We've all been in that situation in life where our ego makes us feel on top of the world. Maybe you pulled up to your family reunion in that new BMW you have always wanted. For my jiu jitsu buddies maybe you submitted someone who has been training twice as long as you. Regardless the situation we all know that feeling. Adrenaline rushes through your veins and for a brief second you feel as if you have conquered the world.
The downside to experiencing this wonderful feeling is that it has an evil side. This evil side will tear you apart, professionally, emotionally, physically, and most importantly spiritually. So we say "yeah, ego is a waste of time. I'm going to leave it at the door when I go train". Well as most of you know this is much easier said than done.
In Jiu Jitsu it's easily noticed that most of the higher belts have a much smaller ego than the lower belts. I say smaller in place of non existent because I believe everybody has an ego of some extent. The size of it really depends on how much they let it control them. If you roll (wrestle for you non jiu jitsu folk) with a higher belt you can see this by the way they handle themselves. They don't come in the gym everyday and roll 100% with everybody they roll with. They aren't looking for the tap at every corner, they are looking to improve their technique. They have nothing to prove to anyone and not even themselves. Having nothing to prove DOES NOT come from having already proved it. And oddly enough its those who do the best. It's those who rarely do get submitted, and enjoy it at the same time.
As said before though, it is very difficult to minimize your ego. As we try to do this our old habits easily come out of the dark and we are extremely proud or extremely demoralized about something that doesn't even matter. So now we put in that hard work and chip away at that ego day by day. Hopefully a lot of you take this to heart. I'm chipping away at my ego everyday. This is hard work!
