TFS#22: Leave It At The Door

Today is a little different since my friend Petunia will be writing this week’s issue.

Let’s go ahead and dive into her topic.

“Leave your ego at the door” is a phrase you’ll see written inside every gym.

But more than just being considerate and respectful to others, I think it might be useful to interpret it as not being afraid of feedback or of failing during the learning process.

In other words, after we fail, we can either learn to laugh at ourselves or cry about the situation.

…And you might have to do both at some point.

Our ego makes us think we're special and our pride tells us it wasn't our fault we failed.

But let's be honest, we all suck at Jiu-Jitsu...or at least we started off that way.

There’s no benefit in staying upset with the steep learning curve of Jiu-Jitsu.

We all come to martial arts at different stages in life where we are skilled in different areas.

If you asked everyone at your gym to do your day job, they would most likely struggle.

And vice versa, you would probably struggle at their job.

It’s expected that we struggle with activities that we are not accustomed to.

But that doesn’t mean it should discourage us from persisting.

Understanding the difficulty of performing new tasks would perhaps lead you to not being arrogant.

Then maybe becoming less arrogant and more understanding of other people’s backgrounds, in turn, could help bring you more peace.

I do believe that participating in physically challenging activities allows us to deeply appreciate the difficulties we must overcome to achieve something special.

Martial arts seems to be an excellent medium for understanding this concept.

I’m sure there are other activities besides martial arts that can help you come to that conclusion.

But because we’re all Jiu-Jitsu nerds here, I’m going to say training Jiu-Jitsu is the best way for anyone to check their egos.

Let's remind ourselves that we aren't all that special, we are one of many who are training this martial art and can come together to appreciate it.

It really isn't about how good you are, just how much you're willing to live the lifestyle--and that's it.

Be happy with your progress and the constant work you put into your training.

Techniques To Explore

1. Complete Your Jiu-Jitsu Stand Up Game
If you don’t have time to pick up Judo (as most of us don’t since we’re dedicated to Jiu-Jitsu), this comprehensive video goes over concepts and the depth of a stand up game. I don’t recommend watching it in one go since it can be a lot of information to digest.

2. How To Counter The Pesky Guard Pullers
Guard passers need their mobility and most people don’t like to end up in their opponent’s Closed Guard. You can spend the entire round just trying to break the position while your opponent has a plethora of attacks.

3. The 3 Systems Of Take Down To Round Out Your Stand Up
You attempt a take down, it doesn’t work, you wait, and you get reversed. When your first attempt fails, you need to continue to work to stay on top. These 3 systems will give you some options to work with to change up your chain.

Resources For Your Interest

>> Instructors, your culture and philosophy should be clear and understood because how you structure your team could influence how a student’s mindset grow.

>> If your sparring rounds from earlier in the day keeps you up at night, you’ll want to consider reading this. Don’t forget to sleep.

>> You’ll need to set goals if you want to set yourself up for success. Invest in your future with these 6 approaches for better goals.

Closing Thought

Ego has a way of making everything about us.

It has a way of dulling our senses and forgetting we are simple people.

“What about confidence?” you might ask.

Here’s what how I’ll boil it down:

Remember, everyone can win a match against someone “better” than them, and everyone can lose a match against someone “worse” than them.

And that's all for this week folks!

Until next time (maybe Wayne will let me write more),

Petunia