Why It's Good to Take a Break Sometimes
Work hard, play hard.
Confession:
At the time of the writing of this post, I haven’t been on a Jiu-Jitsu mat in nearly 2 weeks. I haven’t trained in even longer. This is, as far as I can tell, the longest break from BJJ training that I’ve taken in years.
After the ADCC European Trials, my girlfriend and I went on a dream vacation through Spain – which I wrote about here – and even spent a quick 24-hour-ish stint in Tangier, Morocco.
It was an incredible trip where great memories were made, delicious food was eaten, and world-renowned sites were seen. I learned a lot about history.
I landed yesterday evening in California, where I’ll be staying just for the weekend before heading back to Texas.
By the time I am home, it will mark 3 weeks away from my training, my writing, and my routine. Apart from keeping this newsletter afloat and writing a handful of Instagram posts, I really haven’t done any work in the last few weeks.
Here’s why in the long run, I think that that’s more of a good thing than a bad one.
My focus in 2024 has been “building”.
I’ve been extremely focused over the last few months on building my writing business, working on creating new opportunities for myself, and trying to basically get my life afloat in my new home in Austin, Texas.
I’ve been working very long hours, pushing out more weekly content than I ever have, and I’ve been grinding away at a lot of new projects that I’m releasing soon, like my new book on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
The good that’s come from all this hard work is that I had a very profitable February and set myself up for a profitable March as well. I did this all through working hard for January and early February.
During that time, I also made a lot of improvements in my BJJ skills. My wrestling and my guard passing (2 things that were big goals of mine to master this year) have improved a tremendous amount over the last few months. I’ve also improved my cardio, holes in my guard, and more.
Although I didn’t have the performance I wanted to at the last ADCC Trials, I showed myself that I made a lot of improvements in all areas of my life in the last 2 months.
But unfortunately, it was not all good.
I improved a lot over the last month, but I made a lot of critical errors and learned some critical lessons.
The biggest error I made was the same error that I always do when I have a major competition or event looming over me: I overdid it.
By the time I left home for Europe, life was improving in every regard, but I had a constant sense in my head that “the world was ending”.
During my last strength and conditioning workout before the Trials, I landed weirdly on a squat jump and subluxated my ankle. The joint popped out and I spent hours trying to “reset it”. It was, I am 100% convinced, an injury from overuse.
I was also dealing with carpal tunnel in my wrists which was making the normally enjoyable act of writing nauseatingly painful. I was taking ibuprofen just to work.
Instead of being excited to compete in the Trials, I really just wanted them to be over because I knew that that would mean I’d finally be able to give my body at least a little bit of a break.
And here’s what the break taught me.
A lot of people talk about “breaks” as if they are a bad thing.
I think it’s an American thing — to shit on people who aren’t working as hard as you as if hard work alone is what makes you better than someone.
I don’t feel that that’s true. I love writing and training and hustling – because these things give me purpose – but I’ve really enjoyed my vacation too.
There is enjoyment in all things if you operate from a mindset of trying to enjoy things.
After a few weeks off, my ankle feels stable again. I have a lot of creative ideas spinning in my head. The idea of training doesn’t make me feel anxious. My wrists are starting to feel better. I finally finished listening to the 16-hour audiobook of A Tale of Two Cities.
I finally got to have free tapas in Spain. I roamed the streets of Barcelona and Madrid. I stepped into Africa for the first time.
It was wonderful. I enjoyed nearly every moment. I felt very low anxiety for the most part of the 2 weeks when I was away.
I feel recharged and excited to go back to work because I took a real break. I stepped away from the game for real.
I’m convinced there’s something to this.
Go ahead — have your hustle culture. I’m trying to have something different.
Closing Thoughts
I always used to think that “work hard, play hard” was a stupid philosophy for success.
It seemed naïve, arrogant, and risky. How can you guarantee your success if you aren’t working every second possible on achieving your goal?
I instead chose to “work hard till the wheels fell off the bus”.
Early on, this gave me some good results.
However, it also led me down this self-destructive, anxiety-inducing, counterintuitive rabbit hole where I did whatever I could to achieve long-term goals at the expense of long-term values. I engrained behaviors in my psyche that were not a reflection of the person that I wanted to be, but rather the person I thought I was supposed to be.
See, I used to always base the value of my life on how hard I worked and what I came up with as a result of that work. I sometimes still do – it’s not a mindset you’re freed from in a day or 2 – but I have been doing better with it of late.
In addition to building my new Texan life, one of my other goals for the rest of the year is to embrace a philosophy of “life enjoyment”. To do more of the things that I’ve been putting off over the last several years.
More balance. More enjoyment.
Work hard, play hard.
Today’s issue of The Grappler’s Diary is sponsored by BJJ Mental Models!
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