The Ultimate Black Belt Test has a No Quitting Policy

There are things we should indeed quit, without a second thought, like smoking for example.

But the Ultimate Black Belt Test, being that most of the people who participate are "high ranking" black belts (and thus, we presume, imbued with more self-discipline than your average Schmo), has an absolute requirement that no matter what, with the exception of death (the participant), is quitting of the program allowed. 

If quitting is even a remote possibility, for you, when the project gets tough, lonely, confusing, empty, difficult, torturous, stifling, obtuse, and or void of all possible value, substance, and meaning --then don't join. You see, the process is supposed to be one of the most difficult things you ever put yourself thru --and in the spirit of that --every single thing that makes you want to stop, want to disconnect, and want to give up --are the very things that become your "test." 

You see, this is a "test" specifically meant for everyone but you. It's meant for your students, as if you genuinely spend a year working on yourself, at the highest levels, physically, mentally, spiritually, socially, and so on ---If you play "team" as you could if you put yourself to it --you won't be telling them how to "do it," you'll be showing them. You'll show them too, what to do when one hits the wall, as you will most certainly hit the wall (and more than once). It's also for your community, to show them we're not, really, all talk, crafty ads, and full of claims of expertise. 

Tell all your students what you intend to do, about the test you're putting yourself thru --then actually do it --and see what happens to your school, your students, and their belief, trust, and admiration of you and your work. 

Is that easy? No, it might be one of the most challenging things you ever do.

You see, this is a "test" for the entire international martial arts community, as a lot of people all over the world will be watching ---and ---if you're able to set a fantastic example of personal transformation (as in no bullshit, but genuine growth), you just might "launch 1000 other ships" for people who see you do it and get inspired to do it (or something like it) too. If you're able to conjure up some real genius or magic, you stand a chance to influence lots and lots of other people. If you generate ideas, tackle great subjects, and do for others, well...people will see it --and they may model the same behaviors or adopt similar practices for themselves and/or their students. 

And, if you truly struggle, that is, with your weight, your ability to write and make films, with your commitment, with your self-discipline, motivation, and drive, if you struggle to make something out of this big fat nothing --and better yet, if you fail to get what you hoped to get, but adjust and turn whatever you DO get into something powerful and important, well hell, the good you stand to do for others, other people who also struggle, could be, literally, immeasurable. 

No, for this particular program, at this place and time, and for all it's supposed to represent, there is no quitting. None. Zip. Never. 

There is adjustment, there is re-starting, there is fall on your fricking face, there is struggle and pain and confusion and everything that comes along with things you set out to do that seem impossible, but there's no quitting. 

Go ahead, let it be hard, as it reveals what we're made of, under our facade. 

I think it's best if we just start the whole damn thing that way.

The Ultimate Black Belt Test Project is, for me anyway, evolving (what isn't?). I've been deeply inspired by it, bored out of my mind with it, proud of participants, ashamed, discouraged, lifted --you know, all the emotions. But, what's come of it, for me, this year, is the idea that the project is about bringing ideas / things to the martial arts community that don't get much attention or exposure anywhere else.

What if, in this particular arena, humanitarianism and community cultivation were the most important aspects of the work? Yes, of course, we want the process to cultivate the physical aspects we're looking for in a great black belt ----but what else? What evidence can we cultivate / create that shows we are here for other things, too? 

Can people who put themselves thru this process be recognized for cerebral contribution, such as the sound development of educational programs to benefit the martial arts community, at large? Diabetes education? Anatomy and physiology? Anger management, hyper-masculinity, rape education, dietary self-defense? Where, otherwise, are we asking for this kind of participation from our black belts? Non-commercial contributions? 

Yes, give me a test where the physical training is a given, but not enough, not nearly enough. Let's have a movement to make real the spirit of the training --and for it to manifest itself in evidence, in projects that reflect the wisdom we desire to cultivate ----and let's have this project stand for both cultivating a broader definition of "black belt excellence" and for offering equal recognition for the benefits of rigorous spiritual and intellectual and social efforts.

I'm all for earning a black belt in the most rigorous, profound, meaningful, and authentic ways, smart ways that don't haze or cripple, but that empower. Perhaps the UBBT is that; is becoming that; the work to ask more of our black belts, everywhere, so that we design and re-design our role in our communities and in the world. 

The UBBT 2006's graduation certificate was an image (thank you artist and UBBT member Patti Oji) of Ray Neill helping us build that first house in Alabama. I used it as our certificate because, to me, this was the part of the black belt test that best exhibited the essence of what I wanted from the project. To hell with yet another jump side kick, a set of broken boards, the knife disarm, or the medal won in a tournament ---show me what we're about. That's what I was/am thinking.

The Ultimate Black Belt Test 2014 / 2015 is beginning, for me, perhaps for you too. 

1 Innovative concept originated and/or embraced by the project:

Tests that last month and months, maybe years, so that the story of the evolution of the participant is more accurately described and depicted. If test day used to include 10 rounds of fighting, for example -what would be the benefit and/or statement of doing 5 rounds a day for 100 days of a year? Many already do it, but the benefit of taking, for example, a young person thru that process allows the teacher to put the emphasis where it belongs --and the observer, wondering (perhaps) what it takes to earn a black belt, might understand more clearly the spirit of the work. 

And the spirit of the work is: 

For the most part, whatever it is that you desire to do or be, it most often comes thru the development and cultivation of your daily practice. What you practice, will be what you become good at. The value of fighting 500 rounds to earn new rank isn't in the skills the athlete develops as a fighter, but in the practice of creating big things thru many small and consistent efforts.

The outcome, for me the teacher, isn't in teaching the young man or women to fight; the world hardly needs yet another fighter ---it's in teaching someone how to intelligently apply themselves to something they want to become good at (or better than "good").

It's as simple as saying / writing: A requirement for earning the black belt is 500 rounds of sparring or grappling or, for those who can't fight due to medical issues, 500 rounds on the bags / mitts. 

On "test day" they can still do their exhibition for the audience come to watch their graduation, but the test day isn't the deciding factor in their journey, but the story of what they learned and the skills they acquired while logging enough reps to actually make a difference. 

"What did you do to earn that black belt?"
"One requirement was 500 rounds of (mindful) sparring."
"Sheeez."
"I know."

A small twist in the story of black belt testing, but a big advance, I believe, in how a young person might approach their understanding of what makes a great black belt.

The mindset required for The Ultimate Black Belt Test:

First off, this is a very uncommon (strange even) program. I won't see you, most likely, but once or twice during any given year. There are people using the project, participating, for several years now, that I've not met, yet --and might never. To play in this project you're doing so realizing I don't teach you "martial arts." The training part is purely up to you.

Second, all the help I give you is on-line and, for the most part, all you get is an idea, a place to show us --and the world --what you do, and a team of people you ABSOLUTELY must make contact with. You get to custom design your participation, our site gives you a stage to perform on, and I'll watch and comment if and when I think it's needed. I give you my phone number, you'll know how to reach me --and I'm here to support you, but I cannot --and will not --try to force you to train, journal, participate, or produce anything of merit. You must, obviously, be highly self-motivated. 

I don't award people black belt rank in the Ultimate Black Belt Test. People earn rank, on rare occasion, in this program for commitment and talent above and beyond the call of duty --and for humanitarian acts, social engagement, concept design, and for showing us something over the full length of engagement that inspires us and shows all of us one more example of how it can be done --and done with honor, effort, and style.

I will ask you to engage yourself in things that, most likely, nobody else in the international martial arts community talks about, does, or even thinks about. Things like diabetes education, anger management education, environmental activism, rape culture education, project-based leadership training, and all sorts of other concepts that might stretch your brain and abilities to a place where you're as confused and organizationally challenged as anyone with a brain might be. That's what I call "good." Due to where I live and where you live, I can't kick your arse or stretch you with physical training, so I'm going to do what I can to force you into places you might not normally go --or might never investigate if not for my asking you to engage. 

The UBBT is only you. It's not me. It's not this simple post. It's not our website. If you will set some sane but challenging goals, physical, mental, social, spiritual, and emotional growth goals --and then go at them every day / week for an extended period of time, and do so with the goal of inspiring people who look over what you're doing, and you actually DO what you set out to do, you will, I believe, "get your money's worth," from your involvement. 

If you stop the training. If you don't engage the team. If you don't lead, if you look to me to do for you what only you can do yourself, If you don't do the acts of kindness, do the meditation, DO the training, engage and show up for the projects, or seek to see the work thru, good or bad, up or down, to the end ---you're going to, you know, feel like you wasted your money --and you may have, that is unless you simply are the kind of black belt who eats difficult situations for breakfast. If that's the case, well, I have an idea for you...

The Ultimate Black Belt Test is nothing, it's on the web, which is, these days, just about less than nothing. For the UBBT to be something, you have to treat it like the ultimate black belt test, yours. You have to appreciate too (and this is, I think, the hardest part) that it's not about you. The "test" is about what you bring to the table that inspires others, thru your own efforts. That's when it's a win-win. 

I don't care if it inspires you this year or a decade from now. This is part of my on-going test --and let me tell you my friend, it ain't easy to get people you've never met to step up and make some magic; but then, most of these folks are black belts, so some of them you can't seem to shake, even when you try. I like those kinda folks.

My failures in The Ultimate Black Belt Test Projects

This photo, a self-portrait taken during the whole Lloyd Irvin rape culture fiasco-of-shame, is also reflective of the attitude I have, every so often, about things I try that fall on their face. 

Take, for example, The Ultimate Black Belt Test. Creating and executing this project over the last decade has yielded some great memories --and I do believe a lot of schools have borrowed ideas they found useful from the events --and for that my colleagues and I should be honored and grateful. 

I should mention too, that I'm personally in a lot better shape and far more experienced as an organizer and teacher as a result of these projects, than I believe I would have been without them. Win-win.

But oh man have I failed. I've had a hundred people just drop out of the projects --without notice. I failed to inspire them to stick to their goals, to serve the martial arts community as we initially intended --and I've failed to be able to hold some of the projects together at all. I've failed in so many ways --that I don't care to list them all here. 

And here I am going at it again for 2014/2015. It's my goal, this time thru, to get better, that is with leading the project, even if only incrementally. I see these projects as self-imposed requirements for my yet-to-be taken 7th degree black belt test (whether it ever comes or not). Being that there's no curriculum for the kind of "test" I hold in my head, I'm taking it upon myself to make it up as I go. 

I'll have to take the good stuff with the bad --and risk, again, the chance that I'll fail, once again, to do work that makes a difference in the martial arts community. One of the critics of my work during the fiasco mentioned above described the UBBT as my "fake black belt test." Yes, that's what it is --unless, of course, the project lives up to some of its potential and the team actually does something with the time between now and the current project's end. That is, for the most part, why I feel compelled to step up to the plate, again. If you don't swing the bat, how will you ever hit a home run (or even a base hit)?

In The Ultimate Black Belt Test, I / we address the preperation for and the taking of a kind of black belt test that is transforming --as in life-changing. Not because a black belt test has to be --or should be, but because it could be.

And the truth be told, waking up, making food, caring for loved ones, walking to the store, taking a swim, reading, and just about any act we engage in could be life-changing, if only we decided we were going to make it that way.

There's no question of its value.

When I talk, think, or implement around the UBBT, I'm working on your black belt test too. 

 You do, after all, want your test to be a big deal, Yes?

You do want better-than-average, if not spectacular results from your efforts, yes?

 You would like it if your test made you and your students and your school a legendary force in your community, yes?

Then I'm working on your test --while I work on mine. 

NEW CURRICULUM for The UBBT 2012

I want every tester to come out of the project in the best shape of his or her life (which requires careful attention to intensity of training -and rest/recoup time, diet, habits, and attitude). That's a given.

I want every participant to have above average, if not masterful, martial arts skills (consistent, intentional, mindful practice). Skill is a given.

I want every tester to come out of the project with a very practical education, absorbed experientially, in what a black belt test could (and should) be. That your experience would cause you to look deeply at the experiences you help craft for others, is a given.

 What I want that's new, is I want every participant to take personal responsibility for planning, executing, and maintaining a bully education website/information/resource center in his or her community --and an outreach-education program. You've 16 months, give or take, to create something that's an exact reflection of your knowledge, your ability to manage, your understanding of the issues, and your ability to work with others -----oh, yeah --and your ability to create something that genuinely SERVES your community now --and for the future. 

I want every participant to plan, launch, and maintain a Dietary Self-Defense program, using filmed "diet chronicles" as a base for an educational program (and collective base of food-workers, educators, and activists in each member's community --as well as what we're cultivating in the international martial arts community). I want XX amount of UBBT participants / graduates who live as living examples of a smarter, more sustainable, healthier diet. 

I want every participant to assemble a PROJECT PORTFOLIO (using the activities of students) of 16 Environemental Self-Defense Projects --and to use this work as a basis for an intelligent ENVIRONMENTAL SELF-DEFENSE program in each member's community. Members should OWN this verbiage by test end. 

And in the end, I want the members of the UBBT 2012, to rally the most comprehensive group effort to bring smart, relevant, cohesive, intelligent, and useful new curriculum to the martial arts world since Kano's introduction of "judo."

This will require individual effort, group effort, and martial arts community effort --in and out of the membership of the UBBT/100. 

...and now, finally, we are crafting black belt goals and curriculum worth its weight in salt. 

Tom Callos