In Paulo Guillobel’s Mastering the 21 Immutable Principles of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, he describes the Braveheart analogy. It happens to be the 6th immutable principle and applies to life in general. The principle, in a nutshell, is to face your enemy.
The enemy in BJJ might be your opponent’s guard. Many jiu jitsu practitioners may want a quick and easy way to get around an opponent’s guard. They may go at great lengths at the expense of a lot of energy to try and dance around the guard. Paulo says we should face it. Like William Wallace in Braveheart, charge directly at your enemy.
With each attack by your opponent, adjust and adapt to their strengths and begin to slowly break down and exploit their weaknesses.
The true enemy isn’t the opponents guard in BJJ, it is the fear of sucking. It is the fear of failure. That is the true enemy.
One can see this theme in several sources. The enemy is referred to as the “Resistance” in The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield. You can also explore this theme in Daring Greatly by Brené Brown.
For much of my life prior to age 22, I neglected to face this enemy. I knew how to win, but I didn’t really know how to lose. As Tokugawa Ieyasu would tell you, this is self-defeating. Although much better, I still struggle to face my enemy to this day. It is something that I continually work on.
We probably all could benefit working on facing this enemy as well.
Featured Photo by Nikola Majksner on Unsplash
The Shaw Show 
“The fear of sucking”–I like that turn of phrase. As you say, it’s an enemy worth facing.
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