Ok .. bear with me on this one .. it looks pretty straight forward … even a tad boring perhaps … but contains some important learned Martial Arts wisdom worth thinking about now, because it is no doubt going to be a problem you’ll come to wrestle with later if you stick around long enough.
The Hardest thing to do is not to compare yourself to others!
The first, BIGGEST and hardest to learn lesson in this whole discussion, is that when it comes to promotions and levels …. do not to compare yourself with others! At the end of the day, a belt promotion is a personal thing between you and your instructor, and at its core, it is one of the ways he can push you out of your comfort zone in order to help you to develop. Every student in an academy/ martial arts dojo is on a personal journey in their studies under the guidance of their chosen instructor, others may be in your class and even wearing the same coloured belt as you, but each and every one of you has a different story to tell, a different journey to take and are at different points on that journey.
So, you shouldn’t do it, compare that is, but you will, because it’s also a perfectly natural thing to do, and hence why I say that at some point it is no doubt going to be a problem you’ll come to wrestle with later if you stick around long enough!
Looking at it the wrong way!
Now, probably because I have been around a long time, but I like to think more because I have practiced for as long as I can remember, a sort of “zen” approach of paying attention, being the observer and being present without judgement whenever in the dojo, I see belt promotions differently to most. Over the years I have of course sought out and pondered the perspectives on the matter from the great, the good the bad and the ugly so to speak, and of whom none have ever presented an explanation I have been able to 100% agree with … In the end I arrived at my own conclusions, and albeit a good few years back since I did, I have yet to be presented with a better explanation that changed my take, so here goes!
You’ll read, if you decide to research deeply enough, every opinion going on this subject… from “how a belt only keeps your trousers up” or “covers your arse” to how a belt promotion is “a tool for motivation”, from “how a belt is a reward for your efforts” … all the way up to it “being the symbol of having reached the epitome of invincibility!” At the end of the day, pretty much everything you read will have some degree of validity to it’s argument, apart from the invincibility one that is!
How the Belt system started … a very short history!
You’ll also read about how belt promotions never existed in the Martial Arts until Jigoro Kano (the founder of Judo) apparently rather reluctantly, introduced the system in order to appease his western world audiences’ need to measure their progression in the art early in the last century. The system was subsequently adopted by pretty much all the other Martial Arts, including Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Before I really get into it …. I want you to bear in mind the immortalised line from newly elected USA President John F Kennedy’s Inaugural speech of 1961 that epitomises my take .. he said “ask not what your Country can do for you, but what you can do for your Country”… well just replace the word “Country” with “Belt” and you’ll catch my drift !!!
Because the thing is, I’ve learned to look at it that a belt promotion is never a reward … but is in fact, a burden! It asks more of you than it actually gives, if it gives you anything at all that is!
So you got a stripe or you got a belt!
Think about it like this, you’re stood in a line and are called out, or your instructor has simply wandered over to you … and suddenly you are wearing a new coloured belt! Yay!! … time to celebrate, recognition for your efforts, your demonstrated proficiency etc. Well done you… and a hefty dopamine reward is your immediate prize!
Yet !!! the next day you wear your new belt onto the mats …. but since your promotion what has changed? you aren’t any better than you were yesterday when wearing the belt you just took off! Absolutely nothing has changed .. you are the same person with the same skills, no better than you were yesterday … although perhaps your ego has swollen with pride a little! So, donning the belt has actually done nothing to you or for you!
Now you look down the line and see others wearing the same belt, some have worn it for weeks some for months and perhaps some for years and you know there is a huge gulf between them and you, yet you wear the same belt now! .. so what’s the difference between you? To me the only explanation is that they have spent more time in the belt, and if they are applying themselves diligently rather than just turning up to class in that time, they can be said to have grown more into their belt, to have learnt more of what is required of that belt level!
Required by who and/or measured against what is the obvious next question and herein lies the crux of the whole matter !
Its not the belt you put on, Its the one you take off that’s important
In my opinion the best teachers/instructors/school owners apply rigorous consistency of their promotion criteria within their schools, as in the end, every promotion they award is a reflection on themselves and their personal standards. This is an imperative and should never be taken lightly, by instructor or student. It also explains why “lineage” is considered so important, this is especially true in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu…. vis-a vis the presumption being that a direct line student will strive to uphold the standards set and exemplified by their own instructor out of respect for them and their standards, and therefore by default, for themselves!
As an example, Gracie Barra is a global organisation of more than 1000 schools worldwide, yet there are no strict or rigid rules about promotions… absolutely yes there are written guidelines, but these are more like themes and general minimums to help Instructors with this process. Even with such guidelines, variation inevitably still exists, even between GB schools, depending on the instructor, the student, location etc …. so at the end of the day, whilst there are objective factors within the guidelines, the final decision is a subjective evaluation of the schools instructor!
In essence, what your instructor has done when he promotes you is say to you “ok you have reached the level I require for the belt you are wearing, now take it off, put this on and become this, learn what is required by me, of you, for this next belt”! If he does this with consistent rigour then your belt progression, when compared to others, starts to make some sense, but importantly this only works within the academy itself for as long as the standard is consistently maintained by the Instructor!
So a promotion isn’t a reward it’s more a burden!
Put simply, in my opinion you are never the belt you are wearing, you are always becoming the belt you wear. Hence the burden, because the belt asks more of you than it gives! It bestows responsibility on you to refocus your efforts, grind away at your development, learn more and practice better. The only true measure of your level is the belt you just took off, i.e. you can say you reached the level required by your instructor for that belt, and are now striving to reach the level required by him for the belt you are now wearing!
Now that we have explored a belt promotion and its impact on you within the boundaries of your Academy, we must next look at the wider picture of what it means to the outside world. Again, you will quite naturally (and wastefully) wrestle with comparison, but comparing yourself to others wearing the same belt in your club/academy is one thing, comparing yourself against others from outside your club yet wearing the same coloured belt opens a whole new pandoras box…tbc…..
Murray