Winning, Losing, & Positive Disintegration

The picture above, with Leandro winning the Worlds: at one point, Michael Langhi hadn't lost in like 2-3 years. Lucas Lepri won the Mundials at black belt all the way back in 2007 and again this past year in 2014. Leandro is the current top dog, and now has gone up to middleweight and trumped Otavio Sousa but he presses on, trying to win the absolute and making it all the way to the final of the Pan Ams Absolute against Bernardo Faria. 

My point is that each of those 3 guys has had moments at the top of the podium. Each of them were "the guy" at one point. But it's always in flux. It's always in a state of movement. 

This post really resonated with me. Richard Branson, like Elon Musk, is a guy I follow and listen to quite a bit. It's interesting to see how the mind of someone like that works.

The long ride to a tournament in Chicago......
an even longer ride back if you don't perform well

They reason from essential truths and see not obstacles or the "why not" but ask simply "why" .

 "'8. Richard Branson: “When most people think about taking a risk they associate it with negative connotations, when really they should view it as a positive opportunity. Believe in yourself and back yourself to come out on top. Whether that means studying a course to enable a change of direction, taking up an entry level position on a career ladder you want to be a part of, or starting your own business — you’ll never know if you don’t give it a try.'"

This brings me to the concept of "positive disintegration": "Dabrowski's theoretical framework views psychological tension and anxiety as necessary for growth."

It's been a tough year at purple belt as I've mentioned on here several times. I've yet to win my division but I have a box of 2nd and 3rd place medals and even had days where I didn't win a match.

This past weekend thought recovering from being sick, I competed and managed to almost medal in the absolute. For me, knowing I was under the weather and the like, I was happy with my performance. I have to believe that I keep grinding and doing the right things and that I'll get "lucky" but "luck" is just the result of beating on your craft for hours and hours and hours.

I always remember Caio Terra saying how terrible he was at blue belt and that his instructor gave him his blue belt out of pity.....and Keenan Cornelius saying that he was at purple belt for a couple years before he really won anything of note and he had gotten so frustrated that he didn't even think of winning anymore, just that he would fight so hard in losing that his opponent would lose their next match after beating him due to exhaustion.

I could lose every match I ever have at purple belt and the only person who will care is the past version of myself whose ego cared about losing in a moment in time which will have then passed out of existence. It's not a way to rationalize losing to protect my ego, but rather an attempt at maintaining perspective.

Cobrinha had never been submitted at black belt in competition in his weight class. He had only been submitted by Rodolfo in NoGi at the Abu Dhabi Pro in the Absolute if I'm not mistaken. Cobrinha was fighting so hard to avoid Mendes' passing him after a Berimbolo Rafa got the arm. There was a time when Rafa was the brown belt coming up and Cobrinha was the multi-time black belt world champion who dominated everyone in his weight class. Eventually Rafa got him.