It’s often not the advice that’s new that takes your jiu-jitsu to the next level. It’s usually common advice that we’ve heard before. It’s taking the advice and taking action, and the lesson you learn from that, that sparks improvement.

How many times have you heard any random advice? For me, it’s been countless times. And I often ignore it the first several times.

But then, one day, someone says the same thing, but in a different way. And I finally try it. And it sorta works, sorta doesn’t. But I learned. Or I saw something that was always there, from a new perspective. And now I’m a little bit better.

Think of all the times you’ve “lost” and didn’t learn from it. That’s happened a lot for me. What people say about the best, is they get caught once, learn from it, and don’t get caught again with the same thing.

And we also learn when we don’t take the advice and finally pay for ignoring it.

A famous investor, Stanley Drunkenmiller, once lost billions when he made a mistake he knew was a mistake. When telling the story, he said:

“You asked me what I learned. I didn’t learn anything. I already knew that I wasn’t supposed to do that. I was just an emotional basket case and couldn’t help myself. Maybe I learned not to do it again, but I already knew that.”