failure and success: A moments reflect reveals that THE VAST MAJORITY OF SUBMISSION ATTEMPTS WE MAKE IN THE COURSE OF OUR JIU JITSU WILL END IN FAILURE. For every time we successfully apply a submission hold we typically fail more than ten times. It's easy to get discouraged. It can even happen in the midst of a match. You have a favorite move – you try it several times and fail each time. It's easy to say to yourself that this opponent is impervious to this form of attack and stop trying and move on. Understand that in most cases it is only the imperfections in your the application of the move that resulted in that failure – not the move itself or your opponents defenses. When you experience failure, don't immediately assume this opponent can't be beaten by this method. Instead, try to asses on the spot how good your attempt was and what deficiencies lead to the initial failure – so that when you attempt it again you are doing a better job. If we just repeat the first failed attempt, you can only expect a second failure. But if you quickly assess what made the initial attempt fail and change those elements on the second or third attempt – you have a great chance of getting the breakthrough even after several initial failures. Here, Garry Tonon unsuccessfully attempts a heel hook variation in his bronze medal bout at ADCC. It would have been easy to quit heel hooks and attempt other forms of attack. Rather than just give up on one of his strongest weapons, he assessed what was wrong the first time and came back with a better second heel hook that won him a medal! Never tell yourself “this isn't working.” Rather, ask yourself, “why didn't that last attempt work?” The former leads to defeatism, the latter to confidence and success.
