New Year New You

“This year I’m going to…” and how you end the sentence is completely subjective. You, and only you, should define what success means. I have just finished reading a book called “Relentless” by Tim S. Grover. Tim was a former collegiate basketball player that due to repetitive injuries decided to shift his focus from being a player to being an Athletic Specialist. Tim has trained big shots like Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, and the greatest, Michael Jordan. There is a ton of great information in the book, but the gist of it revolves around one concept – being relentless. In the book, Tim talks about how Kobe, Dwayne, and Michael are all “cleaners”. What’s a cleaner? Well, the whole book is about what a cleaner is or isn’t so trying to define it in one sentence is tough, but to summarize it, a cleaner is someone with a purpose, focus and or goal that gets the job done. A cleaner is not an, “I’ll try” person, rather a, “I did and if it didn’t work, then I’ll do something else” machine.

In my previous blog, I discussed how the holidays were a great time to develop a well rounded BJJ game. Truthfully, even though technique is what should be, in my opinion, your greatest asset, there are physical factors that influence your game (speed, strength, balance, reaction, quickness, flexibility, etc.). So for example, if your goal is to get a belt promotion in 2018, or just to get better at Jiu-Jitsu overall, then let me make this crystal-clear, you need to work on your physical fitness to take your game to the next level; this is the reality my friends. Getting to the next level is not easy, but it is simple. The reason why is not easy is that your brain has an automatic default setting for disliking uneasiness. As Tim says in his book, "Adapting a relentless mentality will ensure you reach your goals". Now... be very cautious how you choose your goals.

Relentless - a state of mind

Last year I came across this interesting term – SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely). Moreover, I believe you should break down goals in stages: short-term, medium-term and long-term; no worries, I’ll go over what I think the timeframes for these terms are. For example, one medium-term goal I have is to travel to two cities I have never been before, one of them in Brazil, to compete in the IBJJF tournaments and take gold. If you can’t define a goal in one sentence, then backtrack yourself and implement the KISS method (Keep It Short & Simple). Let’s break down the sentence. I mentioned that I wanted to go to two cities I have never been before – that’s pretty Specific. Furthermore, I want to take gold in both of them and this is how I’ll Measure my success. Is it Achievable? You better believe I’m going to put in the work to do so; nothing sucks more than traveling, spending money, and not going home with the gold around your neck. Is it Realistic? Hell yea! I have done it before multiple times in cities I have visited already. And lastly, my Time to get it done is within 6 months from 01/01/18.

Let’s quickly go over what I think the timeframes are, and again, this is just what I think so it’s not a set rule. Short-term (3 months or less), medium term (3-6 months), long-term (12 months or more). I also think we need to have 3, 5 and 10-year goals, but that’s a different conversation I might go into later on. One key thing to keep in mind is that your short, medium and long-term goals HAVE TO BE IN SYNC. My short-term goal, in order to meet my medium-term goal, is to train Jiu-Jitsu at least 15 hours per week (not including weights and conditioning). And to give you the whole picture, my long-term goal that aligns with my medium and short-term goals is to rank amongst the top 20 purple belts in the world by the end of the year. Ambitious? Yea. Crazy? Maybe. Impossible? Absolutely not.

Guys, we need to have goals…otherwise, how can we really know if we are living or just surviving? If we are growing or stagnating? If we are being fulfilled or drained? A goal should be your compass and how you reach it is your map. Why a compass and not an endpoint? Because goals sometimes change and that’s ok, as long as you know why you chose that goal. Throughout your journey, often times you'll find obstacles that will cloud your vision on what the next step is; however, always remember to look at your compass (goal) and if you ever doubt it, then remember why you chose your goal in the first place.

Start and end your journey with "Why"

The New Year seems like a perfect time to create new personal or professional goals, so don’t lose momentum. I heard in a Tonny Robbins podcast the other day that by February, close to 90% of people with New Year resolutions quit -  don't' let this be you.

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I hope you found the value on this short blog. Developing your mental game is even more important than improving your guard. The former requires more time than the latter, but that doesn't mean you should only focus on one of them. Your mental game extends all the way from your will and open-mindedness to goal choosing.

Oss!