This is the first of several postings that I will put here to show you how to make real improvement.
The first thing we want to talk about is what is ‘skill’ in pool. If we know exactly what it is, we can then find ways to improve it. As I said before, there is no such thing as ‘muscle memory’. So the only thing we are training when we train is our minds. But exactly what happens in our mind when we improve or not improve our skill will take us into a discussion of what comprises our mind.
It is common knowledge that our logical mind consists of at least two parts, the conscious and subconscious mind. After that, there are as many theories as to how the two minds work, as there are stars. But here is one that will allow you to make the kind of improvement in your skill no matter what level you are at. If it is not true, it doesn’t matter because it still works.
Now let’s get the meat of this story. The subconscious mind performs all of the physical movement involved in shooting any shot. The conscious mind can initiate the action but under normal play cannot control it. How do we know this? Because our subconscious mind was designed for one purpose, that is survival. While our conscious mind collects information can perform analysis and basically provides the ‘thinking’ part of us. The two minds helps each other but do not share information, this can be easily seen by the looking at the facts. No matter how many times you tell yourself to ‘stay down’ on a shot, your habit in your subconscious makes you jump up. The conscious mind has the knowledge to ‘stay down’ but the subconscious has it already formed habit and does now deviate from it. The conscious mind cannot control it except under certain rules, we will get to these later. Let’s take a close look at how each of these performs their roles.
The conscious mind is the data collector. It collects information through all of the senses and stores it away. The conscious mind can recall the data and use it to make analytical decisions. This is the part of the mind that will examine a table and decide which shots to shoot and in which order. It then initiates the action of shooting but does not control the exact shot. We know this because you do not think about which muscles to contract or expand and in fact, we do not even have access to this data. There is so much information that is required to shoot a shot that it is packaged into a habit in the subconscious. This is why information you read, listen to or see is ok but it will not change your skill one bit. When someone says, I learn a lot from watching other players, they really mean I collect a lot of information from watching other players. Knowledge itself does not improve skill. It will improve your ability to make better choices abut managing a table but will not improve your basic skill. This is why all the books written on pool tell you ‘what to do’ but not how to do it. So how do we do change our skill if the conscious mind does not control it? Let’s look at the subconscious part where the real skill is.
The subconscious mind is our link to the animal world. Its main job is survival just like any other animal. So if you look at animals, either domestic or wild, you will see how our subconscious mind works. All animals have to work with is the subconscious, they do not have a conscious mind. The subconscious mind survives by putting together habits that promote survival. The habits take over when action is called for and can be made up of complex actions, such as running away from danger. But there are also learned habits for pleasure. All habits have one thing in common; they take over when action is called for. As such, shooting pool is a habit or skill that is learned. When you first develop a habit or skill, it stays with you until you change it. If you do not change the habit, it will continue on. That is why telling yourself not to jump up does not work. This also explains why when you are playing your best; it is like you are on autopilot. Your habits stored in the subconscious are running the show. At least as far as performing the shot. The less interference you put in the way of the subconscious the better it works. Interference can only come from the conscious mind. So keeping the conscious mind out of the way allows you to play at your best.
By the way, the subconscious does not know right from wrong. This is why the knowledge that smoking or eating badly is not good for you does not help you change your habit.
So the two minds work together to perform the skill of pool but have completely separate roles. Under normal circumstances, the habit or skill cannot be altered. This is why you don’t improve or improve very slowly by playing pool; all you do is repeat the same habit. Even shooting balls into pockets does not improve your skill. Again all you do is repeat the same habit.
How do you change a habit? That will come in a later post.
...but, even though you may be among the 99% who lose, the attitude of winning can still be good when used as a motivator for improving. So, the desire to win can be honestly integrated into every shot as a motivator to do one's best on every shot. If you lose, you lose...and now your motivation can be higher next time, so you commit more efforts toward playing better.
