Ever felt like the pursuit of Jiu Jitsu ranking belts is leaving you anxious, burned out, and perhaps on the brink of giving up? It's time to shift focus. This episode uncovers the pitfalls of belt chasing, exploring how this mindset creates unrealistic expectations, leading to a significant dropout rate within the Jiu Jitsu community. Delving deeper into the origins of this sport in Brazil, we highlight the essence of Jiu Jitsu where the joy was in training rather than belt accumulation.
Our discourse offers insights shared by seasoned black belts and academy owners that could revolutionize your Jiu Jitsu experience. We advocate for the abandonment of belt chasing and encourage enjoying the journey. Join us as we discuss the senselessness of comparing our progress with others and the beauty of embracing personal growth at our own pace. Remember, the true essence of Jiu Jitsu is not in the belt you wear but in your love for the art and sport. Let's return to the roots, forget the belt, and pivot your Jiu Jitsu journey towards a more enriching and rewarding direction. So, train on and savor the ride!
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Speaker 1:
Number one issue with Jiu Jitsu ranking with belts is the fact that we chase them and it is an unfortunate consequence of the way how Jiu Jitsu has been built up to this point. It is so heavy to see students chasing the belt versus enjoying the training. And I think if you stick around for long enough, if you continue training for years, you know that adjustment takes place naturally for every single person and we stop caring about the belts. Typically this happens somewhere around the late blue, purple belt, somewhere around there, or some even brown, but we stop caring about the belt and we really start enjoying Jiu Jitsu. But at the beginning of our journey oftentimes we care so much about the belt, especially from white to blue, we are chasing that blue, we hyper-focusing on getting it and oftentimes gives us unnecessary anxiety, it gives us unreachable goals, it sets us for failure and one of the main reasons why people quit Jiu Jitsu is that mental state of I want this and I'm chasing that color, I'm chasing that belt versus really really focusing on what Jiu Jitsu is. Today, as we have Jiu Jitsu for what it is, the belts are structured somewhat in a predictable way. You achieve certain things, you get rewarded with the belts. But if you look at this, some time ago, way back in Brazil, way back at the beginning of this entire historical sport, they were not as many belts and either you are a student or you are an instructor and nobody really cared about it and everybody cared about training. And in some aspects, I think belts are a very, very important component of what we do to separate the skill, to separate the experience and knowledge, to provide levels in a sport area. They are very, very important but as a consequence of it, unfortunately, at the very beginning we chase them, a lot of students chase them and a lot of students set unrealistic expectations of themselves and unfortunately, unfortunately, that chasing the belt oftentimes is a reason why many, many students depart from training from either burnout, unreasonable goals that they achieve for themselves. So how do we deal with this? Well, number one is my recommendation. This is not only me. I know a lot of black belts. Academy owners and instructors share the same vision Stop chasing the belt, enjoy, enjoy the ride.
Speaker 1:
Whether you are a blue belt or white belt, this is your first week of you've been on the belt for two years. Enjoy the ride really. Submerge yourself into Jiu Jitsu itself, try to understand it, get really, really good at it and don't worry about the belt. Oftentimes the negative pivot point around the ranking and belts is the simple fact that we all are different people.
Speaker 1:
We process information differently, we learn things differently and sometimes we start with somebody literally on the same day, same week, same month and one of us is getting rewarded faster than the other person. And that gives us, unfortunately, these points of reference where we start comparing ourselves to other people and we start thinking about what am I doing wrong? What is he doing better than me? And all of this takes away from us really enjoying Jiu Jitsu for what it is that art, the sport, this beautiful thing, beautiful engagement that we all step down to the mat to continue learning, even though this is very challenging, if not impossible. But I still encourage you to let go of the belt. Sooner you stop caring about the color, stop chasing the belt, stop chasing the rank, sooner you will begin enjoying the actual process of education, of learning, of getting better, and that's when your Jiu Jitsu will pivot in a completely different direction and take you to the next level. Keep on training Jiu Jitsu.