"I wish I'd started Jiu Jitsu sooner"

Can I tell you something I regret? I should have quit Taekwondo sooner.

I had a foot in each camp. I was trying to teach TKD and also enter the world of Jiu Jitsu and MMA. They didn’t marry well. I was struggling with it, and probably spent 2 years too long there.

Can I tell you something else I regret? I should have quit MMA sooner.

I had fallen out of love with it. I had no passion to teach or train it. My interest was totally in Jiu Jitsu. I was phoning in MMA sessions. I probably spent 2 years too long there.

Something you hear a lot in Jiu Jitsu is regrets, believe it or not. People say things like “Man, I wish I’d found Jiu Jitsu when I was younger”.

A black belt mate of mine told me once that if he could go back in time and do it all again and find Jiu Jitsu younger, he’d make the same mistakes, except now he’d quit Jiu Jitsu instead of football.

I don’t think discovering Jiu Jitsu late is anything to beat yourself up about. And even when I look at the regrets that I have about my training and teaching, they’re not all that bad really.

Yeah you might have made the leap sooner, but would you appreciate it as much as you do now without that regret?

So let me tell you something else to finish up today. 2 very good decisions I made- 1 was quitting Taekwondo, and the other was quitting MMA. Yeah I could have done them sooner, but I did them.

And yeah you could have started Jiu Jitsu sooner, but you started. Most people do nothing.

See you on the mat,

Barry