My 2010 New Year’s Resolutions
My postings have been pretty scarce in the last 2 months, but I’ve got a plan to remedy that. I’ve had, and continue to have, a lot going on in my life outside pool, all bad. I’ve let it affect me way too much, pushing me back toward a mild depression I’ve struggled with for years. I just haven’t been playing well or into the game like I normally am. I’ve let myself get down, and let that attitude snowball, causing the problem to become progressively worse, and affect me for progressively longer.
I have decided to take the advice I would give to someone who came to me with a problem like this; attack it head on. To do that, I see three areas to work on that will have the most significant effect.
- Get my confidence back, and then increase it
- Manage my anger more effectively
- Raise my level of discipline, practicing with purpose again
- Use my blog in a new way, to help me focus on my game as well as on the game itself.
Confidence will be a tough one for me, one I’ve always had trouble with. I’m a realist when it comes to assessing my game. I know where I stand on the ability spectrum, and tend to underestimate my ability rather than overestimate it. I pay careful attention to how I’m playing and don’t seem to have the ability to forget poor performances and focus only on the good and great ones.
I see many people who are always positive, always sure they’re going to win, know they’ll make every shot, etc. even when they have no credible reason to think those things. But it helps them. A lot! If I can figure out how to become like that on the inside, without doing so on the outside, I’ll have made a huge step back to the old me.
I have to balance being positive with lying to myself.
I have to balance being positive with lying to myself. The former is helpful, the latter harmful. So I’m going to start with little things. Smiling more, and changing my response to “How are you, today?” from “I’m hanging in there” to “Great” will help. I’m especially going to work on the smile thing while I’m practicing. I think playing the right music will help. I know that little stuff like this can make a surprising difference, it has before, but I’ve gotten out of the habit.
I’m going to simplify my practice for awhile, too. By working on relatively easy stuff, and trying to do so with precision, I think I’ll both help my confidence and my game.
When I miss I sometimes get angry. I especially find myself doing this when I felt I was going to miss before I did, but shot anyway. Instead of trying to ban the occasional swear word and any other emotional outburst, I’m going to work on the root cause. I going to work much harder to listen to the little voice inside that says “don’t stretch, use the bridge” and “this alignment feels funny” or “this shot feels all wrong” and see it as a wonderful gift to minimize failure instead of an annoying pest I need to learn to ignore.
Tackling the discipline issue won’t be easy either, as I’ve let myself get lazy over the holidays. Having a table at home will help a great deal, and I’m going to use that to the max. My quantity goal is to run at least 20 racks every day for the next 3 months. I’ll mix that up between straight pool, 10 Ball, 8 Ball and banging balls with a purpose. The idea here is to just use quantity to give my subconscious mind all the experience it needs to know how to make every shot if I just let it. For these 20 racks, I will not necessarily or even usually, play them all at once. I will keep track during the day and not go to bed until I’ve completed them.
My plan of attack is to keep the drilling to short bursts, to keep my focus and energy high.
To ensure that all this effort expended doesn’t result in cementing in my bad habits, I’ll be focused on 2 things on every shot; staying perfectly still and completing my stroke. I’ll change these two focus points as needed, but those are what I need most right now.
I’m also going to be getting back to doing more drills. They have always helped me more than anything else, but I struggle with the boredom. My plan of attack is to keep the drilling to short bursts, to keep my focus and energy high. I bought a small timer I’m keeping in my game room, and will set it for 15 minutes. I hope to work in 4 of these short drill sessions every day. I’m also going to vary the drills a lot, but keep to simple one for a while until I get back in the swing of things. The right drill can build confidence as well as skill, the wrong one can sap your will to improve.
Lastly, I’m going to try to use my blog to help in my efforts. I’ve tried in the first year to keep Pool Student’s Blog about the game and getting better at it. Going forward I’m going to add more about myself, and my trials and tribulations as I work to improve. The substantive articles will continue, I’m just going to post a lot more frequently with small items on what I’m doing, how it’s going and whether it’s working. That will make this more of a real blog than just a website.
Wish me luck, I’m going to need it.
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One Response to “My 2010 New Year’s Resolutions”
Michael McCafferty
- January 11th, 2010
The perfect place to start>>>>>
Smiling more, and changing my response to “How are you, today?” from “I’m hanging in there” to “Great” will help. I’m especially going to work on the smile thing while I’m practicing.
Excellent post. Good luck.
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