Clumping: The Secret Weapon for Success

Why It Took Me 18 Months to See It

When I first stepped onto the mat at Meraki BJJ, I wasn’t there to prove anything.

I wasn’t chasing stripes, belts, or medals. I had already earned two black belts in other arts.

At 59, I wasn’t looking to dominate the room.

I was there to train, to learn, to stave off dementia, and to survive. And I mean that literally.

My goal for most of this journey so far has been simple:

Don’t get tapped. Don’t get crushed. Just survive.

I remembered what my teacher, Grandmaster Bong Soo Han, once said:

So that’s what I did.

For 18 months, I focused on defending. Escaping. Staying safe. I rarely attacked. Not because I didn’t know how—but because I didn’t want to.

I still carry some resistance to inflicting pain on others, even in training. But over time, something started to shift. Not in my muscles or mindset—at least not first.

It was my vision that changed.

I began to see things differently.

Patterns emerged. Movements began to link together. Options appeared where there were none before. I realized I wasn’t just surviving anymore—I was beginning to understand.

And that’s when the power of clumping clicked back into my brain.

I’d seen this before—not just in the dojo, but also on the construction site. And now, I remembered what would help me to evolve my BJJ game.

And if you’re younger, hungry, and need faster progress—whether in business, in life, or on the mat—clumping is your cheat code.

Let me show you how it works.

The Power of Clumping
(And Why Most People Miss It)

Most people fail because they bounce around too much.

They try to do a little of everything, all the time. One minute they’re watching a video on back takes. Next minute they’re trying to learn leg locks. Then they get discouraged and start drilling takedowns.

It’s the same outside the gym—one week they’re starting a podcast, the next they’re building a website, then they’re on to a new side hustle.

No depth. No focus. No progress.

What Is Clumping?

Clumping is when you group similar tasks, skills, or efforts together over a period of time to drive deeper learning, higher productivity, and better long-term results.

In construction, clumping meant installing hundreds of the same fixtures in the same type of room on every floor.

You get faster. Cleaner. Sharper.

You’re not hauling every tool to every floor every day. You’re not making new decisions every ten minutes. You’re in a rhythm. You’re in flow.

On the mat, it’s drilling the same guard pass for a week straight. Not because you’re slow—but because you’re smart.

Why It Works

1. You Enter Flow More Easily Flow state isn’t magic—it’s math. Repetition creates rhythm. Rhythm creates flow. When your brain doesn’t have to “switch gears” every 5 minutes, it can lock in and go deep.
2. Faster and Deeper Learning Clumping uses a principle called myelination—something Daniel Coyle talks about in The Talent Code. Every rep you do wires a little more insulation around your neural circuits. That insulation (called myelin) is what makes you faster, smoother, and more efficient. You’re not just “building muscle memory.” You’re building a neural superhighway.
3. Resource and Energy Efficiency Clumping saves mental and physical energy. Instead of packing every tool or every training idea, you only bring what you need for the task at hand. Less gear. Less waste. More focus.
4. Stacking Progress When you clump, you chain skills together. You drill from position A to B, then B to C. Once that’s clean, you drill A to C. It’s like Legos—you don’t need to build the whole castle at once. Just click the next brick in.

Clumping vs. Chaos

Here’s what most guys do:

Chaos Training:

• Random YouTube Techniques
• Trying to "win" every roll
• Winging it in business
• Constant gear/tool switching
• Shiny object syndrome

Here's what warriors, leaders and badasses do:

Clumping Training:

• A focused technique for 1-2 weeks
• Working a specific position each roll
• Blocking time of ONE project daily
• Setup once, execute deep
• Mastery through monotony

You don’t win by doing more. You win by doing less, better.

Putting It On the Mat

Let me tell you about the first time I really started to attack during live rolling.

It was a weekday noon class. I’d been showing up daily, focusing on defense like always. But something had changed. For the past two weeks, I’d been clumping my drilling around one simple concept: high side control → knee on belly → paper cutter choke.​

I wasn’t doing 10 different attacks. Just this one sequence.

Class ended. We started rolling.

My partner moved fast. Younger guy. Strong. He went for the sweep—I blocked. Scrambled. Found myself in high side. I froze for half a second… then remembered the clump.

Knee slides up.

Grip forms.

Paper cutter lands.

He tapped.

I didn’t celebrate. I didn’t jump up. I just smiled.

Not because I submitted him—but because it worked.

The reps worked. The clump worked. The flow worked.

That’s when I realized something I want to share with you:

If you’re spinning your wheels in business or in life, it’s not because you’re broken.

It’s because you haven’t clumped.

You haven’t chosen one thing to get good at. You’re dabbling, not drilling. And you’re paying for it with slow results, wasted time, and lowered confidence.

Start today. Choose one thing you want to get better at. In BJJ. In business. In relationships. Doesn’t matter.

Clump it.

• Pick one skill or task.
• Commit to 10 days of doing it daily.
• Block 30–90 minutes.
• Cut everything else.
• Drill. Review. Adjust. Repeat.

You’ll be stunned at what happens.

Final Call: Don’t Just Think. Train.

I’ll leave you with a challenge—especially if you’re in your 20s or 30s and trying to “figure it all out.”

Stop asking, “What should I do with my life?”

Start asking, “What’s one thing I can clump this week?”

The rest will follow.

Because greatness isn’t built by chasing 1,000 goals.

It’s built by crushing one thing at a time.

Clump like a warrior. Train like a savage. Live like a badass.

See you on the mat.

—Chuck Co-Founder, The Leader’s Dojo

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