I love keeping lists. I keep lists for anything and everything. Including what I’ve done in capoeira. Today’s article is rather short but I just wanted to share this routine I’ve been following for a long time.

There are basically 3 different lists I keep:

• The (contra)mestres and cool or famous people I’ve met (including the year and where)
• Events I attended, in which city and with which group (only the bigger events, not every roda)
• The graduations I received, the year I received them and with who I did my troca de corda

Every time I went somewhere or received a new corda, I add the “achievement” to my lists. These are simple bullet lists in a Google Doc by the way.

You might wonder what the use of it is… Well it’s definitely not to brag (otherwise I’d put them in the main menu here on the site). For me, it sometimes helps to counter the imposter syndrome I tend to suffer from. Going over the lists makes me feel a bit more proud of what I’ve achieved. And it is nice to think back about all these moments and experiences when scrolling through the lists, which in turns gives me energy to keep going when I’m lacking motivation. Once or twice a year, I open my Google Doc and think back about the amazing people I’ve met and the crazy capoeira I’ve seen throughout the years. It’s a silly thing, but I love it.

You might want to consider doing it yourself. I also think it is cool to keep a bit of a track record so that in 50 years time you’ll still remember where capoeira has taken you. In relation to that, please keep all capoeira footage of yourself (and possibly your students) and never delete it. It’s a great resource to see how you’ve evolved over the years and to detect what you still need to work on.

That’s it!

— Vinho