Here is a post from the BJJ forum on the UG. It's gold from a BJJ black belt, giving advice to a student who says "The More I learn the worse I get"

From: Gordon Hester
Date: 08/21/04 04:58 PM
Member Since: 01/01/2001
6717 Total Posts Ignore User

Unless you have a foundation for growth, information becomes chaos. I learned BJJ focusing on a few basic questions.

1. How did I lose my base or how did I take someone's base? This is most important aspect and foundation of BJJ?

2. If I was being controlled by my opponent, how do I take that control away from them? This enabled me to focus on answers to any problem my opponent could throw at me.

3. How can I become more effecient with the application of BJJ by using movement over strength? Whenever I felt my opponent controlling me with strength or using strength to muscle through a technique, I examined ways to use circular movement and space to be more effecient at applying the concept of base.

In the end, I have a couple simple principles that allowed me to better understand and apply BJJ. If you don't master they questions and continue to examine them every time you hit the mats, additional techniques will only be create additional chaos. Take the time to understand the details of any technique before you move to the next one. You know you master a technique when you can apply it is a real situation. Best of luck with your training.