There are times when I have foolishly sputtered out some amazing advice to white belts and even blue belts when they have asked me questions, and then a week later I noticed that I don't even do the thing that I told them to do. This is what I mean by taking your advice. It is fantastic to have people come ask you questions. It may make you feel that you are getting somewhere or that you have finally come into your own. However, if you find yourself in an armbar and you're doing everything but what you told that one white belt to do...see where I am going here. Take your own advice. Sometimes when someone ask you a question, it is a good time to drill positions and evaluate not only that person's game but yours also. You may know a ton of different positions, submissions, and escapes...but I wholeheartedly believe that giving advice also means that you must lead by example. You can easily tell someone something you saw your professor do, or a variation you watched on Youtube...but without proper experience (the move being apart of your arsenal or muscle memory) you might not be the right person to ask. Sometimes taking a step back and assessing what you really know is the best thing to do.
My next point will be a short one, but ties in to what I was saying earlier. Sometimes asking questions should not be your first option. (Not for white belts, ask as many questions as you want) Sounds weird I know, but let me explain. When you look in the mirror who do you see? Yourself. You recognize that familiar face that you see because you have lived with it along with that body for x amount of years. When you roll at night and get caught in that armbar 20 times by 20 different people, who goes home with the sore elbow? You. Nobody is more acutely aware of your situation. Nobody is more familiar with every particular scenario and potential outcome than you. So why do we go to others so often in BJJ for help/advice? Because its easy. If someone tells us what to do all the time, we rarely have to think. I said this was going to be short...psssht. And when we don't think it severely hinders our growth in the sport. Thinking for yourself means that whatever option you come up with for your particular problem will be perfectly suited for you. I have a way to clamp on a armbar, that is traditionally said to be a wrong way of doing it (but it works for me), if I had listened to people I probably wouldn't get as many armbars. I have a way of escaping them too, due to my athleticism. Thinking your way through a problem, makes you better and sometimes asking for advice could have made it worse. It's okay to ask for advice, another set of eyes never hurt nobody, but at the end of the day whose BJJ game is going to suffer the damage? Yours. So think before you ask. Take your own advice!
