I notice that when a guy puts the tip of his cue on the rail to signify how far up table he wants his cue ball to travel that more often than not the cue ball stops right on the rail. If I do that I always make to put my tip on the exact spot I want my cue ball and that is almost always never right on the rail.
A mistake in my early years was to look at the next ball instead of where I wanted the cue ball to stop. Resulted in a lot of object balls hit unintentionally or snuggling up to the object ball you planned to shoot.
I never point to where I want the cue ball to go. I used to point at places I didn't want it to go just to jack with my opponent but pointing out where you really want the cue ball to go is giving your opponent information as to how well you are playing. Information turns into currency one way or another. I pay attention to the free information my opponent gives while trying not to give away any to my opponent.
Jaden, you are spot on about the mind. According to my reading it registers in absolutes. There is no difference between thinking "don't scratch" and "scratch". For a few years I took all negatives out of anything I said so I was in the habit and didn't use negatives during competition. It took some pretty convoluted speech sometimes, especially at work. However with practice you can take almost all negatives out of what you think and what you say. I have gotten there back when I was competing seriously. While I don't consider opponents enemies I do think the old saying "confusion to the enemy" applies to opponents too.
Hu
