Staying focued

8pack

8pack

They call me 2 county !
Silver Member
I was just wondering how some of you guys deal with staying focused for long periods of time.
Besides my stroke i feel this kills my game.I can be playing really well and after a period of time i start getting that,i dont care attitude. Concentration for long periods at a time is really tough for me.




I also wanted to apologized for writing what i did in joey secrets post.
I had a little to many that night and was being a dumba$$.Didnt mean to offend if it did.
I have a lot of respect for posters on here and you guys are really great at helping people.

If know one response to this i will try to attempt committing az billiards suicide.:embarrassed2:

Im at work and im bouncing back and fourth on my pc so sorry for the bad spelling.
 
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I talked to Mitch Ellerman about this once in Phoenix. He is a monster player if you dont know him. He told me that you have to build a routine in pocketing balls even on tight tables. They way you look at the shot, line it up, pretty much a pre shot routine. Once this routine is sound and you arent missing any more, you dont have to focus as much on pocketing balls just the feel of the stroke for position.
 
So, Muscle memory allows one to focus on what needs to be focused on? I'm afraid I'm one of those who gets tired...thinking too much. Everything from stance to bridge to stroke distance to telling myself to follow though & stay down. Yeah, it gets tiring...probably more so now that I'm pushing 70.

But focus? This pic says it well for me...check that expression.
 

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Neil said:
This may seem contrary to what one would naturally think, but if you get your "routine" down pat on the practice table. Then, when you actually play you DON'T actually think of all that stuff, just let go and see what happens, you will be surprised.

Usually, thinking of doing each step correctly results in doing something wrong. This is why that happens- you think you are being very careful about each step, bridge hand down solid, right distance on bridge hand, stroke straight, don't drop elbow, stroke smooth, don't forget the pause, stay down, follow through, ect., ect. You end up short-circuiting your subconscious. Your conscious is telling your subconscious to follow each step you think of. So, it does as it's told. Problem arises when you forget a step, or don't instruct it to do several steps together. Your body just doesn't work that way!

Try walking and thinking about each step in moving your legs while you do it. You won't get very far. The same holds true for shooting pool... your practice time trains your subconscious on HOW to do each step the way you want to. Then, you have to "let go" and trust your mind to know HOW to do it. Don't think of all that stuff when you are playing, just tell your subconscious what you want the end result to be. such as.... make this ball, and leave the cb here. Then trust your mind to control your body the way you trained it to.
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I 100% agree Neil!
 
kicking it out of gear when you aren't shooting

8pack said:
I was just wondering how some of you guys deal with staying focused for long periods of time.
Besides my stroke i feel this kills my game.I can be playing really well and after a period of time i start getting that,i dont care attitude. Concentration for long periods at a time is really tough for me.




I also wanted to apologized for writing what i did in joey secrets post.
I had a little to many that night and was being a dumba$$.Didnt mean to offend if it did.
I have a lot of respect for posters on here and you guys are really great at helping people.

If know one response to this i will try to attempt committing az billiards suicide.:embarrassed2:

Im at work and im bouncing back and fourth on my pc so sorry for the bad spelling.
Click to expand...


I did notice that you appeared to be a bit under the influence when I read the post in Joey's thread. A little funny if it isn't your thread but not the best way to win friends or influence people. Hopefully you apologized to Joey.

As always Neil's advice is excellent. I had another issue years ago, staying in full competitive mode in the chair. The entire time I was in the chair I was on the edge of my seat chomping at the bit and wanting to get back on the table. Burned a lot of energy when I should have been chilling. Did this for several years and finally had to admit it was killing me. My nemesis was probably at least four times my age and moved slower than a glacier. He moved slow, shot slow, and had run out capabilities. You could hear the sizzle while I was sitting in my chair then I'd jump up and miss a shot or blow shape in my over eagerness to attack the table. Then the torture begin again. I lost to him for several months.

Finally to defend myself against this one player I learned to cool my jets sitting in the chair. I became only a mildly interested spectator when I was in the chair. That one thing doubled the hours I could play with good focus. Now instead of burning as much or more energy in the chair as I was using at the pool table I was actually sitting back in the chair and getting some rest.

This should actually be in Joey's secrets thread, I credit this one thing with earning me tens of thousands of dollars over the next eight years or so.

Hu
 
8pack said:
I was just wondering how some of you guys deal with staying focused for long periods of time.
Besides my stroke i feel this kills my game.I can be playing really well and after a period of time i start getting that,i dont care attitude. Concentration for long periods at a time is really tough for me.




I also wanted to apologized for writing what i did in joey secrets post.
I had a little to many that night and was being a dumba$$.Didnt mean to offend if it did.
I have a lot of respect for posters on here and you guys are really great at helping people.

If know one response to this i will try to attempt committing az billiards suicide.:embarrassed2:

Im at work and im bouncing back and fourth on my pc so sorry for the bad spelling.
Click to expand...



Wow I can tell your having a problem simply by reading the title to your thread!!!!:smile:

If I were you I would start with the most simple thing that you can start with and work your way up from there.

Good luck, and don't give up and I am certain you will accomplish your goals.
 
A very good player once explained to me that staying focused is like running a marathon or long-distance race. You don't walk out your door without training and start running marathons. You have to build up to it. It takes time and commitment. So to keep my concentration up, we practiced shooting sets - at first one set, then two, then three. Didn't matter the game. After a while, staying focused for up to two hours and perhaps a bit more wasn't that difficult for me. I know some world-class shooters - Willie Mosconi for example - could/can stay focused for hours and hours, but that's why they're world class. They were/are committed and they've spent hours building up the mental and physical stamina. For plebes like myself, two hours of continuous shooting is fine. After that, I either have to take a break of some duration or simply break my stick down and declare victory as I head on out the door.
 
Neil said:
This may seem contrary to what one would naturally think, but if you get your "routine" down pat on the practice table. Then, when you actually play you DON'T actually think of all that stuff, just let go and see what happens, you will be surprised.

Usually, thinking of doing each step correctly results in doing something wrong. This is why that happens- you think you are being very careful about each step, bridge hand down solid, right distance on bridge hand, stroke straight, don't drop elbow, stroke smooth, don't forget the pause, stay down, follow through, ect., ect. You end up short-circuiting your subconscious. Your conscious is telling your subconscious to follow each step you think of. So, it does as it's told. Problem arises when you forget a step, or don't instruct it to do several steps together. Your body just doesn't work that way!

Try walking and thinking about each step in moving your legs while you do it. You won't get very far. The same holds true for shooting pool... your practice time trains your subconscious on HOW to do each step the way you want to. Then, you have to "let go" and trust your mind to know HOW to do it. Don't think of all that stuff when you are playing, just tell your subconscious what you want the end result to be. such as.... make this ball, and leave the cb here. Then trust your mind to control your body the way you trained it to.
Click to expand...


That is why people fail the DWI tests when performing them. They are watching their feet when walking the line.
 
excellent post and replys. focus is my #2 problem ad i too am pushing 70 and can't remember last week! :( stroke is the #1 problem and i was just "tweaking" it yesterday). i too find that after 2 or 3 hours my mind is getting weary. so it is hard to decide what to do prior to a match. this evening i have a 9 ball match again and i usually practice for a couple of hours prior to and then take a break for a couple of hours before start time. i think this arrangement has a lot to do with my inability to make as many shots during the match as i did during practice. sitting is not good, right? i do not think it a good idea to sit for a couple of hours and then shoot for the $$$. so what good was the practice? maybe just jump in at match time and depend on the subconcious to kick in? i just love this game! :thumbup:
 
8pack said:
I was just wondering how some of you guys deal with staying focused for long periods of time.
Besides my stroke i feel this kills my game.I can be playing really well and after a period of time i start getting that,i dont care attitude. Concentration for long periods at a time is really tough for me.




I also wanted to apologized for writing what i did in joey secrets post.
I had a little to many that night and was being a dumba$$.Didnt mean to offend if it did.
I have a lot of respect for posters on here and you guys are really great at helping people.

If know one response to this i will try to attempt committing az billiards suicide.:embarrassed2:

Im at work and im bouncing back and fourth on my pc so sorry for the bad spelling.
Click to expand...

This is one of the reason drug use was so wide spread among the older players. They needed that focus for sustained, insane periods of time and looked for it artificially. I certainly had my battles with it.
Each time I read something like this I am reminded of something Micheal Jordan once said. "in the streets of NYC there are about 200 kids with my talent and skills. They should also be in the NBA. The difference is, i can do it everyday"!
Many after enough time and if they hang around long enough try and fine that zone. When it is found the feeling is beyond belief. If we knew how to bottle and sell that, we would be some of the wealthiest people on the planet.
 
Well said, Neil. In addition to developing a repeatable pre-shot routine, engage in some form of meditative practice: mindful meditation, hypnosis, yoga, etc.
 
Thanks

Thanks for all the great reply,s.

Im mid 40s now and was thinking this was something that comes with aging.
Thanks again for your post ,theres a lot of good things to think about here.:smile:
 
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