When I'm way down in a match my strategy was to give up - there's nothing to lose, so I just give it up to my total subconscious, or a part of me that loves "nothing to lose scenarios".
In this state of mind many times I came back and effectively snatched victory out of the jaws of certain defeat.
After learning this about myself I started doing it before my matches, I'd imagine in vivid detail that I'd already lost and process the emotions connected to losing.,....sounds negative at first doesn't it?
The opposite is actually true, when I accept that I already didn't win the upcoming match what happens to most of the self imposed pressure I feel in the actual match?
That's right, the pressure is drastically reduced because I've lowered my expectations substantially and could free wheel like I had nothing to lose.....because I didn't!
When I was the captain of the Mosconi Cup in 2012 Johnny Archer and I were up late one night talking about the next day's competition.
I took this opportunity to ask him "Johnny, you were the Player of the 90s, what do you believe the key to your success was?"
Johnny didn't hesitate "I made my expectations to win as low as possible!"
I smiled, because that's exactly what I did to win gambling matches against some of history's greatest players
This is my secret, "to truly win against the very best players, I must accept and be okay with losing first.....only then, after fear and anxiety vanish can I perform my absolute best!"
'The Game is the Teacher'
In this state of mind many times I came back and effectively snatched victory out of the jaws of certain defeat.
After learning this about myself I started doing it before my matches, I'd imagine in vivid detail that I'd already lost and process the emotions connected to losing.,....sounds negative at first doesn't it?
The opposite is actually true, when I accept that I already didn't win the upcoming match what happens to most of the self imposed pressure I feel in the actual match?
That's right, the pressure is drastically reduced because I've lowered my expectations substantially and could free wheel like I had nothing to lose.....because I didn't!
When I was the captain of the Mosconi Cup in 2012 Johnny Archer and I were up late one night talking about the next day's competition.
I took this opportunity to ask him "Johnny, you were the Player of the 90s, what do you believe the key to your success was?"
Johnny didn't hesitate "I made my expectations to win as low as possible!"
I smiled, because that's exactly what I did to win gambling matches against some of history's greatest players
This is my secret, "to truly win against the very best players, I must accept and be okay with losing first.....only then, after fear and anxiety vanish can I perform my absolute best!"
'The Game is the Teacher'