Plan your Work, Work your Plan: Jiujitsu Edition

“I don’t know what I’m even looking for.”

I was in the middle of a private lesson with a student; a blue belt who’s been solid lately. He asked me for some lessons to help him figure out the “what next”?

This statement was the result of me asking him “Well, what is it that you want?” in response to his question about “what should I do in XYZ positions?”

In my eyes, this is a common blue belt problem.

As a white belt, you’re struggling to figure out the problems of survival. Then you figure them out and then what? You have to now figure out how to start attacking. But, you need a starting point, you need an end.

In my life, most of my biggest problems have been solved by using one simple trick: Working backwards.

I’ve often found that when I am struggling to find a solution to something, it’s much easier figuring out what I want and then deconstructing the path to get it.

This requires a clearly defined goal, however.

For this student, when troubleshooting that “end”, I asked “Well what submissions are you finding?”

He immediately jumped into 3 different submissions and before he could rattle off a fourth, I said “No dude… Just give me one. What is the ONE THING you’re wanting to focus on?”

He said “ok, I’m good at the rear naked choke. I get to that position more than anything else.” I said, Good. Let’s work there.

Why there and not anywhere else? Because for my lessons, I only focus on one concept or one thing. In every aspect of life, it becomes more and more important to always find that one thing that moves the needle in everything you do.

For this student, having found success with the rear naked choke, I wanted to focus on creating paths to a single focus: Getting to the back and attacking the rear naked choke.

The RNC was now the focal point for this entire lesson. And this, is the beginning of how you should start strategizing YOUR jiu-jitsu.

Mind-Mapping with the End in Mind

In a previous post, I wrote extensively about mind-mapping your jiu-jitsu from feet to floor.

This was similar to the post I’m about to share with you, however, this started with the BEGINNING in mind. The jiu-jitsu funnel is such where you want to focus on something very specific to open, and as the chaos ensues and your choices become “limitless”, you want to bring it back to ORDER and focus on those submissions you do VERY WELL.

I recorded a 6 minute video showing you how I mind-map from the end (The Rear Naked Choke) and how I work backwards.

In my opinion, this is an incredible way of simplifying and optimizing your training so that you can develop a more intelligent approach to your jiu-jitsu. This video is especially important for the students who have figured out the problems of “survival” and are now looking for the next step: ATTACKING.

[Also, I’ll take some subscriber questions if you want more examples of how I would mind-map with the end in mind.]

Alright, let’s dive in