What do you think holds most players back ?

Self reliance

Well Joey, I am glad that works for you .If I could change myself I would have already of been over to Marietta Billiards and beat up on that tall skinny fella playing 10 ball on the front table. Self reliance is good as far as it goes but it will only go so far .Time takes time.Any real change that last comes from within and is motivated by pain or pleasure. I get alot more pleasure from seeing my business grow today than I do shooting at the big boys on the table.When the pain of not winning becomes great enough , I see alot of players make a change from that point.
Many a man has looked in that "mirror" of change and tucked tail and ran .I have had to make alot of changes in my life ,why did I not run ? If I had to guess I would say faith ,Each man has to find his own .I have probably read more books on change and self help than alot of people you know and I can tell you this from all that .All I can change is a light bulb.Again real change that last comes from within and no matter how you slice it ,is a process .
Pride would have me to think I could change the world and even my own self . I can't go for that .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6buJGU7wiBg&feature=related
 
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Matt90 said:
Well Joey, I am glad that works for you .If I could change myself I would have already of been over to Marietta Billiards and beat up on that tall skinny fella playing 10 ball on the front table. Self reliance is good as far as it goes but it will only go so far .Time takes time.Any real change that last comes from within and is motivated by pain or pleasure. I get alot more pleasure from seeing my business grow today than I do shooting at the big boys on the table.When the pain of not winning becomes great enough , I see alot of players make a change from that point.
Many a man has looked in that "mirror" of change and tucked tail and ran .I have had to make alot of changes in my life ,why did I not run ? If I had to guess I would say faith ,Each man has to find his own .I have probably read more books on change and self help than alot of people you know and I can tell you this from all that .All I can change is a light bulb.Again real change that last comes from within and no matter how you slice it ,is a process .
Pride would have me to think I could change the world and even my own self . I can't go for that .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6buJGU7wiBg&feature=related
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You are making the changes you want in your life and you are on the right track. :cool:

Don't get side tracked with any desire to become the next Johnny Archer.
 
Excuses?

Matt90 said:
Time ? Discipline ? Work /Career ? Family ? or do they get to a comfort level and get ok with staying there ? Just curious what has held others back from getting to where they want to be as a player.I know with me I had to make my career a priority and am building up a new business,I just don't have the time I would like to play and give my all to my work .It's a choice I made and I am ok with it .
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Some of the "reasons" mentioned on this thread sound a bit like excuses.

In my opinion, the number one reason why players don't "succeed" at pool is the pride, stubbornness and lack of common sense that prevents players from seeking personal instruction...
 
naji said:
Natural talent is defined as God given talent that cannot be achieved easily by practice, such as good voice, beauty, character, and some.


Pool playing does not need any of the above, and excellence is achieved through hard work, practice, and acquiring good solid knowledge as well as advanced knowledge, so as golf, and many other sports.
Look around, there are close to thousands of pro players are all got natural talent?
Take a good example, Lance Armstrong, everyone though he had gifted heart! it turns out to be he is doping the hell out of himself to win.
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Good Answer!

This type of question will pop up on AZ from time to time. Read the book Talent is Overrated by Geoffrey Colvin. The basis of the book is that almost any type of activity, a person can become expert level with 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. It's not so much talent but the desire to get better. The key is deliberate practice.

http://www.thedanplan.com/ is a website about a 30 year old man that decided to test this theory of 10,000 by trying to become a professional golfer. It's pretty interesting. He picked golf because he couldn't beat his girlfriend, as of Oct he has 3400 hours of deliberate practice and his handicap is 5.8.
 
Matt90 said:
Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.

Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.

Joey ,
If we are going as deep as the 7 deadlies here ,let me shed some light on that .Being to prideful and having false belief in your abilities could cause one to slack up and not practice aka sloth.From personal experience I can tell you sloth is tough to overcome..... I found out that if I have passion for what I am doing the sloth all but disapears. Pride however has left many a pool player broke and busted.
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That's what I see as the primary problem for most. Time and money come and go and people will give their hobbies what they can. What they can't seem to do at times, though, is accept reality.

There's not a player on here that hasn't heard the excuses of "the table beat me", "I'm not playing my game", "you got lucky", "the rails are bad" and on and on and on. What that says to me, is that the person refuses to accept responsibility and therefor will have a much harder time learning from anything they do(right or wrong).

If you actually pay attention to what's happening without the bias of pride/vanity, you can learn a lot.

Some people have a natural aptitude for some things, but pride can be a tough pill to swallow for anybody that has potential.
 
Tramp Steamer said:
Instead I chose the other passion in my life, selling funnel cakes at county fairs.
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If this were true, I'd think you would have switch over to Fried Dough rather quickly.

After all, Fried Dough aka Elephant Ears aka Doughboys are the snooker of the vat fat carny cuisine

Freddie <~~~ or am I backwards on this???
 
Matt90 said:
Time ? Discipline ? Work /Career ? Family ? or do they get to a comfort level and get ok with staying there ? Just curious what has held others back from getting to where they want to be as a player.I know with me I had to make my career a priority and am building up a new business,I just don't have the time I would like to play and give my all to my work .It's a choice I made and I am ok with it .
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Four things are needed to become a pro at anything. Some people like to conveniently package them into alliteration of some sort like: Desire, Dedication, Discipline and Determination.

I'd go with the non-alliteration of time, natural ability, and a serious case of sports-minded OCD.

I think a failing in any of the three holds any player back at any sport.

Freddie <~~~ lather, rinse, repeat
 
DoubleD said:
Disagree completely. The mind is strengthened in all areas by strengthening it in others.

That is why stupid people don't do anything and people who don't do anything are stupid.

DaVinci painted, sculpted, philosophized, advised, was athletic and invented.

Einstein played violin and changed the world in many ways.

I got better at pool by playing competitive foosball.

dld
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Ditto.

Freddie <~~~ barroom foosball partners champion
 
DoubleD said:
Disagree completely. The mind is strengthened in all areas by strengthening it in others.

That is why stupid people don't do anything and people who don't do anything are stupid.

DaVinci painted, sculpted, philosophized, advised, was athletic and invented.

Einstein played violin and changed the world in many ways.

I got better at pool by playing competitive foosball.

dld
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Funny you should mention this, DD.
I took up backgammon and it helped my decision making immensely.
..and playing poker doesn't hurt you game-making either.:cool:
 
I was asked many times why I didn't join the professional ranks as a full time player. I had the game needed to compete at that level.

What I also had, was a good job, and a family.

To give all of this up wasn't in my best interest. That's what I would probably be sacrificing if I went and played as a professional.

Don't be fooled by this game. There just isn't enough to go around to justify playing it professionally. If your maybe, top five in the world, you can survive. Other than that, your gonna struggle.

What I did was play the game as a way to supplement my income.

I know this isn't exactly the question asked.

In my opinion, "There just isn't enough incentive to play this game at the highest level. Therefore it's hard to mentally make that commitment."

_______________________________________

http://tommcgonaglerightoncue.com
 
Matt90 said:
Time ? Discipline ? Work /Career ? Family ? or do they get to a comfort level and get ok with staying there ? Just curious what has held others back from getting to where they want to be as a player.I know with me I had to make my career a priority and am building up a new business,I just don't have the time I would like to play and give my all to my work .It's a choice I made and I am ok with it .
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There is only one thing that holds a person back.

Themselves.

Ken
 
Matt90 said:
Time ? Discipline ? Work /Career ? Family ? or do they get to a comfort level and get ok with staying there ? Just curious what has held others back from getting to where they want to be as a player.I know with me I had to make my career a priority and am building up a new business,I just don't have the time I would like to play and give my all to my work .It's a choice I made and I am ok with it .
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The Realities of life is how it appears to me....
 
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naji said:
Natural talent is defined as God given talent that cannot be achieved easily by practice, such as good voice, beauty, character, and some.
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Semantics.

Call it natural aptitude.

I know everyone likes to dream that if they had put in the effort and time that they all could have been Johnny Archer, it is simply not the reality though, most people never had a chance. People who truly excel at a sport and get to that top 0.00001% of the people who partake in that sport have a natural aptitude towards that sport that most other people do not have.

Does anyone out there think that every guy in the NBA could be Michael Jordan if they just worked harder at the game? Of course not.
 
Excuse making. The same people who will tell you they work too much to play great pool spend all their free time on the couch or in a bar. The majority of people can find the time if they want to enough, so the problem becomes desire. I gaurentee if someone put a gun to your head and said you play shortstop speed in 5 years or your whole family dies youd be hitting balls every second of free time you had and sleeping 4 hours a night for extra time.

Everyone will say "ohh but im just so tired after work." Well take better care of yourself and get over it. If you want something enough youll do it, whether it means cutting back on sleep or that 6 pack and practicing regardless of how you feel.
 
Natural ability period. Take a look at the worlds best players all were great from a very young age!
 
RADAR said:
Natural ability period. Take a look at the worlds best players all were great from a very young age!
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Ask the world's greatest players how much they had to practice when they were young, and how much they practice now. And perhaps you will derive a true answer!
 
I think a big part of the answer is that most players are unwilling to practice alone. No matter how much one plays, competition must be supplemented by focused solo practice if one hopes to develop a complete and dependable skill set.
 
RADAR said:
Natural ability period. Take a look at the worlds best players all were great from a very young age!
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Please define natural ability ? what is it in your opinion required to have that natural ability other than have nothing in life but pool, sleeping on pool tables, eating in pool halls, no social life, no jobs, no money, on the road all the time, is that natural ability?
 
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