Marcelo insists that his professionally motivated students take practice seriously: Concentration, focus, and determination are attributes that must be applied diligently on the mats; especially, when given a surmountable, short-term and specific task or goal. As a test, he asked his students to prepare for a round of training wherein a single takedown would settle the outcome of the bout. The more we get comfortable with internally processing our affordances, the greater our ability to apply that strong inner fortitude when it comes to live-performance (whether for competition or self-defense). Developing a mindset that involves improving your mental habits and reinforcing a resilient attitude for problem-solving and decision-making is an important part of combat success.