Monday Motivational #120: Mastering One Piece at a Time

The Blueprint with Eliot Marshall

Recently, I've been tuning into John Danaher's talks on Jiu-Jitsu and improvement. It's not just about getting better at Jiu-Jitsu, though. His principles can apply to just about anything.

He talks about how to get better when your time is limited. Let's take Jiu-Jitsu as an example. You've got three hours a week to train. If you casually float through each session, following the instructor's cues without any specific focus, you'll have fun, sure. But will you see serious improvement? Probably not. Time is a precious commodity, and if you're not using it with purpose, your progress will be slow.

Instead, Danaher suggests going into each session with a plan. Say, for a month, you decide to work solely on your knee space guard pass and your attacks from side control. That's it. Those are your focal points. You drill them into your muscle memory, not just until you get it right a couple of times, but until you can't get it wrong.

This isn't a strategy exclusive to Jiu-Jitsu. Whether you're learning a musical instrument, picking up a new language, or honing your basketball skills, the same principle applies. Narrow your focus. Instead of trying to conquer everything at once, work on one piece of the puzzle until it fits seamlessly into place.

The beauty of this approach is that the improvements might not be earth-shattering in the first month or two. But give it six months, a year, or even a couple of years, and you'll be amazed at the progress you've made.

Ice Cube once said, "Can you work for five years without even thinking about getting paid, so that at the end of that five years, you get paid for real?" It's a question of discipline, focus, and dedication. Can you commit to the grind and put in the time to perfect each piece before moving onto the next?

So, find what sets your soul on fire, harness the power within you, and share your purpose with the world. Master the art of patience and focused effort, and watch as your progress leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.