Comments on The Jiu-Jitsu Fighter: Leaving your ego on the edge of the mat

Meerkatsu, I always enjoy your perspective...and y...

2009-12-09T18:31:38.072-06:00

Meerkatsu, I always enjoy your perspective...and your sense of humor.

In the UK, most of us are terribly British about t...

2009-12-09T17:54:51.016-06:00

In the UK, most of us are terribly British about the tapping out thing. It took me many years to feel confident and competent enough to actually tap out my fellow students but now whenever I do, I alway apologise, lots of sorry's hope I didn't hurt yous etc. The person will reply, no really you did a goood job, no I'm fine, look see, the arm still works, ouch, ok well don't worry it wasn't you it was my bad defence etc etc..
Quite funny really.

As hard as it is, especially when I lose, I try an...

2009-11-23T23:02:37.777-06:00

As hard as it is, especially when I lose, I try and go over with my opponent, the match. What he did, or was thinking at certain points, things we could have done better and how effective certain techniques were. Most people are happy to do this with me and I think we both learn more this way, no matter who was the victor.

Nice write up Conan. We all want to win but it ca...

2009-11-23T09:34:23.998-06:00

Nice write up Conan. We all want to win but it can consume you and eventually be your downfall. You never have to like losing but its part of competing and learning this art. I always wanted to beat Ron and that was my focus when I first started. I soon learned that this "benchmark" was never going to get me to where I wanted to be. I had to look within more and focus on my small personal steps rather than that one big hurdle. The same attributes that attracted me to this sport had become my eventual hurdles that I am still battling to overcome. To me, this sport has given me great opportunities to “self discover” and grow as a person.

Big Andy

congrats to Tate and the other student, and for th...

2009-11-22T23:02:08.271-06:00

congrats to Tate and the other student, and for their humility on the matter.
this article addressees the perspective we should work to obtain, not only in jiu-jitsu but also in life. if we put our benchmarks on whether we beat person X at whatever our ambition, we are doing it for the wrong reason.
this is one of the great things about Conan as a teacher. he teaches us to not get distracted by everyone else's progress, but to pay attention to the small steps we are making ourselves, whether those learning curves be greater or smaller than those of others.
also important, he teaches is students to teach the newer ones how do operate this way.
good article, boss. a very important lesson.