#203 In Jiu Jitsu, it’s not what you know.

One of the best things about Jiu Jitsu, as with many things in life, is that you must go further than speculation. A frustration with today’s world are those who live their lives in a world of theory. While theory is necessary for generating ideas, they cannot be allowed to trump what actually has worked. This sounds like a means of stifling any form of progress or creativity in Jiu Jitsu but in fact produces the opposite effect. The reality is that all ideas are welcome, as long as they can be proved. This results in a level of pragmatism that is necessary for true progress. If you’re a boxer, you don’t want a coach who has watched a lot of Rocky Balboa and thinks he knows what to do. He’s going to get you killed in the ring, literally. When you operate off of this understanding that “it’s not what you know, but what you can prove” you will begin to take a different lens on many of life’s endeavors which will likely result in much more success.