THERE IS NO SUMMIT

WEEK OF 3/30/26

 

I make an effort to keep these articles positive and encouraging, but every once in awhile I have to “keep it real” and speak my peace as a coach.

I have spent half of my life 100% invested in the mixed martial arts community.  This doesn’t necessarily make me great at MMA, smart, or particularly important.  But I have met a lot of people and seen a lot of patterns emerge.

Across the board, the very first big effort in BJJ and Muay Thai is just survival.  It’s mapping out the basic territory, getting a sense of the pace of the training sessions, and learning enough to move through the process in a way that doesn’t totally throw you for a loop.  At the beginning, this sense of comfort and control seems so far away, and it is.  It’s high above the clouds, and you have to climb some of the steepest terrain you’ve ever encountered to get there.  In the right environment, and given enough time, everyone does.  Which is great!

But that is not the summit.  In fact, there is no summit.

Once you reach this plateau, it’s time to take another climb, up steeper and more dangerous terrain, towards another frustratingly high goal.  Rinse, and repeat, ad infinitum.

There is nothing special about reaching the first plateau.  The view will open your eyes to a new perspective on many things, but this vantage point does not provide insights into the deeper truths of the world or even into yourself.  There is much more terrain to overcome, much higher places to explore.

It is a foolish pitfall to perceive any point as the pinnacle of the journey.  We tend to not believe in what we can’t see, and we tend to be unable to comprehend what we can’t imagine.  Our lack of vision or understanding does not preclude the existence of those things outside of our perception.  That is to say, things exist whether you experience them or not.

One of my main frustrations is seeing people slow down or quit once they reach that first summit.  “I’ve made it, coach!” they say.  And then they stay there.  And stay there.  And stay there.  And then they get bored, or complain that there’s nothing else left to learn.

And in some ways, they’re right.

There’s nothing left to learn if you stay where you are.  There’s no growth if you refuse to challenge yourself.  There’s no knowledge to glean if you think you’ve learned it all.  And no growth to be had if you misappropriate emotional boundaries to fence yourself in from potentially difficult, but positive, lessons.

I am still a beginner.  I am still learning.  But the most important piece of knowledge I’ve picked up over the last 21 years is this: the belief that there will always be more to learn, more room to grow, and more amazing experiences to have, even if they exist beyond the horizon of my perception.

Double down.  Keep going.  There are some incredible things ahead for you if you stay on the path and can keep moving forward.  This is the North Star Academy for a reason, after all.  Aim upwards and stay oriented.