Practice What You Teach: Lessons from a Tech Meltdown

Stock image of what I might of looked like. haha

There’s nothing quite like being humbled by your own advice.

The other day, I had one of those moments where technology decides to test your patience… and I didn’t exactly pass with flying colors. I was gearing up to post new content for my upcoming seminar, juggling the usual whirlwind of running a martial arts and Ki Gong academy, when suddenly—ChatGPT stops loading.

Blank screen.

Cloudfire error.

No explanation.

And immediately?

My nervous system launched into full tilt.

I got irritated.

I got loud.

And yes — my student, Robert, stood there watching me have a mini-meltdown and he just laughed. Not in a cruel way — more like, “There goes Instructor Nick doing the exact thing he tells us not to do.”

Honestly? Fair.

But after the frustration simmered down, the message hit me hard and clear:

I forgot to practice what I teach.

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The Real Lesson Didn’t Come From the Tech — It Came From Me

I talk all the time about slowing down.

Breathing.

Pausing before reacting.

Regaining center before you move.

But when the pressure hits — deadlines, expectations, urgency — even instructors forget their own lessons.

My energy was tight.

My mind was rushing.

And the output reflected that.

I was trying to force clarity while sitting in chaos… and that never works. Not with tech, not with people, not with anything.

When I finally stopped, took a breath, and reset my router, everything suddenly worked.

Imagine that.

Sometimes the fix is simple.

But you have to be calm enough to see it.

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Urgency Isn’t Importance

Here was the punchline of the day:

I was rushing myself for no reason.

The post I wanted to publish wasn’t an emergency.

No one was waiting with a stopwatch.

There was no failure in simply pausing.

But urgency can disguise itself as importance — especially when you love what you do and want to serve people well.

Creating from urgency leads to tension.

Creating from presence leads to clarity.

And once I approached the task slower, everything fell into place and got done easily.

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The Unexpected Reflection: Prompts & Energy

Later that night, the deeper realization hit:

AI responds to the quality of the prompt.

Life responds to the quality of your energy.

Rushed prompt = messy output.

Clear prompt = aligned output.

Life, Qigong, martial arts — same principle.

Your intention shapes the result.

Your internal state shapes the external response.

And that’s not a philosophy.

That’s a practice.

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A Reminder That the Instructor Is Always Also the Student

I’m not perfect.

I never claimed to be.

But I am committed to learning — even when the lesson arrives through my own frustration and a student laughing at me.

This whole experience reminded me that:

Our own teachings will circle back and test us.

What matters is whether you choose to learn from them.

For me, the lesson was this:

Slow down.

Regain center.

Ask the right question.

Then respond — not react.

Same things I teach every single day.

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If You Take Anything From This…

Let it be this:

You don’t have to meet every moment with urgency.

You can give yourself grace even when you aren’t your best.

You can reset and still win.

And you don’t need to be perfect to be effective.

When life throws errors at you — technical or otherwise — remember:

Take a breath.

Return to center.

Then move.

That shift can change everything.