Monday, May 9, 2011

Maslow and BJJ dropouts...who's most likely to hang around?

I was participating in a discussion on a jiu jitsu forum about BJJ dropouts. It turned to a question of who's most likely to continue training and an instructor suggested that two groups are most likely to push through the pain longer...those looking for self-actualization (level 5...more likely to have lives stable enough to commit long periods of study) and those looking to do it as a job (level 2...survival motivation).



As an activity, BJJ has the potential to satisfy all the highest four levels. I would guess that those on level two though, are more likely to quit because of pure economic forces...it's crazy difficult to make money and even to sustain as a training period to eventually make money from. Basically I don't know if BJJ is best suited to get them what they're looking for (not saying it's not worth the effort, it's just a very difficult path). Level 5 though, I think it's very well suited to achieve needs for creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts and thankfully, provides an environment that supports morality.

I think jiu jitsu falls under level 5 for me (which actually explains my current apathy over competition and belts.) So what level are you and who do you see staying the longest at your club?

2 comments:

Liam H Wandi said...

It satisfies the top 3 for me. The ones who stay the longest are the ones who play the game by their own rules. This is such a great post Megan, you've inspired me :)

Shark Girl said...

I agree--great post. BJJ satisfies the top 4 tiers for me. But I think I've stuck around for Tier 5. Just before reading this post I was reflecting on my own posts and how they mostly deal with issues of personal growth. I don't think I would like it so much if it were only physically challenging.