Posture, Pressure, Possibilities

Swept again, I ended flat on my back. Two points to my opponent for executing a flawless scissor sweep and taking me out of the dominant position as quickly as I got into it for the thousandth time. I felt helpless to prevent it. What was I doing wrong? With a quick Google search I realized I was setting myself up to be swept the entire time without realizing it.

In my frustration, I came across a jiu jistu philosophy that fundamentally changed the way I approach the martial art. That is the three P's: posture, pressure, and possibilities. "Posture" is maintaining a proper stance in an position to maximize your leverage and minimize the opponent's chances of attack. "Pressure" is knowing where to place your body weight and strength to advance your position around your opponent. Finally, "possibilities" is executing the proper move to submit or pass the opponent.

Each concept is more important than the next, with posture being the first consideration. Without proper posture, pressure is difficult to apply, and without proper pressure, knowing a dozen guard passes (possibilities) isn't going to get you anywhere but off balance and at a disadvantage. Unfortunately, most BJJ dojos are focused on teaching their students tons of moves, but overlook the fundamental importance of basics like posture and pressure, leaving it to the student to intuitively figure it out (which rarely happens quickly).

After learning the three P's, I quickly worked them into my BJJ game and discovered their effectiveness. I could hold down and submit the blue belts while avoiding submission (for a little longer) from the purple belts. I felt my prowess jump twofold overnight, which led me to ponder: could the three P's be applied to daily life?  

There are tons of possibilities in front of us, but if we aren't sufficiently prepared with the right posture to pursue them or equipped with the right knowledge of how to apply precise pressure, of what use are the opportunities? We'll flail out trying to grab them only to be continually thrown flat on our backs wondering why we can't move forward. Posture and pressure preceded possibilities.