White Belt to Black Belt (and Back)

Throughout the book I use the notion of martial arts belts to signify when you’ll need to apply a certain tip. The coloring of belts has a story behind it that is helpful beyond the martial arts. When a student begins, she starts with a white belt, signifying innocence. White-belt tips, likewise, apply from the very beginning.

Over years of practice, her belt becomes soiled. The brown belt is an intermediate step where the belt is, frankly, dirty. (We modern wimps just buy a new belt that’s colored brown.) For this book, I expect brown-belt topics to become relevant between years two and five.

As the artist practices further, her belt becomes darker and darker until it’s black. At this point, she dons the title master. For the book I draw the line rather early, where black-belt topics may apply around year five and onward. In real life, true mastery begins more around year ten.

What happens as the new master continues to use her belt? It becomes frayed and bleached from sunlight…it starts to become white again. The masters of old discovered something about expertise that psychologists have only recently studied: you need to get to a certain threshold before you can know what you don’t know. And then you begin your learning anew.