Do it again. And again. And again.

I’ve had a couple students complain about repeating some lessons and wanting to move on. This is both adult and child students. But they haven’t even got the techniques down yet. They just want novelty.

It doesn’t make sense to me, because even as a black belt, even having “mastered” some techniques, I still look forward to repeating those lessons. You can learn something else or see the technique from another perspective after you understand it better.

When people practice other hobbies, they don’t keep searching out new movements. They work on the same ones over and over. In golf, a player will have a collection of clubs and their swing may differ slightly but it’s not like they have hundreds of ways to play, even if the courses are different.

In bowling, it’s rolling a ball. In basketball, people shoot the same shot over and over. They do the same drills.

In jiu-jitsu, students want new techniques before they have the basics down. They keep looking for the answer. The secret technique. The short cut.

But it’s just mat time. It’s having post roll discussions. It’s experimenting with situational sparring and constraints.

There’s no secret. And if there was one, it’d be having a strong love for the game and making friends with training partners. Those two usually mean more mat time. And more mat time leads to better jiu-jitsu. Simple.

I’ve seen many students come and leave because they approached learning as a solo pursuit. They never wanted to help anyone or connect with anyone. The practice for them was exercise, stress relief, competition. That’s fine, but like life, jiu-jitsu is better when it’s not all about you.