BJJ Norcal

When I first started in jiu-jitsu, people seemed to talk a lot about eliminating ego from your game.  The logic is that it hurts your game by allowing "attributes" and "preference" to dominate your rolls.  Let's talk about each:

Attributes - Strength, Speed, Agility, Flexibility, etc.  These are all attributes.  We each have our own unique set that are relative to others.  I may be more flexible than you, but less so than BJ Penn.  That said, we all have a sense of what attributes we have in abundance as compared to others (we roll with).  We know we can call on them when needed.   When pressed we resort to these tools when ego comes calling.

Preference - We all have certain positions we favor.  Some positions are more natural and others we have just worked over and over until proficiency.  The most likely reality is that a position naturally made sense to us and we thus worked it.  In that way, it becomes a preference.  When challenged with a tough opponent, ego calls on our preferred "go to moves" in an attempt "to win".

As stated above, ego can bring us to use attributes and favored positions to climb out of danger.  From this (devlopmental) perspective, ego is bad.  I agree 100%.  However, this is a model for "in the gym".  A model for development.  If you want to get better, you have to be able to shut off the ego.  You must put yourself in bad positions, tap to lower belts, and work the positions you are weakest.  This is the only way to create a technical game, and it is NOT easy to do.  Even to this day I struggle with it. 

I think most people in bjj understand the above, but they do not understand that while eliminating the ego is required for ideal developmental training, so is cultivating the ego for competition and tough training.  The best have a bit of a swagger to them and this is no accident.

It does not mean that you are cocky, arrogant, or you don't respect the abilities of your opponent.  It just means that you are confident in yourself.  You know your game and you plan to impose it.  You have the sense that this match is yours to lose.  They are the hunted and you the hunter.  If you don't have a bit of this I think you will not only struggle in competition, but also in those tough battles within the academy.  If you don't like the term "ego", just use the concept of "confidence".

Personally, this is where I need the most work and as with most of bjj I am sure it will be a lifelong journey.  Like most things it is a balancing act.  Get too far to one side or the other and you fall off the tightrope.

Have a great roll!