it comes to advancing through the ranks.

Option 1: Work hard, face the potholes, embrace the lessons, and take pride in their achievements.

Option 2: Get Mum or Dad to walk into the PIT office and buy their next belt—or even a blackbelt. But if they chose that path, they would no longer train under me.

To their credit, every single child chose to earn their ranks. That tells you the type of young people we are raising.

After 40 years of teaching children, I can tell you there are days when the easier road is tempting—giving them what they want, avoiding the tough conversations, letting standards slip. But I don’t know what life has waiting for any of them around the corner. My responsibility is to prepare them, to help them become stronger than the challenges that break many others. Life is tough. Life can be cruel. My purpose isn’t to shield them from reality; it’s to give them the tools, discipline, and inner confidence to stand tall against it. Survival skills can’t be “told”—they must be learned, practiced, and lived until they become instinct.

A nurse from the Sydney Children’s Hospital once shared something heartbreaking. She worked with children dying of cancer and noticed that when parents told their child “you can have anything you want,” behaviour declined—rudeness, disrespect, chaos. Yet with nurses and doctors those same children were polite and respectful. When she gently asked a few why, the children answered, “Mum and Dad let me do whatever I want now… I don’t think they love me anymore. I just want to know they still care.”Even in their final days, what they wanted wasn’t freedom from boundaries—they wanted security, love, and guidance.

From time to time I ask my students, “Were you born wearing a suit, ready for work?” They laugh every time. And then I remind them: as children, their responsibility is to learn how to live with purpose and pride. It is the responsibility of adults—parents, teachers, mentors—to guide them, support them, and push them so they grow into their strongest selves.

Students of every age who genuinely want growth to thrive in this environment get this! They hunger for it. Not everyone does—some people love the idea of training more than the reality of hard, disciplined work. But as the greats have said:

“Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure.” — Andy Grove“We will never have better conditions if we remain satisfied with the present.” — Thomas Edison“If it ain't broke, don't fix it” is the slogan of the complacent.” — Colin Powell

If I can help my students understand that complacency is their greatest enemy, then I have done my job. Strength isn’t built by standing still.

Congratulations to our Queensland students who trained through ridiculous hot training session with heavy humidity, an invasion of flying termites, followed by a massive storm. That is spirit.

Sydney students of all arts—stay focused. Your goal posts are getting closer every day.

Have a super weekend, keep training with pride, and keep building the best version of yourself.

Do it for YOU!

Master Gatt