Confidence.Focus.Visualization
Confidence-belief in oneself and one's powers or abilities. I have always had an inclination to more athletic hobbies, especially martial arts so when I decided to take up BJJ I already knew that I would take to it very well. I came in with an individual awareness of my body that I believe most people, unless athletic, do not possess. This has been a huge factor in my success, knowing what I'm capable of and believing that I am capable of even more. You have to think of yourself as unpassable, unchokable, and UNBREAKABLE if you ever want to be. I talk to so many white belts that whine about how this sucks and how that sucks and I say to myself "that's why it sucks fool!". No matter what people tell you, white belts are allowed to have confidence...it does not make you egotistical in any way, shape, or form. Every time you step on the mat you should be confident that you are the best you can possibly be at that given time. If you know you aren't, then you need to be training harder. Never compare yourself to others because not everyone comes with the same tools, but have faith in your tools. That is of the utmost importance.
Focus-centering one's thoughts. I find myself making a lot of junior belts frustrated with my little white belt guard game. Reason: because early on I pin-pointed what works for me and decided that will be the main focus of my training. I always start in guard, and when I am in trouble I always revert back to guard. It is my safe haven. I work everything from there sweeps, submissions, and defense. Lately I have been watching a lot of white belts spar to try and find differences between what I do and what they do. What I started to observe was after an attempt at something was unsuccessful, they would move on to something else and the pattern continued. I do not believe this is the correct way to train. If I get my guard passed in training I try like hell to get my guard back and correct whatever I thought I did wrong. If i have to do this a million times and then ask questions after, I will. Trying to access a catalog of moves while live training is not possible at our level, it is imperative that you focus on one thing at a time in order to eventually get to the point where you are on auto-pilot in that position. The trick is to block out all distractions. Do not worry about the last time you sparred with that opponent who cleaned your clock, or even that one time you swept him. Only worry about the one thing you want to do at that very moment, the NOW. Take one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, and every other part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the path to success.
Visualization-to make perceptible to the mind or imagination. In jiu-jitsu, visualizing is just as important as doing the actual movement. Most of the details that I get from my instructors on certain techniques are played back in my head over and over again, in Blu-Ray...1080p...HD, while I'm doing everyday things. When it comes time to do that move I have it so ingrained in me that I automatically do it every time. I consider myself to have jiu-jitsu I.Q, meaning I can remember moves after only being shown once, the problem with that is human error always comes into play. Visualization is what keeps that human error to a minimum. Another thing you can do, if you really have a vivid imagination, is imagine you are sparring with someone and visualize the movements and details of the technique you are trying to learn. This is not only how I remember techniques, but it also how I figure out new positions and control points. The power in visualizing is that you will see how to actually make it happen.
Thanks for reading! Ciao.
