OK, let me tell you the moral of the story from my recent break fiasco. Link here:
https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=513642
It takes hard work AND good direction to be successful. I've heard people make ridiculous mistakes on both sides of this.
Some think it's a game of hidden knowledge, magic bullets, and that if they just figure out how to stand or how to cue or something than their game will come together naturally. Wrong! It will take a lot of hard, hard work. The road is tougher and longer than some people seem to think. The problem is that even if they are on the right road, they might give up too soon, or change directions too often thinking they are lost. If only they had stuck it out and realized even the right road takes time!
Others think it is all about hard work. They think they have all the information and are on the right road, then just plow ahead. Year after year. Decade after decade! They remain religiously devoted to their path. Sure, they make adjustments, but not as much as they think. They think they are questioning their game but they are blind to certain fallacies and mistakes they never think to question because they've believed in them so long they take them as fact. The result is a 3-30 year plateau with the excuse of "I don't have the talent", "I don't have the time", etc.
In terms of the break, I have struggled for many, many hours. I have been using the break-rak for 15 years and have never been able to do what the top players do. For those that say to work harder, I can promise I have put in more work with the break-rak than SVB or Tyler Styer. I PROMISE. But I was practicing the wrong things the wrong way. FIFTEEN YEARS of breaking dry on the hill and driving 8 hours home from a tournament after midnight after playing for days to reach the calcutta and being in position to have a big win. FIFTEEN YEARS of feeling helpless because I have poured my life into assembling a world class run out game that is worth precisely nothing because my erratic break that leaves me in the role of hoping my professional level opponents mess up to let me to the table. It has been a hard, hard road. I would've loved to have some help along the way. And had I not figured this out I was calling Dr. Dave next for some slow mo breakdown on film. I should've done that 14 years ago.
Bottom line, if you're putting in effort and not seeing progress, YOU'RE ON THE WRONG PATH. Period. It is a very simple equation. Correct path x effort = results. Most people are on the wrong path, then they don't see results, so then they abandon the effort. But yet they love the game and have too much invested to quit so they keep going with intermittent engagement, excuses about talent and time limitations, and remorse for why it didn't work out. Balony! Get on the right path, put in some effort, and you'll start to see results, and then guess what, you'll be super motivated to put in more and more effort. Get on a positive spiral, not a negative one. If you need help shoot me a pm. Let's do this!
The game should be difficult, not impossible. And after fighting impossible for a while, sometimes difficult sounds like paradise!
https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=513642
It takes hard work AND good direction to be successful. I've heard people make ridiculous mistakes on both sides of this.
Some think it's a game of hidden knowledge, magic bullets, and that if they just figure out how to stand or how to cue or something than their game will come together naturally. Wrong! It will take a lot of hard, hard work. The road is tougher and longer than some people seem to think. The problem is that even if they are on the right road, they might give up too soon, or change directions too often thinking they are lost. If only they had stuck it out and realized even the right road takes time!
Others think it is all about hard work. They think they have all the information and are on the right road, then just plow ahead. Year after year. Decade after decade! They remain religiously devoted to their path. Sure, they make adjustments, but not as much as they think. They think they are questioning their game but they are blind to certain fallacies and mistakes they never think to question because they've believed in them so long they take them as fact. The result is a 3-30 year plateau with the excuse of "I don't have the talent", "I don't have the time", etc.
In terms of the break, I have struggled for many, many hours. I have been using the break-rak for 15 years and have never been able to do what the top players do. For those that say to work harder, I can promise I have put in more work with the break-rak than SVB or Tyler Styer. I PROMISE. But I was practicing the wrong things the wrong way. FIFTEEN YEARS of breaking dry on the hill and driving 8 hours home from a tournament after midnight after playing for days to reach the calcutta and being in position to have a big win. FIFTEEN YEARS of feeling helpless because I have poured my life into assembling a world class run out game that is worth precisely nothing because my erratic break that leaves me in the role of hoping my professional level opponents mess up to let me to the table. It has been a hard, hard road. I would've loved to have some help along the way. And had I not figured this out I was calling Dr. Dave next for some slow mo breakdown on film. I should've done that 14 years ago.
Bottom line, if you're putting in effort and not seeing progress, YOU'RE ON THE WRONG PATH. Period. It is a very simple equation. Correct path x effort = results. Most people are on the wrong path, then they don't see results, so then they abandon the effort. But yet they love the game and have too much invested to quit so they keep going with intermittent engagement, excuses about talent and time limitations, and remorse for why it didn't work out. Balony! Get on the right path, put in some effort, and you'll start to see results, and then guess what, you'll be super motivated to put in more and more effort. Get on a positive spiral, not a negative one. If you need help shoot me a pm. Let's do this!
The game should be difficult, not impossible. And after fighting impossible for a while, sometimes difficult sounds like paradise!