How To Stay In the Zone, Once You Get There!
When you are having a great day at the table, almost everything you try goes exactly as you planned! This is called playing in the zone, which means that your conscious mind has ceased interrupting and allowed your body to get its instructions directly from your control center of movement, your subconscious. And what a great feeling it is!
Unfortunately, often when we begin to play our best pool, many players sadly seem to sabotage this process shortly after, causing a major drop in their playing level. Most often this sabotage is brought on simply by trying to analyze their current game, and trying to work out why they were playing well!
Ironically, examining WHY we are in the zone is the very thing that makes it disappear! This is the last thing we should ever do when we are playing well, because as soon as we bring our conscious mind back into the equation (through analysis), it immediately overrides any instructions your subconscious directs to your body.
Result: the zone disappears very quickly - and this often sends our confidence crashing down in the opposite direction.
And there are few things more soul-destroying than losing a match hill-hill by pocketing the 9 and then scratching!
So what form does this analysis (or self-sabotage) take, when you are playing well? It comes in the simple form of:
1. questions that your mind begins asking about your brilliant level of play
2. observations about how you are hitting certain shots today, or
3. focusing upon future outcomes such as games you may win, players you may defeat, focusing on everything EXCEPT what you have to do - all because you are playing so well.
All of these forms of thought should be avoided at all costs! These might include fatal thoughts such as
"I wonder why I am playing so well? Maybe it's because I'm..."
"I’m sure that break shot went better because I was..."
"What will my score be if I win this game?"
"Is this the best match I have ever played?"
"If I make this shot, I will be two games ahead of John!"
Basically, the thoughts we should avoid are those that either analyze what we are currently doing (which breaks the mental process that delivers our best performance), or thinking of the possible future outcome instead of focusing upon the current task at hand - which only puts additional pressure on your current shot.
The only possible future outcome you ever want to think about is visualizing the outcome of your current shot. Any other form of projecting your thoughts into the future (or 'thinking ahead') will only sabotage your present shot.
Always remember that you do not have the luxury of thinking cumulatively at the pool table, it must be one shot at a time.
The worst pitfalls to avoid in pool are the mental ones which are intangible, as these are far more difficult to notice than tight pockets, fast cloth, or other distractions!
So next time you are playing brilliantly, never analyze how you are playing until you reach the safety of shaking your defeated opponent’s hand - that way you will ensure you finish the match as well as you began it - and then have something special to celebrate!
When you are having a great day at the table, almost everything you try goes exactly as you planned! This is called playing in the zone, which means that your conscious mind has ceased interrupting and allowed your body to get its instructions directly from your control center of movement, your subconscious. And what a great feeling it is!
Unfortunately, often when we begin to play our best pool, many players sadly seem to sabotage this process shortly after, causing a major drop in their playing level. Most often this sabotage is brought on simply by trying to analyze their current game, and trying to work out why they were playing well!
Ironically, examining WHY we are in the zone is the very thing that makes it disappear! This is the last thing we should ever do when we are playing well, because as soon as we bring our conscious mind back into the equation (through analysis), it immediately overrides any instructions your subconscious directs to your body.
Result: the zone disappears very quickly - and this often sends our confidence crashing down in the opposite direction.
And there are few things more soul-destroying than losing a match hill-hill by pocketing the 9 and then scratching!
So what form does this analysis (or self-sabotage) take, when you are playing well? It comes in the simple form of:
1. questions that your mind begins asking about your brilliant level of play
2. observations about how you are hitting certain shots today, or
3. focusing upon future outcomes such as games you may win, players you may defeat, focusing on everything EXCEPT what you have to do - all because you are playing so well.
All of these forms of thought should be avoided at all costs! These might include fatal thoughts such as
"I wonder why I am playing so well? Maybe it's because I'm..."
"I’m sure that break shot went better because I was..."
"What will my score be if I win this game?"
"Is this the best match I have ever played?"
"If I make this shot, I will be two games ahead of John!"
Basically, the thoughts we should avoid are those that either analyze what we are currently doing (which breaks the mental process that delivers our best performance), or thinking of the possible future outcome instead of focusing upon the current task at hand - which only puts additional pressure on your current shot.
The only possible future outcome you ever want to think about is visualizing the outcome of your current shot. Any other form of projecting your thoughts into the future (or 'thinking ahead') will only sabotage your present shot.
Always remember that you do not have the luxury of thinking cumulatively at the pool table, it must be one shot at a time.
The worst pitfalls to avoid in pool are the mental ones which are intangible, as these are far more difficult to notice than tight pockets, fast cloth, or other distractions!
So next time you are playing brilliantly, never analyze how you are playing until you reach the safety of shaking your defeated opponent’s hand - that way you will ensure you finish the match as well as you began it - and then have something special to celebrate!