It is a tad complex trying to figure out how one paces out goals on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It’s a bit easy to work out my practice as just a drop in the bucket of doing Kendo for the rest of my life. However, as with other things I’m involved in, I feel a need to pace myself and at least set small achievable goals. It’s proving a bit difficult to find advice on what is possible within a measure of time, so that one can figure out how effective one’s training is. The advice almost always seems to boil down to “keep trying, it will come”.
My issues are not about hurrying or a complete lack of patience (I’m aware that even 8th Dans still learn new things), it’s a question of trying to work out what’s effective in my training… or perhaps this is something one has to work out for himself.