I was watching some video of my competitions from last year on flograppling.com It’s great to have a website that films most tournaments and almost every single competition I participate in.

In watching my matches, I noticed my memory of the match not quite matching up with what happened in the match. How you perceive yourself and others can be deceptive at times, especially in an emotionally charged moment like a competition or match. I realized it’s always important to leave your perceptions at the edge of the mat, and instead “think strong.” Perceptions are not real observations, and interrupt the flow of creativity and focus. It’s a critic or a monkey brain that won’t shut up. When you are experiencing this “perception” it’s similar to someone interrupting your work or studying. I believe there is value in realizing that you have an inner voice talking but it should’t hinder your performance. Instead, you should find ways to use it to push you to be better.

At times, I notice myself thinking “I’m behind,” or  “I’m ahead,” I find myself making observations of the match that aren’t necessarily true. Positive perceptions that assist in my performance are great, but what do you do with negative perceptions that might hinder your performance. I believe it’s important to realize what might be triggering your negative perception. Maybe it’s their awkward timing, strange grip, or something random. Whatever it might be, realize that it is there and work to counter that perception with a strength of yours. Generalized perceptions like this person is fast, strong, or better, aren’t helpful and there probably exists a skill you posses to counter or combat your perception.

It’s also important to realize that perceptions are not the same as observations. While an observation is something you notice to have happened, a perception is not as concrete and therefore could be false. For example:

Perception: This person is big therefore is strong. The perception automatically made the big person a strong big person. However, you have the opportunity to make them slow, muscle bound. You can choose your perception.

Observation: This person is big. An observation simply ends as an observation. No other judgments are passed. You simply state what you have observed. It is neither positive or negative.

We begin to lead the match or a competition to a conclusion when we cast perceptions on our observations. Therefore it’s critical to train ourselves to make perceptions that will help us perform better. If not we are only beating ourselves, and we work too hard to allow that to happen.