BJJ Grrl

Notes that I’ve been making over the last few weeks on how to measure progress:

• not by subs — you could be brute-forcing everything, and that’s not jiu-jitsu
• not by not getting subbed — everyone else could be brute-forcing everything
• belts & stripes — yes — but not week-to-week indicators
• how you fare against someone “the same level” (how to know?) as you
• how you feel you’re controlling a position
• reaction in situations
• do you move? how? esp. when in danger — freeze vs. flop vs. flow
• test yourself against Cpt Caveman? ugh…
• mental progress
• move between positions
• obvious — feedback from more experienced guys — when they can give specific examples of what you’re consistently doing right — but my whole point is that I don’t want to bug these guys too much; I want to be able to evaluate myself
• don’t want to use how I “feel” about things too much because my perception may be wrong, esp. if guys are taking it easy on me; I can’t always tell
• what is the goal we’re trying to reach? Tempting to say “black belt,” but then I’m always short. (And what does that mean, anyway?) Need manageable, intermediate, and testable goals. While belts may be an obvious goal, still feels as if they’re too spread out. How can I tell each day/week if I’m getting better?
• hip movement and control
• non-spazzy/non-floppy
• randomly scaring people
• drilling brings progress but isn’t progress
• competition demonstrates progress, maybe, but isn’t progress
• one thing I find difficult is that there are always other people intimately involved in your jiu-jitsu. It’s not an independent game. For example, I can seem and feel almost competent rolling with Justin because he’s adapting and adjusting to me, but new guys who just want to steamroll me can do it at any moment
• tapping is not a metric of failure
• A single day can’t be the only data considered; too easy to have a bad day
• Having a whole list of techniques to work doesn’t work so well — too much to remember & too many situations/possibilities
• everything has to be testable
• note to self: your technique might be right, but it’s probably also slow, which gives them too much time to react. Do it right, but work on speed, but not sloppy. Right & tight — and fast.
• Notes from Surviving the Top Ten Challenges of Software Testing (Perry & Rice. 1997, Dorset House Publishing), chapter on self-assessments:
  • It’s important to periodically stop in life and assess where you are. Self-assessments fore you to examine and evaluate your current status. Painful as self-assessments may be, you should do them for the following reasons:
    1. Self-assessments force you to look at yourself through the eyes of the self-assessment process. It is, in effect, an assessment from an independent party, just as a medical examination is an assessment by a physician of your physical health.
    2. Self-assessments establish a baseline for improvement. if you are going to improve you need to have a basis for determining whether or not improvement has been acheived. A self-assessment taken at the beginning and end of the improvement process will demonstrate change or the lack of change.
    3. Self-assessments can force you to stop being content with the status quo. It’s only natural to immerse yourself in work rather than confront a potential lack of personal progress.
  • Success can be thought of as personal satisfaction with one’s career and status in life, and this can have different meanings for different people. Put simply, if you acheive what you want to acheive, you are successful. Acheiving success, however, is rarely so simple, and it requires you to do three things:
    1. Develop a personal baseline. The baseline tells you where you are now.
    2. Develop a personal vision. The vision is the set of assessment criteria that, if acheived, would match what you would rate a success. It is not inappropriate to change your vision or goals periodically throughout your lifetime; what is important is to have a vision.
    3. Implement a plan to close the gap between our baseline and your vision. This shortfall is frequently called a “frustration gap,” because you know where you are and where you want to be, but you become frustrated that they aren’t the same.
  • With an awareness of your baseline and your vision, it is possible to measure your progress and to adjust your plan if necessary.