Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Thesis Wednesday: Intrinsic Vs Extrinsic Reward



BJJ Mind's post got me thinking about intrinsic vs extrinsic reward.

Recently, my wife put up most of my medals and trophies from Judo, BJJ, and MMA.
I hadn't given much thought to the box they were in for quite awhile. I had talked before of putting them up, but with my surgery and being off the mats for several months, I had debated putting my Gi's, belt(s), and training gear out of sight to keep it from torturing me on a daily basis.

2 months post op, I feel good and I'm back drilling some uchikomis and a few other things on the mat. I'm grateful even to be able to do a few things.

As much as I like my medals only a few of them truly stick out.
The 2 divisions I won a week after an MMA fight.
The medals from days I won all of my Judo matches by Ippon.

My 2 favorite things from my box of competition as I call it, are my white belt from BJJ and my Brown belt from Judo. Well, that and my black belt in Judo from my coach whom I respect immensely as a Judoka, a person, and as a coach.

The medals are only important insofar as what they represent.
If  winning is what motivates you, or being better than others, this will be a long road to tow.

Over the long haul, this is a marathon sport. When the reality sets in as to how long it takes to get proficient at grappling, and that once you factor in size and athleticism, a bad day can and WILL still happen years into this sport, many people lose the desire and quit.

IF it was easy, everyone would be good at it.
IF you don't love the grind, the day in and day out work to get better slowly but surely even though some days you think you're getting worse, you will probably quit.

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