Hock on the Five Minute Rule

"Have you heard about the Five Minute Rule? It goes like this. If someone shows me a fighting tactic or technique, and I can't learn it in five minutes. Its worthless to me. Or, if I show someone something and they cannot learn it in five minutes, its worthless. It is a rule that declares if a move is too complicated and too hard to learn it should be forgotten, after...well...five minutes."

Interesting idea, and perhaps it has some merit. Think, though, about how many techniques you know that aren't learned until later in your training. Call them advanced techniques, or whatever you want, but they can't be taught to a beginner with any degree of confidence that they'd be absorbed in that amount of time. I think that, geared to the audience's skill and experience level, the idea may have some validity, but without that caveat, it means that most of us (myself included) are simpletons, or that many techniques are worthless. Thoughts?

Hock has more to say on this. Read the rest from his 5 May 2007 post (scroll down). You can also comment on his forum, which is extensive.