The Hidden Power In Trusting Your Gut Instincts

HawaiianEye

HawaiianEye

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I came across this article and I think it applies to pool, as well. Situations come up in games where you have a "gut feeling" you can do something and then you talk yourself out of it and do something else. In retrospect you see that you should have done what you initially intended to do.

If you have shot the same shot over and over and over and made it the majority of the time, then you shouldn't second guess yourself when you get the same shot again under pressure.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3058609/...e-hidden-power-in-trusting-your-gut-instincts

"Your gut is this collection of heuristic shortcuts. It’s this unconscious-conscious learned experience center that you can draw on from your years of being alive," she explains. "It holds insights that aren’t immediately available to your conscious mind right now, but they’re all things that you’ve learned and felt. In the moment, we might not be readily able to access specific information, but our gut has it at the ready."
 
I'm a little bit leery about trusting this so-called 'gut instinct'.
I say that because "Two Tooth" Sally, an old and dear friend, may she rest in peace, trusted her gut instincts and paid the price for it.
As many of you know, Sally suffered from a rare, but incurable disease know as CED, or Chronic Explosive Diarrhea. Sometimes when she would blow her top she would also blow her bottom, If I may be allowed to turn a phrase.
One night at her hot pillow joint down on Canal street in Galveston, Sally was subbing for one her girls who had come down with a bad head cold. She had just finished giving a lumber salesman from Tulsa a lap dance when at the end of the session the guy jumps up and yells, "That was the worst lap dance I ever got. I ain't paying."
Sally, who never liked being stiffed by a customer, or at least not quite like this, got so excited over his refusal to pay that she shit all over the both of them.
Dripping from head to toe with what looked like yesterday's beans and rice, the man immediately pulled a small caliber Smith and Wesson from his vest pocket and shot Sally twice. Sally collapsed to the floor in a pool of, you guessed it, beans and rice.
Ever since that night I have been unable to put my faith in pure gut instinct. I think a loaded Smith and Wesson makes far more sense. :smile:
 
Steamer, I am glad I did not go to your hang outs, lol, Hawaiin, very nice article.
 
The person who has created habits out of the fundamentals in anything...has the privilege of trusting their gut much better than the person who doesn't have the fundamentals habitually.

This not only applies to execution of a physical move, but also the intuition to make the right decisions.

Train yourself through repetition of correct fundamentals, using the left side of your brain...and then after you have established the habits, trust the right side of your brain to cause the body or mind to react instinctively.
 
Tramp Steamer said:
small caliber Smith and Wesson
Click to expand...

Trusting your gut is one thing however..... A S&W beats 4 Aces.

I agree with the 1st post. (If you have shot the same shot over and over and over and made it the majority of the time, then you shouldn't second guess yourself when you get the same shot again under pressure). I think goes for almost anything. Don't fix what is working. I guy I play with always come up with a strange shot. He likes to experiment...and sell out. Never sticks to his abilities and basics that usually get him through. When I comment about him... I say he likes to rub 2 rocks together to see what will happen.
 
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Sometimes

I didn't review the article but I know the subject well.

As it pertains to pool there have been many times I knew I was right about a situation and I played it and was right.

Having that happen from time to time is testament to a collective process where you've played a shot before and now you are in a similar situation.

I favor being able to find a process that will let you train yourself to knowing that situation rather than some of the mumbo jumbo Ive heard from well meaning instructors when they advocate.....just do this or that and be at one with the table.....sort like let the planets align around the table and be in the center of the good feeling universe, trust you instinct and all will be well.

Until you find a process by which to train your instincts based on things you can actually visualize and know, I don't think you have near as much as when you don't.[/SIZE]

HawaiianEye said:
I came across this article and I think it applies to pool, as well. Situations come up in games where you have a "gut feeling" you can do something and then you talk yourself out of it and do something else. In retrospect you see that you should have done what you initially intended to do.

If you have shot the same shot over and over and over and made it the majority of the time, then you shouldn't second guess yourself when you get the same shot again under pressure.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3058609/...e-hidden-power-in-trusting-your-gut-instincts

"Your gut is this collection of heuristic shortcuts. It’s this unconscious-conscious learned experience center that you can draw on from your years of being alive," she explains. "It holds insights that aren’t immediately available to your conscious mind right now, but they’re all things that you’ve learned and felt. In the moment, we might not be readily able to access specific information, but our gut has it at the ready.
Click to expand...
HawaiianEye said:
"
Click to expand...
 
Tramp Steamer said:
I'm a little bit leery about trusting this so-called 'gut instinct'.
I say that because "Two Tooth" Sally, an old and dear friend, may she rest in peace, trusted her gut instincts and paid the price for it.
As many of you know, Sally suffered from a rare, but incurable disease know as CED, or Chronic Explosive Diarrhea. Sometimes when she would blow her top she would also blow her bottom, If I may be allowed to turn a phrase.
One night at her hot pillow joint down on Canal street in Galveston, Sally was subbing for one her girls who had come down with a bad head cold. She had just finished giving a lumber salesman from Tulsa a lap dance when at the end of the session the guy jumps up and yells, "That was the worst lap dance I ever got. I ain't paying."
Sally, who never liked being stiffed by a customer, or at least not quite like this, got so excited over his refusal to pay that she shit all over the both of them.
Dripping from head to toe with what looked like yesterday's beans and rice, the man immediately pulled a small caliber Smith and Wesson from his vest pocket and shot Sally twice. Sally collapsed to the floor in a pool of, you guessed it, beans and rice.
Ever since that night I have been unable to put my faith in pure gut instinct. I think a loaded Smith and Wesson makes far more sense. :smile:
Click to expand...

:rotflmao1::rotflmao1::rotflmao1::rotflmao1:
 
Good thread. Lots to be said for going with your gut feelings. However, as the article indicates, you have to develop that gut feeling. If you don't develop it, you may find yourself over-riding good conscious decisions that are also based upon experience.

However, thinking through a difficult situation is a great thing that we don't do enough of when playing pool.

So I'm all for thinking things through then letting the gut guide you from there.

JoeyA
 
I would Love to know how one can train one's self to KNOW when a feeling is correct vs just trusting that feeling,

Maybe I have NOT stated it properly.

But FEEL is just that. It is a feeling with no logical basis.

Everything says this... but you have a "Feeling" that says otherwise &...

You either TRUST that Feeling... or you go with what everything else tells you to do.

I sincerely do NOT think that one can TRAIN their feelings or "FEEL".

Best to ALL,
Rick
 
JoeyA said:
Good thread. Lots to be said for going with your gut feelings. However, as the article indicates, you have to develop that gut feeling. If you don't develop it, you may find yourself over-riding good conscious decisions that are also based upon experience.
However, thinking through a difficult situation is a great thing that we don't do enough of when playing pool.
So I'm all for thinking things through then letting the gut guide you from there.
JoeyA
Click to expand...

What if they're splattered all over the floor from a small caliber Smith and Wesson? :D
 
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