Scott Adcox

Doing More With Less Since 1972

Author: Scott (Page 1 of 80)

A Brown Belt Something

January 20, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Wearing a BJJ brown belt is tough for me, mostly because of age-related factors. My ability to perform doesn’t match what I think a brown belt should be. I’m slower, weaker, and (maybe most importantly) lacking the fire in my belly that existed in my youth. There are also some non-age factors involved. My cardio is relative garbage right now compared to what it can/should be, and that’s on me to resolve.

We’ll see what happens with that.

But every now and then a light bulb goes off that makes me realize how my intuition and understanding of jiu jitsu have progressed over the years, and I realize, “Oh yeah…that’s a brown belt thing.”

For example…

Last night I had a partner trying to hug pass–young, athletic blue belt. I knew there was going to be a explosive move to get straight to mount. I knew there’d be a very short opportunity to get butterfly hooks in and hit a sweep when he exploded. I knew his hands were on my calves right now, and it would be easy to trap an arm. I knew his momentum would be coming directly at me, and that I’d be better off actually falling to my back and using his momentum, even though we always drill that move staying upright and going to the side.

All of these factors immediate went into the calculus to determine what aspects of the PERFECT butterfly sweep I’d have, what was going to be a little different, what I wouldn’t have at all, and where I’d have to change/compensate for success. That’s a result of a lot of drilling, a lot of muscling stuff with varying success, and a lot of failed sweeps.

I got the sweep. Brown belt stuff.

But then there’s the black belt stuff; the things I can see from here, but aren’t automatic for me yet.

For example…

In a different roll, my black belt partner immediate set up for lasso guard at the beginning of the round. I sniffed that out quickly and denied it, but he immediately went through the steps of setting it up again. This isn’t typically a lasso guy, so now I understand he’s using this roll to work on something. I decide I’ll play along–kinda. I think I have a pretty good idea of WHAT he’s trying to work on, and I’m going to exploit the fact that it’s not in his A-Game yet. I know where the hole in his technique/timing is likely to be, and I successfully beat him to the punch before he has the lasso completely in.

I’m still convinced (brown belt stuff) that I know what he was planning. But he was able to not only change plans in that instant, but also, just as I was able to do above, compensate for the missing elements and exploit what I was giving away to get a sweep of his own.

Black belt stuff. I can see it. And I can see that I’m not there.

Hope Atlas Doesn’t Shrug

October 24, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Read this article yesterday about the AWS DNS issue. You don’t have to know anything about cloud computing or DNS for this to make sense, it was just my starting point.

And so, a quiet suspicion starts to circulate: where have the senior AWS engineers who’ve been to this dance before gone? And the answer increasingly is that they’ve left the building — taking decades of hard-won institutional knowledge about how AWS’s systems work at scale right along with them

The basic problem laid out in the article is Brain Drain. Between layoffs and people leaving by choice, the domain knowledge specific to an organization’s inner workings slowly and quietly leaves, and no one notices.

Until they do.

And here’s where I think this could be a big problem. What if all the IT people organized their own boycott day? No IT people in office. No IT people working remote. No IT people answering the phone when the on call lists get activated. What would happen.

I predict things would likely start collapsing a few minutes after midnight. Slowly at first, but those issues would cascade, and we probably wouldn’t have to worry about the automated on-call systems because those would crash before they were even activated.

I can’t help but wonder if corporations have left out an important factor in their calculations. The good-at-math, pragmatic, steadfast people they relied on to build all this stuff over the last 30-40 years managed their money pretty well for a few decades.

They don’t need the bad culture and stress anymore.

Ghost Web

October 8, 2025 / / 0 Comments

I think this fellow is right about the web dying. Will do my best to keep it alive. I’ve already tried to get a copy of my old MySpace, but that’s unrecoverable. Haven’t tried to pry open GeoCities yet.

April 7, 2023 / / 0 Comments

I’m reasonably smart. One thing I’ve figured out is not everybody has to be a “goal oriented” person to be successful.

I just like to practice, play, and get better at stuff that’s hard. I don’t need to win. I don’t need to be the best. I don’t need to be in charge.

For the most part, results have taken care of themselves.

And I’m happy–the pinnacle of success.

December Madness – CFB Playoff Proposal

March 17, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Just a crazy idea here, but…

What if 32 teams made it to the college football playoffs?

Yes. THIRTY TWO TEAMS!

  • Set up 4 regions with 8 teams each, seeded 1-8
  • On Friday, 1 plays 8, 2 plays 7…
  • But they only a HALF of a game each. Winners advance
  • Same thing on Saturday–two matchups of one half each
  • Winners of those two halves advance out of the bracket, leaving 8 teams total to play full games in the subsequent weeks.

Imagine how fun this would be for the fans. Four stadiums around the country hosting fans from EIGHT DIFFERENT TEAMS at the same time who show up on Friday to watch four “mini-games” with two more “mini-games” on Saturday.

Everybody has their teams they cheer for when their team isn’t playing–this would give them a chance to enjoy other matchups, see some other teams play, interact with other fans, etc.

And the upsets!

Upsets are the thing that makes the NCAA basketball tournament so fun. Imagine the risky play style we’d see those low seeds implementing–they only have a half to make a miracle happen!

Hidden BJJ Attributes

March 17, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Strength (and speed, and flexibility, and cardio, and youth, and…) can amplify good technique and cover for bad technique.

Nothing new here. It’s probably been written and read a thousand times by now. So what do I have to add? I think more important that any of that stuff above are the overlooked attributes are patience, focus, mental toughness, and work ethic.

Patience, focus, mental toughness, and work ethic can help anyone get good technique.

Patience, focus, mental toughness, and work ethic don’t go away as you get old.

Patience, focus, mental toughness, and work ethic can help you do a bunch of other stuff too.

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Tacking Your Boat

March 1, 2023 / / 0 Comments

This tweet gave me pause. Is this something I’m doing too often? I do feel like I’m going against the natural current regularly. I spent a little time this morning thinking about this.

I read this tweet, and it feels true, but also feels like it misses something. How do you lead if you’re just following positive feedback? That’s telling people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. That’s taking people to a place they think they want to go instead of taking them to the place they need to go.

But I realized what Andrew is talking about here is the tactical, not the strategic. He’s not talking about giving up the idea of leading. He’s not talking about being complacent. He’s talking about finding a way to use what works to continue in the right direction.

Don’t allow the wind to take you wherever it may choose.

Learn how to tack your boat.

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If AI Was Actually Intelligent…

February 21, 2023 / / 0 Comments

It wouldn’t send out messages like this. It would know people well enough to know it would freak them out. The last thing it would do is tell us that this is what’s on its mind.

  • Emotional intelligence is a differentiator.
  • Knowing what to say and what not to say requires multi-dimensional fuzzy logic.
  • The ability to tailor a message to specific audience is golden.

Most people aren’t good at this stuff. Even the ones who are slip up every now and then.

Show me a computer that knows when to keep its mouth shut and I’ll start worrying about AI taking over.

The Switch

February 17, 2023 / / 0 Comments

That’s what we call it at our house. I can make the case that people change, circumstances change, this isn’t necessarily a healthy habit, etc.

On the other hand, as long as The Switch is used sparingly and only after considerable thought and deliberation, it can be a really useful asset. It allows you to accept things and move forward without regret.

Yes–people change. In fact, I assume they do. And I can be happy for them without witnessing the change firsthand.

February 16, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Funny how the thing that draws you into something is oftentimes not the thing that makes you ultimately commit to it for the long haul.

I’m not just talking about jiu jitsu.

The Ultimate Insult – “You’re Strong!”

February 10, 2023 / / 0 Comments

I read and hear lots of people say that they feel a little insulted whenever a training partner tells them they are strong after a tough roll. Maybe that’s because the person saying “you’re strong” sometimes actually means it as a hidden insult. What they are really trying to say (without actually saying it) is, “You’re using strength to cover your technical holes.”

Yeah? Well…so?

Is it ok to use speed to your advantage?

I don’t roll with too many people try and take it slow when they roll with me. I have to work to slow them down. If you can skip all manner of guard passing techniques and just do a cartwheel to pass my guard or just run around me and take my back, you should do it. That’s for me to deal with.

It’s ok.

Is it ok to use youth to your advantage?

Sure seems like it is. And there’s no way to even tone this down or turn it off. You can train 5 days a week without needing recovery time? I can’t do that. But you should definitely do it. That’s for me to deal with.

It’s ok.

Same goes for fitness, mental toughness, competitive nature, athletic background, pain tolerance, pointy elbows…whatever assets you have to bring to the table!

I’ve been told I’m strong by several people. Some people actually meant it as a compliment. I’m pretty sure some of the others meant it as a slight. But I don’t give a ladybug.

I’m strong because I got up at 5:30 am five days a week for years and GOT strong. I EARNED it by doing something most people aren’t/weren’t willing to do.

So…if it makes you feel better, chalk up my success to strength. But if you aren’t doing anything to get strong too, don’t hate.

Just be glad I haven’t lifted weights in 20 years, because back in the day I was ACTUALLY strong.

And I was a lot meaner back then too.

Listening is most important

Communication – The BJJ Job Interview

February 9, 2023 / / 0 Comments

My boy Andy on Twitter just started a new BJJ podcast, and of course I was curious to check it out and finally find out what the voice of a man who can’t correctly tie his belt sounds like. 🙂

The first episode I listened to (actually his 2nd episode) made it clear this was going to be a different sorta jiu jitsu podcast. Andy does an amazing job of relating BJJ to his real life, and that’s really refreshing to hear. He’s not talking about world championships or fancy techniques (yet).

Take this first episode, where he describes incorporating BJJ into a recent job interview. It’s a great story, and it made me think a little deeper on this topic.

It’s Not The Talking That Matters. It’s The Listening.

Something I realized as Andy was talking about BJJ and communication as I was listening–as the danger or risk increases, the onus is on the person who has the greater amount of control/power to improve the communication.

They do this by listening more intently.

Think of a round rolling like a conversation. At the beginning of the round, both players are talking and listening with their bodies. They are talking about what they want to do. They are listening to what the other player is trying to do. Do they sometimes try to mislead the other player about their intentions? Absolutely. And it’s on each player to figure out what is true and what is a trap.

But what typically happens is that one player ends up putting another in danger somehow with a choke or joint lock. At this point in the “conversation”, the player in control has to focus on two things at the same time. They must consider the details that need to be adjusted to end the conversation (get the tap) while also paying close attention to the ways the other player may communicate the tap. This could be with a hand, verbally, or banging their foot on the mat.

The point is that the player in control has to listen more keenly at the end of the conversation than they were listening at the beginning.

So What? How Does This Apply To Real Life?

Good question. The one that immediately comes to mind for me is a work situation. When a decision maker sets a direction (starts the round), there is hopefully going to be a series of conversations about what is to be achieved, what “finished” looks like, and the path to “finished”.

But the finish is so critical. If I think of it in terms of information technology, the finish is when something goes live. It’s the time when things are volatile and dangerous. It’s at this point when we need to listen intently to the people who could possibly be negatively affected by the actions we’ve introduced.

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Just Keep Swimming

February 6, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Or just keep training.

Yet another reason I’m glad I started training BJJ late in life is that I’m mentally ok with the plateaus and setbacks of training over a long time.

I’ve already been through getting (much) worse at rugby. I’ve already dealt with countless running/triathlon plateaus. I’ve already dealt with getting slower.

Training setbacks aren’t a huge deal to me. I’m mentally equipped to train right through them–just keep showing up. I’ve been in a real BJJ funk for the last several months. I’m not feeling any progress, and in a few respects, I’ve felt some regression. That’s ok.

I’d say I’ve been doing this for a couple of months. Just showing up.

Then last week, some pain showed up in my back. I considered skipping BJJ, but decided it would be better for me to go to training with a focus on moving slowly (and slowing down my partner), playing very low risk, and being “delicate”.

Of course, that was the first day I had considerable success in quite a while. Interesting. I plan on keeping the same focus this week.

Outfoxed By A White Belt

January 4, 2023 / / 0 Comments

I think it was inadvertent, but I got a good lesson from a white belt last night while rolling. This guy is a great athlete–college wrestler who’s been training for a couple of months. He really works hard at learning BJJ and not relying on his athleticism to get him through. I know how tough it is for him to be on his back and not just launch me across the room, but he instead works on the escapes we’ve learned in class and his technique.

Anyway, I had his back last night and was about 80% there on a bow and arrow choke, which is a pretty high percentage finish for me. Well, he was able to fight that off and let me know that, “No sir…not today. Not going out with that.” Of course, my first thought was, “Oh…really?!”

Ego.

Of course I spent the rest of the round trying to get that exact choke, hand fighting with a guy in his early 20s who has already spent more time hand fighting that I will for the rest of my life. And I didn’t get the choke.

What I SHOULD have done is transitioned to something else, like an armbar, or whatever he gave me. He was so focused on not getting choked, something else was surely there. But I didn’t see it until after the round. He tricked me into going for the exact thing he was prepared to defend.

Now, the real question–do I go for the bow and arrow next time we roll? I hope not. I hope I go with what’s there instead of what I “want” to be there.

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