# Battling Discouragment



## Andrew Green (Mar 15, 2006)

> I think it's safe to say that in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and life in general, we've all been discouraged from time to time. Whether its money issues, a relationship problem, or just plain having a bad day, a lot of times it can be all too easy to get discouraged. I'd like to take the time to focus on some ways to curb this problem in your Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training, and who knows, maybe life too.
> 
> I most commonly see discouragement in my newer students. Speaking from the perspective of someone who's been there, let me tell you, it's not a fun feeling. I think the first thing to realize is everyone goes through it, and NOT just beginners! Every so many days, weeks, months, or years you will reach a plateau. There will be times when you can't do anything wrong, and times when you can't do anything right, no matter how hard you try.



Read the rest: http://www.lockflow.com/article_view.php?id=1029


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## Andrew Green (Mar 15, 2006)

So how does everyone here deal with discouragement in training?


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## Makalakumu (Mar 16, 2006)

Andrew Green said:
			
		

> So how does everyone here deal with discouragement in training?


 
Discouragement is a sign that a person needs to evaluate what one is doing.  For whatever reason, the "discouraged" is feeling that something is inadequate.  Thus, finding that inadequacy becomes very important.  Once that inacequacy is found, questions can be asked, and it can be addressed.

I've gone through this process alot in my training.  Most of the time I've been able to train out of it, but a couple of times I've had to reprioritize my training goals because of familial responsabilities or physical injury.


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## Eternal Beginner (Mar 16, 2006)

I used to be easily discouraged because I just saw an endless tunnel of training as opposed to focusing on real goals.  For me, personally, competing has eliminated discouragement in training completely.  I train, I compete, I see by testing myself against new and unknown competitors what I need to work on and that re-invigorates my training.

I am fortunate that I don't have some of the other problems such as 





> money issues, a relationship problem, or just plain having a bad day


 as it says in the article.  Well, the bad days I have - but training usually cheers me up rather than makes it worse.  So for me it was needing to set goals that helped any discouragement that I felt.


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