Here are 5 lessons for life I've learned from my 14 years of martial arts training

I started my martial arts training in 2007. I was 17 and I hated working out. I partied too much, smoked, and was pretty much set up for a downhill path. One morning however my conscience called. I partied hard that night and blacked out on a park bench. When I woke up I thought to myself: "What the hell are you doing with your life..". That was the day I decided I was going to do something about that. I had to get disciplined, otherwise I was going to bad places. The next day I signed up for Kung-Fu training. After 14 years and more than 10 full contact fights I'm looking back and what I've learned for life from martial arts training. Martial arts has formed the body and mind I have today.

1.      Hard work beats talent

The most important thing I've learned from martial arts training is certainly discipline. Discipline means you show up to every lesson. Discipline means you listen closely to your Sifu and you are silent when he speaks. Discipline means you work hard, no excuses. Being disciplined is the base condition on which success is built. It doesn't mean you will win, but it means that without it you will lose. Put the hard work in, be timely and have respect for your mentors. There is an old saying in martial arts: "Fear no man who has trained 10'000 kicks once, fear the man who trained one kick 10'000 times." With discipline comes mastery and there are only lucky punches without mastery. Whatever you want to achieve, hard work beats talent.

2.      Never give up

I've been in those fights: You start losing right from the first round and it's going from bad to worse. Your opponent is faster, better, taller or just hit a lucky punch. What I've learned is that no matter what happens you never give up. Your coach can throw the towel, but you are not allowed to quit. You stay in the fight and keep going. There are no excuses. If you want to win you cannot give up, ever. Unless you have god given talent, you will lose. There will be someone knocking you down or even knocking you out. That happens, it's not as bad as you think. The key is to get back up. If you can look up, you can get up. Get up and finish the fight. There is no shame in defeat unless you didn't give it your all. If you've lost get back into the gym, train hard and return to the ring stronger, faster and better next time. Not contending anymore is real defeat, not a lost fight.

3.      Every day is a fight worth winning

The goal is to win. Act like it. Never get in the ring with failure in mind. You came to win, fight for it. If you want to win you need to have a winner mentality. The winner mentality is the most difficult part of the fight preparation. Everybody works on cardio and everybody does sparring, but the mental preparation is where most people fail. You need to act as if you'll win. Thinking: "I'm going to lose" is a self-fulfilling prophecy. That is as valid for a fight as it is for every single day in your life. Every day is fight worth winning.

4.      Hit hard, but hit fair

There are rules in the ring and in life. You can hit certain targets but not others. Follow the rules, no cheating. You'll diminish your victory if you cheat or you'll get punished. But anything within the rules can be utilized fully. No mercy until the clock runs out. Out run, out smart and out fight your opponent if you can, he'll show no mercy too. If you decide to hit, then hit hard. No halfhearted attempts, either you hit hard, or you don't hit at all. Put your whole being behind every move you make.

5.      No one wins alone

Fighting is a solo sport, you'd think. But that's not true at all. You need a coach who prepares you, you need sparring partners who challenge you and you need a corner who roots for you during the fight. Don't get me wrong, you make a difference. If you have no discipline, no winner mentality, throw halfhearted attempts or if you give up after getting hit, the best team behind you is worthless. But hard work and a winner mentality are not enough to win. Good mentors and challenging sparring partners are key in development and without development there is no victory. Besides that, victories are much sweeter when you can celebrate them with someone.