A college basketball coach made 418 mistakes his first year. He kept track of all of them

Mike Neighbors was always a list maker, the kind of guy who would rank his top 1,000 movies of all time. To make a list was to introduce order and rhythm to his life. So when he becam

Peak newsletter | A version of this story first appeared in The Athletic’s weekly newsletter covering the mental side of sports. Sign up here to receive the Peak newsletter directly in your inbox. Thirteen years ago, a college basketball coach dreamed up an idea to help others: He started writing down his mistakes.

Mike Neighbors was always a list maker, the kind of guy who would rank his top 1,000 movies of all time. To make a list was to introduce order and rhythm to his life. So when he became the head women’s basketball coach at the University of Washington in 2013, he pulled out a fresh notebook and started documenting everything he did wrong during his first season.

Sometimes he jotted down an error in real time. Other times, he reflected at the end of the week. Studies have shown that people who write down their mistakes perform better on similar problems in the long run.