Trust the Off Days

James Watson
1 day ago
2 min read

Some Days You Struggle, Some Days It Flows

If you’ve trained long enough, you’ve felt it.

One day everything feels off.Your timing is late.Your movements feel heavy.Nothing works the way you want it to.

Then the very next day…Things flow.Techniques click.Your body moves without thinking.

That’s not luck.That’s how learning really works.

Progress Isn’t Linear

We expect improvement to be a straight line.Train → get better → repeat.

But real progress looks more like waves:

Struggle
Confusion
Small breakthroughs
Flow
Plateaus
Another breakthrough

The struggle days aren’t wasted days — they’re part of the process.

The Subconscious Is Always Working

Even when it feels like nothing is happening, your brain is learning.

When you drill, roll, and repeat movements, your subconscious is quietly organizing information:

Patterns
Timing
Reactions
Movement efficiency

You might leave class frustrated, thinking you “didn’t get it.”

Then you come back — and suddenly it’s there.

That’s the subconscious doing its work behind the scenes.

Why Flow Shows Up Unexpectedly

Flow often shows up after struggle because:

You stopped forcing things
You relaxed
You trusted the movement
Your body remembered before your mind did

When you let go of trying to control everything, skill starts to express itself naturally.