What's On Your Grappling Blame Wheel?

Paul Greenhill — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:15:35 +0000

Are you familiar with the term, "The Blame Wheel?" It's a business
term that describes how people to create a blame association
pattern to rationalize and justify poor performance and failing to
achieve objectives and goals. And if you need a visual description
of the Blame Wheel and how it works, think about the big spinning
wheel that they use on the game show, "Wheel of Fortune", that has
dollar amounts around the wheel and contestants spin the wheel to
determine what dollar amounts each letter will have.

Well, if we modify that wheel so that it becomes a "Grappling Blame Wheel" and replaced the dollar amounts with reasons (or excuses) why a grappler underachieves, we can see why so many grapplers never get beyond being average on the mat and life in general.

For example, here's what I think a typical Grappling Blame Wheel for an underachiever would look:

instructor only teaches basic techniques

instructor has lower belts teach classes

school only has classes 3x per week

school doesn't participate in local competitions

teammates are a-holes and not nice people

teammates don't want to drill after class

work too many hours during the week to train

can't get out of house to train due to family commitments

spouse or significant other hates it when I train all the time

not enough time during the day to train the way I should

classes cost too much to train enough to get good

instructional DVDs that will help cost too much

All the reasons mentioned above can be seen as valid reasons for not achieving maximum improvement, but what's missing from this list? That's right...the grappler! There is absolutely NO MENTION on the Grappling Blame Wheel of the grappler being:

too lazy to go to class

doesn't pay attention and misses key technical details

a know-it-all and don't know when to shut up

doesn't drill the movements outside of class

rather spar so that you can brag about who you've tapped

doesn't want to be anyone's drill partner, especially when you're tired

never ask your instructor how to practice at home or when on travel

always looking for "free gold" and too cheap to invest in a product or instructional DVD that will help

That would be a more accurate Grappling Blame Wheel and more closer to the truth as to why grapplers underachieve. For every reason that's mentioned above, the grappler has the ability to create a workaround solution that will enable them to continuously improve, even if only by one percent each day! Unfortunately, the easiest thing for the grappler to do is to find reasons to justify their mediocrity and accept no responsibility at all.

How do you fix it? Create your own Grappling Blame Wheel and write down every reason (or excuse) that you used in the past to justify why you couldn't train and see how often your name pops up on the blame list. Once you realize that you're not as "innocent" as you thought, come up with a plan to workaround all those "reasons" and keep moving forward. And if you don't know what to do, ask someone who does like your instructor, teammate, or any wise grappler that you may know!

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Paul M. Greenhill, "The Wise Grappler", is the creator of The Wise Grappler System and author of The Wise Grappler Ezine, a weekly ezine that provides grappling and mental mindset training tips for the older (over 35) and non-traditional/non-competitive martial artists. To learn more about "The Wise Grappler" and to sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit his site at www.ihateyoungpunks.com or paul@thewisegrappler.com.

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What's On Your Grappling Blame Wheel?