Daily blog #70

The best BJJ student

One of the hardest things as a lifelong practitioner of any given skill is to maintain what we in the Jiu Jitsu community know as a “white belt mentality”. This can be described as the ideal mindset for growth where one is motivated simply by the desire to become better. Oftentimes we can have a tendency to want to be right which impedes our progress. This is especially common once you develop a fair degree of competence in a certain area. You will notice this in high achieving individuals in the fields of medicine, fitness or finance for example. A desireable trait possessed by many beginners is a genuine curiosity for what they are learning which removes ego from the process. Einstein valued the curious nature deeply with the belief it led to the highest level of knowledge and understanding. There’s not only a number of accomplished black belts who reference the idea but maybe the most known figures is Hélio Gracie who was a red belt, one of the fathers of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, supposedly wore a blue belt till his last days as a reminder to stay humble and learn from everyone. What many practitioners begin to forget as their skills improve, is the sole reason they are there. To get incrementally better EVERY DAY. With this intention it becomes incredibly difficult to be concerned with being right or wrong but instead draws your focus to the details of positions, techniques, etc. Ultimately this will help you not only avoid the many pitfalls of learning but also achieve even beyond your potential simply by understanding that if your sole purpose is to learn you will be better at it than even higher ranked students and instructors.