need help with "focus"

justadub

justadub

Rattling corners nightly
Silver Member
Does anyone have some suggestions for help with increasing.g my focus at the table? I'll explain...

I am still very much a beginner, and need significant work on stroke and fundamentals, all of that needs to be understood as a given. This issue is seperate from all of that.

When I am playing a match (in league primarily, with an occasional tournament thrown in) I find that my attention wanders, slightly. The major problem is that for some reason, when it's my turn to shoot, and especially when I'm down on a shot, my hearing seems to become hyper sensitive.

Normally, I'm close to being deaf as a stone. (Too much rock music as a younger man, at high volumes and without ear protection. Playing drums, and working in the broadcast radio biz, back when the jocks actually spoke between every song) ok, perhaps I'm not deaf, but I do have some hearing loss, and have to pay attention in a conversation. Yet when shooting pool, especially in a match, I can suddenly hear every conversation going on around me, even if those conversations are being held quietly. When music is being played, it helps somewhat, but only a little. Where I play mostly, we don't often have music on league night. I am resisting using headphones, because I don't want them to become a crutch, and they can't be used at states or nationals in any event.

I call this affliction "managers ears", since I often am paying attention to several conversations going on around me at work, with me trying to help my associates get it right, even while I'm helping someone else.

League is supposed to be a social thing, and the folks around me aren't even talking about me or my match, necessarily. But for some reason I find it incredibly difficult to block out the distractions, and focus on the shot at hand. I recognized a couple of instances last evening where it happened. They contributed to my not closing the match out. (Along with other fundamentals, of course.).

It really aggravated me. I'm trying really hard to improve, and to let something that should be in my control affect my play is terribly frustrating. I have enough other issues to contribute to my poor play, I don't need my lack of focus ability to add to them. :p

Help?
Thanks. (Sorry for the length of this drivel.)
 
Gotta do it, sorry! Ass weights not included.....:D
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When I 1st started on leagues I had the same problem,always trying to see what else was going on.The thing that helped me the most was running drills...the one in particular is stop shots (got that one from blackjack on night on the phone).
Just line up a ball and see how may times you can make it in the pocket using stop.Pretty soon I became ingrossed in that shot and had lost all track of time and got pretty good a stop shots too..lol! hope this helps:thumbup:
 
In the mental game of pool there are hundreds of factors that could very much interfere with the thought processes. Anything that is affecting your game play must be dealt with instead of trying to forget about it. The old adage of just "Play the table" is not how the mind works. If there is a situation our brain deems worthy of as an issue then you must put the problem to rest.

Ask yourself questions of why the issue is bothering you and then truthfully answer that question. If you listen intently to what others are saying while you shoot it could be
a status issue. Let's face it we all want to be that respected pool player instead of the "Fish".

Maybe its the questioning of your shot selections that rub someone the wrong way and you are defensive in your pattern play. In any case you need to find the reason and ask yourself what is the worst or best outcome that could come from this issue? Again be truthful Don't lie to yourself.

That mountain will become smaller once you put it under the microscope and lay it to rest.
 
Sing a song in your head while your down on your shot...you'll become deaf again.
 
Thanks for the replies, gang. I think all of them have merit in my situation (tho I don't think the "status" thing applies to me too much, heh) and I am going to try to work with all these ideas.

Oddly enough, just this afternoon I was thinking more about this subject, and thought about humming to myself if I was getting distracted by the chatter...then I see Drew suggesting it :)

I'll find something. Thanks again, gang.

P.S. I think after last night I'd try the Earlmuffs, if I could wear them at states :)
 
I had really good success using headphones listening to what I wanted so I wouldn't be distracted. I was able to get lost in my music and it helped knowing the songs, knowing what I was going to hear next so I could focus on the table. I understand that you don't want to use them as a crutch, but isn't that what crutches are for? Use them for now and by the time states/nationals come around, you'll have forgotten all about it and some other aspect of this game will be driving you crazy. :thumbup:
 
I think that trying to focus hard is hard.

The better way is to gain solid confidence in your delivery so that you won't have to pop a blood vessel trying to pocket a ball and make position to begin with.

The result is not having to focus so intensely on so many aspects of the shot that your brain wants to explode. Of course that means practice, practice .... and more practice.

Think of the exhausting white knuckle ride you took the first time behind the wheel of a car, vs how simple it is to get from point A to point B now.

I think all things like this are directly affected by becoming familiar with what you want to execute, and it just gets easier over time with time spent doing it.

That's why learning proper fundamentals is so important, and why a good teacher can save you a ton of time achieving it.

I think we all take this for granted a bit too often.
 
Don't fight the "extra" stuff coming in

My suggestion is not to fight the extra stuff coming in but to dismiss it. The fact that your hearing is enhanced is great. So is your sight, your coordination, even your unconscious thought processes. Trying to avoid hearing these things is a step backwards from where you are at now. What you need to do is accept that you will hear these things and that they aren't important.

An extreme example, during a relay with a pistol two people were talking about ten feet behind me. Like you I have hearing loss. I would never hear them speaking normally if I wasn't shooting. For this stage I was drawing, shooting six carefully aimed shots, reloading, and firing another six shots at small targets, all in about 10 seconds.

I shot a perfect score unbothered by the conversation then walked back to where the people were talking and told the man with the problem to change to a variable ratio recoil spring, six to nine pounds, and I told him how to decide which spring was right for his loads and the way he handled a pistol.

I can recount other similar instances including playing pool but that was extreme, I was breaking about three shots a second and never missed a word in the conversation but it was just drifting through my head at the time. I was far from focused on what was being said although I could quote both men word for word afterwards.

Fighting to not receive the information flowing in rather than accepting it and learning to ignore it is a source of problems in itself. You are doing great when you are achieving a state of heightened senses when you are shooting, it'll just take a little time to learn how to deal with all the information coming in. I strongly recommend that you not try to learn to dull any of your senses while you are performing.

Hu
 
Hypersensitive hearing is a symptom of intense concentration...it's actually a positive sign. Use an iPod...works great. As you get more frequent competition, you'll get into a mode where the background noise/movement stops being an issue, you'll be able to keep your focus within the confines of the rails.

I played in a tournament a few years ago (it was one of the East Coast tours)...lots of noise, probably 200 people playing, milling around, juke box, etc. I drew the tournament director (yes, she played) in the second round. I put my iPod buds in, she complained, saying that if she could hear my music, I wouldn't be allowed to use it...(?) I figured, okay, I turned it off when I wasn't shooting, no problem. Then, when I was shooting, she stopped me and made me stop using it because she could "still hear it" when it was MY turn!! She was a nit, but she was also the TD, so I complied...the obvious shark move made me bear down and I took her out 7-0; she probably would've beat me in my state of mind at the time (I was SO out of stroke, no confidence, in the losers' side, already looking for the parking lot); but there was no way I was going to let her pull that.
 
Sometimes the only thing that helps is time itself. I play on a very good team and a while ago we took on a new guy and from the first night he started giving me a hard time. It went on throughout a 16 week session and then I went to the captain and other members of the team and explained what this dickhead had been doing. He was tossed off our team but he had gotten into my head to the point that even the next session was a nightmare for me. Once more there was a team meeting and we all hashed out the crap and all is good now. It took me months to get back to being hungry to get into the game and beat people with a stick, so for me it was a matter of time nothing else worked.. I cannot wait to trash his ass and every member of his team the next time we play them there will be no mercy only balls going into pockets..
 
I think if you really pay very close attention to every detail of your PSR all the way through the follow through in your stroke on every ball, the rest
will take care of itself imo
 
justadub said:
Thanks for the replies, gang. I think all of them have merit in my situation (tho I don't think the "status" thing applies to me too much, heh) and I am going to try to work with all these ideas.

Oddly enough, just this afternoon I was thinking more about this subject, and thought about humming to myself if I was getting distracted by the chatter...then I see Drew suggesting it :)

I'll find something. Thanks again, gang.

P.S. I think after last night I'd try the Earlmuffs, if I could wear them at states :)
Click to expand...

Status was just a guess as we all care about the pecking order at one level or another. But that wasn't really my point...I'm sure you get the gist of it. Good luck!

I would also like to add two more tidbits if I may. One from George Fels and that is listen to the balls on the table. That clicking noise that delighted your ears when your intrest in the game first began. In that way your only conversation is with the table.

The second is preshot routine...dig into it deeper.
 
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renard said:
Status was just a guess as we all care about the pecking order at one level or another. But that wasn't really my point...I'm sure you get the gist of it. Good luck!

I would also like to add two more tidbits if I may. One from George Fels and that is listen to the balls on the table. That clicking noise that delighted your ears when your intrest in the game first began. In that way your only conversation is with the table.

The second is preshot routine...dig into it deeper.
Click to expand...

Again, i thank you for the advice. I'm quite sure what you've suggested has a lot of merit, and I'm going to try to get better with those ideas.

I'm still hung up on the hearing issue though. I truly hope these techniques that you and others here have suggested will help me tune the chatter out. It is just so damned frustrating, for all of those conversations to become so clear, and so distracting. Perhaps that stems from not being able to hear as well as i'd like in non-pool playing situations. I cannot tell you how many times I have to ask someone to repeat themselves, it is a regular occurance. So to have my hearing work "too" well when I'd like it not to....grrrrrr.

It's not like I need any more issues with my pool game! :D

Thanks again.
 
Hu, I need to work on the advanced method that involves a much louder stream... :p

I played in a tournament this afternoon, and there was this one guy who was just plain loud. Obnoxious level loud. He wasn't trying to shark anyone or be annoying intentionally (by my best guess) but man was he loud. Just chitter chatter stuff, nothing specific.

I managed to deal with his histrionics when he was 3-4 tables away. Then I end up playing on a table next to one of his buds, and had to listen to him from 4 feet away. Wow, did it distract me.

Here's my mea culpa. I fully realize it was my fault for allowing him to throw me off my game so much. He wandered off after about 15 minutes or so, but by then my attitude was shot, and my head wasn't where it needed to be. It is all my responsibility, ultimately. I had gotten better this last week and a half at dealing with these issues. He just made me realize how much more I have to learn :grin:

(I ended up in 3rd place, out of 15 people. Other than how I dealt with him, I was pleased with how I played. Plenty of room for improvement, as always, but didn't really dog anything critical in a bad spot, just got outplayed at the end. And that's cool.)

Even funnier... one of the guys that came to the tournament with this gem ended up getting arrested, for trying to steal a couple of cues from the pro shop, by smuggling them out in his pantlegs. If I went into stereotypical descriptions of this crew, it would be even funnier. I tell you, you can't make this stuff up.

So Hu, I'm working on a raging river alternative for future use :p
(thanks again for the help. It's working.)
 
sounds great!

justadub said:
Hu, I need to work on the advanced method that involves a much louder stream... :p

I played in a tournament this afternoon, and there was this one guy who was just plain loud. Obnoxious level loud. He wasn't trying to shark anyone or be annoying intentionally (by my best guess) but man was he loud. Just chitter chatter stuff, nothing specific.

I managed to deal with his histrionics when he was 3-4 tables away. Then I end up playing on a table next to one of his buds, and had to listen to him from 4 feet away. Wow, did it distract me.

Here's my mea culpa. I fully realize it was my fault for allowing him to throw me off my game so much. He wandered off after about 15 minutes or so, but by then my attitude was shot, and my head wasn't where it needed to be. It is all my responsibility, ultimately. I had gotten better this last week and a half at dealing with these issues. He just made me realize how much more I have to learn :grin:

(I ended up in 3rd place, out of 15 people. Other than how I dealt with him, I was pleased with how I played. Plenty of room for improvement, as always, but didn't really dog anything critical in a bad spot, just got outplayed at the end. And that's cool.)

Even funnier... one of the guys that came to the tournament with this gem ended up getting arrested, for trying to steal a couple of cues from the pro shop, by smuggling them out in his pantlegs. If I went into stereotypical descriptions of this crew, it would be even funnier. I tell you, you can't make this stuff up.

So Hu, I'm working on a raging river alternative for future use :p
(thanks again for the help. It's working.)
Click to expand...


Sounds like you are doing great. Fixes usually take a little time.

Often a mistake or distraction itself is minor but letting the mental effects from it linger on has major impact. Anything I compete at, I always envision my best level as the normal and anything less as abnormal. Makes it easy to say that was a goof, time to get back to normal.

Anytime a mistake or distraction like the loudmouth takes you out of your game immediately focus on your breathing if you aren't shooting at the moment. Even standing up before a shot or if you are down on a shot and have to come up off of it take the time to take a few slow deep measured breaths. If you can't breath slowly and deeply without effort you need to take a minute to regroup. Reminds me, it should go without saying that if a distraction occurs when you are down on a shot, stand up. If you have to stand up three or four times on one shot, stand up, take a few calming breaths and settle into the shot again. Pool isn't normally a timed event or one we get style points in.

It is almost impossible to stay agitated while breathing calmly and deeply. Emotions and breathing affect each other. Control one and you can control both.

Um, one more thing, four feet away is close enough for "accidents" to happen. A cue butt in the ribs or testes could work wonders, maybe a tip in the face. Sometimes it is well worth accidentally jumping a ball off the table and giving the opponent ball in hand once too. The loudmouth seems like he is easy to keep up with where he is at, accidentally back up into him lining up shots, heel first. All things I might have done sometime in the distant past when my opponent's friend or friends wanted to crowd too close to watch. In some of the bars and low dives I gambled in pool could be a contact sport. Of course apologize profusely if an accident happens. I did every time even if there were three or four accidents in one match. :thumbup:

Hu
 
3 Things to Help You

1, Pre shot routine . A pre shot routine will make you focus on the task at hand. It will make draw your attention instead of forcing your attention away from something.

2, Get inside the Q-B, I focus so hard on the contact point of the tip to cb that I often notice the same chalk mark or scratch or pit that may be on the cb.

3, Have a definite purpose in your action. Don't just hit balls. Visualize the path of the object ball on every shot.

Lastly you might want to read some of the stuff that The Monk puts out. It helped me shoot with a clear mind. Like I said get inside of the shot.

Or just get tired of getting you ass kicked and then you'll definitely focus a little more.
Good Luck.
 
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