For me, I had to learn to not lose. I accomplished this inadvertently by putting myself into competitions I couldn't possibly win. It is really liberating to know you can't win--it allows you to learn to play your best game no matter what the odds.
I think this is *excellent* advice. I did the same thing a while back in a state tournament. I got soundly beaten by several much better players, and as far as I know probably did the worst of all players at the tournament, but I had nothing to lose - I was not expected to win! - so I played my heart out and felt very relaxed.
Despite losing, I ended up playing some of my best pool and taking some games from those mofos
