More than twenty years ago, I stood in a kung-fu school as a black sash student (black belt) was asked what a particular movement meant for self-defense. I was not a black sash at the time. He demonstrated a couple of applications for the movement -- it wasn't just a block, it was also an arm lock and a takedown.

I was amazed at the depth of his knowledge. How did he become so good that he could see so deeply into these flowery kung-fu movements?

The years passed and I continued to study. Sometimes, I would begin learning a long series of movements known as a "form" (often called "kata"). These forms could include up to 100 movements and take 12 or 13 minutes to perform. Each time I would begin on the first movement, it seemed that I would never get to the end.

But one step at a time -- one movement at a time -- suddenly the end of the form arrived and I had learned a new one.

A couple of years ago, I released a series of DVDs on tai chi fighting applications, looking deeper than any videos have ever gone into the self-defense techniques hidden in a tai chi form.

It's funny to me now when young students wonder how I learned to see into movements so deeply; how I developed the skill to see the techniques that aren't obvious on the surface.

The answer is simple -- persistence.

Woody Allen once said that 90% of success is just showing up. It isn't quite that easy, but I agree with the point he was trying to make. The most important skill you can have is the ability to persist until you meet your goals.

Set a goal and don't let anything stop you from getting there. Just take it one step at a time. Work at it and don't quit. Before you know it, you will have achieved something great.

Look at any Olympic athlete -- someone like Lindsey Vonn. Consider the hard work it took her to become a gold medalist. Consider the injuries she overcame, the crashes, and even the week that she won the gold she was enduring an intensely painful shin bruise.

She could have given up but she persisted all along the way and she achieved her dreams.

When I was growing up, my favorite baseball player was Pete Rose. I watched him play many times in Cincinnati, and I was there the night he broke Ty Cobb's record for hits. Pete was not the most gifted athlete. He wasn't the biggest, the fastest, or the strongest. But he was determined to be the best. He practiced hitting after others had gone home. He got to the ballpark early to practice. When he was walked, he ran to first base. They called him "Charlie Hustle."

Pete Rose is the embodiment of persistence. He didn't need the most talent. He showed up, had a goal, and gave it everything he had.

In the dozen or so years since I began teaching kung-fu, many students have joined my classes. Only one has made it to black sash and one more will make it during the coming year. When many students see that it isn't like a kung-fu movie and it takes many years to develop skill, they drop out. Others really love it but let other things in life get in the way. Only a very few have the persistence to make it to black sash. And then they learn that they've only just begun. The real learning comes after they reach black sash.

Even in the Chen Village, the birthplace of Tai Chi, Master Chen Bing says that among the Chinese students who study the art, only one in 100 persist long enough to achieve real skill.

Remember the old joke -- how do you eat an elephant? The answer -- one bite at a time. It may be a joke, but the message is clear. Persistence is the most important skill for success in life or in the martial arts.

In 2008, I lost my job. Budget cuts, they said. I went home and told my wonderful wife, Nancy, that I was tired of working for people I couldn't trust. I wanted to launch an online kung-fu school.

"Go for it," she said.

I started with nothing -- reserved the domain name, planned what I would want if I were studying online, and I began videotaping lessons. People raised their eyebrows when I told them what I was doing. "How can that work?" they often asked.

Three months later, the online school was launched. That was almost two years ago, and I have nearly 400 video lessons on the site, plus e-books and other material, and I have members around the world who pay a monthly fee to study online.

I had a dream -- a goal -- and I persisted one lesson at a time. I'm still persisting, too, and also studying and learning new material to advance my skills so that I can pass it along to my students.

Woody Allen was right. I showed up every day and worked on my goal. And just like learning a long kung-fu form or eating an elephant, I knocked out one lesson at a time. It grew and grew.

It doesn't matter if your goal is work-related, family-related, or success-related. Set the goal, map out the actions it will take to get there, and persist. Don't let anyone or anything stop you from taking one step at a time.

If you do this, you can achieve anything, including a black sash.

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