As coaches we are not always sure if we are getting through to people and often we may even feel unappreciated for our efforts. But we need to realize as do the clients/athletes we train that success takes time. Like all good things on reflection, we are not always aware of how important those lessons are in the moment. In hind sight however we can see the magic they created.

The following e-mail illustrates success over time beautifully : 

  Hi Coach

Wow, it has only been a couple of years, but feels like a much longer time. I wanted to say congratulations on not one but two BJJ black belts :)

I'm living in the USA now, in New York, and cruising around Amazon.com, I saw that your first book has been published!
That's really, really awesome...congrats again!

I guess I wanted to write this mail to say a massive thank you.

Even though I didn't realize it at the time, the mental game skills that you taught me when I trained with you have been one of the most important driving aspects of my life. I've used the principles to get me through some of the rougher times, to help me manage speaking in front of classes of 50 people from the military and all sorts, and also in re-evaluating where I am and what I'm doing in the bigger scheme of life. Anytime I need to push or motivate myself to get to the next level of my game (business and life-wise) I use the skills that you taught us...visualizing, anchoring, reframing...all of it.

When I stopped training in 2006, I was stuck in a spiral of working all the time, and not really doing anything else. Sure, on the one hand it got me here and gave me some of the success I wanted, but I knew it wasn't healthy. I was out of shape, stressed out, burnt out...well, the whole lot I guess. It took me a couple of years to realize, and now that I'm here, my life has changed for the better. I'm working normal office hours, and I'm healthy again, in the gym every day and hoping to start training some BJJ again soon. Most important of all, my mind is right.

I've also gotten interested in NLP and managing my own performance through psychology and understanding myself, as I'm looking to become a professional trader. The biggest challenge that traders have is managing themselves, and the psychological implications of the game. What is funny is that the more I read and learn, the more I realize that all of the stuff I read is not foreign to me - not at all, because those principles were exactly what you were teaching us at the time. The same principles were what is key as a successful athlete. I just wish I knew then what I know now, but I guess I needed to go through that at the time to appreciate it. :)

I don't want to talk your ear off, but wanted to really thank you again, for giving the confidence, grounding and mental game that has gotten me to where I am today. I can only hope nobody else takes it for granted, and understands the true value of what you teach.

I hope to keep in touch, please give Nuno my best regards.

Nick