real test: don't look at your solved list or your notes. name 3 patterns you've actually practiced and still get stuck on. not the ones you haven't touched. the ones you've solved before and still mess up. harder than it sounds.

just solved one binary search problem. GrindLens already flagged it as a pattern to work on and lined up 3 more, easy, medium, hard. not "here's 50 problems," just the next 3.

"i've seen this pattern before" felt like the same thing as "i can solve this pattern." it is not the same thing. not even close.

kept asking myself "how many have i solved." wrong question. the one that actually moves you forward is "what should i solve next." one's a number. the other's a decision.

finished a whole sheet once. felt done. then someone asked me what i was actually weak at. i had no idea. the sheet never told me.

5 problems solved ≠ you know the pattern. 5 problems solved + repeatedly getting stuck on the same concept = different story.

most people track how many leetcode problems they solved. almost nobody tracks how many times they failed on the same pattern. that second number is usually more useful. grindlens.dev

you can solve hundreds of leetcode problems and still not know what you’re actually weak at. that’s the gap we’re trying to close. not just how many you’ve solved - what you’re weak at, where the gaps are, and what to practice next. grindlens.dev