A brief plug before we dive into this month’s STC feature. Check out Episode 46 of the How To Flourish Podcast HERE
On March 4, 2006 at the Mandalay Bay Casino & Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, Canadian UFC fighter, Georges St Pierre left the ring victorious. By an inch. In a highly anticipated matchup between two rising stars (and future Hall of Famers) Georges St. Pierre narrowly defeated Hawaiian fighter, BJ Penn by split decision after three tightly contested rounds.
At the time, Georges St Pierre or “GSP” as many affectionate UFC fans know him as, moved his professional record to 12-1 and with the win he would earn a title shot against UFC Welterweight champion Matt Hughes who had handed GSP his only professional loss nearly 2 years prior.
What made this matchup with BJ Penn so significant was how troubling the fight went for GSP, even though he won. An elite, well rounded athlete with strength, power and quickness, GSP was typically able to land punches and kicks on any fighter he shared the ring with. But with BJ Penn, he couldn’t land anything. He would throw a punch to an open opportunity and it wouldn’t land. He would attempt a kick, and it wouldn’t land. Simply put, BJ Penn was faster. He was more elusive, and the challenge nearly did GSP in. He was beyond frustrated, he was scared.
Imagine your signature strengths not working at the time you need it most. Your signature attributes that normally make you effective, rendered useless and ineffective when the stakes were the highest. For many high performers, this would be terrifying.
On March 4, 2006 this is exactly what GSP encountered. He struggled his way through a tightly contested bout, and somehow managed to exit with a victory, by the slimmest of margins.
But the story of BJ Penn and Georges St Pierre was far from over that night in Las Vegas. In fact their trajectories were both just beginning to take off. After the victory, GSP would get his first UFC Welterweight title shot against Matt Hughes just 8 months later. He would go on to win by knockout in November of 2006 giving him his first championship title in the UFC.
He lost the belt in his next fight to Matt Serra, suffering only his second loss in his career. But, later that year he would be back on top again as UFC Welterweight champion. In 2008, he defended his title in two more fights, remaining champion and extending his career record to 17-2 overall. He was undoubtedly one of the top fighters in any weight class in the UFC.
BJ Penn, after losing the fight in 2006 to GSP eventually dropped down one weight class and after defeating Joe Stevenson by submission in January of 2008 became the UFC Lightweight champion. Later that year he defended his title meaning the matchup in 2006 between Georges St Pierre and BJ Penn was really a rare matchup of two UFC champions.
In January 2009 their paths would collide yet again as the UFC set up a “super-fight” between two sitting champions and a re-match of the instant classic back in 2006.
What Mastery Demands
In the leadup to fighting BJ Penn again, Georges St Pierre was pursuing mastery. Pursuing mastery isn’t just lifting weights, running hills, and enduring the cold like Rocky Balboa. Pursuing mastery is different from training. It is the complete commitment to improvement, by any means necessary. Mastery is a mindset as much as it is skill acquisition.
There’s a lot of intense training going on these days in all kinds of industries. Toughness, grit, hard-nosed, hard-work. I’m not sure that’s the same as pursuing mastery.
Mastery is more strategic. It requires a level of detail few will allow themselves to dive into. And most importantly it requires a timeline even fewer are willing to adhere to. The timeline and detail of mastery eliminates the vast majority of people consumed with another alluring thing - “achievement.”
Georges St Pierre and the trajectory of his career and life after his career may be the most stunning commitment to mastery I’ve ever seen. Let me explain why.
When Georges St Pierre returned to Montreal, Quebec after his first fight with BJ Penn he hired a gentlemen on his team to study all the films of BJ Penn’s fights. That doesn’t sound really groundbreaking does it? I’m sure every fighter and team studies their opponents. This type of study was different. They weren’t just rolling the film and looking for tendencies, they were looking closer. GSP had one of his coaches study frame by frame every single minute of BJ Penn’s career. Here’s what they found.
From a frame by frame standpoint, BJ Penn had the fastest reaction time in UFC history. No fighter had a quicker reaction time and response time to an incoming punch or kick. (This explained why in their first fight, GSP was not able to have his attacks land. So despite great timing and opportunities, BJ Penn was able to get out of the way of GSP’s attacks.)
From a frame by frame standpoint, BJ Penn had a POOR “reset time.” So even though he was quickly able to react and avoid danger, he was slow to reset and get back in position.
So what does this mean? Well, while on the pursuit of mastery in his craft, GSP and his team were able to make the connection between reaction time, and the body’s nervous system regulation and “reset” time.
GSP realized there may be a strategic advantage if he could overwhelm BJ Penn’s nervous system.
In a “tough guy” sport like the UFC, Georges St Pierre found the secret weapon in the leadup to his 2nd fight with BJ Penn. Don’t just attack your opponent by way of punches, and kicks like some neanderthal.
Instead, learn to attack their entire nervous system - by not attacking, just presenting the threat of an attack.
In layman's terms our nervous system is made up of our brain, spinal cord, and complex network of nerves throughout the body. This system sends messages back and forth from the brain and the body. As we respond to stimuli our nervous system sends signals for the body to respond. Our response often includes, our ability to move, breathe, see, think, and in the case of UFC fighters, react in a timely fashion.
As GSP and his camp were learning to crack the code, of BJ Penn’s lightening fast reaction time in the lead-up to this UFC super-fight they realized the best way to do this was not to be faster, but to load up his nervous system, not with more strikes but with more fakes.
It would be the fake strikes that would get BJ Penn to react. In a sense, GSP and his team thought “Let’s get BJ Penn to react to fakes over and over again, and over time his nervous system will be so overwhelmed, he will get tired, and when he’s tired, his reaction time will be slower and we can land real attacks.” The plan would be to spend the majority of the early part of the fight showing BJ Penn different threats, stimulate him, overwhelm his nervous system, and let him get tired quickly.
{Brief sidebar here for the overthinkers reading this. How often do you find yourself responding to the “fake attacks” in life? The perceived threats that aren’t tangible and are actually more real in the privacy of your own mind than they are in the tangible reality of real life. Fake or real, you must realize they are often having a taxing toll on your nervous system. Your mind-body connection isn’t concerned with whether it’s plausible or not, it’s responding! And in doing so, your nervous system is working overtime, leading to increased strain in life, increased demands, stress, and worry. Your immune system may be breaking down all because of perceived threats. We find ourselves “worked up” about what will or won’t happen, and in reality we’re defeating ourselves in the ring of life by responding to all kinds of stimuli, most of which are fake, and made up in our limited minds.}
Overwhelm The Nervous System
On January 31, 2009 the strategic plan realized only as a benefit of the pursuit of mastery in Georges St Pierre’s life was put into action. In one of the all time great matchups in UFC history, GSP and BJ Penn prepared to square off at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Right down the street from where the two legends met just three years prior.
This time it would be UFC Champion vs UFC Champion.
In the early rounds of the five-round fight, GSP put the plan into action. Level changes, fake punches, fake kicks all around.
What did GSP and his team find? It worked.
Slowly, BJ Penn got tired and eventually exhausted. The fake attacks, the fake level changes kept BJ Penn in an overwhelmed state, constantly reacting, constantly scanning. Completely unpredictable.
Even the pay per view broadcasters were able to tell the difference.
“The thing we’re seeing with GSP here is he is getting better. Every time we see him fight we see him improve. The question coming into this fight was, “who has evolved more, since their first fight in 2006. I think the answer is quite obvious, it’s Georges St. Pierre.”
Eventually GSP not only wore BJ Penn down, but broke him. At the end of the 4th round, BJ Penn’s corner called the fight off as he was standing but not responding to their communication. He was completely spent.
After GSP defeated BJ Penn he went on to successfully defend his UFC Welterweight title another 7 times. He ultimately set the record for title defenses and held the UFC Welterweight belt for another 8 years. After vacating the title, stepping away from competing he returned for one final fight up a weight class in which he won the UFC Middleweight Championship, then walked away from competing all together.
In total his career record was 26-2.
What’s unique is, now 7 years after retiring in 2017, Georges St Pierre is still training mixed martial arts. He’s still rolling around in the gym and working with legendary boxing coach Freddie Roach.
Most elite athletes put up with the training regimen and demands of the sport, holding out for paydays and big fights under the bright lights, but here at the age of 43, GSP is still a student of the sport.
Why continue training and working in the grueling sport of mixed martial arts without the payday of finances or even accomplishment? Is it possible to love the pursuit of mastery so much that it rewires our mindset and allows us to fully detach from the riches of achievement? For GSP, it’s possible by way of a few mindsets that we all can benefit from adopting in our own pursuits.
The Mindsets Behind Mastery
Put on Confidence
Choose Self Acceptance
Keep it Playful
Put on Confidence
“I like the confidence that martial arts gives me.”
When asked, “Why are you still training when your career is over?”
Georges St Pierre’s response was.
“I started when I was very young. It became a habit. If I don’t do it, I’m not happy and I don’t feel confident. I like to be fit. I like to be in good health.”
Is GSP still chasing the glory days of his youth? Shouldn’t he move on to chase other dreams and climb other mountains?
For him, the question would be why? Training in the gym has always been enough. Feeling fit, feeling healthy and confident is a good enough prize for his 43 year old body and mind.
It speaks to the benefits of mastery. True mastery. Not some artificial ranking or short term win.
When we truly pursue mastery, it produces confidence. Not fake toughness. Not pride or arrogance. A quiet confidence associated with the work in the dark, done toward the attainment of skill.
A mastery minded individual walks a little taller and quieter in a world so consumed with the attention of achievement.
Choose Self Acceptance
“If you want to do good you have to look in the mirror and accept who you are.”
In the peak of all his striving and training, GSP locked into a sentiment that most would not associate with pro-mastery. We tend to think of the pursuit of mastery as the pursuit of accomplishing, changing and re-inventing ourselves.
When we fall into this view of mastery we’re basically dressing up achievement and calling it mastery. They’re not the same thing. Mastery is rooted in pure growth. Achievement is rooted in attaining something.
We’re tempted with achievement because we think by accomplishing ______ it will make us more meaningful. In reality that may be the opposite of what is needed when it comes to adding mastery to your life.
If GSP was overly concerned with titles and championships he would probably be a lost person now that his career is over. Instead, he’s still enjoying the sport and still engaged with the process of mastering mixed martial arts.
It starts with accepting who you are and who you’re not. Accomplishment won’t change the feeling you have when you look in the mirror.
In a sense, if you’re not complete without it - the attainment of it won’t change a thing.
If you’re complete without it - then the pursuit of it will only enhance and add to the joy you experience in life.
Keep it Playful
“The best way to improve is to keep it playful.”
We’ve studied athletes and coaches in the past who lost the ability to find enjoyment in their skill development. Everything became work. Grit and grind became the badges of honor. While it’s true some people need to “take things more seriously” the reality for most high performers may be the opposite.
When you’ve taken things seriously for so long, it may be time to take a deep breath and relax. Reorient with the process of becoming great. Find enjoyment and pleasure in hard disciplined work. If everything is a grind you’ll just end up dull.
For GSP, keeping things playful became central to his entire process.
“Of course when a fight is coming up you need to find a way to replicate that intensity and environment, but the vast majority of the time - keep it playful.”
Central to the playful attitude is the theory that when things are like a game (enjoyable, pleasurable, dare we say “fun”) you will be more prone to trying new things.
It’s quite possible that the development of GSP’s strategy against BJ Penn was born out of a playful love of training and competing. If you’re struggling with taking a risk, making changes, or trying new things it may be that you’ve elevated the “thing” to a higher than needed level of importance in your life.
If you were playing a board game, you’d let it fly. If you were playing a sport in the backyard, you’d draw up the trick plays. We tend to lose the playful, game-like approach in an effort to become more serious.
Maybe it’s time to tone it down a notch. Hold things a little more loosely. Keep it playful.