Learning Techniques VS Developing a Plan.

When we start out in BJJ, we begin a journey of collecting techniques. With enough of them under our belt, we eventually become Blue Belts. Tis begs the question: where to from there? Is a Purple belt just a blue belt with more techniques in his collection - or is he/she something more?
In my view, the approach to purple is very different from the approach to blue. For me, this part of the evolution marks the transtiion from learning techniques, to developing plans. In an ideal world, the purple belt doesn't just have (for example) a 1/2 guard technique - he/she has instead, a 1/2 gard plan; a passing plan, a side control defence plan, a turtle plan, etc. This takes time and experience and that's why it is usually around purple belt level that we start to formulate a large enough series of plans that we tend to 'FLOW' from one to the next as the fight evolves and changes.
The transition from TECHNIQUE to PLAN can be likened to the difference between having work for one day or having a fulltime job; like having a fish or learning how to fish, etc. it is a very big transition in the evolution of ones game - and one that should be understood. Eventually, over time, we develop different plans for different situations; ideally, for every situation (again, this takes time) and over even more time, those plans each become more clearly defined and can be executed with increasingly greater levels of skill.
For those who are just beginning to make such a transition - start building your first plan around the situation that comes up the most when you wrestle. Then, over time, build other plans, for other common situations that occur; eventually, having a plan for every situation. Then you are living in what is known as - a familiar landscape.
JBW