What’s the key to continuous improvement?
Well, there are many answers to that question. But among them is a sure-fire one: always pushing yourself to the limit.

Rickson Gracie knows that well.
In his book, “Breathe: A Life in Flow“, he provided a glance into his mindset:

In order to push myself, I needed to feel stress, disappointment, and frustration on a daily basis.

Why? Because he needs that disappointment and frustration to propel him forward:

I always tried to work from a place of discomfort and would often line up all my students and tell them that I was going to have a match with each of them.

If anyone could survive three minutes, they were the winner. The only submission I was allowed was an armlock on their left arm.
If I beat nineteen of them, but one guy lasted longer than three minutes, I’d go home feeling sick.

That gave me the taste of defeat, and I kept that taste in my mouth at all times by constantly creating challenges that kept me connected with defeat.

Rickson’s mindset expands further than that…
And encompasses many different lessons:

My dad believed that if your mind and will are not strong, you’ll spend your entire life getting carried away by your desires and weaknesses.

You’ll spend your whole life paying for things you don’t want.

 

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