Confidence in Pool
- Thread starter Zphix
- Start date
I'm guessing not because innate confidence was a personality trait.
As an anti-confidence crusader
I've found that people are happy to call it confidence when it's associated with good things, but turn to calling it arrogance when there's anything bad about it. Let's just call it one thing and accept that there might be pros and cons to it.Ok I'll try to explain this from a sports shrinks point of view I paid 300 to hear
Confidence is a imaginary state of mind it never hurts to be confident but doubt is a killer
The most important part is undivided concentration if there's doubt you can never achieve that , the key is to have the ability to step up to a shot with a clear mind and not worry about the out come the momet that changes your done
You have to have the ability to give 100 pct focus on your shot ,, so when your not shooting don't spend anytime thinking what your opponent is doing you can't controll that it's wasted thought best thing to do is scan around the room never stopping to think about anything you want your mind to stay clear of thoughts of any kind of like a twilight
So when you step back to the table you scan the table asses the shot and your brain easily clicks to the doing side and you shoot the shot
If you make it repeat if you don't dont give it another thought go back to clear thought
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Well, I think it's more of a case of trust and belief in yourself rather than your pool shooting abilities. Have you ever noticed how champions can do lots of different things well? They're not afraid to fail. They fall down and then pick themselves back up again. They see it as a challenge. Confidence is not something you get as a result of getting better. Confidence is what gets you better.
Ms. Crimi,
Please review my post I made earlier in this thread about the triad state. The triad is a complete picture of confidence.
What you and English are referring to is one part of the triad state. Bahe Ruths ability to see failure as a neccessity to success... one of your students ability to not get down on theirself when they make mistakes... those fit into the conscious area of the triad. The conscious area contains the thoughts that are ideal for learning and competing.
THE THING I WOULD LIKE YOU TO CONSIDER IS THAT THESE THINGS YOU SPEAK OF AS BEING CONFIDENCE MIGHT NOT BE TRAITS BUT RATHER PERSPECTIVES THAT CAN BE LEARNED.
I have seen so called unconfident people learn new perspectives and have what seems to be a personality transformation.
I would also like to address a few more topics in this thread.
First a review of the complete look at confidence.
1) Conscious thought
2) Sub conscious skill
3) Self image
In order to have real confidence you need to build all three. AND YOU NEED TO BUILD ALL THREE EQUALLY.
OVERCONFIDENCE-
This is what happens when our self image is greater than our skill.
INABILITY TO PERFORM UP TO YOUR ABILITY-
This is when someone has the skill but their self image holds them back. Once they learn to believe in theirself their performance skyrockets. The self image is like a thermostat in that you can not perform higher than what your self image is tuned to for any long length of time. If you think you cant then you are right.
Note- just because you think you can doesnt mean that you will. You have to develope the subconscious skill to. But point being... You can have the skill and lack belief and you will perform to your beliefs limits.
VULNERABLE TO FAILING UNDER PRESSURE-
This is what happens when you perspectives are screwed up. You can have the skill and the self image while practicing but if your perspectives are screwed then perfectionism, fear of failure (not a good thing E), etc. All can screw with your conscious thinking and focus come crunch time.
Note- proper perspective makes developing skill easier too.
First a review of the complete look at confidence.
1) Conscious thought
2) Sub conscious skill
3) Self image
In order to have real confidence you need to build all three. AND YOU NEED TO BUILD ALL THREE EQUALLY.
OVERCONFIDENCE-
This is what happens when our self image is greater than our skill.
INABILITY TO PERFORM UP TO YOUR ABILITY-
This is when someone has the skill but their self image holds them back. Once they learn to believe in theirself their performance skyrockets. The self image is like a thermostat in that you can not perform higher than what your self image is tuned to for any long length of time. If you think you cant then you are right.
Note- just because you think you can doesnt mean that you will. You have to develope the subconscious skill to. But point being... You can have the skill and lack belief and you will perform to your beliefs limits.
VULNERABLE TO FAILING UNDER PRESSURE-
This is what happens when you perspectives are screwed up. You can have the skill and the self image while practicing but if your perspectives are screwed then perfectionism, fear of failure (not a good thing E), etc. All can screw with your conscious thinking and focus come crunch time.
Note- proper perspective makes developing skill easier too.
I have to disagree with you here. I believe the difference in performing well if you possess the requisite skill set is confidence & self esteem, but it has to be true & run deep, it can't just be outwardly effected.
You state all young males are brimming with self confidence, even narcissism. This isn't true confidence, it's effected, fake, false bravado. True confidence as someone else here has said is deep rooted, generally exuded as a peaceful calm, not loud and boastful. An old adage states "the loudest person in the room is the weakest person in the room". There's a real truth in that.
As I stated in my first post real confidence is generally developed at a very young age, generally through a combination of success at particular endeavors conjoined with a mentor that tempers the ego that may come to a young person through successes. This forms a confidence level & self esteem that becomes a major part of this individuals personality & stays with them throughout their life in all arenas of their life. It's an inherent self belief that seldom wavers. It's the difference between just having talent & knowing "how" to win when faced with competing with someone possessing the same talent level.
I think it depends on the individual as to how they express theirself. Confident people can be reserved or they can be loud and boisterous.
Conor McGregor vs. Jose Aldo.
https://youtu.be/xTtEz5P4yYU
Both are extremely confident.
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What you say is true, there are both kinds but generally when you put these two polar opposites against one another in competition & they possess similar skill sets the calmly cool headed confident individual generally bests the brashly confident individual, say Efren vs Earl.
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I disagree.
The winner depends on the guy with the most skill, and belief, and all of the things that go into the conscious aspect... lack of fear, focus, little concern for what others think about them, growth mindset... a lot more.
Reserved people can have all of the above as well as the boisterous.
Edit# And then in mma you also have other factors that matter... Psyche is only one of them. You have Stamina, Strategy, Durability... and to a lesser extent strength, size, speed.
Most sports have other factors that will matter.
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I haven't read the book but it seems that the description of defensive pessimism in the link you provided makes the term more tongue-in-cheek rather than literal.
Sports psychologist Jim Loehr refers to something similar which he calls 'no surprises.'
It's a technique that he recommends that competitors employ prior to a competition where they imagine everything that can go wrong and mentally work through it as if it were actually happening.
What that does is takes away the element of surprise and prepares the player to calmly deal with any negative incidents, since they've already rehearsed their response.
I think like many personality traits, confidence can be defined in two ways ---
1.) An emotion at the present moment: "I am feeling confident today about shooting cut shots."
2.) An overall state of being: "I know that I have what it takes to be a great player," or " I know that I will always give 100 percent to the very end of the match."
The first one comes and goes, but the second one is the sustaining personality trait that I believe counts the most when developing your game and gets you through the heat of competition.
1.) An emotion at the present moment: "I am feeling confident today about shooting cut shots."
2.) An overall state of being: "I know that I have what it takes to be a great player," or " I know that I will always give 100 percent to the very end of the match."
The first one comes and goes, but the second one is the sustaining personality trait that I believe counts the most when developing your game and gets you through the heat of competition.
I agree that confidence can be innate behavior created by success in life.
But in my own personal experience playing pool I find that confidence only comes from winning. You can practice all you want by yourself but it won't give you confidence when you play someone else.
You build confidence by beating other players. By executing under pressure.
Bill S.
But in my own personal experience playing pool I find that confidence only comes from winning. You can practice all you want by yourself but it won't give you confidence when you play someone else.
You build confidence by beating other players. By executing under pressure.
Bill S.
I just looked up Lanny Bassham. It's good stuff --- similar to Jim Loehr --- but it's what I would consider to be mental toughness training. Here's where I think the difference is: I think anyone can employ mental toughness training. It will come easier for confident people, and will greatly help those who aren't confident, but they will have a lot more work to do to overcome their issues.
In the end, I think it would greatly help someone who lacks confidence to manage their mental thoughts, but I'm skeptical as to whether it will actually change their personality to a confident person. I suspect that it won't --- but they definitely will be able to compete better and manage their thoughts better.
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Hello sir,
I believe that you build confidence when you practice alone at the table. This is where knowledge comes from. Learning how to play the shots, what stroke you use, speed, spin, etc... Knowing how the shot should be played is what you need to be confident. You don't learn how to shoot by playing with other players. It will cause frustration, and hold your game back.
Nothing should change when you play "against" other players. Because when you are at the table, the only thing that changes is that another guy is sitting near the table. But he can't do anything while you are shooting.
So, you don't "beat" anybody. And nobody "beats" you. Just play the table. Our minds play games with us and they don't allow us to see things clearly. Trying to "beat" someone creates nothing else but "negative thoughts".
If someone wants to "beat" someone else, he could try boxing, brazilian jiu jitsu, krav maga, and other martial arts.
Panagiotis
This is how I see it...
A trait is a characteristic belonging to a person. Self-Confidence is certainly a trait, but it is a trait that can be learned imo.
"I know that I have what it takes to be a great player," or " I know that I will always give 100 percent to the very end of the match." These are not traits. These are just some of the beliefs that instill confidence in a person.
The good thing about beliefs is that they can be changed. The bad news for you is that you face a challenge with changing the beliefs of your students due to the lack of time that you have to work with them. Much different than a coach from a sport who sees his athletes everyday for hours at a time.
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Banks
Banned
Fear brings out a better game and forces me to play smart. This is why the game is different for people.. they all react in their own way under different conditions.
It can be a good thing when you turn it into a refusal & a motivation to not let the 'fear of' from becoming a reality. I was afraid of letting my teammates done, I turned it into a motivating force, so... I never really did.
We are each different & handle matters differently
Like I said, it is more about how we react to real life than it is to trying to make it into something that it is not.
I don't belief in clinical psychology. Clinical psychology at my wife's workplace would have resulted in us probably getting a divorced. We will be entirely happily married 35 years this year.
We are all individuals & unique no matter how much alike we may be.
Best 2 YOU & All.
PS Why are you no longer receiving PMs? Is it due to a certain following of a 3 letter acronym?
Like you say... it's just you & the balls on the table.
That's why I say that I know when I lose or have lost & when I've been beaten.
There's a difference even though the win/loss column is scored the same.
I hate losing, but I don't really mind when another shoots well enough to 'beat' me.
Best 2 You & ALL.