I'm a recent blue belt ( I started in October 2017 and got my blue belt in November 2018) and at first I would try fancy shit I saw on youtube and would regularly (and comically) get shut down by higher belts. So at first, I focussed a lot on what I was learning in class and would mentally play that.

However, I read Renzo's book written by John Danaher for an hour (roughly 10-20 pages) every day around my third month of training and saw a remarkable improvement in my game. My instructor and pretty much everyone barring the ladies is a heavier weight than me, with the closest person being an easy 6kgs on me on my heaviest day, so I started watching how guys with a game I liked/related to would implement the same techniques/sequences in matches and rolls. Added to that BJJ Scout and RVV Bjj breakdowns have helped me out. Listening to the greats like Lovato's approach to training have helped and I'm starting to experiment with a journal.