There are many virtues that will help your progress in Jiu jitsu and indeed, in life. courage, intelligence, creativity etc are all good traits to have that will help you towards your goals – but there is one virtue that stands above all others – PERSISTENCE. In particular, ADAPTIVE persistence. It doesn't help to be persistent if you're heading in the wrong direction – that'll just take you further and further away from your goal. You must be persistent while heading in the correct direction. But how do you know you're going in the right directions? By observing the results of your work and retaining the work that repeatedly lead to successful outcomes and rejecting or modifying the work that repeatedly lead to unsuccessful outcomes. In time you will adapt your practices in the face of evidence towards success and if you're persistent with this, good outcomes are inevitable in the long run. Cultivate within yourself the virtue of adaptive persistence and let time work its magic to make you better at what is important to you, whether jiu jitsu or something else.
