DANGER: Fighting Without a Reason

It was a lesson I’d heard a thousand different times, a thousand different ways, but last Thursday it struck me like a ton of bricks. From TED talks to high school sport coaches, we’ve all heard pep talks about tapping into our purpose or why we’re doing something. With purpose, we’re more powerful contributors.

Hearing this message, told differently, from an upper echelon leader in the Brazillian jui-jitsu lineage had a little better ring to it. Maybe mortal combat adds a layer of epic drama.

My coach, Professor Renato Magno, was sharing stories of his early days of jui-jitsu in Brazil. Much of the nature of the sport and national economics meant that fighters often didn’t have a belt, or the correct belt, to signify their stage in jui-jitsu training. This lack of identification extended off the mat at times. “It was a crazy time,” he recalled. “Sometimes it wasn’t the higher belt that won,” he said, “because sometimes it’s the person who has a reason to fight that wins. Fighting when you don’t have a reason to fight is very dangerous.”

He motioned through examples like someone putting hands on you or doing something to someone you love, regardless of expertise, can give someone reason to fight. This reason can make moderately capable men extremely dangerous. Conversely, lacking a reason to fight, can diminish the shine on a man’s expertise. When he reiterated the power of having a reason to fight, I saw the intangible power of purpose. All fights aside, if you’re going to battle in your life you better have a reason.

 

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach