Not Thinking is Hard

Turns out most of us are doing some heavy processing most of the time… we’re thinking.  We’re thinking about what we should be doing.  We’re thinking about what are partner might be trying to do to us.  We’re so busy thinking, in fact, that often we’re not focused on what we’re actually doing.

Tonight in sparring, we played advantage.  The purpose of the game is to get students focused on the task at hand.  What is happening at this moment – not what might happen or what they want to happen but what is actually happened.  The way you play is if you stray from your task, your partner gets a point.

Some of the different tasks we went through:

• Keep your eyes up
• Keep your hands above your chin
• Don’t plan in advance what you’re going to do
• Don’t start thinking about what your partner might do

The possible tasks are infinite.  The purpose is to try and stop students from over processing.