Thought patterns ...

Jaden said:
IT would depend on your goals. I used to use the music thing to great effect, but too many tournaments don't allow them. I would try to find something that can work in any situation. If you're just trying to maintain proper focus during practice or playing occasional opponents, then earbuds and music should be fine and definitely work.
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Earbuds saved my sanity on league nights when they're blowing the roof off the joint.
 
Frosty said:
You bring up an interesting point few seldom realize, that “voice” we all have in our head, the “inner critic”, is almost always negative. He never takes a day off. If you want to play this game to the best of your ability, you have to understand HOW to shut it up.

When you’re at the table, you don’t need to think. Many will argue that’s impossible as you have to make decisions about shot selection or safety from where the balls lay as you come to the table. It’s about coming to the understanding that you can do this without that voice.

Start “seeing” the various choices, then “see” what you want to do, in excruciating detail. The key is visualizing, not having a conversation in “words” with that voice about it. Your subconscious mind, the one that performs every physical action acts on images, pictures, video if you will, not on words. It takes some time and practice, you can do it away from the table as well in meditation. After a while you just learn to “see video clips” in your mind of your shot and safety options instead of a conversation.

Just show a clear picture to your subconscious with the conversation. It’s like a muscle that gets stronger when you utilize it. In time the voice recedes into the silence.
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Well said Frosty!!! 👊🏻
 
Great responses and thanks to all!

Followup #2: Tried the Mighty X again just now (didn't record it). Got to 35 in a row. Wife started talking to me while I was down on shot #36. I stayed on the shot, see if I could tune out the distraction. Yeah, no. Should have stood up and waited until she was done with her topic. (No, not blaming her. Blaming me for not handling the distraction properly.)

That's a different kind of distraction than what we usually encounter in competition. At the hall, there might be other kinds of distractions like movement, loud music, players shooting on the adjacent table, but unless you're among a bunch of a-holes or someone trying to shark you, no one is talking directly to you.

Anyway, 35 in a row is a new PB. I'll try again soon. I hope to get to 100.

It's also weird: after I was done with the streak, I shot a few more just to reacclimate myself. Then I tried to get draw on the shot. The only thing different from a stop shot, to shoot a draw shot *should* be the tip position, just a bit lower and maybe a slightly longer stroke to increase the shot speed. Yeah, no. I had all kinds of things in my head, even when I shortened my stroke length back to what I was using with the stop shot, just lower on the CB. Still either made the ball and got no draw (or even a little follow), or I miscued, or most often, I missed the shot. That in itself is an interesting lesson learned. The discipline needed to execute a draw shot, ostensibly not that different from a a stop shot, is probably even more critical. Or maybe I was making it tougher in my head, and I didn't need any different discipline. Same can be said for any shot that is not the straight-in Mighty X stop shot. Now that I think of it, no, the discipline for a more difficult shot really shouldn't be any different from a really easy shot. Perhaps that's the lesson.

Learning, learning, learning. Learning about the game, learning about myself.
 
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