Should I take notes after class? A question I am often asked is whether it is beneficial to take notes after Jiu jitsu training sessions. My experience is that there is one common goal for all students – the ability to retain and access learned information under the stress of sparring/competition – however different people have different ways of accomplishing that common goal and no one method appears to outperform the others. For example, Gordon Ryan, Garry Tonon and nicky ryan have never taken a note in their lives. Myself and Eddie Cummings were prolific note takers. All of us were able to retain information successfully despite the polar opposite approach with regards notes. What I generally find is that people from an academic background are used to the idea of note taking already and adapt it well to Jiu Jitsu study. Those who are not don't. Just do what you're comfortable with. Experiment with both and see if there is a difference in your retention performance, but don't feel you HAVE to take notes. If you do choose to take notes, focus on writing down what was new and interesting in that session rather than every detail. Remember that our memory has very finite limits so don't overstock on non essentials. So if you've never taken notes, give it a try, but if you don't feel any retention benefits don't feel you have to do it or that you are at a disadvantage – you are in good company because most champions don't take notes either. But if you feel like it does help (as it probably did when you were in college) – then stick with it with a focus on what was new and important for that day rather than a record of everything that happened.
