Grow your mind, Grow your confidence, Grow your jiu-jitsu

Your mind can be your biggest opponent

After your first month of training, many great things start to happen. You’re going to be excited to train, you’re going to be motivated to start making changes, like cleaning up your diet,  running to improve your cardio, and lifting  to build muscle and you ABSOLUTELY  do all of those things, but along with your chest, back, and biceps, there’s another  muscle you have to grow and condition  just as much

Your Brain.

In her award-winning book, Mindset,  Carol Dweck outlines the two types of mindsets

1. 
   A Fixed Mindset: This is where someone believes that their skills and abilities are fixed and can’t change. They see success as something that is hard to get,predetermined, or based solely on natural talent and they refuse to think beyond their limitations.

For example: “They’re just too good. I’ll never be able to reach that level” or  “I could never win that tournament, its for people who train at bigger, better, schools/gyms    

1. 
   A Growth Mindset- in Dweck’s words, In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work— talent is just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.   

            For example, I’m not on their level... Yet.. but I know through hard work and dedication I’ll   get there “ or “with my work ethic and determination, I know that i can achieve the same things as everyone else regardless of where I’m from”

Having a growth mindset is a very empowering thing and just like the name implies, it helps you grow as an athlete and a person.

Jiu-jitsu and wrestling can actually help in developing your growth mindset. After all, they are inherently challenging activities; some days you're the proverbial hammer, and other days, the nail. 

People of all skill levels face challenges in training every day and instead of simply just giving up and saying “they’re just too good” they are forced to problem-solve and find solutions to the situations they find themselves in.

In finding the solutions to these problems, you start to develop confidence.. Not just in your performance as an athlete, but in all aspects of your life, because if you can work hard and find solutions to tough situations on the mat, are tough situations off of it, all that difficult?

Not really, right?

But it all starts  with having the right mindset