Learning from your mistakes

In order to succeed I must fail hard. I think I am too much of a perfectionist at times. I am always worried about the impression I give off to other people. I think about it so much it has hindered me in many ways, especially socially. In order to cope with this anxiety I started to develop a behavior where I avoid that which I am afraid of. I fear because I do not know. If I keep going down this road I will eventually make my own bed. Instead now I see that our beliefs are really all in our heads. You assume one thing about people yet more than likely they don't even care because everyone has their own issues. No one is perfect and without worry. Instead of creating panic in my mind and avoiding that situation in the future I need to embrace it and take it for what it is. I won't improve unless I am able to change the outcome of it. This can only happen by thinking about what happened and looking for a way to improve. It's a time to learn every time I do not get the results I want. Life is about learning and becoming wiser with age so I need to embrace the good and the bad.

Actually jiu-jitsu has made me realized I can overcome any obstacles placed in front of me. When I first began bjj I developed a guard and I became comfortable playing it. I did not like working on my top game because I was horrible at it. I would get swept, submitted, and manipulated like a rag doll so I always played guard and "avoided" playing a top game at all cost. As I did more competitions I realized I needed to be good at both guard and passing in order to be a complete grappler. This has led me to force myself to work on my top game. In the beginning I hated it because I made so many mistakes but I kept forcing myself to stay on top. Now I am actually seeing results and I can see that I am improving and will continue to improve as long as I keep making mistakes and learning from it. Instead of running away and avoiding it I am getting good at it and I am enjoying it.

Life is a lot like bjj. If I don't try to learn from my mistakes and improve my position I will never be able to better myself. If I keep avoiding what I am unfamiliar with I will never enjoy the benefits of the unknown. As a result of bjj I can see that correlation now. Practice and perseverance will evolve you into a more competent and complete individual. I actually pick things up pretty well when I decide to dive head first into whatever I am tackling.

I am only hurting myself if I avoid taking on the unknown. This creates fear. I need to change the way my mind is wired like when I decided to stop playing guard and focus on the top.