In BJJ, Time always catches up

In BJJ, Time always catches up

In BJJ, time always catches up. Furthermore, Jiu-Jitsu happens in real time, so there are always new decisions to be made. We prefer to make proactive choices wherever we can, but with resistance in the mix, you also have to become comfortable with reactive choices (where you don’t initiate the action but must still work to advance your plan anyway). Proactive or reactive, *bad* decisions happen when you’re in a rush and can’t process information fast enough. You miss an important part of the signal and head off in the wrong direction. This happens in guard-passing, when the passer can change directions faster and with greater ease than the guard player and clears the legs as a result. Panic also inhibits good decisions, leading to a freak out and a cascade of emergency choices that are less than optimal. Bad decisions also happen when the effects of your choices aren’t evident right away – you’re swayed by short-term comfort and ignore long-term repercussions. Exploding out of the mount works until it doesn’t. Many bad decisions work out OK in the short run because you can be short-term successful…but time often changes changes this. To work on making better long-term decisions requires elevating the value of the long run. It can be worthwhile to sacrifice immediate gratification, to look closely at the gap you’re covering up and the mistakes you make. With attention, you can start this process where you are and learn do it regardless of how much noise there might be around instant results.