In a recent social media post, John Danaher addressed one of the most universal struggles in Jiu-Jitsu – the frustration of feeling clumsy and incompetent when learning something new.
He reminded practitioners that early awkwardness is not a sign of failure:
Don’t despair if techniques you’re working on don’t feel perfect.
Keep two things in mind – first, almost everyone looks and feels like a klutz when they start on a new skill.
How you start isn’t important – it’s how good you are when you finish that you’ll be remembered for.As long as you’re making progress everything is ok.
Give yourself time and that progress will accrue into a really powerful skill.
Danaher also challenged the myth that techniques need to be performed flawlessly to succeed:
Second, your moves don’t have to be perfect to succeed.
They only have to be good enough to exceed the defensive capabilities of your opponent at the time of application.
Very often a far from perfect execution will be enough to do the job.
That is to say, Danaher explains that imperfection is not only acceptable – it’s expected.
He closed with a reminder that what feels hopeless today can become a signature strength tomorrow:
So don’t be intimidated by a rocky start to skill acquisition.
Time and progressive effort will work its magic and soon enough that seemingly hopeless beginning may well furnish one of your strongest techniques.
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