Taking notes: I am a big believer in the notion that to a large degree, jiu jitsu is a knowledge game. Of course knowledge is not the whole story. Until KNOWLEDGE is translated into SKILL it is of little practical value to the athlete (though it can still be of great value to the coach). Like any knowledge based enterprise, there is a lot of memorizing and, unfortunately, a lot of forgetting! As such I believe it is of great value to many people (not all people – some learn in very different ways) to keep notes on their progress. At the end of every day I make sure I write down in some form the main things I learned that day. I don't suggest writing vast amounts (you wouldn't guess that given my lengthy instagram posts would you!? ) – just the NEW elements that you believe have potential for the future. I believe that JUST THE SHEER ACT OF WRITING AIDS RETENTION. In addition to helping retention, IT HELPS ORDER YOUR THOUGHTS INTO MORE COHERENT STRUCTURES THAT WILL HELP YOU WORK THEM INTO YOUR DEVELOPMENT. Thus even if you never peruse those notes again – they will have helped you. I remember once coming across an old journal of mine from 2002 and seeing an entry on an “interesting concept that may be of considerable value for further research and wider applications” – it was the notion of double trouble applied to ashi garami based leg locks – how ironic that this would go on years later to be of such value to my students. Let the time, orderliness and discipline of note taking work for you – just as you did in school – it can help you take the lessons of today into your improvements of tomorrow.
