Taking notes and daily journaling seemed to be an effective strategy, not only to measure my progress, but to help retain everything I was being taught. Physically writing [pen to paper] seemed to be the most archaic, but functional solution. Despite this, my notes were sloppy, unorganized, and lacked any real structure or pattern.

The lightbulb didn’t click for me until months later, when I was on my way back from a failed summit attempt in the Rocky Mountains due to some harsh weather conditions. Shortly after the attempted climb, I was laying in my van, rehydrating and contemplating: When would I try to climb it again? What would I do differently? How could I manage to summit?

I began to record all of the details and logistics of my first attempt. I wrote down the total distance, the duration, how my body felt, what time I departed, what time I got back, how many feet of elevation I climbed, how many hours of sleep I had gotten the night before, and so on…  After analyzing my notes, I immediately realized how systemized and effective this was for remembering all of the key details that I needed to know if I were to successfully repeat the climb. How I wish I had implemented a similar system for Jiu Jitsu.