Mental is ruining my game

[bbb]

what always amazes me is that almost any player seems so often disappointed leaving the table because he is thinking of his last shot, and since he's leaving that shot was probably not his best. The exception is if he plays a good safety on the last shot and then leaving the table may be intentional. so often they will be down on themselves, with drama. one guy will often say "I suck" im waiting to say OH well, as long as you do it well ;-)
Personally I often just try to focus on the next shot, the current shot. Sure in snooker you might be looking for a hook because you realize you are loosing the game but "trying harder' doesn't always help much if you are trying as hard as you can to make every single shot anyway.

If you arent trying you shouldn't be at the table.
Sometimes my failure is in trying to make shots that as said above have a lower percentage than my estimate and that can lead me into trouble when playing against better players, playing doubles. I think I may try to copy better players , and take hard shots and that may result in loosing control of the situation due to a bunch of randomness.

Often the best course of action then is to try to play more safetys, Try to shoot a bit moe intentionally but a bit lighter to keep control of the result.. yes the better players can shoot harder and still retain control , thats experience at work. So I'll then let my partner who is often a better player get a run by not leaving the person following me any shape. we also tend to match up pairs evenly but also we switch around lots so no one is really a "team" for longer than an evening. In general you help your partner by being able to give advice and since we often switch partners we get the chance to each learn from one another. I guess we do have a lot of antics around the table with some in particular interfering verbally a bit too often. maybe that helps as we do get practice in ignoring the loud one , tuning out distractions.

so far as money, all we deal with is donations to the owner and keeping a good friendly supportive surrounding. The less experienced like me tend to wait a bit longer to get up whereas a really good player has more chance to continue. I think for the most part it's more of an internal stress , trying to improve ourselves, putting less attention to who is better and more upon our own pace of progression. often Ill hear praise for a good shot even from opponents. Money games and Fonzie ratings are not things

I'm concerned of, only in improving my own game. I just try to keep my mind on the next shot, getting myself down is of no help. I do think that during a good run one feels more confident and is then more likely to play more aggressively and less safety shots, feeling the rush. maybe that's just natural. Its easy to get yourself down because you are just up to the table not warmed up and loose to others who have been playing then I have to sit and wait, but that's fair. The drive for improvement , for most of us here, is more often about retaining the position at the table and self satisfaction than anything else.
I noted some variation in venues, some tend to call things more, like if your tee shirt touches a ball then its a fault but in some venues there is more or less permission to ignore it. Often it's a situation where others aren't even looking and the player calls a fault upon himself in honesty. Introduce money and I guess all eyes are on the table a bit more .

Im not good enough to quit my day job anyway so that's not a concern of mine. Im often immersed in my own constructive projects and work a lot on my own, pool gives me time to socialize and spend time with friends, I need the smiling and gut laughter which I dont get doing personal projects, from those I get a feeling of physical accomplishment, I find that I need the balance of both in my life. Slowly I'm seeing some improvement and there is a sense of accomplishment in that but I also need to see things happen like the completion of projects that are more physical in nature. To me pool is just fun. I like the quote that says "Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time" - Bertrand Russel.

you have alot of good stuff in your post
but if you break it up it is ALOT EASIER TO READ

 

[snookered_again]

Thanks BBB constructive criticism was appreciated. I do have a tendency to run on a bit too much.

 

[Nyquil]

I recently bought an 8ft for my man cave (a year ago) and I am trying to get back into the game (haven't played for a few years), I manage to get about 4-5 hrs a week (on good weeks) but I practice alone. At home I play relatively well but recently I found a weekly tournament where I go about once a month (I am quite busy and can't attend more often). Every time I go there and play I get really nervous, two nights ago my fitbit was showing my pulse at 115-120bpm all the time during my match (normally I have about 68-75 resting) and missed some easy pots, my opponent was good but normally I should have won easily judging by how I play when I am alone. Twice I ran 5 or 6 balls and then at the last one I must have twitched or something and miscued horribly on some medium distance draw shots and gave the racks away.
The time before I went an hour early to get a little bit of a warm up and I played a race to 5 with one of the best players there and we went toe to toe, then my first match of the night got defeated by a player that was not as skilled, missed easy shots, failed some easy safeties.

Anybody else struggled with something similar? What approach should I use to get better at my mind aspect of the game?

I am to the point where I don't think much anymore. I play by feel and go with my first instinct most of the time. This has helped me run some racks. Most will say slow down etc. Doesn't work for me.