Everyone has their own approach to practicing AND enjoying BJJ.
So, if you want to take it easy and are happy to make some slow & steady progress according to your other obligations, that’s perfectly fine.
If you are curious about making quicker progress, here are some observations about what kind of people seem to make such progress. These observations are based on what I witnessed.
- People who come to training sessions as much as possible. This sounds like a no-brainer, but if you compare someone who consistently trains with another person who doesn’t, the former is more likely to make quicker progress.
- People who try to get the most out of training sessions. Going to training sessions regularly is a good start, but how attentive and deliberate you are in these sessions matters, too.
- People who focus on learning rather than “winning” in sparring. Be aware of what’s going on during sparring rounds and see how you could improve your skills. What’s working? What’s not working? Even asking yourself simple questions like these can help you.
- People who roll with more skilled/senior training partners. They might completely shut down your attempts, but so what? You will learn a lot through rolling with these training partners.
- People who ask questions to senior training partners. Figuring things out on your own can be tricky. One of the quickest ways to deal with it is to ask your senior training partners/professors. Identify what your problems are and solve these problems.
Probably all of them sound pretty normal, but the thing is, people often don’t do these “normal” things even when they know they should AND there are immense benefits to doing them. I suppose that’s human psychology.
But I guarantee you. If you do all of the above consistently, you will make quicker progress in BJJ.