BJJ cults begin with BJJ instructors. Some well-intended, others less so. Spend time leading classes and you realize that every instructor runs the risk of creating a cult of their personality. It feels good to be at the front of the room. To have the attention. To be sought out for guidance and answers. But you don’t have the right answers. Only your students can find those. Hell, you might not even be asking the right questions. Are you showing everything you know? Or are you teaching? Are ...

BJJ cults begin with BJJ instructors. Some well-intended, others less so. Spend time leading classes and you realize that every instructor runs the risk of creating a cult of their personality. It feels good to be at the front of the room. To have the attention. To be sought out for guidance and answers. But you don’t have the right answers. Only your students can find those. Hell, you might not even be asking the right questions. Are you showing everything you know? Or are you teaching? Are ...

At some point—perhaps sooner than you’d like—you’ll have to coach yourself. Either your coach won’t be as attentive as they could be, or you’ll have absorbed their game, or you just don’t mesh interpersonally. If you want to keep growing, you’re going to have to sort it out yourself. But that doesn’t mean abandoning external coaching. Everyone on the mats has a lesson to offer, from the brand-new white belt to gnarled veteran. The brand-new white belt might react in an inexplicable way that g...

At some point—perhaps sooner than you’d like—you’ll have to coach yourself. Either your coach won’t be as attentive as they could be, or you’ll have absorbed their game, or you just don’t mesh interpersonally. If you want to keep growing, you’re going to have to sort it out yourself. But that doesn’t mean abandoning external coaching. Everyone on the mats has a lesson to offer, from the brand-new white belt to gnarled veteran. The brand-new white belt might react in an inexplicable way that g...

Jiu Jitsu is embodied knowledge. It’s a return to the movement patterns of childhood. The ones we forgot. Watch dogs, cats, or babies play. They all know Jiu Jitsu. They shrimp, roll, and play guard with all four limbs, and they do it unconsciously.This image was created with DALL-E AI, using the following prompt: Black and white abstract line drawing of a baby learning how to crawl.Then we age. We hit a tipping point in our development where nurture overpowers nature. Education skews us towa...

Jiu Jitsu is embodied knowledge. It’s a return to the movement patterns of childhood. The ones we forgot. Watch dogs, cats, or babies play. They all know Jiu Jitsu. They shrimp, roll, and play guard with all four limbs, and they do it unconsciously.This image was created with DALL-E AI, using the following prompt: Black and white abstract line drawing of a baby learning how to crawl.Then we age. We hit a tipping point in our development where nurture overpowers nature. Education skews us towa...

“The mind stops with recognition.” – Josh Waitzkin We recognize something, we put a label on it, and we put it in a mental box. This can be constructive for higher-order thinking because now we have a mental model of this thing. We can chunk it and move on to integrating new information. But as soon as we put a label on it, we close the door on further exploration and evaluation. We close the door on curiosity. We also close the door on depth. To use a personal example, I’ve been doing jiu ji...

“The mind stops with recognition.” – Josh Waitzkin We recognize something, we put a label on it, and we put it in a mental box. This can be constructive for higher-order thinking because now we have a mental model of this thing. We can chunk it and move on to integrating new information. But as soon as we put a label on it, we close the door on further exploration and evaluation. We close the door on curiosity. We also close the door on depth. To use a personal example, I’ve been doing jiu ji...

At its highest level, coaching is knowing and nurturing the psychology of the student. It’s guiding them toward greater self-knowledge within the art and in the global context of life. We coach so that the student can discern what is and isn’t aligned with who they are. So they can integrate technical instruction in a way that squares with their true north as a performer and competitor. This is easier for more technically advanced and more self-aware athletes. This is harder for less technica...

At its highest level, coaching is knowing and nurturing the psychology of the student. It’s guiding them toward greater self-knowledge within the art and in the global context of life. We coach so that the student can discern what is and isn’t aligned with who they are. So they can integrate technical instruction in a way that squares with their true north as a performer and competitor. This is easier for more technically advanced and more self-aware athletes. This is harder for less technica...

Even now, fear halts the advancement of a position toward its conclusion, which is usually a submission attempt. The tension mounts to its breaking point and I stop. I fear losing what I have gained, and I fear what that loss might say about me. There’s a scarcity mindset at play here in the technical aspects of the game and thematically across my life. But, no risk it, no biscuit. And there’s a socialized mindset, too: Certain people, certain ranks, to whom and which I can’t lose. But what w...

Even now, fear halts the advancement of a position toward its conclusion, which is usually a submission attempt. The tension mounts to its breaking point and I stop. I fear losing what I have gained, and I fear what that loss might say about me. There’s a scarcity mindset at play here in the technical aspects of the game and thematically across my life. But, no risk it, no biscuit. And there’s a socialized mindset, too: Certain people, certain ranks, to whom and which I can’t lose. But what w...

How did we arrive at this moment in our sport? What foundational principles were strong enough to give rise to Jiu Jitsu as a sophisticated art form? To answer these questions, we can look for the one that houses the many. Let’s look at the shrimp. It’s present in the mount escape. It’s present in open guard retention. It’s present in recumbent guard retention. It’s present in the inversion. We can begin to learn to use our hips by learning to shrimp.This image was created with DALL-E AI, usi...

How did we arrive at this moment in our sport? What foundational principles were strong enough to give rise to Jiu Jitsu as a sophisticated art form? To answer these questions, we can look for the one that houses the many. Let’s look at the shrimp. It’s present in the mount escape. It’s present in open guard retention. It’s present in recumbent guard retention. It’s present in the inversion. We can begin to learn to use our hips by learning to shrimp.This image was created with DALL-E AI, usi...

Who knows what’s best for you? Is it you, or is it your instructor? Stick around long enough in Jiu Jitsu and you’ll arrive at this inflection point. You’ve amassed enough technical knowledge and skill to reasonably determine what is for you, and what isn’t for you. This ability is part of what adult developmental psychologist Robert Keegan calls the self-authoring mind. The self-authoring grappler decides what’s ultimately best for themselves. The next developmental stage is the self-transfo...

Who knows what’s best for you? Is it you, or is it your instructor? Stick around long enough in Jiu Jitsu and you’ll arrive at this inflection point. You’ve amassed enough technical knowledge and skill to reasonably determine what is for you, and what isn’t for you. This ability is part of what adult developmental psychologist Robert Keegan calls the self-authoring mind. The self-authoring grappler decides what’s ultimately best for themselves. The next developmental stage is the self-transfo...

If you’re a content creator—whether that’s an artist, musician, or writer—why should you care about Web3, NFTs, and the metaverse? From a distance, they look like an alphabet soup thick with jargon, speculation, and some questionable characters. But on closer inspection, Web3, NFTs, and the metaverse are coalescing into a new creative frontier, one that will reward enterprising artists. Here are three reasons why artists, musicians, and writers should care about Web3.Meaningful MonetizationWe...

If you’re a content creator—whether that’s an artist, musician, or writer—why should you care about Web3, NFTs, and the metaverse? From a distance, they look like an alphabet soup thick with jargon, speculation, and some questionable characters. But on closer inspection, Web3, NFTs, and the metaverse are coalescing into a new creative frontier, one that will reward enterprising artists. Here are three reasons why artists, musicians, and writers should care about Web3.Meaningful MonetizationWe...

As students and instructors, how do we think more critically about learning jiu jitsu within the modern information landscape? On one hand, the internet and social media have done more to democratize the flow of information than the invention of the printing press. BJJ academies that were once information silos are now (for the most part) interconnected information hubs.This image was created with DALL-E AI, using the following prompt: Abstract drawing of a labyrinth. At the center is a mount...

As students and instructors, how do we think more critically about learning jiu jitsu within the modern information landscape? On one hand, the internet and social media have done more to democratize the flow of information than the invention of the printing press. BJJ academies that were once information silos are now (for the most part) interconnected information hubs.This image was created with DALL-E AI, using the following prompt: Abstract drawing of a labyrinth. At the center is a mount...

I have competed, but have I ever been a competitor? I have held myself back from being a competitor. If I were to be more than a hobbyist and fail, the failure would be mine alone. But success and failure have always been mine alone. Ultimately, the outcome is irrelevant. What matters is the Quality of effort, the Quality of competition. Quality of effort begins with honesty and directness about the goal. The goal is to be in the arena, where the ultimate training happens. The goal is to comp...

I have competed, but have I ever been a competitor? I have held myself back from being a competitor. If I were to be more than a hobbyist and fail, the failure would be mine alone. But success and failure have always been mine alone. Ultimately, the outcome is irrelevant. What matters is the Quality of effort, the Quality of competition. Quality of effort begins with honesty and directness about the goal. The goal is to be in the arena, where the ultimate training happens. The goal is to comp...

If you give yourself an out, you will take it. Whether that’s a round off, accepting a poor position, or anything less than a gold medal, you will fall to this level. We think that we can rise to the occasion when the stakes are highest. We think that adrenaline, spontaneity, and maybe some luck will carry the day. And they might. But wouldn’t you rather be certain? Wouldn’t you rather know that you’ve practiced turning it on when it doesn’t matter so you can turn it on when it does? Wouldn’t...

If you give yourself an out, you will take it. Whether that’s a round off, accepting a poor position, or anything less than a gold medal, you will fall to this level. We think that we can rise to the occasion when the stakes are highest. We think that adrenaline, spontaneity, and maybe some luck will carry the day. And they might. But wouldn’t you rather be certain? Wouldn’t you rather know that you’ve practiced turning it on when it doesn’t matter so you can turn it on when it does? Wouldn’t...