We’ve all lost competitions. Whether it is coming up 2^nd or 3^rd, we have all been there. Unless you can choke anyone using “the Force,” or sweep someone over by just the power of thought, odds are you have been on the losing end of a match.

Hindsight. It is a powerful noun. It connotes the ability of a person to reflect. Retrospection and reviewing our actions are key to growth. I am a big fan of reflecting. During the course of my day, I set around 30-40 minutes for introspection. It is a developed ability. Not a lot of people become fans of looking within. I guess it comes with the job of being in a corporate environment.

Whilst dabbling in BJJ, aside from its physical benefits, it has also given me a lot to be introspective about. Whether it’s my game, my reaction to losing, or the way I deal with pressure during competitions.

Hindsight is an ability to understand an event after it has occurred. While we learn being in the moment, as we grow, using the past as a reference tool for the present can be an  irreplaceable tool for learning.

No. I don’t have a problem with moving on from a losing a match, or anything that comes up short of my expectations to perform. But the ability to look back and “to take yourself back in time” to when those events happened is good.

Here’s why:

Having Hindsight Improves Problem Solving Skills

You can interact with a past event. If you can bring yourself back to a point where you can imagine being in the exact same place and experiencing all the same feelings and perceptions is crucial to growth. It improves your problem solving skills! Case in point: during the last competition I joined, I lost terribly to someone who was more physically gifted than I was (by leaps and bounds). However, I knew that both of us had the exact same chance of winning. Using hindsight, I knew that I committed mistakes that cost me the match (I tried passing the half-guard too early when I hadn’t established proper base yet). While I some fighters say, “Well, he got lucky,” or the perennial, “He’s just stronger!” I go to retrospect instead to solve why it all happened! Some say that I am being hard on myself. I don’t agree. If I lose a match and not learn from it, then I would be really be hard on myself.

Hindsight Hastens Learning

You will live through a bad sparring session and you move on. But the key to losing is learning. Otherwise the hard lesson learned in losing is for naught should we fail to see its value. Losing presents to so much value in the world of BJJ! Champions weren’t winners before. They endured losing and learned from it. So what have you learned lately?

Hindsight Breeds Excitement

It is not your past experience that will bring excitement, but the key things that can happen once you learn from it. I am definitely more excited to compete and go back to training. The “aha!” moment is succeeded with this burning passion to wear my gi and have it for one more time (or even more).

Hindsight Makes You Enjoy the Present

The feeling that something good is about to happen with my Jiu-Jitsu! It just makes training better! When you understand what happened during the competition you know how it can improve your current game!

Nilo Valle Chinilla