The Journey
Over the Easter weekend I laid out every belt I’ve ever earned on the mats.
White through to black.
I wound them into a concentric circle, each lap of each belt like growth rings on a tree stump.
Every stripe is still there.
A patina on each which tells a story.
Like old photographs in an album.
I wasn’t expecting it to feel like that.
Each belt, each stripe a moment.
Not just time.
A version of me.
Who I was then — on the mats, and off them.
I could remember flashes of it.
Heading off to war with a handful of techniques in my arsenal.
Turning up early and not really knowing what I was doing.
Trying to prove I belonged.
Connections which got me through tough times.
Moments where things started to click.
Confidence creeping in, sometimes too early.
Long periods where it felt like nothing was improving, even though I kept showing up.
And then, those elusive phases where it all starts to make sense again.
Not all at once, but just enough to keep going.
I sat there looking at them for a while.
And it struck me.
None of those moments could have been skipped.
Not one.
Each belt and each stripe asked something different of me.
Patience.
Discipline.
Humility.
Consistency when there was no obvious reward.
And that’s the part most people miss.
Not just in Jiu Jitsu.
In life.
The journey we take is rarely straight forward. Rarely easy.
I saw something recently that didn’t sit right with me.
A new Jiu Jitsu academy moving people through the process faster than it’s meant to happen.
Skipping steps.
Skipping belts.
Accelerating something that isn’t designed to be accelerated.
It might look good on the surface.
Progress. Recognition. Momentum.
But it misses the point.
Because the belt isn’t the thing.
It’s what happens while you’re wearing it that counts.
The frustrations.
The doubts.
The quiet moments where you question whether it’s worth continuing.
That’s where the change happens.
That’s where you become someone different.
If you skip that, you don’t just miss time.
You miss who you were supposed to become during that phase.
Before we go any further, let’s debrief together:
Where in your life are you trying to move too quickly?
Where are you looking ahead instead of dealing with what’s right in front of you?
Which corners are you trying to cut?
No judgement.
Just awareness.
Your mission this week (if you choose to accept it):
Respect and value the phase you’re in.
Even if it feels slow.
Even if it feels repetitive.
Even if it looks like others are getting ahead.
Do the work that phase requires of you.
Choose consistent discipline over quick success.
Accept that where you are on your journey is exactly where you are meant to be.
Because one day you’ll look back and realise that the journey wasn’t something to get through.
It was the point all along.
That’s enough for now.
More next Sunday.
Mike
Hold the line. Do the hard things.
