Really good question, and one I'm constantly dealing with as a gym owner who started from scratch ~6 years ago.

While I think blue belts get plenty of crap for dropping out, the white belts are the biggest offenders in this area. But I digress...

I think two major reasons why blue belts tend to drop out, is the fact that progress starts to level off at blue belt, and I think many blue belts drop out because they were promoted too early, so they're constantly getting their asses kicked by white belts and this is never a good feeling.

I make sure to try and prepare my 3-4 stripe white belts by talking about progress and plateaus early on, and I'm also very conservative when promoting to blue belt.

In this way, I can hopefully help to adequately prepare my blue belts, and so far I think I've been fairly successful, overall. Only a small handful of the 35+ blue belts we've promoted so far have dropped out.

Being a blue belt is kind of like being a young adult: you have to find your way in life, and you have next to zero experience at this task, compared to older adults. It's a tough time for many of us, and some people just don't make it.

For me, I felt like two years of learning jujitsu to get my blue belt and I still sucked. My skill level didn't seem to equal the time put in. At blue belt, I started trying to use technique in rolls instead of just strength. I did badly in my rolls until about midway through blue belt and then it started to click. Same thing happened at purple, brown and black. I just learned to expect it.

There is no such thing. It is totally fine to be interested in something for some time and then move on with your life. I used to play football (a leisure activity) but then got interested in tennis and quit. Do I have football-blues? Then I played tennis for ~2 years until I went to school again and did not have time to train anymore. It does not mean I have now some kind of tennis-blues. In BJJ people tend to get a blue belt by that time.

Hobbyist perspective: As a sportswise lazy person I will do jiu-jitsu - 100% leisure activity for me - as long as it is entertaining and the gym is close enough (10 min walk at the moment). Every class I expect to be entertained and nothing else. I will show up and stay curious and long as it is fun, safe and as long as nobody bothers me with any cultish issues, religious "martial arts" stuff, life coaching or clothing advice.

I would argue that it only seems that your progress slows down, since all of your peers come up in ranks with you. It might be a good thing to roll someone you have never rolled with and see if you feel the same.

Also people are lazy. Some get shocked that after 2 years you receive your blue belt and realize how far the next rank is. I know you shouldn't focus on belts, but people do anyways.

The Way you prevent and never experience this is by avoiding plateaus.

You avoid plateaus by:
1. Always having something to work on before you enter class
2. Try new stuff. Don't always use your A game. Figure out new stuff to compliment it and a plan b for when someone counters what you are good at.
3. Allow yourself to be worse in order to get better. This means not being focused on winning rolls but on working on what you need to work on.
4. Think less. Simplify things into concepts instead of techniques. Create categories of questions for certain scenarios. Is your opponents weight on you or not? Are they connected to you or not connected. Distance management. Timing. Strategy etc.
5. Compete. You will have whatever your weakest at exposed. You will learn what you need to work on if you don't know already.

Good point(s)

In addition to that, it's probably also worth mentioning that I think a lot of blue belts go on "hiatus" from time to time, or even an extended period of time, but the ones who stick with it in the long run, no matter what, eventually become purple belts (obviously).

When I was a blue belt, I got sick of the petty politics and toxic training atmosphere in the gyms where I was living at the time, and I took a ~2yr break and just lifted weights. I was still involved in bjj, but casually so.

When I finally moved to a different part of the world and joined a new gym, I realized how important it was to continue training, and how much I loved it, and I haven't taken any time off since, with the exception of injuries and surgeries.

I think that most of us have had some type of layoff for whatever reason(s) and for most of us, this happened at blue belt.

A great quote from Chris Haueter: "Blue belts quit because life happens. Purple belts quit because their heart gets broken."

For over decade I've been doing bjj and I've seen so many people get promoted to blue belt and dissappear. Yes there are obviously alot white belts that step on the mat and never go any further than that but several have obtained rank of blue and not progress further. I think comes down to alot aspects life happens especially over time especially in small town. If everyone that started before me and with me at my academy stuck to the mat I be with several black belts, but now I stand with my fellow other coach as we are first two black belts he's finaly got to promote.

I think for me? What keeps me going is competing, and cross-training. You gotta switch it up.

This is a good approach for most blue belts to take, imo: since progress generally slows/changes at blue belt, you have to find something to help keep you engaged and moving forward, and competition is an excellent way to help you stay active and engaged.

This is a topic that has way too much effort expended on it. Two years is the attention span for most adults doing any kind of hobby. This is also about how long it takes to get a blue belt. That means they are getting their blue belt about the time they lose interest and move on to something else. That's pretty much it. Choose any activity you want and you'll see pretty much the same thing.