The Event vs The Law of Process
One of the great educators of leadership in recent times is John C. Maxwell. He has authored well over ten books about leadership. My favorite book from John is The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. The chapter about The Law of Process is very meaningful to this past weekend’s Rickson Gracie Seminar in Florida to me. In the past, I have written about training with Master Rickson Gracie and attending seminars of his. My goal has alway been to give the reader the feeling and vibe of being at the event as Rickson teaches his invisible Jiu Jitsu theories. If you want to read in more detail about these writings and other experiences of learning from the greatest Jiu Jitsu fighter of all time, I recommend picking up my book on Amazon.com: A Story of Invisible Power- A Path Towards Jiu Jitsu Principles and Execution. In the meantime, let us explore yesterday’s seminar in Daytona, Florida and return to John Maxwell’s Law of the Process.
When Rickson Gracie says he is going to teach a seminar in your State or Country, it becomes an Event the moment it is announced. The event as defined by John Maxwell is exciting. People create the goal of being there. They mark their calendar. Make traveling arrangements. Count down the days. The attendees of the event are excited throughout. After the event, attendees will say that they were there and how it was. If you are able to pick their brain about the event, they will tell you what they learned or even show you with enthusiasm. The event is easy. The process is hard!
When the event was over, my wife asked me what I learned today? I was smiling and excited because I was able to see old friends, meet new ones and pick Rickson’s brain about a specific position that has been troubling me in Jiu Jitsu. To think about it. I met people from Canada, Europe and other parts of the United States. Some of my friends I had not been on the mat with to share for over ten years. Yet, with a smile, I answered my wife’s question. What did I learn?
I told her that the people that took the seminar today were exposed to Rickson’s invisible Jiu Jitsu and theories. He presented concepts and techniques that were based on Jiu Jitsu principles. The work now really begins for them to apply all this in the techniques that they have learned since the beginning of their Jiu Jitsu journey. Even the black belts. John Maxwell calls this the Law of Process to continue to learn your craft and challenge yourself to improve. I reminded my wife that some of the techniques that Rickson taught took me over 2 years to start to apply well against good black belts in training. All of these students will have to go through that process as well or the techniques will be discarded sadly when the student gives up. What is worst is they are giving up on the process of applying principles versus applying Jiu Jitsu techniques based on physical attributes.
Throughout the seminar, two of Rickson’s assistants that traveled from California and Texas were Prof. Craig Husband and Prof. Leo Xavier. Both Craig and Leo I know very well and are friends of mine, so I was happy to see them. Most of the seminar I worked with Craig before he went off to help other students with the techniques. When I say that I worked with him, what I mean is that I am building off two years I trained with him at Kron Gracie’s academy in California as Rickson taught Jiu Jitsu lessons. It was a lot of fun to continue this PROCESS even if it was for one day for three hours.
Prof. Craig is one of Rickson Gracie’s original American Black Belts is over 60 years old, someone that knows Rickson’s curriculum well and applies the principles when he trains Jiu Jitsu. He worked with me during the seminar and we played the game of “Let us see what you remembered from Rickson?” I expressed this to my wife of how Craig highlighted essential angles and details to Rickson’s technique as we worked out the feel of each move. Often at a seminar instructors will keep adding more and more techniques to their lesson. As I explained to my wife, Rickson’s Jiu Jitsu is not about adding more and more, but taking away until essential details of what you are really fighting for is presented. This is done by the teaching methodology of Rickson’s and the principles that govern what he is teaching the students.
Craig and I tested the concepts and techniques of leverage, weight-distribution, connection, and pressure. He added his spin on certain movements as he always does and I was excited to show him my experiences as well. Craig assessed one of my positions that I thought I did well overcoming the learning curve of learning the technique directly from Rickson. I went through the process of this technique. My reflection was that Prof. Craig showed me that I could do the technique even better by challenging me to create leverage from the beginning without creating an angle first. This type of information is huge when you are learning Rickson Gracie Jiu Jitsu let alone at a seminar of 150 people. I look forward to testing these details tomorrow at the academy, and I think that it is what it is all about when we talk about the event vs. the Law of the Process.
One important learning lesson that happened before the seminar as I drove with my wife to Florida’s east coast to see Rickson was funny. We saw a truck pulling another car with two chains. I looked over at the two chains as the truck pulled the car a few feet and then came to a stop in the traffic. I said, “Look today the students will learn about connection at the seminar!” My wife did not know what I was talking about. Come to think of it anytime I tell a Jiu Jitsu instructor or student about Rickson’s theory of connection, they don’t know what I am talking about either. I told her to look at the chains and watch exactly the moment the car gets pulled. The chains were loose and hung low hitting the street when she looked over. When the chains got tight, there was enough tension to pull the car. All the movement with the truck did not matter when the chains were dragging on the ground with no tension. This related to wasted movement in Jiu Jitsu. We can not feel the tension in those chains over there, but we can see it is working. This is a good example of Rickson’s theory of connection which is invisible and helps make up elements of invisible Jiu Jitsu.
Photo Credit of www.RicksonSeminars.com