Few things are sadder to me than someone refusing to see a better path.

I was reading a book last night that was a recently written instruction manual dealing with defensive firearms use, and the author was a 25 year LEO who had a lot of time with the firearm being taught. It was fine until I got to the part where he – in writing – says that another technique is probably superior, but that he is too old and set in his ways to change. Say what?

I cannot wrap my head around that. He has seen the other technique and has seen how well it works, but because he has put time into something else he refuses to alter what he does? That is not admirable, nor is it about integrity or dedication. It is the exact opposite in fact.

Refusing to go to something better is just foolish. Regardless of how long you have done something, if something demonstrably better comes along, you need to accept it. If that makes you a student rather than a “guru”, then so be it.

I had multiple decades in other martial arts before I did much BJJ. I had deep dives in 8 or 9 different systems, with instructor certifications in most of those. At the same time, I probably dabbled in 20+ other methods ranging from a few years to a few weeks of training. Many of them I very much enjoyed and was pretty good at, and most of those were the accepted “cool” martial arts, especially in the 80’s and 90’s. Moreover, the ones I was an instructor in were fairly easy to teach. I could look good and made people believe I was some fighting master, even if I was out of shape, and did not require a lot of effort to teach or demonstrate. And even better, the techniques and methods were kind of flashy at times and new people quickly felt like they could use them. That is a proven way to keep students.

I could have easily spent my time continuing to do those arts. I had every reason to do so. Except for one overwhelming contrary reason that kept poking me in the brain. I FOUND A BETTER WAY. I found a method/delivery system that was more combat effective, and worked for more people, and could be maintained for a lifetime. It meant I had to humble myself and be a student again, and I had to admit to people that what I did before was not as good as I thought or portrayed, and it also meant I had to work much, much harder as a teacher to teach the new material.

So I switched to the combat sports template I have been practicing and teaching for the past 25 years. At times I wished I had stayed teaching mindless patterns of movement because it would have made my life easier. Easier to teach, and I would not have had to stay on top of my own personal performance the way I have to now. But that is morally, intellectually, and physically lazy. It would also be ethically corrupt to teach potentially lifesaving skills that I knew to be sub-optimal.

Don’t be like the author I talked about. Always challenge yourself, and if there is a better way, then go to that path no matter what it means. You only cheat yourself when you ignore that.