The Rule of 80/20

Greetings Team,


For those of you that here me speak often, I'm sure you've heard my speech on the 80/20 rule. If you've heard it before, today will just serve as a nice reminder. For those of you who have not, I'm sure you will get some benefit from this great rule.

So often in our training Team, we get caught up in being "perfect". Being "better than the other guy." The challenge with constantly COMPETING on the mat is that you don't do enough LEARNING! We get so focused on doing or being the best that we don't relax enought to ENJOY our training. When you relax and take your time, you more often get the hang of a skill. More over, training becomes FUN! If you leave the Mat frustrated, it is more than likely because you are putting TOO MUCH PRESSURE on yourself. Take it from someone who knows. Let me share a story....

When I first began Gracie Jiu Jitsu with Mr. Tony Rinaldi I had a very big problem. EGO. You see, I owned my own school, had been doing martial arts for years, and had already had 1 Professional MMA fight. I began with Tony because I knew I needed to learn REAL Gracie Jiu Jitsu. The challenge was the way I went about learning it. I made a point to go ALL OUT anytime we would spar on the mat. I HAD to tap the other guy, and NEVER wanted to get Tapped. I spent 100% of my time COMPETING.

After a VERY long time of making this mistake, I came to the realization that I needed to just RELAX! I needed to SLOW down and just LEARN. When I did, training became VERY fun. I learned to play more games, and just TRY new moves, not matter the outcome. The more I did, the better I got. Go figure. ;)

So my encouragement for you this week Team, is to spend 80% of the month playing games and experimenting with skills. Then spend the other 20% "sparring" or "competing". It's a great method to keep training fun, but to also get GOOD. Every scientist knows they have to experiment! You must be A SCIENIST on the Mat. Play games, test them out. Play games, test them out. Just like any good scientist, come up with theories and then try to prove them. If you do this enough, you will have some SERIOUS skill down the line. And did in mention you will have FUN? :)

I hope you got some benefit from this today!


ALL THE BEST!

COACH