Getting better at pool is about having little epiphanies...
They can come from many different sources but almost always are realized at the table.
Some people might say "Duh, where else are they gonna be realized?"
That's not what I mean by that though.
The information and the realization are different. You may get the information from an instructional DVD, a casual conversation with another player, an interview with a pro on a stream, or even just from experimenting on the table.
You may have gotten the information years ago and then BAM!!! you do something on the table and you realize THAT'S WHAT HE MEANT!!!!
The game is about little epiphanies, little understandings and realizations building on each other.
People may hear others say, "You've gotta put in the time", "You gotta practice" and that IS true.
As I've said many times, there are NO really great players that I know that at one time or another didn't live, sleep, eat and breath pool for extended periods.
For many that's not enough though. All of us probably knows some APA 4 or 5 that has been playing for 30 years and has never gotten better.
Are they at their peak? Is it possible for them to improve?
The answer is probably yes to them being able to improve and substantially improve at that.
Will they? Not doing what they have been and probably not.
That's more because they are too set in their ways to get those little epiphanies that leads them to the next level than because they are at their peak potential.
Not all epiphanies and understandings are created equal either and because they build on each other, you may discover one little thing that doesn't appear to help you much, but then 6 months or two years later, you realize something else that makes the first thing click and makes you immediately two balls better.
This game at the highest levels is about having knowledge. Not just any knowledge or knowledge about pool. PERSONAL knowledge.
Yes, you have to gain knowledge about pool, but the most important knowledge that you need to get is that personal knowledge about what works best for you personally.
The only way to do that is to gain as much knowledge as possible and work and practice with that knowledge, because only doing that can you get to the truly important knowledge and self discovery about what works best for you.
That piece of knowledge that you ignore because of hocus pocus, or pool secret or whatever can't possibly work, may be the trigger that helps you understand all that other knowledge that you've gained and puts you on the next path of greatness for YOU...
Jaden
They can come from many different sources but almost always are realized at the table.
Some people might say "Duh, where else are they gonna be realized?"
That's not what I mean by that though.
The information and the realization are different. You may get the information from an instructional DVD, a casual conversation with another player, an interview with a pro on a stream, or even just from experimenting on the table.
You may have gotten the information years ago and then BAM!!! you do something on the table and you realize THAT'S WHAT HE MEANT!!!!
The game is about little epiphanies, little understandings and realizations building on each other.
People may hear others say, "You've gotta put in the time", "You gotta practice" and that IS true.
As I've said many times, there are NO really great players that I know that at one time or another didn't live, sleep, eat and breath pool for extended periods.
For many that's not enough though. All of us probably knows some APA 4 or 5 that has been playing for 30 years and has never gotten better.
Are they at their peak? Is it possible for them to improve?
The answer is probably yes to them being able to improve and substantially improve at that.
Will they? Not doing what they have been and probably not.
That's more because they are too set in their ways to get those little epiphanies that leads them to the next level than because they are at their peak potential.
Not all epiphanies and understandings are created equal either and because they build on each other, you may discover one little thing that doesn't appear to help you much, but then 6 months or two years later, you realize something else that makes the first thing click and makes you immediately two balls better.
This game at the highest levels is about having knowledge. Not just any knowledge or knowledge about pool. PERSONAL knowledge.
Yes, you have to gain knowledge about pool, but the most important knowledge that you need to get is that personal knowledge about what works best for you personally.
The only way to do that is to gain as much knowledge as possible and work and practice with that knowledge, because only doing that can you get to the truly important knowledge and self discovery about what works best for you.
That piece of knowledge that you ignore because of hocus pocus, or pool secret or whatever can't possibly work, may be the trigger that helps you understand all that other knowledge that you've gained and puts you on the next path of greatness for YOU...
Jaden
