How I did it! Now it can be told! How to get your Black Belt in 4.5 years!!!!

Well, I actually HAVE been telling you. I have no secret. I have no special pill. Many of the things I have written in this blog are things that I realized I did or observations I have made up to this point in my jiu jitsu journey. It's not an easy or short journey and it hasn't ended. Each entry in this blog is another piece of my puzzle...something that I'm reflecting on, adjusting, or commenting on when I see others get stuck or caught up with. I write my ideas, opinions and thoughts that make sense to me at the time...as well as reserving the right to change my mind...because the truth I tell you today may not be true for me tomorrow. Such is life... So, off the top of my head...these are (some of) the main things that I now realized I did or now understand to have helped me in my progressing in jiu-jitsu thus far...sort of like a David Letterman's Top 10 list. And while 4.5 years may seem fast, it's still never fast enough. I, too, wonder if there's a secret pill to help me learn faster. If I find one, I'll let you know.

And now for (notice the very abbreviated title, heh heh heh)...
Felicia Oh's Top 10 List of Things That Helped Her To Progress Quickly in Jiu Jitsu or
About 10 Things I Think Are Important...there are more and when I think of them, I'll let you know.

Now, in no particular order...

10. Go to class on a regular basis. Set your schedule and don't make excuses. Don't got because you do or don't feel like going. Just go. Pretend it is your job. Of course, things happen and you can't always make it, but don't NOT go because you don't feel like it and you'd rather watch tv and eat ice cream on the couch.

9. Pay attention when the instructor is teaching.

8. Take responsibility for your own learning. If you can't see what the teacher is showing, get up and move to a place so you can.

7. Ask questions. Don't be inappropriate and ask things at the wrong time or be an attention hog. If you don't understand what the teacher explained to the class, ask for help or clarification. Either ask the teacher or a (most likely) more advanced student for help. Don't just do the move incorrectly.

6. Be balanced. Don't do only technique and not roll or come late to class so you miss the technique and just go to roll. You need both sides of the training. You need to learn and refine new moves and you need to practice moves in a live situation. Make sure you do both.

5. Be a good partner. Don't be a jerk. Be sensitive to your partners needs ;) When doing technique, if your partner is having trouble understanding a move, help him. As your partner starts to execute the move properly, apply progressive resistance. Each time he does it easily, increase the resistance. Don't start by resisting 100% to show how good your defense to the move is. It's drilling....not a street fight. When rolling, gauge how hard to go based on who your partner is and the situation. For example, if your partner is preparing for a tournament, he might want you to roll harder. If you're going to go hard, make sure you both know. What goes around comes around and if you break the toys, you won't have anything to play with.

4. Focus on using technique rather than forcing things with strength. Once you have the technique, you can add strength on top of it if you're in a competition or training hard with someone of equal size/ability or larger/stronger than you.

3. Don't focus on winning or losing in competition or in class. Just try to improve and get better.

2. Don't wait until you fell ready to compete. You will rarely ever feel ready.

1. Don't be afraid to lose. Put yourself in bad positions and see what they feel like. Make your worst position your best position.