03 Jun Prepare your child for life

“Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off.”
-Franklin D. Roosevelt

Co-operation vs. Competition.  When you really think about it, to give your child the best chance to succeed, experience tells us to co-operate 90% of the time, and compete 10% of the time.

It is also our assertion that our very success in competition is prepared for by the way we learn co-operative effort in pursuit of mastery. Any of the greatest feats in the history of mankind have been accomplished not by individual effort, but by co-operation and collaboration. Although there are outliers who in pursuit of excellence put forth a herculean solo effort and make a difference all by themselves, the vast majority have worked toward achievement with peers or good teachers.  In Jiu-Jitsu this is uniquely true. Teach your child to pursue mastery through sustained, intelligent, combined effort without forgetting their individuality and uniqueness. This produces versatility, technical precision, and comfort in all situations.

Some people appeal to the competition mindset by bringing up “at the end of the day, it’s one vs another.” They will say, “survival of the fittest is how we got here.”  All you need to ask yourself is, is the fittest the most competitive, or is she the most adaptive and and most capable of combined effort?

This doesn’t mean there isn’t a place and time to see how you are doing in comparison to the rest of the field.  Allow your child time to focus on mastery, and life will provide them many opportunities to shine. I’d trade a gold medal or two to achieve the success of these kids, any day.  Besides, life is more fun when you put the measuring stick down, and just enjoy your art and your passion.