Do you regularly set goals you can reach then move the bar further ? Do you see people you think are better and train until you can beat them ? Are you improving your mind or your body when you do so ? How do you improve if you cant find someone you cant beat ? What is the limit of what you can do ? What works best for you to help you improve ??
Nope, I only have one goal. The only person I train to beat is me. Both. Yet to happen. Reality. Practice, lots of it.
Personally I just train. Improvement is a bonus which tends to come with training. Sometimes it doesn't though, and that can be very frustrating if you're setting yourself too many goals.
A piece of wisdom I picked up today: You progress not through what has been done, but reaching towards what has yet to be done. -- Kahlil Gibran (I did it! I made a mature, pleasant post in a thread started by tai gip! yes! yes! yes!)
In terms of me working on what i think i really suck at then yes. No i train to learn from then to help myself training to beat one person is rather limiting IMO. I don't think you can consider these two seperatly you always have to improve both. Watch and learn just because you may be able to beat someone doesn't mean you can't learn something from them. I can do what i can do. What i can't do i hope to do soon. Try to push what i can do all the time try new things. Seeing how others work is also a great help
Do you regularly set goals you can reach then move the bar further ? Just recently yes. Otherwise you will never progress imho... Do you see people you think are better and train until you can beat them ? Sometimes. Not in an egotistical way, but knowing that they are at a higher standard than yourself sets a good target to achieve. Are you improving your mind or your body when you do so ? Hopefully both. How do you improve if you cant find someone you cant beat ? Theres always someone to beat... What is the limit of what you can do ? The limit of the time I set myself to train against reasonable goals with my life in the present way. What works best for you to help you improve ?? Good application of one technique at a time, untill it can't go wrong.
I guess there is always something to improve: stamina, technique, fighting skills, speed etc. I don't think that you can reach a point where you can say: I'm perfect now!!! One shouldn't compare him/herself with others. You be the best you can be. Don't give up easily because otherwise you will never find out how much potential you have got. As time goes by and you continue training there is always something new you learn and something you understand or start understanding better. In time you get to mature as well and get to see things in a different light and move the limits accordingly.
I internalize everything. I'm so non-competetive its sick. sports isn't very fun with me because I really don't care if I win or not, I'm so used to letting my boys win at games. So, I set internal goals, learning a form, learning definitions, proper way for joint locks, etc... Once I am competent, I add another step or lock. Hope that makes sense.
