The harder I work the luckier I get

"The harder I work, the luckier I get."
                                       - Samuel Goldwyn

I've been enjoying the Judo blog of Dr. AnnMaria de Mars lately. I found it a few days ago while looking for information on uchikomi. She was the first American to win a World Championship, and also just happens to be Ronda Rousey's mom.

Anyhow, the quote that I opened with today is from her blog. She writes a lot about success in top-level Judo, but what she says also applies to Jiu-Jitsu folks like me.

She is a big advocate of lots of training, and of not holding back while doing it.

This is pretty much the secret of my modest success.

In our school there are 8 sessions per week for adults. Three are for White Belts, three are for advanced students, and two are open-mat for anybody doing anything. I attend all of them.

Less than half of our advanced students ever attend the White Belt classes, and even fewer show up for open-mat.

If anybody wants to get together to work towards a belt exam after hours, or anything like that I'm always game to help them out. It gets me more hours of training.

Even when present, there are people who only want to do a couple of reps of whatever technique we're working on. Some of us try and do as many reps as possible within the allotted time.

During sparring, if there is an odd number present somebody has to sit out during each match-up. Some rush to be the odd person out. I try and avoid having a turn sitting doing nothing.

In short, I get more time training than anybody else, and try and squeeze more value out of each hour than most of my friends.

I also do something the others don't. I try and plan my progress.

Each time I've gone to the Gracie Academy in Los Angeles, I did so with recently awarded rank. The last time it was just chance, but the first time it was carefully planned.

I wanted to get as much out of the LA training as could. To do that I wanted to have as thorough a preparation as possible. If you know a bit about what you're being taught, it is easier to understand the more complex stuff.

I wanted to complete all of the BBS1 material before heading south. I would have been about 20% short of completion by trip time, and so went that much faster than the normal pace over the preceding year-and-a-half.

I could have done all that without also doing the BBS1 exam, but I wanted to know if I was good enough, and so earned a belt stripe along the way.

So what has all this extra effort gotten me?

I know the available curriculum as well as anybody here, and better than most.

I am also able to spar as well as any student in our school. This is actually pretty remarkable, as I am 59 years old. Most of the others are still in their twenties.

Going full out, there are three guys here who it would be a coin-toss to fight. I tap them sometimes, and sometimes they get me. I can pretty much tap the remaining dozen at will.

If I didn't work harder and longer there is no way that would be true.

How did I get so dedicated?

Well, I don't want to suck, and I don't delude myself. Without the extra effort, I would not be anywhere as good as I am. I could do less work, and tell myself some kinda justification, but it would be a lie.

It's just easier and more gratifying to push.