Having taught martial arts for nearly two decades, you come to notice certain learning habits people have that come from societal influences. For example, in Western society, people have don’t feel comfortable “failing” at something. When they attempt to do something, they want to do it as close to perfection as possible, which influences the way they practice a skill.

In Jiu-jitsu, some will start a technique then stop half-way through as they realize they’re not getting it quite right. If I let the student keep doing this, it would be entirely possible to see that student stop and re-start a technique over and and over without actually getting through it once before the class is called to see the next technique. Another way the unwillingness to fail can manifest is when a student either asks lots of detailed questions, or spends a lot of time talking about it, analyzing how it’s supposed to work, etc. These types will spend so much more time talking about it, fooling themselves into thinking that simply talking about it will make them better at it, that they don’t spend as much time practicing it. These types strategies for avoiding looking foolish or “failing” at a technique can hurt one’s mentality towards self-defense, as well as one’s development as a martial artist.

The Practice of “No Do-Overs”

One of the first discussions on “no do-overs” was at a knife defense seminar I attended a while back with Steve Hiscoe Shihan. We discussed the importance of accepting that if you’re unarmed and defending yourself against a knife wielding attacker, you are at severe disadvantage. You need to accept that you will probably get cut in the process of defending yourself and be ready to keep fighting as long as you have to regardless of how badly you’re cut. So when we practiced our knife defense techniques, if we were “cut” by the practice blades, we were told not to stop and start again as though the fight were over, but to keep going until we had dealt with our attacker. We were being trained in the mentality required to fight against the odds, in addition to learning some defensive tactics.

This doesn’t have to be limited to knife defense training. This can apply to all forms of self-defense scenario training. Of course, there are some exceptions, like when safety is a concern, or when students are learning a technqiue for the first time and need to correct some fundamentals in order to be able to actually do the technique, but overall, it’s a useful mindset to adopt in training.

Failing Forward

I’ve discussed this concept in a previous article, Black Belt Is When the Real Learning Begins, but it’s worth repeating here. The concept of “no do-overs” can help you learn faster. Students are better off cast aside their egos and just accepting that it may take a while before they feel some level of competence with newly introduced techniques. The more spectacularly they fail, the easier it is for themselves or their teachers to correct them so they can improve their technique. The feedback you get from failure propels your learning forward. So rather than discussing a technique at length in order to “get it right” or stopping mid-technique and trying to correct everything to “get it right” (or your estimation of it), just bite the bullet and follow the technique through to it’s natural conclusion, right or wrong, you will learn from the experience, on and OFF the mats.

Do you apply the concept of “no do-overs” at your dojo or in your life? If so, please share your experiences in applying it in the comments. 🙂