The Mental Game
- Thread starter TheSneak
- Start date
Neil, you are exactly right. Great post. A lot of times when I'm playing well then get upset over 1 or 2 missteps, my teammate asks me if I have ever gotten a B in my life, and if I cried because it wasn't an A.
It's sort of funny to think about, but it's true. I need new goals. I never feel bad about losing to a pro because I almost expect it. Instead I'm happy about losing 4-7, wringing 4 games out of a top player. I really only get upset when I play bad players and can't hold my own due to my own mental shortcomings.
I need to formulate new goals, and it can't be about winning or playing perfect, it needs to be about something else. Maybe having fun. I've set the goal recently to not get upset no matter what happens, and that works for a while but my subconscious knows it's a farse. How can I strive to be the best I can be and not have the goal of playing perfect?
TheSneak:
It's much more than just "rhythm" shooting. From your description, and from my experience with [otherwise excellent] pool players like you, is that you putting FAR TOO MUCH conscious thought into playing the game. When you put your conscious mind "on stage" like that for every shot, when you fail, it's like a lightning bolt right through your heart. It hits you very personally and intimately. And of course, your emotional reaction reflects that.
And you know what? Outside of picking the pattern / selecting what you want to do, once you get down on the shot, from that point forward it's EXECUTION-based. There is no need for conscious thought at that moment. Once you're down on the shot, on your aim line, taking your practice swings (to make sure you're on line with the aim line and getting a feel for the speed you need), it's muscle memory from that point forward. And believe it or not, you *have* shot that shot before. Just tap into your "shot experience computer" (the subconscious) and let it do its job -- more accurately and automatic than trying to analyze your way through the shot (read: paralysis through analysis).
It doesn't matter how long you've been playing from conscious thought -- it's relatively easy to switch, but takes a bit of practice. You've just been short-circuiting your muscle memories for so long, thinking "I *have* to make this shot or else!" or "I *have* to nail this safety right, or else!" that you probably think there is no other way. There is, as "1ab" found out.
When you learn to tap your subconscious like this, no longer do the occasional mistakes bug you so much. And that's because you had less conscious thought INVESTED, which "hurts" you less. You thus enjoy the game more!
Neil's information is excellent as well. Give these approaches a try, and work on them. You may not notice an improvement "right away" (pool players tend to be the most impatient people on earth), but stick with it, and you'll see.
Hope this is helpful,
-Sean
Thanks Sean! That's pretty much exactly how I feel. When I put a lot of thought into a shot it hurts a lot more to miss than when I just get down to shoot. Of course, I make the shots that I think about a lot more consistently, which is why I do it. I need to find some happy medium, like allowing the execution to be thought-free as you mentioned.
Thanks again.
I promise I was way worse than you. Heat score was my middle name.
The way I overcame it was that I pretended I was an actor and no matter how mad I got I just acted like I wasn't upset and it didn't bother me. I would return to the chair like Ralph S. Well believe it or not after about six months I didn't have to act anymore. I reprogrammed my thought patterns and I haven't had to concern myself since. I never thought the day would come when I didn't go nuts over a miss. I have to say once you have a plan it isn't that hard to do.
I know it sounds crazy to you now because you can't imagine remaining calm after a mistake. In the beginning you will be furious inside because you are acting the part but eventually you just get use to making a mistake and returning to your chair.
I remember saying to myself after a miss one day - how come you aren't mad - Then I realized I just do not get upset when I play anymore. There couldn't be a greater feeling and your ability to comeback when you are down in a match is remarkable.
Learn to control this beast but not subdue him. This is the inner child that drives you to perfection. He led you to be better than most and will never be settled with those achievements or anything else you achieve. He's the guy that keeps you at the practice table obsessively shooting the same drill over and over until you look at the clock in astonishment. The hours you just spent at the table felt like minutes, and it still isn't enough.
The anger, fight reaction and refusal to admit defeat are wonderful tools if controlled, directed and applied correctly. Don't hate yourself for these emotions. It's truly a gift. But, you must control how you physically respond to them if you want to be respected for your achievements that you worked so hard for.
Think about this, would you rather be like banger Joe hammering balls in on the other side of the pool room not giving a damn about how to shoot properly or even caring what it takes to play correctly? I bet sloth is not in your nature.
Some folks are calm. Some intense. Be true to yourself!
You are passionate. This is good! Allowing your passion to change to anger due to a negative attitude is a bad thing. Stay focused. Stay positive...in spite of reality. Never squelch your passion! It is what propels you!
Another point...
Perfection is an excellent goal. As many have said it is the journey which holds value not the destination. Since perfection is never attained maybe it is actually the perfect goal as it keeps us on the journey.
Oh and btw...STAY POSITIVE!! :thumbup:
You are passionate. This is good! Allowing your passion to change to anger due to a negative attitude is a bad thing. Stay focused. Stay positive...in spite of reality. Never squelch your passion! It is what propels you!
Another point...
Perfection is an excellent goal. As many have said it is the journey which holds value not the destination. Since perfection is never attained maybe it is actually the perfect goal as it keeps us on the journey.
Oh and btw...STAY POSITIVE!! :thumbup:
TheSneak:
My pleasure. As you can see from the folks that'd given me feedback in that "Leveraging your subconscious..." thread, my only reward is that the information proved helpful.
As to putting conscious thought into shot-making and "reaping the rewards" for what you think is "consistency," that's a very dangerous slope to be skiing. For one thing, it puts reliance upon your conscious state of mind for success. But there are two things wrong with this:
1. The conscious mind is also the one MOST ADVERSELY AFFECTED by failure. Yes, you do reap the rewards of success when you make a difficult shot, whereas with the subconscious mind, you tend to just move on to the next shot, seemingly blissfully unaware of how difficult that shot was. With the conscious mind, you can contemplate and "reward yourself" more for success, and thus you like to spend time in this mode, because you're of the thinking, "it's more rewarding." But again, this is a slippery slope. Experience failure, and you get that lightning bolt right through your heart! Pool is a consistency sport -- you only get the reward after the last money ball goes in for the match -- not a "form" one like e.g. gymnastics where you get points and people clap after you execute each triple somersault flawlessly.
2. For how long can you engage your conscious mind? I don't know about you, but I can't -- not for the business duration of a long straight pool run, anyway. I will drift-off into letting my surroundings capture my attention, or think about a work problem, etc. And it's that moment -- when all this time I'd been using my conscious mind to play pool -- that I will fail. I will duff a ball, or get really poor position, etc. Remember, conscious focus, while concentrated, is also the easiest to take away. The human mind doesn't like to do this for long periods of time, and so when a "more interesting thing at this moment" comes along -- e.g. a thought about a problem you're trying to solve at work and you just thought of a possible solution -- your conscious mind hops on that and you lose focus.
That latter point, by the way, is common to folks that play short-rack rotation pool. And it usually doesn't affect them adversely, because the mind "resets" after every rack -- everything begins "anew" once the balls are racked and preparations made to break it open. On the other hand, those that play longevity games -- like 14.1 or one pocket -- tend to strike a good balance between use of the conscious mind (e.g. to analyze patterns or what shot to put your opponent in trouble [one pocket]) and the subconscious mind (e.g. get down and shoot it, to or near perfection).
Put it this way -- of professional players whose mental game you'd most want to adopt, who would they be? Me personally, I strive for the mental game of Ralf Souquet or Thorsten Hohmann. Those guys are unshakable. And, they're both world-beater straight pool players, too -- the point where if you make a mistake, you very likely won't get out of your seat again, save for the conclusion-of-match congratulatory handshake.
-Sean
Read Dr Dwane Dyers book, your erroneous zones, came out in the seventies. It makes one realize how much your out of control when the actions of something else take control of YOU. In his words you've become outer directive, meaning, your always reacting from outside stimuli not from within. It's a Very fast and easy read and makes one realize how they get ''out of control'' and how to fix it. Nowadays allot of players wear ear pods, but that's a whole nother' thing.
Its the attribute SVB likes best about Alex P. and he's working on getting better at it. Pinoys generally are very optimistic people.
That's a pretty good post Neil. I think I fall into the same trap expecting perfection during my matches. (and I am no where near perfect)
When I get a little out of line I get disappointed with myself and the snowball starts rolling. I have a habit of being my own worst enemy at times. Maybe it's time to rethink my goals a bit.
I've actually always admired Johnny Archer and Nick Varner on their apparent consciousness over every shot, taking time to analyze each unique situation and adapt accordingly. Any shot they take you can be confident is the right choice.
How do you think they manage to keep an even keel?
You just have to replace the knee jerk rage reaction with something less psychotic.
I used to have a pretty bad temper. It takes time, but it is controllable just by taking a deep breath, and holding it for a few seconds.
Use that time to think about the idiotic thing you were about to do, and instead of exploding like a five year old attention whore, just shake your head and go sit down.
Nobody wants to be "that guy", right?
I used to have a pretty bad temper. It takes time, but it is controllable just by taking a deep breath, and holding it for a few seconds.
Use that time to think about the idiotic thing you were about to do, and instead of exploding like a five year old attention whore, just shake your head and go sit down.
Nobody wants to be "that guy", right?
I think you're mistaking where the switchover from conscious to subconscious takes place, and think that "everything is conscious" in these players. Johnny is shooting more from subconscious than you think; it's just that he spends a lot of time in the standing "conscious contemplation" phase prior to the shot. Once he begins his PSR, however, he switches into subconscious. (His PSR includes the annoying habit of picking lint off the table, and that's also a dead giveaway that he's actually running from subconscious -- not conscious. Little "habits" like this come from the subconscious, not the conscious.)
Nick Varner as well, while also a deliberate player, is a quick shot once he "gets down on it."
The distinction between what I'm saying, and what you're pointing out, is the standing vs. down-on-the-shot thing. This is where I think you might be confusing things. Sure, you can be deliberate in your pattern, your shot choice, etc. But when you're down on the shot, that's it -- it's execution from that point forward. It does you no good to short-circuit that part of your mind that is programmed for that purpose -- the subconscious.
If I may, I'd like to relate this to information technology, that I think a lot of our readers can relate to. For example, if you have a powerful video card in your computer, it makes sense to write the video driver in the operating system to offload all video API calls to that video card. "Open the pipes and let the video card handle it." Let that video card's processor deal with painting the pixels on the screen, and let the computer's main CPU go on to other things. In a lot of ways, shooting pool is just like this -- let your dedicated shot-storage/shot-execution computer (the subconscious) handle this call, and let your main CPU (the conscious) handle all other aspects of the game.
-Sean
There's a great book on golf by a guy named David Owen. The title is "My Usual Game." It comes from an old Scottish saying about golf: "Just once in my life I wish I could play my usual game." If your expectations are too high, or you're basing them on that one time you shot lights out, or that one month you were totally in stroke, I think you're doomed to the misery of never living up to those expectations again and sinking deeper into the abyss. I know, I've been there. In fact, I AM there. Great thread.
Sean:
I again want to thank you for your contribution to this thread. It has been an invaluable resource of knowledge from your experience that myself and others are sure to benefit from. So in saying this, I hope you take my continued questions and challenges to be what they are: further expansion on your opinions from a sincere desire to learn more, not attacks.
So here's my question: I have noticed that times when I go in to play without any practice when I am running late for league or a tourney I typically play better than the times I spend an hour or more to warm up. And from there it seems like my level of play in a tournament oscillates from match to match, not game to game or day to day. I feel like there is some connection of this with what you're saying about the subconscious, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Do you have a good explanation for this?