Marcelo reiterates his belief in returning to the mat as soon as possible after a competition; win or lose, there is something to gain in the way of personal development and/or refinement in technical sophistication: Pressure-testing your technique in a live, full-resistance scenario can be beneficial for allowing oneself a chance to test out their hypotheses about the nature of fighting and help to inoculate oneself to the potential pitfalls inherent in the psychological demands of confronting a relatively competent or seemingly formidable aggressor. Keep the memories of your past performances fresh in your mind so that you can give yourself as high fidelity of framework as possible from which to build upon or investigate for improvement. Analyzing your matches and taking interest in what kinds of lessons can be gleaned from both the good and bad outcomes in the sport will help direct you towards an advancement of resilience and adaptation. By practicing a mindset for betterment and understanding how you should best learn from mistakes made in the training room everyday, can help improve yourself and others on and off the mat. Let the lessons learned from competing help guide you on your own unique path in your jiu-jitsu journey, and also afford you many new and exciting opportunities for enlightening yourself, sharing a positive gym culture, and evolving your game.