A few years ago I started practicing Jiu-Jitsu. At first, my idea was to do a sport to take better care of my health.
However, what I didn’t expect was that this sport would deeply affect me. Not only physically, but also emotionally.
Today I see how it has contributed to changing the way I see the world, and how it has helped me become a person with more emotional intelligence.
The teachings of sport go far beyond, and can be adopted in practically all areas of our lives. From the personal to the professional.
Concentration, focus and discipline
Among the teachings that I have learned through the practice of Jiu-Jitsu, concentration, focus and discipline are, without a doubt, the ones that stand out the most.
I have always been a very focused person in what I did, but it is impressive how the sport makes us focus on what we want much more.
At the moment of a fight there is no room for dispersion. Any lack of concentration can put everything at risk. And I took this into my daily life.
Today, when I perform a task, I try to have the same concentration and focus of a fight. The result of the work can be easily observed.
And the discipline that sport brings us is also something fundamental in our lives. You can have great talent, be a very intelligent person, but if you don’t have discipline, you will hardly grow in life.
Respect for the opponent and mutual help
Another great lesson that Jiu-Jitsu brought me was respect for the opponent and mutual help. Before practicing the sport I confess that I saw my competitors in a different way.
It was as if it were a deep competition. Today I no longer see it that way. I see that they are other players in the same market, each one trying their place in the sun.
So I understand that there is room for everyone and that even if we are fighting for market share, what counts is respect and helping our opponent.
An opponent in a fight is not an enemy, just as a competitor is not. That is why, when I started practicing Jiu-Jitsu, I began to see my competitors in a different way.
Continuous learning and development
Finally, I could not leave out the continuous learning and development. After all, the sport shows that you will always have to learn and will never know everything.
And even when you are in master status, you will have a lot to learn from your students. At no time can you believe that you know everything.
This is true for all areas of our lives, because when we put ourselves in the condition of an apprentice, we begin to develop all the time, seeking new learning every day.
