The way of all progress: There is an odd element to making progress in Jiu jitsu and indeed, in life in general. Progress almost always entails the learning of new skills. Once those new skills are operating at a satisfactory level, they add to your game in ways that are beneficial, offering new paths to your goals. However, there is inevitably a time in which you are trying to develop those skills where your performance will actually DIMINISH. This is caused by the simple fact that skills take time to develop. As you devote more time to them, inevitably attention must be taken away from your main previous skills so they will slightly retrograde. This leaves you with a temporarily diminished skill set – the exact opposite of what you were hoping for! Don't be discouraged. As the old saying goes – sometimes you have to take a step back to take two steps forward. ALMOST EVERY FUTURE PERFORMANCE INCREASE IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF A TEMPORARY PERFORMANCE DECREASE – you have to get over the mental hurdle of temporary valleys to get to the next peak – it's simply part of the process.
