In Jiu-Jitsu Whenever You Lose You Learn

The path to jiu-jitsu greatness is not a paved road. It is filled with potholes of lament, moments of utter frustration, and relentless attacks of doubt. But one aspect of this journey that can land a huge blow is losing. To become a loser, to lose, to not win, to be last.

Ultimately, losing paves the way to your learning and learning is an invaluable tool for growth.

My personal journey in Jiu-Jitsu’s path has started long ago. It is then when I learned much about its lifestyle and was taught about the right attitude towards living.

However, there are moments when I am stopped in my tracks, simply because I choose too. There have been marks left in this path. Marks that can possibly break a Jiu-Jitsu artist or have them push on.

So what is losing?

It is an experience

A competitive, dog-eat-dog creates an illusion of constant competition. Rules are made to concoct a massive hysteria which lead people to believe that winning is always the ultimate goal and losing will be the end.  Jiu-Jitsu refuses to follow this format. In jiu-jitsu, whenever you lose, you learn. Your journey’s path is never roadblocked by losing. But rather, it holds out a sign that says, ”

If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost. – Zig Ziglar

 

 

Losing is an attitude

Yes, it is an attitude. It is not a loser’s attitude. It is simply a self-defeating behavior that we reinforce on ourselves whenever we lose. When faced with a situation that requires us to succeed, and yet we fail, a behavior is developed. This is a self-defeating behavior; losing all trust in one’s abilities to stand up to succeed. Choose a winner’s attitude by having the right mindset about winning in your jiu-jitsu journey,

Losing can be harnessed and turned to motivation

Losing on the mats can be tough. Imagine the time and energy that you spend leading up to the day of the match. You sweat and toil and train. You brainstorm with your friends and coach varying game plans. And yet, in the moment, a person bests you. To use the losing moment as a key to turn things around is a moment of truth. Your truth. Use the moment to sweep and reverse this feeling to come back stronger, faster and more resilient.

Losing is not the end, but rather the beginning of learning

As we always say in Gracie Barra, there is no such thing as losing, only learning. Taking the opportunity to assess, make adjustments, reflect, redo plans, can help you in your
 BJJ journey. Remember always that BJJ is not all about competitions, it is a lifestyle that provides the greatest sense of well-being to those patient enough to follow it.

Losing humbles

Yes. The greatest winners of our time where losers. Instead of being mauled down by the feeling of not winning, they pursued on. Thomas Edison was reported to have failed more than 10,000 times in the creation of the light bulb. If failing more 9,999 times was didn’t humble him, he wouldn’t have been successful in the end.

Jiu-jitsu and the journey that it leads us to may involve losing. How we push through with it after the defeat will all depend on how we accept losing for what is really is: a chance for us to learn.