One of my favorite stories in the grappling world was told in Saulor Ribeiro's book Jiu Jitsu University. Here it is:

Helio Gracie - The Ninety Year Old Warrior (from Jiu Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro) pg. 18

“The last time I trained with Helio Gracie was a truly memorable experience
and is to this day the most important class I ever had on jiu-jitsu. What struck
me most was how Helio addressed me. He did not hold me in awe for my tittles or
championships, and what he said more than surprised me. He said, “Son, you’re
strong, you’re tough, you’re a world champion, but I don’t think you can beat
me.” At the time, I just looked at him sideways in disbelief. After all, how
could a ninety-year-old beat someone who is in his athletic prime? It was at
this moment that I realized how he deftly put all the responsibility on me to
defeat him. This is the key to Helio; he never says he will beat you, only that
you will not beat him.

 This is important because he believes he will survive. His survival has
nothing to do with perfect timing or strength. Instead, it has everything to do
with mastering the defensive aspects of jiu-jitsu. He didn’t say he would escape
from my positions, or that he would do anything else. He said he would survive. 

The result of our training only validated that fact. Helio did survive, and I
was not able to impose my game on him. Helio proved to me the importance of
survivability and the defensive nature of jiu-jitsu. Furthermore, I took from
him one of the greatest lessons ever: It is not enough to be able to defeat all
of your challengers. To be able to tell any man that he cannot defeat you is to
wield true power.”

Professional athletes of the NFL routinely follow a schedule that
goes something like this; morning physical training, break, mid morning
meetings, break/lunch, afternoon meetings/play study, afternoon physical
training, dinner, evening meetings, night film study/meetings. 

This was a pretty typical example I read about from the NFL in the book; The
Education of a Coach by David Halberstam. These are millionaire athletes, the
best at what they do. Guys who must win or be fired. How much of their
‘training’ is mental? 

They only trained twice in the day but how many meetings and strategy and
technical reviews did they undergo? In this example it was four times. Each of
those times lasting anywhere from 1 to 2 hours! That’s a full day! 

How much time do you spend as a grappler studying, evaluating, taking notes
and educating yourself about your chosen field? How much do you know about your
opponent’s offenses and defenses? How much do you know about your own offenses
and defenses? Are you one of the literally thousands of athletes who would
rather spend 2 hours of grueling hell on a mat conditioning until your left lung
collapses? 

Or are you one of the less than 1% who is willing to use their mind and put
actual real mental conditioning and development into the world’s oldest and
greatest sport? How many hours have you spent watching the perfect single leg?
How many mental repetitions have you completed of your favorite submission?
Favorite takedown? How many hours have you studied the various grappling styles
and their philosophies? How many books have you read about the subject?

If you’re not willing to put the time into your mind and your strategy you
will only be half an athlete. You may have success but only up to a certain
level and then you will go no further. If you want to go to the absolute limit
of your capabilities you must train your mind. 

You must be willing to slow down in your training and get it right. You must
be willing to stop in the middle of a technique and fix it, do it right and do
it again. You must be willing to sacrifice 15 minutes of hard physical training
for and even harder 15 minutes of analyzing, correcting and developing your
technique. 

If you take the ‘2 steps back’ to do this you will take 3 to 4 steps forward
in your training and in your success rate in competition. 

Remember you can win more by training less physically. Learning to train
mentally is what will one day separate you as a champion.

Train Less Win More
If you’ve ever wondered if you can actually train less and win more the
answer is: Absolutely! For years the former Soviet Union had practiced and
excelled with this principle. Why the United States is unwilling or unable to
explore more of this principle continues to baffle me.

 Soviet researchers proved time and again that athletes who used their mind to
perform drills and mentally rehearse their technique and performances
continually did better than their physical training only counter parts. 

Who takes home the most medals in wrestling at the Olympics? The Russians.
Who takes home as few medals as a third world country that you can’t even spell?
The United States. 

Why because they focus on opposite areas. In the United States you will be
hard pressed to find an athlete that does not rely more on his physical
conditioning than his mental. Those few that do rely on their ‘mental’
conditioning usually refer to their ‘mental toughness’ which still usually
originates from their physical conditioning. 

What is their typical strategy?
“Out condition the other guy.” “Wear down my opponent.”
They talk about a ‘continual attack’ but if you’re just bouncing
around beating on a guy’s head there is actually very little in the way of a
true scoring attack taking place. You may be wearing them down but if there are
no points scored from actual technical holds your effort is pointless (no pun
intended).

Don’t mistake being busy on the mat for being effective. Too many of today’s
athletes and coaches (even at the ‘elite’ levels) make this mistake than you
might realize. A true continually attacking style takes much more than purely
physical conditioning.

Do I believe in conditioning? In wearing people down and making them tired?
Absolutely! However it is a smaller part of a much larger strategy. An important
part to be sure, but not the only part. 

Start using your mind. Explore the possibilities that imagination and real
mental conditioning can have.

I spend a lot of time reading and listening to books and audio books. I am constantly trying to absorb information that will help me on my quest to grappling greatness. Over and over I find great information that helps me. At the same time I find a lot of things out there that don't.

Some of the better books I've read come from coaches and experts in the field of human performance. I've studied the great coaches like Vince Lombardi, Mike Shanahan and Bill Belichick. I've read every BJJ and Wrestling book that I can get my hands on. I've read and listened to countless books on positive attitude and success, most of which end up being some way to make more money faster. Not too useful for athletics I'm afraid.

Sometimes I've come across 'experts' in the field going on and on and giving extremely long lists of things that a would be champion should be doing or character traits that they should be developing. Lists of must-do's and should-do's in-order-to's are in my opinion completely worthless and utter garbage.

There is no magic formula or checklist that an athlete can check off on their way to becoming a champion. It just doesn't work that way and if you think it does you're in for a rude and painful awakening. Not only are lists of that nature dangerous to an athlete's psyche they are also misleading and overwhelming. They create unrealistic and unattainable standards and quotas that only further an athlete's anxiety and self doubt.

The only REAL and tried and true formula for success is this:
Execution of strategy and technique under adverse and real situations will bring success. 

That is it! That's all! Nothing more and nothing less! You don't have to be an amazing moral person to do that. You don't have to be a superstar with endless talent. You don't have to know a thousand and one techniques. You don't have to take vitamins, wear some piece of special clothing, like your coach, like your team or be an amazing and popular person.

You just have to execute during the competition!  Everything else you do as an athlete is either a help or a hindrance to that execution. Your lifestyle and training habits will all have an affect on your level of execution but please understand that I have seen and witnessed guys who were 'not supposed to win' end up winning and guys that did all the 'right things' end up losing. I've also seen the guys who were supposed to win follow through and win. What they all had in common was an appropriate game plan matched with appropriate execution. Nothing more. Nothing less.

The next time you start feeling overwhelmed by all there is to do and develop remind yourself of this simple truth. It may help you find the success that you've been working for that much easier.